Time passed slowly, and the match was about to begin.
The chief referee for this quarterfinal, as before, was Unbreakable Douluo Zheng Zhan.
"The first quarterfinal match: Holy Slayer Palace Team versus the Radiant Soul Engineer Academy Team."
"Both teams enter the preparation area. The first contestant for the individual elimination battle, please step onto the stage."
As Unbreakable Douluo Zheng Zhan's voice rang out, the quarterfinals officially began.
On the Holy Slayer Palace side, only five people stood up, as usual.
Led by Di Mingli, followed by Wang Dong'er, Jiang Nannan, Lan Fozi, and Lan Lan—five beautiful girls walked toward the waiting area.
Seeing that Holy Slayer Palace only sent out five people, the entire audience was in an uproar.
Since entering the competition, Holy Slayer Palace had never sent out their full team.
But what no one expected was that even in the quarterfinals, Holy Slayer Palace remained the same.
Did they think that just five of them were enough to defeat the Radiant Soul Engineer Academy Team?
As their opponents, the Radiant Soul Engineer Academy Team looked rather unpleasant.
Xu Tianzhen looked at the five who walked into the waiting area and said, somewhat unhappily, "Why is it just you guys? Where's Su Yu?"
Di Mingli glanced at Xu Tianzhen coolly. "You guys aren't worth him coming out. We are enough."
She didn't even wait for Xu Tianzhen's reply before leaping onto the stage.
"You—!"
Xu Tianzhen was furious, her face turning dark.
She knew the Holy Slayer Palace team was powerful and that they were likely to lose, but wasn't this just too arrogant? Didn't they care about her pride? She'd never been treated like this before.
Clenching her fists, Xu Tianzhen looked at someone and gritted her teeth, "Lu Jun, you go."
"Boss, leave it to me."
A young man, full of confidence, leaped onto the stage and strode toward Di Mingli.
"State your names."
"Holy Slayer Palace, Di Mingli."
Di Mingli spoke coldly.
"Radiant Soul Engineer Academy, Lu Jun."
Lu Jun introduced himself with a smile as if wanting to chat with Di Mingli.
But Di Mingli gave him no chance, turning away and ignoring him.
"Uh…"
Lu Jun's mouth twitched in embarrassment.
Unbreakable Douluo Zheng Zhan glanced at Lu Jun and couldn't help but say, "Young man, don't think that just because you're handsome, she'll go easy on you. She's already taken, so save your little thoughts."
As a patron of the Sun Moon Empire, he knew a few things.
Some people aren't to be trifled with.
Hearing this, Lu Jun was even more embarrassed. He scratched his head and said, "Thank you for the reminder, Senior."
"Alright, prepare for the match."
Zheng Zhan waved his hand, and Lu Jun slowly retreated to open up some distance.
"Both sides ready, begin!"
As Zheng Zhan's words fell, Di Mingli stomped down, and the ground within two meters around her instantly collapsed.
She shot forward like an arrow, charging straight at Lu Jun.
Di Mingli's speed was terrifying—a mere hundred meters was crossed in a flash.
But Lu Jun had studied Di Mingli's fighting style. As soon as the match started, he crouched and sprang up.
Metallic wings spread from his back, spraying out white jets, propelling him into the air.
Di Mingli arrived just then but struck at empty air.
But Di Mingli was no ordinary person. She stomped again, shaking the whole platform, and jumped up in pursuit.
With a twist of her right hand, a golden dragon spear appeared, its sharpness making Lu Jun break out in goosebumps.
Without hesitation, Lu Jun activated his invincible shield and flew upward with all his might.
Soul engineers' main advantage over non-flying soul masters is flight.
Unless a non-flying soul master reaches the Soul Sage level, they are at a disadvantage, unable to counter flying opponents.
The competition rules of the Sun Moon Empire were extremely favorable to soul engineers.
Lu Jun intended to use this advantage to attack Di Mingli from above.
Many soul engineers have used this method with considerable success.
But Lu Jun forgot one thing—Di Mingli was from Holy Slayer.
With Su Yu's personality, would he not have thought of this?
To Lu Jun's shock, Di Mingli also sprouted metal wings, and in a flash, she was above him.
A golden spear slashed down heavily.
Thud!
Lu Jun's body was pressed down fiercely. The invincible shield could block damage below the Soul Douluo level, but the force of impact could not be negated.
The dragon spear didn't break the shield, but the force drove Lu Jun down rapidly.
Di Mingli flashed above him, stomping on his shield, adding even more downward force.
Lu Jun fell even faster.
In dire straits, Lu Jun raised both hands and fired his soul tool cannons at Di Mingli.
Di Mingli's first soul ring shone, her whole body glowing golden. The cannon shots disappeared as they touched her golden aura.
"What?!"
Lu Jun was shocked, but before he could react, Di Mingli stomped down again.
Boom!
Lu Jun was knocked from the air, crashing hard onto the platform.
At that moment, his invincible shield's time ended. The moment it disappeared, a golden dragon spear flew over.
With no defense, Lu Jun took the hit directly and was sent flying.
He crashed into the protective shield and then slowly fell, immediately losing consciousness.
The Radiant Soul Engineer Academy Team quickly carried Lu Jun off. Xu Tianzhen's beautiful face stiffened.
How long had it been?
Defeated already?
Furious, Xu Tianzhen coldly said, "Chu Han, your turn."
