Book 13: Life Gold“Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochen, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, Huo Yuhao, and w.a.n.g Dong. The seven of you will start the battle. We can"t let anything go wrong in the group battle. I have a feeling that Star Luo National Academy will have some sort of advantage in the 2-2-3 battle. If we lose the group battle, the compet.i.tion may slip out of our control.”
Everybody nodded their heads as He Caitou and Jiang Nannan exchanged a look. They both saw the surprise in each other"s eyes; they had a.s.sumed that they would be part of the lineup for the group battle. He Caitou"s battle prowess with his soul tools was already proven in the previous rounds, while Jiang Nannan"s close-combat abilities were incredible as well. Even Soul Kings would find it hard to fight her if they let her get close. However, w.a.n.g Yan choosing Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong to fight in this crucial group battle was unexpected for everyone.
w.a.n.g Yan stepped in front of Huo Yuhao and lowered his voice. “It"s fine if you don"t fight, but the moment you make a move, you have to be confident of victory. I trust you know what I"m trying to say.”
“Yes.” Huo Yuhao nodded curtly.
w.a.n.g Yan took a deep breath as he reached out his right hand, palm face down. “I"ve said this before, kids. You guys have already exceeded all expectations, and fought in all the previous rounds successfully. Whether our glory will continue today in today"s battle is entirely up to you. I have done all I can as the teacher in charge. Now, I can only pray for everyone from the side of the stage. You guys will be the heroes of Shrek regardless of whether we win or lose. Do watch out for Princess Jiu Jiu– if I"m not wrong, her martial soul should be the Starcrown.”
Hand after hand was stacked on top of w.a.n.g Yan"s, one after another. Ma Xiaotao was the last to extend her right hand. She glanced at w.a.n.g Yan with a serious look and said, “Teacher w.a.n.g Yan, I know you are trying to bolster our fighting spirit. Don"t worry– as members of Shrek Academy, our determination to guard our academy"s glory is no less than the others. Even if we have to use our lives to fuel the flames of Shrek"s glory, we will never let it burn out.”
“To victory!” Everybody roared out in unison. The flames of their fighting spirits erupted in an instant.
Compared to Shrek Academy"s energetic aura, the Star Luo National Academy appeared to be a lot quieter and calmer. The partic.i.p.ants of this round stepped up one after another. Princess Jiu Jiu, who was standing at the forefront, glanced at Shrek Academy casually. The first person that she searched for wasn"t Shrek"s team leader, Ma Xiaotao. Instead, she was looking for Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao was glancing over towards their camp at the same time, and their eyes met at that very instant. Huo Yuhao was slightly taken aback as he realized, to his astonishment, that the dignified princess" eyes betrayed a provocative undertone.
“Why is she trying to provoke me? I don"t think I"ll be the one fighting her.”
Huo Yuhao was a little baffled. His eyes squinted a little as they sparkled with a green light. The two parties may have been a world apart in mastery, but that single flash of light in his eyes sent a chill up Princess Jiu Jiu"s spine.
“Partic.i.p.ants from Shrek Academy, Star Luo National Academy, please step on stage.” The judge responsible for today"s group battle was the Heavenfiend Douluo from before.
The Star Luo Emperor had already returned to the imperial palace under the protection of the other three t.i.tled Douluo, and was watching the stage from the top of the city wall.
Ma Xiaotao walked in front with Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochen, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong following closely behind as both parties stepped onto the compet.i.tion stage at the same time.
The semi-finals had yet to begin, but the sharp smell of fireworks drifted through the air as both parties eyed each other.
Princess Jiu Jiu"s eyes changed as well. Her originally bright blue eyes began to emanate a pale golden radiance. Her gaze felt as vast as the ocean.
On the other side, Ma Xiaotao"s eyes were like two raging flames, and the scorching aura that she let off gave her opponents an intense pressure.
The Heavenfiend Doulou"s swept his eyes across Ma Xiaotao"s body, and betrayed a single trace of astonishment before his expression quickly returned to normal. His face was cold as he said, “Step back. Before I announce the beginning of the contest, n.o.body is allowed to release their martial souls.”
Both parties stepped up to their respective corners, but their eyes had never left each other since the start. While retreating, both teams" formations swiftly changed.
Shrek Academy took up a different formation than the one they had always used. Dai Yueheng and Ma Xiaotao took the lead as per usual, but Xu Sanshi stood behind them guarding Ling Luochen, who stood behind him. Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong stood side by side behind Ling Luochen. Bei Bei was up at the front beside Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, establishing a three-p.r.o.nged powerful attack force.
The Star Luo National Academy also had a unique formation. Six people formed a triangle, with one person in front and two members behind them, followed by three more members standing behind them. Princess Jiu Jiu stood behind this triangle formed by these six people. The golden flashes in her eyes grew stronger, as if she were the general of the company.
