The days in Spirit City passed at a blistering, almost dizzying pace as the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament proceeded through its intense elimination rounds. The atmosphere in the city was a cauldron of excitement, the air thick with the cheers of thousands of spectators, the clash of powerful spirit abilities, and the heavy, oppressive aura of the Spirit Hall that loomed over everything.
Through it all, the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy team proved themselves to be an unstoppable juggernaut. They were not just winning; they were entirely dominating the competition, crushing every opposing academy with a terrifying, almost casual efficiency. Teams that had fought tooth and nail to reach the finals were dismantled in mere minutes.
Zhang Tian, the supposed captain and the most feared individual in the tournament, rarely had to lift a single finger. His presence on the stage was merely a formality, a looming shadow of absolute despair for their opponents. He would simply stand at the back of the formation, his hands casually tucked into his pockets, watching with a calm, bored expression as his well-trained wives and teammates swept the floor with the competition.
Zhu Zhuqing's lethal, phantom-like speed, coupled with Ning Rongrong's overwhelming, rule-breaking amplification from the Nine Treasure Glaze Tile Pagoda, turned the battles into one-sided massacres. Dugu Yan's venomous control of the battlefield and the coordinated strikes of Yu Feng, Shi Mo, and the healing presence of Ye Lingling ensured that no opponent ever stood a chance. They were a perfectly oiled machine of destruction.
However, as the tournament rapidly reached the highly anticipated quarterfinals, Zhang Tian decided it was finally time to deal with a nagging issue that had been left unresolved for too long. He looked at the tournament brackets and decided it was time to address the Star Luo Imperial Academy.
In the dead of night, while the rest of the city slept, Zhang Tian left his luxurious hotel suite. He moved like a ghost through the heavily guarded streets of Spirit City, his mastery of stealth and his immense spirit power rendering him completely invisible to the patrolling Spirit Hall knights.
He bypassed the towering, obsidian walls of the Supreme Pontiff's Palace with ease, slipping silently into the grand, echoing halls. He moved with the familiarity of a master returning to his own domain, navigating the labyrinthine corridors until he reached the massive, ornate doors of Bibi Dong's private inner hall.
Inside, his willing slut eagerly awaited his commands.
The Supreme Pontiff, the woman who commanded the reverence of millions, was waiting for him not on her throne of gold and obsidian, but kneeling on the cold, polished stone floor. She wore only a sheer, gossamer robe that did absolutely nothing to hide her voluptuous, mature curves. As soon as Zhang Tian entered and the heavy doors clicked shut behind him, her glowing pink eyes lit up with a desperate, hungry devotion.
She didn't speak a word of politics or imperial decrees. She simply crawled toward him, her massive, heavy breasts swaying with every movement, her face flushing with a deep, intoxicating heat.
"Husband..." she whispered, her voice a husky, trembling mess of absolute submission. "You came back to me."
Zhang Tian didn't waste time with pleasantries. He grabbed the front of her sheer robe and ripped it open, exposing her naked, flawless body to the cool night air. The contrast between the holy, imposing architecture of the Supreme Pontiff's hall and the sheer depravity of what was about to occur was a drug to him.
He turned her around forcefully, pushing her down onto her hands and knees in the very center of the grand hall, right beneath the towering statues of the Angelic deities.
"Ah!" Bibi Dong gasped, her back arching beautifully as she presented her curvy, plump buttocks to him. Her pussy, already slick and weeping with her desperate need, was fully exposed.
Zhang Tian unfastened his trousers, his massive, rock-hard dick springing free. Without any warning or preparation, he gripped her narrow waist and thrust his hips forward, burying his thick length deep into her tight, wet core in one brutal, singular motion.
"Ahhhh! Yes! Husband, yes!" Bibi Dong shrieked, her voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings. Her fingernails scrabbled uselessly against the polished stone floor as his immense size completely filled her.
He fucked her like a dog right there in the hall of the Supreme Pontiff. The loud, sharp SMACK of his pelvis colliding with her rosy buttocks rang out like thunder. He showed no mercy, his stamina a terrifying force of nature as he pounded into her with relentless, piston-like thrusts. He reached forward, his large hands grabbing her heavy globes of flesh, squeezing and kneading her massive breasts roughly as he rode her from behind.
"You are nothing but my personal whore in this hall, Dong'er," he growled, slapping her right buttock hard enough to leave a bright red handprint.
"Yes! I am your whore! I am your slut!" she babbled incoherently, her mind melting into pure, white-hot ecstasy. Her identity as the most powerful woman on the continent was entirely erased, replaced by the primal, desperate need to please the man taking her from behind.
After a long, intense round of fucking that left the stone floor slick with their sweat and her copious love juices, Zhang Tian let out a feral roar, unleashing a torrential flood of his scalding hot seed deep into her womb.
Bibi Dong collapsed onto the floor, trembling violently, her inner walls spasming and milking his softening dick. She was completely submissive, her eyes rolled back, a continuous string of drool escaping her lips.
Zhang Tian withdrew, adjusting his clothing as he looked down at the ruined, panting Supreme Pontiff. He reached down and gently stroked her sweat-drenched pink hair, a gesture that made her nuzzle his hand affectionately like a loyal pet.
"Dong'er," he said, his voice returning to its calm, commanding tone. "I have a task for you."
"Anything, Husband," she breathed, her pink eyes looking up at him with utter devotion. "Whatever you desire."
