At the same time, the Heaven Dou members moved quickly.
"Roar!"
With a high-pitched dragon's cry, Yu Tianheng's Martial Soul possessed him, his right arm completely transforming into a dragon's claw. Abundant soul power burst forth, and streams of blue-purple lightning coiled around his body.
"Sou!"
Yu Tianheng took a step, launching himself like an arrow loosed from a bow, charging toward the Shrek team's formation.
His target was, impressively, the control-type Soul Master, Tang San.
"Hmph, your opponent is me!" Dai Mubai roared. His second soul ring lit up directly, and a majestic wave of energy blasted toward Yu Tianheng.
At this moment, two imposing figures blocked the space between Yu Tianheng and Dai Mubai.
The Shi brothers stood with their backs to Dai Mubai, a burst of black soul power erupting from their bodies. The turtle shells on their backs immediately expanded, looking like two solid door panels.
"Boom!"
The energy wave slammed viciously into the turtle shells, creating a loud bang. The thick soul power fluctuation rippled out, instantly stirring up a fierce wind that made everyone's clothes flap noisily.
"Clang! Clang!"
The sound of metal clashing resounded through the arena.
Dai Mubai's tiger claws raked across the Shi brothers' turtle shells, sending sparks flying. His arms were thrown high from the impact, and a numbing sensation instantly traveled up from his hands.
Meanwhile, Aosiluo and Ma Hongjun were also entangled.
Ma Hongjun's evil fire was extremely hot. After just one blast of flame, Aosiluo, feeling the scorching temperature, didn't dare to fight him head-on. Instead, he relied on his level advantage to keep Ma Hongjun firmly tied down.
On the other side, Tang San looked at Yu Tianheng, who had already charged right in front of him, and a trace of doubt rose in his heart.
He took several steps, activating Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, and easily dodged the opponent's dragon claw.
Are they completely ignoring their own auxiliary teammate? Tang San's brows furrowed tightly, his eyes flashing.
A layer of purple covered his eyes. Through the gaps between everyone, Tang San saw that Zhu Zhuqing had already rushed in front of Ye Lingling.
All it would take is a light kick to send the opponent off the stage.
"Not good!" Tang San's eyes narrowed as he instantly realized.
"Their targets are Oscar and Ning Rongrong!"
Tang San turned his head to look at the rear of his team, only to see that the enemy's flying Soul Master had also already rushed in front of Oscar.
"Sou!"
A Blue Silver Grass strand shot out, instantly coiling around Oscar's waist.
However, the next moment, a dragon claw slammed viciously onto the Blue Silver Grass, severing it.
Before Oscar's body even hit the ground, he was kicked in the butt by Yu Feng, flying directly off the stage.
At this point, Zhu Zhuqing had also forced Ye Lingling off the stage.
She hadn't even attacked; the opponent had jumped off herself.
However, when Zhu Zhuqing turned her head, she saw a scene that astonished her. Yu Feng had already closed in on Ning Rongrong. All it would take was a simple attack to take her out of the fight.
"Yu Feng, if you dare kick my butt, I'll have Grandpa Jian chop off your dog head when we get back!" Ning Rongrong looked at the familiar person in front of her and snapped.
Yu Feng scratched his head and chuckled, "Young Miss Ning, so it's you. But this is a competition. My apologies."
"Whoosh~"
Yu Feng flapped his wings, stirring up a violent gust of wind. Ning Rongrong fell over directly, landing on her butt on the ground.
"Young Miss Ning, you've been knocked down. If you attack again, Shrek will be disqualified."
After speaking, Yu Feng flew into the air, heading to the center of the stage to rendezvous with his teammates.
"Damn it! When I get back, I'll have Grandpa Jian pluck all your bird feathers!" Ning Rongrong stomped her foot angrily, then walked off the stage.
"We fell into a trap!" The moment Zhu Zhuqing saw Ning Rongrong get knocked down, a cold light immediately rose in her eyes.
She took several quick steps, her body suddenly accelerating as she rushed toward the center of the stage.
As a competitor for the throne, Zhu Zhuqing's education since childhood included not only Soul Master cultivation and noble etiquette but also a significant amount of military theory.
The opponent's tactic was commonly seen in warfare.
However, Zhu Zhuqing had not expected that someone would use such a cunning tactic in a sparring match.
Directly abandoning their own teammate?
The esteemed Heaven Dou Imperial Team... aren't they afraid of being ridiculed?
"Sou!"
Zhu Zhuqing instantly left a series of afterimages behind her. Where she passed, the air actually made "whoosh" sounds.
In the VIP room, Dugu Yan, watching Zhu Zhuqing's figure, frowned.
"That move is Phantom Step!"
