The three opponents standing across from them were all formidable soul masters above level 20.
They were the Huang Chutian team, the very same team that had given Wang Dong's team significant trouble before. The root of their strength lies in the martial soul fusion skill of the twin sisters, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo—Inescapable Net!
As the first martial soul fusion skill introduced in the original work, the Inescapable Net had dealt Wang Dong a heavy blow during their initial encounter.
If it hadn't been for Huo Yuhao's soul impact, the opposing team might have even turned the tables and secured a victory. Of course, that chance was still incredibly slim.
The primary purpose of the Inescapable Net was to strategically draw out the subsequent Haodong power.
Among the three opponents, Huang Chutian was naturally the strongest in terms of individual strength, but the true threat came from the Lan sisters' martial soul fusion skill.
It's a shame, though. While their strength is indeed impressive, their luck hasn't been on their side.
They lost three matches during the ten-round robin tournament and were forced to use their trump card—the martial soul fusion skill—which is now in its cooldown period.
This is the inherent drawback of martial soul fusion skills. Unlike ordinary soul skills, they aren't as simple to execute.
Both participants' martial souls and spirits must be in peak condition simultaneously to perform the skill, and there's a mandatory buffer time after each use.
During this period, the martial soul fusion skill cannot be used again. Generally, this buffer time lasts about seven days, though it gradually decreases as the soul masters' cultivation levels increase.
It's only when both parties reach level 70 and obtain their martial soul true bodies that they can use martial soul fusion skills freely.
However, in the original work, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, due to their 100% compatibility, not only possessed the Haodong power to accelerate their cultivation but also had a total of four martial soul fusion skills at their disposal.
Moreover, their buffer time was only three days. It's simply outrageous.
…
Huang Chutian and his teammates stared intently at Huo Yuhao.
Although they knew their chances of winning were slim, they had no intention of giving up.
After all, who among them wasn't a proud genius to have made it this far in Shrek Academy's freshman assessment? How could they simply surrender just because their opponent was famous and a powerful soul master?
There was only one person standing against them. Even if the odds were stacked against them, they had to fight for that sliver of hope.
As the seed team of Class 7, they were tasked with the mission of breaking into the top three—no, the top ten. The past was the past, and the present was now.
Their losses in the round-robin tournament were behind them. In the knockout rounds, there was no room for error. One misstep, and they would be eliminated immediately.
They had to treat every match as if it were their last, leaving no room for regrets.
With such determination, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but smile slightly. 'A beating will make them honest,' he thought.
"Ready—begin the match!"
At the referee's command, Huang Chutian took the lead, summoning his martial soul, the Hercules Ape.
As the martial soul possessed him, Huang Chutian's clothes burst apart instantly! His height surged from 1.5 meters to 1.8 meters, his thick muscles tearing through his school uniform. His exposed skin turned an iron-black hue, his eyes glowed yellow, and two sharp canine teeth protruded from his mouth.
Lan Luoluo and Lan Susu's martial souls were Hair. With a flick of their heads, their long blue hair rapidly extended, growing to over ten meters in length and fluttering in the air.
All three of them were soul grandmasters, each with two yellow soul rings.
Without giving Huo Yuhao a moment to react, the twin sisters faced each other, their four hands clasped together.
A powerful surge of soul power erupted from them, and the ten-meter-long blue hair shot upward, weaving into a massive net in the air before hurtling straight toward Huo Yuhao.
Spreading Webs—this was the first soul skill of the twin sisters. The combination of their identical soul skills and their telepathic coordination made the blue net flawless, leaving no room for escape.
"Roar——!"
At the same time, Huang Chutian let out a thunderous roar. Clasping his hands together and raising them above his head, his second soul ring lit up.
A thick layer of yellow light enveloped his body, eventually concentrating around his fists.
"Second Soul Skill: Power Cannon!"
With a loud shout, a solid yellow sphere of energy blasted out from his fists, hurtling straight toward Huo Yuhao.
The battle had already reached a white-hot intensity from the very beginning. Huang Chutian and his teammates had gone all out, aiming to end the fight in a single decisive move!
And then... nothing happened.
The attention of everyone present was drawn to the three soul rings rising from Huo Yuhao's feet—one yellow and two purple.
Under the astonished gazes of everyone present, Huo Yuhao took a single step forward, as if he had traversed an immeasurable distance in an instant. His figure appeared directly in front of Huang Chutian and his teammates.
With a seemingly casual strike, imbued with an overwhelming force, Huo Yuhao's attack landed. The three opponents' eyes rolled back, and they collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
The referee, momentarily confused by the sudden turn of events, quickly stepped forward to check on Huang Chutian and his teammates. After confirming that the three were merely unconscious, he announced, "Freshman Class 9, Huo Yuhao's team wins! They advance to the top 32."
The battle had ended in the blink of an eye.
The teachers on the viewing platform were still processing what had just happened. Those who had caught the brief exchange wore expressions of shock.
"They won just like that? So quickly."
"No wonder Huo Yuhao chose to form a team alone. With strength like that, he's in a league of his own."
"It's understandable. The Lan sisters' martial soul fusion skill is still in its cooldown period. Their loss isn't unfair."
"The champion of this session will likely be decided between Class 9 and Class 5."
"That soul skill of his is quite intriguing."
