13 Chapter 12

Shen Yin's Pov

It was finally the day of the tournament. Every core pupils assembled at the arena in preparation for the battle that will happen.

Xuan Lao:" Keke, Listen up everyone. The selection process will be very simple. That's...A Free for All battle. There are no rules. Any attack is okay! Even deadly attacks! When someone admits defeat or was saved, they will be out of the tournament. The battle will go on till there are only seven people left. Once I say begin, you will begin understand?"

This will be a rough day for me. Unless some sort of miracle happens...

"Student Shen Yin. Come over here." I heard Teacher Wang beckons to me.

'A miracle has occurred.' I went over to the balcony Teacher Wang and Xuan Lao were on.

Xuan Lao: " Free for All battle - Begin." They all looked confused for a second before snapping back to reality and charged at a certain direction.

Shen Yin: "Why am I being excluded from this battle? Surely it's not just favouritism, right?"

Xuan Lao: "Keke, I have something else entirely planned for you." *grins and drinks his wine*

Shen Yin: 'I have a bad feeling about this but who am I to complain. I'll have to wait and see.'

As I thought with Yuhao at the center, their group emerged victorious from the battle. They were just celebrating with each other when Xuan Lao stepped in and interrupted.

Xuan Lao: "Listen up kids, this battle isn't over yet."

The group: 'What? But there's no one left."

Xuan Lao : "You seven will be going against my little disciple here!"

Everyone but Xuan Lao: "What?!"

Xuan Lao: "My little disciple, you will win for me right."

'Master Xuan Lao, will you not spare your poor disciple? Is this some sort of joke? Me against the main characters of this story and the future Shrek's Seven Devils. Hahaha....What choice do I have? None.'

Without saying anything else I jumped down onto the arena and activated my Glaive, preparing for my battle. 'This was what he meant by plan. No wonder I felt that something was wrong.'

Shen Yin: "Come."

After a few seconds of staring contest, it seems that they have sent out their strongest attacker Senior Bei bei and the support Senior Nan Nan to support him. This was probably to test the waters. After displaying my skills at the New student tournament and the Advancement exam, there's no way they would dare belittle me.

The two seniors fought against me but their mild attacks weren't able to reach me. Compared to my fights with Xuan Lao, this is nothing to me. Neither of them could land a single hit on me but I managed to counter-attack and give them light wounds here and there with my Glaive. After a while, I sensed an incoming attack aiming at me so I jumped up to dodge. Senior Bei Bei and Nan Nan probably knew about this thanks to Yuhao's spirit eye.

While in mid-air, I notice another bunch missiles coming at me. This one was likely on purpose. Yuhao predicted that I would go up? That's a rather frightening brain he has there. I activated my third essence and used 'Cloud Step to avoid the missiles by stepping on the condensed air and jump from side to side before landing on the ground just to be assaulted by a kick from senior Nan Nan. I managed to block it but I realised that Senior Bei bei was behind me with his dragon Claw ready to strike me. I jumped up and flipped myself over him. As I land behind Bei Bei, I did a roundhouse kick at his back, throwing him out of balance and force him to fall on Senior Nan Nan.

Xu Sanshi: "Oi! Bei Bei! Hands off my Nan Nan!!"

Nan Nan: "You Shut Up! Who's yours!"

I have to be careful. According to the rules on a battlefield, taking out the leader is important. In this case, the leader is obviously Yuhao, the strategist. However, he has Senior Xu, who's an expert in defense by his size. Somehow, I have to seperate them from each other if I want to win. I should start small. 'Shadow Walk' using this skill I dived into the shadows and quickly jump out from behind Xiao xiao, who was further away from the group, and knocked her out before she could retaliate. Xiao xiao may be a good long and mid-range attacker but her close combat and reaction speed isn't as good. I went back to the shadows to avoid Senior Xu's fist that was going to hit me in the face if I was a second too late.

I jumped back out from Bei bei's shadow and tried to slash him with my glaive. Thanks to Yuhao's spirit eyes, he was alerted of me and dodged in time by jumped back. Bei bei used his other leg and propelled himself forward to hit me with his 'Thunder Dragon Claw' skill.

"Too bad. You're within range" 'Dawn Sky Wind Glaive 4th skill: Torrential Tempest of Blades.' Using my Absolute wind and manipulation, I concentrated the attacks on Bei Bei alone. As a solo attacker that requires space, he distanced himself from the rest so Xu Sanshi, who's relatively the only one capable of blocking my attack can't shield him in time. Even without Spirit eyes, you can tell that there's no way of dodging in between the blades due to the small spacings. You have to choice but to take it head on. Bei bei was overwhelmed and taken out.

'That's two down. Five more to go. My next target should be carefully selected.'

Yuhao : "Brother Yin is planning on taking us down one by one. We have to stick together!" Listening to Yuhao's advise, they all came together and lessen the distance in between.

'Yuhao analysed my attack patterns so quickly. This may have been a good solution against me if it weren't for the fact that they crippled their own movements.'

