Chapter 117: The Finals Begin! Shrek Team vs. Heavenly Soul Team
Nightfall over Star Luo City did nothing to extinguish the feverish heat lingering in the streets. Instead, as the date of the finals loomed closer, the capital transformed into a boiling cauldron of anticipation. Taverns overflowed. Alleys echoed with heated debates.
Originally, after Heavenly Soul Imperial Academy ruthlessly crushed the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, the continent's public opinion had tilted almost entirely in Liu Yuan's favor. He was the dark horse, the miracle worker who defied logic.
But the wind had shifted.
Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng had returned to the stage. Their brutal, overwhelming performances in the quarterfinals and semifinals had shattered the illusion of an underdog victory. To the ordinary Soul Masters and the fanatical spectators, the chasm of Soul Power ranks remained an ironclad law of the world.
Ma Xiaotao was a Rank 67 assault-system Soul Emperor. The sheer, devastating explosive force of her Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul had incinerated any lingering doubts during her previous matches.
So, at this moment, the attitude of the masses pivoted once again.
"Liu Yuan is a monster, sure, but he is still just a four-ring Soul Ancestor," a burly mercenary argued over a mug of ale, his voice carrying over the tavern's din. "Even with those freaky Double Pupils and that bizarre healing trick, he will not even get within ten paces of the Evil Fire Phoenix's absolute domain."
"Exactly," his companion chimed in, slamming a fist on the table. "And do not forget Dai Yueheng. The eldest son of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion. Another Soul Emperor! Two Soul Emperors leading a team? That is practically unheard of in the history of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament. Heavenly Soul has Long Aotian to absorb some pressure, but the raw stat difference is a canyon."
This sentiment swept through the capital like a plague. Inside the opulent gambling dens of Star Luo City, the odds for Shrek Academy to take the championship plummeted to rock bottom. Mountains of gold coins flowed toward the Shrek banner. Money never lied; it reflected the brutal pragmatism of the masses. Faced with the absolute, crushing data of two Soul Emperors, Liu Yuan's previous miracles were suddenly dismissed as mere flukes, the result of arrogant opponents and sheer dumb luck.
High above the clamor, on the secluded terrace of a luxury hotel, Elder Xuan sat sprawled in a wide chair. He listened to the reports of the shifting public opinion delivered by a kneeling subordinate.
The deep creases on his weathered face, tight and anxious for weeks, finally smoothed out. A familiar, overbearing smugness crept back into his eyes.
The masses were not entirely blind, he mused. The natural order of the world had reasserted itself. The board was firmly back under Shrek's control.
Elder Xuan leaned forward, his gaze piercing through the night to lock onto the distant hotel housing the Heavenly Soul Imperial Academy. His lips curled into a vicious sneer. In his mind's eye, he could already see it: Liu Yuan screaming as the Phoenix flames reduced his arrogant bones to ash, and Du Busi's infuriatingly haughty face draining of all color.
"Du Busi... Liu Yuan... you two just wait for this old man," Elder Xuan muttered, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his wine jug. The clay cracked slightly under his immense strength.
"I sincerely hope that after you lose tomorrow, you honor your little bets. I want a front-row seat when you two wretched bastards humiliate yourselves before the entire continent." He took a long, greedy gulp of wine, the fiery liquid burning down his throat. "The shame you forced upon this old man... I will extract it from your hides a hundredfold."
Time flowed quickly amidst the restless anticipation of all factions. Soon, dawn broke on the morning of the next day.
This was the day of the grand finals.
The surrounding avenues of Star Luo Plaza had been entirely locked down by heavily armored imperial guards before the sun even crested the horizon. Hundreds of thousands of spectators braved the biting morning dew, their breath pluming in the cold air as they formed massive, winding queues outside the arena.
The Star Luo Empire had elevated this final match to the highest state priority. This was the ultimate collision to crown the absolute zenith of the continent's academies. To mark the occasion, Emperor Xu Jiawei had issued a direct imperial decree, unlocking the deepest vaults of the treasury.
Sixteen Class 7 panoramic imaging soul tools were deployed.
These priceless, metallic monoliths hovered silently around the perimeter of the arena, their complex arrays glowing with a faint, pulsing blue light. Once activated, they would capture every tremor of Soul Power, every drop of sweat, and every shattered stone, broadcasting the match across special wavelengths to receivers thousands of miles away.
At this very moment, the bustling city centers of the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Dou Ling Empire, and even the distant Sun Moon Empire were watching. Any major faction possessing the necessary projection equipment was tuned in to witness this peak duel in real-time.
Elder Xuan could not have been more thrilled by Emperor Xu Jiawei's grand stage.
