So it was these three.
Xu Zihuang's gaze narrowed slightly, finally settling on the figure standing at the back—Cao Jinxuan.
According to the events of the original story, these three had made it into the semifinals.
To stand out among so many freshmen and reach that stage, even without the presence of a three-ring Soul Elder, their strength was by no means weak.
The reason Zhou Sichen, Cao Jinxuan, and Long Xiangyue had been able to cut their way through was entirely due to their unusual and powerful martial souls.
"Begin the match." At the examiner's announcement, both sides immediately released their martial souls.
From the trio of Class Ten, the first to act was not the assault-type Zhou Sichen, nor the agility-type Long Xiangyue, but the control-type Cao Jinxuan.
Once his martial soul was released, his eyes grew vacant, his entire body emitting a distorted aura. Even viewed up close, his figure appeared blurred.
It felt very similar to the sense Xu Zihuang gave others when he used his third soul skill, Temporal Chaos.
Above Cao Jinxuan's head, a delicate clock appeared silently.
Its form was like an archway—rounded above, squared below. The white clock body was about half a meter tall, its circular dial clear within. Below hung a pendulum engraved with golden patterns, swaying lightly. When the clock appeared, the two century rings around Cao Jinxuan seemed to take it as part of his body, pulsing up and down along with it.
This was his martial soul: the Flowing Time Clock. In terms of rarity, it was hardly inferior to a body martial soul.
Almost the moment he released his martial soul, his second ring shone with dazzling yellow light. Distorted radiance fell directly upon Xu Zihuang.
Second soul skill of the Flowing Time Clock: Time Lock.
Generally speaking, in team battles, the role of the control-type soul master was indeed to create opportunities for teammates.
But if the opposing control-type had a clear advantage in cultivation or attribute restraint, it was rare for the weaker side to take the initiative.
Because that easily left them open to counter-control, losing initiative and potentially collapsing the situation in an instant.
Just like Cao Jinxuan now, facing Xu Zihuang.
Still, the three of them were betting on the uniqueness of Cao Jinxuan's time-attribute skill.
Though Zhou Sichen was their captain, the strongest overall ability belonged to Cao Jinxuan, their main controller.
His strange Flowing Time Clock martial soul—time-attribute skills—were not so easily broken free of.
He had tested before: even an opponent one ring above him would still be bound for two full seconds under his Time Lock.
That was their confidence.
"Si Chen! Xiangyue!" Yet when he truly cast the skill on Xu Zihuang, he realized just how naïve their plan had been. His face turned pale, and he cried out sharply.
His eyes toward Xu Zihuang brimmed with terror.
"Not a Soul Elder? Why does his pressure feel heavier than a Soul Ancestor's?"
His pallor came from the soul power drain—far heavier than expected. By his estimate, his Time Lock might not even last a single second on Xu Zihuang.
At his shout, Zhou Sichen and Long Xiangyue's expressions changed. Having grown up and trained together, the three knew each other inside out.
They hurried to unleash their martial souls at full speed.
The assault-type Zhou Sichen summoned a surge of white light that condensed into a book in his hand. Both his yellow rings flared as the pages opened, releasing two beams of light in succession.
In front of him, they solidified.
This was his special tool martial soul, the Compendium.
Normally, book-type martial souls were useless, rarely cultivable. But Zhou Sichen was an exception. His Compendium had given him innate rank-7 soul power, and when reaching bottlenecks, it let him directly absorb the abilities of soul rings from beasts he slew—without attribute limits. Any beast's skill could be taken and used. One moment it might be ice, the next fire.
A very peculiar tool martial soul.
Now, the two skills he released formed into a glowing yellow bear and a flame-wreathed tiger.
The bear and tiger charged toward Xu Zihuang with earth-shaking roars.
Meanwhile, Long Xiangyue summoned a massive boomerang, each arm nearly a foot long. In the hands of a boy barely twelve, it looked unwieldy.
After a brief pause, he spun his body sharply, hurling it out. As it flew, both his soul rings lit up.
Like Zhou Sichen's bear and tiger, the boomerang shot straight at Xu Zihuang.
For Xu Zihuang's team, this was the first true test of cooperation. Seeing him besieged, Tuoba Yu and Nanmen Yuner, charging ahead with their martial souls released, instinctively faltered.
Their opponents' intent was obvious: strike together to take down Yu Tianhuang.
But next, Xu Zihuang perfectly embodied the essence of a control-type soul master.
A strong golden radiance wrapped around him. For an instant, all around seemed frozen. In his open right hand, blazing golden soul power surged—then clenched shut. His rigid body moved again, regaining full control.
By contrast, Cao Jinxuan, whose soul skill had just been forcibly broken, bled from his nose and mouth, his eyes unfocused.
"So it really is a time-attribute soul skill." Xu Zihuang looked thoughtfully at his right hand, savoring that familiar sensation.
But the gap between Cao Jinxuan's second soul skill and his own third, Temporal Chaos, was vast. Cao Jinxuan's could only bind a single target, while his could control the very flow of time within a domain.
Raising his head calmly, Xu Zihuang unleashed his second soul skill once more—Mirror of Ruin—shocking everyone present.
Dark red ripples spread across the arena. The earth-colored giant bear, the flaming tiger, and the boomerang glowing with soul power were suddenly encased in crystalline dark red.
"Group control?!" The outer court teachers in the stands cried out in surprise.
Such abilities were ones even many control-type soul masters above rank 50 struggled to obtain.
Yet after Xu Zihuang's dazzling performance yesterday, though surprised, the teachers found it almost natural.
How could a genius of this level be judged by ordinary standards?
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