Book 42: One on Ten!
Chapter 574: I've Come!
Tang Ya wasn’t far away, and she hurried over when she heard his voice. Even though she still hadn’t fused with the Bluesilver Emperor, her martial soul was recovering, and she had recovered her strength as an eight-ringed soul master in this time.
The evil soul masters had hurt her badly, but she had managed to keep her strength and improvements. She had recovered her martial soul, and her prowess was increasing linearly. She was now considered one of the stronger ones within the Tang Sect.
Huo Yuhao hurriedly said, “They’re fine. Don’t worry, eldest senior brother. But the Dou Ling Empire is in trouble.”
There were many people around them, so the four of them went into a silent room as Huo Yuhao recounted the entire journey.
Bei Bei’s expression turned black as he listened to his words. An entire country’s royal palace was flattened just like that! If
not for the fact that Xu Sanshi had the Dou Ling Empire’s royal blood in his veins, their problem would be much bigger than this, and the Dou Ling Empire would probably crumble and implode.
Bei Bei heaved a sigh and said, “The continent’s situation is no longer something we can control. We can only do all we can now, and hope for the best. Do you have any suggestions, little junior brother?”
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, “The academy has too much responsibility because they have to protect themselves. The academy cannot abandon Shrek City’s defenses, even though they’re aware that our enemy will not attack. The Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire’s elites are also inside Shrek City. If this continues, when the Sun Moon Empire’s great army launches an all-out attack, neither country will be able to stop the Sun Moon Empire no matter who they choose to target. The academy has preserved the two empire’s elites, but we cannot allow the Sun Moon Empire to destroy the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire just like that. Therefore, our top priority is to draw the Sun Moon Empire’s army away from Shrek City. At least, their target will become a lot more evident after retreating. When that happens, we will have it easier, whether we are trying to hold them back or fighting
against them. At the very least, we will not be dragged by our noses.”
“The Sun Moon Empire’s army is like a bone stuck in our throats. Shrek City’s position has tied up the Star Luo and Dou Ling empire, and they’re not having a good time.”
Bei Bei said, “But what can we do so that the Sun Moon Empire will retreat? That’s almost impossible. They got away with destroying the Dou Ling Empire’s royal palace this time, and that manner can even be replicated.”
“I have an idea,” Huo Yuhao suddenly said.
“Ah?” Tang Wutong was astonished when she heard his words, not to mention Bei Bei or Tang Ya.
“You have an idea? What’s your idea?” Bei Bei said in surprise.
Huo Yuhao clenched his fists subconsciously. “The only way to deal with the Sun Moon Empire’s overt scheme is to surprise
them! And I am the surprise factor. I’m going for a rest, eldest senior brother, Teacher Xiao Ya.”
Huo Yuhao turned to leave as he finished his statement without even explaining things properly.
Bei Bei frowned, but he didn’t chase after Huo Yuhao and allowed him to leave. Tang Wutong hurriedly followed behind him.
Tang Ya nudged Bei Bei and asked, “Why aren’t you asking him what he intends to do?”
Bei Bei shook his head and replied, “I trust him, so I’m not going to ask. Yuhao has grown much more than we have over the past few years, and his personality has become increasingly stable and mature. If somebody else were to go through this matter, that person would probably have panicked a long time ago, and wouldn’t know what to do at all. But he’s not panicking, can’t you see? His eyes are determined, and it’s clear that he’s had a plan all along. Since that’s the case, why should I ask? All we must do is deal with our own matters adequately. Our operation can continue once the Sun Moon Empire retreats.”
Tang Ya nodded and said, “Alright, let’s go do some work.”
Huo Yuhao returned to his room, and Tang Wutong followed him inside.
“What’s your solution?” Bei Bei didn’t ask, but that didn’t mean that Tang Wutong wouldn’t. She also trusted Huo Yuhao, but she was much more worried about him at the same time!
Huo Yuhao didn’t tell Bei Bei about how he had tried to resign at the Sea God’s Pavilion before this. Even though he wasn’t successful, Tang Wutong could tell from his mannerisms what he was about to do.
