The giant man was struggling to breathe, and he could only manage to say with difficulty, "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding!"
Although Su Ming's sudden action surprised the group, except for Zhu Zhuqing, none of them were too shocked. After all, during their last visit to the Great Soul Arena, Dai Mubai had been similarly controlled by Su Ming, without anyone noticing until it was too late.
Zhu Zhuqing glanced silently at Su Ming without speaking, but inside, she felt a slight stir. Was it... dominance? Zhu Zhuqing couldn't quite describe it, but her heart seemed to beat just a little faster.
Dai Mubai, witnessing this familiar scene, felt embarrassed. Thankfully, his face was hidden under a mask, so it wasn't obvious. But the looks from his teammates made him uncomfortable.
He was a bit annoyed by Su Ming's behavior. Su Ming knew that Zhu Zhuqing was his fiancée, so why did he feel the need to protect her? Shouldn't this be Dai Mubai's moment to shine? Su Ming was already close with Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong—was he trying to steal Zhu Zhuqing as well? This thought bothered Dai Mubai deeply.
At this moment, the giant man's team members rushed over. The Spider Woman, with a charming voice, said, "I'm really sorry. It was our teammate's fault for being disrespectful. Actually, we're your next opponents in the Soul Arena. He just wanted to get a look at the rumored Iron Soul Sect team of Soul Elders. He meant no harm."
Xiao Wu, standing nearby, shot back, "Your teammate was about to strike! And you call that harmless?"
As she spoke, Xiao Wu released all four of her spirit rings. The pressure from her aura was immense, making the Spider Woman feel the weight of it. She began to question if agreeing to this fight was a mistake. The Arena supervisor had told them about this newly registered team of Soul Elders, which had two Soul Elders and five Soul Exalts. One of the Soul Elders was restricted to using only an auxiliary spirit ring in battle.
The Arena supervisor had asked them to take on this match with the promise of a significant reward if they won. So, they agreed. She had sent Kuang Xi over to probe their strength, but she hadn't expected Su Ming, who she thought was an auxiliary spirit master, to be this powerful. She had miscalculated.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Shrek team was seeing Xiao Wu's fourth spirit ring for the first time, and its deeper color compared to ordinary thousand-year rings surprised them. Xiao Wu had purposefully made the color more pronounced since she claimed it was a spirit ring obtained through an overlevel absorption, making it look like a 7,000-year-old ring.
Master finally fully believed Xiao Wu's story. However, he was also secretly relieved that Xiao Wu hadn't been as fortunate as Tang San, as she didn't receive a spirit bone from her overlevel absorption.
Xiao Wu: "Sorry, but I created this spirit ring myself, and it's a ten-thousand-year one!"
Just as things were about to escalate, the Arena supervisor arrived, sensing the tension. He quickly stepped forward and shouted, "Stop!"
"Do you not understand that fighting is not allowed in the resting area of the Soul Arena? If you want to fight, do it in the ring!"
Seeing the Arena supervisor intervening, Su Ming decided to let Kuang Xi go. Knowing the original storyline, he understood Kuang Xi's purpose was just to gauge their strength. That being the case, it was pointless to continue.
Kuang Xi, once released, gasped for air greedily. The power of this boy was terrifying, far beyond what he had expected from a normal Soul Elder. He had encountered Soul Elders before, but none had made him feel so powerless!
Yes, powerless! In front of Su Ming, he felt like he was sinking into a swamp, and if Su Ming wished, he could easily be swallowed by the abyss.
The Spider Woman, seeing the middle-aged supervisor arrive, immediately toned down her previous attitude and respectfully said, "Supervisor Ao, it won't happen again."
Ao, the supervisor, wasn't buying it. The Kuang Zhan team had a habit of sending someone to provoke their opponents before matches. This time, it seemed they had miscalculated and hit a brick wall!
He hadn't expected Kuang Xi to be so reckless. Nor did he anticipate that Shrek's strongest member was not an auxiliary spirit master, as he had initially thought.
The supervisor now realized that they needed to reevaluate Shrek's team. The Master had indeed made a significant concession by restricting Su Ming's abilities. Without that, the Kuang Zhan team wouldn't stand a chance.
Thankfully, Su Ming wasn't allowed to attack directly, so the Kuang Zhan team still had a chance.
Seeing that the Kuang Zhan team had calmed down, the supervisor turned to Master and said, "These are your next opponents. Despite Kuang Xi's earlier arrogance, he was just testing your strength. No harm was intended."
As he spoke, Ao cast a deep glance at Su Ming. Such a young man with this level of power—his background must be substantial!
Su Ming: "..."
"Kuang Zhan team has only been registered here for seven days, but they already have seven consecutive wins. If they win three more, they'll advance to a Bronze Soul team. Every member is above level 35. They have a reputation for leaving their opponents either severely injured or worse. They should be worthy opponents for you—provided this young man doesn't attack."
Dai Mubai smirked. "Didn't think our first team battle would be against such tough opponents. Severely injured or worse? Let's see them try!"
Su Ming added, "With our current strength, even without me attacking, Kuang Zhan's team is nothing special. Give Xiao Wu enough time, and she'll finish them off quickly."
No one from Shrek refuted Su Ming's words. They had seen Xiao Wu's power firsthand and knew it was true.
Suddenly, Su Ming had a playful idea and grinned. "How about we make this battle a little more interesting?"
"Brother, what do you have in mind?" Xiao Wu asked curiously.
The others also turned to Su Ming, curious about his new scheme.
"How about this: in the next match, we set a challenge for ourselves—to win the battle in under a minute."
"If we succeed, maybe Master will give us a vacation tomorrow!"