This scale was already quite significant within the Martial Soul Academy.
After returning to his dorm, Lu Leng took a shower and went to bed. He glanced at the moonlight outside and thought to himself, "She should be back soon. Tomorrow will be the sixth day."
In the morning, Lu Leng woke up and went to the teacher's office to check. Mimi still hadn't returned, which made him a bit worried.
As usual, he headed to the arena, registered, and waited for the notification.
Soon, the notification arrived: "Proceed to Arena No. 3 within ten minutes. Late arrival will be considered a forfeit!" Lu Leng arrived at Arena No. 3 and found his opponent already waiting for him.
"His name is Meng Fei, ranked 27th on the leaderboard, with the Wind Eagle Martial Soul," Dudu, who was following Lu Leng, read out the opponent's information in detail.
Lu Leng nodded. This Dudu was somewhat useful, at least not letting him work for nothing, and could also gather some intel.
After stepping onto the stage, Lu Leng sized up Meng Fei. The man had eagle-like eyes, a slender build, and looked to be around seventeen or eighteen years old.
As Lu Leng observed the eagle-eyed man, the man was also observing him.
"Fifty-seven consecutive wins, all ended in a single move, including over a dozen Battle Soul Master. Such strength is truly terrifying," the eagle-eyed man had already thoroughly researched Lu Leng's information.
Now that he had encountered him, he felt a bit eager.
Lu Leng, being stared at like that, couldn't help but frown. He felt extremely uncomfortable because those eyes were too annoying.
Being stared at by him felt like being prey watched by a predator.
Meanwhile, in the stands, a purple-haired woman and a man were also frowning.
"Why did we run into this guy?" the purple-haired woman said.
"Looking at Meng Fei's demeanor, he seems quite confident," the man beside her remarked.
"Level 24 against Level 40, even with a powerful Soul Ring, he can't win, right?"
"Who knows?"
On the field, the referee stepped forward and signaled for the two to greet each other.
"Your eyes are really annoying," Lu Leng couldn't help but say.
"Only prey would find a predator's eyes annoying," Meng Fei retorted without hesitation.
"I hope you can still look at me like that when you're lying on the ground later," Lu Leng said, then turned and distanced himself.
Seeing that both were ready, the referee gave the signal, and the match officially began.
"Meng Fei, Level 40 Battle Soul Ancestor, Martial Soul: Wind Eagle."
"Lu Leng, Level 24 Great Soul Master, Martial Soul: Zhanluo."
As soon as the words fell, Lu Leng didn't wait for the other to react and immediately made his move, "Draw Slash!"
Lu Leng's figure vanished from his original position, and Zhanluo appeared in his hand. A thousand pounds of force condensed as he slashed toward Meng Fei's body.
Meng Fei's azure Wind Eagle instantly merged with his back, and with a swift spread of his arms, his speed was so fast that afterimages appeared, allowing him to dodge Lu Leng's slash.
The slash missed, and Lu Leng was surprised. This was the first time his Draw Slash had been dodged.
"This is quite interesting," Lu Leng smirked as he watched Meng Fei's figure flying in the air.
It turned out that Meng Fei had used a flying Soul Skill to dodge the attack.
However, although Meng Fei had dodged the slash, he was secretly shocked. Lu Leng's speed was simply too fast. The reason he had managed to dodge the slash was partly due to his flying Soul Skill.
But the main reason was his martial soul—a Wind Eagle, which was highly sensitive to danger. Therefore, the moment Lu Leng drew his blade, he sensed the impending threat and instinctively dodged to the side while activating his soul skill, narrowly avoiding Lu Leng's strike.
However, while he managed to evade this attack, he wasn't entirely confident he could dodge the next one.
But now that he had taken to the skies, he no longer feared Lu Leng's attacks. No matter how powerful Lu Leng's blade was, it couldn't fly.
For him, taking to the air meant seizing control of the battle's tempo.
Meng Fei stared at Lu Leng, his golden pupils dilating and contracting, clearly treating Lu Leng as prey.
"Those annoying eyes," Lu Leng muttered under his breath.
Flying soul skills consumed a significant amount of soul power, so Meng Fei couldn't afford to delay. He swiftly launched his attack.
Behind him, the Wind Eagle let out a piercing cry, and a blue light surged upward, taking the form of a Wind Eagle. It soared into the sky, and upon reaching a certain height, it suddenly dove downward with immense force, charging straight at Lu Leng.
"Second Soul Skill, Eagle Strikes the Sky!"
Lu Leng looked up at the blue Wind Eagle in the sky. Even with his strength, he dared not face a Level 40 soul power attack head-on.
Level 40 might seem only a few levels higher than Xiong Rige's, but the difference was like night and day.
He could handle Xiong Rige, but Meng Fei was a different story! At this thought, a playful glint appeared in Lu Leng's eyes.
Since he was going to shine, why not let that brilliance come a little earlier?
With a silent shout in his heart, the Zhanluo in his hand seemed to resonate with his fervor. No longer holding back, it crackled with purple lightning, its aura so intense that the surrounding air seemed to freeze.
At the same time, a dazzling purple soul ring quietly appeared beneath Lu Leng's feet.
"What's this?"
"A thousand-year soul ring!"
"His first soul ring is actually a thousand-year soul ring!"
Whispers of astonishment began to ripple through the crowd.
But before they could fully express their shock, they were silenced once more.
Before the purple soul ring could fully manifest, an even deeper black emerged. The moment it appeared, it immediately overshadowed the brilliance of the purple, dark as ink, as if it could devour all light, plunging the entire arena into darkness!
"This... this is!" someone stammered, unable to speak.
"A ten-thousand-year soul ring!!"
"My God!!! It's really a ten-thousand-year soul ring!!!"
"This is terrifying. I don't even have a thousand-year soul ring, and he already has a ten-thousand-year one."
"How horrifying. Just how monstrous is his talent? His second soul ring is already a ten-thousand-year one. Does that even make sense?" On the spectator stand, the purple-haired woman was visibly shaken.
Although she had known about Lu Leng's soul rings, she had never seen them in person. Now, witnessing it firsthand, she realized she still couldn't remain calm.
"His martial soul is anything but ordinary," the man beside her reminded her.
Hearing this, the purple-haired woman turned her gaze to Lu Leng's hand. Only then did she notice that the Zhanluo in his grasp had somehow transformed. Its aura was now surging, wild and unrestrained.
Though its appearance hadn't changed, its presence was entirely different, as if it were a completely different martial soul.
"I can feel an overwhelming aura emanating from it," the purple-haired woman said, her face pale.
Lu Leng's martial soul alone was enough to make her breathing tighten just from looking at it directly.
Ignoring the gasps of the onlookers, Lu Leng turned to Meng Fei and said, "You must have some skill to make me reveal my soul rings."
This was the first time Lu Leng had fully displayed her soul rings in front of everyone.
And all the credit for this went to Meng Fei.