The first battle ended quickly.
Under the dense red light, Yu Tian Heng and others were thrown out one by one, falling out of the arena.
With a final boom, the red light receded, and the previously fused figure split back into two individuals.
After winning, Xie Yue's gaze didn't linger on his opponents but instead swept over Su Cheng, who was watching from the sidelines.
After a brief moment of eye contact, Xie Yue nodded and returned to stand behind Qian Renxue, while Hu Leina also glanced at him curiously before doing the same.
Although they had just experienced a battle, Xie Yue and Huleina seemed unscathed, displaying their formidable strength.
The spectators' expressions grew more solemn. With just one round, they effortlessly defeated a seed team, showcasing their terrifying power.
Especially for Shui Bing'er.
She knew that as the core control-type Soul Master and commander of the team, during decisive battles, these Soul Kings had to rely on her to organize their teammates for restrictions.
However, Su Cheng could see that Xie Yue and Hu Leina, despite appearing effortless in the battle, had actually consumed a considerable amount of energy.
In theory, with their powerful Martial Souls and cultivation at the Soul King level, defeating the main team of Tian Dou Royal Academy would be much easier. However, it would take a lot more time, unlike the high efficiency of Martial Soul Fusion Skills.
But as powerful as Martial Soul Fusion Skills were, their drawbacks were evident—extremely high consumption of soul power.
There were many reasons for this.
Firstly, such skills ultimately relied on multiple people to perform, and no matter how close the Soul Masters were, their compatibility could never reach one hundred percent.
In addition to the mutual influence between Soul Masters, the Martial Souls were similarly affected.
Even if the Soul Masters had no conflicts, there would still be friction after Martial Soul fusion.
The essence of Martial Soul Fusion Skills was to complement the core information of bloodlines, but Martial Souls themselves contained not only core information but also evolved attributes and attack methods.
Moreover, during promotion, due to reasons such as absorbing Soul Rings and absorbing soul power, it would bring about additional changes. While these things could continuously enhance Martial Soul strength, they were impurities to the core essence.
It was precisely because of these factors that Martial Soul Fusion Skills could generally only be used as a trump card for Soul Masters.
The first match ended, and it was soon the turn of the deputy team of Tian Dou Royal Academy led by Su Cheng to face off against the team from Shenfeng Academy.
As they passed each other, Yu Tian Heng's expression was somewhat complicated.
They had heard of the performance of the opponent in the preliminaries. Based on this, the final ranking of the Tian Dou Royal Second Team in this competition would probably be stronger than the main team.
However, even so, there was no hope of defeating the Martial Soul Hall team.
Those Soul Kings were fine, but from his understanding of Su Cheng, the pressure wouldn't be too much in a same-level battle.
But the oppressive force brought by the woman leading them was too strong. Even just standing there made people hesitant to meet her gaze.
Dugu Yan appeared quite relaxed in comparison.
Looking at Su Cheng, she smiled and said, "Junior brother, good luck."
Su Cheng nodded back at her and then led his team onto the stage.
Just as Su Cheng and his team were about to engage in battle with the team composed of Feng Xiaotian and Huo Wu, Zhu Zhuqing silently joined the group where the Shrek Academy team was.
When Flanders saw her return, he was first delighted, then surprised.
At this moment, Zhu Zhuqing's cultivation had reached the level of a Soul King.
As for the specific level, even Flanders and Liu Erlong, two Soul Saints in the team, couldn't fully discern it, only knowing that she was not at the level of a newly advanced Soul King.
"Zhuqing, you've advanced to Soul King?!" Flanders couldn't help but exclaim.
Upon hearing his words, the others were suddenly filled with inexplicable shock.
When the qualifying round had just ended, Zhu Zhuqing had just reached level forty-eight.
In the short period of less than a month, she had actually advanced two levels, successfully absorbed Soul Rings, and advanced to a Soul King?
How did she achieve this?
The three members of the Golden Iron Triangle exchanged glances, their doubts mixed with a hint of solemnity.