I can't attack Nan nan because I don't want to accidentally trigger Senior Xu to unleash his divine spirit beast transformation. That would be troublesome. Senior Caitou also has that armor to protect him. I need to deal with them in one go but first I have to separate a certain individual from the rest for that to happen I need bait. I deactivated my glaive and switched essence.

'Primordial Wind Spirit Lord 1st skill : Colossal Tornado,' I used this attack to forcefully split Yuhao from the others. Yuhao, with hs current level of control, he doesn't have the skill to use absolute ice to nullify my attack. Knowing Wang Dong's personality, he would fly towards Yuhao to protect him. Taking the opportunity, I switched essence again. 'Dawn Sky Wind Glaive 3rd Skill: Land of Nightmares.' A black slash was aimed at Senior Xu, Caitou and Nan nan. Unlike Yuhao and Wang Dong, those three don't have resistance to mental attacks. I wanted to lure Wang Dong out because if this attack hits him, I will be the one to suffer from the backlash. Yuhao, who is deeply cherished by Wang Dong and has resistance was the perfect bait.

As the attacks hit them, all three seniors fell down with sweats covering their faces and grim expressions plastered on.

"You two are the only ones left."

Wang Dong was in front of Yuhao as if protecting him. That's when I noticed a stinging pain in my head and unconsciously grabbed it with my hand. Yuhao used Soul Shock on me. The attack was quickly nullified by my Star Pheasant spirit bone. By the time I looked back up, I saw Yuhao and Wang dong hugging each other. 'So Yuhao's Soul Shock was meant to distract me while they use their strongest attack. They want to use their fusion attack on me? Then I shall play along! As the saying goes fight fire with fire.' This skill was only recently developed by me but I shall take the chance bestowed and test it out.

'Self fusion skill: Yin Yang Divinity Mirror!'

Just as Yuhao and Wang Dong's <Dying in the bright yellow road> blasted towards me, a large mirror of black and white appeared in front to take the hit. 'Dissipation!' Their fusion attack was sucked in and disappeared. I could see the shock in all of their eyes. Surely they did not expect me to have such a trump card. Yuhao and Wang Dong looked at each other before nodding and said, "We admit defeat."

Xuan Lao: "That's the end of the battle. Xiao Yin ,as I recall, you have a healing ability right? Go patch them up."

I did as Xuan Lao instructed, used 'Star's Faith' to heal them and release the three seniors from their nightmares.

Xuan Lao: "Xiao Yin, do you know the reason why I didn't let you participate in the battle earlier?" I shaked by head sideways, not knowing the answer to the question.

Xuan Lao: "I heard from Teacher Zhou that you asked her if you could be exempted from the tournament. Did you have a reason as to why you didn't want to enter?"

I didn't reply because it's not like I could tell him that it's because I didn't want to mess up the story line by being an extra member on the team. I already knew that this battle was meant to select the next Shrek's Seven Devils as the back-up team for the upcoming spirit tournament between schools. In the end, I kept my mouth closed. Yuhao and Wang Dong look to be surprised to hear that I had requested for such a thing.

Xuan Lao: "I won't pursue this matter any longer if you don't want to answer but I hope that in the future you will be able to tell me the truth. I suspect that this is not a small matter in your eyes. Moving on since all of you are awake, you seven except Xiao Yin will be the next Shrek's Seven Devils and the back-up team for the current Shrek's Seven devils. You will join the spirit tournament of high level spirit masters between the schools. Xiao Yin, whatever the situation, I will still at least make you an extra back-up member, understand?"

Shen Yin: "Yes."

After this major announcement was said and the group dispersed, Xuan Lao called me and Yuhao over.

Xuan Lao: "I heard that you have a similar body spirit essence like Xiao Yin? Your eyes correct?"

Yuhao: "Y-yes."

Xuan Lao: "In the Free for All battle, were you the one who strategized the battle plan?"

Yuhao: "Yes, my spirit eyes allows me to have greater than normal vision of the area. It's about 50 meters in radius."

Xuan Lao: "....Such great talent....You're a natural Spirit Master Tactician!"

Later>>>

Bei bei: "Oh, you finally came out."

Yuhao: "We were held back by Xuan Lao. He was very interested in my spirit ability."

Wang Dong: "In Xuan Lao's eyes, you are a precious jewel and made me into your sidekick. Yuhao was greatly praised by Xuan Lao. When Xuan Lao found out the battle was controlled by Yuhao's spirit ability, you could see his eyes lit up. Even if our Yuhao was a cow, a big shot like Xuan Lao would still love him endlessly."

Everyone started surrounding Yuhao and praised his spirit eyes.

Yuhao: "Anyway, Brother Yin, what was the skill you used to repel our fusion attack?"

Wang Dong: "Yeah, I was just about to ask the same thing."

Xiao xiao: "What?! Repel your <Dying in the bright yellow road> was taken down by Brother Yin? What on earth was happening while I was unconscious?"

