Chapter 44: The Playstyle with the Highest Traffic; No Weaklings Among the Top Seven
The dust slowly settled.
Lin Xuan lightly shook his hand, and the last trace of black-red lightning on his fist quietly vanished.
He calmly looked at the fallen Wang Dong in the distance and slowly withdrew his fist.
The entire field was deathly silent.
After a long while, the students whose blood had been boiling gradually calmed down, their faces filled with boredom.
They thought there would be some hot-blooded plot of the underdog overcoming the favorite. And this was it?
What a waste of emotion.
"He... he actually lost?" The smile on Zhou Yi's face completely froze, eventually turning into a look of unbelievable shock.
Teacher Mu Jin heavily exhaled the breath she had been holding for a long time. She looked at Zhou Yi with a winner's smile on her face.
"Lin Xuan won. I'll be waiting for your Soul Bone. Also, I hope that after tomorrow, I will never see you at Shrek Academy again."
Zhou Yi didn't seem to hear Teacher's words, still muttering under her breath.
"To actually lose..."
"Heh, I really don't understand why you thought Wang Dong would win against Lin Xuan."
Du Weiren walked over and glanced at the dazed Zhou Yi. He was in a great mood; as the dean of students, he hadn't forgotten how much trouble Zhou Yi had caused him over the years.
Now that Zhou Yi had lost the bet, as long as she handed in her resignation, if it took him more than a second to sign it, it would be because his hand speed was too slow.
He looked at the indifferent Lin Xuan in the center of the field and continued,
"From beginning to end, Wang Dong didn't have even the slightest chance of winning. If Lin Xuan really wanted to defeat Wang Dong quickly, he had at least nine ways to do so within a minute."
"So what if Wang Dong can fly? Did you really forget that Lin Xuan can bestow Shikigami abilities upon himself? Even without aerial combat, he could have defeated Wang Dong before he even took flight."
"Even at the last moment, he could have used his second Soul skills to perform Teleportation to dodge. He didn't even need to use any of the above methods; he could have just slipped into the shadows and waited for that Shikigami in the sky to defeat Wang Dong."
Listening to Du Weiren's words, the surrounding Teachers finally came to their senses. That's right, in the end, Wang Dong was only a Great Soul Master. How could he possibly defeat Lin Xuan, who was capable of fighting above his level?
The reason why they, and even all the students, thought Wang Dong had a chance to defeat Lin Xuan was simply because they were shocked by the Clear Sky Hammer and the Twin Martial Souls.
"Since Lin Xuan could have defeated Wang Dong quickly, why did he drag it out until now?" The class Teacher of Freshman Class Ten raised a question.
"Perhaps to temper himself. After all, in the entire Outer Academy, there are no other students who can make him even slightly serious."
Du Weiren shook his head. There was one sentence he didn't say: in his view, Lin Xuan was intentionally giving Wang Dong hope, only to then ruthlessly crush it.
"Adding insult to injury? This kid is truly terrifying..."
The truth was exactly as Du Weiren thought. Lin Xuan's move was indeed intended to crush the soul after killing the person. Since he was free anyway, playing with Wang Dong wasn't bad.
If it were a best-of-five format, he would definitely win the first round, let the opponent win two rounds to give them hope, win the fourth round by a hair's breadth, and then finally turn up the heat to utterly crush them in the end.
The playstyle with the highest traffic—anyone who uses it says it's good.
The Proctor was stunned for a moment before coming back to his senses from the match of twists and turns, and then loudly announced the result.
"Freshman Class Nine, Lin Xuan's Team wins!"
The battle ended, and Dugu Qing was the first to rush over from the edge of the Soul Dueling Platform, patting his chest with lingering fear.
"Lin Xuan, you scared me to death just now! I really thought you were going to mess up. That hammer looked way too terrifying..."
Hearing this, Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow and feigned a look of heartbreak.
"As my teammates, you don't even have this much trust in me? Sigh, in that case, for the upcoming quarter-finals, you two go ahead. I won't make a move."
"Don't, Brother Lin!" Dugu Qing immediately chickened out and quickly compensated with a smile.
"How could that be! I, Dugu Qing, am your most steadfast supporter! That was just 'concern leading to confusion,' do you understand? If our team doesn't have you presiding over it, can it even be called a team?"
Watching the two of them joke around, Wu Feng, who was on the side, did not step forward immediately.
She stood in place, her gaze falling on Lin Xuan's profile, her eyes filled with complexity.
A control so powerful it was suffocating, a combat judgment so calm it was almost cold, as if everything was within his grasp... such a member of the opposite sex was indeed excessively dazzling.
Yet toward companions he recognized, he showed another face—playful, joking, gentle, and tolerant.
Powerful yet gentle, composed yet reliable... it seemed impossible to find traits more heart-stirring than these.
Could it be that what Ning Tian said was actually right...?
"Wu Feng?" Lin Xuan's voice interrupted her thoughts.
She suddenly snapped back to reality, only to find that Lin Xuan and Dugu Qing had stopped talking and were looking at her.
"What are you dazing off for?" Lin Xuan smiled and pointed at Dugu Qing. "I've agreed with this kid; you two will take the next match. No problem, right?"
