On the playground, the violent scene was still unfolding.
When Xiao Wu once again tossed Yu Tianheng's body into the air, instead of slamming him directly to the ground, she threw him high into the sky.
Thus, the eight consecutive throws were completed. Adding the earlier mid-air spin and slam, Yu Tianheng had been thrown no less than nine times.
More than eight slams?
This time, Xiao Wu wasn't using the Eight-Step Throw; rather, it was an evolved version—the Ten-Step Throw.
The continuity of Xiao Wu's self-created soul skill moves was impressive and demanded significant strength in her waist.
However, at this moment, Yu Tianheng was like a corpse, unable to resist. Coupled with Xiao Wu's extraordinary physique, as long as he couldn't break free from her control, even continuing to throw him ten more times wouldn't be an issue.
As Yu Tianheng flew back into the air, Xiao Wu ran up and jumped, then bent her right knee and kicked out with a flying kick.
With a "boom," Yu Tianheng's body flew sideways, directly kicked out of the circle by Xiao Wu, heavily smashing onto the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
Ye Lingling: "..."
At this moment, Ye Lingling, who stood behind the Imperial Battle Team, was utterly speechless.
Xiao Wu beating Yu Tianheng wasn't unseen by her, but her soul skills could only provide healing effects, incapable of rescuing Yu Tianheng.
Moreover, to avoid wasting soul power and causing excessive healing, she originally planned to treat Yu Tianheng after Xiao Wu finished her assault.
But never did she imagine that after Xiao Wu's combo, their strongest team member, Captain Yu Tianheng, would be directly eliminated?
If a teammate is taken out in one fell swoop, no matter how strong the support healer is, it remains helpless.
On the other side, Dugu Yan, currently countering Little Bai, felt equally frustrated.
Although Little Bai was an auxiliary summon spirit with all innate abilities being supportive, its physical form equaled a beast spirit of the same age. A lion-type spirit beast over nine thousand years old, just in terms of physique, could overwhelm a Soul Ancestor.
Moreover, Little Bai could enhance itself. Using its innate ability "Blessing," Little Bai's strength absolutely rivaled a Soul King with somewhat weaker soul rings.
And most importantly, Dugu Yan discovered that her Jade Phosphorous Snake Venom had no effect on this big white lion.
Whenever her poison-based soul skills landed on the big white lion in front of her, the lion's body would flash with a white light, dispelling the effects of her venomous skills.
One of the innate abilities of the Light Lion Summon Spirit: Exorcism, which removes all negative statuses.
Dugu Yan, whose specialty was using poisons, encountered her nemesis. All her skills were thoroughly countered.
If not for Shi Mo, a defense system Soul Elder, acting as her assistant and Ye Lingling occasionally releasing healing skills on Shi Mo, who acted as the meat shield, Dugu Yan and Shi Mo would have already been dealt with by Little Bai.
It must be said, Shi Mo's Black Tortoise Shell indeed deserved to be called a top-tier defensive martial soul.
A turtle shell was inherently very hard. Combined with the highest quality martial soul, and supported by a super healer behind them, even though Little Bai lacked strong offensive innate soul skills, despite its sharp claws and overwhelming advantage, it couldn't defeat these two quickly.
Seeing her soul skills ineffective against the big white lion, Dugu Yan gritted her teeth in frustration. She immediately gave up dealing with Little Bai, transformed her legs into snake tails with her martial soul, and swiftly swam towards Chu Chengzhou and the others behind.
She was a main force of the Imperial Battle Team, the second strongest after Yu Tianheng. Since dealing with this big white lion was fruitless, naturally, she wouldn't waste her efforts.
Moreover, this big white lion was summoned by Chu Chengzhou. Once Chu Chengzhou was eliminated, it indirectly meant solving the big white lion problem.
Additionally, three enemy supports clustered together, making it convenient for her to take them all out at once.
Dugu Yan: Dealing with three supports should be easy, right?
