Chapter 116: Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng Return! Public Opinion Shifts
The thick, acrid smoke blanketing Star Luo Plaza finally began to thin, swirling away on the wind. Through the dissipating haze, the referee's voice echoed across the massive arena. His tone trembled, cracking slightly under the sheer weight of what he had just witnessed.
"The match is over! The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy has been completely eliminated! The victor is... Heavenly Soul Imperial Academy!"
It was a conclusion absolutely no one had dared to predict before the opening bell. Yes, Liu Yuan had already carved a bloody, brilliant reputation for himself. Yes, Long Aotian stood as the esteemed Chief Disciple of the Body Sect. But against the Sun Moon Royal Team? A squad armed to the teeth, representing the absolute apex of soul tool civilization? The vast majority of the continent believed the Heavenly Soul Team would be reduced to ash under their suffocating, relentless firepower.
The moment the referee's final declaration dropped, the hundreds of thousands of spectators packed into the stands froze. A brief, suffocating, and downright eerie silence seized the entire plaza.
Then, the dam broke.
Like a long-dormant volcano finally erupting, a shockwave of deafening roars shattered the clouds. The sheer volume of the cheering shook the very foundations of the arena.
"I don't believe it... The Heavenly Soul Team actually pulled it off. That was the Sun Moon Royal Team! The undisputed runner-ups!" a spectator screamed, grabbing his companion's collar.
"Did you even see what happened?!" another yelled back, his face flushed red with adrenaline. "The Heavenly Soul Team's overall cultivation levels were clearly inferior! Especially Liu Yuan—he is only at Rank Forty-Nine! A Soul Ancestor! Yet the combat power he just unleashed was completely irrational!"
"It wasn't just Liu Yuan! Did you miss Long Aotian catching the Judgment Sword with his bare hands?! That kind of pure, monstrous physical strength is a living nightmare for any soul engineer!"
"Honestly, looking at their flawless tactical execution and that terrifying burst of raw power, the Heavenly Soul Team might just be the strongest squad in this entire tournament. I will say it right now—even Shrek Academy wouldn't stand a chance against Liu Yuan in this state!"
The discussions raged like wildfire, surging with newfound, absolute reverence for the Heavenly Soul Imperial Academy. This wasn't unearned hype. This respect had been carved out of flesh and steel, forged through one brutal, hard-fought battle after another.
In the eyes of the masses, the Heavenly Soul Team had shed the label of dark horse. They were now true, undisputed overlords. Championship contenders.
High above the chaos, in the luxurious main seat of the VIP pavilion, the Star Luo Emperor, Xu Jiawei, sat perfectly upright. A deep, entirely genuine smile graced his regal features—the most satisfied expression he had worn since the tournament began.
From the political standpoint of the Star Luo Empire, he could not care less which academy ultimately claimed the championship trophy. He only cared about one thing: the Sun Moon Royal Team absolutely could not win.
The Sun Moon Empire was a hostile, encroaching enemy nation. Allowing them to seize the continent's highest honor on Star Luo soil would be a humiliating, resounding slap to his empire's face.
Watching the unconscious, battered form of Captain Ma Rulong being carried off the ruined stage on a stretcher, Emperor Xu Jiawei felt his spirits soar. He turned his head, his golden robes shifting, and looked toward Princess Xu Jiujiu beside him.
"What an extraordinary team," the Emperor praised, his eyes gleaming. "Especially those two young men, Liu Yuan and Long Aotian. Their talent is simply monstrous. It seems the Heavenly Soul Empire is destined to produce some truly terrifying figures this generation."
Princess Xu Jiujiu nodded slowly, her beautiful eyes reflecting the ruined arena below. "Indeed, Royal Brother. That girl Vina has truly struck gold this time. If this momentum holds, the rise of the Heavenly Soul Empire will be completely unstoppable."
Across the plaza, completely isolated from the jubilant celebrations, the atmosphere within the Shrek Academy preparation area was suffocatingly grim.
Huo Yuhao stood near the railing, his fingers gripping the cold metal so tightly his knuckles turned white. His wide eyes were locked onto the center of the arena, staring fixedly at Liu Yuan, who was currently bathed in the golden sunlight and the deafening cheers of hundreds of thousands.
Shock—raw, bitter, and unconcealable—swirled in Huo Yuhao's gaze.
As a Soul Master who also possessed a rare eye-type martial soul, the Spirit Eyes, Huo Yuhao understood the terrifying reality of what he had just witnessed better than anyone else. The absolute spiritual domination, the precise, devastating destructive power Liu Yuan had casually wielded... it was a world of control Huo Yuhao could barely comprehend, let alone match.
His mind drifted back to their very first encounter in the Star Dou Great Forest. Back then, he had sensed Liu Yuan's strength, yes. But deep down, his naive heart had subconsciously believed the gap between them was bridgeable. That with enough hard work, he could catch up.
Now, reality had shattered that illusion. Liu Yuan had just demonstrated absolute, dominant supremacy before the entire continent. Meanwhile, he, Huo Yuhao, was still struggling just to survive, dragging his feet in a crippled, desperate reserve team.
The sheer magnitude of this disparity forced a dark, suppressed thought to bubble up from the depths of his mind. His faith, already heavily fractured by Elder Xuan's tyrannical suppression and incompetence, wavered dangerously.
'Did I... did I really make the wrong choice?'
