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"Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda!!"
"Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda!!"
Zhu Zhuqing vaulted onto the stage, helped Ning Rongrong up, and beamed. "Rongrong, beautiful work! All those years of hard training weren't wasted!"
"Hehe, it's only because you trained with me!" Ning Rongrong said gratefully.
"Nine-Heart Sacred Begonia—Form Four."
Dozens of petals from the Nine-Heart Sacred Begonia drifted to Ning Rongrong's wounds—injuries caused by rebounding Oscar's own attacks.
Moments later, the blood-slicked knuckles stopped bleeding and knit shut entirely.
"Thank you, Sister Lengleng!" Ning Rongrong smiled.
"Rongrong, your fight today was excellent! I acknowledge it openly—from now on, you're the No. 1 auxiliary-type soul master of Heaven Dou Team One!" Ye Lengleng encouraged.
Ning Rongrong scratched her head, bashful. "No way. Sister Lengleng's Nine-Heart Sacred Begonia is the strongest support-type martial soul."
Hearing her, Ye Lan sighed softly. "I didn't expect Rongrong to grow up all of a sudden."
Ning Rongrong straightened her chest. "I've always been grown, okay?!"
Dugu Yan laughed. "Oh? Want to compare with big sis?"
"Bad woman! Who wants to compare with you? Go compete with the dairy cow!" Ning Rongrong's cheeks flushed crimson.
"Hmph. You're injured today—I can't be bothered to stoop to your level. I'll pretend you were complimenting me," Dugu Yan sniffed, proud and tsundere.
Xiaoxue chimed in, "Rongrong, that was a gorgeous beatdown! Now that's the vibe of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's little witch~"
"Sister Xiaoxue, I'm not that violent. Ask Ye Lan if you don't believe me!" Ning Rongrong pouted.
Ye Lan only smiled in silence, thinking: I don't believe you at all.
Other than Xiaoxue, you're the one who pinches my waist the most…
"Second Brother Oscar!!" Ma Hongjun caught the unconscious Oscar the instant he fell. Looking at Oscar's mangled face, his body trembled uncontrollably—it was too tragic to behold.
Yu Xiaogang's face turned iron-blue. He never imagined that, both being auxiliary-type soul masters, Ning Rongrong would overwhelm Oscar by this much.
That shouldn't be. Under my instruction, Oscar's physical conditioning isn't bad at all. So why was he beaten like this?
Tang San stared at the unconscious Oscar, silent, head lowered in thought.
Has the teacher's training truly had no effect? Even with a four-level gap in soul power, the battle disparity shouldn't be this great…
"Damn it! I'm going second. Watch how I crush Ning Rongrong," Dai Mubai snarled, fists clenching.
"Good. Mubai, you're second. Return every bit of pain Oscar suffered. Since Heaven Dou Royal Academy hits this hard, then we'll hit to the death!" Yu Xiaogang nodded grimly.
At the instruction, Dai Mubai sprang onto the stage.
The moment Shrek Academy sent out the "Nether White Tiger," a chorus of boos exploded from the stands.
"Shameless! A forty-plus–rank assault-type Soul Ancestor going after an auxiliary-type Soul Elder?"
"Shrek never changes. I almost revised my opinion when that sausage soul master went up first—guess it was an illusion!"
The referee announced, "Shrek Academy's second combatant: Dai Mubai! Martial soul: White Tiger! Level forty-two assault-type soul master!"
"Next—White Tiger, Soul Ancestor level—versus Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, Soul Elder level!"
Fighting spirit blazing, Dai Mubai stared at Ning Rongrong. If he didn't beat her half to death today, he'd stop calling himself a Dai.
Ning Rongrong looked at his deadly serious face and sing-songed, "I—con—cede~"
Dai Mubai's wild grin froze in place, a punch thrown into cotton. Clearly, they'd been played.
"Zhuqing, it's your turn next! Vent for me, hard!" Ning Rongrong bumped fists with Zhu Zhuqing.
