In front of the Atlas Divine Spear, a flash of silver light flickered, and Yun Ming suddenly appeared before the crowd, holding Ya Li in his arms.
The entire arena was stunned by such an unconventional entrance from Yun Ming.
Oscar and the others were pleasantly surprised to see Yun Ming arrive, but when they saw him holding Ya Li, they seemed to realize something, and Dugu Yan teased, "Captain, you're here? We thought you'd forgotten!"
Hearing Dugu Yan's words, Yun Ming felt a tiny bit awkward and guilty, but he still maintained a straight face as he replied, "Today is the final battle; how could I forget?"
The members of the Empire Team didn't say anything to Yun Ming's excuse, but their eyes expressed their skepticism.
Ya Li blushed slightly upon seeing the strange looks from the crowd and quickly signaled for Yun Ming to put her down.
Yun Ming set Ya Li down and, hearing the Cardinal acting as the referee urging them on, quickly changed the subject.
"It's the final match, so fight well. Don't be nervous; I believe you will achieve victory."
The subject change was a bit forced, but with time running short, the Empire Team members were indeed too busy to tease Yun Ming. Oscar, as captain, spoke with great spirit, "That goes without saying!"
"Let's go, brothers and sisters."
Although Yun Ming's entrance was bizarre, his presence still brought a sense of reassurance to Oscar and the others, as well as more motivation to win.
On the other side, the Martial Soul Hall Academy team.
A handsome young man with silver-white clothing, a slender frame over 1.9 meters tall, pale skin, and striking beauty stood there. With crimson eyes, short silver hair with a gradient of red at the tips, and a red butterfly pattern at the corner of his eye, he looked surprised at this moment.
His name was Xie Yue, the captain of the current Martial Soul Hall team.
Xie Yue saw Ya Li and asked the girl beside him who bore a slight resemblance to him, "Na Na, that person is the Saintess, right?"
The woman Xie Yue called Na Na was none other than Pope Bibi Dong's most valued disciple, Xie Yue's own younger sister, Huliena.
Huliena was also shocked now; Ya Li had appeared, and she was so intimate with someone from the Empire Team that was attempting to challenge them. Huliena whispered, "Yes."
Right now, the feeling shared by the siblings was essentially: 'We were prepared to fight to the death, so why did the Young Master surrender first!'
In this period before Qian Renxue had emerged and Huliena had been named Saintess, Ya Li was the only legitimate heir to the Pope's position in name, the bona fide Young Master of Martial Soul Hall. Now that the Young Master was getting cozy and hugging someone from the opposing team, it made things very difficult for subordinates like them!
Huliena glanced up at her teacher, Bibi Dong, and seeing that she had no further instructions, she understood her teacher's intent.
"Prepare for the match; both sides may release your spirits."
The Cardinal acting as referee announced this immediately after both sides stood their ground.
The fourteen people on both sides stared at each other, none of them saying a word, but the violent collision of their auras caused the tension to reach its limit in an instant.
At this moment, the entire arena's focus was on the match, whether it was the Pope or Yun Ming and the others.
Neither side knew each other, nor did they have any intention of chatting. Once the start was announced, the fourteen people on the field moved almost simultaneously. Surging Soul Power erupted from their bodies in an instant.
The three people standing at the front, Xie Yue and his companions, each displayed the optimal spirit ring configuration of two yellow, two purple, and one black.
The other four behind them also had the optimal configuration of two yellow and two purple spirit rings. The gaze in everyone's eyes became extremely determined. Among them, a male student standing at the very back took a quick step back, a golden scepter appearing in his hand. Without a doubt, he possessed an auxiliary-type weapon spirit.
On the Empire Team's side, the other seven besides Oscar also summoned their spirits.
The seven stood in order, led by Feng Xiaotian, Yang Yi, and Dugu Yan, with Niu Bi standing behind them, and the last row consisting of Ning Rongrong, Gong Ming, and Ye Qingyin, forming a three-one-three formation.
The Martial Soul Hall side did not feel relaxed looking at the opposing lineup of four Soul Ancestors and three Soul Elders; they knew very well that their opponent's combat power exceeded that of ordinary Soul Masters of the same level, not to mention they had the amplification of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
The Empire Team was the first to move.
The moment the formation was set, Feng Xiaotian shouted, "Brothers, move!"
As he spoke, he directly activated his second and third spirit skills, Dual Wolf Avatar and Gale Wings, pouncing toward Xie Yue. Following Feng Xiaotian's command, Yang Yi and Dugu Yan also charged toward Yan and Huliena respectively.
Seeing the three attackers launch their assault, Ning Rongrong's first, second, and third spirit rings lit up at her feet.
"Seven Treasures Turn Out With Glazed Light. Seven Treasures Famous, one says: Power, two says: Speed, three says: Soul." She granted the buffs to Feng Xiaotian for 'Power and Speed' and to Dugu Yan for 'Soul'.
The Golden Generation, seeing Feng Xiaotian and the others targeting them, naturally felt no fear.
Xie Yue raised two curved blades with beautiful arcs, blood-red throughout, resembling crescent moons, and slashed toward Feng Xiaotian. This was his spirit, Moon Blade, a top-tier power attack and agility attack weapon spirit.