Huo Yuhao exhaled deeply, and he contemplated for a few moments before he pulled Tang Wutong over and whispered something into her ear.
“What? You… but will they agree?”
Huo Yuhao smiled plainly and said, “I will make them agree.
This plan has more than one goal.”
Tang Wutong was worried. “But you…”
Huo Yuhao smiled. “What? Do you not trust my strength?”
“Then I’ll go with you!” Tang Wutong retorted.
Huo Yuhao shook his head. “No, my plan cannot be completed like that. Furthermore, we can’t fuse our martial souls because martial soul fusion skills consume too much energy, and are not suitable for prolonged battles. Don’t worry, you can sit back and watch my enemies, and you can watch your husband massacre everyone!”
“I haven’t married you yet!” Tang Wutong snapped unhappily.
“Yes, my dear. When is my father-in-law coming back? I can’t wait any longer. Come, let me give you a kiss. My skin is quite thick anyway.”
“……”
The sun was already high in the sky as it shone over the great earth.
A new day had begun, and the Sun Moon Empire’s deadline for Shrek City was here.
However, strangely, the Sun Moon Empire wasn’t doing anything at all. They weren’t even pushing forward. They just stayed forty-five kilometers from Shrek City.
This distance wasn’t considered close, but it wasn’t considered very far either. Soul engineers would only need about fifteen minutes of flying at full speed before they could launch an onslaught against Shrek City.
Shrek City had been wary and vigilant over the past few days. Now time was up, and nobody knew whether the Sun Moon Empire would make their move. Every soul engineer in the city was nervously prepared for battle with their soul tools,
and there were quite a few stronger soul masters patrolling outside the city.
Shrek City’s surveillance soul tools were inferior to the Sun Moon Empire’s, but Shrek City had a lot more soul masters than they did.
Simply put, if the Sun Moon Empire didn’t have their formidable soul tool fronts and linked soul tools, Shrek City might not lose if they fought head-on!
The atmosphere between both parties was a little tense, and an epic battle could occur at any moment.
The quieter the Sun Moon Empire was, the stronger the feeling of pressure before a rainstorm.
Right in this moment, a single person appeared soundlessly on Shrek City’s battlements. No, he wasn’t the only one. Someone else stepped out after that person appeared, her long, pinkish-blue hair draped behind her back as she stood next to him.
Huo Yuhao gazed into the distance. Even though the Sun Moon Empire was forty-five kilometers away, the weather was good, and he could still roughly see what was going on with his vision.
The Sun Moon Empire’s great army was still over there.
Tang Wutong stood beside him quietly, and she pulled over her long hair from behind her back and began to comb it.
Combing hair on Shrek City’s battlements wasn’t something that just anyone would do.
The commanders on top of Shrek’s city walls responsible for patrolling stood near him as they looked on silently with respectful expressions on their faces.
Everyone knew what Huo Yuhao looked like. Ever since that day when he had bravely challenged the Beast God, Shrek City’s soul masters and the two empires’ soul masters could all recognize him.
Huo Yuhao did lose that day, but he managed to survive after the Beast God had attacked him at full strength. That proved how powerful he was. The Beast God, Di Tian was the strongest individual on the continent, stronger than even an Ultimate Douluo!
Therefore, Huo Yuhao didn’t waste any words at all as he stood on the battlements. Furthermore, the main defensive force which was on the city walls was the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion, and Huo Yuhao was their commander anyway.
He just stood there in silence and continued to watch. Tang Wutong finished styling her hair as braids fell down to her hips, and extended to the top of her head. Her hair was tied into a scorpion braid.
“You should still stay here,” Huo Yuhao glanced at his lover exasperatedly.
Tang Wutong shook her head. “I don’t have to participate, but I have to be beside you.”
Huo Yuhao caressed her head as he came up next to her cheek and kissed her gently. “You smell good.”
Tang Wutong was embarrassed. “Everyone is looking.”
