[DD2]: 171
Credits: sethawut aphichatphokhin
The entire Shrek team activated their martial souls, their vibrant yellow, purple, and black soul rings glowing brightly. At the same time, the formation of the Shrek Academy team shifted dramatically.
Xu Sanshi, who had been standing behind Dai Yueheng and Ma Xiaotao, suddenly moved to the very front of the lineup. The seven members of Shrek Academy aligned themselves in a straight line, with Xu Sanshi wielding his massive Xuanwu Shield, charging forward with large strides. The rest of the team, all in their martial soul possession states, closely followed behind him.
It was clear that Shrek Academy's strategy was to use Xu Sanshi, the defensive soul master, to lead the way and close the gap between themselves and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team. As everyone knew, soul engineers excelled at long-range combat. To defeat them, close-quarters combat was essential.
Meanwhile, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team also shifted into a straight-line formation. Lin Xi took the front position, holding a special soul tool—a two-meter-diameter light shield that not only protected himself but also shielded the teammates behind him. It was evident that this setup was designed specifically to counter Xu Sanshi's Xuanwu Displacement.
At the same time, countless soul tool light spheres were launched from the Sun Moon team, overwhelming in their numbers and covering the sky as they crazily shot toward the Shrek team. The sheer quantity of light spheres was enough to make anyone's scalp tingle.
This was the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy's signature opening move: suppressive firepower.
As the Sun Moon team unleashed their firepower, two powerful auras erupted from the Shrek side. A barrage of white light spheres shot forth—it was Dai Yueheng's fourth soul skill, White Tiger Meteor Shower!
However, it was clear that Dai Yueheng alone could not counter the overwhelming firepower of the Sun Moon team's numerous soul engineers.
At this moment, Ma Xiaotao burst into action! Accompanied by a resonant phoenix cry, a dazzling fire phoenix soared into the sky. Shortly after, a dense barrage of fiery red fireballs rained down. Compared to Dai Yueheng's White Tiger Meteor Shower, Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Meteor Shower was larger, denser, and far more powerful.
Right from the start, Ma Xiaotao unleashed her sixth soul skill, forcefully countering the Sun Moon team's firepower. The collisions between the light spheres and fireballs created deafening explosions, and the resulting energy shockwaves caused ripples in the soul barrier maintained by 108 soul masters outside the arena.
With Ma Xiaotao's continued eruption, her Phoenix Meteor Shower broke through the barrage of soul tool light spheres and landed within the Sun Moon team's formation. Seizing this opportunity, the Shrek team quickly closed the gap between themselves and the Sun Moon team. The initial distance of over 100 meters had now been reduced to less than 50 meters.
However, they could not advance further—not because they lacked the ability, but because Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Meteor Shower was too powerful. If Xu Sanshi continued forward, even he would be caught within the range of her attack.
The members of the Sun Moon team, including Ma Rulong, raised their soul tool shields to defend themselves. Ma Xiaotao, at full power, was a fearsome opponent, and her Phoenix Meteor Shower exerted tremendous suppressive force.
But at this critical moment, Su Yu, who had remained inactive until now, finally made his move.
The white mist began to rise as icy blue light spread outward. Behind Su Yu, a majestic figure clad in an ice-blue imperial robe and wearing a crown appeared, and the air's temperature plummeted. Beneath Su Yu, four black soul rings—black, black, black, black—emerged, radiating cold energy that swept across the arena.
For the first time in this final match, Su Yu revealed his martial soul, and the sight of his four black soul rings—each representing the ten-thousand-year level—stunned everyone.
"This… this is impossible!" Yan Shaozhe slammed the table, his face filled with shock.
"All-black soul rings?!"
"How could this be?!" Wang Yan's notebook fell from his hand as his mouth hung open. A Soul Ancestor with all ten-thousand-year soul rings? What kind of monstrous talent was this? How could such a person even exist in the Douluo Continent?
Wang Dong'er's thousand-year-second soul ring could still be explained, but how could Su Yu have all-black soul rings? It was utterly unbelievable!
Yet, regardless of belief, this shocking fact was undeniable.
