The small incident earlier did not affect the tense atmosphere leading up to the finals.The results of the other semifinal match were also in—unsurprisingly, Dai Huabin's team had won.
After their conversation with Qian Duoduo, Wang Rui and his teammates headed straight to the cafeteria for lunch. After eating, they would still have some time to rest.
Since it was mealtime, the cafeteria was packed with students. When Wang Rui and his team arrived, many familiar classmates gathered around them. Wu Feng and Ning Tian were whispering to each other nearby, while Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and Ta Lingling squeezed in.
Their team had been eliminated by Dai Huabin's team. An Wen,along with a classmate from Class Nine, also followed closely behind, bringing along a group of students from their class.Xiao Xiao, who was petite, clenched her fists with a look of dissatisfaction on her face. "You guys have to defeat them!"
"Oh, come on, would a team with two Soul Elders really lose to a team with only one Soul Elder and two Soul Grandmasters?" An Wen sneered. "It's just a White Tiger, nothing special. If you lose, I'll make fun of you for the next several years
."Wang Rui rolled his eyes at her. Yan Wen stubbornly glared back at him. This ungrateful little brother only cared about his friends and didn't even look at his dear sister!
"Who are you calling weak?" A sharp, angry female voice rang out from outside the crowd.The surrounding students quickly stepped aside.
It was Zhu Lu.The heterochromatic-eyed girl with long black hair stood half a step behind her fiancé, hands on her hips, glaring furiously at Yan Wen. Beside her was Cui Yajie, with her signature gentle smile and pink hair cascading down her back.Upon seeing her adversary, Huo Yuqing's gaze turned ice-cold.
"If you think it applies to you, then I was talking about you," An Wen mocked.
Compared to the Dark Nether Hell Tiger, which possessed both darkness and spatial attributes, the White Tiger was indeed unimpressive. Not to mention, An Wen's martial soul was the Golden-Eyed Shadow Tiger, which surpassed the White Tiger in both attributes and bloodline. She had every right to look down on the White Tiger lineage. Zhu Lu was about to lash out, but her fiancé raised a hand to stop her. Dai Huabin's cold gaze swept over An Wen, filled with indifference, as if he were looking at a dead person.
An Wen: ? Excuse me, little boy, why are you acting so arrogant?
Then, he shifted his attention to Wang Rui, his eyes filled with vigilance and hostility. "There's no use in arguing. We'll see the truth on the battlefield."
With their Martial Soul Fusion Technique, the Nether White Tiger, Dai Huabin was confident that even with a team composition disadvantage, victory was within their grasp. After giving Wang Rui one last cold glance, Dai Huabin left the cafeteria with his teammates.
Wang Rui's group quickly finished their lunch, then spent some time cultivating to adjust their state before heading to the assessment grounds.
By this time, all the partitioning barriers that had previously divided the competition areas had been removed, making the space feel vast and open. There were no students spectating the finals, but nearly all the first-year outer court teachers were present. On the opposite side, Class Five's homeroom teacher was giving last-minute instructions to Dai Huabin's team, while Mu Jin hurried over to Wang Rui's team, offering a few words of encouragement.
Qian Duoduo and Yan Shaozhe stood on the viewing platform. Unlike in the morning, they were now accompanied by a middle-aged woman. She wore a crisp white outfit with gold trim on the sleeves and pant legs. Her black hair was tied up neatly, and her sharp features exuded a sense of authority. Clearly, after noticing Huo Yuqing's talent, Qian Duoduo had decided to bring in an even higher authority—Xian Lin'er.
Xian Lin'er seemed to sense Huo Yuqing's curious gaze and gave her a slight smile. At this moment, Du Weilun stepped forward and called both teams onto the field. Under his command, both sides moved to the edge of the arena and introduced themselves. Then… the match began! The full competition area was massive.
Even when Huo Yuqing extended her Spirit Detection Sharing in a single direction, she couldn't reach Dai Huabin's team on the other side. As a result, both teams instinctively sprinted toward the center. The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile's speed boost fell upon the trio, and for the first time, Wang Rui didn't take to the skies.
Instead, his first soul ring lit up, and a blinding ring of fire erupted around him. His armor thickened, shifting from deep red to a fiery crimson, and additional flame-like scales formed on his face like a battle mask. This was his self-enhancement ability—Flame King Armor—a fiery protective layer that greatly increased all of his physical attributes while significantly boosting his resistance to abnormal status effects. Charging at full speed, Wang Rui clashed head-on with Dai Huabin, who had activated his White Tiger Barrier.
In a pure strength contest, Dai Huabin was completely outmatched. However, he was still much stronger than the Soul Grandmasters they had faced earlier. Even after being forcefully pushed back more than ten meters, he managed to stabilize himself. The ground beneath his feet had deep grooves from where he had slid. His White Tiger Barrier was nearly burned away by Wang Rui's Flame King Armor.
Dai Huabin's expression turned grim—he had underestimated his opponent. With a fierce tiger's roar, his third soul ring lit up, activating White Tiger Vajra Transformation. However, instead of attacking Wang Rui directly, he opened his mouth and fired a scorching white energy sphere straight toward Ning Tian and Huo Yuqing. At the same time, he lunged at Wang Rui with his claws.
Simultaneously, a pitch-black figure darted around them at high speed, heading straight for Ning Tian and Huo Yuqing. It was Zhu Lu.
Meanwhile, Cui Yajie wasn't idle either. Her pink eyes gleamed as she activated Nine-Tailed Charm, directly locking onto Huo Yuqing.
Although it seemed like a lot was happening, all of this took place within mere moments! Despite being the primary target of the opposing team's strategy, Wang Rui remained completely unfazed.
His second, purple soul ring gleamed, and a red, crystalline wall suddenly rose from the ground behind him, cutting off both White Tiger Inferno Blast and Zhu Lu's charge. The wall looked harmless—like a giant, flawless ruby. Its smooth surface was almost mirror-like, reflecting the battlefield's images faintly. However, when Dai Huabin's White Tiger Inferno Blast collided with the wall, it simply vanished—disintegrated without a trace.
Zhu Lu's instincts screamed danger. A chill ran down her spine as an inexplicable sense of crisis surged through her body.
She immediately tried to slow down and change direction, but her momentum was too great. Her left arm barely brushed against the crystalline wall. In that instant, her sleeve disintegrated into ash, and the fine hairs on her arm curled from the heat. If not for her protective soul power, she would have suffered severe burns. She turned back in shock and met Wang Rui's golden eyes.
He was smiling—an eerie, chilling smile. His lips moved as he mouthed a phrase.
"You shall not pass." Wang Rui had used his mimicry ability to replicate a third soul skill: Molten Fire Shield—a solidified wall of extreme fire. Though it didn't radiate heat, any attack that touched it would be completely incinerated.
Meanwhile, behind the shield, Ning Tian and Huo Yuqing hadn't been idle.
"Seven Treasures shines bright, third boost—Enhance!" Ning Tian's purple soul ring flared as an energy wave surged toward Huo Yuqing. Huo Yuqing met Cui Yajie's gaze directly, locking eyes with her.
Let the real battle begin.