“Let them look, I’m kissing my wife. Let’s go, we don’t have much time.” Huo Yuhao held Tang Wutong’s hand as he spoke, and they soared into the sky as everyone looked on. Nobody saw them use flying-type soul tools as they flew toward the Sun Moon Empire just like that.
“They’ve… they’ve flown away?” Shrek’s city defense army looked on with widened eyes and slack jaws. What’s happening? They’re flying away just like that? Why… why are they flying toward the Sun Moon Empire? What are they trying to do?
“Quick, report to the academy. Tell them that Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong have gone toward the Sun Moon Empire camp.” They thought about the Sun Moon Empire’s demand for Shrek City to hand Huo Yuhao over, and the city defense army’s general began to sweat. Who knew what they were doing? Were they handing themselves over?
Faint light flickered as a dash of ice-cold light flashed across Huo Yuhao’s face. He flew through the air as his spiritual power surged forth like a tidal wave. However, his spiritual power went up into the sky instead of toward the Sun Moon Empire’s camp.
Huo Yuhao’s terrifying Spiritual Detection covered a vast area as aerial surveillance soul tools appeared one after another within his senses.
Shrek Academy had many powerful individuals, and that was the reason why the Sun Moon Empire didn’t dare to allow their aerial surveillance soul tools to fly too close to Shrek City to avoid any losses. But these aerials surveillance soul tools had nowhere to hide in front of Huo Yuhao’s formidable spiritual power.
But they had already discovered his presence at this point, and they immediately retreated towards the Sun Moon Empire’s camp like a wave.
Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong didn’t hide themselves. Huo Yuhao had an “excellent” reputation in the Sun Moon Empire. Besides his prowess, Huo Yuhao had destroyed the greatest
number of the Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools. Therefore, once the soul engineers who were controlling the aerial surveillance soul tools discovered him and immediately reported to their superiors, they hurriedly withdrew their surveillance soul tools.
Huo Yuhao withdrew his consciousness in the next moment. He wanted this outcome. The Sun Moon Empire had given them pressure all this time, but this time, it was his turn to give them some pressure. This was the only way that his plan could continue.
They quickly covered the remaining distance to the camp, and it didn’t take long before the Sun Moon Empire’s camp appeared clearly in Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s vision.
Huo Yuhao squinted slightly, his expression as cold and solemn as ever. Huo Yuhao was as calm as he could be under such circumstances.
Dense energy waves appeared from the Sun Moon Empire. Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong could evidently feel the concentrating energy from the ground even though they were
in the sky, as soul tool fronts began operating one after another as they locked onto Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong.
A single person could do nothing against these soul tool fronts no matter how formidable that person was. The Sun Moon Empire had already proved that fact with the Beast God. Even though the Beast God had also destroyed a soul tool front, the Sun Moon Empire had managed to force him away to the point where evil soul masters took that opportunity to hurt him.
Huo Yuhao was strong, but he was still just a single person.
However, the soul engineers who were locking onto Huo Yuhao didn’t have that thought for a long time before something happened.
Huo Yuhao vanished.
Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong vanished at almost the same time in midair. They didn’t leave any traces at all, so all the waves that were locking onto them immediately became useless.
Huo Yuhao was strong enough to conceal himself even before he became a Titled Douluo, not to mention now. Shaking off those surveillance soul tools was simply too easy. The difference between Huo Yuhao and Di Tian was that Di Tian could manipulate spatial power, but Huo Yuhao relied on his martial soul’s strength to integrate himself into his
surroundings. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao could imitate any kind
of energy wave with his formidable spiritual senses. Even a few Ultimate Douluo probably wouldn’t be entirely certain of finding him under such circumstances, let alone these surveillance soul tools. At least, these soul tools couldn’t do that with their current technological standard.
Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong vanished, but the Sun Moon Empire’s camp didn’t loosen up because of that. The soul engineers were very clear, no matter what Class they were, about what would happen to them if a Transcendent Douluo managed to infiltrate their soul tool front, or if one came close to them.
