Chen Xing was furious.
He was, after all, a seventeen-year-old Soul Ancestor—one of the most promising students from the elite class of the Northern Advanced Soul Master Academy. And yet the Sun Moon Empire had the nerve to insult him like this? Seriously?
They sent a kid who didn't even look thirteen to fight him? Were all Sun Moon people this arrogant and uncivilized?
'Just wait. The moment the match starts, I'm going to wipe the floor with this brat and show these Sun Moon fools who really rules the Douluo Continent!'
"Huo Yuhao."
"Chen Xing. Hmph. You Sun Moon people are in for it."
After both sides introduced themselves, the referee signaled the start of the match.
"Ready... Begin!"
As the signal rang out, four soul rings appeared beneath Chen Xing—three yellow and one purple. Just as he prepared to launch a swift combo to finish off this little brat, he froze in disbelief.
Six soul rings slowly rose beneath Huo Yuhao's feet—two yellow, two purple, and two black.
Soul Emperor.
A twelve-year-old Soul Emperor? Impossible!
The audience was stunned. Beibei and Wang Yan, watching from the stands, nearly dropped their jaws.
While the spectators were merely shocked, Chen Xing was outright terrified.
'A Soul Emperor... That kind of power is terrifying! I'm just a Soul Ancestor—how could I possibly win?!'
"I... I surrender."
Chen Xing, being naturally cowardly, immediately threw both hands up in surrender. His expression flipped from menacing to fearful in seconds—so dramatically that Meng Hongchen burst into laughter in the stands.
"The first match: victory to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. Next participant, please."
The audience was still reeling from the appearance of a boyish Soul Emperor when several sharp-eyed spectators began noticing something strange.
"Probably some kind of simulated soul ring..."
Wang Yan had caught a brief flash of surprise in the expressions of the Sun Moon team. From that alone, he could tell this so-called Soul Emperor had some artificial flair to him.
The Northern Academy's supervising teacher was no fool either. When Chen Xing returned with his tail between his legs, the man was so furious he slapped him across the face.
"L-L-L-Teacher..."
"You idiot! A twelve-year-old Soul Emperor and you believed it?!"
"I-I didn't believe it..."
"Then why didn't you test him? Use your pig brain! Obviously the Soul Emperor act was fake! You've brought shame to the entire Heavenly Soul Empire! Get out of my sight."
So, thoroughly humiliated, Chen Xing slunk into a corner under the scornful stares of his teammates.
Seeing Huo Yuhao still standing calmly on stage, the teacher gave his next instruction.
"Lin Bing, your turn. Go test him out."
"Yes, sir."
The next youth stepped forward—his light-blue hair and icy blue eyes clearly marking him as different from Huo Yuhao's darker hues.
"Lin Bing. A pleasure to face you."
He bowed politely in greeting. Huo Yuhao merely gave a nod in return, showing no courtesy at all.
Annoyed by the lack of respect, Lin Bing's eyes grew cold, and the temperature around him dropped sharply. The referee announced the start of the match.
Four soul rings—two yellow and two purple—rose beneath Lin Bing's feet. He was clearly stronger than Chen Xing, and the ghostly silhouette of a white ice bear appeared behind him.
As a native of the far northern regions of the Heavenly Soul Empire, Lin Bing possessed a well-known ice-element beast martial soul—the Ice Bear, a soul beast from the same lineage as the Ice Bear King, a two-hundred-thousand-year-old beast of legend.
Seeing his opponent's martial soul, Huo Yuhao smiled faintly.
At the same time, Lin Bing launched his third soul skill: Ice Bear Roar. A deafening roar reverberated across the arena.
This technique was an excellent control-type skill, utilizing both ice-element and beastly intimidation. Most soul masters at his level or below would be stunned or slowed by it.
But Huo Yuhao? He wasn't "most soul masters."
Smiling as if nothing had happened, he watched Lin Bing calmly. Lin Bing had hoped to use the roar to immobilize him and then close the distance for a decisive blow. But seeing his technique have no effect at all filled him with dread.
'Does this mean... his cultivation is higher than mine? Otherwise, how could he be completely unaffected by a thousand-year soul skill?'
Of course, that wasn't the reason.
Lin Bing barely had time to process this when Huo Yuhao gave him a mysterious smile. Alarm bells blared in his mind, and he instinctively tried to retreat—but it was already too late.