"Tomorrow are the drawing lots for the quarterfinals," he said, his blue eyes narrowing slightly. "Ensure that my Heaven Dou Imperial Academy has a match against the Star Luo Imperial Academy. Manipulate the draw."
Bibi Dong, desperate to please her 'Husband' and terrified of losing his favor, didn't hesitate for a single second. "It will be done," she promised, her voice laced with absolute certainty. "I will handle the tournament officials personally. You will have your match."
The very next morning, the sun rose over the colossal arena of Spirit City, illuminating the tens of thousands of spectators who had gathered to witness the highly anticipated quarterfinal draws. The atmosphere was incredibly tense, the air buzzing with speculation.
When the Supreme Pontiff, flanked by her Platinum Bishops, stood upon the high balcony and announced the results of the seemingly 'random' drawing lots, the announcement sent absolute shockwaves through the colosseum.
"In the first match of the quarterfinals," Bibi Dong's magically amplified voice echoed across the stadium, her face a mask of perfect, icy neutrality that hid the sore, well-fucked state of her body. "The Heaven Dou Imperial Academy will face... the Star Luo Imperial Academy!"
The crowd roared in a mixture of disbelief and sheer anticipation. It was the clash of the titans. The undefeated, terrifyingly dominant Heaven Dou Empire's team was matched against the absolute pride and martial peak of the Star Luo Empire. It was a proxy war between the two great nations, fought on the stage of Spirit City.
In the waiting area reserved for the Star Luo Imperial Academy, the atmosphere was grim. Dai Weisi, the captain, stood with his arms crossed, his handsome face marred by a deep scowl. Beside him stood Zhu Zhuyun, the vice-captain, her massive, curvaceous body clad in a tight, form-fitting black leather outfit that left very little to the imagination.
They had watched the Heaven Dou team fight. They were not fools. They knew that fighting individual one-on-one battles against this dominating team—especially against the monster known as Zhang Tian—would be entirely impossible to win. Their individual strengths, while formidable, were simply eclipsed by the sheer, overwhelming power displayed by Zhu Zhuqing and the others.
"We cannot win a war of attrition," Dai Weisi said, his voice tight with frustration. "That support spirit master from the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect makes them practically invincible in drawn-out combat."
"Then we don't draw it out," Zhu Zhuyun replied, her dark eyes flashing with a cold, ruthless light. Her massive breasts heaved slightly against the tight leather of her top. "We opt for the single, decisive Team Battle format."
Dai Weisi nodded slowly, his fists clenching. "Yes. We put all our hopes on a single strike. We will rely on our Martial Spirit Fusion. The Hell White Tiger. It is the only power we possess that can match the level of a Spirit Emperor. If we can crush their formation instantly with it, we might stand a chance."
The decision was made.
The atmosphere in the massive arena was absolutely electric. The cheering of the crowd was a deafening roar that vibrated the very stones of the colosseum as the referee, a high-ranking Spirit Hall official, called both teams to the massive, reinforced central stage for the quarterfinal match.
From the left tunnel, seven elite spirit masters of the Star Luo Imperial Academy marched onto the stage. Their faces were grim, hardened masks of determination. They moved with a military precision, led at the forefront by the imposing, blonde-haired Dai Weisi and the extremely curvaceous, deadly Zhu Zhuyun.
Opposite them, stepping out from the right tunnel, the seven spirit masters of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy casually strolled up the stairs. Their lineup included Zhang Tian, Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, Dugu Yan, Yu Feng, Shi Mo, and Ye Lingling. They did not look like soldiers marching to war; they looked like royalty arriving at a banquet they found mildly amusing.
The two teams faced each other across the vast expanse of the stage. The tension between them was palpable, sparking in the air like static electricity.
"Both teams, prepare yourselves!" the referee shouted, his arm raised high. "Release your martial spirits!"
Instantly, a dazzling array of lights and spirit rings erupted across the stage. Dai Weisi roared, his body expanding as the phantom of the White Tiger manifested behind him, four optimal spirit rings—two yellow, two purple—rising from his feet. Beside him, Zhu Zhuyun dropped into a low crouch, her Hell Civet spirit cloaking her in shadows, her own four optimal rings pulsing with power. The rest of their team followed suit, an impressive display of high-level Spirit Ancestors.
On the Heaven Dou side, Ning Rongrong summoned her dazzling Nine Treasure Glaze Tile Pagoda, her four rings spinning lazily. Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphor Dragon manifested, a toxic green mist beginning to swirl around her.
Zhu Zhuqing stepped forward, her dark eyes locked onto her sister. With a soft, chilling swish, her Hell Civet spirit possessed her. Her already incredible curves were accentuated, cat-like ears sprouting from her head and a slender tail swishing behind her. Her four spirit rings—two yellow, one purple, and one terrifying, pitch-black ten-thousand-year ring—rose from the floor, instantly crushing the pressure emitted by the entire Star Luo team.
However, as the referee signaled for the match to begin, Zhang Tian did something that completely baffled the audience and infuriated the opposing team.
He didn't summon his Blood Silver Emperor. He didn't even drop into a combat stance. He simply crossed his arms over his chest, let out a small, bored yawn, and took three deliberate steps backward, distancing himself from his own team's formation.
He was deciding that he wouldn't make a single move this time. He would let Zhu Zhuqing handle the trash from her homeland.
Dai Weisi, radiating the aggressive, tyrannical aura of a high-level Spirit Ancestor, saw Zhang Tian's dismissive action. His face, already twisted into a mask of arrogance, darkened with absolute fury. But his rage wasn't entirely directed at the man who was ignoring them; it was directed at the woman standing at the forefront of the Heaven Dou formation.
