Volume 2: Shenzhou Academy & The Battle of Venice
Chapter 196
Opening of the World Tournament
The Adriatic Sea at eight in the morning was torn apart by the roaring thunder of thousands of anti-gravity magic vehicles and the surging cheers of more than a hundred thousand spectators.
The Venice Oceanus Colosseum officially flung open its towering jade-stone Sea-Suppressing archways. Seen from above, the colossal elliptical structure presiding over the sea gulf resembled an ancient crown studded with glittering sapphires. Four sealing towers, hundreds of meters tall, pierced straight into the azure sky. Their summits continuously emitted pale blue fluorescent ripples that intertwined to form an immense transparent magic barrier dome, enclosing the entire three-square-kilometer combat sea arena below.
On the steep tiered stands, one hundred thousand seats were packed without a single gap. A sea of people of every skin color squeezed together, the national flags of over forty countries fluttering fiercely in the salty sea breeze. Hundreds of Hawk-Eye Magic Eyes—state-of-the-art optical transmission devices operated by the International Magic Association—swarmed the sky like a flock of seagulls, live-broadcasting every single development on the combat stage to billions of viewers across all continents.
At precisely eight-thirty, the booming, resonant call of Giant Whale horn trumpets echoed across the arena, drowning out all chaotic noise.
On the gilded VIP stand, international Grand Referees clad in deep red robes trimmed with silver, alongside the supreme councilors of the Magic League, had gathered in full force.
“Welcome, all of humanity, to this glorious arena of supreme courage and pinnacle magic!”
The booming voice of the Chief Arbiter echoed against every stadium wall: “After three days of assembly, the thirty-two most elite national teams are ready. The drawing ceremony for the knockout group stage officially begins!”
No sooner had his voice fallen than a colossal crystal orb named the “Destiny Magic Sphere” rose from the deep waters, radiating dazzling seven-colored light. Under the coordination of spatial magic arrays, thirty-two crystal blocks bearing national flags separated one by one, dropping into four glowing pillars representing the tournament groups.
Group A: Team USA, Team Egypt, Team Australia, Team South Africa.
Group B: Team British Empire, Team Japan, Team Canada, Team Turkey.
Group C: Team Germany, Team France, Team Brazil, Team South Korea.
And when the magic orb made its final rotation to unveil the lineup for Group D, the entire stadium instantly erupted in astonishment.
On the massive magic electronic scoreboard, four names gleamed in brilliant golden light:
1. Team Western Union (Group Seed).
2. Team Nordic.
3. Team Shenzhou.
4. Team Southeast Asia.
“The Group of Death! Truly the Group of Death of this season!” The lead European television commentator shouted excitedly into the sound-amplification mic: “Team Western Union boasts a notorious heavy-weight magical artifact arsenal, colliding with Team Nordic—giants born with the innate powers of howling gales and water-lightning upon the sea. Add in Team Southeast Asia, crawling with insidious venom arts. Falling into this group, Team Shenzhou’s chances of advancing past the group stage are practically zero!”
“Precisely,” her female colleague chimed in with a sneer: “Last term Shenzhou struggled immensely just to scrape into the top 16 before crashing out pathetically. Meeting two steel mountains like Western Union and Nordic right off the bat this year, the Eastern dragon will probably have to pack its bags and go home after just three matches.”
Mocking laughter and jeering whistles from the Western fan blocks broke out across every corner of the stands.
In the technical zone of Team Western Union, captain Gabriel—the fellow who had just been crushed to the point of coughing up blood by Lin Feng’s spiritual pressure in the hotel lobby yesterday—sat grinding his teeth so hard they nearly fractured. The medical bandage wrapped around his collar still stained with medicinal ointment, his bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the Shenzhou section: “You’re dead meat... Eastern earthworms, let’s see what you use to fight our Western Union after being pulverized by the Nordics!”
In stark contrast to the noisy slanders outside, Team Shenzhou’s area was eerily tranquil.
Advisor Tan Leng stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his steely gaze sweeping over the ten young competitors: “How the draw turned out doesn’t matter. If we want the gold trophy, smash any obstacle in our path. Our first match takes place right after the opening ceremony against Team Nordic.”
He turned his gaze toward the youth seated in the center: “Lin Feng, how shall we arrange the lineup?”
Lin Feng slowly stood up, the black hem of his golden-bordered robe uncreased and immaculate. His eyes swept across four of his teammates:
“Ye Lingtian, Ye Qingwan, Han Yue, Xie Zhaoyuan. The four of you take the stage with me.”
The four replied in unison, crisp and clear: “Understood!”
“The tactics are very simple,” the corners of Lin Feng’s lips curled into an indifferent arc: “The enemy relies on the open sea to wield Wild Winds and Water-Lightning. We will shatter the very thing they pride themselves on. Wrap it up in five minutes; don’t make us late for lunch.”
