The weather wasn't great, being gloomy and somewhat oppressive, but the clouds in the sky weren't dark. However, the sun wasn't out but fortunately, the air was still fresh and clean, and there was no rain either.
The start of the round-robin tournament signified the opening of the participants' rest area. The round-robin tournament today was only the first part of the tournament and four of the eight groups would make an appearance today. However, all sixty-seven teams who qualified from the knockout round were sitting within the rest area with no exceptions.
They were here to spectate the tournament. More accurately, they wanted to once again experience the shock that occurred on the first day of the tournament. They wanted to see the youth who came from Shrek and the Tang Sect and see whether he really had six hundred thousand year soul rings.
Shrek was Shrek, the Shrek that had ten thousand years of glory. Practically every single academy had unconsciously set it as their target, yet deeply revered it. Even the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy wasn't an exception to this.
When the dark-green clad team from Shrek appeared in the participants' entrance tunnel, the atmosphere of the entire Star Luo Plaza started boiling. Loud cheers for Shrek began ringing out from the areas closest to the entrance tunnel.
Huo Yuhao walked expressionlessly at the very front of the team. Since they wanted to assume an air of power to terrify their opponents, they would naturally have to go all-out. Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, and Ling Luochen simply didn't bother turning up; they chose to stay in the hotel to recuperate and make their recovery as fast as possible.
Shrek Academy's resting area was located the furthest north, making it nearest to the city walls. Furthermore, their resting area was clearly larger than that of the other academies. The entire area had a total of twenty sofas and was staffed by an attendant. A table beside the sofas was filled with food, fruits, and drinks in order to cater to any needs the participants might have. Just how was this a tournament? It was practically a VIP spectator area.
In reality, the other academies weren't treated much differently than them. However, they didn't have any attendants. But more importantly, their areas were much smaller than Shrek's. Every resting area only had seven seats meant for the official team; the preparatory team or substitutes could only stand behind the others.
At this moment, the host was already building up the tension in the arena. He first announced the names of the academies that had already passed through the first round of the tournament and then proceeded to introduce each team in more detail.
It was just as Wang Yan had predicted, the group that Shrek belonged to only had a total of eight participating teams. Shrek Academy was naturally the most popular team in the entire tournament, overshadowing any and all other teams in the same group. After all, nobody had ever seen Shrek Academy put into an awkward situation where they had to put on a false strong front.
Other than the participants' resting area, there were also waiting areas located by either side of the enormous tournament stage that were used by the delegations of the various academies who would be fighting on stage.
After spouting a load of bullshit that stirred the emotions of the crowd, the announcer used his most impassioned voice to cry out, "Now, let us have the continent's number one academy, the representative team from Shrek Academy, in addition to their opponents, the representative team from the Star Luo Empire's Cloud Luo Soul Engineering Academy, enter the waiting area. May the leaders from both teams please step onto the stage to confirm the mode of battle."
The difference between the two academies could be seen from their introductions. When the announcer introduced Shrek Academy, he didn't mention the country it was located in. However, he would do this for the other academies. This was because no country would dare to claim that Shrek Academy belonged to it. Even the Heavenly Soul Empire, which Shrek technically belonged to, wasn't an exception to this.
Shrek Academy had its own Shrek City, the status of which was so incredibly high that every country had to give it an extremely high amount of respect.
When compared to Shrek Academy, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy was also comparably powerful. However, it had a much weaker foundation. Because of that, they could only compare themselves against Shrek during the Continental Advanced Soul Academy Tournament, and use that to stimulate the explosive growth of their students.
Bei Bei stood up and walked towards the stage after Wang Yan motioned for him to do so. The leader of the Cloud Luo Advanced Soul Engineering Academy's team was a buff Adonis who was practically no different from He Caitou. He had a head full of short, golden hair, and the outlines of his thick muscles could be seen below his white school uniform.
The two walked up to the stage together. The lot-drawing process was very simple; the referee took a cylindrical lot-drawing tube and allowed the leaders of both teams to inspect it.
The lot-drawing tube was transparent to prevent any possible cheating. One of the tube's sides had a small, round hole in it. The referee took three small balls that represented the three modes of combat and shoved them into the small hole, then turned the entire thing upside down. After that, he allowed each one of them to hold a side of the large sphere.