He glared across the stage at Zhu Zhuqing, his expression one of arrogant disgust.
"Zhu Zhuqing!" Dai Weisi spat, his voice amplified by his potent spirit power so that his arrogant reprimand echoed throughout the entire, silent arena. "You have truly brought shame upon us all!"
Zhu Zhuqing stood perfectly still, her sharp claws glinting in the sunlight, her expression unreadable.
Dai Weisi pointed an accusatory, trembling finger at her. "You are a disgrace to your bloodline! You have betrayed the sacred, ancient arrangements between the Imperial Family of Star Luo and your Zhu Duke Family! Arrangements that have stood for generations to maintain the power of our empire!"
He took a step forward, his chest puffed out with self-righteous indignation. "By running away like a coward and marrying this... this Zhang Tian, you abandoned your duty! You left that good-for-nothing, pathetic younger brother of mine, Dai Mubai, to rot!"
'Even though Dai Mubai is an absolute coward who fled first,' Dai Weisi thought to himself, his inner monologue a swirl of arrogant justification, 'betraying the Empire and marrying a complete outsider is an unforgivable crime. The bloodline of the Hell White Tiger must be preserved. She must pay the price for her insolence.'
"You should have accepted your fate!" Dai Weisi bellowed arrogantly, his voice cracking like a whip across the stage. "You should have stayed and fought for your survival in the family trials like a true noble! Now, I will personally break your bones, shatter your cultivation, and drag you back to the Star Luo Empire by your hair to face the Emperor's judgment!"
The crowd gasped at the sheer brutality of his threat. The air grew incredibly tense.
In response to his grandstanding, bombastic speech, Zhu Zhuqing wasn't the slightest bit scared. Her cold, flawlessly beautiful face remained perfectly impassive, like a pristine mask of jade. She didn't tremble, she didn't glare, she didn't even bother to manifest her spirit power in a show of intimidation.
Instead, she simply let out a soft, elegant snort of absolute, unadulterated disdain.
Her dark, feline eyes looked at Dai Weisi as if he were nothing more than a noisy, irrelevant insect buzzing around her boots.
'He speaks of the Star Luo Empire and the Emperor's judgment as if it holds any real weight in this world,' Zhu Zhuqing thought mockingly, a cold smile tugging at the very corner of her lips. 'He is a frog in a well, blind to the true heavens. My husband, the man he calls an outsider, has the Supreme Pontiff of the Spirit Hall dancing in the palm of his hand. Zhang Tian could probably destroy that entire, pathetic Star Luo Empire overnight if he simply put his mind to it.'
She didn't bother saying a single word to this arrogant, mindless man. She refused to dignify his petty, grandstanding insults with a response. He was beneath her notice.
Instead, her gaze drifted right past Dai Weisi's posturing form and fixed intently on the woman standing slightly behind him. Her dear elder sister, Zhu Zhuyun.
Zhu Zhuyun was a vision of mature, deadly beauty. Her massive, curvaceous body was clad tightly in black leather that strained against her impressive assets. Her expression was complex, a mixture of rivalry, familial duty, and a hidden layer of apprehension as she looked at the ten-thousand-year black spirit ring hovering around her younger sister.
'I should save her,' Zhu Zhuqing thought, feeling a rare, sudden pang of familial loyalty stirring within her cold heart. They had been raised to kill each other, to fight for survival, but looking at Zhuyun now, Zhuqing only saw a victim of a broken system. 'I should save my dear elder sister from being tied to this mindless, arrogant fool for the rest of her life. Dai Weisi will only drag her down into mediocrity and eventually, death.'
Suddenly, Zhu Zhuqing felt a familiar, heavy gaze from behind her.
She slightly turned her head, noticing from the corner of her eye that her husband, Zhang Tian, was no longer looking bored. He was standing with his arms crossed, but his deep blue eyes were staring directly, unblinkingly, at her elder sister across the stage. Specifically, he was staring with a distinct, undisguised look of dark, lecherous desire at Zhu Zhuyun's extremely curvaceous buttocks and her heavy, heaving breasts encased in the tight black leather.
Zhu Zhuqing almost rolled her eyes, a teasing, affectionate thought crossing her mind.
'My husband really is very bad... such an insatiable lecher,' she thought teasingly, though there was no real jealousy in her heart, only a fond amusement at his boundless appetite. 'It seems he has already planned to target my elder sister. He can never resist a beautiful woman, especially one from the Zhu family.'
As she analyzed the situation, Zhu Zhuqing took a moment to mentally compare herself to her older sister. Her husband's gaze was understandable; Zhu Zhuyun's curves could truly be compared to a fully mature, incredibly voluptuous woman. Her breasts were massive, her hips wide and inviting for childbirth. In terms of pure measurements, Zhuyun's curves were perhaps only a few millimeters smaller compared to Zhu Zhuqing's own astonishingly large assets—there was barely a difference in their sheer size.
A brilliant, incredibly devious plan formed in Zhu Zhuqing's sharp mind. She knew exactly how she could achieve both of her goals: she could save her sister from the tragic fate of the Star Luo Imperial family's succession wars, and simultaneously, she could please her beloved, lecherous husband by gifting him a brand new, highly prized toy.
'But for that to work, for her to willingly accept a new master and a new life,' Zhu Zhuqing resolved, her dark eyes narrowing into dangerous, predatory slits, 'I need to completely and utterly crush them in this fight first. I must shatter her pride, break the illusion of her power, and show her that the path she walks is a dead end.'