An aura of calm yet supreme arrogance caused the flames of fighting spirit in the eyes of Ye Lingtian and Han Yue to flare brilliantly.
“Respected spectators! The Group D opening match between Team Nordic and Team Shenzhou is about to begin!”
The magic loudspeaker reverberated across the entire bay. The array system of the Oceanus Colosseum instantly whirred to life with a deep rumble from the ocean floor.
“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”
The seawater inside the barrier surged violently. Dozens of colossal submarine stone pillars jagged with black coral thrust upward from beneath the surface, soaring over ten meters high. Three-meter-high raging waves smashed relentlessly against the stone platforms, sending up blinding white sheets of spray. It was a harsh, turbulent marine terrain—the ultimate operational environment for Water, Wind, and Lightning mages.
From the northern gate, five Nordic competitors strode out.
All five stood over one meter ninety, their shoulders broad as grizzly bears, draped in snow-wolf-fur-trimmed magical beast leather armor. Leading them was Ragnar, a youth with shoulder-length blonde hair, holding a round shield inlaid with lightning metal, his gaze as fierce and predatory as a wolf. He raised his arm high and let out a barbaric roar amidst the frantic cheers of tens of thousands of Western fans.
From the southern gate, five figures from Shenzhou stepped out in silence.
Lin Feng walked at the forefront, his footsteps light and effortless across the stone bridge leading to the central reef platform. Behind him were Ye Lingtian with his deep silver pupils, the graceful and ethereal Ye Qingwan, the cold and haughty Han Yue, and Xie Zhaoyuan, as steadfast as a mountain boulder.
The two teams halted on two reef outcroppings roughly two hundred meters apart. Between them lay churning, roaring deep water.
The head referee hovered mid-air on Wind Wings, holding his signal flag aloft:
“Both sides take your positions! Prepare...”
Ragnar bared his white teeth in a grin, roaring across the open water in the international tongue: “Frail weaklings of Shenzhou! Today, let the Viking warriors show you the cruelty of the deep sea! Sink them for me!”
“BEGIN!”
The signal flag swung down fiercely!
“WHAM!”
The instant the command rang out, the five Nordic competitors did not hesitate in the slightest. The magic star constellations beneath their feet simultaneously blazed with brilliant light!
The two Wind-element mages of Nordic stomped their heels down, flinging their arms high into the sky:
“Wind Table - Heavenly Net Formation!”
Two dark grey tornadoes over thirty meters in diameter instantly formed over the water surface, whipping thousands of cubic meters of seawater into the air, transforming into two furious, howling wind-water vortex pillars that hurtled straight toward the Shenzhou formation at astonishing speed!
Simultaneously, Ragnar and the other two slammed their lightning-inlaid shields against the sea surface:
“Water-Lightning Wrath Tide - Ten Thousand Wild Waves!”
The Adriatic Sea became the perfect conduit. Thousands of deep-blue lightning bolts crackled and intertwined into a gigantic, dense electric web enveloping the surging waves, merging with the two vortex pillars to form a twin storm array. Wherever the sea spray lashed, the lightning tore the air apart!
“Exquisite! A textbook coordinated strike of Wild Winds and Water-Lightning from Nordic!” The commentator shrieked: “They intend to end the match in the very first wave of assault! Shenzhou has nowhere to run!”
Facing the approaching storm wall of lightning and gale, Lin Feng remained standing with his arms crossed, not even bothering to blink.
“Zhaoyuan.” His voice rang out, sharp and concise.
“Here!”
Xie Zhaoyuan sprang forward to the edge of the stone ledge, crossing his arms before his chest as pure Light-element mana erupted brilliantly:
“Light Protection - Divine Sacred Shield!”
A hexagonal golden light wall standing fifteen meters tall and over two meters thick rose imposingly. On the surface of the barrier, sacred rune characters spun continuously, radiating an indestructible, resolute defensive aura!
“BOOM! BOOM! CRACKLE!”
The lightning storm and violent waves smashed heavily against the shield of light. Deep blue lightning bolts clawed savagely at the golden surface, producing a string of ear-piercing screeches and brilliant bursts of sparks, yet Xie Zhaoyuan’s wall merely trembled slightly, standing steadfast as a boulder rooted deep within the ocean. All of the fiercest wind and lightning was split right down the middle, deflected off to both flanks!
“What?!” Ragnar’s expression shifted. Their five-man full-power combination strike was blocked this easily by a single optical shield?
“Qingwan, break their wind.” Lin Feng continued his commands.
“Understood.”
Ye Qingwan stepped half a step forward, the emerald silk hem of her robe fluttering wildly in the gale. Her delicate hands danced gracefully as a Wind-element star constellation materialized beneath her heels in the blink of an eye:
“Wind Table - Thousand Leaf Domain!”