He followed the same path as Feng Xiaotian, cultivating power, speed, and technique simultaneously. As soon as the two collided, it was exceptionally intense.
"Clang--"
"Clatter--"
Wolf Claws and Moon Blades clashed rapidly, emitting a series of sounds like blades striking each other; blades came and claws went, fighting quite spiritedly.
Moreover, both of them basically retreated after a single strike. In the eyes of the students from other academies, it looked as if there were two afterimages, one green and one red, constantly colliding on the field.
Yang Yi had a much easier time fighting Yan, who possessed the Flame Lord spirit.
Although Yan's spirit was called Flame Lord, in Yun Ming's view, it was more like a Magma Lord; his attacks and spirit skills were basically a fusion of fire and earth.
To summarize the battle between the two, it was a mid-range affair: Yan threw magma balls to attack Yang Yi, which were either dodged or blasted apart by Yang Yi using his Soul Breaking Spear in tandem with his First Soul Skill.
In close-quarters combat after the distance closed, although Yan used the hard lava formed by his Second Soul Skill, Granite Rock, and his superior Soul Power cultivation to parry the edge of the Soul Breaking Spear, the outcome on the surface remained a toss-up.
The battlefield between Dugu Yan and Huliena was somewhat comical. In short, it was Dugu Yan chasing and Huliena fleeing. Added to this was the occasional threat from Gong Ming's Heaven Quaking Bow, along with the constant risk of being hit by Dugu Yan's potent poison.
Originally, given her soul skills, Gong Ming should have been somewhat affected by having to split his focus to watch over Huliena. However, she was currently being chased all over the arena by Dugu Yan, jumping up and down to avoid the poison, which was somewhat damaging to her image.
Watching Huliena go all out with her soul skills the moment she stepped onto the stage, using a method of attaching Spirit Rings that maximized her personal charm, Yun Ming felt his professional occupational disease from his previous life flaring up (his previous profession was a teacher).
Glancing at the less-than-innocent gazes of most of the male students and a few female students around him, Yun Ming muttered to himself.
Which genius chose these Spirit Rings for Huliena! Every single skill is designed to boost charm through Spiritual Power; what kind of proper Soul Master adds soul skills like that?
If he didn't know she was a disciple of Bibi Dong, Yun Ming would have absolutely assumed her profession was something not quite proper but very enjoyable.
Seeing that Xie Yue and Yan were both entangled and unable to break free, Huliena hurriedly gave the order for the remaining three Battle Soul Masters of the Martial Soul Hall Academy to take care of the three in the back row.
The remaining three received the order, acted immediately, and then slammed into Niu Bi, who had received a Soul Power boost.
As the possessor of the Plate Armor Rhinoceros martial soul, Niu Bi had extremely strong defense and no lack of strength. It might have been difficult to hold off three people's attacks for a long time, but with Gong Ming's support, holding them off temporarily was quite easy.
On top of that, Gong Ming would occasionally fire two arrows at the Support System Soul Master of the Martial Soul Hall Team, sending him scurrying for cover. For a time, the two teams actually fought to a stalemate.
However, it wasn't long before this stalemate became difficult to maintain.
At first, when the members of the Martial Soul Hall Team heard the flute sound from Ye Qingyin, they were only slightly affected by her Slow Technique soul skill, which was no big deal. After all, the person with the lowest Soul Power on the opposing side was still ten levels higher than Ye Qingyin, so the effectiveness of the soul skill was limited.
But as time passed, her Third Soul Skill, Relax, began to take effect. Except for Huliena, whose Spiritual Power was relatively strong and thus less affected, the others—including Xie Yue and Yan—began to feel drowsy and weak. Compared to the other Soul Ancestors, the effect on them was slower, but they gradually began to make small mistakes and slowly fell into a disadvantage in their respective duels.
This was actually the battle plan the Empire Team had devised after learning the trump cards of the Martial Soul Hall Academy in advance. By using Ning Rongrong to boost the team's powerful attackers to hold back the Golden Generation, they prevented them from using their Martial Soul Fusion Skill while simultaneously weakening their combat power through Ye Qingyin's abilities, eventually picking them off one by one. To ensure the plan went smoothly, the Empire Team hadn't even let Ye Qingyin use her Third Soul Skill, though it wasn't necessary against the others anyway.
This plan was simple, relying purely on the star-player strategy of the team's powerful individual capabilities.
Aside from Yun Ming and Tang San, the only person in this Soul Master Competition capable of keeping up with Xie Yue's speed and successfully holding him back was Feng Xiaotian. Those who were basically unaffected by Huliena and could restrict her were likely only Huo Wu, Shui Binger, and Dugu Yan, because they were women and were all Control System or former Control System Soul Ancestors, whose Spiritual Power was slightly stronger than other Soul Masters of the same level.
With these two prerequisites to hold them back and prevent them from activating their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Ning Rongrong's amplification, Ye Qingyin's incremental weakening, and the obstruction and assists from Yang Yi, Niu Bi, and Gong Ming were all indispensable.