Her spirit power flared violently, a dark, shadowy aura erupting around her body that made the temperature on the stage drop several degrees. The pitch-black ten-thousand-year ring pulsed ominously.
Zhu Zhuqing dropped into a low, lethal combat stance, her claws extending fully, glinting with a cold, merciless light. She didn't look at Dai Weisi anymore. Her eyes were locked solely on Zhu Zhuyun.
"Enough talking," Zhu Zhuqing's voice finally rang out, chillingly calm and utterly devoid of emotion. "If you want to drag me back, Dai Weisi, then come and try. But be prepared to leave this stage on a stretcher."
The quarterfinal match of the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament had officially begun, and the arrogant prince of Star Luo had absolutely no idea that he was already a dead man walking, his bride already claimed by the silent, smiling man watching from the back of the stage.
"Match start!"
The referee's voice was a thunderclap that shattered the tense silence of the colosseum. He threw his arm down and immediately launched himself backward, diving off the elevated platform just as the stage erupted into a blinding, chaotic explosion of colorful spirit rings. The air pressure within the arena plummeted, instantly replaced by the suffocating, swirling auras of fourteen high-level Spirit Masters releasing their martial spirits simultaneously.
Ning Rongrong acted before the echo of the referee's voice even faded. Her Nine Treasure Glaze Tile Pagoda materialized in the center of her palm, a beacon woven from starlight and spun glass. It spun rapidly, casting kaleidoscopic reflections across the polished stone of the stage. Her fingers danced through intricate hand seals, her cyan eyes glowing with a tactical brilliance.
"Nine Treasures Famous, One is: Strength! Two is: Agility! Three is: Spirit Power! Four is: Defense!"
Her voice rang out like a melodic chime over the roar of the crowd. Brilliant, cascading beams of amplified light shot forth from the floating pagoda, carving through the air and sinking directly into the backs of her teammates. When the light struck Zhu Zhuqing, the Hell Civet spirit master's physical attributes skyrocketed to a terrifying degree. The sheer density of the buff made the air around Zhu Zhuqing shimmer, her muscles coiling with a kinetic potential that rivaled a compressed spring.
Across the stage, Dai Weisi's eyes narrowed into slits of pure malice. His Evil-Eyed White Tiger spirit roared behind him, casting a tyrannical shadow over his teammates.
"Do not let their support dictate the pace!" Dai Weisi barked, his voice dripping with aristocratic command. "Hongning! Li Yang! Flank them! Ying Wei, break their center! We save our strength for the real threats."
He sneered, his gaze drifting over Zhu Zhuqing and locking onto Zhang Tian, who was currently standing at the very back of the Heaven Dou formation with his hands casually tucked into his pockets. Dai Weisi's pride was a mountain of delusion; he firmly believed that he and Zhu Zhuyun did not need to waste their ultimate trump card, the Hell White Tiger, on a traitorous younger sister. They were saving their Martial Spirit Fusion solely for the man who was currently yawning.
The Star Luo Imperial Academy team moved with the precision of a seasoned military unit. Tang Hongning, possessing the Fierce Thunder Jackal spirit, dropped onto all fours. Yellow and purple rings flared around him. "First Spirit Ability: Thunder Jackal Dash!"
Crackling arcs of blue lightning wreathed his body. He became a blur of electricity, shooting toward the left flank of the Heaven Dou formation, aiming directly for Ning Rongrong.
Simultaneously, Li Yang, the Agility Attack system master with the Reflecting Mirror spirit, darted toward the right. "Second Spirit Ability: Mirror Image Step!" His form fractured into three identical, shimmering reflections, making it impossible to track his true trajectory.
"You think you can just walk past us?" Yu Feng scoffed from the Heaven Dou frontline. His Wind Bird spirit granted him a pair of spectral wings that flared wide. He ascended five meters into the air, his second spirit ring lighting up. "Second Spirit Ability: Wind Blade Array!"
Yu Feng flapped his wings violently, sending a tempest of crescent-shaped wind blades raining down upon Tang Hongning. The lightning-clad jackal was forced to halt his advance, his claws tearing up the stone as he zig-zagged desperately to avoid the localized hurricane. The wind blades gouged deep trenches into the arena floor, forcing the Star Luo flanker into a defensive retreat.
On the ground, Shi Mo stepped forward to meet the charging bulk of Ying Wei. The Swelling Buffalo spirit master was a juggernaut of muscle, his body expanding to twice its normal size as he activated his third spirit ring. "Third Spirit Ability: Buffalo Trample!" Ying Wei lowered his horned head, the ground shaking with every thudding footstep as he aimed to shatter the Heaven Dou vanguard.
Shi Mo remained an immovable fortress. His Black Tortoise spirit manifested as twin, massive shields strapped to his arms. He slammed them together, his purple third ring shining brightly. "Third Spirit Ability: Black Tortoise Shield Wall!"
A towering barricade of solid, black energy materialized in front of him. Ying Wei crashed into the shield wall with the force of a falling meteor. The collision produced a shockwave that rippled through the arena, but Shi Mo's boots merely slid back half a meter, leaving twin skid marks on the stone. The Black Tortoise defense, amplified by Ning Rongrong's pagoda, was an impenetrable cliff face against a raging sea.
Seeing her frontline holding perfectly, Dugu Yan stepped forward, her emerald eyes flashing with venomous delight. Her Jade Phosphor Dragon spirit coiled around her shoulders, its fangs dripping with ethereal poison.
