“Let me briefly introduce the two contestants. The man in the red uniform is Su Mu, also known as Fox King. He's an inner court student of the Monster Academy and one of the far-famed Monster Eight Kings. His martial soul is the Nine-Tailed Fox, and he has the Nine-Tailed Fox bloodline in him. He's a rank 54 soul master and the best control-type soul master in all of Monster Academy.

“The one in the green uniform is Tang Wulin. He is a delegate from the Douluo Continent and a student of the Shrek Academy. His soul power is between rank 41 and rank 43, I think. He has incredible strength, and he's an a.s.sault-type soul master.”

Naturally, she knew much about Su Mu, and she had inferred Tang Wulin's abilities from his previous matches.

“From what we know about them,” Fang'er continued, “Su Mu should be stronger than Tang Wulin. But there's another thing I think worth mentioning: Su Mu is eighteen years and eight months old, while Tang Wulin is fifteen years old.”

Hearing this, the audience in the stands went into an uproar again; one didn't need to be an expert in soul masters to know what this meant.

Although she knew her commentary would probably offend many people – who took so much pride in the Star Luo Empire that they felt superior in every way – she decided to say everything in her heart. “Yet despite his young age, Tang Wulin proved to be a worthy opponent; and I believe the boy from the faraway Douluo Continent is an even more talented soul master than Su Mu.

“Now, let's get into the details of this match. There's no doubt that Su Mu was in control at the beginning.”

The video recommenced rolling. Fang'er explained Su Mu's soul skills and their effects, making the audience understand Tang Wulin's reaction better.

Then the video froze when Tang Wulin was about to unleash his Golden Dragon Dreadclaw.

“Now Tang Wulin is going to slash at Su Mu with his claw, and that's the turning point in this match. Because of this one single slash, Su Mu lost this match. Why, you might ask, did he have to block the attack with his tails? Because he didn't expect the attack from someone who's weaker than him would render his repelling ring useless. In other words, he was too confident.”

The video was now playing in slow motion. On the screens, five dark gold beams of light shot out of Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Dreadclaw and bit deep into Su Mu's five tails.

The audience could see clearly how the frightening beams of light cut through Su Mu's dense fur and went at least halfway into his tails. Su Mu's face twisted in agony.

“And yes, Su Mu immediately went all out after Tang Wulin's attack, but it was already a little too late. His martial soul is the Nine-Tailed Fox, and he derives his power from his tails, but he couldn't, not when they had been severely injured. He didn't use his battle armor, because the condition of his tails left him incapable of wearing it. So when Tang Wulin managed to force his way through the five rings, he gave up.

“In conclusion, it was not his opponent that did Su Mu in; it was his overconfidence. I don't know if things could have been different if Su Mu had been more cautious and used his battle armor when he could, because I haven't seen Tang Wulin's full power. Speaking of Tang Wulin's power, we haven't figured out what his martial soul is, and we still don't know why he has two golden soul rings. Hopefully the following matches will answer our questions. By the way, I'll be commentating on Tang Wulin's every match from now on.

“We need to look on the bright side. This misfortunate has got us thinking about our shortcomings. We might stumble, we might fall, but we always get back up!”

She gave an encouraging smile at the end of her commentary.

Some people disagreed with her, and some even called her names, because they thought she had overestimated Tang Wulin's skills. But most people could see that she was spurring the Monster Academy, and that she was warning all the contestants from the Star Luo Empire that the young students of the Shrek Academy should not be trifled with.

Her commentary was a terrible blow to Su Mu's pride – she had exposed the lie he had told when he conceded to Tang Wulin.

The Shrek Academy group was also watching Fang'er's commentary on the soul screen hanging on the wall in the hotel lobby.

“That's some insightful observations she has made!” exclaimed Xie Xie.

Tang Wulin nodded his agreement. “She has sharp eyes. We need to be more careful from now on and conceal our abilities as best as we can. If they find out more about us, it won't be easy to win the tournament.” Even his seemingly easy victory today came at a price, albeit a small one. If Su Mu had taken me more seriously… Anyway, he's out. We don't need to worry about him for now. Our most formidable rival is Long Yue. Just thinking about him makes my hand shake.

Under the pressure of public opinion and the Monster Academy, everyone went back to their respective quarters to train, except for Ye Xinglan. She had another mission to complete – making battle armor for her teammates. She was acc.u.mulating experience in the process, trying to get the hang of it. She was quiet and tenacious; she never gave up. More likely than not, she would beat her teammates to becoming the first one-word battle armor master.

Su Mu suffering an upset had spiced up the tournament. The government had sent in the military to maintain order but hadn't made any official statements though.