"Three, two, one, begin!"
As Shen Yi's voice fell, streaks of platinum light surged from Wu Jin's right forearm. His One-Word Battle Armor gauntlet was instantly released, rapidly covering his hand and forearm.
He activated his Battle Armor right away and charged toward Yuanen Yehui.
Xia Yi had told him about forging hand armor for Yuanen Yehui.
So he speculated that Yuanen Yehui must have her own Battle Armor as well.
"Battle Armor?" Yuanen Yehui was taken aback. Why was he going all out from the very start?
"Battle Armor, huh? You're not the only one who has it." Yuanen Yehui also released her Battle Armor.
Although this was just a battle and not an actual war, momentum was still crucial. She couldn't allow her teammates to be intimidated by Wu Jin's Battle Armor.
Boom!
Their first clash was like a collision between planets. Both of them were knocked back at the same time.
A violent shockwave exploded from their point of impact, shaking the entire arena like a sudden thunderclap.
Both had fully activated their martial souls. Facing Yuanen Yehui's Titan Giant Ape, which stood over five meters tall, Wu Jin activated his first and second soul rings simultaneously. Under the enhancement of Snow Jade Heart, he unleashed a flurry of Hundred Lion Fists.
Yuanen Yehui raised her right fist and swung it through the air—her second soul skill, Air Cannon, blasting straight toward Wu Jin's incoming attacks.
Boom!
The instant their soul skills clashed, the impact was twice as loud as before. The entire protective barrier around the arena lit up, clearly struggling to contain the immense force.
Yuanen Yehui was shocked.
She hadn't expected that in the first year, aside from Xia Yi, there was someone else capable of meeting her head-on.
The battle had just begun, but the students from both classes were already holding their breath.
Watching Yuanen Yehui's terrifying martial soul and strength, Wu Siduo, who had previously been very confident in herself, clenched her fists tightly.
Could she really compete against Yuanen Yehui? Even if she activated Netherworld White Tiger, she might still not be a match.
Unless… she had Battle Armor too.
Wu Siduo didn't have time to think further. Just as Wu Jin and Yuanen Yehui clashed, Luo Guixing's Space Teleportation appeared beneath her feet.
In the next instant, she materialized behind Bai Hanying, the second-year auxiliary system soul master.
Before Bai Hanying could react, Wu Siduo's Nether Slash slashed toward the back of her neck.
However, Bai Hanying's response was swift. Just as Nether Slash was about to hit her, her body suddenly dissolved into cherry blossoms, scattering in all directions.
As an auxiliary system soul master in Shrek Academy, how could she not have life-saving abilities?
"You think you can escape?" Wu Siduo snorted coldly and transformed into Netherworld White Tiger.
With a forceful clap of her tiger claws, a terrifying shockwave erupted between her paws.
In an instant, the scattered cherry blossoms were blown apart.
The entire arena was instantly filled with flower petals.
Originally, Wu Siduo had planned to save her Netherworld White Tiger for fighting Yuanen Yehui.
But after seeing Yuanen Yehui's Battle Armor, she gave up on that idea.
She and Luo Guixing had already launched a sneak attack on an auxiliary system soul master.
If they still let Bai Hanying escape, how could she hold her head up in the first-year class?
She only had one chance. Seeing Bai Hanying attempting to flee, she used Netherworld White Tiger without hesitation.
The unfortunate Bai Hanying… not only was she ambushed by Space Teleportation, but she also had to face the terrifying martial soul fusion skill, Netherworld White Tiger.
Space Teleportation was all about sudden strikes. Her teammates were all occupied and had no chance to save her.
Her ability to transform into cherry blossoms was indeed an excellent survival skill, but it couldn't compare to Netherworld White Tiger.
The moment the cherry blossoms were blown apart, Cai Yue'er immediately stepped in.
With a flash, she appeared in the arena and grabbed at the air. The scattered petals quickly converged in her hand, reassembling into Bai Hanying.
Bai Hanying's face was deathly pale.
After turning into petals, she could control them with her spiritual power to reform her body.
However, if too many petals flew out of her control range, it would weaken her significantly.
If Cai Yue'er hadn't intervened just now, she would have failed to reform completely.
After successfully landing a blow, Wu Siduo immediately charged toward another second-year student—control system soul master Duan Hunxiao.
Duan Hunxiao's martial soul was Soul Severing Flute, which relied on sound to control opponents.
But in her Netherworld White Tiger form, Wu Siduo completely ignored his sound-based control and swung her claws at him.
This time, the second-year students finally reacted.
Yue Zhengyu, wielding his Angel's Holy Sword, used Ye Xinglan's Star God Sword as a foothold to propel himself backward. In no time, he reached Duan Hunxiao's side and swung his sword repeatedly at Netherworld White Tiger.
With Duan Hunxiao's support, he successfully halted Wu Siduo's advance.
"Xinglan!"
At this moment, Xu Lizhi tossed several steamed buns toward Ye Xinglan.
Ye Xinglan ate them without hesitation.
Instantly, her aura surged.
With her Star God Sword flashing in dazzling arcs, she cycled through three major soul skills, teaming up with Xu Yucheng to launch a frenzied attack on Ye Xingmo.
