The audience was a sea of stunned, silent faces. The battle wasn't just a battle; it was a multi-front war, and the sheer skill on display was breathtaking. While Zhang Tian held the center, a maelstrom of chaos and power, his teammates were methodically dismantling the allied academies.
The duel between Zhu Zhuqing and the Heavenly Water Academy was a spectacle of particular beauty. The sisters of Heavenly Water, with their perfect, ice-blue uniforms and synchronized movements, were like a flock of migrating snow birds. And Zhu Zhuqing was the black civet cat in their midst.
The battle had raged for several minutes. Zhu Zhuqing, with her impossible speed and tri-elemental assault, had been a phantom they couldn't pin down. Her Abyssal Clones had caused chaos, allowing her to pick off four of their members one by one.
Now, the two clones had finally been destroyed, their forms shattering into wisps of shadow after taking a combined barrage of ice lances. It was three against one. Zhu Zhuqing stood panting slightly, her buff from Ning Rongrong making her spirit power hum, but the constant, high-speed maneuvering was still draining.
Shui Bing'er, her face pale but her eyes burning with a cold, determined fire, saw her chance. "Her clones are gone! We have her now!" she cried. "Sisters, lock her down!"
She and her last two teammates, including her sister Shui Yue'er, combined their power. "Fourth Ability: Ring of Ice!"
A vortex of freezing mist erupted from the three women, swirling around Zhu Zhuqing, the temperature dropping so fast the stone stage began to crackle with frost. Her speed, her greatest advantage, was instantly hampered. The very air became thick, the ground slick and treacherous.
"Third Ability: Ice Seal!"
"Second Ability: Ice Phoenix's Icy Breath!"
Lances of solid, magical ice, and a cone of air cold enough to freeze a man's breath in his lungs, shot at her from three different directions.
"This is it!" one of the girls shouted. "We've got her!"
Zhu Zhuqing, forced to dodge and weave in the freezing, restrictive mist, felt her frustration mount. She countered with her own self-created skill, "Black Fire Stream," a jet of dark flame from her palm that melted the incoming lances, but the effort was costly, creating clouds of steam that obscured her vision.
'This is taking too long,' she thought, her dark eyes flashing. 'They are weak, but their teamwork is annoying. Like a pack of yapping snow-dogs.'
One of the girls, Shui Yue'er, landed a lucky shot. A bond of ice, empowered by the array, snaked out and clamped around Zhu Zhuqing's ankle. It was not a full freeze, but it was enough to root her for a fraction of a second.
"She's trapped!" Shui Bing'er shouted, her voice ringing with triumph. "Finish her! NOW!"
The three of them unleashed their strongest attacks at once. A dozen sharp ice lances, a new, more powerful Ice Phoenix breath, all converged on the "trapped" Zhu Zhuqing.
Zhu Zhuqing just smirked. "You're mistaken."
Her voice was low, cold. "I'm not trapped. You are."
The ice on her ankle didn't just melt; it shattered from a pulse of black fire that erupted from her skin.
SCHLIIING!
The sound was not of magic. It was the sound of a dozen swords being drawn at once, a sharp, metallic ring that cut through the roar of the crowd.
Eight long, blade-like legs, shimmering with a dark, hellish purple light, erupted from Zhu Zhuqing's back. They were not spider legs of flesh, but of a strange, crystalline, abyssal substance, covered in intricate, icy patterns. Her external spirit bone, the Eight Spider Lances, was revealed.
The incoming ice lances and the phoenix breath slammed into her. They shattered harmlessly against the eight, newly-deployed lances, which had formed a defensive cage around her.
"My Eight Spider Lances," she purred, her voice a low, cold sound that carried a new, terrifying authority, "are immune to both fire and ice. Your entire arsenal is useless against me."
She moved. She was no longer just fast; she was an apex predator. The eight lances propelled her, their sharp tips digging into the stone stage, launching her forward with a speed that defied physics. She skittered across the ice-covered ground as if it were dry land.
She appeared before Shui Yue'er. Before the girl could even raise a defense, two of the lances shot out, not to kill, but to tap. One touched her chest, the other her forehead. A surge of icy, dark spirit power, infused with the lances' own power, froze her solid.
