Chapter 535 - Replication

Song Lin, one of the teachers of the third grade class, was a teacher at Shrek Academy. She had no intention of utterly crushing either the first or second grade team at this competition. It wouldn’t be beneficial to their growth and development. At the end of the day, they were all students and there was no reason to be so brutal. This was her mindset when she decided to send Wu Rui, one of the top five students in the third grade, to fight in the first duel. Whoever the second grade decided to send, they wouldn’t be utterly demolished by Wu Rui. Nor would it be possible for them to defeat him, not without great difficulty.

Elder Cai stepped off the platform and disappeared in a silver flash. She appeared an instant later on the stage and announced, “The participants of the first duel will now step up on the stage.” Two figures entered from opposite ends of the stage and cheers erupted from the stands.

Wu Rui gracefully levitated himself up and landed on the stage, light as a feather. He looked like a scholar with an ephemeral air to him. With one arm in front and one behind, his hair was combed back without a single loose hair. A hint of a smile could be seen as he waved to the audience. He carried himself like a sage. If not for the fact that romantic relationships were forbidden by the Academy, he would surely have been one of the most prolific playboys.

Yuanen Yehui entered the arena with a thud. She wore her usual male disguise, any unique features she once had were blurred. Her arrival on the stage was followed by a surge of cheers from the second grade.

“I’m Wu Rui of the third grade,” he said, revealing a shining smile. There wasn’t the slightest hint of provocation or contempt in his expression. It was a perfect pretty boy’s smile. A most mysterious smile, one that tugged on the heartstrings of both men and women with no clear indication of whom that smile was intended for.

“Im Yuanen Yehui of the second grade,” she grunted unenthusiastically.

“So you’re the president of the second grade!” Wu Rui said. “I’ve heard that you have twin martial souls. Amazing! Well, good luck.”

Yuanen Yehui stared back at him, not uttering a word, expression deadpan.

Wu Rui continued, blissfully unaware that his charm was having no effect, “Don’t force yourself if things get too tough. No need to worry either, I’ll start off easy on you. I am your senior, after all, and we’re schoolmates anyway. If you work hard, I’m positive that one day, you’ll become as strong as me.”

On the sidelines of the arena, Song Lin was beginning to regret her choice. She cringed with every word of Wu Rui’s imperious monologue, and she was embarrassed by his arrogant posturing. Although Wu Rui was strong, he didn’t know when to shut his glib mouth. He loved to act the pretty boy and play up how much of a saint he was. Before students that were six years his junior, his shortcoming was showing its ugly head.

“Shut up! Enough with this rubbish!” Elder Cai barked.

“Uh… Elder Cai, I was just being friendly with my junior.”

Elder Cai glared at him. “Begin the match.”

“Junior brother, be careful—”

Before Wu Rui could even finish, Yuanen Yehui burst into action. Foot slamming into the ground, she leaped toward him. Her body swelled with strength as she manifested her third soul skill, Diamond Titan!

Wu Rui’s eyes went wide when he realized a giant was hurtling toward him. He unleashed his martial soul and shouted, “Shit! You’re damn huge!”

Yuanen Yehui came crashing down with a fist. But before she hammered Wu Rui, a gust of wind blew her away. This was his ability as a control-type, which naturally countered assault-types.

In a burst of light, a thick blue book appeared in front of him and flipped open to the first page. Countless thick vines shot out of the book to restrain Yuanen Yehui.

With how large Yuanen Yehui’s body was now, it was impossible to evade the vines. Not that she intended to anyway. Her fist continuing smashing its way to Wu Rui, ripping apart all of the incoming vines like cobwebs.

“That wasn’t a smart move, Junior Brother,” Wu Rui said, a smirk on his lips as he licked his finger and flipped to the next page. Light enveloped him and he disappeared. An instant later, he reappeared ten meters a way, completely out of range of Yuanen Yehui’s attack. Now the remaining vines completed their work, restraining her limbs.

Plants and space? He’s a dual-attribute? As Tang Wulin watched, astonishment flickered in his eyes. What kind of martial soul is that?

