Gluttonous Douluo's words had barely landed when alliances between the core disciples of each grade had already begun to form in the arena.
"Take down the four-rings first!" a fourth-grade student shouted immediately.
In an instant, over a dozen pairs of eyes turned toward the two most threatening five-year core disciples, both Soul Ancestors (four rings). Several three-ringed fourth-grade students launched themselves toward Xu Sanshi and Beibei at the same time.
Of course, the only two fifth-grade core disciples were no pushovers.
Xu Sanshi wore a look of eager excitement; the massive Xuanming Turtle Shield appeared in his hands, humming with dark light. Beibei, too, extended dragon claws, the bluish-violet scales on his arms flaring as lightning coiled around him. Bluish-violet thunderbolts slithered like hunting snakes toward their targets.
The one who led the charge, the very same Soul Elder who'd just shouted, "Take down the four-rings first!", had his hair lengthen and fluff slightly outward, his figure growing larger—his martial soul was a lion. The purple glow of a thousand-year soul ring behind him shone bright as he unleashed his strongest attack right from the start.
However, just as his sharp claws, gleaming with cold light, were about to strike, he suddenly felt as though his mind—his very soul—was being dragged into a thick, sticky quagmire. Everything in his senses seemed to recede into the distance, an invisible sludge clung to his limbs, and his movements abruptly slowed.
The next instant, a thunderous roar exploded above the lion Soul Elder's head.
A wind, hot like raging flames, swept past his scalp, carrying with it the lingering smoke of a world burned to ashes—in his perception, some massive, tyrannical, terrifying presence had just flown over him.
That lion Soul Elder was practically pinned to the ground by the sheer soul-deep terror of that pressure. His limbs went weak, sweat poured down like rain, and he didn't even dare raise his head to see what exactly had flown over him.
He only vaguely heard someone shouting from afar, "Damn, where did that third four-ring come from?"
The next moment, with a sharp feeling of weightlessness, his body was abruptly lifted off the ground—already plucked from the field by Elder Xuan, the referee.
In his upturned view, he wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but it seemed that all the core disciples' movements on the battlefield had grown slower.
The lion Soul Elder was eliminated.
That, of course, wasn't an illusion.
At this time, on another side of the battlefield, Huo Yuqing was charging at Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu. Behind her, however, a white and a purple soul ring were flashing simultaneously.
Hatred twisted the girl's face, making her expression fierce and grim. Golden light flickered in her eyes as she provided shared spiritual detection as team support. At the same time, a strange, warped spiritual force, like thick muddy water, began to radiate from her body in rhythm with the pulsing of her purple soul ring—spreading out into a region filled with an invisible, swamp-like force.
Because she wasn't yet fully accustomed to coordinating with others, Xiao Xiao's reaction lagged half a beat. It wasn't until after the others had already moved that the mournful notes of her flute rang out, dragging down the speed of all enemy combatants once more—a third layer of debuff!
By now, brilliant light was already streaming from Ning Tian's Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, splitting into beams that fell upon her teammates.
An Wen and Wang Dong, flying high in the sky, exchanged a glance. The first and second soul rings behind Wang Dong lit up at the same time, the V-shaped pattern on his dazzling blue butterfly wings turning brilliant gold, quickly suffusing both wings in a radiant golden hue.
Meanwhile, An Wen slammed her pitch-black Nether Extreme Spear heavily into the ground.
It was as if that heavy blow awakened something; the shadows across the arena deepened into something darker, more sinister, like a breathing abyss. As her yellow soul ring flashed, a shadowed veil enveloped a section of second- and third-year students ahead of her—their eyes instantly clouded over with a dark haze.
This wasn't blindness. Blindness was nothingness before the eyes. This was the far more terrifying corrosion of the dark element.
Darkness—and humanity's innate fear of darkness—gnawed at their minds. Yet these students were still Shrek's core disciples, one in ten thousand, with solid mental strength. Amid their panic, they worked hard to stabilize themselves, attempting to dodge attacks by relying on sound positioning. But to their horror, they discovered that in this utter darkness, even their hearing—and all their other senses—had quietly dulled.