Huo Yuhao’s clash with Di Tian gave them a deep impression and lesson. There were still traces of the frightening fusion of darkness and ice on the ground, and those traces weren’t something that could be dispelled within a short period of time.
A sigh could be heard from the sky before Huo Yuhao’s voice traveled far into the distance.
“Didn’t you guys want Shrek City to hand me over? I’m here now. Who’s coming to receive me?”
Chapter 575: I've Come!
Huo Yuhao’s voice was very plain and monotonous, but it travelled far into the distance as it covered the Sun Moon Empire’s entire camp. However, not a single surveillance soul tool could detect his exact location, and the tense atmosphere became even more intense.
Ju Zi could naturally hear his voice from her commander’s tent. Furthermore, several messengers were already reporting what was happening outside to her.
Ju Zi was still feeling a little melancholic. The reason for that was that she had just received news about the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion’s commander, Xia Xuanchen, through their transmission soul tools.
The Evileye Tyrant and Imperial Dragon Legions had been successful in their ambush against Ling Dou City, and they had successfully destroyed Dou Ling City’s royal palace. But just as they were prepared to retreat, many evil soul masters appeared to ambush them, which resulted in the two legions sustaining heavy losses. Even the Imperial Dragon Legion’s commander, Xu Tianyuan, had perished.
Ju Zi’s first reaction was to restrict this news when she received it. At least, she had to do it before Xia Xuanchen and the others got back.
Evil soul masters ambushing two beast-ranked soul engineer legions was big news, and she couldn’t hush this matter up even with her reputation as the War God Empress.
What did beast-ranked soul engineer legions represent? They represented the military, not to mention that the Imperial Dragon Legion was involved. The Imperial Dragon Legion represented the royal family.
Xu Tianran himself would have to deal with this matter carefully even if he were here himself, because this matter involved both the military and the royal family, let alone Ju Zi.
And the evil soul masters? They represented the Holy Ghost Church, who had two Ultimate Douluo! Furthermore, the Holy Ghost Church’s supreme leader, Zhongli Wu, was supervisor to their army right now.
Ju Z I didn’t understand why the Holy Ghost Church would suddenly ambush two beast-ranked soul engineer legions, but she believed Xia Xuanchen.
From her perspective, Xia Xuanchen was the weakest among the four beast-ranked soul engineer legions’ commanders. However, he had the clearest mind, and that was the reason why she gave him that heavy responsibility.
Xia Xuanchen had analyzed the Holy Ghost Church’s aim in detail in his transmission. The Holy Ghost Church was antagonizing the military, and they were going after the soul engineer legions’ strength. At the same time, they went after the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion’s commander, Xu Tianyuan. The storage-type soul tool that Xu Tianyuan was carrying on his body had disappeared during the attack, and there were likely to be several Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells in that storage soul tool. They didn’t know how many there were exactly.
Was that reason enough? That reason wasn’t enough for normal people. Attacking two beast-ranked legions was big news, after all! But for the Holy Ghost Church, who had always been selfish, and who had only cared about themselves to the
point where they didn’t care about innocent lives, this reason couldn’t be any more normal.
Ju Zi was very clear what the Holy Ghost Church’s true leader, Ye Xishui, used to charge her Death God.
Not long ago, the Holy Ghost Church had used several tens of thousands of spirits from soldiers who had perished to attack the Beast God. Furthermore, Zhongli Wu had personally led a team to chase down and kill Di Tian.
Zhongli Wu and the others had returned. There had been more than ten evil soul masters when they had left, but a third of them had disappeared when they returned. Zhongli Wu’s expression had been stern and solemn, and it was evident that their plan wasn’t successful. The Beast God wasn’t that easily assassinated, and this outcome also benefited Ju Zi. This was what she had hoped to see.
However, there was an uproar within the army when Zhongli Wu and the others used the souls of dead soldiers for that purpose.
The Holy Ghost Church’s powerful individuals got away with it, but Ju Zi had to take a lot of pressure.