Not harsh and brutal like the Nordic winds, Ye Qingwan’s wind was whisper-thin and suffocatingly sharp. Thousands of transparent jade-colored wind blades tore the air apart, spinning at maximum velocity straight into the eye of the two giant vortex pillars!
“SWISH... CRACK!”
Those exquisite wind blades severed every axis of the enemy’s swirling air pressure from within. In just three heartbeats, the two roaring vortex pillars abruptly lost their centrifugal force, bursting apart mid-air into millions of scattered raindrops plunging back down to the sea surface.
The storm was ripped to shreds, exposing a vast, open gap between the two formations!
“They broke it! Fall back and set up the second Water-Lightning formation!” Ragnar shouted, feeling a palpable chill run down his spine.
“You’re only just thinking about retreating?”
A chilling voice rang out from behind the light barrier.
Han Yue stepped forward.
Her expression was utterly unruffled, her long black hair whipping backward in the snowy wind. She lifted the heel of her silver magical boots, then lightly pressed the tip of her toe against the churning sea below.
A circle of pure ice-blue radiance, centered on her toe, abruptly radiated outward at unimaginable speed!
“Ice Lock - Absolute Territory Sealing Frost!”
“CRACK... CRACK... CRUSH!”
A magnificent spectacle that left over a hundred thousand spectators in the stands utterly dumbstruck!
A bone-chilling sub-zero frost carrying temperatures of tens of degrees below zero erupted from Han Yue’s feet. The thousand-meter churning waves of the Adriatic Sea abruptly froze solid right in mid-air. Rising swells transformed into jagged ice mountains; sea spray suspended in the air condensed into tens of thousands of glittering ice needles; and the entire three-square-kilometer deep-water zone of the Oceanus Colosseum was frozen completely solid by a three-meter-thick pristine layer of ice in a single instant!
The boiling seawater vanished.
In its place lay a blindingly white, flat, and frigid plain of snow and ice reminiscent of the desolate extreme north!
Nordic’s entire Water-Lightning system lost its aquatic medium for transmission. The blue lightning bolts wriggled weakly on the ice surface a few times before extinguishing entirely. All five Nordic competitors standing on the reef ledges suddenly slipped and staggered on the slick flooring as a piercing cold current surged straight into their meridian pathways!
“Good heavens... Freezing the entire surface of the arena’s sea?!” At the broadcast desk, the International League’s magic expert jolted upright, eyes glued to the mana meters: “This Ice-element crowd-control power... This is definitely a top-tier Soul Seed! She is merely a young competitor, how can her Ice mana be refined to such a pure degree?!”
The stands plunged into utter astonishment.
“Damn it! Smash the ice for me! Use the ice-breaking hammers!” Ragnar roared in panic. Their signature naval warfare formation had been completely stripped of its environment, turning them into clumsy prey stranded on slippery ice.
Just as he raised his shield to bring it down, a figure clad in a black combat uniform with gold trim appeared less than thirty meters away from him.
Ye Lingtian.
Ye Lingtian’s eyes burned with blinding silver brilliance. Both of his hands spread wide, aimed straight at the five Nordic competitors who were struggling to maintain their balance.
The space surrounding the five of them suddenly twisted violently!
“Spatial Law Enforcement - Telekinetic Gravity Pressure!”
“WHAM!”
The air grew thick and heavy as a thousand-ton lead block crashing down from the heavens!
The three-meter-thick ice beneath the feet of the five Nordic competitors fractured into a spiderweb pattern, sinking half a meter deep under the terrifying invisible pressure. Ragnar and his four teammates felt as though an entire tower had been slammed onto their shoulders; the bones throughout their bodies emitted cracking groans. Their knees trembled violently before collapsing uncontrollably onto the fractured ice!
Every single magic star track they attempted to connect in their minds was instantly snapped and shattered by the spatial shockwave!
“No... Impossible... Spatial element... A preliminary Advanced-stage Spatial mage?!” Ragnar spewed a mouthful of fresh blood, his eyeballs bulging in absolute terror as he realized the opponent hadn’t even bothered to use a magic artifact!
With just four people coordinating smoothly, Team Shenzhou had blocked, neutralized, shattered, and suppressed all five Nordic competitors in under four minutes!
And at that moment, the wielder of the ultimate finishing blow slowly stepped forward.
Lin Feng glided across the snowy ice with leisurely paces, the hem of his black robe swaying gently. He stopped ten steps away from Ragnar, his gaze lowering to look down at the Nordic captain kneeling on the ground panting like a trapped beast.
“Just now, you said... you wanted to teach us the cruelty of the deep sea?”
Lin Feng’s voice was not loud, but it pierced through the acoustic barrier, echoing clearly into every corner of the stands.
