In the following days, aside from leading his team through regular training to prepare for the upcoming competition, Zhou Sicheng also spent time gathering materials to craft custom Soul Tools for Ye Guyi, Ma Xiaotao, and the others.
He would occasionally visit Mo Xuan to relax, or go see Elder Gong and the Silver Shadow Beast, deepening their bond...
Now, this twenty-thousand-year-old Silver Shadow Beast had already been tamed by Zhou Sicheng. To the beast, this human didn't feel like a typical human—more like a spirit beast who had taken human form to start cultivating anew.
Considering that even powerful spirit beasts like the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear had submitted to him, it didn't see any issue in surrendering itself as well.
After all, by submitting, it could enjoy good food and drinks served by humans, and occasionally bully some genius human Soul Masters. Why not?
Unknowingly, the Silver Shadow Beast had already been subtly influenced by Zhou Sicheng.
It might even become a guardian beast of the academy in the future—who knows?
More than a month passed in a flash. Zhou Sicheng's soul power had already broken through to Rank 55. After studying under Elder Mu for over a month, he had essentially mastered all the abilities of the Radiant Holy Dragon.
Elder Mu found Zhou Sicheng's talent incredible. However, since he was still only at the five-ring stage, mastering it this quickly made sense. Otherwise, the title of "prodigy" wouldn't be justified.
And it wasn't just Zhou Sicheng who had improved significantly—everyone in the Shrek Team had made considerable progress.
Thanks to Zhou Sicheng's specialized training over the past month, these martial soul geniuses had also become familiar with the basics of using standard Soul Tools.
Ma Xiaotao, in particular, received a custom-made Level 7 Soul Tool from Zhou Sicheng—the Phoenix Divine Spear. When wielding the spear, she could instantly become a close-range demolition specialist. Although she still wasn't fully adept with melee-type Soul Tools, her potential was evident.
After learning that Ma Xiaotao had received a custom melee Soul Tool from Zhou Sicheng, Yan Shaozhe immediately asked Dean Cai Mei'er to personally teach her spear techniques.
After all, the Breaking Evil Douluo was even more skilled with the spear than the War God Douluo, Xian Lin'er. Her mastery with the spear could only be described as godlike.
Although the Radiant Holy Sword Zhou Sicheng had previously crafted for Ye Guyi had been lost, he had since found a light-attributed soul essence—an orb from the Treasure Pavilion with around 50,000 years of cultivation.
Using that as a foundation, he crafted a new Level 7 Soul Tool for Ye Guyi, naming it once again the Radiant Holy Sword.
Since the orb was of a higher level than the previous one, this new sword was even more powerful.
Besides the custom weapons for Ye Guyi and Ma Xiaotao, Zhou Sicheng also upgraded Du Gu Xianmeng's Bi Lin Divine Bow to a Level 7 Soul Tool.
Even though Du Gu Xianmeng only had five soul rings and couldn't fully unleash the bow's potential, it was still far stronger than before.
With this upgraded bow, crafted specifically to complement her martial soul, she could transform into a long-range control assassin. The boost in strength it gave her was tremendous.
As for Ling Luochen, Dai Yueheng, and Gongyang Mo, none of the three had received a custom Soul Tool yet, since they hadn't decided what type of Soul Tool suited them best.
Zhou Sicheng wasn't too concerned about Dai Yueheng, though. Before long, he would acquire a top-tier melee Soul Tool—the Tiger King Soul Refining Blade.
Even though the three hadn't received custom weapons yet, each of them had a Level 6 defensive Soul Tool—the Radiant Dragon Turtle Shield.
They also carried standard equipment like a Level 5 flight Soul Tool, a Level 5 propulsion Soul Tool, and a Level 6 tracking cannon. Each of them had already mastered how to use these tools proficiently.
At present, the Shrek Team could only be described as monstrously talented, with overwhelming strength. With the major tournament approaching, even the higher-ups at Shrek Academy no longer felt any pressure.
After all, their victory was practically guaranteed. In contrast to previous years, when the academy took the competition very seriously, things were unusually calm this time.
However, while the inner court remained peaceful, the outer court was anything but.
At that moment, over thirty outer court students had gathered in the Soul Duel Zone. These included students from the second to fifth years, with soul power ranging from two to four rings.
Elder Xuan was no longer the chaotic mess he had been in the original timeline. Although he still drank and ate heartily, it was now more out of appetite than drunkenness.
At this moment, he exuded a fierce aura. Looking at the group of young students before him, he said in a deep, rumbling voice, "Listen up, kids! The next stage of your core disciple examination is simple. I call it... the Great Melee."
"Within the boundaries of this Soul Duel Zone, you're free to attack however you like. Fight as you wish—there are no rules. If you surrender or get carried out, you're eliminated."
"The last seven people standing will be declared the victors. That's it. Teachers, leave the arena. Once I say 'go,' you may begin."
"Is this even allowed?" Upon hearing Elder Xuan's explanation, the students all stared wide-eyed in disbelief, glancing at one another in shock.
They had never seen an assessment like this before—almost thirty people thrown into a free-for-all!
Everyone had different soul power levels and specializations. The lowest was at two rings, the highest at four. How could such a chaotic battle possibly be a fair assessment?
The teachers didn't dare disobey Elder Xuan and quickly exited the Soul Duel Zone.