Liu Erlong didn't hesitate too much and immediately grabbed Zhu Zhuqing's arm to probe her with her soul power.
This speed of advancement made them suspect whether she had used some kind of evil method.
As her soul power circulated, Liu Erlong's expression gradually softened, and she shook her head slowly at Flanders and Yu Xiaogang, which finally relieved them.
Not to mention their stance on evil methods, this was the Martial Soul Hall. With so many experts around, if there was a sinister Soul Master in the team, it would be impossible to conceal it, and the end result would be the entire team being wiped out.
However, in Liu Erlong's perception, Zhu Zhuqing's soul power was extremely pure at this moment, even purer than an ordinary Soul Master, which was something an evil Soul Master couldn't achieve.
"Zhuqing, why did your cultivation advance so rapidly?" Flanders asked in confusion.
This was the most puzzling aspect for everyone in Shrek Academy.
Although Zhu Zhuqing had previously experienced rapid advancements in cultivation, coupled with the ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring, and considering the longer time period, it was still acceptable.
The current situation was somewhat beyond the scope of common sense.
"My cultivation advanced rapidly because of some special encounters in the past few days, leading to the reawakening and evolution of my Martial Soul," Zhu Zhuqing said calmly, stating the reason she had prepared in advance.
The others looked at her with scrutiny, pondering the truthfulness of her words.
It was Yu Xiaogang who suddenly realized, thinking of the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul possessed by Tang San, which contained the bloodline of the Blue Silver Emperor.
He nodded to the others and said, "Indeed, some Martial Souls may encounter similar situations."
With even Yu Xiaogang acknowledging this explanation, the others stopped doubting.
It was Zhu Zhuqing herself who was momentarily stunned. She had never expected Yu Xiaogang to be so cooperative, voluntarily endorsing the fabricated reason she had given.
"As for Dai Mubai, on the way to Martial Soul City, he felt that his strength was insufficient and didn't want to drag everyone down in the finals. He said he wanted to go out alone to gain some experience and find a way to break through his bottleneck," Zhu Zhuqing continued, which was also a lie.
After seizing Dai Mubai's Martial Soul bloodline, Zhu Zhuqing had already hidden him away.
Over the years, Zhu Zhuqing had not been idle in addition to cultivation. She had also secretly cultivated some of her own connections.
With her talent and strength, it was not difficult for her to win over some low-level Soul Masters.
Flanders, upon hearing this, did not doubt anything.
He just sighed and said, "Mubai has matured now."
In his impression, although Dai Mubai appeared strong and courageous on the surface, he was actually lacking in decisiveness and somewhat weak.
Now, being able to face his own problems squarely and bravely, it was not easy.
As for safety, there was no need to worry.
Although in this competition where geniuses were rampant, being a Soul King was nothing, but in most places on the continent, having this level of cultivation already allowed one to walk sideways.
The battle between the deputy team of Tian Dou Royal Academy and the team from Shenfeng Academy ended quickly, as expected, with a crushing victory.
However, for the team from Shenfeng Academy, reaching this stage was already quite commendable.
Next, it was the turn of the Shrek Academy team to take the stage.
Due to Zhu Zhuqing's recent return, Yu Xiaogang didn't have time to devise new tactics, so he simply allowed her to play freely.
However, the members of the team seemed extremely confident at this moment.
After all, Zhu Zhuqing's strength far surpassed that of her peers, and now that she had reached the level of a Soul King, their chances of winning this battle were quite high.
On the other side of the competition stage, another group of seven people walked out slowly.
The person at the forefront had golden hair cascading down his back, with purple light shimmering in his eyes, bearing a slight resemblance to Dai Mubai.
Behind him followed a tall and slender girl, with curves like flowing water and a faint smile on her face.
The girl was extremely beautiful, bearing a striking resemblance to Zhu Zhuqing, albeit with a slightly softer and gentler demeanor.
The gaze of the leading young man fell upon Zhu Zhuqing, showing some surprise.
"I didn't expect to find you here in this academy. Where's my incompetent younger brother?"
