Xia Yi won!
And he won so quickly.
The Tang Sect's upper echelons fell into silence.
Among the three who fought today, they had the most confidence in Tang Jing.
Yet unexpectedly, Tang Jing was the first to lose.
In their view, Tang Jing's abilities should have completely countered Xia Yi. They never thought that the reverse would happen instead.
Against Xia Yi, Tang Jing couldn't even unleash his full strength.
His soul skill replication only allowed him to copy a small portion of Xia Yi's ice control abilities—he wasn't able to replicate Xia Yi's Absolute Zero in its entirety.
"Is that all…?"
Seeing the referee step in, Xia Yi shrugged indifferently and turned his gaze toward Gu Yue and Wu Jin.
As expected, they too had been forced to summon their battle armor.
After all, the Tang Sect had existed for 20,000 years, and this was their headquarters.
The opponents they sent out all had significantly higher soul power than Xia Yi and his companions.
If they couldn't even force Xia Yi's group to summon their battle armor, the Tang Sect might as well shut down entirely.
Compared to Xia Yi's battle armor, both Gu Yue's and Wu Jin's were just as remarkable.
Gu Yue's battle armor now had four components: in addition to the chestplate and headband that she shared with Xia Yi, she also had a pair of gauntlets.
Her armor was pure silver, each piece as thin as cicada wings, radiating a light, ethereal elegance while exuding an air of nobility and grace.
"Who forged this? It's made entirely of god-grade metal, yet shaped with such finesse. Even a seventh-rank Saint Craftsman might not be able to achieve this."
The referee in charge of Gu Yue's match couldn't help but marvel at her battle armor.
Gu Yue's opponent was a female close-combat soul master whose martial soul was a massive greatsword taller than herself—over two meters long. When she swung it, it carried overwhelming force.
Gu Yue was truly being restrained.
This greatsword was an enchanted weapon capable of absorbing elemental energy.
Gu Yue's attacks were largely neutralized by the sword, making the fight extremely difficult for her.
What she didn't know was that her opponent had been handpicked by Wu Zhangkong himself.
Originally, this opponent wasn't even stationed at the Tang Sect headquarters; she had been specially summoned from Star Luo City the night before, chosen specifically to counter Gu Yue.
Wu Zhangkong might not have understood Gu Yue completely, but he was well aware of her core abilities.
The opponent he selected was a nightmare for Gu Yue to deal with.
Compared to Gu Yue, Wu Jin was in a much better situation.
Among the three, Wu Jin had the most battle armor components.
Unlike Xia Yi, he not only had a pair of gauntlets but also additional shoulder and upper arm armor on both sides.
Like the others, he had a chestplate and headband.
Although Wu Jin's spiritual power wasn't as monstrous as Xia Yi's or Gu Yue's, his continuous fusion with the vengeful spirits within him had allowed his spiritual power to reach the Spirit Sea Realm at an early stage.
Among his peers, he was an unparalleled prodigy.
Even at Shrek Academy, most second-year students hadn't reached the Spirit Sea Realm yet.
With powerful spiritual energy as his foundation, combined with a god-grade metal battle armor at 99% fusion rate, Wu Jin had even completed the integration of his headpiece ahead of time.
Now, his upper body battle armor was nearly complete.
His battle armor was actually more intricate than Xia Yi's and Gu Yue's.
When designing it, Gu Yue had taken his internal vengeful spirits into consideration.
She intended for his battle armor to help him further integrate and harmonize with the spirits inside him.
His battle armor was originally platinum like Xia Yi's, but after fusing with him and interacting with his internal resentment, it took on a dark red glow.
While ensuring that Wu Jin could use his battle armor to channel and integrate his spirits, Gu Yue also had to account for the possibility of these spirits eroding his sanity.
To prevent this, she installed an enormous ice-element energy core in his battle armor, using its power to suppress the vengeful spirits.
Conveniently, Wu Jin's Snow Jade Lion King was also an ice-attribute beast.
The energy core was the heart of his battle armor—as long as it wasn't corrupted, Wu Jin would remain safe.
Thus, designing Wu Jin's energy core became the top priority.
Gu Yue even consulted with powerful soul beasts for their input.
Eventually, they decided on a three-pronged "V" shape for the core, extending from his abdomen up to his neck.
Additionally, a smaller energy core was placed at the eye section of his helmet.
This way, even if the main core in his chest was infiltrated by vengeful spirits, the headpiece's core could still function independently, preventing the spirits from reaching his brain.
This design made Wu Jin's battle armor look even more imposing than Xia Yi's and Gu Yue's.
