Di Tian and Zi Ji's Gratitude, Team Battle Finals, vs. Shrek Academy Team
The secluded room in the inn held its breath. Yao Xuan sat at the center of a silent storm, his consciousness diving into the vast, intricate interface of the Super God System. Before him, the choice glowed with tantalizing promise and steep cost.
[Spend 2800 Golden Evolution Points to increase Ancestral Dragon Bloodline purity by 0.4%. Post-increase purity: 27.0%. Confirm?]
A flicker of pain, sharp and financial, crossed his mind. Twenty-eight hundred points. A fortune earned through grit and battle, exchanged for less than half a percent of refinement. The path of the Ancestral Dragon was a road paved with exponential cost. He steeled himself. Power was never cheap.
"Confirm."
The points vanished from his reserve, and in their place, a torrent of pure, primordial evolutionary energy flooded his being. It was not a gentle infusion but a glorious, searing baptism. Every cell in his body sang a hymn of awakening. His bones hummed, his marrow shimmered, and the deep, sleeping strands of his Ancestral Dragon heritage stirred, uncoiling like ancient serpents to drink deeply of the offered power.
In the room, the air grew thick and heavy. Faint, ethereal patterns of nine-colored light—echoes of cosmic creation—danced at the edge of vision. Yao Xuan's body radiated a gentle heat, and minute particles of bodily impurity, the last vestiges of mortal frailty, were scorched away in invisible flame.
Di Tian and Zi Ji stood as sentinels, their own formidable auras forming a dampening field around the room. But more than guarding, they were receiving. As Yao Xuan's bloodline purified and intensified, traces of the overflowing, resonant energy—a scent of the purest origin—washed over them. Di Tian's eyes closed in profound concentration. Within him, his mighty Black Dragon blood, already at the pinnacle of the mortal world, trembled. A few more deeply buried fragments of ancestral limitation, impurities accumulated over millennia, gently dissolved. The sensation was one of slight, impossible lightness, a door to a further room in the mansion of his power cracking open. Zi Ji felt a similar, refining clarity, her connection to the elemental forces of the world becoming a fraction more direct, less filtered.
Ten minutes later, the storm within Yao Xuan subsided. The light faded. He opened his eyes. They were the same, yet different—the swirling nebulae within them had gained a new, steady, gravitational pull. He felt more substantial, as if his very existence pressed more firmly against the fabric of the world. He flexed a hand, watching the play of light over his un-summoned skin, sensing the terrifying potential now held in even tighter, more controlled check.
"Thank you, Young Master!" Di Tian's voice was thick with a gratitude that went beyond courtesy. It was the gratitude of a pilgrim receiving a blessing. Zi Ji bowed her head deeply, her usual serene smile warmed by genuine reverence.
"The road is long for all of us," Yao Xuan said, rising. His movement was fluid, carrying a new, effortless grace. "I will need to continue this process soon. Will you return to the Dragon Valley, or remain?"
"We will remain nearby, Young Master," Di Tian affirmed. "A mere thought will bring us to you."
With a final nod, Yao Xuan left the inn, melting back into the neon night of Tianhai City, a vessel of quiet, augmented power returning to the world of tournaments and crowds.
Three days vanished in a blur of decisive victories. Class Zero cut through the semifinals with the sharp, clean efficiency of a honed blade. Yao Xuan's display against the Zhou sisters had marked them not as underdogs, but as predators. Now, on the tenth day, the air in the Tianhai Stadium crackled with a different quality. This was no longer about a local dark horse; this was a clash of titans.
The junior three-person team final: Donghai Academy's Class Zero versus the guest team from Shrek Academy.
By nine a.m., the colossal stadium was a roaring ocean of humanity. Every seat was filled, every eye glued to the pristine arena floor.
The referee's amplified voice battled the din. "Welcome to the FINAL! First, please welcome our distinguished guests—the temporary team from Shrek Academy!"
The applause was respectful, edged with awe, as three figures walked onto the stage. Ye Xinglan led, her steps measured, her golden ponytail a banner of focus. The cold fury from their first encounter was gone, replaced by the calm, lethal focus of a soldier. Behind her, Ning Xueqing moved with an almost ethereal grace, her eyes holding the calculative spark of a master strategist. Jun Xiaoyao brought up the rear, his stride confident, the air around him subtly warping with latent, draconic power.
"Captain, Ye Xinglan! Level 32 Power-Attack System Battle Soul Master, Martial Soul: Star God Sword!"
"Teammate, Ning Xueqing! Level 34 Support System Tool Soul Master, Martial Soul: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda!"
"Teammate, Jun Xiaoyao! Level 33 Power-Attack System Tool Soul Master, Martial Soul: Coiling Dragon Staff!"
The Shrek team took their position, a triangle of formidable, coordinated might.
The referee's voice rose again, stoking the crowd's fervor. "And their challengers! Hailing from the coast, a team that has rewritten expectations—Donghai Academy's CLASS ZERO!"
The eruption of sound was physical, a wall of passion rolling from the stands. This was hometown pride, amplified by legend-in-the-making.
"Their captain—YAO XUAN! Level 25 Power-Attack System Battle Soul Master, Martial Soul: Nine-Colored Dragon!"
"Teammate—GU YUE! Level 24 Power-Attack System Battle Soul Master, Martial Soul: Elementalist!"
"Teammate—XIE XIE! Level 24 Agility-Attack System Battle Soul Master, Martial Soul: Shadow Dragon Dagger!"
Yao Xuan led his team out. He walked with a calm that was neither arrogant nor hesitant, a deep lake reflecting the sky of noise above. Gu Yue was a step beside and slightly behind him, her silver hair like captured moonlight, her violet eyes already analyzing the opponents with detached precision. Xie Xie fanned out to Yao Xuan's other side, a grin on his face that finally held no trace of playful bravado, only the keen edge of a dagger ready to be thrown.
The two teams faced each other across fifty meters of polished floor. The referee recited the rules, his words barely audible. The countdown glowed on giant screens.
30… 20… 10…
The stadium held its breath.
3… 2… 1…
"BEGIN!"
The stillness shattered into a kaleidoscope of light and power.
From the Shrek side, Ning Xueqing was the first to move. She took a graceful, deliberate step forward, her hands coming together. Brilliant soul power erupted, coalescing into the resplendent, pagoda-shaped form of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda before her. Its lower three tiers blazed to life as her soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple—flared in sequence.
Her voice, clear and chanting, cut through the arena's roar.
"Seven Treasures reveal their name!"
"First Treasure: Power!"
"Second Treasure: Speed!"
"Third Treasure: Spirit!"
Two torrents of multicolored, amplifying energy shot from the pagoda, arcing unerringly to engulf Ye Xinglan and Jun Xiaoyao. As the light soaked into them, their auras swelled. Muscles corded with enhanced strength, their stances grew lighter, and the glow of their soul power intensified visibly—a 30% across-the-board augmentation, the legendary support of the Seven Treasures.
Simultaneously, the recipients summoned their own power. Ye Xinglan's hand closed around the hilt of her Star God Sword as it materialized from gathered starlight, its blade singing with renewed, amplified sharpness. Jun Xiaoyao planted his feet, and with a deep thud, a long, formidable staff carved with golden, coiling dragons slammed into the floor. A faint, authoritative draconic rumble emanated from it, challenging the very air.
The stage was set. The amplified might of Shrek, honed by tradition and privilege, against the raw, rising, and unpredictably profound power of the Ancestral Dragon's heir and his comrades. The final battle for the championship had truly begun.