250: Chapter 242 Hidden Story?

In the lounge, as everyone watched the four people and four spirit beasts vanish from the screen, leaving only Chen Ling and the Golden Thunder Tribulation Spirit visibly suppressing their opponent on the field, looks of satisfaction appeared on their faces.

Furthermore, the Black Death Plague Rat, which was being suppressed so hard by Chen Ling and the Golden Thunder Tribulation Spirit that it couldn't even retaliate, became increasingly agitated and violent. Simultaneously, due to the shift in the rat's emotions, its contracted Beast Tamer, Zhou Shen, began to be enveloped by plague and death energy. Black fur flickered on his face, and his facial structure began to morph into that of a plague rat.

According to common knowledge in Beast Taming studies, this was a typical case where the disparity between the Beast Tamer and the contracted spirit was too great, leading to the Beast Tamer being influenced by the spirit's backlash.

Their own appearance and power, as well as those of their other contracted spirits, would begin to shift toward that specific spirit. In severe cases, even their soul and will would be controlled, eventually resulting in a "Beast-Controlled Human" scenario.

In the eyes of those from the Third Academy who knew the specifics, the situation with the Black Death Plague Rat's Beast Tamer was a case of several people attempting to "deal with a tiger for its skin," only to be controlled by the beast due to their own lack of strength, completely losing the dominance they had originally envisioned.

Regarding this, while the members of the School Team felt disdain for the opponent's lack of strength to even attempt such a gamble, they also felt a hint of anger toward the spirit's act of reverse-controlling its Beast Tamer. Upon seeing this, Xu Yan's thoughts and reaction were much the same.

However, the moment that thought arose, a feeling that something was "not right" suddenly surfaced.

Heavens Mandate Guidance, passive effect, activated once more.

With this, it became obvious; first, he could rule out the possibility of the opponent being influenced and controlled by their newly contracted spirit.

Having made a clear judgment, he worked backward to solve the puzzle. With both the Heavens Mandate Guidance and Myriad Affinity Innate Talents active simultaneously, Xu Yan successfully saw things that were originally invisible to the naked eye.

On the field, the Beast Tamer of the Black Death Plague Rat and his other contracted spirits indeed possessed a significant amount of energy from the Black Death Plague Rat, feeling as though they were being assimilated by it.

However, with the assistance of his Innate Talent, Xu Yan caught a glimpse of the truth hidden beneath the surface of the Beast Tamer being reverse-influenced by the spirit:

It wasn't the Black Death Plague Rat actively influencing and controlling the Beast Tamer and the other spirits; rather, it was the Beast Tamer and the other spirits who were actively and subtly absorbing the power and origin from the Black Death Plague Rat to enhance their own potential and foundation.

It was just that, under the guidance of some special external force, the Black Death Plague Rat hadn't noticed this. Instead, it was even gloating over the fact that the Beast Tamer was about to be brought under its control as the reverse influence deepened.

Moreover, this situation wasn't limited to just the Black Death Plague Rat and its Beast Tamer.

After Mirror World and Endless Prison were activated, two additional screens appeared in the Third Academy's lounge—screens they had chosen not to make public. On these screens, the Lucky White Moth and Bitter Thorn Spirit, as well as their Beast Tamers, who were in extreme disadvantages in their one-on-one battles against the Empty Mirror Fox and Prison Bian, were showing similar signs.

Looking at the people and spirit beasts on the three screens before him, a look of realization appeared on Xu Yan's face.

Then, he spoke directly to his teammates beside him: "I have some guesses I need to verify. For the next round, let's choose an Arena Match with six people on each side. I'll go first, how about it?"

In response, although they didn't know exactly what Xu Yan had guessed, they unanimously agreed to the proposal out of trust and understanding of his strength.

As this decision was made, the battle on the field also reached its conclusion.

The summoned sub-bodies and the deliberately spread plague energy all dissipated under the golden lightning. Having lost its swarm and decoys, the Black Death Plague Rat, whose combat and survival capabilities were weakened to their lowest point, was finally submerged in an endless sea of golden thunder.

At the same time, the figures of Lin Heng and the Empty Mirror Fox, as well as Zhao Zhen and the Prison Bian—two people and two spirit beasts—reappeared in the Death Arena. As for their opponents, because the protection mechanism was triggered by fatal damage, they returned to the preparation area along with the person and rat that had dissipated in the sea of thunder.

Thus, with one side being suppressed and the other two battles invisible, the first match of the Round of 16 ended. The Third Academy successfully took the win in an absolute crushing fashion.

After a fifteen-minute break, the second battle began.

Without any delay, the Third Academy, having already made their decision, directly submitted their choice for the battle format.

Arena Match, six people per side, each person limited to using one spirit beast; the side that fights to the end wins.

In the other lounge, looking at the match format appearing on the screen, the expressions of the people from the Fictional Advanced Vocational Academy became very unsightly.

They knew exactly what they had done. Coupled with the Third Academy's fighting style in the previous round, which involved no testing and no holding back, they also knew that the Third Academy definitely wouldn't give them any chance to perform.

With this realization, the opponent's choice was essentially telling them outright: no matter your strength or how many trump cards you have, the Third Academy only intends to deploy one person and one spirit beast to suppress you until you have no chance to resist.

This blatant contempt immediately caused the six spirit beasts currently "leading" the Fictional Advanced Vocational Academy's School Team to feel extreme rage.

Under the influence of the six spirit beasts, the six contracted humans also "displayed" an equivalent level of anger—or even more intense anger because the opponent had insulted the six spirit beasts. This made the six spirit beasts feel a sense of pride and self-satisfaction alongside their rage.

After some discussion, the map chosen by the Fictional Advanced Vocational Academy for this round was the Tropical Rainforest.

As the battle began, Xu Yan, who had entered the rainforest via a teleportation array, summoned Zhu Yan while activating his Innate Talent.

As Zhu Yan's figure appeared, the opponent's exact location and every move were simultaneously projected into Xu Yan's mind from the rainforest under the effect of the Myriad Affinity Innate Talent.

In the first match of the Arena, where neither side knew the other's starting player, the opponent Xu Yan faced was the Lucky White Moth and its Beast Tamer.

When the synchronized projection came from the rainforest, the opponent was rapidly stacking various luck buffs on themselves, wasting no time at all. Clearly, the "surprise attack" from Lin Heng and the others in the first round had left a very deep impression on them.