Chapter 107: The Price of Pride
Xiao Qiang calmly put away the shattered Mirror Flower and Water Moon. In order to better deceive opponents in the future, he also withdrew the simulated soul skills. Watching the changing environment around them, Dai Yueheng grew more convinced that his judgment had been correct.
Although he was now seriously injured, Dai Yueheng's confidence remained unshaken. In his eyes, the most dangerous aspects of Xiao Qiang were the intense light illusions and the constantly changing martial soul. The strong light had been neutralized by his mental defense-type soul guide, while the illusion-type soul guide had been destroyed by his own hands. As for Xiao Qiang's ability to switch martial souls, Dai Yueheng—relying on his knowledge of soul beasts—had already made an educated guess.
The ability to replicate other people's martial soul-type soul skills was not unprecedented. Ten thousand years ago, Oscar of the Shrek Seven Devils had possessed a similar power. Dai Yueheng was certain that Xiao Qiang had encountered a nearly extinct mirror beast and obtained its rare martial soul-copying ability by hunting it.
The mirror beast was a well-documented soul beast on the Douluo Continent, and the abilities it granted had been thoroughly recorded by Shrek Academy. That knowledge allowed Dai Yueheng to make a crucial inference: unless the mirror beast Xiao Qiang had hunted was a 100,000-year-old variant, it could not have granted permanent martial soul memories. Each time Xiao Qiang used a copied martial soul, he would consume one stored imprint. With a 10,000-year mirror beast, such records would be limited.
Dai Yueheng didn't know the exact upper limit, but based on Xiao Qiang's five-ring Soul King cultivation, the mirror beast he absorbed was likely no more than 20,000 years old. That would allow him to store, at most, two martial souls at a time—reusing them only after re-copying.
Moreover, Dean Yan Shaozhe had arranged for Jiang Nannan and Xu Sanshi to temporarily leave the field. Having used their martial souls recently, and now with both absent, Xiao Qiang was out of backup copies. He could only rely on the martial souls of people still present—meaning he could no longer access teleportation or the invincible golden body. With those two crucial tools removed, Dai Yueheng knew his opponent had lost much of his edge.
Without teleportation for evasion or the golden body for defense, Xiao Qiang was now a limited five-ring Soul King. Dai Yueheng saw no reason to lose.
"I've exhausted all my explosive tactics, and your ability to dodge must be nearing its limit," Dai Yueheng muttered, both to recover his breath and to goad Xiao Qiang.
Xiao Qiang responded vaguely. "Who knows?" Clearly, he wasn't about to reveal anything about his remaining strength.
"Do you dare to face me head-on, like a man?"
Xiao Qiang scoffed. "Coming from someone who relies on deception, that's rich. And aren't you quite a bit older than me? This fight was never fair to begin with."
"That may be true," Dai Yueheng admitted, "but for Shrek's honor, I must defeat you today."
He deliberately dragged the standoff longer than the previous record set by Oscar, just to be safe.
As Dai Yueheng approached the limits of his soul power, stamina, and injury threshold, he popped a piece of Crazy Chocolate into his mouth.
The eighth soul skill of a food-type soul master could be terrifying. With it, Dai Yueheng instantly regained peak combat strength. It was a final gamble, but one he had no choice but to make.
His injuries, left untreated, were worsening. Each attack depleted more soul power and mental strength. Prolonging the fight would only tilt the odds further in Xiao Qiang's favor.
"So much for not having any explosive moves left," Xiao Qiang commented coldly. "I guess enemy words really can't be trusted."
Empowered by the chocolate, Dai Yueheng's amplified acceleration and teleportation broke through Xiao Qiang's Xiao Hongchen-style fighting method in record time. Now truly frenzied, he moved in for the kill.
The White Tiger Destruction Kill gathered in his palm. Ideally, he would crush Xiao Qiang outright. If not, at the very least, victory over this formidable enemy would ensure Shrek's glory in the next round.
If Xiao Qiang chose to retreat now, Dai Yueheng was ready to press the advantage. He still had one more piece of Crazy Chocolate. Though using it would damage his body, Dai Yueheng believed it was a price worth paying for the legacy of Shrek Academy.
But Xiao Qiang didn't flee.
After such a long battle, even he was tired. Facing off against a Soul Emperor boosted to food-type Soul Douluo levels was not appealing. Especially when he knew the man had another chocolate that could let him spring back into action, Xiao Qiang saw no benefit in a war of attrition.
Instead, he clenched his fists, choosing not to dodge Dai Yueheng's next strike.
Yan Shaozhe sneered in the audience.
"He's still just a 15-year-old kid. How unfortunate. Youthful recklessness comes at a cost—sometimes, the ultimate one."
As Dai Yueheng's clawed hand approached Xiao Qiang's fist, Yan Shaozhe relaxed, confident that his student would end this battle. The White Tiger Destruction Kill could maim or kill a five-ring Soul King with ease. If it landed, Shrek would not only win today's battle—they'd remove a future threat from the Sun Moon Empire's lineup.
But just as celebration flickered in his eyes, the two attacks collided.
An overwhelming force erupted from Xiao Qiang's arm. It was his right arm soul bone's ability—Ice-Blue Emperor's Might.
Of the ten soul skills granted to him by the Ice Emperor, this was the only one that didn't rely on Ultimate Ice. Instead, it fused pure soul power and spiritual pressure. With sheer force and the oppressive aura of a sovereign, it shattered both the enemy's mental and physical defenses, inflicting trauma far deeper than visible wounds.
This was the Ice Emperor's dominance incarnate.
The moment the soul skills clashed, a judgment was made between the two forces. Dai Yueheng's White Tiger Destruction Kill was shattered by the Ice-Blue Emperor's Might. Xiao Qiang's punch surged forward with terrifying momentum, shattering Dai Yueheng's right arm—soul bone and all.
Just as Dai Yueheng was about to fall to Xiao Qiang's counterattack, Tiansha Douluo Huang Jinxu stepped in and saved him. The act itself marked Dai Yueheng's defeat—and with it, Shrek's loss.
"The Continental High-level Soul Master Competition. Third round of the finals, second match. Winner: Xiao Qiang of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy."
After Elder Xuan's departure, Tiansha Douluo had returned to his more formal demeanor. Seeing Dai Yueheng fall, he declared the outcome with calm finality.
Silence fell across the stadium.
Everyone watching could see Shrek's predicament. They no longer had anyone who could compete in the final round.
In other words—
Shrek had lost.