After eliminating Tang San, Aos Xin immediately ate the Recovery Sausage that Oscar handed to him.
He didn't rush to join the two remaining battlefields right away.
On one hand, he needed to catch his breath and allow the Recovery Sausage—combined with the lingering effect of his first soul skill—to restore some of his soul power, which had dropped to less than one-third.
On the other hand, he wanted to observe the situation carefully to avoid causing unnecessary confusion by recklessly joining the fight.
Looking at the battlefield, which had now been completely divided into two separate areas, Aos Xin nodded silently. The senior students had fully utilized the power of their Soul Tools to split the new students apart completely.
Especially by eliminating the support-type Ning Rongrong at the very start, they had cut off Tang San's command ability, leaving the already unfamiliar freshmen in a state of complete disarray and isolated combat.
This kind of one-on-one fighting happened to favor the seniors. After all, they held the advantage in soul power levels, and with the ranged attack benefit of Soul Tools, their coordination remained unbroken.
Within a few breaths, Aos Xin confirmed that the two remaining female freshmen were already completely suppressed by Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun with Oscar's assistance. Their defeat was only a matter of time.
Turning his gaze toward the battle between Ma Hongjun and Xiao Wu, Ma Hongjun's entire body was ablaze—fire spouting from his mouth, a battle blade of pure flame energy in his hand.
This ever-present fire, with its high temperature and powerful adhesiveness, left Xiao Wu—whose strength lay in close-ranged soft techniques—feeling like a dog trying to bite a hedgehog, unable to find a place to strike.
Adding to that, Oscar's ranged harassment from afar made Xiao Wu's situation even worse.
Xiao Wu had considered using her Charm ability to temporarily extinguish Ma Hongjun's flames, and she indeed tried.
However, Ma Hongjun was a very obedient student—he always kept a mental power shield tightly surrounding his body.
When Xiao Wu's scorpion braid wrapped around Ma Hongjun's neck, it found no purchase at all. Before she could make another move, Oscar's suppressing fire arrived.
Unable to withstand it, Xiao Wu could only retreat, and Ma Hongjun quickly snapped out of her charm. Flames burst out from his body again as he continued his relentless attacks using his battle blade and Phoenix Fire Line.
On the other side, Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's battle was going even worse for Zhu Zhuqing. Her soul power was lower than Xiao Wu's, while Dai Mubai's was much higher than Ma Hongjun's.
With the aid of a speed-enhancing Soul Tool, Dai Mubai's speed increased significantly. As an agility-type soul master, Zhu Zhuqing could no longer maintain a speed advantage over him.
Although Zhu Zhuqing was still more flexible than Dai Mubai, relying on agility to adopt a hit-and-run, assassin-style fighting method, Dai Mubai's White Tiger Martial Soul gave him naturally superior defense and endurance.
With the protection of a defensive Soul Tool armor, Zhu Zhuqing's attacks barely caused him any harm.
On the contrary, if Zhu Zhuqing failed to retreat quickly after attacking, Dai Mubai would seize the chance to counterattack.
Whether forcing her into close combat or striking her solidly with his White Tiger Claw, Dai Mubai's counterattacks inflicted considerable damage.
After all, agility-type soul masters could never match power-type ones in defense.
When they had the speed advantage, they could rely on guerrilla tactics to deplete their opponent's soul power.
But once that advantage was gone—and if there wasn't a huge difference in attack power—the agility-type would inevitably suffer.
This was exactly what Aos Xin now observed.
Blood was at the corner of Zhu Zhuqing's lips, clearly showing that she had been seriously injured by Dai Mubai's attacks, yet she continued to fight stubbornly.
Aos Xin noticed that Dai Mubai was clearly holding back, not wanting to actually hurt Zhu Zhuqing.
After all, Tang San had already been eliminated, and the current situation was four versus two. There was no need to be too harsh.
Having understood the overall situation, Aos Xin began giving out orders. Holding back didn't mean they couldn't end the battle quickly.
A stick of incense's time had already passed—it was better to finish this fast and rest.
"Oscar, aim at Fatty's opponent. Use the repulsion mode of the Energy-Focusing Soul Cannon. Fire her toward Teacher Zhao's side—he'll understand we're holding back.
Fatty, find a way to help Oscar create the opportunity.
Boss Dai, same for you. Try to fix your opponent's position. I'll blast her back myself. She's already badly hurt—let's finish it quickly."
Upon hearing Aos Xin's command, the other three responded: "Understood!"
