"Tianheng, so who ended up winning between those two academy teams?"
Qin Ming returned from the tournament venue early in the morning. Since there wasn't much of a need to study tactics anymore, he figured it was better to just come back and sleep rather than waste time watching boring matches.
"Shrek Academy took the win," Yu Tianheng replied calmly. "Tang San defeated Shui Bing'er."
Yu Tianheng didn't feel the slightest ripple in his heart when he said it. So what if Tang San won? How great could he be, really? Could he possibly compare to Lu Yuan? Absolutely not. As far as tomorrow's match was concerned, there wasn't even the faintest wave in Tianheng's heart.
That night passed without any more words.
The Morning of the Finals
Early the next morning, Lu Yuan casually downed two full jars of fine wine before heading to the Papal Palace, one arm wrapped around Dugu Yan, the other draped over Ye Lingling. His swagger was impossible to miss.
"Brother Lu Yuan, you got this!"
"Brother Lu Yuan, we're taking the championship!"
"Brother Lu Yuan, you're unbeatable!"
The cheering voices of eliminated contestants rang from the sidelines. Even though their own journeys had ended, none of them wanted to miss the historic moment of witnessing the champion being crowned.
Among them were Feng Xiaotian, Huo Wushuang, and others, loudly shouting encouragement.
"Tianxin, why aren't you cheering with us?" someone asked.
Yu Tianheng nearly laughed out loud at his cousin's sulky face. After all, he was about to become champion. When he returned to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, there would surely be a great banquet in his honor. Maybe, just maybe, his grandfather would decide—right then and there—to name him the next heir of the sect.
Just imagining it made the corners of his lips rise upward in smug delight.
"What does becoming champion have to do with you, anyway?" Yu Tianxin barked, glaring at him.
"Of course it does! The victory is mine too!"
"You? Please. You're only winning because you got lucky being on the same team as Lu Yuan," Yu Tianxin spat, unable to hide his bitterness. He hated Yu Tianheng's gloating expression more than anything in the world.
Yu Tianheng shrugged. "Lying down and winning with my teammates is still a kind of ability, don't you think?"
With that, he walked off without looking back. After today, there would be no comparison between him and Yu Tianxin—they were simply no longer on the same level.
A Stormy Atmosphere
At the grand entrance of the Pope's Palace, morning sunlight coated the monumental building in golden glory.
When the members of the Tiandou Imperial Academy arrived, they were immediately met with the murderous stares of Tang San, Dai Mubai, and Yu Xiaogang, all glaring at Lu Yuan as though they wanted to rip him apart and eat him alive.
The three of them loathed Lu Yuan to the very core. Yet no matter how much they hated him, they couldn't do a damn thing. To be honest, they'd already been humiliated enough in this tournament.
"What are those three idiots even doing?" someone whispered from the Tiandou group.
"Who knows. Probably choking on their own frustration—looks worse than eating shit."
"Hah, serves them right."
Yu Tianheng and the others sneered openly at the Shrek trio, irritated yet thoroughly entertained by their expressions.
The Final Match
"The finals of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament are about to begin! Players from both sides, prepare yourselves. The match will begin in fifteen minutes!"
Inside Shrek Academy's camp, everyone was frantically going over tactical plans one more time.
Meanwhile, the Tiandou Royal Academy team had a very different discussion.
"That fast-moving Left Leg Spirit Bone is perfect for me. If we win, I call dibs on that one."
"I want the right arm bone of the Flame Burst. It fits my abilities best."
"Bah, it's wasted on you. You wouldn't even make full use of it."
"Oh, and you would? Please. I'll take it if I damn well want to."
The tense "strategy meeting" quickly devolved into petty bickering over who would get which spirit bone reward. Not that anyone minded. With Lu Yuan on their side, victory was already close to guaranteed.
The fifteen minutes passed in a blink. Soon after, the referee called both teams onto the playing stage.
"Competitors, release your martial souls!"
In an instant, fourteen beams of radiant light soared into the air. Among them, Lu Yuan's was the most dazzling of all—six majestic spirit rings encircled him, the sheer force of his aura suppressing every rival's presence on the field.
