The final assessment at Shrek Academy tests a soul master's combat abilities.
Originally, the final examiner was supposed to be Dai Mubai.
He was prepared to have a good sparring match with Ning Tianchen. However, Zhao Wuji suddenly felt restless and personally came to test the group.
Ning Tianchen sighed inwardly, "As expected, my arrival hasn't caused any major deviations from the original timeline."
No surprise, Zhao Wuji is going to get thoroughly beaten by Tang Hao tonight.
But now, Tang San no longer has his Dragon Whisker Needles, and with just the throwing weapons in his hand, it's hard for him to pose any real threat to Zhao Wuji.
"My name is Zhao Wuji. All five of you have soul power levels above 25, very good. Now, I'll be your opponent."
As he spoke, a stick of incense suddenly appeared in his hand. With a flick, the top of the incense ignited spontaneously without flame. "You have the time it takes for this incense to burn to discuss your strategy. When time's up, you must hold out against me for the duration of this incense."
Dai Mubai wanted to say something but was immediately silenced by Zhao Wuji's glare.
Helpless, Dai Mubai turned his gaze to the five members of Ning Tianchen's group.
"Five against one, advantage is mine. No matter if he's a teacher, there's nothing to fear," Xiao Wu declared confidently.
Back at Nottingham Academy, she and Tang San had plenty of sparring sessions with their teachers.
The teachers at Nottingham weren't a match for them one-on-one, let alone now when it's five against one.
With that mindset, Xiao Wu didn't think Zhao Wuji was that formidable, especially since he was even younger than Li Yusong standing at the gate.
"If you think that way, then you're in for some bad luck," Dai Mubai sighed. "Teacher Zhao has soul saint level strength, second only to the academy principal."
"Soul Saint!" The group exclaimed in shock.
Ning Tianchen smiled calmly. "As long as he doesn't activate his Martial Soul Avatar, we should be able to hold out for the duration of the incense."
"How so?" Dai Mubai asked curiously.
Ning Tianchen lowered his voice and explained, "I noticed that Teacher Zhao has short legs and a stocky build—he's likely a power-type soul master. The only real weakness of such soul masters is their lack of speed."
Dai Mubai shook his head in disagreement. "That won't help. Teacher Zhao may be slow, but his defense and attack power are extremely high. Your attacks won't be able to break through his defenses."
"Also, the arena is only so big. If Teacher Zhao uses an area-of-effect soul skill, all of you could be taken out at once."
Tang San said in a serious tone, "We should be able to last one incense stick's time. His speed weakness might be something we can use to our advantage."
Ning Tianchen nodded with a smile. "Exactly. As long as one of us remains in the arena, the test should count as passed. Is anyone among us a speed-type soul master?"
The usually quiet Zhu Zhuqing spoke up at that moment. "Zhu Zhuqing, level 27 agility-attack type battle soul master."
Ning Tianchen nodded. "Let's all introduce ourselves. This is a team battle—we need to understand each other's strengths."
After a round of self-introductions—
Just as Tang San was about to lay out his strategy, Ning Tianchen beat him to it. "Among us, we have two power-attack type soul masters, one control type, one support type, and one agility-attack type. That already makes us a well-balanced team."
"Tang San, you focus on controlling Teacher Zhao. I'll be the primary attacker. Xiao Wu, support from the side. Rongrong, provide buffs. As for Zhu Zhuqing, you have only one task—no matter how intense the fight gets, do not join the fray. If anyone is injured, use your speed to pull them out of the battle zone."
"Whether we can hold out for one incense stick's time depends on you."
With Zhu Zhuqing's speed, Zhao Wuji wouldn't be able to catch her. As long as the rest of them could hold Zhao Wuji off and prevent him from touching Zhu Zhuqing, they had a chance.
Ning Tianchen's arrangement clearly placed Zhu Zhuqing in the safest position.
Dai Mubai gave him a grateful look. "Good brother, once you all join the academy, dinner's on me."
"Like I'd eat anything from that pervy tiger Dai Mubai!" Ning Rongrong muttered inwardly.
But under the current circumstances, she knew better than to offend Dai Mubai outright.
At that moment, Tang San felt a bit conflicted.
His original strategy was a full-force assault—overwhelm the enemy with sheer chaos. But Ning Tianchen's approach clearly involved some clever maneuvering.
Moreover, being someone who had lived two lifetimes, it was difficult for him to accept taking orders from a twelve-year-old. It left him feeling uneasy.
Still, after a moment's thought, he decided not to voice any objections. Right now, unity was more important.
...
The time of one incense stick passed quietly.
"Have you finished your discussion?" Zhao Wuji stepped into the open area and pointed at the surrounding buildings with his right hand. "The open ground is the arena. Step out of it, and you're disqualified."
"Let me see what you're made of in one incense stick's time."
With that, he tossed another stick of incense onto the ground nearby.
"Stick to the plan," Ning Tianchen instructed.
The five immediately spread out into a formation resembling the character "甲" (a T-shape or shield-like formation).
Ning Rongrong stood at the edge of the open ground—as a support-type soul master, she had little to no self-defense capabilities.
If Zhao Wuji were to target her, positioned as she was at the edge of the arena, she could simply step out of bounds and avoid any physical harm.
"What? Still not making a move? Are you really going to wait for me to go first?" Zhao Wuji chuckled, rubbing his fists together.
"Now!"
"Seven Treasures Glazed Turn to Glass—First Treasure: Power!"
A multicolored light radiated from Ning Rongrong and merged into Ning Tianchen's body, increasing his strength by thirty percent.
He infused soul power into the Seven Kill Sword, and with a downward slash, a fierce sword aura tore through the air, surging directly toward Zhao Wuji.
"Good kid! As expected of the Seven Kill Sword Martial Soul—the attack power is truly formidable!"
"First Soul Skill: Indestructible Vajra Body!"
Zhao Wuji crossed his arms in front of his chest, and in an instant, a brilliant golden light burst out from him.
The sword aura struck his body, but instead of causing any damage, it rebounded directly toward Ning Tianchen.
"Watch out! First Soul Skill: Bind!" Tang San shouted.
Even he admitted he would have struggled to withstand that sword aura just now—yet Zhao Wuji had effortlessly neutralized it.
From beneath the ground, countless Blue Silver Grass vines erupted, aiming to disrupt Zhao Wuji's defensive state through sheer entanglement.
However, the vines wrapped around Zhao Wuji's limbs were easily torn apart under his immense strength.
"My sword aura won't harm me," Ning Tianchen said calmly.
He pointed the Seven Kill Sword forward. Just before the rebounded sword aura struck, it was effortlessly absorbed back into the blade.
"First Soul Skill — Azure Dragon Break!"
Two slashes of sword energy transformed into a pair of azure dragons, roaring as they shot toward Zhao Wuji.
At the same time, Xiao Wu had already moved to Zhao Wuji's flank. If he continued to defend passively, Xiao Wu's first soul skill could forcibly launch him into the air.
In that case, there was a high chance he'd be thrown out of the arena.
"Second Soul Skill — Mighty Vajra Palm!"
Zhao Wuji thrust out both palms, sending forth two earthen-yellow palm imprints.
The Azure Dragon Break was instantly obliterated, but the palm imprints didn't lose momentum and continued surging toward the group.
Tang San quickly summoned Blue Silver Grass, weaving a wall of vines in front of everyone.
With Ning Rongrong's enhancement, his strength had increased. Using the Controlling Crane Catching Dragon technique, he forcibly pulled Xiao Wu out of Zhao Wuji's attack range.
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