The sword intent rose like a desolate desert, casting boundless shadows over everyone's hearts.
At this moment, the seven students from Shrek Academy felt as if they were walking alone in a desolate wilderness.
Despite knowing that their teachers were by their side, it seemed as if they were the only ones left in the entire world.
Meanwhile, the abyss-like darkness continued to encroach relentlessly, oppressing them, making it increasingly difficult to breathe.
The vast malice pervading the surroundings felt like countless blades hanging over their necks.
It stiffened their limbs, leaving them with nowhere to hide.
After fear came despair, and within despair, even deeper fears arose, perpetuating a vicious cycle...
The blood drained from Tang San and the others' faces, cold sweat rolling down their temples.
Under the enveloping sword intent, the seven talented soul masters from Shrek Academy were completely immobilized, their breath rapidly dwindling like receding tides...
Just as Flender and the others were about to act, they were locked in place by a gaze, freezing them in place instantly.
Dugu Bo took action.
He didn't bother with the lower-ranked young students but instead looked at the academy's teachers.
The moment he opened his eyes, the temperature in the entire Education Commission Hall seemed to drop several degrees.
His ink-black eyes were filled with a deathly silence, and although it was just a connection of Qi, no one dared to make any reckless moves.
Meng Shengji and the others sighed inwardly at the scene, choosing not to say much.
They were also astonished by the strength Su Cheng displayed at this moment, but they believed he had a grasp of the situation and wouldn't go too far.
On the other hand, Yu Xiaogang, who was ignored due to his low cultivation level, felt the most relaxed at this moment.
However, his attention was not focused on his own people but rather on Su Cheng, his face pale as he stared in astonishment at the four soul rings circling around Su Cheng's feet.
To be precise, he was looking at those four soul rings, each absorbing a thousand-year soul ring at Su Cheng's second ring, and reaching the ten-thousand-year level at the fourth ring.
This was unreasonable!
The next moment, a change occurred in the room.
Brilliant lights flickered.
The martial souls of the Shrek Academy students spontaneously appeared.
Silver staff, phoenix, sausage, rabbit, white tiger, blue silver grass, Hell Civet...
One martial soul after another flashed on the seven members of Shrek Academy.
However, this was not them launching another attack with their remaining strength.
It was an instinctive reaction of their bodies to protect themselves under the immense pressure brought by Su Cheng's sword intent.
At this moment, Dugu Bo suddenly moved his expression, slightly tilting his head, and his gaze fell on Xiao Wu.
Then he looked at Su Cheng, lips moving slightly as if saying something.
But Su Cheng just shook his head.
Seeing this, Dugu Bo was momentarily stunned, then he didn't say anything more, but continued to suppress Flender and the others with his momentum.
Xiao Wu seemed to have sensed something, and the blood drained from her face in an instant.
Beside her, in Tang San's left hand, there was also a shadow flickering intermittently.
It was his second martial soul, Haotian Hammer.
However, due to cultivating the Purple Demon Eye, his mental power was relatively higher, and he still had some residual strength to suppress the instinctive resistance of this martial soul.
Complex emotions surged in his heart.
But compared to the fear that kept growing and spreading, there was more anger and unwillingness.
"How is this possible?! Isn't his innate soul power only at the 0.5 level! Why, why is he so strong!"
"Trash martial soul, weak attack..."
The words Su Cheng said when he defeated him years ago echoed in his ears once again.
"If it were the Haotian Hammer... If it were the Haotian Hammer!"
Tang San's eyes slightly reddened.
If at this moment it was only him struggling to no avail, it would be one thing, but he also noticed Xiao Wu trembling beside him, which made him feel like his heart was being torn apart, subconsciously attributing it to Su Cheng's influence.
Waves of pressure surged incessantly like tidal waves, seeming to have passed for a long time in the seven people's senses.
But in reality, only a few minutes had passed outside.
At this moment, the pressure on the seven people suddenly lightened.
Sweat poured out of their bodies, soaking their clothes instantly.
Like a stress response, the martial souls on everyone's bodies immediately radiated brightly.
But they were then suppressed by another wave of sword intent that followed closely.
However, the pressure of this sword intent was much weaker than before, just making them unable to move, but their five senses had returned to normal.
At this moment, Su Cheng suddenly spoke, looking at Meng Shengji, "Forget it, Master Meng, there's no need for any tests or anything like that. These few people, whether they are here or not, won't affect the second team. Anyway, they are not enough for me to fight alone."
His expression was relaxed, full of indifference as he glanced at everyone from Shrek Academy.
He chuckled softly, "Don't you think so?"
No one responded.
Everyone trembled under his sword intent.
Only Zhu Zhuqing suddenly raised her eyes, stubbornly locking gazes with him.
Su Cheng's gaze flickered slightly, lingering on her face for a moment.
Then he turned around and left the Education Commission.
"Let's go, Senior Dugu."
...
"Senior, was that person you mentioned the other member of your second team?"
After Su Cheng and Dugu Bo left the Education Commission, Flender swallowed hard, his face filled with fear as he looked at Meng Shengji.
He had just been locked in place by Dugu Bo's murderous intent, and even now, his emotions had not completely calmed down.
"Yes, it was him." Meng Shengji sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat regretful.
Seeing Su Cheng's attitude just now, it seemed that he was not planning to accept these people as new team members.
"Dream Commission, how old is that person just now?" Yu Xiaogang suddenly asked.
Unlike Tang San, he had never seen Su Cheng before, and he had long forgotten about the person Tang San mentioned.
"He's the same age as that auxiliary system soul master, not even fourteen yet."
"Fourteen? That's... fourteen?" Flender was speechless.