"Mm. I'll settle everything," Zhu Zhuqing nodded.
"Heaven Dou Royal Academy concedes! Their next fighter is the 'Shadow Saint Cat' Zhu Zhuqing, level forty-two agility-type Soul Ancestor!"
"Level forty-two 'Shadow Saint Cat' versus 'Nether White Tiger'—begin!!!"
"Let's see which feline reigns supreme!"
"Saint Cat!"
"Saint Cat!"
"Saint Cat!"
"Why did your martial soul change from 'Nether Spirit Cat' to 'Shadow Saint Cat'? Don't tell me you've truly betrayed the Star Luo Empire—betrayed the Nether Zhu Clan?" Dai Mubai fixed his gaze on Zhu Zhuqing, voice heavy with resentment.
"Betrayal? Are you still drunk on your prince's identity? You're nothing but a cowardly defector—what right do you have to speak?" Zhu Zhuqing's tone was cool.
"I'm not a coward! I just changed where I cultivate!" Dai Mubai snapped, stung. "Whatever. Since you defected to the Heaven Dou Empire, you'll pay the price for your choice!"
"I, Zhu Zhuqing, hereby dissolve my engagement to you, Dai Mubai."
"From this day on, there is nothing—nothing at all—between us."
Under tens of thousands of eyes, Zhu Zhuqing declared the annulment with fearless clarity.
Her voice detonated across the Great Spirit Arena of Heaven Dou City, and the place erupted.
"What!!! The 'Shadow Saint Cat' was the fiancée of Shrek's 'Nether White Tiger'?"
"Isn't the 'Shadow Saint Cat' with the 'Blue Emperor'?"
"Just shows how worthy the 'Blue Emperor' is—the 'Shadow Saint Cat' broke her engagement in front of tens of thousands for his sake!"
"Yeah, she's so brave! If a cat-eared girl would dump her fiancé for me~"
"Look, look! The 'Evil-Eyed White Tiger' has turned green!"
"Hahaha, I'm dying—his face is green, and his head's even greener!"
"Pitiful. But I love seeing Shrek eat dirt. 'Shadow Saint Cat,' please thrash them thoroughly!"
"He deserves it! Who knows how many soul masters he's bullied."
"If the 'Blue Emperor' would pick me, I'd divorce too! Sadly, he'd never look my way—boohoo~"
"Cuihua, what did you say? Say that again!!"
"I said what I said. You don't deserve to be compared to the 'Blue Emperor'!"
Ma Hongjun finally understood. So Zhu Zhuqing had been Boss Dai's fiancée. No wonder Boss Dai acted so off ever since he saw her. He never imagined Boss Dai would stumble over Ye Lan in matters of the heart. Good thing I'm single!
Xiao Wu scowled at Zhu Zhuqing.
"At the end of the day, she's a traitor, isn't she? Betrayed Shrek Academy and Dai Mubai! I can't stand fickle women like that! Not like me—my heart has only Third Brother."
Tang San tightened his grip on Xiao Wu's hand.
He didn't know that eleven years ago, Xiao Wu had already tried to get close to Ye Lan—Ye Lan had simply ignored her.
On the stage, Dai Mubai's pale face turned violently red. The corner of his eye and mouth twitched again and again.
The stands roared with laughter and jeers.
He knew it—he'd been "capped with a green hat" by Ye Lan, and the nickname "Green-Hat Tiger" would never wash off.
"Zhu Zhuqing, I'll kill you!!!" Dai Mubai roared. His pupils went completely white as soul light flooded his body.
His muscles swelled; black-and-white tiger stripes rippled over his skin. Ten sharp tiger claws sprang from his fingers, and the character "王" flared on his brow.
With his bellow, his second soul ring lit a deep violet. "White Tiger Fierce Light Wave!" A gray-white sphere of brutal energy condensed in his maw.
"Ah!"
Boom! The "White Tiger Fierce Light Wave" blasted from the tiger's mouth.
The savage white sphere hurtled at Zhu Zhuqing, inflating as it flew.