The referee shouted, "Three, two, one!"
Bei Bei and the opposing team leader simultaneously exerted force, throwing the large sphere into the air. If no small balls dropped out from the larger ball during this process, the referee would turn it over after catching it. The ball which dropped out then would be their mode of combat. If a small ball dropped out while the larger ball was in the air, that would represent their mode of combat.
This was the round-robin tournament's first lot-drawing, and it was extremely successful. When the two leaders threw the large ball twenty meters into the air, a small ball dropped out.
There were three small balls, each with their own distinctive color. They were red, yellow, and blue respectively.
Red represented the team fight, yellow represented the 1v1 fight, and blue represented the 2-2-3 fight. This time around, a small yellow ball dropped out of the large ball.
The referee caught the small ball as he retrieved the larger ball, which was falling back to the ground. After allowing both leaders to take a look at the smaller ball, he looked towards the Star Luo Emperor, who was seated at the top of the city walls. The latter gave a signal, and the announcer used the soul loudspeaker to make an announcement.
"Shrek Academy's fight against Cloud Luo Academy will be conducted via the 1v1 knockout mode. May both parties please send out a single member to take part in the competition."
1v1? After hearing that the competition was to be conducted in such a manner, the audience's eyes lit up. Every single member of the audience who could see him, in addition to the students from the various academies who had Huo Yuhao in their line of sight, cast their gazes towards him. They all hoped that Huo Yuhao would be the first person to come out and would complete a 1v7. Wouldn't that be the most satisfying outcome they could watch!? Who wouldn't want to feel the excitement and thrill that came from the appearance of six hundred thousand year soul rings again?
Both leaders glanced at each other, then stepped down from the stage. Bei Bei had already received instructions from Wang Yan before the lot-drawing. Wang Yan had told him to come back down after the lot-drawing, regardless of the format of the competition.
Bei Bei hurriedly returned to the waiting area, then cast an inquisitive gaze towards Wang Yan. "Teacher Wang, I'll go."
However, Wang Yan shook his head and spoke in a premeditated manner. "We should have a certain amount of assurance in this match. Out of the four empires, the empire that has the strongest soul engineering academy is the Sun Moon Empire. However, the soul engineering academies of the other three empires don't lag behind by much. Although our academy's Soul Tool Department isn't the strongest, we're definitely better than those from the Heavenly Soul, Dou Ling, and Star Luo Empires. This Cloud Luo Advanced Soul Engineering Academy comes from the Star Luo Empire, not the Sun Moon Empire. As a whole, I'm certain they won't be too strong. Furthermore, since they're soul engineers, I guarantee that they won't have any Soul King-ranked students. I'm suspecting that they won't even have too many Soul Ancestors. Assault-type soul masters will be put at a disadvantage against soul engineers, and we don't have any substitutes. Thus, we need to guarantee that none of you suffer any injuries. Otherwise, we run the risk of you not being able to recover during the one day of rest that we have. Taking all this into consideration, Xu Sanshi, you're up for the first round."
As he spoke, Wang Yan pointed at Xu Sanshi and whispered, "A defense-type soul master is most suited to restrain a soul engineer, especially a low-ranked one. Remember, do your best to control the consumption of your soul power. Last a few rounds on the stage. The longer you endure and the later we reveal our students, the better. Go."
The moment Xu Sanshi heard that he was going to go out first, he immediately stood up excitedly. Bending his right arm, he flexed his muscles and said proudly, "Just watch me." With that, he took large strides towards the stage.
Bei Bei turned towards He Caitou and asked, "Don't you think he's a bit thick?"
He Caitou laughed naughtily. "A bit."
Jiang Nannan snorted, "Extremely thick."
Xu Sanshi, who hadn't walked far, stumbled and nearly fell down, but he clenched his teeth and walked up to the stage.
The first student sent out by the Cloud Luo Academy wasn't tall, but his shoulders were very wide; he was even somewhat fat. His nervousness was visible on his face as he faced the tall Xu Sanshi, beads of sweat could already be seen on his forehead.
Any academy would be nervous while facing Shrek Academy, this was to be expected.
At such a young age, Huo Yuhao had revealed such a prodigal amount of strength. Wouldn't the somewhat older person in front of him be stronger than his junior? This seemed especially true when he looked at Xu Sanshi's fierce appearance. He began to feel weak inside! He subconsciously wiped his sweat with his sleeve, causing the spectators to burst into laughter.