"Is it a coincidence?"
"Or?"
Dugu Yan sized up Zhu Zhuqing, her expression unreadable.
"I remember Lu Feng said he would be staying in Suotuo City for a while. It seemed to be for something important."
"Well, well. So there was an ulterior motive."
Dugu Yan pushed open the door and walked toward the spirit battle stage.
On the stage, the battle gradually reached a white-hot intensity.
With both sides having lost their auxiliary-type Soul Masters, there was no support, no supplies. They had to rely entirely on their own strength to fight.
Aosiluo's plan sounded a bit underhanded, but after some thought, Qin Ming realized this tactic was completely viable.
By losing Ye Lingling, the Heaven Dou team merely lost their capacity for a protracted battle.
But their opponent, by losing two auxiliary Soul Masters, would simultaneously lose their amplification, burst, and recovery capabilities. A disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan could not be ignored anywhere.
The Heaven Dou team just needed to pick them off one by one to achieve victory.
Of course, if it were any other opponent, Qin Ming would absolutely not have used this tactic.
However, the situation on the field was somewhat different from what the Heaven Dou members had anticipated.
In their plan, the first one to be eliminated should have been Tang San, with his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. After all, in front of Yu Tianheng's Martial Soul, his Blue Silver Grass had no way to resist.
And that was indeed the case.
Tang San's Blue Silver Grass, whether for attack or defense, was instantly shattered whenever it met Yu Tianheng's dragon claws.
However, Tang San was not taken down by Yu Tianheng.
Yu Tianheng found that his speed couldn't keep up with his opponent at all. Every time he was about to hit him, the opponent would use that strange footwork to escape.
He was just like an eel.
The first one out was Aosiluo.
He had been having fun tangling with Ma Hongjun, but was suddenly ambushed from behind by Zhu Zhuqing. He only had time to let out a miserable shriek before losing consciousness.
In the original plan, the flying Soul Master was supposed to tie down Zhu Zhuqing. But Yu Feng found, to his dismay, that his attacks couldn't keep up with Zhu Zhuqing's movement technique at all.
Zhu Zhuqing, on the other hand, was like an assassin walking on a blade's edge. Every strike she made was like a thunderbolt.
The next two to be eliminated were, somewhat surprisingly, the Shi brothers.
The Black Tortoise Martial Soul was not that easy to breach. Dai Mubai had been locked in a stalemate with the two for a long time. Other than draining some of their soul power, it had no effect.
However, the Black Tortoise, known as the strongest defense, lost its effectiveness under Zhu Zhuqing's sharp claws.
When Zhu Zhuqing's claws struck the turtle shells, the two brothers only felt a heart-piercing pain, as if the opponent's attack wasn't hitting the shell, but their actual bodies.
Subsequently, under the siege of several people, Yu Tianheng, even with his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul, could only fall to the ground in resentment.
This left only Yu Feng, circling alone in the air.
In the end, he could only fly obediently off the stage, ending the match.
"Zhuqing, you're so amazing!"
At the edge of the stage, Ning Rongrong threw herself into Zhu Zhuqing's arms, burying her head deep into her bosom.
"Rongrong, stop fooling around."
Zhu Zhuqing, slightly embarrassed and annoyed, patted Ning Rongrong on the back. But not only did the other girl not move away, she even nuzzled her head forcefully.
The two had a very good relationship. Ever since Lu Feng left Suotuo City, Zhu Zhuqing had stayed at the academy.
There were only two girls in Shrek Academy. Aside from cultivating, they spent most of their time together. Zhu Zhuqing was happy with this, as she had wanted to get closer to Ning Rongrong anyway.
It was just that this little 'devil' was a bit restless when she slept, her hands and feet always moving around.
"Contestant Hell Civet?"
At this moment, Dugu Yan arrived at the Shrek team's rest area.
"Hm? You are?"
Zhu Zhuqing looked at the girl by the door, a trace of doubt rising in her eyes.
For some reason, the first time she saw this person, she felt that they wouldn't get along.
"I am the captain of the Heaven Dou Imperial Team. Can we talk?"
At this, Ning Rongrong raised her head and said, "Dugu Yan, what do you want with Zhuqing? Is it because you lost the match and you're not convinced?"
"Rongrong, this has nothing to do with you."
After speaking, the corners of Dugu Yan's mouth tilted up slightly. She looked at Zhu Zhuqing with a faint smile and said, "What's wrong, Zhuqing? Are you afraid 'big sister' here will eat you?"
Zhu Zhuqing frowned. For some reason, hearing Dugu Yan call herself 'big sister' felt very grating.
"Fine. What do you want to talk about?" Zhu Zhuqing said coldly.
"This isn't the place to talk. Follow me."