Facing the furious strike, black soul light wound around Zhu Zhuqing as she completed "Saint Cat Possession." Black feline ears rose on her head; a long, sleek tail unfurled behind; her hands became cat's paws; her pupils deepened to a night-violet gleam.
Her left foot drove down; she stamped the arena and flashed to the right.
The white energy sphere skimmed her shoulder. She slipped past the "White Tiger Fierce Light Wave" as if it were nothing.
The blast struck the arena's protective barrier outside the ring, detonating into blinding white.
While most people squinted against the glare, Zhu Zhuqing moved.
"Saint Cat—Speed Form!"
Her already lithe silhouette became even sleeker; her movement speed doubled in an instant!
With that explosive speed, she streaked at Dai Mubai. Her claws sprang from soft pads, and five violet arc-fangs carved at his front in a blur.
Dai Mubai's pupils shrank. So fast!
This was not the Soul Elder from two months ago. Zhu Zhuqing now matched him realm for realm as a Soul Ancestor; her speed was on a different plane.
Dai Mubai's first soul ring flared. "White Tiger Barrier!"
A three-dimensional white shield burst from within, bracing against the five violet wind-fangs.
Zzz—!
The "White Tiger Barrier" split with five cracks, but the fangs lost steam after breaking it and didn't bite further into Dai Mubai.
He seized the gap, twisting to rake back with a tiger claw.
The force was so great that the wind of the blow reached Zhu Zhuqing before the claws did.
To the crowd, the Evil-Eyed White Tiger's attack looked lightning-fast. In Zhu Zhuqing's cat eyes, it was merely average.
She leaned back just a fraction. The claws scraped past with a whisper.
Thud!
A heavy impact exploded in Dai Mubai's abdomen. He grunted and staggered three steps.
In this exchange, the Shadow Saint Cat had not amplified her strength—only speed—so the strike was not at full power.
Feeling out her offense, Dai Mubai bared his teeth. "A cat is still a cat. No matter what, you can't become a tiger!"
At the same time, his third soul ring blazed violet.
"White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
The burly half-tiger's bones crackled; muscles surged again; black horizontal stripes crept across his skin.
With Vajra active, his abnormal-status resistance doubled; defense and strength doubled as well.
"—!!"
He roared and charged, sweeping a massive cross-claw at Zhu Zhuqing.
Empowered, the white tiger's slashes spun high-speed wind edges—the strike range extended by half a meter in an instant.
Faced with the sweeping, broad-area wind blades, Zhu Zhuqing had to yield distance, skipping back from the onrush.
Dai Mubai pressed, unwilling to relent, hurling claw after claw at the Shadow Saint Cat.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
Curved wind blades fanned out before Zhu Zhuqing again and again, but they couldn't touch her under "Saint Cat Possession."
No matter how strong the Evil-Eyed White Tiger's power, missing is still missing.
Realizing his blows did nothing, anxiety spiked in Dai Mubai's chest.
He lunged with "Tiger's Maw Devours Prey," crossing his hands into a ten to pounce and close.
At point-blank range, he released the held energy in a cross-slash.
But instead of the split-open gore he imagined, Zhu Zhuqing's figure shimmered, turned illusory—and popped like a mirage.
By then she was already high in the air, gazing down at the white tiger below. She seized the stiffness following his attack.
With a forward flip, she spun several times, heel scything straight for the crown of his head—
Boom!
The rotating stomp crashed down. The hulking white tiger pancaked onto the ring, eating the floor hard.
Borrowing the recoil, Zhu Zhuqing bounded back into the air, a dozen meters high.
Dai Mubai spat grit from his mouth, rage searing through his brain.
He ignored the pain ripping through his body and snapped his head up to track the Shadow Saint Cat.
Spotting that black silhouette midair, he grinned savagely.
Up there, there's nowhere to push off. Let's see you dodge now!
"Die!"
A brutal white energy orb formed in his maw. He poured every drop of soul power into the second soul skill, "White Tiger Fierce Light Wave," compressing it to fire faster and harder.