Huo Yuhao not coming up to the stage had disappointed a large number of people. But this was still one of Shrek Academy's matches and they quickly got excited again, prepared and curious to see how strong Xu Sanshi, who was decent-looking in terms of power, was.
The referee called the two of them to him and said in a low voice, "The rules of the 1v1 knockout round state that the loser has to immediately step down from the stage, while the winner can choose to either continue fighting or switch out. Each party has seven people, and the competition will go on until all seven people from one side are defeated. Understand?"
"Understood." Xu Sanshi replied in a very straightforward manner. However, his opponent was stammering. "Un-understood."
The referee said, "Okay. Both parties, return to your sides. The match will begin with my call. You're not allowed to use stationary soul tools or any soul tools that have a high degree of killing power."
As he spoke, the referee began to step back. However, the student from the Cloud Luo Academy squeezed out a smile and said to Xu Sanshi, "I-I'm called Ma Yingjun. Senior, please go easy on me."
The corner of Xu Sanshi's mouth twitched as he said proudly, "Are you as handsome as me?"
Ma Yingjun hurriedly shook his head to the point where his brain shook like a drum. "No, no."
Satisfied, Xu Sanshi nodded. "Fine. I'll go a little easy on you."
Oh!" Ma Yingjun retreated with a delighted expression on his face. It almost seemed as if he had received the biggest gift of his life.
None of them was using a sound amplifying soul tool. Therefore, the audience couldn't hear what they were saying. But from what they could see, it seemed that the student from Cloud Luo Academy wasn't too eager to fight!
And in this case, they weren't mistaken. When Cloud Luo Academy discovered that Shrek Academy would be their opponent in the round-robin, and in the first match on top of that, they decided to conserve all the strength they could. At the same time, they decided to not put up too much of a fight to keep a friendly relationship with Shrek Academy.
According to Wang Yan's info, Cloud Luo Academy wasn't very strong. They had paid quite the price just to get through the first round. As a result, many of their strongest students were injured. As if that wasn't enough, they had now encountered the strongest academy on the continent. It was no wonder that their fighting spirit was so low! Anyway, even if they lost to Shrek Academy during this round-robin, it wasn't something to be ashamed of. Therefore, they decided to go on stage and do their best, leaving the rest to fate.
To tell the truth, they weren't too happy that it had turned into a 1v1 fight. They would have preferred to go in as a group and get over with it as soon as possible.
The first match of the round-robin phase started under such premises.
Xu Sanshi arrived in front of the platform and put a thin cigar in his mouth. Afterward, he used a small lighter-type soul tool to light the cigar and started to smoke, holding it crookedly in his mouth. From his appearance, he didn't really seem like a good person.
Even the audience went into an uproar after seeing his behavior. Cloud Luo Academy was also angered. This guy was just too arrogant. He even pulled out a cigar just as the match was about to start. Was Shrek Academy so lax when it came to their students?
The referee also furrowed his brows. Nevertheless, he didn't take action. First, there wasn't a rule that forbade a student to smoke. Second, he didn't want to offend Shrek Academy.
"The match can commence!" The referee shouted as he retreated to the edge of the platform.
Cloud Luo Academy's Ma Yingjun had been waiting for these scary words all along. When the referee gave the signal, his short and stout body quickly reacted. He lifted his arms, and three metal pipes as thick as thumbs came out of them. Two metal pipes as thick as his arms came out of each shoulder. The wings on his back also quickly unfurled, and his two stout legs also produced six metal pipes. On his chest was a soul tool that resembled a heart-protective mirror. It was obviously a shield-type soul tool. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that he was armed to the teeth right now.
Xu Sanshi's body didn't change drastically like that. A somewhat unremarkable black tortoise shell appeared in his right hand. At the same time, four soul rings, two yellow and two purple, started to shine.
Four soul rings?
The spectators were quite disappointed. He had only four rings! Many of them were looking forward to seeing some hundred thousand year old soul rings!
Among the spectators, the ratio of soul masters was less than 1:1000! Most of them were only there for fun. Very few knew just how precious a hundred thousand year soul ring was.