Through her analysis of the current battle situation, Huliena also generally understood the Empire Team's intentions.
Now, the other three Battle Soul Masters of the Martial Soul Hall Team couldn't take down Ning Rongrong and Ye Qingyin, and turning to attack the battlefield of Feng Xiaotian and Yang Yi wasn't realistic either. Feng Xiaotian was too fast after receiving the boost, and they couldn't keep up. It wasn't convenient to interfere in the battlefield between Yang Yi and Yan either; as long as Yang Yi stuck to Yan, coupled with the tilting support of Gong Ming's bow and arrows, they could still be held off for a short time.
She wanted to break the deadlock and activate the Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Xie Yue to crush everyone on the Empire side, but Feng Xiaotian wouldn't let Xie Yue go, holding her back even at the cost of injury. Furthermore, Dugu Yan was relentless in her pursuit, and she didn't dare touch Dugu Yan's attacks, otherwise, the Martial Soul Fusion would just mean suffering along with her brother.
With both methods failing, she felt quite distressed. Finally, while dodging Dugu Yan's attacks and observing the situation, Huliena reached a conclusion. She could only drag it out and see whether Ning Rongrong exhausted her Soul Power first, or if their side couldn't hold out against Ye Qingyin's Requiem and suffered passive attrition.
On the high platform, Bibi Dong saw that Huliena, whom she had painstakingly trained, was actually being solo-defended by Dugu Yan (Gong Ming didn't dare look too much, only firing a few arrows), and her expression turned somewhat ugly. As the disciple of her, the true number one poison Soul Master in the world, Huliena's performance was truly embarrassing.
Beside her, Ning Fengzhi caught a glimpse of Bibi Dong's displeased expression and felt quite good. Although their Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would likely not oppose the Martial Soul Hall in the future, the Martial Soul Hall had caused them no shortage of trouble both openly and secretly over the years. Now that he could see the Pope, the culprit behind it all, unhappy, he was naturally pleased.
Watching the performance of the Empire Team on the field, which was so outstanding, Ning Fengzhi once again marveled at Yun Ming's talent.
He had known a little about the strength of these people before. Although Feng Xiaotian and Dugu Yan were geniuses, they were only at the level of the lead players of the five major academies, still quite far from the current top-tier level of the same rank that could fight Soul Kings. Gong Ming, Niu Bi, and Ye Qingyin were only at a medium level, and their shortcomings were obvious.
But now, after more than a year of training by Yun Ming, everyone had shown significant growth. With just this ability for teaching and knowledge accumulation, the growth of the next generation of geniuses from the Breaking Clan would inevitably be smoother and their talents realized faster.
Yun Ming didn't know that Ning Fengzhi was once again marveling at his talent. Looking at the Empire Team gradually gaining the upper hand on the stage, he nodded slightly in his heart. This past year or so hadn't been taught in vain. Everyone in the Empire team had made great progress in terms of individual ability. While they couldn't be called perfectly tacit in teamwork, they wouldn't drag each other down, their positioning was clear, and that was enough.
Seeing his teammates gradually gaining the upper hand, Oscar said to Yun Ming.
"How about it, Boss? Our plan is pretty good, right!"
Yun Ming looked at Oscar, who was getting a bit carried away, and said softly.
"It's alright, I just don't know if we can win."
Although the Empire Team had the upper hand now, whether they could win depended entirely on the resilience of both sides; it was a matter of who suffered attrition first or whose Soul Power ran out first. However, being able to fight like this while trailing by an average of six or seven levels of Soul Power was quite good in terms of the plan, after all, the opponents were also elite Soul Masters of the same rank.
Hearing Yun Ming's evaluation, Oscar also understood what Yun Ming was talking about. They had analyzed the feasibility of the plan and the problems within it themselves yesterday, and now they could only wait for the final result.
Just as the people off the stage were shocked by the combat power of the Empire Team and had various thoughts, changes began to appear on the stage.
As Ye Qingyin's soul skill took effect, the three Soul Ancestors besieging Niu Bi gradually began to be unable to resist the drowsiness. Seeing the opportunity, Niu Bi launched a counterattack.
"You've been scratching your Niu brother's itch for so long, now take a punch from your Niu brother!"
Although he had been beaten quite miserably, Niu Bi was still highly excited.
One of the besiegers couldn't react in time and was hit in the head by a punch, fainting on the spot.
Seeing that the other lion-type Soul Ancestor of the opponent had his attention drawn by Niu Bi, Gong Ming took the opportunity to fire a powerful arrow, aiming straight for his vital point.
But that person might have seen Niu Bi eliminate a teammate, or perhaps he heard the sonic boom of Gong Ming's arrow. Before being eliminated, he actually took advantage of the gap in defense that appeared when Niu Bi and Gong Ming attacked, and fired a brownish-yellow Soul Power light bomb toward Ning Rongrong.
Ning Rongrong and Ye Qingyin beside her hurriedly dodged, but the light bomb exploded upon hitting the ground, still affecting Ning Rongrong.
Seeing the sudden turn of events, Oscar shouted in alarm.
"Rongrong!!"
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: DaoistReader