A terrifying pressure burst forth from Huo Yuhao, sweeping across the arena. Lin Bing froze on the spot, paralyzed. Even the Ice Bear behind him let out a faint, mournful howl.
From the spectator stands, Wang Yan frowned. He couldn't sense the pressure—it was being carefully contained—but he knew something was wrong.
'Hmph. Even one of my own dares to attack me, the Ice Empress?'
In Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, the Ice Empress crossed her arms and scoffed.
Indeed, the momentary pressure had come from a sliver of the Ice Empress's aura—one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts. Combined with the natural bloodline suppression, it rendered Lin Bing completely immobile for three fatal seconds.
Huo Yuhao's first soul ring lit up—two yellow, two purple, two black. Five floating cannons burst forth in a flash and took aim from multiple angles.
Black beams of energy fired simultaneously, striking Lin Bing before he could react. The referee, seeing the situation, acted instantly and pulled Lin Bing out before he could be killed.
"Victory to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy."
A clean, absolute victory.
The audience was stunned. Was this youth really a Soul Emperor?
Wang Yan was growing increasingly frustrated. Despite his knowledge of martial souls, he couldn't figure out how Lin Bing had been paralyzed—or even what Huo Yuhao's first soul skill did.
'This is ridiculous. Someone punch a hole through the Douluo Continent already!'
"No good. Still too little intel..."
Meanwhile, the Northern Academy's teacher was nearly losing it. This "fake" Soul Emperor had now taken out their second strongest member with ease.
"Lin Bing! What the hell happened?!"
Shaking, Lin Bing recounted the overwhelming pressure he had felt.
The teacher furrowed his brows but still refused to believe the boy was truly a Soul Emperor.
"It must've been a bloodline suppression. His martial soul probably restrains yours. He's likely a rare soul master prodigy in the Sun Moon Empire, but there's no way he's an actual Soul Emperor."
"Zhou Qian, you're next. Your martial soul doesn't rely on bloodline traits. The pressure shouldn't affect you."
The Soul Ancestor girl named Zhou Qian nodded hesitantly and stepped onto the platform.
The teacher had originally wanted to send in one of their Soul Kings, but now he couldn't take that risk. Their Soul Kings were the only chance at victory against Sun Moon's main team. If they lost too early, they'd be knocked out immediately.
"Zhou Qian."
Her voice was cold as she mimicked Huo Yuhao's dismissive tone. Huo Yuhao didn't even bother nodding in return.
"Ready... Begin!"
But her martial soul no longer mattered—because the match was already over.
Zhou Qian had planned to use her speed-based martial soul for a blitz attack, but the moment the referee started the match, her mind fell into a daze.
Huo Yuhao had released a spirit shock disguised as a soul skill—faster than any ordinary soul master could perceive.
In less than a second, the preloaded floating cannons assembled behind him into a lethal annihilation ray cannon. With one burst, the beam pierced Zhou Qian's leg and arm.
She collapsed in agony, fainting from the searing pain.
Once again, Huo Yuhao used quick control at the start of the match, followed by overwhelming firepower, to win decisively.
Silence fell.
'Is he... actually a Soul Emperor? A genius?'
Wang Yan still refused to believe it. But the real issue was—he had no intel on Huo Yuhao's martial soul. And not understanding soul tools, he could only guess that the boy possessed a very high-level one.
Even the referee was caught off guard. He rushed to Zhou Qian's side and checked her vitals. Confirming she wasn't in critical condition, he breathed a sigh of relief before announcing the match result.
Huo Yuhao simply shook his head.
'Honestly, this strategy is so basic. If these people had even a single automatic shield soul tool...'
But he had no choice. With his wide array of soul skills—comparable to a Title Douluo—and a fully upgraded floating cannon system, he could easily fight at the level of a Soul Ancestor, if not higher.
Zhou Qian was carried off the field on a stretcher. Her teammates were panicking now. One of the Soul Kings, who was especially close to her, was so enraged he stormed onto the stage without a word.
Their teacher didn't stop him. He realized now he had misjudged Huo Yuhao—whether or not he was a real Soul Emperor didn't matter. He was at least a peak Soul Ancestor, maybe even a Soul King.
Now there was no choice. A Soul King had to step in.
As the man approached, Huo Yuhao gave him a scornful glance—his cold, emotionless face showing just a trace of disdain.
"A mere Soul King? Insignificant. I don't need to keep going. Let someone else finish this."
With that, Huo Yuhao turned and slowly walked off the stage.
(End of Chapter)
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