Ragnar tremblingly raised his head, his pupils filled with utter dread as he saw that around Lin Feng, deep purple lightning bolts had begun dancing at terrifying speeds.
That was no ordinary natural blue lightning.
That was the deep purple-black lightning of chaos, carrying the violent, world-destroying power of a top-grade Soul Seed—Wild Lightning Absolute Shadow!
“SWISH... BOOM!”
A destructive aura flooded the arena. The ice mist particles in the air were incinerated into water vapor in a fraction of a second by the extreme heat of the lightning. The Lightning-element star constellation beneath Lin Feng’s feet connected perfectly in a tenth of a second—a spell-casting speed far exceeding any standard among young mages!
Lin Feng raised his right index finger, pointing straight at Ragnar’s chest.
“Bolt - Wild Lightning Heart Piercer.”
“BOOOOOOOM!!!”
An earth-shattering explosion tore the eardrums of everyone present in the Venice gulf!
A deep purple-black pillar of lightning, thick as a deity’s spear, shot out from Lin Feng’s fingertip! The lightning strike carried an Absolute Shadow speed three times that of sound, ripping the vacuum of space into an endlessly long pitch-black scar!
The moment it struck Ragnar’s magical shield, the purple-black thunder pillar instantly detonated into a destructive lightning storm!
“CRACK... CRASH!!!”
Ragnar’s high-grade lightning shield shattered into hundreds of scrap metal fragments. All five Nordic competitors, locked tightly in place by spatial gravity, had zero opportunity to evade. The magical beast armor on all of their bodies exploded into ashes under the ravaging sweep of the violent purple-black lightning current!
The shockwave from the explosion hurled all five heavyweight bodies more than thirty meters up into the air, before slamming them like tattered sacks straight into the defensive barrier screen at the edge of the arena!
“WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!”
Five heavy impacts rang out in rapid succession against the violently vibrating mesh barrier. Five charred bodies, their entire frames twitching spasmodically amidst residual arcs of lightning, plummeted freely onto the fractured ice, completely unconscious!
The entire process from the moment Lin Feng pointed his finger until the battle ended took a mere two seconds!
The primordial ice sheet was dead silent.
Only wisps of white smoke rose from the scorched ice, alongside the five figures of Team Shenzhou standing imposingly in the center of the battlefield.
On the magic electronic scoreboard suspended in the sky, the countdown timer stopped at the figures:
04 : 18
Four minutes and eighteen seconds!
An international-level 5v5 match between a Western seed team and Team Shenzhou had ended in a manner so swift and thorough it bordered on cruelty!
The entire Oceanus Colosseum with its over one hundred thousand spectators fell into absolute silence.
Not a single cheer. Not a single whistle.
The international reporters and commentators who had been mocking Shenzhou just minutes prior now stood with jaws agape, microphones nearly slipping from their grasp. Millions of viewers watching through magic screens worldwide sat frozen, unable to believe their eyes.
Pulverized!
A total, overwhelming victory spanning tactics, arena control, and sheer destructive power!
“Gulp...”
The head referee hovering in mid-air swallowed hard, his hand trembling as he raised the signal flag toward the Eastern team, using all his mana to amplify his quivering voice:
“Team... Team Nordic has completely lost combat capability! Group D opening match... Team China claims an overwhelming victory!”
“YYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”
After three seconds of dead silence, the southern stand block—where thousands of overseas compatriots and students from Shenzhou sat—suddenly erupted like an erupting volcano! The red flags with five yellow stars fluttered fiercely across the Venetian sky, cheers roaring loud enough to drown out the waves of the Adriatic!
In the technical stand of Team Western Union, Gabriel fell backward into his seat, his complexion ashen, drained of every drop of blood. His hands trembled uncontrollably.
That deep purple-black “Wild Lightning Heart Piercer”... That speed and destructive might far surpassed the limits of ordinary magic! Yesterday in the hotel, that kid surnamed Lin truly hadn’t even unleashed a tenth of his actual strength!
In Team USA’s section, the arrogant blonde captain slowly stood straight, his falcon eyes narrowing with a deadly, cautious edge. He glanced at Lin Feng’s nameplate on the big screen, whispering in a low voice: “Lin Feng... Shenzhou’s captain? This is getting interesting.”
Down on the stage, Lin Feng withdrew his finger, lightly brushing an invisible speck of dust from the lapel of his uniform.
He raised his head slightly, his calm gaze piercing through the transparent magic barrier to halt directly on the positions of Team Western Union and Team USA high up in the stands. A cold, intensely provocative smile clearly bloomed at the corners of the youth’s lips.
A single opening match was enough to wake the entire world.
Yet this was merely the prelude to a grand epic of thunder. From this day forward, the Venice Colosseum would have to learn to bow before the lightning of Shenzhou!