In an instant, the atmosphere shifted, and the arena was filled with the crackling of soul power.
At that moment, a young man stood before the Shrek Team who seemed to be around the same age as Ma Xiaotao.
This youth had a huge bone structure, but he was very thin. His cheeks even appeared to be shriveled. However, his eyes were filled with determination and grit. "I am Gu Zhujian, it's my honor to spar with Shrek Academy. Please advise us!"
"I am Ma Xiaotao," As the leader of the team, Ma Xiaotao introduced herself.
Gu Zhujian squeezed out a slight laugh from his shriveled cheeks and said, "I hope to learn new things through this competition with Shrek Academy."
"Careful, you might get burnt," Ma Xiaotao replied cheekily.
Gu Zhujian's eyes flashed with a cold radiance. He glanced back at his team and his face hardened.
"We'll win." His tone was sharp, filled with determination that didn't match his frail appearance.
They might be feeling down and dispirited, but Gu Zhujian's two words carried a fierce resolve that immediately caught Ma Xiaotao's attention.
They didn't get this far just to lose to their doubts; even if defeat seemed inevitable, Gu Zhujian wasn't going to let his team surrender to fear.
"Both parties, please step back and prepare for the start of the match." The referee today looked to be around 60 years old. With him at the center, both parties distanced themselves.
Back in the Shrek Academy spectating area.
"So any bets on how long this match is going to last?" Wang Dong'er asked her friends.
"....I give it 30 minutes," Tang Ya said, and the others followed suit. Even Wang Yan couldn't help but chimed in as well.
While the others were busy putting down their bets, Huo Yuhao observed his surroundings with Spiritual Detection. A 3D map of the whole arena appeared in his mind, each figure moving in precise detail as Huo Yuhao monitored the audience.
Thinking about the incident he made that night made him think—wouldn't some Evil Soul Master think about doing something nefarious while in the middle of the tournament?
Now some "normal" terrorists wouldn't think of attacking one of the most celebrated events in the entire continent, with the best security and some of the most powerful soul masters present.
But Evil Soul Masters were a different breed altogether.
They thrived on chaos and fear, often attacking places and events no one would ever expect. The thought of someone trying to pull off something during the tournament nagged at Huo Yuhao.
From his knowledge, in the entire more than 20,000 years of history of the continental tournament, there had been no great incident during the tournament itself—except for that time during the era of Tang San.
The security was always top-notch, and the presence of powerful soul masters from every nation meant any attack would be suicide for most. But Evil Soul Masters were simply different.
'It's better to be paranoid at this moment than to wait for something to go wrong,' Huo Yuhao thought as he continued his careful surveillance of the arena.
His Spiritual Detection continued to sweep through the stands, picking up every little movement, fluctuation of soul power and surface thoughts. Every person seemed normal, excited about the upcoming matches, but Huo Yuhao refused to let his guard down.
Even if history had proven the tournament remained safe for countless eons, it didn't mean today would be the same—
'—Hehehe. There are so many people! With so much death and fear, could I finally breakthrough to Titled Douluo!?' A maniacal, twisted voice cackled from their demented mind.
It came from a seemingly ordinary young man with brown hair and green eyes, from anyone's perspective—he was like any ordinary young man that was enjoying the tournament.
'I got you, you sick bastard.' Huo Yuhao's Sharingan spun rapidly as an invisible energy surged out of his eyes; overwhelming spiritual power blasted out from his eyes mind, locking onto the twisted mind of the maniacal young man.
The man had the cultivation of a Soul Douluo, but due to years of mental corruption due to his evil cultivation method, his spiritual power was severely lacking and at the level of a Soul Emperor; which Huo Yuhao could effortlessly take down even before the evolution of his spiritual power.
The Sharingan's overwhelming power latched onto the target's consciousness like an iron vice, rooting the man in place. To the rest of the crowd, he looked no different, sitting quietly as if still watching the tournament—but in reality, he was immobilized by Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Suppression.
'You thought you could hide in plain sight,' Huo Yuhao thought coldly, his spiritual power tightening its grip. 'Let's see what you were planning.'
With a swift mental probe, Huo Yuhao dove deeper into the man's mind, uncovering fragmented thoughts of death, fear, and destruction.
The man was indeed an Evil Soul Master, and he had come to the tournament not just to watch but to unleash chaos. His thoughts were filled with visions of explosions, civilians and soul masters writhing in agony, and the thrill of absorbing the fear and suffering of thousands to fuel his breakthrough.
Huo Yuhao filtered through them all, unfazed.
'He's on his own? No backer, no hidden partner.... Ah, so it was some overconfident Evil Soul Master that wanted a quick way to becoming stronger, regardless if it would kill them as they think that they would be able to escape.'
Huo Yuhao sighed in relief and unhesitatingly release a huge amount of spiritual power into the Evil Soul Master's mind, turning it to mush and making him a vegetable.
To anyone in the stadium they might've thought he had simply fallen asleep.
Huo Yuhao turned towards Wang Yan and said, through his Spiritual Sharing, "Teacher Wang, please don't overreact, I have something important to say. If you have anything to say, just think about it loudly in your head.'
Wang Yan widened his eyes in shock and nodded, 'OKAY! IS THIS ALRIGHT?'
'....Tune it down a bit.'
'Uh...'