However, Zhu Zhuqing ignored his implication, only showing a slight fluctuation in her expression when her gaze swept over Zhu Zhuyun behind him.
As the referee announced the start of the match, both teams released their martial souls.
The seven members of the Star Luo Academy team all had decent strength, with six of them being Soul Masters. Among them, Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun had soul power fluctuations above level forty-seven, with their martial souls, White Tiger and Hell Civet Marital Soul, respectively, both possessing two yellow and two purple soul rings.
The strength of this team surpassed that of the Royal Academy team by a considerable margin.
In the Star Luo Empire, the admission requirements for the Royal Soul Master Academy were much higher than those of the Heaven Dou Empire. It was not something that could be easily entered through status and money alone.
However, compared to the shock Zhu Zhuqing brought to everyone, this was nothing.
As her martial soul was released, her aura was also revealed at this moment.
Fifty-seven levels!
Compared to before she left the team, she had increased by nine levels, crossing a major threshold!
For Zhu Zhuqing herself, this level of improvement was nothing.
In another world, after she fused with Su Cheng's White Tiger bloodline, she directly advanced from Soul Saint to becoming a Titled Douluo, and even continued to rise two major levels after level seventy.
However, Dai Mubai's foundation was weak, both in terms of cultivation and bloodline, far inferior to Su Cheng at that time.
With the addition of absorbing soul rings, reaching her current level was within her expectations.
But the strength displayed by Zhu Zhuqing at this moment made it difficult for others to accept.
Including her teammates.
However, for Dai Weisi, it was not the strength that surprised him, but the martial soul revealed behind Zhu Zhuqing.
A huge translucent White Tiger crouched on the ground, with mysterious and deep black stripes, and a shimmering sinister light in its purple eyes.
And behind it, there were also a pair of transparent wings formed like a hurricane, fluttering freely.
Hell White Tiger!
There was no mistaking it, that was the Hell White Tiger!
But what about those wings?
The martial soul fusion skill of the Star Luo Royal Family, the Hell White Tiger, did look like this, but it didn't have those wings.
Dai Weisi's voice trembled slightly, "Zhu Zhuqing! What... what is this?!"
Behind him, Zhu Zhuyun looked at her sister with a complex expression.
"Zhuqing, you've come this far..."
She still remembered the conversation between them four years ago.
"Elder sister, I won't compete with you for the so-called family inheritance, and Dai Weisi is not worthy of you. This is the shackle imposed on us by the Dai Family. I will shatter it in my own way. Give me a few years, we'll meet at the Soul Master Competition, and I'll prove it to you..."
At this moment, Zhu Zhuqing had no intention of caring about the gazes of others.
As her soul rings shimmered, she pounced forward.
With the blessing of the Wind God Wings, her speed far surpassed that of an ordinary Soul King.
At this moment, the remaining thirteen people on the field could hardly see her movements.
Soon, this match turned into a solo performance by her.
Watching the figure on the field that no one could stop, Su Cheng's heart became somewhat heavy.
He had noticed long before that Zhu Zhuqing had not been in the Shrek team for some time, thinking she might not participate in this final as she had said before.
Although he regretted not being able to meet her alone again, he could understand.
But seeing Zhu Ziqing's changes now, he instantly realized what she had been doing during these days.
Quietly observing the situation on the field, Su Cheng's thoughts had already drifted far away, silently contemplating how the subsequent situation would unfold and how he should respond.
The appearance of the Hell White Tiger in its martial soul form at this time was not the best timing, but it wasn't too bad either.
At least in the Martial Soul City, Zhu Zhuqing was definitely still safe...
On the other side, the members of the Martial Soul Academy team, Xie Yue and others, couldn't help but feel a chill.
"Sister, what's wrong?"
Hu Liena was startled and looked at Qian Renxue standing in front of her, then glanced at the Soul King on the competition stage, feeling puzzled.
The Martial Soul Pavilion had abundant information, so she naturally knew what it was.
