Douluo, my clone Groudon

Chapter 269 Memory
Just as Gula was about to respond, Bai Yuan suddenly spoke up: "There's no need to postpone it."

Everyone looked at him. Bai Yuan raised his head, his eyes no longer filled with the previous chaos, but with a clear determination:
“I will fight all seven of them by myself, without using my devouring ability. If I lose, we will leave immediately. If I win, we will be given the right to use the observatory for three days as originally planned.”

Li Zhilong looked at the boy who had almost caused a disaster just now in surprise: "Are you sure? Without using that ability, how are you going to fight against seven Soul Masters of the same level?"

Bai Yuan smiled slightly, releasing his martial soul in its entirety for the first time. Four black spirit rings rose from beneath his feet, eliciting gasps of astonishment—the fourth ring was already ten thousand years old; what terrifying talent!

"My martial spirit has more than just the ability to devour." Bai Yuan walked to the center of the arena. "Please enlighten me."

Gula did not stop him. He also wanted to solve the problem of Bai Yuan's growing appetite, preferably before he fused with the soul spirit.

Bai Yuan stood in the center of the observatory, four jet-black ten-thousand-year soul rings slowly rotating around him, emanating a suffocating sense of oppression.

The seven students from Starry Sky Academy had stood up again, but their faces were still pale and their eyes were full of vigilance.

"Without using the Devouring ability?" The blue-haired boy—Xing Yao, the captain of the Starry Sky Academy team—sneered, feigning disdain: "You think you can defeat the seven of us with just your soul skills?"

Bai Yuan did not answer, but simply raised his right hand and made a "please" gesture.

Li Zhilong looked at both sides and announced in a deep voice, "The match will resume!"

"Change formation!" Xingyao shouted, and the seven of them quickly changed their formation. Complex star patterns lit up beneath their feet, and their soul power was connected to form a whole.

This is the signature combo attack of Starry Sky Academy—the Seven Stars Linked Formation, which can connect the soul power of seven people, combining offense and defense.

Gula and the others retreated to the sidelines. Na'er muttered to herself, "Why is this guy showing off? We could have easily taken care of it if we had all gone at it together."

Wu Siduo crossed her arms, her long black hair moving without wind, which made her white tiger ears look a bit cute: "It's good to teach him a lesson, so he won't always be so arrogant."

Only Gu Yue remained silent, her purple eyes fixed on Bai Yuan's retreating figure. She could sense that Bai Yuan's origins were extraordinary, and he was definitely not an ordinary martial soul, but she couldn't discern the depths of the Abyss.

On the field, Xingyao launched an attack: "First Soul Skill, Starburst Strike!" Seven silver lights shot towards Baiyuan from different angles at the same time, sealing off all evasive space.

Bai Yuan finally moved, but this time he didn't unleash his devouring ability. His first spirit ring lit up: "Abyss Without Form!"

In an instant, his body transformed into a blurry black shadow, and the starlight pierced through the shadow, but it was as if it had struck thin air.

"Where is it?" a female student from Starry Sky Academy exclaimed.

"Up there!" Xingyao suddenly looked up.

Bai Yuan had already leaped into the air at some point, his second soul ring flashing: "Three Heads and Six Arms Dharma Form!"

An invisible pressure suddenly descended, and the seven people's bodies sank simultaneously, causing the light of the star array to dim slightly.

Two more heads grew on Bai Yuan's shoulders, and new, strong arms grew on both sides of his body. The Abyss Maw Martial Soul, which was originally mostly mouthparts, became a giant with three heads and six arms.

The giant's body was covered with shallow slits resembling wounds, which were actually closed mouthparts. The fact that it wasn't unleashing its devouring power diminished its terrifying aura. "Don't panic!" Xingyao gritted his teeth, maintaining formation. "Third Soul Skill, Starlight Shield!" A layer of silver light rose, barely offsetting some of the gravity.

Bai Yuan landed lightly, his massive body seemingly weightless, a hint of appreciation flashing in his eyes: "Not bad teamwork."

Before he finished speaking, he took a step forward, his figure moving with a speed that belied his enormous size. Three phantoms identical to Bai Yuan suddenly appeared and rushed toward the star array from different directions.

The students of Starry Sky Academy scrambled to respond, only to find that these clones were constantly shifting between reality and illusion, making it impossible to determine which one was the real body.

"Focus your attack on one!" Xingyao commanded. The seven of them combined their soul skills to unleash a powerful attack on the leftmost clone, which shattered instantly. But at that moment, the real Bai Yuan had already silently appeared in the center of the formation.

"It's over," Bai Yuan said softly, his six arms suddenly closing together.

A pure darkness erupted from Bai Yuan's center, instantly engulfing the entire star array. In this darkness, starlight was completely swallowed up, and the seven people discovered to their horror that they had lost all sight, and even their soul power perception was blocked.

"What is this?" a student asked, trembling.

"Don't scatter!" Xingyao's voice echoed in the darkness. "Defend back-to-back!"

But it was too late. Seven muffled thuds followed one after another. When the darkness dissipated, all seven members of Starry Sky Academy had fallen to the ground, except for Bai Yuan, who remained standing, his breathing steady as if nothing had happened.

The entire arena fell silent. Even Gu Yue and the others hadn't expected that Bai Yuan could so cleanly and efficiently eliminate seven Soul Masters of the same level without using his Devouring ability.

Li Zhilong was the first to regain his senses and quickly checked on the students. Finding they had only been knocked unconscious and were otherwise unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief and announced, "The match is over. Shrek Academy wins."

The other Starry Sky Academy students watching the match murmured in disbelief. Xingyao was the academy's undisputed number one genius, and his Seven Stars Alignment Formation had never been broken by a Soul Master of the same age, yet today he had suffered such a complete defeat.

Bai Yuan withdrew his martial spirit and walked towards his teammates. Na'er excitedly patted him on the shoulder: "Wow, you've been hiding your abilities all this time, you're actually quite strong!"

“They just took a shortcut.” Bai Yuan shook his head. “Their formation relies on the power of starlight, which is exactly what I can counter.”

Gu Yue suddenly spoke up: "That's not entirely true." Her purple eyes stared directly at Bai Yuan. "In that final moment, I sensed that your martial soul had more than just the ability to devour; didn't I?"

Bai Yuan and Gu Yue exchanged glances for a moment, both equally curious. Gu Yue noticed something and whispered, "What did you see?"

"A dark shadow." Gu Yue's voice was soft, but it made Bai Yuan's pupils shrink slightly. "A pitch-black figure."

Li Zhilong interrupted their conversation: "As agreed, the observatory will be yours to use for the next three days. However..." He looked at the dwindling starlight essence on the dome with a wry smile, "it may take a night for it to recover naturally before it will have any effect."

Gula nodded politely, "Thank you very much. We'll come again tomorrow."

As they left the observatory, Bai Yuan was the last to leave. He looked down at his palm, recalling Gu Yue's words.

Only he himself knew that when he released his fourth soul skill, something did awaken within him—that desire was not just about consuming energy, but more like the memory of some kind of creature.

(End of this chapter)