"Let us see how long you can breathe my air," she hissed, a cruel smile painting her lips. Her purple third spirit ring expanded, pulsing with a sickly, amethyst glow. "Third Spirit Ability: Jade Phosphor Purple Poison!"
She exhaled a massive, billowing cloud of toxic purple mist. It rolled forward like a tide of death, expanding rapidly to blanket the center of the stage. The scent of bitter almonds and rotting sweetness filled the air, eating away at the ambient spirit power.
The five supporting members of the Star Luo team were forced to scatter, their tactical formation crumbling under the environmental hazard.
"Cleanse it! Now!" Dai Weisi shouted, covering his mouth as the outer edges of the mist singed his uniform.
Dong Hui and Yang Mingxin, the twin auxiliary masters of Star Luo, acted in unison. Their Benevolent Water spirits manifested as floating orbs of pure, glowing liquid. "Third Spirit Ability: Cleansing Tide!" they chanted together.
Twin waves of pristine water washed over the stage, crashing into the purple mist. The water hissed and boiled upon contact with the poison, creating a thick layer of obscuring steam. Li Yang, recovering from his flank, summoned a massive pane of glass in front of him. "Third Spirit Ability: Reflecting Mirror Wall!" He angled the mirror, attempting to bounce a concentrated stream of Dugu Yan's venom back toward the Heaven Dou backline.
Dugu Yan merely laughed. "My poison eats through metal and stone. A pane of glass is nothing but an appetizer!"
The acidic properties of the Jade Phosphor venom struck the mirror. Instead of reflecting, the glass hissed, spider-webbed with cracks, and dissolved into a puddle of toxic sludge, sending Li Yang scrambling backward to avoid the splash.
While the chaos of wind, water, and poison consumed the rest of the stage, the center remained a pocket of deadly stillness.
Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun stood side-by-side, their auras blending in a display of aggressive superiority. They glared through the dissipating steam at the solitary figure walking toward them.
Zhu Zhuqing's footfalls were entirely silent. Her Hell Civet spirit cloaked her in a shroud of shadow, accentuating her lethal, curvaceous figure. Her dark, feline eyes were locked onto her elder sister.
"You dare approach us alone?" Dai Weisi sneered, his arrogance a thick, suffocating blanket. He activated his first spirit ring, a glowing yellow halo. "First Spirit Ability: White Tiger Barrier!" A dome of golden, shimmering light enveloped him and Zhu Zhuyun, a shield designed to repel sudden assassinations.
"You are a fool, little sister," Zhu Zhuyun added, her voice a purr laced with hidden daggers. Her massive breasts heaved against her black leather outfit as she dropped into a predatory crouch. "You think finding a wealthy patron makes you a warrior? You have forgotten the brutal lessons of the Zhu family. First Spirit Ability: Hell Rush Stab!"
Zhu Zhuyun exploded forward, a streak of black lightning. Her right hand formed a spearhand, dark energy condensing at her fingertips. She aimed a lethal strike directly at Zhu Zhuqing's heart, intending to end the familial dispute in a single, bloody exchange.
Zhu Zhuqing did not flinch. Her expression remained a mask of flawless, chilling indifference. As the older sister's strike closed the distance, Zhu Zhuqing activated a self-created technique she had honed under Zhang Tian's rigorous tutelage.
"Silent Shadow Step."
Her form flickered. She didn't block the attack; she simply ceased to be in its path. Zhu Zhuyun's Hell Rush Stab pierced nothing but an afterimage, her momentum carrying her forward.
Before Zhu Zhuyun could recover her balance, a bone-chilling cold descended upon the stage. Zhu Zhuqing materialized directly beside her sister's exposed flank, her claws already humming with power.
"Second Spirit Ability: Hell Hundred Claws," Zhu Zhuqing murmured softly.
A relentless, blinding flurry of shadow-infused strikes rained down upon Zhu Zhuyun. But these were not normal shadow attacks. Zhu Zhuqing channeled the extreme ice attributes from her mutated Eight Spider Lances directly into her fingertips. Each slash carried the absolute zero chill of a frozen wasteland.
Zhu Zhuyun hastily raised her arms, her own shadows flaring to block the barrage. The claws collided with a screech of tearing metal. Zhu Zhuyun gasped, her dark eyes widening in genuine shock. The kinetic force of the blows was terrifying—amplified by Ning Rongrong's pagoda—but the temperature was even worse. Frost crept up Zhu Zhuyun's forearms with every parry, numbing her muscles and slowing her reflexes.
"Weisi! Attack!" Zhu Zhuyun shouted, leaping backward to put distance between herself and the freezing barrage.
Dai Weisi, realizing his fiancée was actually losing a physical exchange, roared in anger. His second spirit ring lit up. "Second Spirit Ability: White Tiger Light Wave!"
He opened his mouth, unleashing a blinding sphere of concentrated, golden spirit power. The projectile tore through the air, screaming toward Zhu Zhuqing with explosive intent.
Zhu Zhuqing pivoted on her heel, her movements a fluid dance of lethal grace. Instead of evading, she raised her left hand. The shadows around her fingers ignited, transforming into a swirling vortex of dark, consuming flames—the second elemental attribute she had mastered.
She slashed her hand horizontally. The dark fire met the golden light wave mid-air. The collision did not result in an explosion. Instead, the dark flames acted like a ravenous beast, swallowing the golden light, devouring its kinetic energy until the attack simply fizzled out into a cloud of harmless, sparkling ash.
"Impossible," Dai Weisi muttered, his arrogant facade cracking for the first time. He stared at his own hands, unable to comprehend how a simple slash had negated his ranged assault.