At this time, Xiao Wu KOed Yu Tianheng, Little Bai overwhelmed Shi Mo and Dugu Yan, and even forced Dugu Yan, who had no way to counter, to abandon the line and turn to deal with Chu Chengzhou at the back. However, the situation on the field elsewhere needed to change.
Zhu Zhuqing's opponent was Oslo, possessing the Ghost Leopard martial soul and also an agile attack system soul master. But Oslo was a Level 36 Soul Elder, while she was only a Level 28 Great Soul Master, with a considerable gap in soul power levels and lacking a thousand-year third soul ring.
Even with Ning Rongrong enhancing her with 30% strength and speed attributes, she inevitably fell into a disadvantage.
Azure Cloud Patterned Armor? This was just a friendly duel; it shouldn't be used to bully people.
Similarly, Ma Hongjun versus Yu Feng was also at a disadvantage.
If Ma Hongjun's martial soul were truly a Phoenix, whether Yu Feng, possessing the Wind Chime Bird martial soul, could still fly was a question worth investigating. After all, the Phoenix was the king of birds, suppressing most avian martial souls.
Unfortunately, Ma Hongjun's martial soul wasn't a real Phoenix, but a mutated chicken with some phoenix characteristics, far from the king of birds.
Seeing her little sister and Ma Hongjun fall into a disadvantage, Xiao Wu, who had eliminated Yu Tianheng, retracted her Azure Cloud Patterned Armor and rushed towards Oslo.
Retracting the Azure Cloud Patterned Armor was because Xiao Wu didn't want to be mistakenly thought by the Imperial Battle Team to rely on the armor's advantages after defeating the opponent.
Meanwhile, seeing Dugu Yan abandon the fight with Little Bai and rush towards him, Chu Chengzhou immediately stepped forward to intercept her.
"This road is blocked!"
Chu Chengzhou planted his flag and smiled at the approaching Dugu Yan.
"Third Soul Skill, Jade Phosphorous Purple Poison!"
Her third soul ring lit up, and Dugu Yan opened her red lips, spitting out a dense purple mist, rapidly diffusing in the air and surging towards Chu Chengzhou.
Calmly focusing, Chu Chengzhou didn't move his feet. As the toxic mist engulfed him, a green light shot out from the giant canopy of the Sky Azure Tree summoned spirit, instantly merging into Chu Chengzhou's body.
In the blink of an eye, a spherical, transparent, emerald-colored protective shield enveloped Chu Chengzhou's entire body.
One of the Sky Azure Tree summoned spirit's two innate soul skills: Protection, which condensed a soul power shield and could also be bestowed upon teammates.
The next moment, the highly corrosive purple mist engulfed him, covering Chu Chengzhou's body.
'Sizzle sizzle sizzle~'
A faint sound emitted, and Chu Chengzhou clearly saw the purple mist continuously corroding his soul power shield.
This Miss Dugu's breath seemed quite powerful!
However, Chu Chengzhou wasn't worried. Although the soul power shield bestowed by Little Qing wasn't particularly strong, its defensive capability was equivalent to a three-ring Soul Elder's thousand-year defense soul skill and wasn't easily broken.
Waving his flag a few times, creating a gust of wind, the purple mist enveloping his entire body was quickly carried away by the breeze.
'Damn it!'
Seeing Chu Chengzhou first manifest a soul power shield and then so cleanly and decisively neutralize her soul skill, Dugu Yan gritted her teeth in frustration.
Why was this guy just like the big white lion before? None of her soul skills worked on him?
"Miss Dugu, why don't you join me here and watch? Leave the victory or defeat to them?"
Chu Chengzhou suggested to Dugu Yan.
"You—!"
Hearing this, Dugu Yan was enraged.
You're just a support and can leisurely watch with that powerful lion you summoned, but I, Dugu Yan, am the main force of the Imperial Battle Team! Given the current unfavorable situation, how could I possibly sit here and watch the show with you?
Also, thanks to the 'turtle shell' around Chu Chengzhou, even her Jade Phosphorous Purple Poison couldn't break through in a short time. Otherwise, Dugu Yan would definitely let him taste the might of her Jade Phosphorous Snake Venom.