If, back in the Star Dou Great Forest, or later in the freezing winds of the Far North, he had accepted Liu Yuan's extended hand... If he had chosen the Body Sect instead of blindly following the myth of Shrek... would he be standing out there right now? Would he be the one standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Liu Yuan, basking in the glory and the roaring adoration of the masses?
The thought burned like acid, but he forced it down just as quickly.
'Forget it...''There is no point in torturing myself over this.'
Huo Yuhao shook his head, a self-mocking, bitter smile curling the corners of his lips. The past was set in stone. He had chosen his path. He was a Shrek student now, bound to this sinking ship. Dwelling on what-ifs would only drive him mad.
A few paces away, slumped in the leader's chair, Elder Xuan presented a sight that could only be described as pathetic.
Out of the hundreds of thousands of people in Star Luo Plaza, he was the one man who despised Liu Yuan's success the most. Every cheer for the Heavenly Soul Team felt like a dagger twisting in his gut. The more brilliant, the more impressive Liu Yuan's performance became, the more it highlighted Elder Xuan's own catastrophic blindness and arrogance.
Watching Liu Yuan casually dismantle the Hongchen siblings and leave Captain Ma Rulong coughing up blood, Elder Xuan felt as though invisible hands were viciously slapping his face, over and over again, in front of the entire world.
His mental defenses were entirely in ruins. He sat there, his unkempt hair shadowing his eyes, while his greasy hand gripped his beloved wine gourd. The gourd trembled violently, splashing alcohol onto his stained robes.
Fear and deep-seated distress gnawed at the Super Douluo's heart.
For the first time in his long, arrogant life, genuine panic set in. If things continued at this exact trajectory... could Shrek actually lose? Could they really fail to defend the champion's throne that had remained untouched for ten thousand years?
"Elder Xuan. You do not need to worry. We have almost fully recovered."
The sudden, confident voices cut through the suffocating gloom of the preparation area. Elder Xuan snapped out of his anxious spiral, his head whipping around.
Standing behind him were Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng.
The two true pillars of the Shrek Team had finally emerged. Their faces were still a shade too pale, lingering evidence of the horrific injuries they had sustained, but their eyes burned with a familiar, scorching intensity. The sheer arrogance and absolute confidence of top-tier experts had reignited within them.
Hearing their steady voices, Elder Xuan's crumbling psyche instantly latched onto them like a drowning man finding a lifeline.
'That's right! Why the hell am I panicking?!'
Elder Xuan aggressively rationalized his fears away, his chest puffing out once more.
Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng were back. These two were genuine Soul Emperors. They were the ultimate, undisputed trump cards of Shrek Academy.
So what if Liu Yuan and Long Aotian looked heroic out there? Could a mere Soul Ancestor and a Soul King truly bridge the massive, impossible chasm of cultivation ranks to defeat two perfectly coordinated, top-tier Soul Emperors?
In Elder Xuan's narrow worldview, such a thing was fundamentally impossible.
, the rest of Shrek's official lineup was vastly superior to the mere supporting cast making up the rest of the Heavenly Soul Team.
With this thought, the arrogant smirk returned to Elder Xuan's greasy face. He even tilted his head, casting a highly provocative, sneering glare across the stadium toward the distant VIP section where Poison Undying sat.
'Hmph. Liu Yuan, enjoy your little moment of pride while it lasts,'Elder Xuan sneered internally, taking a long, arrogant swig from his gourd.'Once we meet in the finals and Xiaotao and Yueheng take the stage, you will quickly learn your place in the dirt.''When that time comes, I will personally watch you break. I will reclaim Shrek's absolute dignity.'
The tournament schedule was merciless, the days blurring together in a rapid succession of intense, blood-boiling matches.
Just as Elder Xuan had desperately hoped, the following days brought a massive turning point for Shrek Academy.
As the Round of Sixteen concluded, Shrek officially announced the full recovery and return of Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng. The news sent shockwaves through the city. In their very first match of the Quarterfinals, Shrek Academy held nothing back, directly deploying their two Soul Emperors in the starting lineup.
That day, the atmosphere in Star Luo Plaza reached a boiling, feverish peak.
Ma Xiaotao's violent Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul erupted, transforming the arena into a literal sea of scorching crimson flames, ravaging the opposing team's formations with terrifying ease. Beside her, Dai Yueheng activated his White Tiger Vajra Transformation, his massive, heavily muscled frame displaying an unmatched, brutal frontal crushing power that shattered shields and bones alike.
With their two absolute powerhouses leading the charge, the Shrek Team was completely unrecognizable from the shabby, struggling group of battered reserves they had been days prior.
Operating on a near-unstoppable, completely irrational aesthetic of pure violence, they utterly pulverized their opponents in a matter of minutes.
This overwhelming, suffocating display of dominance violently shook the audience.
The tide of public opinion, which had been steadily flowing toward the Heavenly Soul Imperial Academy, suddenly hit a massive roadblock. Seeing Shrek Academy bare its fangs and regain its invincible, tyrannical posture, the masses began to second-guess themselves.
"Heavens... As expected, Shrek is still Shrek. The moment their main force returns, they are simply invincible!"
"It looks like the Heavenly Soul Imperial Academy's path to the championship isn't guaranteed after all. The absolute suppression of a Soul Emperor is just too terrifying to ignore."
"Liu Yuan is a monster, sure, but... can a Rank Forty-Nine Soul Ancestor really withstand those apocalyptic flames when facing Ma Xiaotao in her absolute peak state?"
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