Wu Zhangkong put a hand to his chin as he observed. “His martial soul is the Heaven’s Book. It doesn’t control the elements. Rather, it carries a stock of abilities. Each soul ring he gains unlocks another page in the book and allows him to store a soul skill in the page. The vines and teleportation were both soul skills he stored. It looks like he chose the path of a control-type. Not a bad choice. His martial soul doesn’t have any set inclination, so he has the freedom to grow in whatever direction he wants. But his strength is reliant on his stored soul skills and their synergy. He’s a tough opponent.”

Tang Wulin was reminded of how nothing was impossible for martial souls once again!

Yuanen Yehui was in a trouble. The vines rapidly tightened around her, restricting her movements. They were even tougher than Tang Wulin’s bluesilver grass.

She growled as her first soul ring lit up. Titan Strength! Power rippled through her arms, and she ripped apart the vines. Mere vines were nothing before the combined might of Diamond Titan and Titan Strength. In this form, the only person who stood a match against her in terms of pure strength was Tang Wulin, and that was only with the aid of Golden Dragon Body.

“Damn you’re strong! Junior Brother, you’re great! Let’s get this show on the road!” Wu Rui said. Another wave of vines shot out of his book, so numerous this time that they blotted out the sky as they swarmed Yuanen Yehui.

Wu Rui’s battle tactics were simple: restrain Yuanen Yehui until she ran out of soul power. As long as he did that, it would be an easy victory. Of course, he could simply throw her off the stage and win too. The truth was, Wu Rui wasn’t running his mouth off for no reason. He was trying to provoke Yuanen Yehui since he could easily evade her attacks with his teleportation ability. He was a cunning opponent and a force to be reckoned with!

Yuanen Yehui snorted. She charged straight at him, the vines barely slowing her down as she easily tore them apart. Then she punched out and sent an air blast at him.

The sudden air blast took Wu Rui but surprise, but his hands moved swift as wind as he flipped to another page and summoned a multitude of mirrors in front of him. The air blasts struck the mirrors and reflected right back to Yuanen Yehui.

It was his third soul skill, Mirror Reflection! This skill was particularly effective in team battles.

Faced with a barrage of her own air blasts and having her movements restricted by the vines, Yuanen Yehui could only use her free arm to unleash air blasts to intercept the reflected ones. She was a puppet now, dancing along on Wu Rui’s strings. It was only natural since control-types were counters to assault-types.

Yuanen Yehui clenched her jaw. Her body rapidly shrunk and purple-black flames blazed into existence around her, burning away the vines to ashes.

In her Fallen Angel form, all she wore was a skintight suit. Her dull male disguise disappeared, revealing her feminine beauty. Jet black wings unfurled behind her. She summoned her sword of darkness, the flames coating it pulsing.

In a blur of movement, she appeared right in front of Wu Rui. Now in her Fallen Angel form, she had both the power of an assault-type and the speed of an agility-type.

“Holy shit! The dude turned into a chick!” Wu Rui shouted, then he teleported away. Flipping to another page, a beam of golden light descended from the heavens upon Yuanen Yehui.

Basked in the light, a second Yuanen Yehui split apart from the original. It was a clone, the spitting image of her in both face and martial soul. It was Replication, Wu Rui’s fourth soul skill!

With the soul skills of Bind, Mirror Reflection, Teleport, and Replication, Wu Rui had cinched the position as number one control-type of the third grade and earned himself a potential future in the inner court.

Yuanen Yehui froze for a moment as she stared at her replica. Just how many damn abilities does this guy have? But with her wealth of combat experience, she immediately realized that the replica’s strength had to be lower than the original’s. Otherwise, the soul skill would be too ridiculous.

In a blur of movement, Yuanen Yehui unleashed a sword dance and summoned her Curtain of Darkness. The darkness encroached on the arena.

While the replica had all of Yuanen Yehui’s soul skills, it could only produce sixty percent of her strength. If Wu Rui could ascend his soul skill from purple to black, then its strength would increase to eighty percent. And should it reach red level, it would be ninety percent. But that was all just future potential. For now, it was sixty percent.

Wu Rui used Replication to buy himself some time, waiting for an opening. With a wave of his hand, he commanded vines and the replica to attack at once.

In that time, darkness had fully descended over the arena. Within this darkness, the efficacy of teleportation was reduced. No matter where Wu Rui teleported, Yuanen Yehui would instantly know his location.