Immediately, Dugu Yan decided to temporarily bypass Chu Chengzhou and first deal with Ning Rongrong and Oscar.
She didn't believe that the big tree Chu Chengzhou summoned with his soul skill could consecutively cover another two supports with 'turtle shells.'
Dugu Yan's idea was good, but Chu Chengzhou wouldn't just stand by. With a light tap of his foot, he activated his movement technique, flashing behind her.
Subsequently, waving his flag, using the flagpole as a staff, he struck Dugu Yan's slender waist with a light touch.
Boom!
Though it appeared to be a gentle tap, this strike on Dugu Yan's lower back immediately produced a muffled sound, sending her flying several meters and landing face-first.
"Spit, spit!"
Spitting out the sand that accidentally got into her mouth, Dugu Yan angrily climbed back up, shaking her snake tail.
She never imagined that Chu Chengzhou, this 'support,' could possess such strength. One hit knocked her, who had a higher soul power level, flying.
"I've already said this road is blocked, Miss Dugu. Don't think about attacking my supports."
Chu Chengzhou smiled at the slightly disheveled Dugu Yan.
Without replying, Dugu Yan glared at Chu Chengzhou and spat out another wave of Jade Phosphorous Purple Poison.
Chu Chengzhou, still fully protected by his omnidirectional, no-dead-angle shield, ignored it. Waving his flag with clever force, the seemingly cloth-like yet incredibly durable True Spirit Flag wrapped Dugu Yan up, swinging the flagpole and tossing her toward Little Qing.
Before the parabolic Dugu Yan could land, several dark green vines shot out from the giant canopy of the Sky Azure Tree summon spirit, binding her tightly and hanging her upside down from the tree.
Boom—
At this moment, the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground came.
Turning his head, Chu Chengzhou saw the previously airborne Yu Feng from the Imperial Battle Team now lying flat on the ground.
It turned out that after Xiao Wu quickly helped Zhu Zhuqing eliminate Oslo, she casually added a charm soul skill on Yu Feng.
Yu Feng was flying in the sky when suddenly hit by the Charm soul skill, immediately falling under forced control and becoming stunned.
Flying-type soul masters could fly solely because they had wings. If those wings stopped flapping, naturally, they would fall from the sky.
The higher they flew, the harder they fell. This saying described Yu Feng perfectly. Who knows if this young man suffered any serious injuries?
However, with Ye Lingling, the super healer present, as long as he didn't die on the spot, he should be salvageable later.
Yu Tianheng and Oslo were KOed by Xiao Wu, Yu Feng crashed and became semi-paralyzed, Shi Mo was pressed to the ground by Little Bai, and Dugu Yan was hung upside down on a tree.
Shi Mo: Thank goodness I didn't participate!
At this point, among the six members of the Imperial Battle Team who entered the field, the only one remaining was Ye Lingling, the healing-type soul master.
"I declare that this soul battle match is won by Shrek!"
At this moment, seeing only Ye Lingling left from his own Imperial Battle Team, Qin Ming announced the result of this soul battle.
With the outcome clear, Chu Chengzhou instructed Little Qing to release the upside-down Dugu Yan, then retracted the two summoned spirits.
"Hmph!"
After landing, Dugu Yan snorted coldly and glared fiercely at Chu Chengzhou.
For the first time in her life, she was hung upside down on a tree. If her grandfather weren't here, Dugu Yan would definitely go to him to vent her anger!
Chu Chengzhou: "..."
On the other side.
"Old Zhao, do you think we can claim to be the strongest academy in the empire during our next enrollment?"
Stroking his chin, suppressing his joy, Flender quietly asked Zhao Wuji beside him.
Their own Shrek students defeated the Imperial Battle Team in a fair fight, meaning Shrek Academy was stronger than the Tian Dou Imperial Academy, essentially making it the strongest academy in some sense.
"... As long as you're happy!"
Zhao Wuji was somewhat speechless. How dare you, Flender, say that Shrek is the strongest academy in the empire?
Do you even know Shrek's strength?