'Yup! That's good!' Huo Yuhao raised a thumbs up and his expression turned serious, 'I just killed an Evil Soul Master that was ready to unleash chaos in the tournament. Could you please inform the guards about a sleeping, but actually dead, man in row X and in seat X?'
'WHAT?!' Wang Yan'd eyes widened, his hands clasped together on his mouth.
'Ah!!' Huo Yuhao scrunched his face and turned to glare at him.
'Sorry! But, could you please verify things first?!'
Back on the stage.
As both parties stepped back, their formations had already started to change.
On Shrek Academy's side, Ma Xiaotao took her position at the front. While Bei Bei, Xi Xi and Xu Sanshi stood behind her in a triangular formation. Ling Luochen herself was slightly behind, with He Caitou and Ning Tian prepared for support.
On the other side, Dou Ling's team also unleashed their formation as they stepped back.
However, a scene that left Shrek Academy shocked appeared.
Gu Zhujian did not appear in front of the team even though he was the team leader and an assault-type soul master. Rather, he stood in the center while the rest gathered on two sides; seemingly like an arrowhead.
But the weirdest thing about it was that Gu Zhujian was in the center, which the control-type soul master is usually at, what kind of game are they playing?
In the face of such a situation, the reaction of Shrek Academy was to do nothing, for now. They only watched their opponents carefully.
Seeing that both parties were already in position, the referee gestured to the team leaders of both parties and shouted, "Match start!" Before he even finished speaking, the referee quickly left the center of the stage.
The soul masters of both parties unleashed their martial souls at the first instant.
Ning Tian raised her hand and manifested a small crystal tower with seven layers, three soul rings rose from beneath her feet
"Seven Glazed Tile Treasure. First Day: Speed."
"Third Day: Strength."
Two circles of color appeared around her six teammates, amplifying their speed and strength by 40%.
Xu Sanshi smirked as he held his Mystic Deep Turtle Shield and his fourth soul ring shone an intense purple light, and the next instance he swapped positions with Gu Zhujian.
"Shit!" Gu Zhujian cursed, eyes wide with shock as he saw Ma Xiaotao and Bei Bei striking at either side of him with their respective soul skill. Without any hesitation, he used his class 5 Invincible Barrier soul tool.
Soul Barriers are incredibly expensive for a one time use soul tool, but they're still highly sought after for their defensive properties. Even the combined strength of a Soul Emperor and a Soul Ancestor couldn't break the Class 5 Invincible Barrier.
However as the Invincible Barrier dissipates, Gu Zhujian found himself unable to take a breather as his feet was quickly turned frozen solid, and a scorching fist appeared before his eyes.
'Nooooo—!' Gu Zhujian was knocked out.
With Xu Sanshi, he grinned at the surprised looks of the rest of the Dou Ling Team. They turned angry when they saw their leader eliminated. Immediately they turned towards him and launched several soul skills at him.
"Bleeh," Xu Sanshi laughed and used his fourth soul skill, Mystic Deep Replacement, once more.
To the surprise of the Dou Ling Team, a large man with tanned skin and bald head, with a Godly Shotgun in each hand and a cigar in between his lips, appeared.
And much to their disbelief, an Invincible Barrier enveloped the man and swallowed their attacks.
As the golden barrier dissipated, He Caitou grinned.
"Sup bitches," he took aim and started blasting at them.
The power of the Godly Shotgun, after numerous modifications by both Huo Yuhao and He Caitou, was comparable to an all-out attack from a Soul Emperor with a spread that could cover three meters.
However, the only downside to this was that it could only be fired once before reloading it.
Sensing the danger of the Godly Shotgun, the ones with an Invincible Barrier immediately activated their soul barrier while the two Soul Ancestors without one quickly retreated behind them.
But that was their mistake....as a flash of lightning appeared and Xi Xi appeared behind one of them with a dagger in hand.
"Peakaboo."
Before the Soul Ancestor could react, Xi Xi's dagger glowed with her soul power as she swiftly struck, knocking her target unconscious with a single, precise blow.
The other Soul Ancestor turned in shock, but it was too late—Xi Xi had already disappeared into a blur of movement, vanishing from their sight before striking them down as well.
"No!"
"Qing Feng, Tang Niuniu!"
The remaining four of the Dou Ling Team were visibly shaken as their comrades, Qing Feng and Tang Niuniu, were swiftly taken out. Panic spread through their ranks as they realized how quickly the situation had turned against them.
"Stay focused!" one of them shouted, trying to rally the remaining members. "We can't fall apart now!"
But their morale had already crumbled.
"Icy Mist." At that moment, Ling Luochen raised her Ice Staff and a dense and chilly mist permeated their surroundings and enveloped the battlefield with dazzling speed, and formed a gigantic shroud that slowly clamped down on the Dou Ling Team.
"Give up now," Ma Xiaotao floated on the air, her fiery Phoenix wings flapping. A purple soul ring slowly shone as she raised her hand towards them.
"Or we won't show any more mercy." Bei Bei finished as he slowly walked up towards them, fierce purple blue lightning gathered around him as he raised his dragonic arm.
It was over. In just a matter of a few minutes, the Shrek Team easily dominated the Dou Ling Team without giving them the time to retaliate.
"W-We give up...." One of the Dou Ling Team members finally muttered, their voice trembling with defeat.
The others nodded in resignation, their spirit power dimming as they lowered their heads in surrender.
The referee appeared once more and raised his hand, "Victory of this team match goes to Shrek Academy!"
...
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