The massive ice-element core stretched upward, forming intricate soul circuit patterns under its radiant blue glow.
Because of the core's repelling effect, the vengeful spirits were forced to gather behind him, causing his back armor to emit a constant dark red light.
Coupled with his sharp, ice-blue eyes, his presence was overwhelmingly oppressive.
(For those who want to see Wu Jin's incredible battle armor, check out the images on Qidian.)
If he could fully complete his first-generation battle armor, its sheer presence alone would surpass 90% of second-generation armors.
Even now, with only six components, his armor's aura was already enough to intimidate his opponent.
His opponent, a forty-ninth level control-type battle soul master named Zhong Wenjun, wielded a Constraining Divine Rope as her martial soul.
Under the terrifying pressure of Wu Jin's battle armor, even before Xia Yi finished defeating Tang Jing, Zhong Wenjun was quickly overwhelmed and defeated.
The Tang Sect's high-ranking officials fell into silence once again.
Now, all their hopes rested on Gu Yue's opponent, Yang Shuangshuang.
At least, Yang Shuangshuang's enchanted sword was still suppressing Gu Yue.
Xia Yi turned to look at Gu Yue, though he wasn't actually worried about her.
It was true that Gu Yue was being countered, but only because she was holding back.
If she really wanted to win, an enchanted sword wouldn't even be an obstacle.
Yang Shuangshuang had four purple soul rings and ten battle armor components, just like Gu Yue.
Her first soul skill was Enchantment, a continuous ability that absorbed elemental energy to sustain itself.
Her second soul skill, Dispel, weakened all elemental soul skills within its range.
Her third and fourth soul skills were both offensive—Sweeping Army and Heavy Sword, No Edge!
"Don't think I'm afraid of you," Gu Yue's eyes briefly flashed purple as she spoke.
Xia Yi nodded—she was getting serious.
Wu Jin's gaze also became focused.
Gu Yue had always hidden her true strength.
He was curious—just how powerful was she?
Silver light flickered around Gu Yue, and in an instant, she appeared behind Yang Shuangshuang.
Yang Shuangshuang reacted swiftly. Her enchanted sword's ability allowed her to sense all elemental fluctuations, including space itself.
Just as Gu Yue finished teleporting, Yang Shuangshuang's greatsword swept across.
However, Gu Yue had anticipated this.
She raised her hand, conjuring several ice-earth barriers in the sword's path.
"Ha!" Yang Shuangshuang roared, unleashing her Enchantment and Dispel effects.
The walls shattered instantly.
But the sword's momentum had been slowed.
Then, Gu Yue acted decisively—her right hand grabbed the enchanted sword, while her left fist, infused with four elemental energies, struck toward Yang Shuangshuang's head.
Yang Shuangshuang sneered—she wasn't just a sword user, she had raw strength too.
Even though the Enchanted Sword had no blade and its speed had been weakened, if Gu Yue dared to be so arrogant, the sheer impact of the Enchanted Sword alone would be enough to send her flying.
However, in the next moment, the Enchanted Sword—its speed reduced by the ice-earth walls—was firmly caught by Gu Yue.
Since the sword's hilt required both hands to wield, when Gu Yue's fist, infused with four elemental forces, came crashing down and exploded in front of Yang Shuangshuang, she had no way to dodge.
She was sent flying instantly.
With no battle armor on her head to protect her, she took Gu Yue's full-force blow head-on. Yang Shuangshuang was instantly dazed, her Enchanted Sword knocked out of her grasp.
Gu Yue teleported once more, her hand infused with the same four elements, and struck toward Yang Shuangshuang again.
Seeing that Yang Shuangshuang was still dizzy, the referee quickly intervened to rescue her.
These fighters were the future of the Tang Sect—they absolutely could not afford any losses.
Gu Yue shook her head and turned away.
Because her hands were covered by the battle armor's gauntlets, no one noticed the faint silver dragon scales that had appeared on her jade-like hands.
It was precisely thanks to the protection of these silver dragon scales and her battle armor that she had been able to grab the Enchanted Sword directly.
Otherwise, how could a mere forty-eighth-level Soul Ancestor, even with ten battle armor components, so easily grasp a full-force strike from the Enchanted Sword?
Since her elemental abilities had been countered, she had no choice but to secretly tap into her dragon powers to end the battle swiftly.
Deep inside, Gu Yue felt rather helpless.
She hadn't expected that the first time she would use her dragon abilities after taking human form would be just to deal with a mere Soul Ancestor.
She had to admit, Wu Zhangkong had chosen an opponent that truly countered her perfectly.