Thinking that Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu could defeat the Imperial Battle Team due to your excellent teaching?
"Flender, I think instead of considering the strongest academy status, you should focus on how to get the qualification to participate in the Soul Master Tournament. These talented youngsters cannot be wasted."
Shao Xin spoke up.
Though Shao Xin's tone was very calm, his words undoubtedly pierced Flender like a sharp dagger.
Indeed, could their dilapidated Shrek Academy really deserve such talented students?
For a moment, Flender's joy vanished, and he fell silent.
In this soul battle, the most severe injury wasn't to Yu Tianheng, who was brutally slammed by Xiao Wu, nor to Shi Mo, who was pressed to the ground by Little Bai, but to Yu Feng, who fell directly from the sky.
However, the Nine-Heart Begonia deserved to be called the strongest healing martial soul on the continent. Several white petals formed by soul skills floated down, and the previously semi-paralyzed Yu Feng quickly stood up as if nothing happened.
Not long after, the injuries of the Imperial Battle Team members were healed.
Physical injuries were easy to cure, but psychological trauma wasn't so easily recovered.
The Tian Dou Imperial Academy was the official academy of the Tian Dou Empire. Even the Five Elements Academies couldn't compare to the Tian Dou Imperial Academy.
As members of the Imperial Battle Team, they undoubtedly were the most outstanding genius students of the Tian Dou Imperial Academy. However, they were now defeated by the unknown Shrek Academy and lost so miserably without any counterattacks, leaving a bitter taste in their hearts.
"What, are you all downcast just because of one loss?"
Seeing the dejected expressions on the faces of the Imperial Battle Team members, Qin Ming spoke sternly.
"We're sorry, Teacher Qin Ming. We lost."
Yu Tianheng said guiltily.
Qin Ming didn't speak, just silently watching him.
Yu Tianheng continued, "Today's defeat is entirely my responsibility. I was eliminated right at the start, failing to fulfill my role as captain. Punish me if necessary!"
Qin Ming wasn't a mild teacher. He knew that strict teachers produce outstanding students, so he was extremely strict in educating his students. Whenever his students made mistakes, they faced heavy punishments.
As soon as Yu Tianheng finished speaking, the members of the Imperial Battle Team wanted to defend him.
But before they could open their mouths, Qin Ming waved his hand and said, "In this battle, you made no mistake. If there's anything to blame, it's that your opponents were too strong!"
There was no trace of severity in Qin Ming's tone that the Imperial Battle Team members expected.
Before this battle, Qin Ming observed everything.
Perhaps before entering the battlefield, the Imperial Battle Team was arrogant and complacent.
But after Xiao Wu released her soul rings, showcasing her four-ring Soul Elder cultivation, the Imperial Battle Team lost all arrogance.
After all, Xiao Wu looked quite young, yet her soul power level was far higher than theirs.
Facing ordinary geniuses, the Imperial Battle Team could be proud, but facing talents superior to themselves, what grounds did they have to be arrogant?
Moreover, this battle ended decisively. The Imperial Battle Team didn't even have space for mistakes before being thoroughly crushed.
Yu Tianheng was brutally beaten and eliminated at the start, and Dugu Yan encountered a large white lion immune to toxins. Two of the six main forces were rendered useless. Without any mistakes, they still had no hope of winning.
As he said, this wasn't a failure in battle; it was purely due to the overwhelming strength of the opponents.
Furthermore, Qin Ming saw clearly that Shrek hadn't used their full strength in this battle.
Throughout the entire process of this soul battle, Xiao Wu, the highest soul power level, only used her first and second soul skills, not touching her third and fourth.
Similarly, Chu Chengzhou only used his first and second soul skills, summoning one tree and one lion. Qin Ming could speculate that the summoning beast of Chu Chengzhou's third soul skill would surely be stronger, given that it made no sense for the third soul skill's effect to be weaker than the second.
'We didn't make a mistake, just that the opponent was too strong?'
Hearing this, the Imperial Battle Team members opened their mouths but couldn't find words to refute.