The difference between Xu Sanshi's soul release and Huo Yuhao's incredible performance from yesterday was the same as heaven and earth. Therefore, it was no wonder that the spectators were disappointed. But at this time, Xu Sanshi did something very unexpected.
He started to run.
Was he running toward his opponent? No! He turned around and ran in the opposite direction, just like a deserter leaving his post. He was running toward the edge of the platform.
At this time, that defensive soul tool made out of 108 pillars was active. But the defensive barrier generated by the soul tool wasn't directly attached to the ring; there was approximately a three meter distance between them. According to the rules of the tournament, if one were to fall from the ring, they would be disqualified; that was the purpose of the distance of those three meters.
Ma Yingjun had already made up his mind before going on stage. The tactic he was going to deploy was very simple: struggle and consumption. Even if the flying-type soul tool on his back couldn't allow him to fly too high, it was still good for dodging. As long as he could consume some of Xu Sanshi's soul power, he would be satisfied.
But when the match started, he saw Xu Sanshi turn around and start running in the opposite direction. Ma Yingjun was left speechless, and thought to himself, Boss, why are you running away?! Didn't you just say that you would go easy on me? What's the meaning of all this?!
No one knew what Xu Sanshi was thinking. Only his good friend Bei Bei, who quarreled with him every day, guessed his intentions correctly.
Bei Bei curled his lips and unintentionally revealed a strange smile. "This guy seems in the mood to play dirty tricks."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Sanshi arrived at the edge of the platform. Next, he unexpectedly jumped outside the platform!
It goes without saying, the audience immediately called out in alarm. Even the emperor of the Star Luo Empire was shocked.
According to the rules of the competition, if your feet were to land outside the platform, you would be disqualified!
Let alone Xu Sanshi, who was from Shrek Academy, even students of lesser known academies hadn't ever done anything like this! Admitting defeat without even trying? What kind of situation was this?
Indeed, what kind of situation was this? Xu Sanshi had a crafty expression on his face. Next, the fourth soul ring on his body lit up.
The radiance of his purple thousand year soul ring covered the arena. The spectators were still calling out in alarm when a strange scene played out in front of their eyes.
Xu Sanshi's black tortoise shell emitted a pale radiance. Soon after that, the one that was jumping outside the ring and was about to collide with the defensive barrier wasn't him anymore, but Ma Yingjun.
In other words, Xu Sanshi and Ma Yingjun had swapped places.
Ma Yingjun, who had been looking at Xu Sanshi jumping outside the platform with a stupid expression on his face, suddenly found himself in midair. He started to fall on the ground soon after, while Xu Sanshi was now standing in his previous position.
Even if Ma Yingjun wasn't too bright, he was still an elite student chosen by Cloud Luo Academy to participate in the tournament! If they sent him first, it meant that he wasn't that weak. After all, he too had displayed four soul rings, three yellow and one purple. And just as he was about to use his flying-type soul tool on his back to rise up into the air…
Xu Sanshi, who was still standing at his previous position, took the cigar out of his mouth and shouted, "Come forth, hundred thousand year soul ring!"
"Peng——"
Ma Yingjun was just too pitiful. Just as he was about to activate his soul tool, he was scared to death by Xu Sanshi's sudden yell. He directly fell to the ground.
A heavy soul tool covered his whole body. Therefore, when he fell from a height of five meters, he would be still reduced to a mess even if had thick skin and strong bones!
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, who were now in the waiting area, were completely stunned. They looked at each other and said almost at the same time, "It ended like this?"
When Ma Yingjun crashed to the ground, the spectators suddenly went very quiet. If time were to stop right now, one would notice that at least a hundred thousand of them had their mouths wide open. Even the emperor was no exception.
Huo Yuhao had been planning to use his Spiritual Detection Sharing to help Xu Sanshi, but just as he was wondering if it could bypass the defensive barrier, the match was already over.
The referee was also at a loss. It had been less than three seconds since he had shouted 'the match can commence'. And now, it was already over.
Xu Sanshi held the black tortoise shell in his right hand and used the left one to stuff the thin cigar back into his mouth. Afterward, he calmly said, "Next."
The purpose of this cool pose was to imitate Huo Yuhao, but the effect he obtained was completely different.
After that short time of silence, the audience went into an uproar once again. Over 90% of them had no idea what had just happened.
Was this Shrek Academy's mysterious power?