Wu Feng looked into his clear, smiling eyes and couldn't help but be dazed for a moment.
She quickly gathered her thoughts and nodded vigorously, the corners of her lips unconsciously curling into an arc that was much softer than usual.
"Mm, no problem."
This rare, gentle smile made Lin Xuan startle slightly, and he couldn't help but mutter in his heart.
Strange, why did this tsundere girl change her personality today? Could it be that there's been some progress between her and Ning Tian?
The morning passed, and the Round of 16 eliminations had ended. The heavyweight quarter-finals would take place in the afternoon.
It had to be said that Dugu Qing had a certain amount of luck. In the morning, Lin Xuan had just said he wouldn't act in the quarter-finals, and in the afternoon, their team accurately drew a team from the remaining seven that seemed completely out of place with the name 'Top Eight.'
One couldn't say that team wasn't strong; the three-person team consisted of two Great Soul Masters and one one-ring Soul Master.
The captain was named Yu Shui, his Martial Soul was a Top, and his Soul Power was Rank 23, which was considered decent in the Outer Academy.
But it could only be said that they were indeed lucky. They basically hadn't encountered any strong teams along the way. The only team they met that could be called strong had somehow suffered an upset and lost for some unknown reason.
Regarding this, the Outer Academy students summarized this quarter-final round with four sentences.
Xie Huanyues Team against the number one seed of Freshman Class Six in a clash of the titans.
The hope of Freshman Class Eight showed amazing resilience and contributed a brilliant match against Dai Huabin's team.
Ning Tian's team had a bad start; Nangong Yuner made frequent blunders, the three fell into a bitter struggle, the three struggled on the verge of death, and then Ning Tian's team gave their victory speech.
Lin Xuan's team kicked a stray dog on the side of the road to death.
In summary: No weaklings among the Top seven.
In the morning, when the morning sun had completely risen from the horizon, the four teams that successfully advanced to the semi-finals had all arrived at the Assessment Area.
They were Lin Xuan's team, Ning Tian's team, Dai Huabin's team, and Xie Huanyue's team.
The surrounding walls were already crowded with Outer Academy students. Some freshman class Teachers had even specially given their students a day off to observe this clash of the titans and personally feel the collision between Top-tier freshmen.
The drawing ceremony was about to begin.
However, when a middle-aged man dressed in a pure white robe with an elegant and calm aura slowly walked into the center of the field, the originally noisy scene instantly quieted down significantly.
Many upperclassmen had already recognized the newcomer, their eyes showing a light of intertwined shock and reverence.
"Good morning, students." The middle-aged man's voice was peaceful. "I am Yan Shaozhe, the Dean of the Martial Soul Department of Shrek Academy. I will be presiding over the drawing for today's semi-finals."
Hearing this, the students below first let out a low gasp of surprise, which quickly turned into a silence of profound respect.
The Dean of the Martial Soul Department was a major figure standing at the pinnacle of Shrek Academy and the entire Douluo Continent. Usually, he was seen as often as a divine dragon's head but not its tail. Now, he had actually come in person for the freshman assessment, which showed the importance the academy placed on this competition.
Yan Shaozhe's gaze warmly swept across the field as he continued,
"The freshman assessment is a touchstone to test your talent, perseverance, and teamwork... Regardless of today's outcome, you have already proven your excellence..."
After a simple speech, he said no more and raised his hand to signal.
"Now, please have the captains of the four teams come onto the stage to draw lots and decide the semi-final matchups."
Lin Xuan, Ning Tian, Xie Huanyue, and Dai Huabin stepped forward as instructed and came before Yan Shaozhe.
Yan Shaozhe's gaze swept over the four of them, finally pausing with deep meaning on Lin Xuan, a gentle smile appearing on his face.
"Student Lin Xuan, let's start with you."
Lin Xuan's expression was calm as he gave a slight nod of acknowledgment and took a step forward.
On the table beside Yan Shaozhe sat an opaque box. Lin Xuan reached inside, his fingertips touching four cold, smooth spheres, and he randomly picked one out.
He lightly twisted it open. Inside was a neatly folded slip of paper, which, when unfolded, had two words written on it.
Number One.
"There are four balls in the box, but only two numbers: Number One and Number Two."
Yan Shaozhe timely explained to the entire field, "Teams that draw the same number will be opponents in the semi-finals. The winners will advance to the finals."
Next was Ning Tian.
She stepped forward with light steps and drew the second ball.
Opening the slip of paper, it was Number Two.
Seeing this result, Ning Tian walked back to her original position, gave a slight smile to Lin Xuan beside her, and then spoke softly in a voice only the two of them could hear.
"If both of our teams can win the semi-finals and meet in the finals... we will take the initiative to concede."
"After all, we already had our match on the first day of school."
Hearing this, Lin Xuan returned a smile and likewise responded in a low voice, "Then I'll congratulate you in advance for advancing to the finals."
During their brief exchange, the other two had also finished drawing lots.
Dai Huabin drew Number One, and Xie Huanyue drew Number Two.
With this, the semi-final matchups were settled.
First Match: Lin Xuan's Team VS Dai Huabin's Team.
Second Match: Ning Tian's Team VS Xie Huanyue's Team.
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