As Su Yu's fourth soul ring lit up, a phoenix also soared into the sky. However, this phoenix was vastly different from Ma Xiaotao's aggressive Evil Fire Phoenix—it was a breathtakingly resplendent and regal Ice Phoenix.
The enormous Ice Phoenix spread its wings, and countless feather-like ice blades rained down like a torrential storm, targeting the Shrek team.
This was Su Yu's fourth soul skill: Emperor's Ice Feather!
The ice blades collided fiercely with Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Meteor Shower, creating a dramatic clash of ice and fire. The outcome, however, was shockingly one-sided. Su Yu's Emperor's Ice Feather easily overwhelmed Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Meteor Shower.
From a pure attribute standpoint, Su Yu's Ultimate Ice had an absolute advantage. Moreover, Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Meteor Shower originated from a mere 30,000-year soul beast, while Su Yu's Emperor's Ice Feather came from a 60,000-year super soul beast, the Ice Feather Phoenix.
In every respect, Su Yu held a decisive edge.
The rain of icy blades shattered the Phoenix Meteor Shower and descended upon the Shrek team with earth-shattering momentum, completely covering all seven members. The ice blades were not only immensely powerful but also extraordinarily sharp, forcing the Shrek team to channel their soul power just to defend themselves.
Su Yu, through his explosive power alone, successfully suppressed the combined offensive of the Shrek Seven Devils.
In the audience, gasps of astonishment erupted. The all-black soul rings and unparalleled power ignited a wave of fervor among the spectators.
Above the stage, Emperor Xu Jiawei was visibly shaken. Su Yu's overwhelming strength left the Star Luo Emperor in awe.
"This… this Su Yu is truly full of surprises. Remarkable, absolutely remarkable," Xu Jiawei repeatedly praised.
All-black soul rings and such terrifying power—Su Yu's strength far exceeded anyone's expectations. Even Ma Xiaotao of Shrek Academy, in a head-on clash, had been decisively overpowered.
"All-black soul rings—this is your true strength?" Xu Jiujiu murmured, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.
She had known Su Yu was extraordinary, but this level of dominance was beyond imagination. A Soul Ancestor with all-black soul rings? Who could achieve such a feat? Even Wang Dong'er's achievements paled in comparison.
This man was simply too exceptional.
Xu Jiujiu stared intently at the arena, eager to see just how much more Su Yu was hiding.
Back on the battlefield, the Shrek Seven Devils, under the relentless assault of Su Yu's Emperor's Ice Feather, had begun to sustain injuries. Su Yu's attack was a wide-range skill with immense offensive power. Each ice blade was enough to wound a Soul King, let alone the overwhelming downpour of blades.
Other than Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, and the defensive Xu Sanshi, the remaining four members of Shrek's team had all sustained injuries.
Chu He was relatively fine, as his body-enhancement soul skill minimized the severity of his injuries.
Ling Luochen, with her ability to create ice walls for defense, was also in decent shape.
However, Lin Yun and Zhang Tu, both agility-type soul masters with naturally weak defenses, were in a far worse state.
Su Yu's large-scale, ground-sweeping attacks were impossible to evade merely with speed.
Both were visibly injured, with Lin Yun's shoulder even pierced by an ice sword.
Seeing the increasingly dire situation, Ma Xiaotao leaped into action. Behind her, Dai Yueheng punched her foot, propelling her toward the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team at astonishing speed.
Channeling the Phoenix Evil Fire surging within her, she transformed into a blazing fireball, blocking the ice blades while charging toward the opposing team.
In mid-flight, Ma Xiaotao activated her fourth soul skill, Phoenix Howling Strike.
Phoenix Howling Strike was not only a powerful attack but also a control-type soul skill. If it hit, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team would fall into a completely passive position.
This skill forced Su Yu to stop his relentless suppression.
And it worked.
Even someone as strong as Su Yu didn't dare underestimate Ma Xiaotao's explosive power.
He ceased his Ice Emperor's Ice Feathers attack and switched to his first soul skill.
Just as Ma Xiaotao was about to unleash her full strength, Su Yu's first soul ring lit up.
In an instant, Ma Xiaotao felt all her Phoenix flames rapidly contract, her entire body freezing solid.