Standing beside the platform, Bei Bei explained what had happened to his teammates, "Sanshi's fourth soul skill is called Mysterious Underworld Replacement. With this skill, he can instantaneously swap positions with people in a certain range. This skill is quite good, and amongst defense-type soul masters, it can be considered almost godly. However, when used by him, it actually looks so lame. The way he uses his Mysterious Underworld Replacement leaves me speechless. I almost feel like crying."
He Caitou was stupefied as he said, "Brother Sanshi is really shameless!"
As the saying goes, while the laymen watch for fun, only professionals understand the workings. The students of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, who were seated not too far off from Shrek Academy, didn't feel like laughing at Xu Sanshi. They had more or less guessed the effects of this soul skill.
When he went on stage and showed his four soul rings, they had breathed a sigh of relief. Someone with four soul rings should only be a member of Shrek's preparatory team. But after seeing the shield in his right hand and the trick he had used, the students of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy started to become anxious once again.
The captain of the main team, Ma Rulong, said in a serious tone, "As you would expect from Shrek Academy, they aren't short of talented people."
When Xu Sanshi swaggering back to his original position, the referee finally reacted. He quickly went to the edge of the platform to check on Ma Yingjun, who had crashed to the ground and was now a mess.
Xu Sanshi also came over, and spoke while still holding the cigar in his mouth, "Little brother, are you alright?"
Ma Yingjun subconsciously replied, "I feel pain everywhere after falling. How did I even end up here?"
"Didn't I say I would go easy on you?" Xu Sanshi said with a stern expression, "Therefore, I used the easiest way to make you fall from the platform. Anyway, no need to thank me. You can go now." With that, he waved his hand to Ma Yingjun.
Ma Yingjun also unconsciously waved his hand and went toward his team's waiting area.
What could the referee even say at this point?
The winner of the first match of the 1v1 elimination phase is… Shrek Academy!"
Ma Yingjun arrived at his team's waiting area. After pondering for a bit, he confusedly said to his team captain, "Captain, was I just tricked?"
The captain of Cloud Luo Academy's team hit him on the head and howled, "Idiot! The academy completely lost its face thanks to you! Shang Yue, you're next."
"Yes." A girl immediately stood up from Cloud Luo Academy's team, quickly climbing up to the platform.
"Beautiful!" Xu Sanshi's eyes lit up as he stared at the military-looking girl in front of him.
Xu Sanshi outward appearance wasn't too bad; he had a square face and a normal-shaped nose and mouth. Even though he wasn't as elegant and scholarly as Bei Bei, he could still be considered good-looking. However, his attitude was completely different than what he looked like.
Shang Yue, who stood opposite him, was a 1.7 meter-tall lady who appeared to be about eighteen or nineteen years old. Even though she wasn't a peerless beauty, she still had an extremely slender figure; this was especially so for her long pair of legs, which stood out.
Her form-fitting robes further served to accentuate her exceptionally beautiful figure.
A pervert such as Xu Sanshi would start observe the lady in front of him from the bottom upwards. Thus, the first thing he saw was her slender, round thighs. When his sight reached her perky chest, his pupils instantly widened. His mouth widened slightly, and it seemed like he was about to start drooling.
Fortunately, he knew that Jiang Nannan was still looking at him. Thus, he forced his perverted gaze away from Shang Yue's chest and forcefully swallowed the saliva that had gathered to the side of his mouth.
Chang Yue wasn't much older than Xu Sanshi, but she did have a boyfriend.
She had clearly seen Xu Sanshi's 'performance' just now, thus she immediately raised her eyebrows and asked, "What're you looking at?"
Xu Sanshi almost subconsciously replied, "Steamed buns."
"You…!" Chang Yue immediately flew into a rage, then shot straight towards him.
Perhaps due to the fact that the referee couldn't bear to continue watching a certain person's vulgar display, he immediately shouted 'start', then retreated backwards.
Chang Yue's fighting style was completely different from Ma Yingjun's. She had a pair of long blades sheathed on her back, which she proceeded to unsheathe the moment that her body shot forwards. As she held one blade in each hand, the two four foot-long blades immediately lit up with a brilliant white light. Afterwards, two three foot-long beams of sword-light shot straight towards Xu Sanshi.