"Your arrogance blinds you," Zhu Zhuqing stated, her voice carrying across the stage, a chilling melody of absolute confidence. "You rely on your bloodline, on the safety of your imperial titles. You have no foundation. You are hollow."
She used Phantom Pounce, another self-created aerial burst technique. She launched herself into the air, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
Dai Weisi panicked. His third spirit ring, a deep purple, flared brilliantly. "Third Spirit Ability: White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
His muscles bulged, tearing the sleeves of his uniform. His blonde hair turned a stark, glowing white, and his physical size increased dramatically. The transformation doubled his attack, defense, and strength, turning him into a hulking juggernaut of melee combat.
He threw a massive, sweeping punch aimed at Zhu Zhuqing's descending form, the air howling around his fist.
Zhu Zhuqing met his strike head-on. She did not use a spirit ability; she relied entirely on her base physical strength, which had been tempered by immortal herbs, refined by internal cultivation, and amplified by the Nine Treasure Glaze Tile Pagoda.
Her slender palm caught the massive, fur-covered fist of the White Tiger.
A shockwave erupted from the point of impact, blowing away the lingering steam and poison in their immediate vicinity. The stone floor beneath Dai Weisi's boots cracked, cratering inward under the pressure.
Dai Weisi's eyes bulged. He was in his Vajra Transformation, yet his fist felt as though it had struck a mountain of solid diamond. The girl standing before him, barely a fraction of his size, held his punch effortlessly, her slender arm not even trembling.
"Is this the mighty strength of the Star Luo Empire?" Zhu Zhuqing mocked softly.
She twisted her wrist, applying a precise, agonizing pressure to Dai Weisi's joints using the Tang Sect's Controlling Crane Catching Dragon grappling technique. Dai Weisi let out a yell of pain, his massive form twisting involuntarily to follow the leverage.
Zhu Zhuyun, having thawed the frost from her arms, rushed in to save her fiancé. Her fourth spirit ring, a deep purple, glowed ominously. "Fourth Spirit Ability: Hell Decapitation!"
She leaped high into the air, her entire body fusing into a singular, crescent-shaped blade of condensed shadow. It was a guillotine execution strike, aimed directly at the back of Zhu Zhuqing's neck.
From the back of the arena, Zhang Tian watched the descending blade. His deep blue eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch. The Blood Silver Emperor spirit stirred beneath his skin, ready to erupt from the stage floor and spear Zhu Zhuyun through the chest if his wife failed to defend herself. But he held his power in check. He trusted his woman. He knew her limits, and she was not even close to reaching them.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't even turn around to look at her sister. Still holding Dai Weisi in a painful joint lock, she merely leaned her upper body to the side. The Hell Decapitation blade sliced through the empty air where her neck had been a millisecond prior, the phantom wind of the strike rustling her dark hair.
As Zhu Zhuyun landed, off-balance from the missed execution, Zhu Zhuqing spun. She delivered a sweeping roundhouse kick, her slender leg acting like a steel whip. The kick caught Zhu Zhuyun squarely in her soft, leather-clad stomach.
The older sister coughed up a spray of saliva, the breath driven violently from her lungs. She was launched backward like a cannonball, tumbling across the stone stage until she crashed heavily into the protective barriers at the arena's edge.
Dai Weisi, freed from the grapple by her spin, stumbled backward, clutching his aching wrist. He looked at his fiancée crumpled against the wall, then back at Zhu Zhuqing, who stood unmarked, her breathing perfectly even.
The crowd in the colosseum fell into a stunned, breathless silence. The commentary box was speechless. The prince and his elite fiancée, the pride of a militaristic empire, were being systematically dismantled in close combat by a single girl.
"Weisi..." Zhu Zhuyun groaned, struggling to push herself up from the floor. She clutched her stomach, her dark eyes filled with a dawning, terrifying realization. Her little sister was not a runaway coward. She was a monster wearing human skin. "We... we cannot beat her like this. She is too fast. Her strength... it doesn't make sense."
Dai Weisi gritted his teeth, a vein bulging on his forehead. His pride was bleeding out on the arena floor. He looked past Zhu Zhuqing, glaring at Zhang Tian, who was still standing with his hands in his pockets, watching the spectacle with a faint, amused smirk.
"He isn't even moving," Dai Weisi hissed, his voice trembling with a mixture of rage and profound humiliation. "He treats us like an opening act. Like we are beneath his notice."
"Forget him!" Zhu Zhuyun shouted, wiping a trickle of blood from her chin. "If we fall here, the Empire's reputation is dust! We use it! Now!"
Dai Weisi's golden eyes burned with a desperate, cornered light. He nodded. "Fine. We crush her, then we crush him!"
He roared, a sound that shook the very foundations of the stage. He abandoned all pretense of a tactical duel and sprinted directly toward Zhu Zhuyun. His fiancée mirrored his movement, her Hell Civet shadows stretching out to meet his golden light.
Seeing the incoming maneuver, Dugu Yan shouted a warning from across the stage. "Zhuqing! They're fusing! Fall back into the formation!"
Zhu Zhuqing did not fall back. She stood her ground, her dark eyes tracking their converging paths. A cold, predatory smile touched her lips. This was exactly what she had been waiting for. She needed them at their absolute zenith, wielding their greatest pride, so she could shatter it into a thousand irrecoverable pieces.
"Let them," Zhu Zhuqing whispered, though the acoustics of the arena carried her voice. "Let them show the world their final struggle."
Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun collided in the center of the stage. They didn't crash; they melted into one another. A blinding pillar of swirling black and white light erupted, piercing the sky. The sheer atmospheric pressure generated by the fusion created a localized gale, blowing away the remaining traces of Dugu Yan's poison and forcing the other combatants to shield their eyes.
"Martial Spirit Fusion Skill: Hell White Tiger!"
The dual voices echoed from within the pillar of light, harmonized into a demonic, booming resonance.
The light shattered like glass, revealing the horror within.
Standing on the stage was a massive, terrifying spectral beast. It was a tiger forged from starlight and midnight shadows, measuring nearly eight meters in length and standing over three meters tall at the shoulder. Its fur was a swirling vortex of deep black stripes against a canvas of glowing, translucent white. Its eyes were twin pools of golden fire, radiating an aura of slaughter that suffocated the arena.
The pressure it emitted was no longer that of a Spirit Ancestor. It had breached the threshold, projecting the terrifying, overwhelming might of a high-level Spirit Emperor.
The massive Hell White Tiger let out a deafening roar.
It was a shockwave of pure, condensed kinetic force. The sound alone tore up the stone tiles of the stage, sending shrapnel flying in every direction.
Yu Feng, who had been hovering above the skirmish, was caught directly in the sonic blast. The Hell White Tiger Roar shattered his wind barrier instantly. He screamed as his spectral wings gave out, sending him plummeting from the sky like a shot bird, crashing heavily into the Heaven Dou backline.
Shi Mo roared, stepping forward to shield Ning Rongrong. He crossed his massive Black Tortoise shields, pouring every ounce of his spirit power into defense. The sonic wave hit the shields like a battering ram. The solid black energy cracked, splintered, and shattered. Shi Mo was thrown backward, skidding ten meters across the stage, a trail of blood leaking from his nose.
Even Dugu Yan was forced to retreat, wrapping her Jade Phosphor Dragon around herself to weather the storm of kinetic pressure.
In a single, terrifying instant, the Hell White Tiger had swept away the Heaven Dou supporting cast, isolating Zhu Zhuqing.
The spectral beast turned its burning golden eyes upon the lone girl. Its massive jaws parted, a low, rumbling growl shaking the floorboards. It raised a massive front paw, the claws extending like scythes of condensed wind and shadow.
It swiped downward, generating a massive, crescent-shaped blade of vacuum and dark energy aimed directly at Zhu Zhuqing, intending to cleave her in two.
From the back, Zhang Tian's posture finally shifted. He pulled his hands from his pockets. His deep blue eyes locked onto the descending blade of wind, his muscles tensing. The Blood Silver Emperor surged through his veins, ready to weave an indestructible shield of crimson vines to save his wife. But his gaze flicked to Zhu Zhuqing's face. He saw her calm, calculating expression. He saw the cold fire in her eyes. He relaxed his stance, allowing a proud smirk to touch his lips.
Zhu Zhuqing did not dodge.
A sharp, tearing sound echoed, though no fabric was ripped. From the specially designed, hidden slits woven into the back of her leather outfit, six metallic, terrifying spider legs erupted. The Eight Spider Lances gleamed under the stadium lights, their sharp tips dripping with an unseen venom. The external spirit bone instantly bathed her body in a dual aura of scorching dark fire and absolute zero frost.
Simultaneously, her fourth spirit ring—a ring colored as black as the abyss itself, a ten-thousand-year marvel—lit up with blinding brilliance.
"Fourth Spirit Ability: Abyssal Clones!"
The shadows surrounding her base form detached. Instantly, three identical copies of Zhu Zhuqing materialized on the stage. These were not the fragile, optical illusions created by her sister's third spirit ability. These were true, physical manifestations, possessing real mass, inheriting a massive portion of her attributes, and capable of dealing genuine, physical trauma.
The four Zhu Zhuqings moved with blinding, synchronized speed, an impossibly coordinated dance of death. They scattered like ashes in the wind, completely evading the massive blade of condensed wind, which cleaved a massive trench into the stage where she had stood a second prior.
Before the Hell White Tiger could recover from its swing, the four Zhu Zhuqings surrounded it, perfectly boxing the massive beast into a quadrant.
"First Spirit Ability: Hell Rush Stab!"
All four Zhu Zhuqings shouted the command simultaneously. They darted inward, four streaks of black lightning converging on a single point. Their sharp claws, burning with frost and dark flames, tore deep, agonizing gashes into the spectral tiger's flanks and hind legs.
The Hell White Tiger howled in pain, a sound that shook the arena. The fusion beast thrashed wildly, attempting to crush the clones with its massive bulk. It unleashed a flurry of chaotic, brute-force attacks—sweeping its tail like a mace, biting at the empty air, stomping the ground to create localized tremors.
But the clones were too fast. They utilized the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track footwork, leaving behind afterimages that the lumbering beast attacked in vain. They moved like phantoms, dancing through the destructive arcs of the tiger's claws.
The remaining Star Luo teammates, realizing their ultimate weapon was being surrounded and bled out, tried to intervene. Tang Hongning charged his lightning, preparing to support his captain.
"Don't even think about it," a voice hissed.
Dugu Yan, having recovered from the sonic roar, stood between the Star Luo remnants and the main fight. Her toxic purple mist flared up again, denser and more corrosive than before. Beside her, Shi Mo re-summoned a fractured but stable shield wall, and Ye Lingling cast a healing light over Yu Feng, who was already pushing himself back onto his feet, wind gathering around his wings.