In less than a minute, Huo Yuhao had secured the fastest victory in the knockout round, cementing his legend.
Wang Yan, one of the observing teachers, watched Huo Yuhao's departing figure with fiery eyes. His shock was evident, and he subconsciously rubbed his hands together in excitement.
Wang Yan could tell that Huo Yuhao's seemingly casual strike was anything but simple. It contained a subtle mental attack, which was why Huang Chutian and his teammates had fainted simultaneously. 'Could this be the prototype of a self-created soul skill?' he wondered. 'Such incredible talent!'
Similarly, Wang Yan's attention was drawn to the Lan sisters, Lan Luoluo and Lan Susu.
Their martial soul, Hair, was also quite unique and could be considered an original martial soul.
Moreover, he knew that these two girls were capable of performing martial soul fusion skills, indicating their immense potential for future growth.
It was unfortunate that they had the bad luck of running into Huo Yuhao. Otherwise, this team could have gone much further in the competition. 'This freshman class is brimming with exceptional talents worth noting,' Wang Yan thought.
…
For Wang Dong's team, the battle was equally relaxed and enjoyable. Although their opponents were resilient, the combined efforts of Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and Bai Yan ensured a swift victory.
In less than ten minutes, they had secured their place in the top 32 and left the arena in high spirits.
The same ease carried over into the afternoon's round of 32 into 16.
While some students with strong individual abilities began to shine in the knockout stage, it was no easy feat for a team to achieve ten consecutive victories in the round-robin stage without facing significant challenges.
By the next day, the drawing ceremony for the next round had begun.
The viewing platform, located in the northern part of the assessment area, stood twenty meters above the ground, supported by six massive metal pillars. From this height, one could overlook the entire assessment area and clearly observe the matches taking place in each venue.
Today, the platform was even more crowded than the day before. The games hadn't even started, yet the area was packed with spectators.
At the center of the platform, a sloppy old man sat in a space of about three square meters. He held a large purple gourd of wine in one hand and a roasted chicken drumstick in the other, alternating between bites and sips. This was none other than Chicken Leg Douluo, Xuan Zi.
"Master Xuan, you're here," Wang Yan greeted respectfully as he approached the old man.
"Mm," Xuan Zi grunted in response, continuing to eat and drink without pause.
Wang Yan gestured toward the audience and said, "I discovered a few promising students yesterday. They are—"
Before he could finish, Xuan Zi waved his drumstick impatiently and interrupted, "I can see for myself."
"Understood," Wang Yan replied, stepping aside without another word.
With the lottery complete, the knockout round of the freshman assessment officially began. The playing area had been expanded once again, with eight wide fields hosting simultaneous matches.
Huo Yuhao's opponents this time were all boys, and none of them were soul Elder. Interestingly, when Huo Yuhao used his Mental Detection to survey the field, he noticed that, including himself, there were only four teams with soul Elders, and none of them had been matched against each other.
Even Wang Dong's team faced relatively weak opponents.
This was a stark contrast to the bumpy fortunes of the original timeline.
Since Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had gone their separate ways, their luck seemed to have improved significantly. 'The stars have aligned,' Huo Yuhao thought. 'This time, a negative has turned into a positive.'
Huo Yuhao's opponents introduced themselves with confidence:
"Freshman Class 10, Zhou Sichen, an assault-system master."
"Freshman Class 10, Long Xiangyue, an agility and attack-system master."
"Freshman Class 10, Cao Jinxuan, a control-system master."
Their voices were firm and resolute, showing no fear in the face of Huo Yuhao, a demon king-level opponent. Whether they could win or not, they were determined to make their presence felt.
"Freshman Class 9, Huo Yuhao, a combat spirit master of the assault system," Huo Yuhao responded, following the unwritten rule of the soul master world to exchange names.
'Is that a time-based martial soul?' Huo Yuhao wondered as he observed Cao Jinxuan.
If he remembered correctly, Cao Jinxuan's martial soul was called Time Elapsing Clock, a rare weapon-type martial soul comparable to Wang Dong's Light Goddess Butterfly among beast-type martial souls.
In the original timeline, these three had been the opponents Huo Yuhao's team faced in the semifinals.
They had appeared strong at first but were quickly defeated by Huo Yuhao's Soul Shock, fading into obscurity afterward.
While time-type martial souls were incredibly rare and powerful, it was difficult for their users to reach their full potential due to the scarcity of time-attributed soul beasts.
Huo Yuhao recalled his own search for suitable external soul bones in the Star Dou Forest. He hadn't even encountered any space-attributed soul beasts, let alone time-attributed ones.
Cao Jinxuan's eyes suddenly focused, and a twisted halo began to emanate from his body. Even from a distance, his figure appeared blurry.
Above his head, an exquisite clock materialized quietly. The clock was shaped like a city gate, with a white bell body half a meter tall. The dial inside was round, and a pendulum engraved with golden patterns swung gently below.
"Now!" Cao Jinxuan shouted, his two soul rings lighting up simultaneously. The twisted light surged downward, enveloping Huo Yuhao.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhou Sichen and Long Xiangyue launched their attacks in unison. This was their strategy against Huo Yuhao!
'I didn't expect them to be so coordinated,' Huo Yuhao thought. 'But can they really win?'
…
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