Shui Bing'er and her last remaining teammate stared in abject horror.
"Yue'er!"
They tried to retreat, to form a new defense, but it was too late. Zhu Zhuqing was a blur of motion, a true, eight-legged dance of death.
It was then that Shui Bing'er and her teammate, Xue Wu, made a final, desperate gamble. They grabbed each other's hands, their spirits flaring as one.
"Spirit Fusion Ability: Drifting Snow!"
Zhu Zhuqing, who had been about to strike, froze. She felt a new, immense power flooding the stage. She leaped back, her spider lances planting her firmly on the ground, her expression turning serious for the first time.
In mid-air, the snowflakes that had been drifting from their array began to gather, to swirl. They formed into a massive, seven-meter-long phoenix, its form sculpted from pure, blue ice and swirling snow. It seemed almost substantial, its bright eyes and long, flowing tail feathers a picture of ethereal grace.
On the other side of the stage, Ning Rongrong, who was in the middle of her own battle, paused to look. "Ooooh, pretty!" she chirped. "That's almost as pretty as my Nine Jewel Divine Light!"
The ice-blue phoenix didn't attack with speed. It floated down, its movements slow, regal. But as it advanced, the very air around it seemed to freeze, the snowflakes drifting from its body turning the stage into a true, arctic landscape.
Zhu Zhuqing gritted her teeth. The power radiating from the fusion skill was immense, a pressure that made her own spirit tremble. She knew her normal attacks, even with her lances, might not be enough.
She had to end this.
"You are strong," she said, her voice a respectful acknowledgment of their power. "But it won't be enough."
She planted her eight lances into the ground, her body a low, predatory crouch. Her fourth spirit ring, the black ten-thousand-year ring, blazed with a dark, terrifying light.
"Fourth Spirit Ring Ability: Abyssal Clones!"
Four perfect, identical copies of herself, each one complete with its own set of eight, shimmering spider lances, appeared around her.
The five Zhu Zhuqings all raised their hands in unison. Their third spirit rings, a deep, majestic purple, all flared to life.
"Third Spirit Ring Ability: Eclipse Ray Strike!"
But the attacks were not identical. Two of the clones, and the real Zhu Zhuqing, unleashed a beam of pure, abyssal darkness. The fourth clone unleashed a beam of concentrated black fire. And the fifth clone unleashed a beam of piercing, shadow-infused ice.
Five ultimate attacks, a combined barrage of darkness, fire, and ice, all converging on the single, massive target.
The Drifting Snow phoenix met the barrage, and the world exploded in a chaotic, beautiful symphony of light and shadow, steam and frost. The spirit fusion ability, powerful as it was, could not withstand such a focused, multi-elemental assault. It shattered, dissolving into a harmless cloud of snowflakes.
Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu were thrown back, their spirit power completely exhausted, their faces pale. They looked up to see Zhu Zhuqing, the real one, standing before them, her eight lances gently tapping the ground.
Two of the lances shot out, their tips stopping a millimeter from their throats. A surge of her icy, dark spirit power flowed through the tips, freezing their limbs, rendering them immobile.
"You've lost," Zhu Zhuqing said, her voice flat, her victory absolute.
Shui Bing'er, her spirit power gone, her greatest attack broken, just nodded, a single, tear of frustrated defeat rolling down her pale cheek. "We… we forfeit."
Zhu Zhuqing retracted her lances, a silent, graceful victor.
On the other side of the stage, the battle between Dugu Yan and the Thunderclap Academy was reaching its own brutal climax.
"You… how are you this strong?!" Yu Tianxin roared, his "Dragon's Thunderous Descent" crashing into Dugu Yan's "Jade Dragon's Earth-Shaker." The stage cracked under the force, but Dugu Yan, her body wreathed in the 50% buff from Ning Rongrong, held her ground, a vicious smirk on her face.
"You call that lightning? Pathetic!" Dugu Yan snarled, her draconic claws lashing out, leaving deep, green-tinged gashes in his scales. "I've felt stronger static from rubbing my feet on a rug!"
