The smoke cleared.
Yan Shaozhe was holding a skinny boy, glaring at Ma Xiaotao: "Be careful, don't go too hard!"
"Okay." Ma Xiaotao crossed her arms, holding her head high, eyes fixed on Ling Luochen across from her.
Yao Haoxuan was eliminated.
The balance shifted. With Ling Luochen and Su Wen's team at six against seven, they ultimately lost.
But as soon as the result was announced—
Ma Xiaotao couldn't wait to drag Su Wen away: "He's ours this round!"
The second match began half an hour later.
Everyone recovered before the new round.
Su Wen's Ultimate Ice completely suppressed Ling Luochen, the attribute restraint as overwhelming as a bloodline difference—no wonder Ling Luochen was so into him, like a delicious cake you can never get enough of after one taste.
Even Ling Luochen's ice attacks were quickly neutralized by Su Wen. Despite a twenty-level gap, he still held this much advantage. Truly worthy of the ultimate attribute.
But the flaw was obvious: Ice Emperor's only skill, "Ice Domain," affected friend and foe alike.
The whole arena slowed to 0.75 speed.
Even Ma Xiaotao's phoenix evil fire weakened.
Still, Su Wen fulfilled his role—taking out Ling Luochen, their control type, so she couldn't contribute.
He didn't use Wind Blade.
In such a high-level battle, normal attribute skills were useless, especially being twenty levels lower than these geniuses. But with his next breakthrough, and Gale's super-evolution, maybe his attributes would get stronger too.
Without the combination of Ling Luochen and Su Wen, Ma Xiaotao mowed down the opposition. She really wasn't bluffing—even now, her impure Evil Fire Phoenix could suppress all her peers. If she ever fully evolved…
"Finished!" Yan Shaozhe clapped, smiling.
Everyone immediately collapsed on the field, gasping for breath.
Such battles consumed not just soul power, but physical strength.
The latter, unlike soul power, is hard to train—results are intangible, since the human body is much harder to improve, and gains are rarely worth the effort.
Shrek's current training methods only work in the early stages (before level 40). They're useless in the later stages (no relevant body techniques, not even the Body Sect has them). Most Title Douluo are just tough and resilient, not truly maximizing their bodies' potential.
Just look at Zhou Yi's training—it's crude: running with weights, push-ups, physical drills. Anyone watching might think they'd time-traveled to ancient times…
But…
Su Wen smacked his lips.
He might be the exception.
After all, he could synchronize with his soul beasts' attribute advantages… That's a bit crazy—soul beasts' bodies are naturally much stronger than humans'. As cultivation rises, the gap widens.
He could feel it—if it was a battle of physical strength among his peers, he'd win hands down.
Shaking his head, he knew he'd have to wait until his third soul beast was decided before planning his future path.
Hopefully, he'd run into a soul beast he liked.
Everyone soon dispersed, but before leaving, each greeted Su Wen warmly. In the inner courtyard, where monsters gathered, strength was everything. Su Wen's power was a bit lacking, but his talent and potential left even these geniuses in awe.
"Su Wen!"
Ma Xiaotao pinched Su Wen's ear, glaring.
"Hm?" Su Wen played dumb.
"Hmph! When we get back, use Ultimate Ice to help me vent my fire! I want that little tramp to know, she only gets a trial run with your Ultimate Ice, while I get to use it every day! No sleeping tonight!" Ma Xiaotao narrowed her eyes, sneering coldly.
"All night?!!" Su Wen's eyes widened.
Eyeing Ma Xiaotao's body—her figure was unbelievable now, like a budding, gorgeous rose, but he was only ten! Did she know how painful it was to just look and not touch? Especially since she liked to cling to him while sleeping…
He gulped, looking utterly hopeless. Just kill me, please.
...
Next morning.
Su Wen looked a bit pale.
He stood in the lineup, trembling.
He really had been drained all night—his soul power was completely gone. But Ma Xiaotao was radiant, lively, dragging Su Wen everywhere.
"Xiaotao!"
Yan Shaozhe glared at her.
He nervously checked Su Wen's condition. Seeing that he was fine, and his soul power was quickly recovering, he finally relaxed.
"I'm fine, Dean Yan," Su Wen forced a smile.
Because Ma Xiaotao looked especially smug, her expression screaming: "Do it again if you dare."
Besides, using Ultimate Ice to suppress her evil fire was actually really beneficial for him—improving his soul power and control of Ultimate Ice at lightning speed. The feeling of ice and fire… was honestly amazing.
Compared to that, quickly recovering soul power was nothing.
"..."
Yan Shaozhe was speechless.
"All right, whatever you two do, just rein it in!"
Then he went to check the final roster.
Su Wen yawned and looked around.
He didn't know many here.
Zhang Lexuan had just advanced to Soul Douluo and stood at the top of the inner court—she could quit anytime to become a teacher. Zhang Yi and others were still grinding away at their graduation tasks, chasing evil soul masters everywhere.
Why not go to the Sun Moon Empire?
Su Wen wondered maliciously.
That was the evil soul master stronghold—maybe they just didn't dare!
Thinking of evil soul masters made him think of Ma Xiaotao.
This Holy Spirit Church saintess had a martial soul that could flip between god and demon. After the tournament in two years, she'd definitely be targeted by the Holy Spirit Church…
Though she liked to squeeze him dry, was busty, brainless, and hot-tempered—still…
"Xiao Wen, are you badmouthing me in your head?" Ma Xiaotao narrowed her eyes dangerously at Su Wen.
"Ahem, of course not."
Su Wen coughed awkwardly.
He looked off into the distance, but deep down, he was determined to keep her safe.
"All right, let's go!"
The roll call ended.
Yan Shaozhe waved his hand.
Unlike Elder Xuan, who liked to slack off and use training you as an excuse to hang back (who knows if he was napping or snacking, giving zero sense of security), Yan Shaozhe personally led the team, never leaving them out of sight. Even when training, he always kept them in view.
The team had thirteen people in total.
There were some outer courtyard students, but most were nobodies (never mentioned in the original), so Su Wen paid them no mind, focusing on finding his third soul beast.
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