Wang Yan, who was in front beneath the stage, suddenly blurted out, "A close-combat soul tool! Pay attention to it. Most of the time, soul engineers who use close-combat soul tools are extremely formidable in close-combat. Their soul skills might be somewhat weak, but their close-combat fighting abilities are still relatively strong. The best way to deal with them is to not get close to them. If you do, you��ll have a big problem on your hands."
Huo Yuhao's gaze remained fixated on Chang Yue's close-combat soul tool as he began to reminisce about his own soul tool. It was the only remnant he had left to remember his mother by—the White Tiger's Dagger.
When he'd fought against the Wind Baboon, it was precisely because of the White Tiger Dagger's special effect that he'd been able to escape being killed by the first soul beast he'd ever met in his life.
"Clang, clang—"
Onstage, Chang Yue's long blades viciously struck Xu Sanshi's Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle, which caused white sparks to immediately fill the surrounding air. At that moment, Chang Yue's soul rings were on full display. Just like Ma Yingjun, she had three yellow and one purple ring. Furthermore, her martial soul was somewhat strange, as her head was the most affected by her martial soul; her originally golden hair had begun to turn gray, she'd grown much taller, and her muscles were now so big that they were bulging. Her eyes had also turned a crystalline yellow. Her lips were jutting out slightly, revealing what seemed to be canine teeth.
A dog-type martial soul? Furthermore, this seems to be a very strong one.
A martial soul like this was relatively decent, as it strengthened its user by a large amount. Considering Chang Yue's ability as a close-combat soul engineer, it could be said to be complement her very well. The only flaw of a martial soul like this was that her aesthetics would be ruined when she activated it.
When he saw this, Xu Sanshi evilly cried out as he blocked Chang Yue's attack with his shield, "Ghost!"
His cry made the already-seething Chang Yue immediately launch a storm of sword-beams towards him as she slashed madly at him. Although Xu Sanshi talked a lot of shit, he seemed to simply be an airbag at this moment. The only thing he did was unceasingly adjust the position of his Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle as he cowered behind it, which made it seem as if he had no intentions of attacking.
The violent booms coming from the stage, alongside the scene of Xu Sanshi being completely trashed once again, caused both an uproar and a general sense of puzzlement to spread amongst the spectators. From their point of view, Huo Yuhao and Xu Sanshi were both from the same academy. But if that was so, why was there be such a large gap between them?
The activation of a soul tool drained quite a bit of soul power. Furthermore, the drain on one's soul power was directly proportional to the might of the close-combat soul tool being used. Chang Yue's pair of blades were a Class 3 close-combat soul tool, thus they were relatively extraordinary in terms of strength. As she relentlessly poured down powerful blows with no regard for her soul power, Xu Sanshi gradually retreated, step by step.
However, despite her powerful cultivation, she still eventually ran out of energy. After yet another flurry of blows, she began to feel that she was overexhausting her soul power. Xu Sanshi, on the other hand, was still ten or so meters away from the edge of the stage, despite his constant retreating.
It wasn't as if Chang Yue hadn't attempted to find a flaw in Xu Sanshi's defense. However, the latter's use of the Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle was extremely clever. No matter what way she tried to attack him, he was always able to block it in time. More importantly, whenever she tried to attack him from another direction, the retreating Xu Sanshi would instead steady his footsteps, then retreat in another direction. This way, Chang Yue subconsciously chose to attack him in a frontal manner.
Due to the overexhaustion of her soul power, Chang Yue's blades began to slow down.
At that moment, the corner of Xu Sanshi's mouth curled into a smile. "Ah, ah… I can't hold it anymore! Quick, be more forceful, be more forceful!"
"Bastard!" Chang Yue's large eyes went round, then she fiercely inhaled a large mouthful of air. She forcefully gathered the soul power in her body, then re-intensified the power of the blades she was holding as she once again forced Xu Sanshi to retreat backwards.
Ten meters, nine meters, eight meters… five meters, three meters, one meter… Finally, under Chang Yue's unrelenting assault, Xu Sanshi was finally forced to the edge of the stage. Currently, he would fall off if he took just a single step backwards.
