Chapter 14 — The "King" Who Rules Over Evil
"Hey, seniors, why aren't you coming up? What's wrong scared?"
"Or are you all planning to just forfeit and hand me the trophy yourselves?"
Lin Fan's voice wasn't particularly loud, but he channeled his soul power to carry each word precisely, driving them into the eardrums of every person in the audience like nails.
The crowd immediately erupted. The younger students shot him furious glares, and a few hot-headed ones nearly charged forward — only to be grabbed back by their companions in time.
As angry as they were, they all understood one thing: Lin Fan's strength was far beyond what his rank suggested. Rushing up there would only bring humiliation.
The older students weren't much different. Plenty of them wanted to go up and wipe the smirk off his face — but they held back. They all knew the math.
Beating Lin Fan? Pointless — he was a first-year.
Losing to Lin Fan? Shameful.
Better to play dead.
In the end, they'd all be dealing with the elite sixth-years anyway, and possibly getting thrown off the stage by Gold Class seniors. There was no reason to get beaten up twice just to save face.
While he kept up his taunting, Lin Fan's eyes drifted — almost involuntarily — toward the VIP seats.
There sat a strikingly handsome young man. Blond hair, violet eyes, an unmistakable air of nobility — and a face that was about fifty percent identical to Qian Renxue from his past life memories.
And with Golden Crocodile Douluo sitting right beside him, Lin Fan was certain — the figure in the VIP seats was Qian Renxue in disguise.
'Shouldn't she be undercover somewhere? Why is she back?' he wondered quietly, but kept his expression perfectly unbothered, turning back to the crowd below. 'Well? Nobody dares to come up? Can the referee just declare me the winner already?'
Just then, a sixth-year student — thin and skeletal in build — finally snapped. He stormed onto the stage and deposited his entry points into the iron box.
Sixth-year and above challengers were required to pay fifty points upfront just to participate.
"Lin Fan, drop the arrogance! I'll put you in your place!"
Before he could finish, a thunderous crack split the air behind him — a two-meter-tall skeleton rose from the ground, its eye sockets blazing with ghostly fire, its frame wreathed in a sinister, creeping aura.
"Sixth grade, Class 1, Silver Division — Xu Ran, Martial Soul: Skeleton, Level 26, Agility-Attack Type Battle Soul Master! Please give me your guidance!"
A low ripple of shock ran through the audience. "That's 'Ghost Hand' Xu Ran!"
"I heard he's already at the peak of level 26. If he breaks through to 27 this semester, he's Gold Class for sure!"
Lin Fan didn't bother with pleasantries. His Soul Devouring Spider Emperor Martial Soul surged to life around him.
"Referee — can I use a weapon I brought myself?"
"Of course," the referee confirmed.
"Then I'm ready."
"3, 2, 1 — begin!"
Lin Fan raised his right hand — and pressed it slowly downward.
Buzz.
The evil aura uncoiled like something alive. A gloomy, suffocating darkness swallowed the entire arena whole.
Xu Ran had barely settled into his opening stance when his knees buckled.
Thump.
Both knees hit the ground.
He tried to straighten up — but it felt as though invisible spider silk had wound itself around his spine, pulling him down, crushing him flat. He couldn't even lift his head.
Cold sweat ran freely down his face. His jaw trembled.
A metallic taste crept up his throat.
Behind him, his skeletal martial soul — his pride — was shaking violently.
The bones groaned and cracked under the pressure until it too collapsed to its knees beside him.
It no longer felt like he was facing a student five years his junior.
It felt like standing before a 100,000-year-old soul beast.
The evil aura pressed down on him like something physical — something alive and his very soul quaked beneath it.
A skeleton with dark attributes. A touch of eerie aura, a hint of death energy. And this fool had come up here thinking he could rattle someone like Lin Fan — the bearer of an extreme evil martial soul?
Darkness was already a lesser form of evil. Against its absolute extreme, it was nothing.
Unfortunately, Xu Ran had no way of knowing he had just walked up to challenge the king of evil itself.
"I — I surrender! I give up!" Xu Ran's voice shook, his face drained of all color. He felt as though that aura was slowly consuming his soul, and every last scrap of his will to fight had dissolved.
"Hmph. You come up here to challenge me with courage like that?" Lin Fan let out a quiet, contemptuous snort and slowly pulled the aura back into himself.
"Xu Ran — defeated!" The referee's voice rang out, cutting through the heavy atmosphere like a blade.
A beat of stunned silence — then the stands exploded.
"How?! A level 26 agility-type Soul Master got broken by a level 17 without a single move?!"
"Lin Fan is a monster. Level 17 at that age — that's not normal!"
"Xu Ran, what a disgrace. He folded the second his opponent released their aura — pathetic!"
"This has to be staged!"
"It's rigged! There's no way this is real!"
None of the ones shouting had dark-attribute martial souls.
None of them had felt even a fraction of what Xu Ran had felt standing in that ring.
They had no idea.
Lin Fan's lips curved slightly. He swept his gaze across the crowd once more. "Anyone else? Come up all at once if you want don't waste my time."
Another uproar but this time, no one moved toward the stage. Even the older students who had been itching to get involved earlier suddenly found the floor very interesting and refused to meet his eyes.
They might not have fought Xu Ran personally, but they'd all heard the stories.
Then, just as the silence was settling in a voice cut through it.
"Lin Fan. I'll take you on."
Another challenger stepped onto the stage. This one had been arranged in advance by Golden Crocodile Douluo — a student with genuine Gold Class potential.
Golden Crocodile Douluo had already promised him a Gold Class placement as long as he delivered results here. Even if he moved up to the Senior Soul Master Department within the year, his Gold Class seat would be waiting.
Unfortunately for him, his martial soul was Light attribute.
A complete counter to extreme evil.
Another free gift of points.
It was only after Lin Fan fully unleashed his evil aura that Golden Crocodile Douluo finally understood this boy carried extreme evil attributes.
Then came another sixth-year. Also arranged in advance. This one, however, was not at an attribute disadvantage and had broken through to level 28 just one week before the tournament began.
Lin Fan still won. But this time, it was anything but clean. He was pushed to unleash his Death Domain, and even then, it came down to grinding the opponent down through the domain's accumulated poison.
No soul tools were used but it was close.
After that, the referee called out several more times.
No one stepped forward.
Following a brief consultation with the Pope and the Second Elder, the result was formally declared Lin Fan was the winner.
A tournament scheduled for three days had been wrapped up in one.
Only someone with a Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul could have pulled off something like that.
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