The martial soul fusion skill exclusive to the Star Luo Royal Family, the Hell White Tiger.
However, it was quite bizarre for this powerful martial soul fusion skill to appear in the form of a single person's martial soul.
But even so, it shouldn't cause such emotional fluctuations in her sister.
The Hell White Tiger martial soul with wings was indeed formidable, but at best, it was only a God-ranked martial soul, not much inferior to her Six-winged Angel martial soul.
Moreover, according to what the teacher said, Qian Renxue's potential had greatly improved, and the strength of her martial soul even surpassed that of the Six-winged Angel martial soul inherited from the Qian family.
Qian Renxue did not pay attention to Hu Liena, but gazed intently at the figure that was moving freely on the arena, unmatched by any opponent.
Su Cheng had once trained a member of the Shrek team for a period of time, and she knew about it.
Su Cheng also explained to her that it was to help them enter the finals and facilitate the killing of the hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
But the current appearance of Zhu Zhuqing was far from being as simple as Su Cheng had described.
A fourteen-year-old high-level Soul King, with a God-ranked martial soul, the Hell White Tiger.
While others might not understand what was going on, could she not know?
Besides Su Cheng, who else could come up with such inexplicable things?
"This person absolutely cannot be left alone."
Qian Renxue's expression returned to calmness.
Unlike her previous dissatisfaction with Ning Rongrong, she truly felt a threat from this girl.
The match between the Shrek Academy team and the Star Luo Royal Academy team soon ended.
It was even faster than the previous two matches.
The speed boost from the Hell White Tiger martial soul combined with the Wind God Wings was simply too significant.
Under the crushing power of the Soul King level, the opponents had no chance to resist.
As the match ended, angry shouts came from the other side.
"Zhu Zhuqing, how did you do this?!"
The members of the Star Luo Royal Academy, including the accompanying royal family members, could no longer hold back.
Others might not understand, only feeling that Zhu Zhuqing's martial soul was incredibly powerful, ending the battle as easily as cutting vegetables.
But how could the people of the Star Luo Empire not know the truth?
That was the Hell White Tiger! Originally, it could only be fused and displayed by the descendants of the Dai and Zhu families!
Yet now, this powerful martial soul fusion skill had become Zhu Zhuqing's alone.
Not only that, she had also raised her level to a high-level Soul King at such a young age.
How could there not be a problem with this!
Zhu Zhuqing ignored the reproachful voices of those people, calmly returning to the Shrek Academy.
This was the Martial Soul City.
Even though those people from the Star Luo Empire might suspect and covet, they would never openly attack here.
And their reaction at this moment was also within her expectations.
In fact, one of the reasons she chose to compete today was to divert their attention to herself.
In such a situation, no one would care about the other Dai family heir, Dai Mubai, whose martial soul had already been crippled.
For her, this was indeed very dangerous, but not fatal, with plenty of room for mediation.
Zhu Zhuqing was well aware of the situation in the Star Luo Empire.
With numerous noble families and complex power dynamics, there were always ambitious individuals.
The Dai family was just the largest and strongest among them.
Among these forces, there were those who didn't like her, and naturally, there were those who would welcome her rise.
The Hell White Tiger martial soul revealed on her at this moment would not only make her a target but also a banner.
Some nobles who wanted to stir up trouble in the Star Luo Empire would not give up this hope.
Of course, she would definitely not return to the Star Luo Empire in the short term.
Back to the Shrek Academy.
Watching Zhu Zhuqing, who appeared calm and composed, Yu Xiaogang hesitated to speak.
He came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan and knew a lot of information, including some about the Hell White Tiger. However, he was also a bit puzzled about what was happening now.
After observing Zhu Zhuqing for a moment, he chose to remain silent.
At present, the most important thing was the team's victory.
The final match was right before them, and they were just one step away from the championship.
As the team leader, leading the team to win this highly competitive tournament would naturally prove his abilities.
And Zhu Zhuqing's appearance at this moment gave Yu Xiaogang, who had almost given up, a glimmer of hope for the championship.