"There are twenty-six core disciples from the second to fifth years, all present, Elder Xuan," Wang Yan said hurriedly.
"We are selecting seven reserve team members today." Xuan Zi glanced lazily at the crowd upon hearing this. "In that case, let's have a free-for-all. Everyone, enter the martial soul arena. If you are kicked out or surrender, you lose your qualification to compete. Keep going until only seven remain. Do you understand?"
"Understood!"
Although the crowd was dissatisfied, they still nodded.
This old man was unfathomable, and even the Inner Academy Disciples respected him greatly. He must be a highly respected, steady, and reliable elder of the pavilion.
Usually, he seemed sloppy and unreliable, but at critical moments, he would surely act decisively to eliminate all monsters and demons—a 'hidden master' type of character, right?
They were very familiar with this trope.
"No objections? Then let's begin." After saying this, Xuan Zi slipped away, presumably to find some alcohol.
Inside the martial soul arena, the battle exploded completely.
Lu Cheng stood in a corner of the arena, his gaze indifferent as he surveyed his surroundings. While the battle raged so fiercely around him that people were almost knocking each other's brains out, a radius of several dozen meters around Lu Cheng remained completely silent.
"Huff, huff—" Wang Dong'er was the first to reach her limit. Her Radiant Goddess Butterfly wings fluttered, and she landed behind Lu Cheng, making a face. A fourth-year student who had been chasing her twitched his mouth, turned around, and began fighting with the other students.
Soon after, Xiao Xiao, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng all gathered by his side.
"You brute!" Jiang Nannan stomped her foot on Xu Sanshi's turtle shield, her immense strength causing him to stumble and nearly fall out of the arena.
Fortunately, Bei Bei, surrounded by lightning, grabbed his arm, preventing him from being eliminated.
"…" A shadow flashed across Xu Sanshi's eyes, but he could only lower his head and quickly retreat.
Everything that happened outside Shrek City a few days ago had completely overturned his perception. That guy was simply a monster—his father had already sent a letter telling him not to provoke him further; if he could repair the relationship, that would be for the best.
Could he reconcile? Reconcile, my foot—
It would be good enough if that guy didn't beat him to death.
"Still not making a move?" Dai Yueheng's eyes flickered. His gaze had been fixed on that young man from the very beginning.
From the way people were circling him, one could see his terrifying strength and talent, but surely he wouldn't just stand there without doing anything the whole time?
"Sister Nannan," Lu Cheng said softly.
"Okay." Jiang Nannan's body, which had been chasing Xu Sanshi, suddenly paused. Her offensive momentum dissipated, and her long, beautiful legs lightly tapped the ground, tracing a graceful arc as she retreated toward Lu Cheng.
At the same time, a bow of red fire slowly condensed in his hand.
A wave of heat rose around him, and many gazes instantly turned toward him. Lu Cheng was the biggest variable in this assessment; one could even say that whoever he wanted to keep, he would keep.
With too many wolves and too little meat, excluding the people around Lu Cheng, only one spot was left.
The young man strolled leisurely, his right hand nocking an arrow, pulling the bowstring taut. As the brilliant red arrow shot out, another figure was blasted out of the arena.
Another arrow was shot toward Dai Huabin.
The latter's face was extremely ugly. Together with Zhu Lu by his side, he unleashed their martial soul fusion technique. A massive white tiger appeared in the arena, but it was only mighty for an instant before being pierced through the head by that arrow and exploding into pieces.
Pfft—
Dai Huabin's body was kicked heavily out of the arena, falling to the ground, pale and bloodless.
Zhu Lu, on the other hand, fared much better. Her beautiful eyes were filled with terror and worry as she held Dai Huabin's body and cried out.
However, this sound was quickly drowned out by the noise of the battle.
Xie Huanyue summoned his martial soul, the Pipi Elephant, for martial soul possession. Despite his top-tier defense and tankiness, he still couldn't withstand the power of a single arrow. Even though he curled into a ball, he was blasted out of the arena.
He tapped his feet lightly, retreated a few steps to steady himself, glanced at that figure with a complex expression, and sighed softly. That person had clearly held back.
And at this moment, it was like picking soldiers. Whoever Lu Cheng wanted to eliminate, that person was shot out by an arrow.
The next instant, Lu Cheng's expression was relaxed. He raised the bow in his hand and shot another arrow with a whoosh.
Xu Sanshi's eyes trembled. He hurriedly summoned his Xuanming Turtle martial soul for possession; four soul rings rose from his feet, and he condensed several layers of shields.
But the next instant, that fiery red arrow pierced straight through the layers of turtle shields, exploded through them, and, carrying a terrifying blast of air, broke through Xu Sanshi's Xuanming Shield and pierced his abdomen.
Pfft—
Blood spurted out, and his body was thrown high into the air, falling outside the arena.
Except for Dai Huabin, Xu Sanshi had it the worst.
And with that, only seven people remained on the stage: Lu Cheng, Jiang Nannan, Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, Bei Bei, Wu Feng, and Ning Tian.
"Why did you have to be so ruthless?" Bei Bei said angrily.
"The grudge between you and Sanshi shouldn't warrant such targeting."
"Shut up." Xuan Zi's figure slowly appeared.
He glanced at Bei Bei indifferently.
"If that arrow had been aimed at you, you wouldn't be qualified to stand here and talk so righteously either."
"This selection competition has been passed down for many years. If you have an opinion, why not go cry to Elder Mu and let him see just how incompetent his chosen successor is."
Bei Bei clenched his fists, his face flushed with shame and anger. He understood what Elder Xuan meant. Everything is based on strength.
And what shamed him even more was that he was able to stay in this competition not because of his own strength, but perhaps because of Elder Xuan's intentions—
"If you aren't convinced, you can come find me at any time."
Lu Cheng glanced indifferently at Xu Sanshi, who was curled up like a shrimp in pain. He had just been hunted by the Xuanming Sect the day before, although he had wiped those guys out along with Yan Shaozhe. But he still felt unsettled.
As for Dai Huabin—
Under Zhu Lu's terrified gaze, Lu Cheng slowly walked up to him, bent down, and smiled warmly.
"I heard you've been spreading rumors that I'm dead?"
Dai Huabin's face turned blue and purple, and he turned his head away, not daring to meet his gaze.
"Trash, I overestimated you."
Hearing this, Dai Yueheng and the others in the distance had strange expressions, but they heard it clearly.
Yao Haoxuan looked at Dai Yueheng in surprise.
"Your brother has a grudge against him?"
"I don't know." Dai Yueheng shook his head with an ugly expression.
He knew his brother too well.
It was highly likely that the latter had caused the trouble, but with Lu Cheng's current rising momentum, he would likely be a veteran of the Sea Gods Pavilion or even the Pavilion Master in the future. It was not a wise move for the White Tiger Duke's family to offend a genius of this level.
"Boring." Lu Cheng waved his hand, and only then did a bright smile appear on his face when he saw the ragged old man.
"Elder Xuan, long time no see—"
"Heh." Xuan Zi's eyelid twitched.
The closer this kid got, the more his left eye hurt.
Notes:
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