Surprise and Domain

Nero woke up early the next day, refreshed himself, and headed to the arena where the match between Tang Wulin's team and Yuanen Yehui's team was set to take place. He arrived just in time to hear Shen Yi announcing the results of the blacksmith competition. As expected, Tang Wulin's team had secured a victory, given Tang Wulin's reputation as a prodigy in blacksmithing.

From the corner of his eye, Nero also noticed Elder Cai engaged in conversation with a woman with evergreen-colored hair. She exuded a gentle aura, and Nero immediately recognized her as Ya Li, the wife of the Sea God Pavilion master and an Ultimate Douluo renowned for her healing abilities. Nero's energy-sensing abilities allowed him to perceive the incredible vitality in the surroundings that was clinging to her like a child to his/her mother. He believed that if there were no restrictions on human bloodlines, Ya Li would have achieved the status of God King of Life. Sensing Nero's gaze, Ya Li turned her attention toward him and nodded. Nero reciprocated the gesture with a nod of his own before returning his focus to the upcoming match.

The match between Tang Wulin's team and Yuanen Yehui's team ended in a tie. Nero wasn't surprised by the outcome. While Tang Wulin and his team had grown significantly stronger compared to the original timeline, Yuanen Yehui had also become incredibly powerful thanks to her new bloodline and martial soul. Additionally, she had Nero and Aria by her side, enhancing her combat abilities and supporting her with their self-created soul skills. In fact the only reason she didn't win was because her teammates dragged her down.

After Shen Yi declared the match a tie, Elder Cai stepped forward and announced, "The result of the match surely surprised me, but don't relax now because it isn't over yet." Her words left every student, except Yuanen Yehui, confused. Elder Cai continued, "The winning team of this match will face Nero." As soon as Nero's name was announced, all eyes in the arena turned to him. He was calmly sipping a smoothie. Despite his easygoing demeanor nobody dared to underestimate him as the past few weeks had clearly displayed his inhuman combat power which couldn't be measured by his Spirit Rank.

"But, Teacher, the match ended in a tie. Which team is going to fight him?" Xie Xie raised his hand and asked, clearly puzzled. Elder Cai responded with a smirk on her face, "Your teams are going to combine and then fight him." She paused and continued after shifting her gaze to Nero, "I'm sure our exceptional student won't have any problem with that." In response, Nero just shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he had no problem with it. Elder Cai then turned towards the both teams and instructed, " You have 15 minutes to decide your team-members."

Ignoring the commotion and discussions that Elder Cai had caused among the onlookers, Nero walked towards both teams. Everyone was curious about what Nero was going to do, but the next moment, they all wore puzzled expressions as Nero handed Yuanen Yehui a refreshing drink and a box full of fruit salad. Confused, she asked, "How am I going to finish this? There are only fifteen minutes left." Nero replied, "I won't make a move until you finish this. I'm sure they won't have any problem." Nero turned towards the others and said, "Right?" Everyone in both teams hastily nodded in agreement.

"You guys can have this," Nero said as he handed Xie Xie a bag full of refreshing drinks. Xie Xie smiled and responded, "Nero, I knew you wouldn't forget your friends." [ What will they think if they find out that you bought these many drinks just because you didn't have change to buy one drink for Yehui ] Aria's voice chimed in both Nero's and Yuanen Yehui's minds, teasing Nero about his real reason for buying so many drinks. Yuanen Yehui laughed, and Nero just rolled his eyes in response.

After everyone recovered to their peak state the match finally started, Nero stood on one side of platform as he scanned the selected team members which included Yuanen Yehui, Tang Wulin, Gu yue, Xu Xiaoyan, Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi. "Begin," As soon as Shen Yi announced the start, Yuanen Yehui, Tang Wulin, and Ye Xinglan dashed towards Nero. The sound of clashing weapons filled the air as Nero caught Yuanen Yehui's spear and Tang Wulin's dragon claw with his hands, simultaneously using his Beowulf-covered feet to stop Ye Xinglan's Star God Sword.

Without giving them a chance to react, Nero conjured a ring of mirage blades around his waist. These mirage blades instantly launched towards Yuanen Yehui, Tang Wulin, and Ye Xinglan, forcing them to back off. Meanwhile, Gu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan attempted to launch a blizzard towards Nero to create some distance, but Nero reacted swiftly. He surrounded the blizzard with his mirage blades, causing them to spin in the opposite direction of the blizzard, effectively dispersing it.

After Yuanen Yehui whispered something to Tang Wulin, he activated his first bloodline ability and confronted Nero in hand-to-hand combat. Amidst tgeir confrontation Tang Wulin with a swift move utilized his second spirit ability, the Blue Silver Impaling Array, summoning dozens of spikes from the ground to restrict Nero's movements.

Simultaneously, Ye Xinglan descended from the sky like a streak of starlight, utilizing her third spirit ability. In normal circumstances, Nero could have easily teleported away, but this time, he couldn't react in time. Within the split second that he freed himself from the Blue Silver Grass spikes, Ye Xinglan was already above him, her sword pointed directly at him. She moved at incredible speed thanks to Yuanen Yehui's third spirit ability, which made Ye Xinglan light enough to achieve such rapid movement.