He could vaguely sense Su Cheng's level when he released his martial soul just now, but he still couldn't believe it.
"How about his rank...?"
In fact, when Su Cheng released his martial soul just now, he could also sense it vaguely, but he still couldn't believe it.
Meng Shengji paused for a moment before speaking, "He was still at level forty-eight just a month ago."
"..."
The emotions of the few present became extremely complicated, with doubt, admiration, worry, and other emotions intermingling.
"Teacher, he's the Su Cheng I mentioned to you before," Tang San suddenly whispered to Yu Xiaogang.
"Which one?" Yu Xiaogang was momentarily puzzled.
Then he realized and widened his eyes, looking at Tang San incredulously, "That waste soul master with only 0.5 innate soul power?"
"Innate soul power of 0.5? A waste?" Meng Shengji, slightly surprised upon hearing the conversation between the two, first responded.
Then he chuckled and shook his head, "Su Cheng mentioned this when he entered the academy. The person who tested his soul power at the Martial Soul Hall made a mistake. He has a mutant martial soul and already had the cultivation of a Soul Grand Master when he first came to the academy."
"..." Yu Xiaogang and the others fell silent again.
"So, he left Nuoding City early because he had already cultivated to the level of Soul Grand Master?" Tang San suddenly understood and clenched his teeth.
It seemed as if he had never regarded him highly.
At this moment, a graceful figure suddenly turned and ran out of the room.
"Zhu Qing!"
But Zhu Zhuqing paid no attention to the call behind her and quickly disappeared.
Dai Mubai's expression changed upon seeing this.
He had been observing them all along and naturally noticed that something was off between Zhu Zhuqing and Su Cheng; they seemed to have known each other for a while.
Although he didn't understand why these two had any connection, it didn't stop him from feeling angry.
He moved to follow and see what was happening.
"Mubai!" After seeing his actions, Flender rebuked sharply, "Come back!"
Zhu Zhuqing was indeed difficult to control; Dai Mubai couldn't control her either?
"..." Dai Mubai's footsteps paused.
Although unwilling, he dared not disobey the dean's orders and could only silently return to his original position.
In the past year, his cultivation progress had been slow, greatly disappointing his teachers and teammates.
If he didn't obey now, Dai Mubai dared not imagine the consequences he would face.
After the recent series of changes, everyone was feeling uneasy and their emotions were erratic.
No one noticed the lingering fear in Xiao Wu's eyes.
"Why didn't you let me take action?"
Outside the Education Committee, Su Cheng and Dugu Bo walked side by side. Dugu Bo finally spoke up and asked Su Cheng.
"What's the use of capturing her? Don't you see where we are?" Su Cheng replied indifferently. "Are you waiting for the Martial Soul Hall to come?"
In the Education Committee meeting room just now, Dugu Bo had transmitted to him the true identity of Xiao Wu's soul beast transformation.
Su Cheng naturally knew about it.
But even if he captured Xiao Wu here, what would be the point?
A hundred-thousand-year soul beast, could he even get his hands on her?
Even if he temporarily got hold of her, with his current level, he couldn't absorb that soul ring. He would only obtain a soul bone that wasn't quite compatible with him.
Not to mention, he didn't know where Tang Hao was at the moment.
In short, now was definitely not the best time to kill her.
"Should we wait until they leave the academy before taking action?" Dugu Bo's expression was grim.
He was not one to hesitate when it came to necessary actions.
"You're overthinking it," Su Cheng glanced at him. "Have you heard of Tang Hao?"
"Tang Hao?" Du Gubo was startled. "You mean the once-famous Sky Douluo of the Haotian Sect's new generation?"
"That's right, the Sky Douluo Tang Hao. The kid who just used Blue Silver Grass martial soul," Su Cheng continued. "He's his son. Right now, who knows where he is? Even if your strength has greatly improved now, you can't beat him. That man has a hundred-thousand-year soul ring."
"This Soft Boned Rabbit, is it the soul ring Tang Hao left for his son?" Dugu Bo suddenly realized.
"Can't say for sure," Su Cheng shook his head. "I don't know what he's thinking right now, but if he wants to get that soul ring, he'll definitely need to think of some other way."
"You don't seem surprised?" Dugu Bo glanced at him strangely.
Dugu Bo himself didn't really care about things like hundred-thousand-year soul rings. His own soul rings were already full, and even if he killed her, he wouldn't be able to absorb that soul ring.
He had mainly mentioned this matter for Su Cheng's sake.
After all, Su Cheng had saved him and his granddaughter's lives and helped him ascend to the peak Douluo level.
Although he hadn't mentioned it much, he had always been grateful for it.
"I've known for a long time," Su Cheng nodded. "I and they were in the same elementary soul master academy before."
As he spoke, he was also silently pondering.
Now that the Spirit Thwarting Red had covered up her aura, Xiao Wu might not necessarily participate in this Soul Master Competition. She might even find an opportunity to hide back in the Star Dou Forest until she matured.
Anyway, she had already been exposed to many human auras, and her growth rate was already fast enough.
And once she returned to the Star Dou Forest, it would be difficult to capture her again.
Those two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts were not to be trifled with, and killing her might cause a huge commotion. Moreover, it might end up benefiting Bibi Dong. There were too many variables.
At this moment, Dugu Bo suddenly looked at Su Cheng with a strange expression.
"Someone's looking for you."
Even if he didn't say it, Su Cheng could sense the rapidly approaching aura behind him.
"Stop!" A cold female voice rang out behind him.
Su Cheng's footsteps halted.
Then he turned around to look at the curvaceous girl in black clothes.
Zhu Zhuqing's face was calm, but her chest rose and fell slightly, as if she was trying hard to suppress complex emotions.