Xu Sanshi watched the princess with a grin. His eyes darted back and forth from her as a mischievous smile snuck up on his face.
People were already familiar with the powerful effects of his Mysterious Underworld Displacement. Still, being familiar didn"t mean that they wouldn"t fall for the same trick– just like when Shrek Academy faced off against Justsky Academy in the previous round.
Everybody thought that Shrek Academy wouldn"t use the same tactics again. However, the moment he stepped up, Xu Sanshi played the same trick without hesitation, and forcefully swapped Ye Wuqing into his own formation.
Ye Wuqing wasn"t given a chance at all before he was trampled over. Not every partic.i.p.ating party had an expensive disposable soul tool like the Invincible Barrier. Xu Sanshi, that indecent fellow, triggered the Mysterious Underworld Quake after swapping with his opponent to slow the others down. He had then leapt off the stage before his opponents could surround him.
Justsky Academy didn"t stand a chance without Ye Wuqing, and the remainder of the contest became a walk in the park.
Princess Jiu Jiu"s brows creased as she watched the eager look on Xu Sanshi"s face. It was clear that she was wary of soul skills that were hard to handle like the Mysterious Netherworld Displacement.
“Begin.” Just as both parties were closely observing each other, the Heavenfiend Douluo announced the start of the compet.i.tion as a single ray of golden light shot across the center of the stage. In just a split second, the powerful t.i.tled Douluo disappeared without a trace.
The reactions of both parties were extremely quick, and everyone released their martial souls at the first possible instant.
Huo Yuhao unleashed his Spiritual Detection at once, and cast his gaze towards Princess Jiu Jiu. He was very curious– what was her martial soul, exactly? w.a.n.g Yan didn"t have enough time to explain it to them in detail, and all he said was that the Princess was an auxiliary-type battle soul master.
“Doesn"t that mean that she"s a tool soul master?” Huo Yuhao already had his doubts back then, but he didn"t have time to think too much before he had to get on stage.
A single ray of golden light lit up on Princess Jiu Jiu"s forehead. It was a golden, diamond-shaped jewel. Huo Yuhao immediately thought about his Eye of Life the moment he noticed the position of that jewel – wasn"t it oddly similar to the position of his Eye of Life?
However, Princess Jiu Jiu didn"t have a third eye. The golden diamond-shaped jewel started to radiate brilliant golden light the moment it appeared before proceeding to leave her forehead and drift upwards with rays of golden light encircling it. A magnificent crown glimmered above her head just like that before it descended and landed gently on her head.
This crown seemed to have been formed by countless stars, with all the stars shimmering with a golden hue. With the diamond-shaped stone at the front of the formation, the stars swiftly retreated as eighteen relatively bigger stars on the crown flew up to form an exquisite tip.
The Starcrown. This was Princess Jiu Jiu"s martial soul.
Two yellow, two purple and single black soul ring appeared around the princess" body– she was a powerful Soul King.
The six others in front of Princess Jiu Jiu were all the same opponents that w.a.n.g Yan had previously explained to the members of Shrek Academy in detail. They released their martial souls one by one; they too were all Soul Kings.
Surprisingly, the lineup from the Star Luo National Academy was comprised entirely of Soul Kings.
Xu Sanshi"s martial soul was already unleashed. As if he was afraid of others not knowing, he roared into the sky, “Mysterious Netherworld Displacement!”
The Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle erupted with black light – and the rays of light were pointing right toward Princess Jiu Jiu.
At this moment, the Starcrown on Princess Jiu Jiu"s head burst with light as well. The third ring on her body lit up as a flaring pillar of golden light shot up into the sky.
The inner regions of the golden pillar of light was filled with a golden-colored mist with specks of starlight spiraling up towards the sky– it was mystical sight. It was impossible to fathom what the effects of this soul skill were from its appearance.
The Shrek Academy team charged forward at once. Ma Xiaotao took the lead, while Dai Yueheng and Bei Bei followed closely behind. Ling Luochen"s Icy Staff was once again in her hands as she raised it high over her head. A dense and chilly mist permeated their surroundings and enveloped Xu Sanshi, Huo Yuhao, w.a.n.g Dong and herself. This patch of icy mist began to spread towards both ends of the arena with dazzling speed, and formed a gigantic shroud that slowly clamped down on their opponents. All four of them were completely hidden within this icy mist.
This was Ling Luochen"s fourth soul skill, and she had never used it before until now.
“Just kidding.” Before he was swallowed by the icy mist, Xu Sanshi waved at the princess, as he never intended to use the Mysterious Underworld Displacement.
Princess Jiu Jiu"s face froze as she shot a cold look at him. The golden light mist that was rising into the air started to spread in all directions and blanketed her six teammates.
In the next instant, every member from the Star Luo National Academy was covered with a layer of golden light. The golden radiance around Princess Jiu Jiu"s body hadn"t dissipated yet as starlight continued to surge out of her Starcrown.
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