Chang Yue's four soul rings had continuously flickered during her previous attack, but she hadn't seemed to use any soul power on the surface. This was one of the unique characteristics of a soul engineer: When she'd chosen her soul rings, Chang Yue had chosen ones that would increase her strength and speed. This way, she could make up for the deficiencies that her martial soul had. Furthermore, her combined fighting power after using a soul tool would be much greater than what it would've been if she'd remained a simple soul master.
Right when she was about to succeed and win the fight, her last two soul rings simultaneously lit up, while her twin blades that had previously emitted white light now had a faint, green luster to them. The strong soul power undulations they were emitting caused even the surrounding air to distort. Her blades then flashed forwards as struck towards Xu Sanshi with an all-out attack.
She's won!
When Chang Yue struck towards Xu Sanshi with her two swords, every single student from Cloud Luo Academy, including her, thought this exact phrase.
They all knew how strong she was; if she were to launch an all-out attack, even a Soul King-ranked expert wouldn't be able to take a direct blow from her, let alone Xu Sanshi, who had no path of retreat.
However, right when these thoughts of victory popped into their minds, they instantly transformed into thoughts of astonishment.
Just before Chang Yue's blades struck Xu Sanshi's Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle, Xu Sanshi's body suddenly flickered to the side. At the same time, he slanted the angle of his shield, which caused Chang Yue's twin blades to practically slide across the surface of his shield.
It was true that Xu Sanshi had been forced into the corner of the arena, but at the same time, Chang Yue herself had also been forced into that corner as well! When she felt her swords strike essentially thin air, the momentum carrying her immediately caused her to fly off the stage!
Her greatest mistake was falling for Xu Sanshi's plan; her decision-making skills had clearly been affected when she became angered by him. Combined with the string of attacks that had given her the absolute advantage in their battle, she'd forgotten the most important thing: Even though Xu Sanshi was a defense-type soul master, he didn't have to block everything; he could also dodge an attack!
Xu Sanshi hadn't dodged any of her attacks when she'd gone on the offensive, yet he'd suddenly changed his movements at this crucial moment… Chang Yue simply didn't have the time to react.
The moment that she passed Xu Sanshi, Chang Yue immediately came to her senses. However, it was already too late for her to thrust her blades into the ground to stabilize herself.
Xu Sanshi nimbly turned the Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle in his hand around, then lightly smacked the flat of it against Chang Yue's protruding buttocks. A crisp 'pa' rang out. Combined with the momentum that Chang Yue had from when she'd charged forward, this was the straw that broke the camel's back; Chang Yue immediately fell off the stage and rolled forwards.
This was the second match in a row where a dramatic change had occurred! Xu Sanshi had taken a beating from Chang Yue from the very beginning; in fact, he seemed like he'd collapse at any moment, yet he was still able to turn defeat into victory. Was this really just a fluke?
After falling off the stage, Chang Yue face had turned ashen. However, she was still somewhat drained from using all of her strength earlier.
On the stage, Xu Sanshi kept an innocent look on his face as he looked towards her. He shrugged his shoulders, then said, "You can't blame me. It's just that you were so bouncy that you got yourself bounced out. A mistake, that was definitely a mistake." However, his gaze was fixated on Chang Yue's protruding buttocks the entire time he spoke. Worse, once he'd finished speaking, his gaze turned towards Jiang Nannan, who was seated within the resting area.
Jiang Nannan's expression became frosty, and she turned to retrieve a pair of scissors from somewhere unknown. She then grabbed an elongated fruit from the table in front of her.
Snip.
Xu Sanshi instantly felt a certain area of his body tighten up, and he immediately turned around. He now had a righteous look on his face as he said to the referee, "I've won. Let's move on to the next match."
The referee's gaze towards him became somewhat strange; he'd never seen such a strange competition in his life.
At that moment, the leader of Cloud Luo Advanced Soul Engineering Academy's team took the stage and took large strides towards Xu Sanshi.
From the viewpoint of the spectators, this leader should've been angry and lashed out at Xu Sanshi due to his previous actions. However, the fact that he didn't do so astonished even the referee somewhat.
Although he had a somewhat chilly and stern expression on his face as he faced Xu Sanshi, he didn't fly into a rage as he spoke. Instead, he bowed slightly to Xu Sanshi, then said, "Cloud Luo Advanced Soul Engineering Academy, Situ Yu."
Xu Sanshi seemed to have felt something as well. The relaxed look on his face vanished slightly, "Shrek, Xu Sanshi."