The audience was silent for a moment before erupting into cheers. They had thought the Shrek team was going to lose, but in the end, they won thanks to the overwhelming strength of their captain. It was a clean and decisive victory, which once again raised their perception of Su Ming's power. In previous matches, Su Ming played more of a control role for the team, but who knew he also possessed such destructive strength?
As Su Ming turned to leave the stage, he deactivated Sage Mode. The battle had ended too quickly—the Emperor Team was too weak. He only used two spirit abilities, and the fight was over. His Sage Mode energy was barely consumed.
Still, during the brief combat, Su Ming tested splitting his focus to balance natural energy, spiritual energy, and spirit power. Overall, he considered the attempt a success.
Standing by the arena, Qin Ming was speechless. The Shrek captain is incredibly strong! And what's more, the spirit master his students had knocked out earlier had sprouted eight spider legs from his back. An external spirit bone?
This discovery delighted Qin Ming. His original purpose in bringing the Emperor Team to Soto City was to test his students, but also to meet Shrek's teachers and assess the strength of their students. If possible, he hoped to help introduce Shrek Academy's talents to the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. After all, Shrek Academy wasn't officially recognized by the nation and had no eligibility to compete in the upcoming Soul Master Tournament. With such gifted students, Qin Ming was confident the academy heads would agree to this.
Qin Ming decided that after the Soul Battle ended, it would be a good opportunity to speak with them. He believed that Flender and the Grandmaster had already recognized his identity.
At this point, Qin Ming instructed Ye Lingling, "Lingling, heal the injured spirit master from the other side."
Ye Lingling did not refuse. Although she wasn't fond of Tang San after reading the diary, Qin Ming was her teacher, and she had no reason to reject his request.
Her three spirit rings lit up as petals from her Nine Hearts Begonia floated over to Tang San, healing his wounds. Within moments, Tang San regained consciousness.
Su Ming, observing from the side, couldn't help but praise the Nine Hearts Begonia. It truly is the strongest healing-type spirit in the current world.
Yu Xiaogang had initially intended to have Su Ming treat Tang San and then let him eat one of Oscar's sausages. But seeing the Emperor Team take action, Yu Xiaogang nodded in appreciation toward Qin Ming, signaling that they should meet after the match.
Yu Xiaogang then led the group out of the arena, saying to Flender, "Flender, wait for Qin Ming here. I'll take the students to find a restaurant."
It was likely that this match would be the Shrek team's last in Soto City. There were no more suitable opponents in the arena, and there was no point in staying any longer.
Flender nodded. It had been a long time since he and Qin Ming met, and they should catch up properly, though Flender had no idea what Yu Xiaogang was planning.
Meanwhile, on the way to the restaurant, Su Ming wasn't idle. He began writing in his diary, reflecting on the day's surprising events.
System: Heh heh, didn't expect that, did you? This is all thanks to me.
Diary: Today's Soul Battle went as expected, encountering the Emperor Team. However, I didn't foresee Dugu Yan's spirit evolving into the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor so early!
Based on my knowledge, at this point, her spirit should still be the Jade Phosphor Serpent. Moreover, aside from her third ability, Jade Phosphor Purple Poison, her first and second spirit skills were completely different from what I expected. How did she become so powerful?
Dugu Yan's current three abilities are chained together so well that if her opponent falls into her trap, they have almost no chance of escaping. They're entirely at her mercy!
It's rare for a spirit master at her level to possess abilities that can both cause hallucinations and blindness. This upgrade turned Dugu Yan into a strong control and attrition spirit master. Any spirit master with weak spiritual power and no powerful detoxification skills would be unable to escape her control!
What surprised me even more was that despite being ignited by Dai Mubai's White Tiger Light Wave, the combination of fire and realgar had no effect on her venom. Tang San and I were both stunned when the realgar failed to counter the Jade Phosphor Serpent Poison. Realgar has always been the key to dealing with her poison!
Reading Su Ming's diary, Dugu Yan smiled. Looks like Su Ming was caught off guard by my powers, she thought. All of this is thanks to the system.
She couldn't help but feel pleased by Su Ming's surprise and compliments. Losing the match didn't bother her; she knew from the beginning that Su Ming's abilities, especially his life attributes and ability to see through everything with his Fiery Golden Eyes, meant she was never a match for him. But defeating Tang San and knocking him off the stage? That felt quite satisfying. After all, Tang San was the protagonist of this world, and even though he was strong, she had managed to overpower him.
Diary: Originally, I intended to let Tang San test Dugu Yan's strength. No matter how strong she was, with his Tang Sect techniques, he should've been able to defeat her and the rest of the Emperor Team. After all, in the original story, when Xiao Wu was seriously injured by Shi Mo and Shi Mo, Tang San went berserk and beat the Emperor Team senseless.
But to my surprise, Dugu Yan's combo, especially her second ability, turned out to be a blinding attack. It's almost as if her entire skill set was designed specifically to counter Tang San!
Tang San relied on his Purple Demon Eyes to counter her hallucinations. But once he was bitten by the tiny snakes from her second ability, he was blinded and his Purple Demon Eyes became useless. He ended up being severely injured and knocked off the stage—how tragic!
Maybe Tang San wanted to show off and redeem his reputation after messing up earlier, but who would have guessed that realgar wouldn't work against the Jade Phosphor Serpent Poison!
Xiao Wu and the others couldn't help but laugh after reading Su Ming's final remarks. Su Ming is so devious! He let Tang San test Dugu Yan while he sat back and watched the show.
And Tang San, who clearly disliked Su Ming, had gone along with it, hoping to gain some glory. Instead, he ended up with a bruised reputation and a battered body, getting knocked out of the fight in the worst way possible!