"You dare insult the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?!" Yu Tianxin was livid. He was being beaten in a raw power struggle, and he could feel her poison seeping into his system, his own lightning flickering, his spirit power sputtering like a wet fuse.
He saw her preparing another attack and made a snap decision. He was a captain, a leader. He had to change the flow of battle.
'The support!' he thought, his eyes flashing. 'If I take her out, these buffs will vanish! The entire Emperor Team will be crippled!'
"Third Spirit Ability: Thundergod's Fury!" His body erupted in blue-purple lightning, his speed and power doubling. He disengaged from Dugu Yan, a blur of motion, and made a direct, lightning-fast charge for Ning Rongrong. "Die, support!"
"Whoops!" Ning Rongrong yelped, her expression one of childish annoyance, not fear. "You're not supposed to change targets! That's not nice! That's rude!" She prepared to dodge, her movements as quick as a hummingbird's.
"Not on my watch!"
Yu Feng, who had been circling high above, buffed and waiting, dove from the sky like a hawk, his wind blades, now 50% stronger and sharper, aimed at Yu Tianxin's unprotected back.
"Annoying fly!" Yu Tianxin didn't even slow down. He was the heir of a great clan, his pride on the line. "Second Spirit Ability: Fifteen Tons Of Thunder!"
He didn't aim it at Rongrong; he fired the barrage of lightning arrows backwards at the diving Yu Feng, a move of pure, arrogant skill.
"Yu Feng, watch out!" Ning Rongrong screamed.
Yu Feng, caught mid-dive, had no way to evade. The arrows slammed into him, his wind-based defenses shredding like paper. He cried out as he was blasted from the sky, his body smoking, crashing hard onto the stage. Unconscious.
"Yu Feng!" Ning Rongrong cried out, her eyes flashing with genuine, protective anger.
Seeing her teammate fall, Dugu Yan went berserk. "You'll pay for that, you lizard-faced bastard!" she roared. She unleashed her third ability, "Jade Dragon's Toxic Roar," a cone of venomous, green gas that engulfed the other two Thunderclap members, Lie Tian and Lie Dong, who were trying to regroup.
"I... I can't breathe!" Lie Tian choked, his Thunder Hawk spirit faltering, the poison burning his lungs.
Dugu Yan finished them with a brutal, buffed tail sweep, sending their poisoned, unconscious bodies flying off the stage.
Now, Yu Tianxin stood before Ning Rongrong, his "Thundergod's Fury" still active. He was panting, the poison and the exertion taking their toll, but his eyes were blazing. "No more buffs, little girl!" He raised his draconic arm, his eyes blazing. "First Ability: Blue Lightning Dragon Claws!" Two massive energy claws shot at her.
"Oh, you are so annoying!" Ning Rongrong snapped, her playful demeanor gone, replaced by a cold anger. She didn't run. She didn't dodge. She raised her hand and called out loudly, "Spear, come to me!"
From the stage floor around her, where Zhang Tian's parasitic spores had landed, hundreds of Blood Silver Grass vines, crackling with his thunder, burst forth. They wove together with impossible speed, forming a long, crimson-gold spear in her hand. It was a perfect, smaller replica of Zhang Tian's "Blood Silver Overlord Spear."
Yu Tianxin's Dragon Claws hit the spear. The spear didn't just block them; it easily repelled them. He stared in disbelief. "What… what is that?! That's not your spirit!"
Ning Rongrong's eyes were wide with a new, delighted excitement as she grabbed hold of the spear. The spear felt light, thrumming with her husband's familiar, powerful energy. "Oooooh!" she squealed, her anger momentarily forgotten, replaced by a child's joy. "I've always wanted to use one of these! This is so much cooler than just shooting light beams! My husband is the best!"
Yu Tianxin roared in rage and desperation. He would not be beaten by a support master! He leaped high into the air. "Fourth Ability: Dragon's Thunderous Descent!" He dove, his ultimate attack, a massive, roaring dragon head of pure lightning, aimed at ending this.
Ning Rongrong just grinned. She hefted the spear, strength surging through her arms. "My turn!" She didn't throw it. She struck. She met his diving attack with a powerful, upward thrust. Her form was that of an amateur, a clumsy, untrained swing.
