The atmosphere within the Shrek Grand Arena was no longer merely tense; it had become suffocating, a physical weight born of the concentrated soul power of fourteen of the most talented geniuses to ever grace the Douluo Continent. High in the spectator stands, the usual raucous cheering of the student body had been replaced by a hallowed, terrified silence. Even the veteran teachers of both the Martial Soul and Soul Tool departments sat in rigid anticipation, their eyes locked on the sand-dusted floor below.
"Today," Elder Xuan's voice boomed, stripped of its usual drunken slur and replaced by the resonant authority of a Rank 98 Transcendent Douluo, "we do not test your technique. We do not test your spirit power. We test your survival. To my left stands the pride of this academy: the current Shrek Seven Devils. To my right, the freshmen who dare to challenge that pride. If the reserves can stay on this stage for fifteen minutes without being decimated, they earn the right to wear the Shrek uniform in the Continental Tournament. If they fail... they return to the outer court as if they were never here."
Lin Feng stood at the vanguard of the reserve line, his Obsidian Skeleton humming with a low-frequency vibration that made the very air around him shimmer with heat haze. He could feel the Star-Core in his spine reacting to the seven overwhelming auras facing him—seven individual pillars of power that threatened to drown his senses.
"Yuhao, don't just look. Deconstruct them," Lin Feng whispered, his voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins. "I need to know every ring, every twitch, and every fluctuation."
"Already on it," Yuhao replied, his Spirit Eyes glowing with an intense, emerald-azure hue that pierced through the visual distortions of the arena. The mental map bloomed instantly in the minds of the reserves, a shared consciousness that detailed the seven "Devils" they were about to face.
The Lineup: The Legends of the Inner Court
At the center of the opposition stood Ma Xiaotao, the "Crimson Phoenix." As the captain and a Rank 67 Soul Emperor, she was the undisputed sun of this miniature solar system. Her long, crimson hair seemed to lick the air like actual, living flames, and her presence was so commanding that the oxygen in the arena felt thin.
Ma Xiaotao (Captain):Martial Soul: Evil Fire Phoenix. The team's ultimate powerhouse. Her flames were so intense they bordered on the Ultimate attribute, a destructive heat that could melt soul tools before they even fired. She looked at Lin Feng with a sharp, competitive spark, her memory flashing back to his uncanny ability to absorb her thermal energy weeks prior.
Dai Yueheng (Vice-Captain):Martial Soul: White Tiger. A Rank 64 Soul Emperor. As the eldest son of the White Tiger Duke, he carried a regal, predatory grace. His muscles were coiled like iron springs, and his aura was a heavy, golden pressure that demanded submission. He was the team's primary tank and frontline assault, a literal wall of muscle and fang.
Chen Zifeng:Martial Soul: Chasing Wind Sword. Rank 50+ Soul King. A cold, slender youth with a gaze as sharp as the edge of his blade. He treated his own soul as a whetstone, becoming the team's primary "Agility-Attack" specialist. He was the assassin who moved faster than sound, a silver streak that ended fights before they began.
Xi Xi:Martial Soul: Lightning Leopard. Rank 50+ Soul King. Another agility specialist, but focused on elemental speed rather than pure blade-work. She moved with such flickering intensity that she left blue-purple after-images of static electricity in her wake, making her impossible to pin down.
Beibei:Martial Soul: Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. The "Eldest Brother" of the Tang Sect. Though only a Rank 40+ Soul Ancestor, his mastery of lightning and his draconic heritage gave him a combat efficiency that rivaled many Soul Kings. He looked at Lin Feng with a knowing, cautious smile—he alone understood that the boy's "purple" rings were a dangerous lie.
Xu Sanshi:Martial Soul: Xuanwu Turtle. The "Indestructible Bastion." Rank 40+. He carried a massive black shield that seemed to drink the light around it, a vessel for the ancient Xuanwu bloodline. He was famous for his "Xuanwu Displacement," a spatial swap ability that turned an enemy's formation into a chaotic mess.
Jiang Nannan:Martial Soul: Soft Bone Rabbit. The "Golden Rabbit." Rank 40+. She was the ultimate close-quarters combatant, specializing in "Waist Bow" and bone-shattering kicks. Her movements were fluid and deceptive, allowing her to bypass heavy armor to strike at vital points with lethal force.
The Opening Salvo
"Match... START!"
The arena floor didn't just shake; it seemingly liquefied under the sudden, violent eruption of soul power from fourteen different sources. Ma Xiaotao didn't believe in testing the waters. She ignited instantly, her phoenix wings spanning ten meters of blazing crimson feathers.
"Phoenix Piercing Sky!" she roared, her voice a clarion call of fire. She dived from the heavens toward the reserves like a falling sun, the air screaming as it was incinerated in her path.
"Yuhao, Link! Wang Dong, Wing Guillotine! Don't let her ground you!" Lin Feng commanded, stepping forward to meet the sun.
He didn't use a shield. He didn't use a tool. He activated the Obsidian Frostbound domain. As his Obsidian Skeleton pulsed, the temperature within a five-meter radius dropped toward absolute zero, creating a localized void. The 5,000kg gravitational pull of Lin Feng's core met Yuhao's Ultimate Ice essence. The diving Ma Xiaotao suddenly felt as if her wings had been coated in lead. Her descent slowed, the fierce flames around her flickering and shrinking as the gravity began to "crush" the thermal energy itself.
