At this moment, as Long Aotian lay completely motionless in the deep crater outside the arena, tens of thousands of spectators were plunged into an unprecedented state of shock.
The once-noisy Mingdu Plaza had fallen into deathly silence. Countless eyes stared blankly at the massive pit before slowly shifting to the calm, black-clad figure standing on the stage.
No one had imagined that once Liu Yuan truly chose to act, the battle would end in such an extreme and overwhelming fashion.
In a single instant, Long Aotian—the greatest dark horse of this tournament and the successor of the Body Sect—had been instantly defeated.
In previous matches, the terrifying physical strength and near–Spirit Saint–level combat outbursts Long Aotian displayed had already driven countless Spirit Masters to despair.
Yet in front of Liu Yuan, he appeared unbearably fragile, like a child who had no ability to fight back at all.
This vast disparity in strength caused everyone present to experience a severe cognitive dissonance regarding the very concept of an "expert."
Within the Shrek Academy rest area, everyone seemed to have been struck by lightning, frozen in a prolonged daze.
Wang Donger was completely stunned.
Her beautiful eyes were filled with disbelief, her clenched fists trembling slightly from the shock.
Even after witnessing Long Aotian's Unity of Man and Nature, she hadn't been entirely certain she could defeat him.
She knew all too well that such offensive and defensive power already represented the absolute limit of what peers of their age could achieve.
Yet Liu Yuan had blasted him away so effortlessly—without even giving him time to react.
Didn't that mean that if she were standing opposite Liu Yuan, the outcome would be exactly the same?
Instant defeat.
At that moment, Wang Donger involuntarily recalled the words Tang Ya had once said to her on the streets of the Bright Capital.
Tang Ya had said that Liu Yuan and everyone else in this tournament were already on completely different levels.
Back then, Wang Donger had felt nothing but disdain, believing Tang Ya was viewing him through rose-tinted glasses because of the favors she had received from Liu Yuan.
But now, having witnessed this scene with her own eyes, she finally realized that those words were not only true—but perhaps even an understatement.
The Liu Yuan before her had reached a height where she couldn't even see his back clearly.
The gazes of Huo Yuhao, Bei Bei, and the others were equally complex.
As the captain, Bei Bei looked toward Liu Yuan with bitterness filling his heart. He could clearly feel that the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul within him was no longer merely trembling—it had fallen into deep submission. This was the absolute suppression of a superior dragon lineage over an inferior one.
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao repeatedly tried to recall the images captured by his Spiritual Detection, only to realize that Liu Yuan's speed had been so fast that even his detection could only register a vague blur of energy fluctuations.
Ma Xiaotao was also deeply shaken.
Having personally fought Liu Yuan in Star Luo City, she understood his strength better than anyone else.
She knew that Liu Yuan's most terrifying aspect wasn't this Extreme Speed driven purely by ultimate kinetic energy. What truly inspired despair was his Dragon Dance, which could continuously stack and amplify his basic attributes.
Back then, he had defeated her precisely by repeatedly stacking his power.
In Ma Xiaotao's understanding, once Liu Yuan fully stacked his enhancements, he would become completely unstoppable.
But now, the terrifying reality was that Liu Yuan hadn't even used Dragon Dance at all. Relying solely on basic attacks and Extreme Speed, he had already left everyone utterly bewildered.
This meant that over the past five years, Liu Yuan's growth had reached an absurd level that completely defied common sense.
High in the spectator stands, Xuan Zi appeared to be the most shaken of all.
He stared fixedly at Liu Yuan's half-human, half-dragon form, his eyes bloodshot as he muttered repeatedly, "Impossible… this is absolutely impossible…"
As a Super Douluo, his realm was far above that of the young competitors below. In that brief exchange, through his perception of spirit power and mental force, he had seen far more than ordinary spectators ever could.
He keenly sensed that the spirit power fluctuations around Liu Yuan were extraordinarily condensed. That high-speed rotation and self-circulation of spirit power were fundamentally different from those of an ordinary Spirit Saint.
He had only ever felt that unique, heavy quality of spirit power from Titled Douluo who had cultivated a Soul Core.
Liquefying spirit power and condensing a Soul Core was the defining threshold of a Titled Douluo.
Yet Liu Yuan clearly possessed only seven spirit rings—he was merely a Spirit Saint.
How could a Spirit Saint condense a Soul Core in advance without reaching the level-ninety bottleneck?
This completely overturned Xuan Zi's understanding of cultivation accumulated over centuries, making him subconsciously resist believing such a horrifying possibility.
Meanwhile, on the arena.
Once Liu Yuan took action, the outcome of the match was already decided.
Long Aotian, the core combat force of the Body Sect, had been blasted more than a hundred meters away, his life or death unknown. This alone was a devastating blow to the remaining Body Sect members.
Their strongest fighter hadn't even lasted a single exchange. Under the pressure of Liu Yuan's blood-red hundred-thousand-year spirit ring, the fighting will of the others had completely collapsed.
Liu Yuan didn't stop just because Long Aotian had been removed from the field.
Since he had decided to end this farce, he would leave no hidden dangers behind.
His figure vanished once more.
Accompanied by a series of sharp explosive sounds, the remaining Body Sect members couldn't even glimpse the hem of his clothing before being blown straight off the stage by terrifying shockwaves.
From the moment Liu Yuan acted to the end of the team match, less than ten seconds had passed.
The referee stood frozen at the edge of the arena. It wasn't until the last Body Sect member crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust that he finally snapped back to his senses.
With a trembling hand, he pointed toward the Sun Moon Royal Team's seats and announced loudly:
"The match is over! The Sun Moon Royal Team wins!"
Following the announcement, the members of the Sun Moon Royal Team left the stage in an orderly manner.
Wang Qiuer had regained her composure by now. Walking behind Liu Yuan, she looked at his back, her eyes still carrying traces of complicated emotions from when he had rescued her earlier.
On the Shrek Team's side, everyone felt as though their hearts were weighed down by iron.
Ma Xiaotao keenly noticed Xuan Zi's abnormal state.
For some time now, he had been muttering under his breath, his demeanor clearly unsettled.
She stepped forward and asked softly, concern evident in her voice, "Elder Xuan, what's wrong? What exactly is this 'Soul Core' you keep talking about? Why did Liu Yuan's actions affect you so deeply?"