In his rigid logic, the Shrek Team was destined to crush Heavenly Soul today. With sixteen Class 7 soul tools broadcasting the slaughter to the entire world, it was the perfect medium for his redemption. The continent would see him, Elder Xuan, as the brilliant strategist who steered Shrek from the brink of disaster back to its rightful throne.
More, he wanted the inner circle to see it. He wanted the elders of the Sea God Pavilion, and especially Elder Mu sitting deep within its halls, to watch his triumph. He needed to prove that his gamble was not a catastrophic failure, but a masterstroke that forged an even greater glory for Shrek.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, deep within the ancient, towering tree that housed Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion.
Inside this sacred hall, the absolute holy land of the Soul Master world, the air was thick and suffocatingly heavy.
A massive projection screen floated in the center of the spacious meeting room, illuminating the scarred flagstones of the Star Luo Plaza arena.
Almost all the elders of the Sea God Pavilion were present. Elder Song, Elder Lin, and several other reclusive powerhouses sat in their high-backed wooden chairs, their eyes glued to the flickering light screen.
At the head of the long, polished table sat Elder Mu. He rested quietly in his wooden wheelchair, his frail body looking as though a strong breeze might blow him away. Yet, beneath his drooping eyelids, his seemingly cloudy eyes burned with a deep, terrifyingly sharp light.
"Although Elder Xuan suffered severe missteps early on, the return of Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng has indeed stabilized Shrek's foundation," one elder murmured, breaking the heavy silence. "In this final match, barring any complete anomalies, our win rate exceeds ninety percent."
"I would not be so certain," Elder Lin replied, shaking her head. Her tone was laced with a rare, chilling caution. "That boy named Liu Yuan... I have studied the recordings of his previous matches. The power lurking within those Double Pupils is not strictly confined to the spiritual domain. Taking him down will still exact a heavy toll."
"A heavy toll?" another elder scoffed, waving a hand dismissively. "In the face of two fully recovered, peak-condition Soul Emperors, parlor tricks and strange eyes mean nothing. Absolute power dictates the outcome."
Back in Star Luo Plaza, the tension finally snapped.
The official referee strode into the dead center of the arena. He raised a sound-amplifying soul tool to his lips, his highly penetrating voice booming like thunder across the stadium and echoing through the projection screens across the continent.
"The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, Grand Finals—officially begins!"
"Will the competitors from both academies enter the arena!"
The command acted like a spark in a powder keg. Star Luo Plaza erupted. A deafening, fanatical roar shook the very foundations of the stadium, the loudest sound wave recorded since the tournament's inception.
From the left tunnel, the seven members of the Shrek Team marched out in a horizontal line.
Ma Xiaotao led the formation. Her crimson hair whipped wildly behind her like a raging inferno. With every step her boots took, the heavy stone slabs beneath her hissed, releasing wisps of white steam from the sheer, uncontrolled heat radiating from her body.
Flanking her was Dai Yueheng. He stalked forward like a starved tiger descending a mountain, his thick, domineering Soul Power visibly pulsing around his muscles in a suffocating aura.
Ling Luochen followed closely, her expression a mask of absolute frost, chilling the air in her wake. Behind them, Huo Yuhao, Bei Bei, Wang Dong, and Xu Sanshi moved in tight synchronization. Though they were relegated to support roles today, tethered to the overwhelming presence of two Soul Emperors, the team's combined aura fused into a single, crushing entity. It pressed down on the arena like a collapsing mountain, suffocating the audience.
From the right tunnel, the Heavenly Soul Imperial Academy team slowly emerged.
Liu Yuan walked at the absolute front. He had discarded his heavy armor for the finals, dressed instead in a sharp, immaculately tailored dark purple battle robe.
Compared to Shrek's explosive, boiling-oil presence, Liu Yuan's side felt unnervingly quiet. It was the silence of a lightless abyss.
Yet, beneath that calm exterior, Liu Yuan slowly opened his eyes. Within his Double Pupils, a terrifying fusion of purple-gold light and a faint, abyssal emerald-green shadow pulsed in a slow, rhythmic heartbeat.
A step behind him, Long Aotian walked with his arms crossed over his broad chest. His face was carved from granite, his imposing frame resembling an immovable Vajra statue.
The two teams halted at the center of the arena, exactly fifty meters apart.
Up in the VIP viewing gallery, Elder Xuan leaned so far forward he was nearly out of his seat. He stared down at Liu Yuan, a cruel, bloodthirsty smile stretching across his wrinkled face.
Down below, the referee raised his right arm high into the air. He swept his gaze across the fourteen youths, feeling the static electricity of their clashing Soul Powers prickling his skin. The air itself felt ready to detonate.
"Both teams, step back. Prepare—!"
Through the lenses of sixteen Class 7 soul tools, the eyes of the entire world locked onto the arena.
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]