Three seconds later, the Soul Cannon was ready. Ma Hongjun suddenly stumbled as if tripped by something, his flames extinguishing at once.
Sure enough, Xiao Wu seized the chance and lunged forward, her long legs swinging up to wrap around Fatty—
—but Oscar didn't give her the chance. He fired, sending her flying directly toward Zhao Wuji's direction.
While Xiao Wu was still midair, Aos Xin heard Tang San's furious shout. His body trembled slightly—how could he have forgotten that Xiao Wu was Tang San's reverse scale?
"Oscar, brother… I swear I didn't mean to set you up. I just thought since you and Fatty have been fighting in pairs for so long, your coordination would be the best.
Let's just hope Tang San doesn't hold it against us, since Xiao Wu wasn't actually hurt… otherwise, that protective Clear Sky Douluo of his is someone we really can't afford to offend."
Watching Tang San catch Xiao Wu midair, Aos Xin prayed silently in his heart: If I'd realized that earlier, I'd have just taken out Zhu Zhuqing instead. Xiao Wu could've been stalled slowly—we'd have won eventually.
At that moment, Dai Mubai took advantage of Zhu Zhuqing's distraction after Xiao Wu's elimination. Using his defense, he grabbed Zhu Zhuqing's wrist directly.
Aos Xin couldn't help but be impressed. "As expected of you, Boss Dai—still find time to hold hands in the middle of a fight, huh?"
But despite his wandering thoughts, Aos Xin didn't slow down. He fired another shot, sending Zhu Zhuqing flying toward Zhao Wuji.
Since Zhu Zhuqing was already injured, even though Aos Xin had adjusted the power, the blast still made her cough up blood midair before falling unconscious.
Fortunately, Zhao Wuji had been prepared and caught her in time, preventing Dai Mubai from rushing over anxiously.
With that, the combat assessment was completely over.
Although the freshman team of four lost the battle, they still passed the assessment.
However, aside from the unconscious Zhu Zhuqing, the remaining three all looked rather unpleasant.
Ning Rongrong was simply angry—furious that those guys had dared to attack her so ruthlessly right from the start, completely disregarding her identity.
Still, she was in her "disguised" phase, so she wouldn't reveal her true witch-like nature just yet.
Besides, she was also curious about the combat tools the seniors had used—what exactly were they? How could they allow food-type soul masters like Oscar and Aos Xin to possess such powerful combat abilities?
The others just assumed she was upset because she'd been eliminated too quickly.
As for Tang San, the unpleasant expression on his face wasn't because Oscar had attacked Xiao Wu.
When he caught Xiao Wu, Tang San had already realized that Oscar had held back.
Though the same kind of weapon was used, the one fired at Xiao Wu was clearly a different mode from the one fired at him. Tang San had simply been too anxious and lost his composure.
The one aimed at Xiao Wu was likely just to knock her away, causing only minor chest impact and discomfort—not any real harm.
But the two shots he himself took contained genuine killing intent.
Had Zhao Wuji not intervened, with the little soul power he had left, he wouldn't have been able to block them. Those attacks could have seriously injured—or even killed—him.
Tang San thought this was understandable, though. When he was eliminated, the battle had been fierce.
With the teacher nearby ensuring safety, it was normal for the seniors not to hold back. If he were in their position, he would have done the same.
What truly darkened Tang San's expression was the realization that the methods of battle on the Douluo Continent were not limited to just Martial Souls.
This brand-new form of combat made him understand something—hidden weapons might not be as overwhelmingly powerful on this continent as he had imagined.
Perhaps the top-tier hidden weapons, like the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles or Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus, were still formidable, and perhaps hidden weapons held the advantage of not needing soul power—but in today's battle, they would have been utterly useless.
That meant he needed to change his thinking—he couldn't rely on hidden weapons as his only power beyond his Martial Soul.
He could use hidden weapons to supplement his combat strength, but he could never depend on them. His Martial Soul was the true foundation.
As for learning to make and use such weapons here at Shrek Academy, Tang San never even considered it.
His teacher, the Grandmaster, had never mentioned this kind of fighting method, so Tang San naturally assumed that this technology was an exclusive, secret art of Shrek Academy.
In his mind, since it was a secret, Shrek Academy would never easily teach it—they'd likely require passing many trials first.
And if learning it required lifelong service to the academy, Tang San knew he would have no chance.
Because Tang San would always be a disciple of the Tang Sect. Rebuilding the Tang Sect on this continent was his lifelong dream.
Aside from those deeper reasons, another reason for Tang San's dark expression was that he had failed to fulfill the duty of a control-type soul master.
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