Under Vajra, its power multiplied again.
The largest white energy sphere he'd ever formed roared skyward, aimed at the airborne Zhu Zhuqing.
Just as he exulted, imagining her blown into bloody shreds, her third soul ring flashed violet.
"Becoming Shadow!"
The instant the savage orb reached her, Zhu Zhuqing dissolved into black shadow.
The "White Tiger Fierce Light Wave" tore through the shadow-body and detonated a hundred meters up.
Dai Mubai's expression collapsed.
A streak of black plummeted toward him at terrifying speed.
"Nether Thrust!"
Zhu Zhuqing's speed spiked yet again.
Panicked, Dai Mubai threw out his fourth soul skill.
"White Tiger Meteor Shower!"
A flurry of golden light-orbs rained down. By rights—by lock-on—they should have caught Zhu Zhuqing.
Reality slapped him cold. The Shadow Saint Cat pierced through the barrage and appeared before his eyes.
"This punch remembers a filthy past!"
With speed tripled, Zhu Zhuqing drove her fist forward.
Boom!!
The Evil-Eyed White Tiger's massive body cratered into the arena. Dust and gravel geysered.
When the cloud settled, the ring held a tiger-shaped pit.
The referee drew breath to declare Heaven Dou Royal Academy the winner, but Ye Lan pressed his hand down.
The referee understood instantly and shut his half-open mouth.
"—Khak!"
Dai Mubai coughed blood across his tiger fangs. Agony flooded every inch of him.
Was that really the damage of an agility-type soul master?!
That one blow snapped him out of his rage. He had been completely surpassed by Zhu Zhuqing.
Zhu Zhuqing flexed her knuckles; they ached, but hadn't broken.
Thanks to the Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum and the Water Immortal's Jade Muscles and Bones, her physique had reached a diamond-glazed indestructibility. Otherwise her right hand would've been ruined from that strike.
While Dai Mubai struggled for breath, golden hair suddenly yanked taut.
Zhu Zhuqing fisted his hair, wrenched him from the tiger-shaped pit, and flung him skyward.
He had no strength to resist—only his body arcing helplessly into the air.
As the Evil-Eyed White Tiger fell, Zhu Zhuqing's second and fourth soul rings lit together.
"Nether White Claw!"
"Blink!"
She layered the two skills at once. Around Dai Mubai's plummeting body, within a full 360-degree sphere, a dozen Shadow Saint Cats flashed into being.
Each flicker traced several claw swipes, birthing gusts of fivefold crescent winds.
To the audience, it looked like Dai Mubai was engulfed by countless Shadow Saint Cats, inundated by black moon-blades.
Each blade that touched tiger flesh drew a spray of blood.
"AAAHHH!!!"
In a brief span, Dai Mubai endured hundreds of black crescents.
Blood fountained from the lattice of cuts; by the time he slammed back into the ring, he was drenched as if bathed in a river of gore, skin flayed raw.
The pain wrung a strangled howl from him and he passed out cold.
The Shadow Saint Cat landed with feline grace, not a speck of blood on her.
She cast a cool glance at the tiger lying in the blood river. "This is the price for bullying Rongrong."
Then Zhu Zhuqing turned and walked toward the Heaven Dou Royal Academy bench.
Seeing Dai Mubai's ruin, Ning Rongrong dove into Zhu Zhuqing's arms, delighted. "Thank you, Zhuqing!"
Zhu Zhuqing ruffled her hair. "It wasn't just for you. It was for me. From this moment, Dai Mubai and I are severed for good."
"Zhuqing, that was perfect!"
"Congratulations on completing the task I assigned!" Ye Lan grinned.
"Teacher, the mission reward!" Zhu Zhuqing asked expectantly.
Mission… reward?
Ye Lan truly hadn't thought that far.
"How about this—after the matches, I'll cook tonight," Ye Lan offered.
"Okay!!" Zhu Zhuqing nodded like mad.