"What is this?!" Ma Xiaotao gasped, her eyes widening as she felt her flight path being forcefully diverted. "My flames... are being compressed by the air itself?"
"Now!" Lin Feng roared, his obsidian skin glistening with a metallic sheen.
He lunged forward with a speed that defied his massive weight, his every movement a testament to his "Body Tempering." He didn't aim for the airborne Xiaotao; he aimed for the ground directly between the seven seniors, intending to disrupt their foundation. He slammed his fist down with the concentrated weight of the Star-Core.
"Absolute Gravity: Earth Shatter!"
The arena floor didn't just crack; it exploded upward in jagged, obsidian-infused shards of stone. The shockwave was so dense it carried physical mass, a wall of force so heavy that even the heavy-set Xu Sanshi was forced to brace his Xuanwu shield with both hands, his boots sliding six inches into the ground.
"Kid, that's a hell of a greeting!" Xu Sanshi grinned, his third ring flashing with a dark, aquatic light. "Xuanwu Displacement!"
In a flash of black light, the laws of space were rewritten. Lin Feng was gone, snatched from his offensive position and dropped into the center of the Senior team. Simultaneously, Xu Sanshi appeared where Lin Feng had been—standing inches away from the physically vulnerable Huo Yuhao.
"Checkmate, freshmen," Xu Sanshi chuckled, raising his massive shield to deliver a bash that would end Yuhao's participation.
The Counter-Evolution
But Yuhao didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. His Spirit Eyes turned a terrifying, deep emerald as he channeled the pride of the Ice Jade Empress.
"Ultimate Ice: Permafrost Prison!"
The ground beneath Xu Sanshi's feet turned into a frictionless mirror of absolute zero ice. The momentum of his own shield-bash became his enemy; his feet slid out from under him, and the heavy bastion of Shrek found himself sliding backward, his defensive posture shattered by his own weight.
At the same time, Lin Feng, now surrounded by the four highest-ranked seniors in the center of their formation, didn't show a hint of panic. He looked at Dai Yueheng and Chen Zifeng, who were closing in from both sides—one with tiger claws like scythes, the other with a blade like a silver whisper.
"You think I'm trapped in here with you?" Lin Feng's voice was a low, vibrating hum that seemed to come from the earth itself. He finally released the pressure on his rings—the two pitch-black circles cloaked in a deceptive purple. "Divine Vajra Domain: 200% Mass!"
The air didn't just get heavier; it turned into a thick, invisible liquid. The swordmaster Chen Zifeng felt his Chasing Wind Sword become so heavy it nearly snapped his wrist mid-swing, the blade curving toward the floor. Dai Yueheng's "White Tiger Tiger-Leap" was cut short in mid-air; he was swatted down as if by a giant, invisible hand, slamming into the dirt with a grunt of pain.
"This isn't just gravity," Beibei whispered from the perimeter, his right arm fully draconic and crackling with lightning. He watched in awe as the seniors struggled to lift their feet. "This is 'Weight Logic'. He's not just pulling them down; he's changing the fundamental density of their very souls and the equipment they carry."
The Stand-Off
For ten agonizing minutes, the arena was a chaotic, beautiful dance of fire, ice, lightning, and obsidian. The reserves were being battered by the sheer experience of the seniors—Wang Dong was panting, her wings trembling from the effort of maintaining flight in Lin Feng's distorted gravity, and Yuhao was deathly pale from the mental strain of coordinating three different perspectives against seven. But they were still standing. They were still fighting.
Ma Xiaotao hovered in the air, her face covered in soot and her uniform singed, looking down at the three freshmen who had successfully frustrated the "Seven Devils" for longer than anyone thought possible.
"Fine," she hissed, her eyes glowing with a manic, crimson light. Her sixth soul ring—a terrifying, ancient black circle—began to pulse with the rhythm of a heartbeat. "If you want to be treated like Monsters, I'll stop treating you like juniors. Get ready for the real Evil Fire!"
"Enough!"
Elder Xuan dropped from the sky like a falling leaf, landing precisely between the two boiling groups. The crushing pressure of Lin Feng's domain and the searing heat of Xiaotao's phoenix fire vanished instantly, suppressed by a mere wave of his hand. He looked at the giant timer on the arena wall. Fifteen minutes. Exactly.
He looked at the Seven Devils, whose pride was clearly stung, then at Lin Feng, who was still standing tall, his obsidian skin glowing faintly with the last vestiges of the Star-Core's energy.
"The evaluation is over," Xuan said, his voice quiet but echoing through every corner of the arena. "Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng... meet your new junior brothers and sisters. Because from this day forward, there aren't just seven monsters in Shrek. There are fourteen. And the world needs every single one of them."
He turned to Lin Feng and Yuhao, a rare smile touching his lips. "Pack your bags and say your goodbyes. We leave for the Star Luo Empire at dawn. The Continental Tournament is waiting, and it's about to see what happens when Shrek finally gets serious."
Status Update:
Lin Feng: Rank 26 (Massive breakthrough in Gravity Manipulation).
Huo Yuhao: Rank 23 (Spiritual Sea expanded by the resonance).
Team Reputation: +50,000 Points (The System debt is now fully cleared, and the 'Imperial Tournament Shop' is now accessible).
End of Chapter 18