As the grand stage descended into a chaotic, multi-front war, Zhang Tian stood in the eye of the storm. His Blood Thunder Hell Cage was a work of art, a sprawling prison of crimson vines and violet lightning that was single-handedly suppressing more than half of his opponents. His gaze was cold, analytical, his mind processing a thousand different variables at once.
He watched Zhu Zhuqing, a black comet infused with fire, tear into the Heavenly Water Academy's elegant ice formation. He saw Dugu Yan, a jade dragon wreathed in buffs, go head-to-head with the furious Yu Tianxin. It was all proceeding as planned.
It was then that a new challenger stepped from the ranks of the Plant Academy.
Mu Qingzhu, her face a mask of intense, analytical curiosity, walked forward, her own Azure Blood Vines, a strange and sickly blue-red, rising from the stone around her. She had been observing him, her gaze sharp, her mind racing.
"Your spirit," she said, her voice calm and even, cutting through the din of battle. "It feels… familiar. Like mine. But stronger. I wish to test it."
"A test?" Zhang Tian replied, his lips curving into a slight, almost pitying, smile. "You are not qualified."
"We shall see," she said. She did not wait for a reply. She was a captain, a genius in her own right, and her pride demanded this confrontation. She acted.
"Third Spirit Ability: Sky Azure Prison!"
The ability was a relic of her old spirit, but now enhanced. A dozen thick, blue-red vines, covered in sharp, blood-colored thorns, shot from the ground, attempting to bind Zhang Tian in a cage.
"How boring," Zhang Tian murmured. He didn't even move. The crimson, lightning-wreathed vines of his Blood Thunder Hell Cage simply rose up, acting as a sentient shield. They met her vines head-on. The clash was a silent, anticlimactic thing. Mu Qingzhu's vines touched his, and were instantly incinerated by the raw thunder, turning to ash.
She frowned, her surprise evident. "You're just going to hide behind your cage?"
"I am not hiding," Zhang Tian said, taking a step towards her. "I am simply… efficient."
Mu Qingzhu's expression hardened. She would not be dismissed so easily. "Fourth Spirit Ability: Azure Blood Nova!"
She slammed her palms on the ground. A massive, explosive burst of her own vines erupted outwards in a 360-degree shockwave, a desperate attempt to overwhelm his defenses through sheer, brute numbers.
Zhang Tian just sighed. "A waste of energy."
His own vines met the nova, a crimson tide swallowing a blue-red ripple. The two plant-based armies clashed, and hers was found wanting. His vines, empowered by a ten-thousand-year ring and his own, superior bloodline, tore through hers, shredding them to pieces.
Mu Qingzhu's eyes widened in disbelief. Her power, her pride, was being so casually dismantled. She had one last chance. Her fifth spirit ring, the black, ten-thousand-year ring that was the source of her new power, blazed to life.
"Fifth Spirit Ability: Bloodvine Devour!"
This was her trump card. This was the ability that had let her drain the Elephant Armored Academy dry. Her vines changed, their thorns glowing with a hungry, red light. They shot out, not to bind him, but to latch onto his own Blood Silver Grass network that carpeted the stage.
She made contact. And she began to pull. She expected to feel his spirit power flow into her, to feel him weaken.
She felt nothing. Or rather, she felt… a wall. A wall of iron. A mountain of pure, unshakeable, and almost… amused, authority.
Zhang Tian just looked at her, his pitying smile returning. "You dare… to devour me?" he whispered, his voice a soft, almost gentle sound that was, to her, more terrifying than any shout.
He didn't even use a spirit ability. He simply willed it. His Blood Silver Emperor spirit, the true source, the ancient ancestor from which her own, pathetic little Blood Silver Grass ring had been born, unleashed a pulse of pure, regal authority. It was the roar of a dragon to a lizard.
The flow of power didn't just stop; it instantly, violently reversed.
"AHHHHH!" Mu Qingzhu screamed. It was not a scream of pain, but of pure, spiritual terror. She felt her own spirit power, her very life force, being siphoned at a terrifying rate. Her Azure Blood Vines didn't just disconnect; they were being eaten, dissolved, their essence flowing from her and into Zhang Tian's network. She was a river trying to flow upstream against a tidal wave.
In a blind panic, she activated her spirit bone, the gift from the very grass that was now betraying her. "Instant Defensive Construct Creation!"
A massive, tangled shield of her Azure Blood Vines erupted from the ground between them, a desperate, physical severing of the connection. She collapsed to her knees, her body trembling, her face pale, her spirit power half-empty. She had been defeated in a battle of pure, fundamental authority.
Zhang Tian simply snorted, his attention already turning back to the more pressing threats of Tang San and the others. He had no more time for this child's game.
He appeared before her, his speed a blur. He didn't use a vine. He didn't use a skill. He just used his martial arts. He delivered a single, precise, and brutally fast palm strike to her chest. It was a move of pure, controlled power, designed not to harm, but to end the fight.