Spear met Dragon's Descent.
A massive explosion of crimson lightning and blue-purple thunder. The Dragon's Thunderous Descent was pierced. The spear, guided by Zhang Tian's power and her own 50% buffed strength, continued. Its tip grazed Yu Tianxin's arm, leaving a deep, sizzling gash.
"GAAAAH!" Yu Tianxin crashed to the ground, his arm bleeding, his spirit power scattered.
Ning Rongrong, giggling with pure glee, pounced on him. She raised the spear, which was as long as she was tall, like a club.
WHACK!
"How dare you!"
WHACK!
"Attack a defenseless!"
WHACK!
"Support master!"
WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!
"That was for Yu Feng! And this is because I don't like your face! And this one's just for fun!"
The crowd watched in stunned, horrified silence as the most beautiful, most noble-looking young woman in the tournament brutally, and comically, beat the heir of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan with a spear.
"I... I give up..." Yu Tianxin finally moaned, his arm broken, his pride a smoldering ruin. "I surrender..."
Thunderclap Academy was out.
In the imperial dais, Emperor Xue Ye leaned forward on his throne, his hands gripping the armrests. He had expected a fight, not a systematic, multi-front execution. The power of the Emperor Team was far beyond his estimations.
"Ahem," he coughed, trying to maintain his regal composure. "Truly... astonishing."
Beside him, Dugu Bo, who had been slouched in his chair, now sat bolt upright. A huge, proud, gap-toothed grin split his face as he watched Dugu Yan send Yu Tianxin flying.
"That's my girl!" he cackled, loud enough for the Emperor to hear. "See that, Your Majesty? That was my granddaughter Yan-Yan! She didn't even use her most potent poisons! What a merciful child!"
Bishop Salas, in the Spirit Hall's box, was no longer smiling. His face was a mask of grim, analytical focus. He was dictating a new, frantic message to his Pager. "Target: Zhu Zhuqing. Possesses external spirit bone, estimated 20,000-year plus. Appears to be Eight Spider Lances. Elemental immunities confirmed. Target: Ning Rongrong. Combat capability exceeds all projections. Confirmed user of self-created offensive spirit skills. And… a new spear-like ability. Target: Dugu Yan. Jade Phosphorus Dragon spirit confirmed, power exceeds all reports. This team's threat level must be reassessed to 'Extreme'."
On the main dais, Tang Xiao and Yu Yuanzhen watched in stunned, ashen-faced silence.
Yu Yuanzhen watched his nephew, the proud heir to his clan, be poisoned, outmatched, and then comically beaten by a support master. His Titled Douluo aura began to leak, a pressure that made the Spirit Saint guards around him tremble. "That… girl… Dugu… she dared to harm Tianxin! And that… that heiress of the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect! She humiliated him!"
Tang Xiao was grim, but his mind was on the bigger picture. "Calm yourself, Yu Yuanzhen. Your nephew was reckless." He looked at Ning Rongrong, who was now happily inspecting her new spear.
"And that girl… Zhu Zhuqing," Tang Xiao continued, his voice a low, dark sound. "An external spirit bone. And a powerful one. Ning Fengzhi… How did he acquire one for this girl?"
Nearby, Ning Fengzhi was, for once, not the picture of calm, regal composure. He was beaming. He was trying to maintain his dignified smile, but the pride in his eyes was a roaring bonfire.
Beside him, Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo were not even trying to be dignified.
"Did you see that?!" Bone Douluo, Gu Rong, cackled, his rattling voice filled with glee. "She beat him with a stick! A lightning-stick! That's my girl! All brute force and no nonsense! That's my influence, right there!"
"You old bone-head, are you blind?!" Sword Douluo, Chen Xin, retorted, his own sharp face lit with a rare, excited smile. "That was clearly my influence! The precision! The way she handled that spear like a sword! The elegant, decisive victory! She has the makings of a true sword master!"
"A club! She used it like a club, you old fool!"
"It was a thrust! A perfectly executed lunge!"
Ning Fengzhi just let them bicker, a quiet, deep pride swelling in his heart. His daughter was not just a genius. She was a fighter.