The next morning after breakfast, the two instructors led the group into the Sun-Moon City's Star Dou Grand Spirit Arena.
The arena had an ancient Roman style, structured like a circular coliseum. The center was an open area where soul masters battled, surrounded by rows of spectator stands.
The two instructors had clearly made prior arrangements. After leading the group into the arena, they went through a simple soul power verification and were quickly guided into the waiting area.
"Your opponents today are a local team from the Sun-Moon Empire. Their soul power is about the same as yours, so be especially careful with their soul tools. That's the biggest difference between them and us," the leading instructor reminded them.
Although Spider God Academy now offered soul tool courses and provided some soul tools to students, they were still far behind the Sun-Moon Empire in this area.
It was precisely for this reason that they had brought the students here early—to get used to the combat style of this region.
The students all nodded earnestly. In fact, they already had some understanding of soul tools, more or less. Even Fang Chang had fought Xu Sheng before.
About half an hour later, the match began, and both teams entered the field in order.
On Fang Chang's side were him, Zhu Zhu, and five other team members. Since Tang Jiu's death, their lineup now consisted of two Power Attack types, two Agility Attack types, two Support types, and one Control type.
Other than Fang Chang, the rest were equipped with basic soul tools, making their lineup fairly strong.
Their opponents, however, were all Power Attack types—seven figures wrapped in what looked like iron shells.
It was vaguely visible that their soul power levels were around Soul King, but with the enhancement of their battle armor, they were nearly comparable to weaker Soul Emperors.
As soon as they entered the arena, the seven Sun-Moon Empire soul masters, clad in identical armor, launched a synchronized barrage using their arm-mounted soul tools.
All at once, they raised their transformed arms, which morphed into small cannons, and under the infusion of soul power, fired blazing beams of light straight at Fang Chang's team.
Having spent most of their time inside the academy, the students had never seen such an assault before. Panic immediately set in, and they hurriedly used their own abilities to block the attack.
Ning Wan'er from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect summoned her Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, sending five beams of light to empower five members—deliberately excluding the girl wielding the Eight Avian Umbrella.
That girl responded in kind. Her umbrella manifested five phantom avian figures that provided boosts to everyone except Ning Wan'er, before moving to guard her flanks.
The augmentations from the two Support-type soul masters were effective, though not perfectly synchronized. Still, it was a little stronger than what a single Support-type soul master could offer alone.
At the very front, Yu Nantian from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan roared furiously, electricity crackling over his body as he rushed toward the incoming barrage.
With the aid of the Support-types, his soul power temporarily broke through the sixtieth level, allowing him to intercept nearly half the incoming blasts.
The two Agility Attack types also leapt into action. One wielded a Flying Sword as his martial soul, while the other's was a Spirit Crane. Weaving through the battlefield, they blocked several more beams.
By then, only three of the original fourteen beams remained. Zhu Zhu instantly activated her fourth soul skill—Web Wall.
A massive shield-like barrier of spiderweb formed out of thin air in front of Fang Chang's group.
The remaining fire blasts struck it, burning the web wall to ashes, but were successfully blocked in the process.
Before the team could celebrate, their opponents unleashed another round of attacks in the exact same posture. Roars of "Boom! Boom! Boom!" filled the arena as waves of fire rained down, turning the battlefield crimson.
The crowd outside the arena erupted in cheers—this was the true might of the Sun-Moon Empire. They wanted these outsiders to get a taste of it.
Facing such overwhelming firepower, everyone on Fang Chang's team except for him looked grim—especially the two Support-types, who instinctively retreated to the rear of the group.
"This isn't going to work. Yu Nantian, hold them off. The two of us will flank and try to take one or two down—that'll ease the pressure," one of the Agility Attackers called to Yu Nantian.
He glanced at Fang Chang, wanting to bring him along too, but seeing him standing idle without any intention of moving, he could only shake his head helplessly.
With that, he and his companion dashed along the flanks, targeting the weakest-looking opponent.
Yu Nantian roared again, his clothes bursting as he activated his Martial Soul Possession. Thunderbolts exploded outward, intercepting as many blasts as he could to protect the rear.
Zhu Zhu decisively activated her sixth soul skill, forming a deadly web array—not to entrap but to defend.
Endless threads of spider silk blocked most of the fire blasts aimed at the backline, though a few slipped through.
That's when the girl wielding the Eight Avian Umbrella truly shined. The five avian phantoms swept around like a storm, momentarily bursting with the power of a high-tier Power Attack soul master.
In contrast, Ning Wan'er and Fang Chang simply stood idle.
The attacks from the two Agility Attackers reached their target, but only resulted in a string of clanging metal sounds. Their rhythm wasn't disturbed in the slightest.
Clearly, the battle armor not only enhanced offensive power but significantly boosted defense. These seven were practically emotionless war machines.
"Hey, Fang Qi, are you going to make a move or not? If you don't hurry, I won't be able to hold on anymore."
Zhu Zhu's web array was disintegrating quickly, unable to regenerate fast enough to compensate for the destruction. She turned to Fang Chang with a face full of frustration.
"Alright, alright, I got it. I was just analyzing their weaknesses." Fang Chang waved his hand casually, stepping out from the silk barrier. He raised his right hand and punched toward the distance.
A wave of compressed air surged across the battlefield, striking the central opponent in the spot where the chest and abdominal plates met—exactly where the armor was weakest.
With a dull bang, the man was sent flying five or six meters, his battle armor shattering into pieces mid-air.
Seeing Fang Chang's success, the two observant Agility Attackers quickly recognized the same weakness and shifted their attacks toward the chest-abdomen joint areas.
Soon after, they dismantled two more sets of armor and began assaulting the bodies beneath.
"That's enough—we surrender!" the opposing team's leader quickly shouted, stepping forward.
If the fight continued, defeat was inevitable—and they'd lose several expensive suits of armor as well. No one needed to do the math to see that wasn't worth it.