And dulled senses only dragged them deeper into fear.
Then, light descended.
Wang Dong's wings, infused with Butterfly Goddess Light, cleaved down like a guillotine. Now a three-ring Soul Elder, the effect of this dual soul skill combo was greatly enhanced—and with the double boost from the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda—while their enemies were carrying a full four layers of debuffs.
The golden butterfly wings, like scythes harvesting wheat, cleared an open swath ahead.
Taotie Douluo's figure flickered—and in an instant, eight people were out.
Wang Dong and An Wen even had the mood to high-five.
Now, apart from Wang Rui's team, only nine remained on the field.
Wang Dong's wings beat as he dove at a three-ring student, An Wen's figure blinking with the flash of her second soul ring, vanishing and suddenly reappearing behind another three-ring student, her Nether Extreme Spear swinging at the target's waist.
But this left Ning Tian, who had been granting buffs to her teammates, exposed.
"Perfect chance." A speed-type Soul Elder, far enough away not to have been caught by Wang Dong and An Wen's joint strike, felt a rush of delight.
The Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda has only a single one-ring control-type Soul Master from second-year in front of her? If she didn't knock out this core support now, when would she?
Yet she didn't realize that the heavy, muddy drag in her mind had already dulled her thinking, made her reckless, impulsive, and now driven her into a fatal misjudgment.
She hadn't even thought—how could a second-year core disciple of Shrek possibly be only a one-ring Soul Master?
"So you're looking down on me, huh!" Xiao Xiao smiled, but black mist coiled behind her—clearly, she was furious.
Clang!
The speed-type Soul Elder lunging at Ning Tian slammed right into a humming massive cauldron. She stumbled back several steps before regaining her footing, staring at Xiao Xiao in shock.
Even if control-types restrained speed-types, with a cultivation gap, Xiao Xiao shouldn't have been able to handle a core disciple whose soul power was ten levels higher. But don't forget—this Soul Elder was carrying multiple layers of debuffs, while Xiao Xiao had both Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda buffs and shared spiritual detection!
The speed-type disciple reeled, dizzy from the Three Lives Soul Suppressing Cauldron, and her heart had already turned to retreat. She intended to withdraw, hang back, and try to squeeze into the final seven.
"Trying to leave?" Xiao Xiao gritted her teeth, directing the Three Lives Soul Suppressing Cauldron to block the Soul Elder's path. Today, no matter what, she was taking someone down!
Meanwhile, Xie Huanyue had already been knocked out by a clean, brutal enhanced spiritual impact, scooped off the field by Elder Xuan. The corner of the battlefield where Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu, and Huo Yuqing faced off had oddly become the calmest area.
"Huo Yuhao, what is the meaning of this?" Dai Huabin's face was dark.
At this level, only a Martial Soul Fusion Skill could counter another Fusion Skill. Dai Huabin was confident Wang Rui's team wouldn't want a Fusion Skill duel here and risk letting others pick off the survivors.
Dai Huabin naturally admired strength, and Wang Rui's strength truly surpassed his in every aspect. It made him respect the duo who had beaten him, even considering forming an alliance before the battle.
And indeed, just as he had suspected, Wang Rui and Huo Yuqing had each found their own opponents, showing no sign of unleashing their Fusion Skill—the Netherworld White Tiger likely couldn't counter that terrifying azure-blue inferno anyway. Dai Huabin couldn't tell whether he felt relieved or regretful.
From the start of the fight, every debuff skill Wang Rui's team had used had only brushed briefly over him and Zhu Lu with Xiao Xiao's slowing effect—and then every other debuff had neatly avoided the two of them, creating a calm, untouched bubble. Wasn't this Wang Rui's team treating them as allies? Planning to form an alliance?
He and Zhu Lu were indeed strong enough to warrant such an alliance. Naturally, Dai Huabin took this as an unspoken pact between the strongest of the second year.
But looking now at Huo Yuhao's expressionless face before him… things clearly weren't as he'd imagined.
(End of Chapter)