This was because the academy had discovered that he had a massive problem, which was his bloodlust.
During his youth, Yun Tianheng's family had been struck by misfortune, leading him to develop a very twisted and introverted personality. He rarely communicated with anyone, and his problems weren't very apparent when he first entered the academy. On the surface, he seemed to be a driven and hard-working young man.
However, his true nature was revealed during an incident, leading to his expulsion.
By the time Yun Tianheng left Shrek Academy, his cultivation rank was already very high, but due to the fact that Shrek Academy had confiscated his battle armor and had expelled him, he had been reduced to a normal Soul Master, and a very unpopular one, at that.
After that, he joined the Spirit Pagoda, and that was when he had begun forging his notorious reputation.
He was the first person to lay waste to the entire elementary Spirit Ascension Plane.
According to the rules of the elementary Spirit Ascension Plane, there was a time limit, but he somehow managed to bypass that time limit, and apparently, he had done so through bribing the employees at the Spirit Pagoda.
After that, he cultivated for an entire year in the elementary Spirit Ascension Plane. During that year, he slew almost all of the soul beasts in the elementary Spirit Ascension Plane in order to enhance his own soul spirits, and he had even targeted the other Soul Masters that entered the elementary Spirit Ascension Plane. Among those Spirit Ascension Planes, many of them were horrifically tortured before being killed by him, and after returning to the real world, all of them developed severe mental problems.
There were people who theorized that it was quite possible that Yun Tianheng had been allowed to stay in the Spirit Ascension Plane by the Spirit Pagoda in order to prevent other Soul Masters from being able to stay in there for too long. However, after this was exposed, the Spirit Pagoda announced that this was an error on their part, and that all of the employees involved had been fired.
After that, Yun Tianheng had participated in several federal culls of sea soul beasts, slaying countless sea soul beasts with his battle axes.
As for whether he had ever killed any people, that was a mystery, but he was definitely a dangerous strike weapon for the Spirit Pagoda. In the Spirit Pagoda, his role was that of an enforcer. As for what laws he was enforcing, that was something that only the Spirit Pagoda knew.
The Spirit Pagoda had sent out such a notorious figure for the first battle, clearly with the intention of giving Shrek Academy a beatdown from the get-go.
At this point, both of them had already reached an altitude of over 300 meters, and Yun Tianheng lashed out first, hurling the battle ax in his right hand directly toward Lan Muzi with devastating force.
All of a sudden, a vast expanse of red mist appeared in the sky, and a ferocious face was manifested within the mist, opening its cavernous mouth to reveal rows of sharp fangs.
Only now did Lan Muzi release his own martial soul in an unhurried manner. This was a long saber that was around three feet in length, and it was completely nondescript in appearance, looking as if it had been constructed from normal wood.
He also possessed nine black soul rings, and in the instant that this wooden saber appeared, it was as if his eyes had lit up, and a layer of faint reddish-golden light had emerged around him.
The reddish-golden light enveloped his body like a wheel, and Lan Muzi raised his right hand as his first soul ring lit up.
The reddish-golden light around him instantly turned scorching hot, transforming into three scintillating golden suns.
Three resounding clangs rang out in rapid succession, and the Bloodlust Battle Ax was repelled. Even more importantly, most of the vast expanse of crimson mist had also dissipated.
On the ground below, everyone was looking up at the showdown taking place in the sky.
Lan Muzi had always kept such a low profile that even the people of Shrek Academy had rarely ever seen him in action, so the Spirit Pagoda naturally had no information about what his martial soul was.
Lan Muzi had volunteered to take part in this first match. He was once the eldest senior disciple brother of the inner court, and Tang Wulin naturally agreed to his request.
Currently, everyone was waiting for Lan Muzi to display his true power, and the sight of him nullifying Yun Tianheng's attack in such a nonchalant manner instilled everyone with great confidence.
Furthermore, it seemed that Lan Muzi's martial soul was capable of suppressing Yun Tianheng to a certain extent.
Yali smiled, and said, "Don't worry, Wulin, Lan Muzi is more powerful than you'd expect. Prior to your emergence, Brother Ming told me that Lan Muzi was the one he saw to be most fit to succeed him."
Tang Wulin turned to Yali with a surprised expression. "Then doesn't that mean..."
Yali shook her head, and said, "Lan Muzi has the most placid personality out of anyone that I know, and that's directly correlated to his martial soul. He's never been one to compete with others or hold grudges, and that's why he gets along with everyone. Almost every single person in the academy has a positive impression of him; that's not a simple task to achieve. In spite of his easy-going personality, his mental fortitude is exceptional. He was once rated by the seven old demons to be the hardest case to crack as almost nothing could draw a strong emotional response out of him. Of course, he didn't go to the demonic island with Tang Yinmeng for his military training."
Tang Wulin asked, "What's Senior Disciple Brother Lan's martial soul?"
Yali replied, "It's the Yang Wood Saber, and it's very special in that it's completely unique throughout all of history."
This came as quite a shock to Tang Wulin. After all, even his Bluesilver Emperor wasn't unique, and all unique martial souls were generally very powerful.
Yali continued, "Brother Ming had told him that due to the unique nature of his martial soul, he should refrain from engaging in battle unless it was necessary in order to save himself as a secret trump card for the academy."
Tang Wulin nodded in response. Only then did he realize just how powerful this senior disciple brother of his was. At the same time, he suddenly realized something: even Wu Zhangkong respectfully referred to Lan Muzi as his senior disciple brother. Considering how proud Wu Zhangkong was, he definitely wouldn't be so willing to refer to Lan Muzi as his senior unless Lan Muzi's powers were at least comparable to his.
Did this mean that Lan Muzi was even more powerful than Teacher Wu?
He had been the likeliest successor to the Atlas Douluo at some point, so he would at least have to possess the aptitude to become a Limit Douluo in the future.
This was truly an unexpected pleasant surprise!
Yun Tianheng caught his Bloodlust Battle Ax in mid-air, and his expression also faltered slightly. This first attack was more of a testing blow rather than a full-blooded strike, but his Bloodlust Battle Axes possessed extreme destructive power, and even a testing blow would normally be quite difficult to handle for opponents of the same caliber as himself. However, his opponent had nullified the attack with ease with just his first soul skill. What was even more concerning to Yun Tianheng was that the Bloodlust Battle Aura of his martial soul had also been dispelled as his opponent released their martial soul.
Bloodlust Battle Aura was his second soul skill, and it was naturally released during battle, making it an extremely rare passive soul skill.
Bloodlust Battle Aura wasn't a directly offensive soul skill, but it could constantly affect the opponent in subtle ways, instilling fear, panic, and other negative emotions into their hearts, while also enhancing the power of the Bloodlust Battle Axes.
As such, Yun Tianheng would often become more and more powerful the longer a battle wore on for.
As long as his soul power didn't run out, his powers would continue to elevate, and this was precisely due to this second soul skill.