The audience, drunk on a bout even more spectacular and bloodier than the last, burst into fevered cheers for the Shadow Saint Cat.
"Saint Cat!"
"Saint Cat!"
"Saint Cat!"
Tens of thousands fell for the Shadow Saint Cat's merciless elegance. She was too cool.
Who could resist such graceful, lethal combat?
"Boss Dai!!" Ma Hongjun sprinted to the blood-soaked heap. Faced with Dai Mubai's body of wounds, he fumbled, helpless. The rest of Shrek crowded in, finally tasting what it felt like when others were the ones to suffer at their hands.
"Jiangzhu, treat him, quick," Yu Xiaogang barked.
Liu Erlong snarled, "Xiaogang, I'm going to tear Heaven Dou Royal Academy apart!"
"Enough! Don't make it worse. This is their home arena. If you strike first, everyone here will pile on you!"
Jiangzhu's third soul skill glowed a long while before she said, ashamed, "Dean Liu, this is all I can do for now. I've stopped the bleeding."
"Fine. When Oscar wakes, have him make recovery sausages," Liu Erlong said through gritted teeth.
"Xiao San, what now? How do we handle Zhu Zhuqing?" Yu Xiaogang asked.
"Tai Long, you go. Your defense is strong. Remember one thing—drag it out. As long as you drain Zhu Zhuqing's soul power, you've done your job," Tang San ordered, brooking no argument.
"M…me?!" Tai Long's scalp prickled. Clearly, the Shadow Saint Cat's methods had terrified him.
If a level forty-two White Tiger couldn't rely on 'tiger power,' how is a level thirty-eight 'Great Strength Ape' like me supposed to hold her off?
Seeing his hesitation, Tang San slanted him a look. "Hm? Is there a problem?"
"No—no! I'm going! Third Brother, don't waste my sacrifice. Defeat Ye Lan for me!" Tai Long said.
"Relax. I don't take Ye Lan seriously. Once we deal with the lightning-fast Zhu Zhuqing, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and the Biphylline Dragon Emperor are nothing," Tang San said, arrogant.
"Good! I believe in you, Third Brother!" Tai Long gritted his teeth, hyping himself up.
Step by heavy step, Tai Long dragged himself onto the stage.
Just when he thought he'd be facing Zhu Zhuqing, a golden meteor streaked across the ring.
The instant the audience recognized Ye Lan, the arena erupted in a thunder that made the buildings shiver.
"Blue Emperor!!"
"Blue Emperor!!"
"Lord Ye!!"
"Lord Ye!!"
Facing his father's and grandfather's killer, Tai Long's unease evaporated. Fury he could no longer suppress flooded his chest.
His eyes went blood-red, as if he could devour the golden-haired youth alive.
"No need to get so hot-headed. It's just a spirit battle," Ye Lan said lightly, unfazed by Tai Long's hatred.
Why would a dragon care about an ant's grudges?
The referee, excited now that Ye Lan stood on stage, proclaimed:
"Both sides substitute simultaneously! Level thirty-eight 'Blue Emperor' Ye Lan versus level thirty-eight 'Great Strength Ape' Tai Long!"
"Both are Soul Elders—could Tai Long defeat Ye Lan? Let's find out!"
With that, the referee retreated, ceding the stage to the Blue Emperor.
Hearing Ye Lan was level thirty-eight cooled Tai Long's head a little. Two years ago, when they crossed fists, Ye Lan had only been a level twenty-five Grandmaster.
Now Ye Lan stood at the same level as he did—thirty-eight!
If he'd been one-shot back then, how terrifying was Ye Lan now?
Even Tai Long's single-celled brain could grasp that Ye Lan's true strength was far beyond his showings in the prelims.
He understood: to win for Tang San, he had to burn everything to shave down Ye Lan's soul power—even a sliver would do. The hatred of his father and grandfather—he would bear it.
Having resolved himself, Tai Long roared, "Great Strength Ape—Possession!"
（End of Chapter）