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At this moment, Ye Wen was surprised but not panicked. He even wanted to mock Tang San for overestimating him. Wasn't he afraid of accidentally killing Ye Wen, rendering all his efforts wasted?
But Ye Wen could never understand the workings of Tang San's mind.
Though Tang San's move appeared deadly, it carefully avoided Ye Wen's two most vital points—his heart and brain.
In Tang San's plan, once Ye Wen was hit, he would lose the ability to fight but wouldn't die immediately. Then, Tang San would ask the referee to confirm his victory and quickly send Ye Wen to receive treatment from the Nine-Heart Begonia.
After all, wasn't that herb touted as being able to revive the dead and restore flesh to bones? Tang San believed that if he quickly removed the Dragon Whisker Needles, then Ye Lingling and her team should be able to handle the remaining physical injuries.
As for the possibility of Ye Wen dying from severe injuries despite treatment, Tang San felt he could claim it wasn't his fault. After all, he had given Ye Wen's side the opportunity to heal him. It was the exaggerated claims about the Nine-Heart Begonia that led to his misjudgment. Moreover, Ye Wen would have died after leaving the arena, so it wouldn't count as a violation of the match rules.
As for retaliation from Ye Wen's backers after the match, Tang San wasn't afraid. Once he obtained the soul bone from this competition, he would have completed all his mission objectives.
As for whether the remaining members of Shrek Academy would face backlash, Tang San dismissed them as mere tools who had lost their value. If they were to die, so be it. Dying in service of someone as great as his father, the Hao Tian Douluo, would be an honorable end for them.
At this moment, under Tang San's somewhat puzzled gaze, Ye Wen suddenly stood still, unmoving.
Just as Tang San thought Ye Wen was frozen in fear by his brilliant hidden weapon technique, his pupils suddenly contracted to pinprick size!
"This can't be!" Tang San exclaimed in shock.
Black holes began appearing on Ye Wen's Armed Soul Skill. To Tang San's astonishment, every Dragon Whisker Needle fired by the Batwing Rebound was directly swallowed by those holes.
Before Tang San could react, the holes abruptly closed. Ye Wen then raised his right hand, revealing a black hole in his palm.
At this moment, Ye Wen calmly said, "Here, I'm returning them to you."
Instantly, Tang San's soul nearly fled his body as a chilling sensation overwhelmed him. Instinctively, he tried to use his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Steps to evade, but the distance between them was far too close. Moreover, Tang San had put all his strength into the earlier Batwing Rebound.
In the blink of an eye, the Dragon Whisker Needles Tang San had thrown earlier shot out from the black hole in Ye Wen's palm, hurtling straight toward Tang San.
According to Tang San's calculations, Ye Wen's Armed Soul Skill couldn't directly withstand the Dragon Whisker Needles.
But Ye Wen wasn't foolish. Regardless of foreknowledge or intelligence, he had already seen what happened to Bai Ling'er earlier. Moreover, though Ye Wen no longer had Huo Yu'er's Spiritual Detection Sharing, his vision, enhanced by the Blue Silver Eye soul bone, surpassed Tang San's at this moment. He could clearly see the true form of the Dragon Whisker Needles and didn't foolishly try to intercept them. Instead, he used the spatial properties of his Armed Soul Skill to guide the needles into his internal space. Through internal manipulation, he then ejected the needles back out from his inner space.
However, Ye Wen hadn't expected that his first soul skill, which he had always treated as a storage space, could cleverly counterattack Tang San in this way. Truly, life was unpredictable.
At this moment, Tang San failed to dodge in time and took the full brunt of Ye Wen's Dragon Whisker Needles.
Just as Tang San had done earlier, Ye Wen didn't aim for the heart or brain. Instead, he targeted Tang San's lower body.
The Dragon Whisker Needles were so fine that Tang San initially didn't feel anything. But when they lost the support of soul power and began twisting violently inside him, Tang San let out a bloodcurdling scream.
"AAAAHHHH!!!"
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. Ye Wen seized the opportunity and delivered a powerful kick, sending Tang San flying off the arena stage.
Already writhing in abdominal pain, the force of the kick to his chest caused Tang San to violently spew a mouthful of blood. His face turned pale as paper as he collapsed below the stage.
This bloody scene didn't intimidate the audience. After a brief silence, thunderous cheers erupted throughout Spirit City.
"Champion! Champion!"
"Ahhh!!! That last kick from Lord Ye Wen was absolutely incredible—I want to have his baby!"
"Ohhh yeah!"
Cheers and jubilation filled Spirit City, but Tang San felt like he was about to meet his end.
At this moment, the ones most worried about Tang San were none other than the very people he had wanted to kill—Shrek Academy's team. They rushed anxiously toward him, with Yu Xiao Gang shouting:
"Xiao San! Xiao San! Are you alright?"
Seeing Tang San lying there half-dead, Yu Xiao Gang's expression twisted in anguish. This was his crucial pawn for washing away the shame of being labeled a failure. How could he accept seeing him on the verge of being incapacitated?
Thus, while cradling Tang San, Yu Xiao Gang angrily shouted at the referee on the stage:
"Referee! I protest! This isn't a match—it's premeditated murder by Ye Wen against my disciple!"
To this, both Ye Wen, the referee, and even the audience rolled their eyes at Yu Xiao Gang. Did he even hear himself? Did he think their eyes were blind?
It wasn't Ye Wen who caused Tang San's current state—it was Tang San's own vicious weapons!
At this moment, Ye Wen addressed the referee: "Referee, before Tang San dies, please announce my victory quickly. If we delay any further, he really will die."
The referee nodded in understanding and then raised his right hand to declare:
"I hereby announce! The champion of this Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament is—Tian Dou Imperial Academy!"
Instantly, another wave of cheers erupted from the audience in Spirit City. They weren't concerned about who won—they were simply cheering for a prodigy like Ye Wen.
Contrary to the jubilation outside, Tang San, wracked with excruciating pain, couldn't even breathe.
At this moment, Tang San deeply regretted not seeking someone to teach him how to remove Dragon Whisker Needles. Now, severely injured and with his soul power in chaos, he couldn't even pull them out.
The members of Shrek Academy exchanged helpless glances. They were at a loss as well.
But just then, to their surprise, Ye Wen jumped down from the stage and walked directly toward Tang San.
Having just been defeated by Ye Wen, the members of Shrek Academy looked at him with wary eyes. Ye Wen, however, shook his head and smiled helplessly.
"Relax. I'm not here to cause trouble. If you keep delaying like this, Tang San really will die."
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