Inside the dormitory.
Zhu Ziyang sat cross-legged on his bed, entering a meditative state.
Within his spiritual sea, he looked at the two "guests" floating on the surface of the lake and felt a strange sensation.
Electrolux had been asleep for more than three months. The previously unstable gray orb had now completely stabilized. It emitted no aura, looking just like an ordinary gray bead. Zhu Ziyang had a hunch that Electrolux might awaken soon.
As for the other guest—the rhombus-shaped crystal that might contain the soul of the Silver Dragon Wolf—there was no change at all. It looked exactly the same as it had before, silent and unmoving, like a very stubborn entity. Zhu Ziyang knew that only when he cultivated the Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon martial soul would this Dragon Wolf Crystal possibly react.
But what surprised him most was this: over the past two months of deepening his mastery of the Silver Right Eye, he had discovered a silver vortex forming in his spiritual sea.
It had appeared so subtly that he hadn't noticed it at first. Just a few days ago, he accidentally realized that this vortex was absorbing his spiritual power. The blue spiritual power, once consumed by the silver vortex, transformed into denser, purer silver spiritual power.
To his great surprise, his spiritual power had begun growing and evolving on its own—a completely unexpected bonus!
Now, silver spiritual power already occupied about a quarter of his spiritual sea. He had a strong feeling that once it filled the entire space, his spiritual power would reach a new realm called "tangible yet formless."
This was a state where power existed but could not be seen or touched—the second realm of spiritual power. For Soul Masters who reached this stage, their ability to understand and control spiritual power improved dramatically. Only at this level could one begin using spiritual power to:
Affect the surrounding environment
Control the potency of soul skills
Enhance combat capabilities
Typically, this level of spiritual power was only seen in Soul Sages. Yet Zhu Ziyang, despite not being a spiritual-type Soul Master, was already on the verge of reaching it while still at the Soul Elder level.
Truly a blessed talent!
His consciousness left the spiritual sea and entered soul power cultivation mode. The Great Radiance Technique refined his soul power into thick, robust currents, filled with noble and righteous energy. These flows surged through his meridians and acupoints, cleansing his body and tempering the Scythe of Life and Death's light elements, steadily fortifying his foundation.
First day of the Elimination Round.
Sixty-four freshman teams gathered outside the assessment grounds. 192 students stood in total silence, barely daring to breathe due to the overwhelming pressure.
Du Weilan, Director of the Martial Soul Department, was conducting roll call.
"Class Four: Zhu Ziyang, Jiang Nannan, Tang Ya, Lin Ziwei…"
Each student called responded promptly.
After the roll call, it was time to draw lots for the round of 64.
The arena had been expanded the day before, now divided into 16 massive zones, each much larger than before. The extra space greatly benefited agility-type Soul Masters, who were previously restricted in smaller areas. Jiang Nannan was so happy she jumped for joy upon seeing the new layout.
Soon, the draw was completed.
The 64 teams were divided into 32 matchups, split into two sessions: 16 matches in the morning, 16 in the afternoon. By the end of the day, the top 32 teams would advance to the next round.
Zhu Ziyang's team was drawn into Match 12 of the morning, in Arena 12.
"Hah! It's Arena 12 again?" the trio exclaimed in surprise.
But what shocked them even more was that the referee for Arena 12 was again Teacher Liu Xue, and their opponents were none other than their old rivals from the ranking round—Class Three's Lu Shaoyou's team!
Upon seeing Zhu Ziyang's trio again, Lu Shaoyou and his teammates turned pale. If surrender had been allowed, they probably would have bolted from the arena—facing Zhu Ziyang's team again was just too painful.
"W-why is it you guys again?!" Lu Shaoyou wailed, his teammates wearing equally miserable expressions.
Liu Xue struggled to hold in her laughter. She swore she had washed her hands before drawing lots!
"Could you… go easy on us this time?" Lu Shaoyou asked, half-pleading.
"Hmm… maybe," Tang Ya replied mischievously.
The match began.
Since both sides had already fought once, the battle ended even faster this time. Zhu Ziyang's team defeated them easily in just a few moves.
As Liu Xue announced the result, Lu Shaoyou's team groaned, "Oh, come on! The heavens are messing with us!"
With an 8–1 record from the ranking round, they should have made it into at least the top 16. Instead, they were eliminated in the first round of the knockout phase—all because they drew the strongest team again!
"It's not that we're weak—it's that you're too strong!" Lu Shaoyou sighed. "Good luck in winning the championship!"
After leaving those words, the three dejectedly ran out of the arena, heads down. At the exit, they spotted their homeroom teacher's furious expression—and felt their fate was sealed.
Their pace quickened… trying to escape the inevitable scolding.
"Hey, aren't those your students, Teacher Chu?"
"…Shut up!"
"…Okay."
—
With a clean win, Zhu Ziyang's team advanced to the next round. But instead of leaving, they stayed to observe other teams.
At Arena 2, they saw Yu Beibei's team in action.
Their opponents had two Grandmasters and one Soul Master. Against such a lineup, Yu Beibei and Xu Sanshi alone were enough—Xue Weiwei didn't even need to summon her martial soul.
So Zhu Ziyang's plan to gather more intel on her failed.
Yu Beibei and Xu Sanshi both had two yellow soul rings.
During the match:
Yu Beibei transformed—his right arm became a massive, muscular dragon arm, covered in blue-purple lightning-patterned scales, with a giant claw. Lightning crackled around it like little serpents—classic traits of a top-tier dragon martial soul.
He charged one of the Grandmaster opponents, his first ring glowing. A palm-sized lightning dragon claw shot toward a White Rhino Soul Master, who activated his own first soul skill—a white energy shield.
But the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's soul skill completely overpowered it, shattering the shield in one strike and forcing the opponent back.
Beibei didn't let up. His second ring glowed, and from his claw surged a web of lightning, engulfing the White Rhino user and rendering him helpless.
The other opponent, with the Swift Dragon martial soul—a wind-type pseudo-dragon—could barely circulate soul power under the pressure of a true dragon's aura. He could only watch as Beibei eliminated his teammate… and then followed right after.