"Your fight is with us," Dugu Yan promised, pinning the supporting members down with a barrage of venomous projectiles, leaving the Hell White Tiger entirely, hopelessly isolated.
Back in the center ring, the punishment continued.
"Second Spirit Ability: Hell Hundred Claws!" Zhu Zhuqing commanded.
Her clones became a localized hurricane of violence. They unleashed a relentless, blinding flurry of hundreds of shadow-infused strikes against the fusion beast. Dark fire scorched the spectral fur, while absolute zero frost slowed the flow of spirit power within the fusion, threatening to freeze the connection between Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun.
The sheer volume and power of the attacks, constantly amplified by Ning Rongrong's glowing pagoda in the background, were an overwhelming tide of destruction.
The Hell White Tiger, realizing it was being dismantled piece by piece, gathered the last, desperate dregs of its fusion energy. The golden light in its eyes flared blindingly bright. It reared up on its hind legs, drawing shadows and light into its massive maw.
"Hell White Tiger Annihilation Strike!" the dual voices echoed, filled with a frantic, cornered desperation.
A massive, terrifying beam of pure, destructive force began to charge within its jaws, aimed at the center of the stage, intending to vaporize all four clones in a single, suicidal blast.
Zhu Zhuqing did not panic. Her third spirit ring, a deep, vibrant purple, pulsed in rhythm with her heartbeat.
"Third Spirit Ability: Eclipse Ray Strike," she whispered, her voice a cold death knell.
All four Zhu Zhuqings raised their hands, pointing directly at the charging maw of the Hell White Tiger. Shadows condensed at their fingertips, rapidly forming into spheres of hyper-dense, pitch-black energy.
The tiger unleashed its Annihilation Strike, a roaring column of gold and black destruction that tore through the air.
Simultaneously, the four Zhu Zhuqings fired. Four distinct beams of absolute, devouring darkness shot forward, weaving together in mid-air to form a single, massive pillar of shadowy force.
The two ultimate attacks collided in the dead center of the stage.
It was a clash that defied the limits of a simple academy tournament. The impact created a dome of pressurized air that shattered the remaining protective barriers around the stage, sending shards of spirit glass raining into the front rows of the audience. The sound was deafening, a localized earthquake that rattled the teeth of everyone in the colosseum.
For a fraction of a second, the golden light of the tiger's breath struggled against the combined shadow rays.
But it was a futile resistance.
The Eclipse Ray Strike, multiplied by four and fueled by the horrifying foundation Zhang Tian had built for her, pushed forward like a dark spear. It cleaved straight through the Annihilation Strike, splitting the golden beam in twain, and slammed directly into the chest of the Hell White Tiger.
The massive spectral beast let out a final, agonizing, dual-toned shriek. The structure of the fusion destabilized instantly. The starlight and shadows warred against each other, the visual representation of Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun's connection violently snapping under the overwhelming pressure.
With a sound like shattering crystal, the Hell White Tiger violently exploded into millions of fragments of dissipating light, breaking the Martial Spirit Fusion entirely.
The shockwave of the broken fusion threw Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun violently apart, launching them into the air like ragdolls.
Zhu Zhuyun crashed heavily into the stone floor, bouncing twice before coming to a complete, groaning halt, her leather outfit torn, her spirit power entirely drained.
Dai Weisi sailed backward in a parabolic arc, his eyes wide with absolute, world-shattering horror. His mind could not process the defeat. The Hell White Tiger, the pride of the empire, shattered by a single girl.
But before Dai Weisi's back could even hit the ground, a shadow materialized directly above him in mid-air.
Zhu Zhuqing's original body hovered there, her Eight Spider Lances tucked neatly against her back, her feline eyes devoid of any mercy.
As gravity began to pull Dai Weisi downward, Zhu Zhuqing delivered a brutal, merciless, axe-kick. Her heel slammed directly into his jaw with a sickening, bone-crunching CRACK.
The sheer force of the blow drove Dai Weisi directly into the arena floor. The stone cratered beneath his skull, a spiderweb of cracks spreading outward from the point of impact. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head, his body bouncing once before going completely, limply still. He was beaten into immediate, bloody unconsciousness.
The arena was dead silent. The dust slowly settled over the ruined stage.
The remaining members of the Star Luo Imperial Academy team dropped to their knees, their spirits breaking as they looked at their unconscious, bleeding captain and the ruined form of their vice-captain. They surrendered immediately, unable to even muster the will to fight.
Zhu Zhuqing landed gracefully amidst the rubble. She did not look at the fallen prince. She turned her gaze to the back of the stage, looking directly at Zhang Tian.
Zhang Tian pulled his hands from his pockets and began to slowly clap, the sound echoing loudly in the silent arena. A proud, deeply satisfied smirk graced his handsome face. He mouthed two words to her across the distance.
Perfect execution.
The referee, trembling slightly as he surveyed the devastation, finally found his voice, raising a shaking hand toward the pristine, untouched formation of the Heaven Dou team.
"The winner of the quarterfinal match... Heaven Dou Imperial Academy!"
The crowd erupted. It wasn't just a cheer; it was a roaring tsunami of awe and terror. They had witnessed a flawless victory, a brutal, systematic dismantling of an empire's pride, entirely orchestrated by the women belonging to the man who hadn't even bothered to lift a finger.
~~
A/N: Check out my BTTH Fanfic [Doupo: Plundering the Plot with God-Tier Comprehension].
Also, check out 20 Chapters Ahead for this fanfic on my P.atreon.
Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/c/evildragon04