Indeed, they hadn't had time to make a mistake before being thoroughly crushed.
Uh, perhaps this was even harder to accept than losing due to a mistake?
After all, mistakes could be corrected, and future victories could be achieved by not repeating them. But if the loss was purely due to the opponent's overwhelming strength, there was no hope of victory.
Considering the students of Shrek Academy appeared to be younger than them, as time passed, the gap between them would only widen, not shrink.
Thinking this way, the members of the Imperial Battle Team became even more disheartened.
"Alright, one failure doesn't represent everything.
Countless strong individuals across the continent have experienced defeats. Even mighty Title Douluo aren't exempt.
As long as you pull yourselves together, stay humble in victory and undaunted in defeat, you will undoubtedly become formidable figures in the future!"
Seeing the heavy blow to the morale of the Imperial Battle Team, Qin Ming encouraged them with a smile.
"Yes, Teacher Qin Ming!"
After a bowl of toxic 'chicken soup' (encouragement), the Imperial Battle Team regained their fighting spirit.
At noon, in the dining hall of Shrek Academy.
Qin Ming didn't leave in a hurry. Having come back once and leading the Imperial Battle Team to engage in a soul battle with the juniors, it would be considered a challenge if they left immediately after losing.
Flender also intended to show hospitality, instructing the villagers cooking in the canteen to prepare two large tables of delicious food.
Flender and others sat with Qin Ming, while Chu Chengzhou and others sat with the Imperial Battle Team.
While eating, suddenly, Dugu Yan frowned, showing signs of discomfort.
"Yan Yan, are you alright?"
Immediately, Yu Tianheng and her close friend Ye Lingling sitting beside her asked with concern.
"It's fine."
Waving her hand, Dugu Yan endured the discomfort, took out a porcelain bottle from her storage soul-guiding device, poured out a grayish little pill, and swallowed it directly.
This scene was nothing new to the members of the Imperial Battle Team.
They knew their vice-captain had some minor issues and would take a small pill every time these problems occurred.
"Taking medicine? Are you sick?"
Xiao Wu, seated across from Dugu Yan with only Ye Lingling between them, blinked curiously and asked.
"Mm-hmm."
Dugu Yan nodded, not intending to explain further.
"Let me ask my brother to check you. Some minor issues can be cured by his Little Bai."
Though they had just met, Xiao Wu was naturally lively and loved making friends. Moreover, it was just a matter of Little Bai's innate soul skill, so she suggested to Dugu Yan.
"Little Bai?"
Hearing this, Dugu Yan was momentarily stunned. Who was Little Bai?
"That big lion my brother summoned with his martial soul!"
Dugu Yan: "..."
Such a big lion, and you call it Little Bai? Which part of it is little?
However, recalling the previous battle where the big white lion ignored the effects of her poison-based soul skills, it might indeed be able to detoxify her body?
Thinking this way, Dugu Yan looked at Chu Chengzhou.
Meeting Dugu Yan's gaze, Chu Chengzhou didn't refuse. Manifesting his True Spirit Flag, his second soul ring lit up, and amid surging soul power, a golden-maned white lion cub half a meter long abruptly materialized.
"Really Little Bai?!"
Looking at the size-restricted, adorable yet fierce-looking little white lion in front of her, Dugu Yan widened her eyes.
Under Chu Chengzhou's indication, Little Bai emitted a white glow, and a streak of white light surged out, merging into Dugu Yan's body.
Instantly, Dugu Yan felt a wave of refreshment throughout her body. The pain from the toxin backlash immediately disappeared, and she could sense that the accumulated toxins in her body were completely swept away.
Why just the recently accumulated toxins? Naturally, Dugu Yan wasn't completely without ways to detoxify.
Soul skills in the world were myriad and strange. There were many soul masters with soul skills that provided detoxification effects, such as Oscar's second soul ring skill, the Detoxifying Sausage.
Moreover, her grandfather, Dugu Bo, was a Title Douluo and a guest elder of the Tian Dou Imperial Family. It was simple for him to arrange for a soul master capable of detoxification.
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