Ye Xingmo, a Star Holy Sword wielder and rank 38 Soul Elder, had a powerful martial soul.
Unfortunately, he was facing Star God Sword.
Although both hailed from the same family, Ye Xinglan's martial soul had mutated into Star God Sword, a legendary phenomenon that had only occurred seven times in their family history.
Each time it appeared, its wielder would become the family head and lead the clan to new heights.
Now, Star God Sword had reappeared, and its wielder was Ye Xinglan.
Against her, Ye Xingmo's martial soul was completely suppressed.
Paired with Xu Yucheng, a Soul Ancestor, Ye Xinglan quickly pressed her sword against Ye Xingmo's neck.
Ye Xingmo had been avoiding Ye Xinglan, letting Yue Zhengyu handle her.
But Yue Zhengyu had been forced to help Duan Hunxiao, giving Ye Xinglan the opportunity she needed.
Without hesitation, she consumed Xu Lizhi's buns and, with Xu Yucheng's assistance, defeated Ye Xingmo before the second-years could react.
"I…" Yuanen Yehui almost wanted to cough up blood.
She never expected that even without Xia Yi, the second-year students would lose so miserably.
She had even forced Wu Jin to use Resentment Mode with her fourth soul skill.
Fighting Wu Jin was exhilarating.
But her teammates just couldn't keep up!
Behind the blood-red Wu Jin, countless beastly shadows emerged once more. His Ten Thousand Beast Fist struck out, clashing with Titan Giant Ape's punch again.
A terrifying shockwave erupted, forcing both back once more.
The battle seemed evenly matched.
"He hasn't used that strange power." Wu Siduo glanced at Wu Jin.
Although Yuanen Yehui had forced Wu Jin into his Blood Red Mode, he still hadn't used his divine power against her.
It was clear—Wu Jin hadn't gone all out against either of them.
"Enough. We surrender."
The second-year homeroom teacher, Long Xiu, stepped forward, looking helpless.
Ever since Bai Hanying was eliminated, this battle had lost all suspense.
At this point, continuing would only damage the second-years' morale.
Long Xiu shot a glare at Mu Xi.
Yes, Mu Xi was one of the second-year participants.
With the benefits Mu Xi received from Leng Yaozhu, her strength was now undeniable.
What she lacked, however, was experience in fighting against true geniuses.
Second-year homeroom teacher Long Xiu had heard about some matters between Mu Xi and Xia Yi.
His initial intention in letting Mu Xi participate was to have her go up against Xia Yi.
But unexpectedly, Xia Yi didn't join the battle.
Left with no choice, he had Mu Xi take on Tang Wulin instead, who had shone brilliantly in the forging competition.
He had also heard that Mu Xi and Tang Wulin were senior and junior disciples under the same master.
What he didn't anticipate was that Tang Wulin had no intention of fighting seriously.
He didn't even want to attack Mu Xi at all.
Thus, the two of them simply went through the motions, making it look like they were evenly matched in battle, though in reality, neither was fighting in earnest.
Long Xiu could easily see through their act.
But he had no grounds to reprimand them. After all, he was the one who put Mu Xi in a position to restrain Tang Wulin as his senior disciple, which was already problematic to begin with.
Their performance-like battle was essentially a consequence of his own actions.
"We won that fast? This is unbelievable."
Hearing Long Xiu concede, not only were the students stunned, but even their teacher, Shen Yi, felt a bit dizzy from the turn of events.
The entire battle had lasted less than a minute.
"This year's freshmen truly are the strongest class in the past century," Outer Court Dean Cai Yue'er sighed.
"Judging by the ones who participated in this match alone, in terms of overall soul power, the first-year students aren't far behind the second-years anymore. But their martial souls far surpass them. Nearly all of them have top-tier martial souls. Even the weakest among them, Tang Wulin, has a powerful bloodline to compensate.
Meanwhile, among the second-years, aside from Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu, the rest of their martial souls are clearly weaker.
The second-years didn't lose because of a lack of strength. They lost because their martial souls were completely overwhelmed."
Cai Yue'er was thrilled.
Looking at these freshmen, she felt as if she were seeing the bright future of Shrek Academy.
"If Xia Yi and Gu Yue had participated, the second-years probably wouldn't have even had the chance to fight back.
What a pity that Leng Yaozhu got to them first and took them in as her students."
Cai Yue'er's thoughts drifted to Xia Yi and Gu Yue.
Since Wu Jin already had a battle armor, then as his teammates, Xia Yi and Gu Yue should have their own as well.
Her guess was spot on.
After forging the two-word battle armor for Di Tian, Xia Yi finally began crafting his own battle armor.
Due to the complexity of his abilities, Xia Yi decided to start by creating a headpiece.
Regardless of the type of battle armor, headpieces were primarily designed to enhance spiritual power.
Although the headpiece was the most dangerous component to fuse, Xia Yi, being a blacksmith, was in the best position to overcome this challenge.
During the forging process, he integrated his aura into the metal, performing three blood sacrifices during the Hundred Refinements, Thousand Tempers, and Spirit Refinement stages.
He did everything possible to maximize the metal's compatibility with his body.
Under these circumstances, he successfully fused the most difficult piece—his headpiece battle armor.