She plummeted from mid-air, becoming nothing more than an ice sculpture.
The sudden turn of events shocked Dai Yueheng and the others, who were advancing, but by then, they were already within 20 meters of Su Yu and his team.
Su Yu smirked. Without hesitation, he activated his third soul skill: Ice Emperor's Domain.
In an instant, the majority of the battlefield was engulfed in a domain of ice and snow mixed with dense white fog.
The unprepared Shrek team was completely enveloped.
Within the Ice Emperor's Domain, they lost all sense of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team.
The domain, fully powered, had visibility reduced to less than a meter and was accompanied by extreme cold and entangling ice threads.
Even without direct attacks, their soul power rapidly drained while within the domain.
In stark contrast, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team moved freely, as though they had access to omniscient vision.
"This is bad! It's a domain!"
Outside the arena, Yan Shaozhe's expression changed dramatically.
No one had expected Su Yu's third soul skill to be a domain ability.
Before the match, they had analyzed Su Yu's domain and concluded it wasn't suited for team battles due to its overwhelming nature, which could harm teammates.
They had even warned the Shrek team to avoid pulling Su Yu into exchanges or standing near him to prevent his domain from activating.
But who could have guessed that Su Yu had a second domain?
A dual-domain soul master!
The experienced Yan Shaozhe immediately concluded that this second domain must be supportive, allowing the Sun Moon team to remain unaffected within it.
This was disastrous for Shrek Academy!
"Dean, what should we do?"
Wang Yan was flustered. This unforeseen development left him completely at a loss.
Initially, they planned to sacrifice the team battle and have Ma Xiaotao and others severely injure the opponents to prepare for the next two matches.
But now, their plan was completely shattered.
Who could have predicted that Su Yu had been hiding another domain?
"There's nothing we can do. Su Yu hid this too well."
"Damn it!"
Yan Shaozhe's face darkened. No wonder Su Yu was confident enough to make a wager with him—he'd been concealing this trump card all along.
"The hunter has become the hunted. How ironic," he muttered bitterly.
"Still, even with a domain, the match isn't over yet. Ma Xiaotao and the others won't go down so easily."
The battle wasn't over, and he wasn't about to concede.
However, the situation on the field was far worse than Yan Shaozhe hoped.
Once Su Yu's domain was activated, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team went all-out.
Xiao Hongchen unleashed four consecutive soul skills in rapid succession, raining destruction on the Shrek team.
Under the concentrated firepower, Chu He, Lin Yun, and Zhang Tu were blasted off the stage simultaneously.
Bloodied and battered, their martial souls had been forcibly shattered.
Although the damage wasn't permanent, they wouldn't be able to use their martial souls for some time.
Yan Shaozhe's eyes reddened at the sight.
"Bright Phoenix Douluo, what are you trying to do?"
"The match isn't over yet!"
As Yan Shaozhe grew agitated, Skyfiend Douluo quickly stepped in to block him.
Although Yan Shaozhe was a Super Douluo, Skyfiend Douluo wasn't intimidated.
This was the Star Luo Empire, and he wasn't alone.
"Our academy's disciples have been gravely injured. Shouldn't someone be held accountable?" Yan Shaozhe said coldly.
"Bright Phoenix Douluo, let me remind you: this is a match. No one is allowed to interfere during a match."
Skyfiend Douluo had been personally instructed by Xu Jiawei to ensure the fairness of the competition.
Although he didn't know why the emperor made this decision, he had no choice but to follow orders.
And as the referee, he couldn't allow Yan Shaozhe to disrupt the match.
"Dean, they're not in life-threatening danger," Wang Yan interjected.
Yan Shaozhe looked at Skyfiend Douluo but ultimately held back.
Though gravely injured, the ones hurt weren't Shrek's core members, and there was no immediate danger to their lives. Yan Shaozhe managed to regain his composure.
Accompanied by Wang Yan, he carried Chu He and the others back to the rest area. His expression was cold as ice.
"Dean, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy's people were far too ruthless. They won't be able to compete for a while," Wang Yan said angrily.
He hadn't expected the Sun Moon team to go to such lengths to weaken Shrek's combat strength.