Before the students could even react, Elder Xuan suddenly raised his wine gourd and shouted, "Begin!"
In a flash, his body vanished without a trace.
Now, only the outer court core disciples remained in the arena. The suddenness of it all left everyone momentarily stunned.
Then, each student made their own choice.
What should one do in a thirty-person melee? Although there was a significant gap between the second- and fifth-year students, numbers could easily overwhelm higher cultivation.
Even someone with four rings would struggle to withstand a group assault in this confined space.
Among them, Huo Yuhao, who had just broken through to two rings, looked visibly shaken. He wasn't even a core disciple but had somehow been pulled into this exam.
With his current strength, surviving such a chaotic melee would be nearly impossible.
Luckily, he wasn't alone.
Wang Dong grabbed him and Xiao Xiao, pulling them into a sprint. "Yuhao! We have the Haodong Power. If we find the right allies, we might still stand out!"
Although Huo Yuhao no longer had Tianmeng or Elder Yi to constantly guide him, he still had Zhou Sicheng's mentorship.
Wang Dong, at this stage, had also begun investing effort in Huo Yuhao's development. So far, Huo Yuhao had remained on the right path.
He quickly snapped out of it and activated his Level 2 propulsion Soul Tool to keep up with Wang Dong's pace.
Xiao Xiao followed with a bright smile, clearly smitten by Wang Dong.
As they ran, Huo Yuhao shouted, "Senior Brother! Come join us!"
Wang Dong looked toward Cao Jinxuan and Long Xiangyue. "Let's team up!"
With three rings, Wang Dong's strength was among the top in the outer court core disciples—especially since her second soul ring was already of millennium level.
Combined with the Haodong Power and their Martial Soul Fusion Technique, even though Huo Yuhao wasn't as strong as his original timeline counterpart, they could still hold their own against four-ring Soul Elders.
Xiao Xiao, though only at two rings, possessed twin martial souls and was a key talent in the martial soul department.
More importantly, thanks to Zhou Sicheng, their relationships with one another were quite good. They understood and trusted each other.
If they banded together, they could handle the rest of the field.
Even though opponents like Dai Huabin (already at Rank 37) had powerful Martial Soul Fusion Techniques with Zhu Lu, or the Lan Sisters' Illusionary Moon fusion, and others like Ning Tian were also strong, there was no way they could take on a united team like this.
Upon hearing the call from the two, Bei Bei hesitated for a moment, then ran toward Huo Yuhao.
And he didn't go alone—he dragged Xu Sanshi along with him.
He had seen those two girls—
He Caitou didn't think too much about it—he went straight to find Huo Yuhao. After all, he was the only one from the Soul Tool Department, and didn't have many friends on this side.
He only knew a few people, and the one he was naturally closest to was this junior martial brother who often practiced soul tool crafting with him.
Cao Jinxuan and Long Xiangyue exchanged a glance before walking over to Huo Yuhao with a smile.
"Yuhao," Cao Jinxuan said, "Big Brother told us to look after you. Of course we won't let him down."
Huo Yuhao smiled knowingly at their words, his heart warmed.
The situation on the field instantly became crystal clear. Cao Jinxuan, Long Xiangyue, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and He Caitou each released their martial souls, and four soul rings rose around each of them.
He Caitou stood out especially—he looked like a walking steel machine. Numerous metallic, pipe-like attachments extended from various parts of his body. The sight of it made him look like a massive steel hedgehog.
The most terrifying part, however, were the two enormous metal cannons mounted on his shoulders—each as thick as a grown man's thigh. After nearly half a year of foundational studies on soul tools in the Martial Soul Department, who here wouldn't recognize what those were?
The threatening aura radiating from that mass of terrifying metal, combined with the presence of so many Soul Ancestors (four-ring Soul Masters), made the rest of the students look visibly uneasy.
Huo Yuhao, Xiao Xiao, and Wang Dong—two with two soul rings and one with three—looked somewhat out of place standing among such powerful individuals. But everyone knew the strength of their Martial Soul Fusion Technique, and no one dared underestimate them when they combined.
And there was no need to even explain the value of Xiao Xiao's twin martial souls.
Xu Sanshi scanned the crowd and quickly spotted Jiang Nannan, who also had four rings. He immediately shouted, "Nannan, over here!"
Jiang Nannan hesitated for a moment, then flickered forward and joined their already formidable group.
The other students: "..."
Now this was just unfair. Six Soul Ancestors in one group—plus a three-ring Soul Elder and two two-ring Soul Masters.
Cao Jinxuan, a top-tier control-type soul master, glanced at the temporary team. His eyes flashed slightly, but he said nothing more. He simply stated calmly:
"Let's deal with everyone else first. Then we can resolve things internally."
The others didn't hesitate. "Alright!"
Dai Huabin's expression darkened. "We have the numbers. Let's take out the four-ring seniors first!"
At this moment, no one needed any reminders. In a situation like this, if they didn't unite, they would only face elimination.
"Go!"
On the sidelines, Elder Xuan munched on meat and sipped his wine as he watched. Soul skills flew everywhere, and soul tools fired from all directions…
From time to time, he would swoop in to save a student from danger, or announce someone's elimination. He didn't care about the process—he was only waiting for the final result.
But he was quite curious: just which seven students from this little alliance would be the ones left standing in the end?
****
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