The air was driven from Mu Qingzhu's lungs, her spirit power scattered. She collapsed onto her back, defeated, staring up at him with a mixture of shock, awe, and a strange, newfound respect.
Her teammates, seeing their captain defeated so easily, so completely, immediately raised their hands. "We forfeit! We surrender!"
The Plant Academy was out.
The battlefield was now slightly clearer. The Divine Wind Academy, save for their captain, was a pile of unconscious, vine-wrapped bodies. The Thunderclap Academy was locked in a losing battle with Dugu Yan and Ning Rongrong. The Heavenly Water Academy was being systematically, and beautifully, dismantled by Zhu Zhuqing.
This left the core of the alliance. The true threats.
Huo Wu, Huo Wushuang, Tang San, Dai Mubai, Yu Tianheng, and the now-solitary Feng Xiaotian converged on Zhang Tian, their expressions grim. They had seen him devour Mu Qingzhu's spirit. They had seen him nullify Tang San's. They knew this was their last, desperate chance. They had to strike as one.
"Now!" Tang San roared, his voice the rallying cry of their desperate alliance. "Huo Wu, Huo Wushuang, frontal assault! Feng Xiaotian, from the sky! Boss Mubai, Brother Tianheng, flank him! I will bind him!"
He was a general commanding his last, doomed army.
Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu charged, a twin-headed comet of pure, crimson flame. Feng Xiaotian dove from the sky, his "Stormwind Demon Wolf's Annihilation" technique already building, his body a spinning vortex of wind blades. Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng shot to the flanks, their auras blazing, their claws and lightning ready.
Tang San, in a last, desperate attempt, unleashed his full arsenal. "Purple Silk Bind!" The purple, spirit-targeting silks shot towards Zhang Tian, a net of pure, desperate hope. "Miasma Pulse Root!" The poison wave erupted at his feet, a final, futile attempt at control.
Zhang Tian just laughed. His Blood Thunder Hell Cage, the very foundation of his opening move, was still active, its crimson, crackling vines a silent, deadly defense.
The purple silks dissolved the moment they touched the crackling vines, their unique, spirit-targeting properties useless against a power that was so far beyond their own. The miasma was instantly incinerated by the ambient lightning, its poison turned to harmless, foul-smelling smoke. His Purple Spirit Grass, his greatest weapon, was completely nullified.
"He's… he's immune to my control!" Tang San gasped, his heart sinking.
"He's distracted! Attack!" Huo Wu screamed. She had been gathering her power, her beautiful face a mask of intense, fiery concentration. She unleashed her ultimate attack. "Fourth Spirit Ability: Brilliant Sun!"
The massive, orange ball of superheated flame, the very attack that had so decisively ended their match against Shrek, formed over her head and hurtled towards Zhang Tian, a star of pure, incinerating power.
The crowd roared. This was it!
Zhang Tian looked at the oncoming miniature sun. And he smiled.
"My turn," he said.
His first spirit ring, the ring of Devour, glowed with a hungry, crimson light. A single, massive Blood Silver Vine, crackling with his new, vibrant thunder attribute, erupted from the ground. It did not block the sun. It did not try to withstand it.
It opened its "maw." And it swallowed it whole.
The vine shuddered, its crimson skin glowing a bright, incandescent orange for a single, heart-stopping moment. It swelled, it pulsed… and then it just… held. It absorbed the fiery, explosive attack, its own aura surging with a new, stolen power.
Huo Wu and Huo Wushuang stared, their faces a mask of abject horror. He ate her ultimate attack.
"Impossible…" Huo Wushuang breathed. "That… that's not a plant spirit. That's a monster."
Zhang Tian used their shock. "Self-created skill: Crimson Impalement!"
The ground beneath the Blazing Academy siblings exploded in a forest of hardened, crimson-gold spikes. They were forced to scatter, their perfect, two-person assault formation completely broken.
It was in that moment of chaos that Feng Xiaotian struck.
"Stormwind Demon Wolf's Annihilation!" he roared, his voice a triumphant, desperate cry. He dove, his body a spinning vortex of thirty-six wind blades, a living tornado aimed directly at Zhang Tian's seemingly undefended head.
And as Zhang Tian dealt with the Blazing siblings and the diving Feng Xiaotian, Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng saw their opening. The ultimate pincer.
"Now, Third Brother! Attack him!" Dai Mubai roared.
Tang San, seeing his vines were useless, changed tactics. He was desperate. He was furious. He activated his Torso Spirit Bone. "Toxic Tremor!"
A venom-infused shockwave, a ripple of pure, earthy power, shot across the ground, aimed at Zhang Tian's feet, an attempt to unbalance him, to root him in place for the killing blows.
"White Tiger Meteor Shower!"
"Thunderous Dragon Head!"
Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng unleashed their most powerful attacks, a storm of white-hot light and a roaring dragon head of pure, blue-purple lightning, all converging on Zhang Tian's seemingly undefended back.
The crowd screamed. It was a perfect, inescapable trap.
Zhang Tian ignored them. He ignored the diving Feng Xiaotian. He ignored the trembling ground. He ignored the two massive, powerful attacks that were just moments away from striking his back.
He simply… moved.
"Thunder Hell Phantom Step."
His new Left Leg Spirit Bone glowed faintly. He didn't dodge. He vanished. He left a single, flickering, crimson afterimage in his place.
The Toxic Tremor hit the afterimage, dissipating harmlessly.
The Stormwind Demon Wolf's Annihilation tore through the afterimage, shredding it into a wisp of red smoke.
And the White Tiger Meteor Shower and the Thunderous Dragon Head collided, their two ultimate attacks, with no target to hit, smashing into each other in a catastrophic, unintended explosion of light and lightning.
Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng were thrown backwards by the force of their own, combined attacks, their bodies crackling with stray energy, their faces a mask of pure, unadulterated, and almost comically profound confusion.
"Where… where did he go?!" Feng Xiaotian screamed, landing in a clumsy, undignified heap.
"I am right here," Zhang Tian's voice, a cold, calm, and utterly terrifying sound, said.
He was now standing in the very center of their broken, scattered formation. And his eyes were fixed on one person. The true core of their alliance. The one who had dared to challenge him.
Tang San.
"Self-created skill: Viper's Kiss Strike."
A single, crimson vine, thin as a needle and hard as diamond, shot from Zhang Tian's sleeve. It moved faster than sound, faster than thought.
Tang San's Purple Demon Eye, which had been frantically scanning the battlefield, caught the movement. He tried to dodge. He tried to raise a wall of his Purple Spirit Grass.
He was too slow.
The vine struck him. Not in a vital spot. Not in his heart, or his throat. But in his shoulder. It pierced his defenses, his toughened skin, his very spirit power. And it injected its payload.
It was not poison. It was a single, dormant, and beautifully, wonderfully, and almost religiously profound Parasitic Spore.
And then, Zhang Tian's second ring, "Parasitic Spores," activated, a silent, invisible link between him and the seed he had just planted.
Tang San screamed.
It was not a scream of pain. It was a scream of pure, abject terror.
The spore inside him, force-fed by his own, rampant spirit power, instantly activated. It erupted. A cage of thick, crimson vines burst, not from the ground, but from inside his own body. They tore through his skin, his muscles, his meridians, a horrific, bloody, and exquisitely painful bloom of crimson and gold.
He collapsed, his body a twitching, agonizing prison, his spirit power instantly, violently, being siphoned by the very things that were tearing him apart from the inside.
"THIRD BROTHER!" Xiao Wu shrieked, her voice a sound of pure, animalistic terror.
But Tang San was not done. Even in his agony, his will was iron.
"Purple Silk Bind!" he gasped, his voice a wet, ragged sound.
The purple, spirit-targeting silks shot from his hands. But they did not target Zhang Tian. They targeted his own teammates.
They slammed into Oscar and Tai Long, who were standing in the back, stunned and horrified.
"Xiao San! What are you—" Oscar began to shout.
And then he screamed. He felt his spirit power, his very life force, being drained from his body at a terrifying rate, flowing through the purple silk and into Tang San.
Tang San was using his own team as a battery. He was using their power to fight the parasitic vines, to fuel his own, desperate resistance.
"BUY ME TIME!" he roared, his voice a sound of pure, desperate fury.
The rest of the Shrek team, and their now-leaderless allies, reacted on pure, unadulterated instinct.
"Third Ability: Phoenix Wing Ascension!" Ma Hongjun roared, his own, suppressed flames erupting from his back. He shot into the air. "First Ability: Phoenix Fire Wire!" A stream of purplish-red fire shot towards Zhang Tian.
"Strength Amplification! Strength Condensation! Root of Strength!" Tai Long roared, his three spirit rings flaring at once. He stomped the ground, and a wave of fissures, of pure, kinetic force, shot towards Zhang Tian.
The other powerful spirit masters of allied academies, seeing their moment, joined the fray.
"Fourth Ability: Brilliant Sun!"
"Fourth Ability: Flame Dragon Strength!"
"Third Ability: Wrath of the Tyrannosaurus!"
Huo Wu and Huo Wushuang unleashed their full, fiery power, a new, desperate storm of fire and flame.
"Stormwind Demon Wolf's Thirty Six Successive Chops!"
Feng Xiaotian became a living tornado, a whirlwind of thirty-six wind blades that tore through the air, aimed directly at the calm, unmoving center of the storm.
Zhang Tian stood in the very heart of the chaotic, multi-pronged assault, a half-dozen ultimate attacks all converging on him at the same instant.
And he just smiled. It was a cold and arrogant smile.