Nero reacted swiftly, summoning Yamato and unsheathing it in a rapid motion. He sent a devastating void slash towards Ye Xinglan, which not only disrupted her attack but also drew her towards him. While she was in mid-air, Nero ascended and launched a series of rapid attacks, overwhelming Ye Xinglan with his speed and precision.

Nero continued his relentless assault, teleporting behind Tang Wulin and delivering a flurry of countless strikes. Tang Wulin used his Golden Dragon Claw to resist the attacks head-on. Just as he was about to be overwhelmed, Gu yue teleported him out of harm's way.

Simultaneously, Yuanen Yehui arrived behind Nero and attacked him with her Rock God Spear. Nero used Yamato's scabbard to intercept her attacks, mostly dodging and attempting to disrupt her attack frequency. It was evident that he had no intention of attacking her during the match.

After consuming Xu Lizhi enhancement buns, Yuanen Yehui activated her third spirit ability, "Crystalline Earthquake Eruption," causing earth attribute energy crystals to burst outward, stunning Nero for a moment. Simultaneously, Tang Wulin unleashed his technique, "Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens," inspired by Zhou Shi. Gu Yue, on the other hand, didn't back off; she used her third spirit ability to launch an elemental lotus towards Nero.

Nero calmly watched the combined attacks hurtling towards him, then said, "Not bad." As he uttered these words, four soul rings appeared beneath him, with the third ring shining brightly. To the shock of the onlookers, the combined attack passed straight through Nero as if they had gone through a projection. Nero remained unscathed, thanks to his third spirit ability, Iblis's inherent skill, Shadow Void.

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• Shadow Void- The user's body gets transferred to a different layer of space.

]

Before anyone could come back to their senses, Nero summoned his clone, mirroring his actions, and teleported towards Xu Lizhi and Xu Xiaoyan. Xu Lizhi, realizing he was about to be eliminated, used all his remaining spirit energy to provide Yuanen Yehui, Gu Yue, and Tang Wulin with buns consisting of his three abilities. Xu Lizhi and Xu Xiaoyan were teleported out as Nero executed an unavoidable slash towards their vital positions. Yuanen Yehui consumed all the buns given by Xu Lizhi and launched herself at Nero. Flashes of red and blue wandered all over the arena as Yuanen Yehui relentlessly chased and attacked Nero.

As Nero stepped into a specific position, spikes of blue silver grass and wind blades surrounded him, forming a deadly trap prepared by Tang Wulin and Gu Yue. At the same moment, Yuanen Yehui activated her self-created soul skill, "Gravityforge Lance," directing her Rock God Spear towards Nero with gravitational and earth attributes focused at its tip, intensifying the attack. This skill had been developed with Aria's assistance and was designed for maximum impact.

Nero's smile widened as he became slightly more serious, channeling his demonic-spirit energy and infusing his hand with Beowulf's power. With sheer physical force, he broke through the surrounding blue silver grass and caught the hurtling Rock God Spear. He then swiftly teleported behind Yuanen Yehui, whispering in her ear, "Sorry, love," as he employed his second spirit ability to immobilize her and gently rendered her unconscious with a precise neck strike.

Now, only Gu Yue and Tang Wulin remained on the battlefield, exhaustion evident on their faces. In contrast, Nero appeared perfectly fine, having used his soul ring abilities only once and not at full force while his passive ability continued to recover him to his peak condition. Gu Yue, realizing the need to stall for time to recover, surrounded Nero in a swirling vortex of space, light, water, fire, and earth. However, facing this Elemental Chaos, Nero calmly activated his Law of Separation, efficiently dispersing and scattering the flow of energies within the whirlpool. The onlookers, including Ya Li, were left stunned as Nero effectively solved the problem posed by the Elemental Chaos with his unique ability.

Tang Wulin, temporarily boosted by Xu Lizhi's bloodthirsty bun, approached Nero with ghost-like speed, launching a flurry of punches. Nero effortlessly caught his punches and, gripping Tang Wulin by the collar, hurled him straight toward Gu Yue. Nero was ready to eliminate them, fully aware of Tang Wulin's stubbornness. However, fate had other plans, as Tang Wulin and Gu Yue suddenly found themselves enveloped in a nine-colored light. Nero recognized this as the martial fusion skill from the original timeline. Before the nine-colored light could fully manifest a blue halo covered the battlefield, followed by a blinding flash of light that disrupted Gu Yue and Tang Wulin's martial soul fusion skill.

"Domain!" Elder Cai exclaimed in shock, a sentiment shared by the other judges. This was a Domain Nero had created using Yamato's Law of Separation. Within this domain, he could execute Separation law on anything as long as he had the Demonic-spirit energy to maintain it. Wu Zhangkong and Shen Yi quickly took Gu Yue and Tang Wulin to the infirmary, while Nero, after nodding to Elder Cai, gently carried Yuanen Yehui. The crowd watched in awe and respect as Nero walked away, leaving them astonished by his incredible abilities.

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