The referee's expression tightened. "The match begins!"
Even as he shouted, he quickly leapt backward, retreating out of the blast zone. If he moved too slow, there was a real chance he'd get caught in the opening clash.
Tang San was the first to act. His body shot forward like lightning, aiming straight at Lu Yuan. From his palms, Blue Silver Grass poured out like serpentine vines, surging outward instantly.
"Fourth Spirit Ability—Blue Silver Cage!"
A pitch-black Ten-thousand-year fourth spirit ring flared on his body, six giant vine cages erupting across the field, locking down every member of the Tiandou team—except Lu Yuan.
Shrek's tactic was simple. Lu Yuan was impossible for any one of them to take down, but if Tang San could hold him off for just a while, then Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and the rest might at least overwhelm the other Tiandou members first.
After locking down the others, Tang San retrieved his Blue Silver Grass with one hand while the other wielded a rapidly growing Clear Sky Hammer.
"Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique!"
His figure blurred with Ghost Shadow steps, afterimages trailing behind as the hammer swung rhythmically. With each strike, the force grew exponentially, power stacking with every swing. By the time the hammer's arc flashed in range of Lu Yuan, Tang San had already unleashed forty-eight strikes in succession.
"Clang!"
The impact resounded as the hammer slammed onto Lu Yuan's long sword, sparks exploding outward from the collision.
"You little bastard—you still can't do better than that?" Lu Yuan scoffed, casually taking another sip of wine.
Activating his surge technique, the aura around him skyrocketed.
"Pierce through the skies!"
"Whoosh!"
A flurry of Sword Qi erupted from his blade, streaking forward like meteors.
Tang San's purple demon eyes glowed as his Purple Demon Pupil activated. His vision locked onto each arc of Sword Qi, and with Ghost Shadow footwork he narrowly danced through the deadly barrage. He knew all too well the overwhelming gap between them. Direct confrontation was suicide. Dragging out the fight with delay tactics was the only way.
"You're trying to run again?!" Lu Yuan's irritation spiked.
"Third Soul Skill—Sword Formation!"
Lights filled the sky above the Pope's Palace, forming into countless blades of soul power that rained downward like a violent storm, blanketing the battlefield.
Tang San's face twisted. "Fourth Spirit Ability—Blue Silver Cage!"
This time, he cast it on himself, wrapping layer upon layer of vines into a tight protective shell, binding himself like a giant blue zongzi dumpling.
"Chi-chi-chi!"
Countless blades slammed down. In only seconds, the protective layers bristled with protruding sword edges, making him look like a hedgehog. The defense was shredded—the blades had pierced through in several places, gashing into Tang San's body.
Wounded in over a dozen spots, Tang San gritted his teeth and forced his spirit power outward, shredding his own cage to break free. If he hadn't, he would've been reduced to a corpse skewered with dozens more holes. He realized grimly that he had completely overestimated his Blue Silver Grass' defensive power. Against Lu Yuan's perverse soul skills, his defense simply couldn't hold.
"Polar Sword Formation!"
At Lu Yuan's command, the soul blades in the air abruptly swiveled and converged from every direction, stabbing toward Tang San all at once.
In desperation, Tang San's spine sprouted eight spider spears from the spirit bone fused to his body. With them, combined with his jade-green hands, Purple Demon Pupil, and Ghost Shadow steps, he whirled desperately to intercept the unending strikes.
Meanwhile, Dai Mubai's side of the battle was a disaster. Even with Tang San's earlier delay tactics, Shrek's overall strength simply wasn't on par with Tiandou's lineup. With the Shi brothers flanking him relentlessly, Dai Mubai was being crushed, barely able to breathe.
His frustration reached the breaking point.
On the other hand, Yu Tianheng's grin only widened. Didn't his foolish cousin Yu Tianxin just mock him for being "carried" to victory? Well today, Yu Tianheng was standing proud, holding his own—even making flashy plays in the finals.
Let's see if that silly roe deer still dares to talk nonsense after this.
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