Chapter 144: An Easy Victory
Their points were so perfectly reasonable that Furina actually found herself unable to come up with a counterargument. She rubbed her nose, a little sheepishly.
A sudden idea struck her, and she waved her hand breezily. "Alright, alright. How about this—I'll give you a chance. Three minutes. If you can break through my defense within three minutes—even if it's just snapping a single strand of my hair—I'll count it as your win. For the entire duration, I won't retaliate in the slightest. I swear it on my martial soul. If you truly manage it, I'll concede immediately. What do you say?"
The three of them perked up instantly, their eyes lighting up. Was there such a good deal? Just breaking through her defense, not actually defeating her—and she wouldn't even fight back! It seemed her support-type soul skills must lean heavily toward defense. This proposal... Perhaps it was worth a try?
Furina, of course, hadn't made this suggestion purely for amusement. She also wanted to seize the opportunity to conduct a live-combat test of just how effective the defensive capabilities of her fifth soul skill, Nut Cake, truly were. She wanted to see if she could obtain even one percent of that certain Geo Archon's "sense of security."
Tang Le asked, half-doubting, half-believing: "Fer real?"
Furina patted her modest but perky chest and declared with absolute conviction: "Absolutely for real! Now hurry up and stop repeating yourself."
Tang Le let out a mischievous chuckle and cracked his knuckles eagerly.
The more meticulous Jiang Xueqing pursued the matter: "Then say it one more time: 'A fair maiden does not deceive a fair maiden.'"
Furina played along perfectly, her smile radiant as she repeated: "No problem at all—a fair maiden most certainly does not deceive a fair maiden!"
"Alright, enough idle chatter. Show me your soul rings and martial souls. I can hardly wait!" Furina's tone was light and airy. At the same time, she willed her fifth soul ring to blaze brilliantly.
She cleared her throat and called out that line she had rehearsed in her heart so many times, carrying a certain ceremonial gravitas: "As steadfast as stone!"
The instant the words left her lips, a uniquely shaped cake, suffused with a faint aroma of nuts and a golden halo of light, materialized in her hand. Gracefully and swiftly, she consumed it.
At precisely this moment, the opposing trio finally released their martial souls as well. Uniformly, they bore the optimal two-yellow soul ring configuration, marking them all as two-ring Soul Grandmasters.
In Jiang Xueqing's hand appeared a longsword martial soul, its entire length gleaming silver and flowing with cold light, its aura keen-edged and piercing—she was clearly an agility-type. Tang Le's body became enveloped in a faint, pale-golden phantom image of scaled armor, his frame faintly expanding as he emanated a weighty, forceful presence. His martial soul was the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon, excelling in defense and power—an assault-type. As for the petite Bai Xiu, a pristine, flawless white lotus, its petals crystalline and translucent, materialized upon her palm, radiating a gentle aura of life. She was the support-type soul master of the trio.
As Bai Xiu's two yellow soul rings lit up in sequence, gentle white radiance fell upon Jiang Xueqing and Tang Le respectively, bestowing upon them enhanced soul power recovery and amplified attack power.
On Furina's side, the very moment she swallowed the Nut Cake, an extraordinarily condensed, solid spherical barrier—gleaming with a pale-golden luster—instantly took shape, enveloping her in a full three-hundred-sixty-degree, dead-angle-free shield. The light of the barrier was restrained and inwardly gathered, yet it projected an impression of unshakable, indestructible solidity.
Down below the stage, Teacher Wang Yan had his eyes wide open, observing every detail on the field with rapt attention. He was eager to witness for himself just what supernatural wonders this fifth soul skill of Furina's—which she displayed such confidence in—truly possessed. At the same time, he was also watching how Jiang Xueqing's trio would respond when faced with such an enormous disparity in strength.
Their luck in running into Furina was, admittedly, at rock bottom. However, adversity could sometimes ignite hidden potential. Of course, he also understood that unless some miracle—like a martial soul fusion technique—occurred, their hopes were exceedingly slim.
Furina spread her arms wide, adopting a posture of complete openness, even tinged with a hint of provocation: "Come on, then! Attack me all you want!"
"I've never heard such a bizarre request!" Tang Le muttered in disbelief. Before his words fully landed, both of his soul rings blazed simultaneously, and with a low roar, he charged at Furina like a miniature war chariot, his momentum ferocious and intimidating.
Jiang Xueqing's movements were lighter and swifter. With a flick of her wrist, her silver longsword traced several sword blossoms. Under the infusion of soul power, the blade hummed softly as she thrust swiftly from the opposite flank, forming a clever two-pronged pincer attack with Tang Le.
The two clearly held nothing back. The moment they struck, they deployed all their soul skills, pushing their soul power to the absolute limit. Their sole objective: shatter that barrier in a single strike!
However, two minutes later...
The scene on the field had turned somewhat "comical." Tang Le was panting heavily; his fists slammed against the barrier, producing only muffled thuds, and his scaled armor had grown noticeably dimmer. Jiang Xueqing's sword momentum had exhausted itself, sweat beading on her brow. Yet that golden barrier remained utterly immobile—not even the faintest, tiniest crack had appeared.
Bai Xiu, for her part, had long since ceased her support; her small face was pale. Her soul power had been entirely drained through her sustained supporting efforts.
Tang Le was the first to deflate. He plopped down onto the ground, waving his hands repeatedly. "I give up, I give up... We can't break through this no matter what! This thing's tougher than the shell of a thousand-year Plated Dragon Tortoise. What's the point in fighting this?!"
Furina placed her fists on her hips and raised her chin proudly. "Well, naturally! I am Furina, Pope of the Church of the Water God. My soul skills are naturally extraordinary." The barrier's defensive strength scaled in direct proportion to her own soul power—the higher her soul power, the mightier the defense. Three two-ring Soul Grandmasters, even assault-types, seeking to shake a top-tier defensive soul skill backed by the power of a rank 52 Soul King... they were truly insufficient for the task.
She shifted gears, her expression turning genial and warm as she extended an invitation: "By the way, would the three of you have any interest in joining my Church of the Water God? We're precisely in need of young, promising little geniuses like yourselves." Her tone all but screamed an advertising pitch.
Jiang Xueqing was slightly taken aback. "The Church of the Water God? I've heard of it... You really are the Pope? So young?"
Furina blinked, offering a mysterious smile. "Join, and you'll find out, won't you?"
Jiang Xueqing did not press further. She merely nodded thoughtfully. "Alright..." She then turned to the proctoring teacher and stated with full candor: "Teacher Wang, we concede."
Wang Yan had long since foreseen this outcome. Inwardly, he felt a touch of exasperation at Furina's blatant "smurfing," but dutifully raised his voice and declared:
"This match is concluded! Victor: Freshman Class One—Furina!"