A young man named Chu Han stepped onto the stage.
Less than a minute later, another body fell.
Xu Tianzhen's face grew uglier, and another young man went up.
A minute later, he too met the same fate.
In just a few minutes, Di Mingli had defeated three from the Radiant Soul Engineer Academy Team, earning three points.
Xu Tianzhen's face was now as black as the bottom of a pot.
She knew Di Mingli was strong, but she hadn't expected her teammates to be so weak.
Gritting her teeth, Xu Tianzhen shouted, "Stand down, I'll go."
Some team members looked confused. "Boss, you… you're going up now?"
Xu Tianzhen said with a mix of anger and amusement, "What else? You want to keep feeding them points?"
The team shrank back.
It wasn't their fault—this golden dragon girl was just too violent.
Watching Di Mingli fight was like watching a display of violent beauty.
With Di Mingli's strength, losing was only natural.
Seeing her team's cowardice, Xu Tianzhen snorted, "Get ready for the team battle. When I beat her, we'll take them down. They only have five people, we have seven; the advantage is ours."
With that, she stepped onto the stage, striding towards Di Mingli, full of aggression.
She soon stood before Di Mingli, chest out, trying to match Di Mingli's proud, cold aura.
But in the next moment, her confidence deflated.
Looking at Di Mingli, she complained, "Why are you so big?"
As she saw Di Mingli's pride, the always-confident princess felt inferior.
How could someone be this unfair?
No way, impossible!
She looked down at her breast, feeling even more aggrieved.
Di Mingli's cold expression shifted; for the first time, she showed a different face to someone other than Su Yu.
A blush rose on her cheeks, and she pointed her golden dragon spear at Xu Tianzhen. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Xu Tianzhen stepped back to dodge, pouting, "So evil… Su Yu must enjoy it."
"You're courting death!"
Di Mingli's face turned red, and she lashed out with her spear, a storm of attacks aimed at Xu Tianzhen.
Xu Tianzhen hopped back and immediately shouted, "Referee, she's breaking the rules! The match hasn't started and she's attacking me!"
Unbreakable Douluo flashed between them, sternly warning Di Mingli, "Warning! Do that again and you'll be disqualified."
"And you, mind your image! This is the All-Continent Elite Soul Master Tournament, a place of positive energy. Keep spouting nonsense and you'll be out too."
Xu Tianzhen pouted, "Got it, got it."
Zheng Zhan looked at her with some helplessness.
This girl was a handful.
He quickly said, "State your names."
"Holy Slayer, Di Mingli."
"Radiant Soul Engineer Academy, Xu Tianzhen."
"Both sides, step back."
Xu Tianzhen retreated while threatening Di Mingli, "I'm really strong—you're going to lose."
She even raised her little fist in a challenge.
Di Mingli stared at her expressionlessly, gripping her spear even tighter.
With the spear in hand, Di Mingli retreated to the edge of the stage, then turned, standing tall, her eyes burning with fighting spirit.
Her battle style was fearless, always charging forward, never backing down.
"Begin!"
A golden light shot out like lightning, the golden dragon spear tearing through the air towards Xu Tianzhen.
Xu Tianzhen, who looked mischievous before, suddenly turned serious.
She clasped her hands at her chest, forming an overhead pose.
A blinding red light burst from her palms, forming an orange-red orb.
Two yellow, two purple and two black soul rings rose from her feet—the perfect six-ring combination.
Her third soul ring flashed, and an orange-red beam shot out, clashing with the golden dragon spear.
Shockingly, the golden light around the spear was instantly dissolved.
Then her first soul ring flashed, and she vanished, narrowly dodging the spear's blow.
In the rest area:
Zhang Lexuan, who hadn't cared much before, sat up straight.
"This… this is…"
Seeing the orange-red orb in Xu Tianzhen's hands, Zhang Lexuan's always-calm face showed ripples of emotion.
"What's wrong, Senior Sister?" Wu Ming asked, confused by her reaction.
Zhang Lexuan ignored her, looking at Su Yu. "Xiao Yu, is that…"
"Yes, that's the Shining Sun Martial Soul," Su Yu nodded.
"Sun… Martial Soul?" Wu Ming's eyes widened. "There's a Sun Martial Soul?"
Su Yu smiled, "If there's a Moon Martial Soul, why not a Sun Martial Soul? It's nothing strange. The Sun Martial Soul is one of the Sun Moon Imperial Family's three inherited martial souls."
"The three inherited martial souls?" The Shrek team looked on curiously.
Su Yu explained, "The Sun Moon Imperial Family has three inherited martial souls: the Sun and Moon inheritances—Sun Martial Soul and Moon Martial Soul. Both are very powerful. The Sun Martial Soul, as Xu Tianzhen uses now, is an ultimate fire-type martial soul, just a step away from the ultimate flame. Or rather, it has the potential to reach the ultimate flame, depending on the bearer's talent. Even an ordinary Sun Martial Soul is extremely rare and powerful—the power of the sun, pure and fierce. Few can withstand it."
"As for the Moon Martial Soul, you should be familiar. The third inherited martial soul is the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, a sub-dragon soul with destruction attributes, also very strong. The current crown prince, Xu Tianran, possesses it."
"How do you know all this? Isn't this the Sun Moon Imperial Family's secret?" Han Ruoruo asked in surprise.