Shen Yin: "It's the self-fusion skill that I came up with. It's the fusion between my divine eyes and the glaive. I named it Yin Yang Divinity mirror. It's an attack specifically used to defend against other fusion attacks."

Bei bei: "Eh! So strong."

Shen Yin: "It's not complete though. I have yet to master it."

Wang Dong: "You call that not complete...."

Yuhao: "Even though it's that strong..."

Shen Yin: "The attack still has two other levels."

Xiao xiao: "A spirit fusion that has three versions?"

Shen Yin: "Yes."

Bei bei: "Wouldn't that practically be three different fusion attacks?"

Shen Yin: "No, it's still the same but with different methods of defense. The one you saw was 'Dissipation'."

Xiao xiao: "Dissipation? To disappear, right?"

I nodded in response. Dissipation forces other fusion attack to vanish into the mirror. This skill only works on spirit fusion attacks that have spirit energy lower than mine.

Wang Dong: "More than that, I'm more surprised that you were actually Xuan Lao's disciple. Doesn't that also make you a bigshot."

Shen Yin: "I happened to met up with Xuan Lao when I first arrived at the city to enter Shrek academy. Xuan Lao saw potential in me and recomended me to the school. It was only some time after the new student tournament that he officially accepted me as a disciple."

Yuhao: "Oh."

Xu Sanshi: "You all be quiet! We are all brothers and sisters! No need for this chatter! Listen to me, since all of us will be Shrek's Seven Devils soon. Let us all go by biggest to smallest! Just like the original members. Let us all be Xi Di Xiong. What do you think?"

Everyone agreed to this idea. I was about to reject it since I won't be officially part of the group but they all forced me to join and completely ignored my opinion.

Xu sanshi: "The eldest is Bei Bei, second senior brother is He Cai tou, I am number three just like the ancestor Tang san. Hahaha! Then you are my fourth junior sister, Nan nan."

Nan Nan: "Just like the ranking, I don't need to see the person."

Xu Sanshi: "Fifth Junior brother will be Shen Yin. Sixth Junior sister will be Xiao xiao. Seventh junior brother is Yuhao. Number 8 will be Wang Dong."

Xiao xiao: "Brother Yin aside. I didn't expect think I was the eldest between the three of us. It's a relief that Brother Yin was already the older one though. It will be awkward to call him Junior brother now."

Yuhao: "Yeah, he gives off the older brother vibe."

Wang Dong: "Agreed."

Shen Yin: "I do?" I tilted my head to the side

Nan nan: *pats my head* "Xiao Yin, can I call you that?" As a 12 year old, I was shorter than her so I had to look up in order to reply.

Shen Yin: "I don't mind."

Xu Sanshi: "Oi junior brother, don't flirt with my Nan nan!"

Nan nan: "Ignore him." *continues to pet me*

Bei bei: "If you all join the Tang clan, it will have even more meaning to him."

Xu Sanshi: "We did talk about the requirements for me to join!! Talk to fourth junior sister first."

Cai Tou: "Senior brother Bei, I want to join the Tang clan. Is that possible?"

Bei bei: "Of course, no problem at all. I will take you to see the head of the Tang clan right now."

Everyone went to the red tea house, where Senior Xiao Ya worked at, to ask her for permission to join the Tang clan. We all celebrated there as well and ate the pastry made. After a while, senior Caitou asked for me and Yuhao to have a chat outside by the fountain.

He told us that Teacher Fan Yu was planning on making Yuhao complete the absolute soldier plan due to his superior talent and dedication while me and him would be his assistant. The reason I wasn't selected even though I also had potential was because I had to focus on my cultivation. I wasn't going to be as specialized as Yuhao. Senior Caitou ,then, revealed his past to us as the Sun and Moon empire's current king's nephew. The revelation shocked Yuhao that he also revealed his own background and plot for revenge.

Due to my awkwardness, I told them about my 'supposed' past as someone who lost his parents and guardian. How I had to survive in the Star Dou forest by myself at a very young age. The reason I didn't reveal any of this was because I didn't want to be pitied and bullied. In their eyes, I was probably like Yuhao, an orphan.

Yuhao: "No wonder you were so strong. You had to fight everyday in the forest just to live to see the next day. Not to mention that 10,000 year old spirit ring costed you your family."

Caitou: " Junior brothers, let us work hard. Yuhao, no rush for revenge. You can still wait 10 years. Shen Yin, we will be your new family. No matter what happens, you will always be my junior brother"

Shen Yin: "..."

Yuhao: "Yes!"

I wonder why. Whenever the topic of family is brought out, I always felt this pang in my heart. Is this because my fake background story wasn't really false. It's true that unlike other children I did not have the chance to have a regular life with a happy family. Even now, the only people that I was with ever since coming to this world was Lei. I had no parents or relatives. I didn't think too much about it due to me focusing on becoming stronger each day. Now faced with such words, I felt warm and touched.