There was a reason for the army’s fury. Soldiers sacrificed their lives for the country, and they were already heroes, but their souls after their passing ended up being used by Holy Ghost Church’s evil soul masters. They were even converted into avenging spirits, and that was a fact that the army couldn’t tolerate at all. The conflict between the Holy Ghost Church and the military was continuously building up. Under such circumstances, it wasn’t hard to imagine that the news that Xia Xuanchen had brought back wouldn’t just be lighting a fuse. That news would cause a violent conflict between the army and the Holy Ghost Church.
Ju Zi wasn’t that afraid of the Holy Ghost Church. The military had many formidable individuals, and there were quite a number of Class 9 soul engineers. The army even had several beast-ranked soul engineer legions supporting them.
But what about Radiant City? There were two evil soul masters there, and one of them was the Death God Douluo, Ye Xishui. The Holy Ghost Church’s foundations were also at Radiant City. If something happened here, the Holy Ghost Church would make a move in their capital.
She didn’t care about Xu Tianran’s life, but she cared about her son’s life! Furthermore, the Sun Moon Empire was in an excellent position. She couldn’t afford for it to fall into disarray.
Ju Zi was even more conflicted under such circumstances, and she found it difficult to make a decision despite her intelligence and calibre. She could only temporarily suppress the army’s fury. At least, she couldn’t let a conflict happen between the army and the Holy Ghost Church before her setup was complete. That wasn’t beneficial for her.
Furthermore, Ju Zi felt a little strange. Who did the Holy Ghost Church deploy to ambush the two beast-ranked soul engineer legions?
Ju Zi had a rough estimate of the Holy Ghost Church’s soul masters. The Sun Moon Empire had also thoroughly investigated that matter before.
Ju Zi was very aware of those two soul engineer legions’ capabilities. Even if they were more relaxed after their
successful attack on Dou Ling City, anybody who wanted to ambush them had to be extremely powerful.
Undead creatures? Many undead creatures. That does sound like the Holy Ghost Church’s methods. But there were a few doubts in Xia Xuanchen’s report that attracted her attention.
Their enemies could hide themselves. That fact alone made Ju Zi’s heart skip a beat.
There were soul masters who knew how to conceal themselves, and there were also evil soul masters who could do the same. But she knew of only one person who was adept at hiding himself and fighting battles alone! Furthermore, Xia Xuanchen also told her that there was somebody who possessed incredible abilities of ice and snow among the evil soul masters who had attacked them. The evil soul masters had relied on a kind of domain-type ability of ice and snow to create a death trap and besiege them.
Ice and snow? Stealth capabilities?
Ju Zi wouldn’t be fit to be known as the War God Empress if she still didn’t suspect him when these two capabilities existed at the same time.
Ju Zi could only force a laugh when she thought about that person.
Ju Zi finally had a taste of her own medicine, and how awkward the situation was. She knew what her opponent was doing, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. She couldn’t even expose her opponent’s identity.
Wasn’t that right? She was positive that Huo Yuhao was likely the perpetrator who had ambushed the two beast-ranked soul engineer legions, and the Tang Sect’s other members had probably assisted him as well. But she couldn’t reveal that. Why couldn’t she? Because she also wanted to deal with the Holy Ghost Church! Huo Yuhao had crushed two of the Sun Moon Empire’s beast-ranked soul engineer legions and framed the Holy Ghost Church. In some sense, he was helping her.
But the timing wasn’t right, was it? Furthermore, Huo Yuhao had also killed Xu Tianyuan. Xu Tianyuan was a prince who held the highest authority! His death meant the royal family’s
strength and authority would be reshuffled once more, and she had had a decent relationship with Xu Tianyuan.
Huo Yuhao’s act messed everything up, but she simply couldn’t reveal his identity.
She would waste her past efforts if she did that. If the army and the Holy Ghost Church’s relationship was bridged, and if both the army and the Holy Ghost Church wanted to attack Shrek City, then that would be worse for her.
Ju Zi had made use of Shrek Academy’s responsibility to defend themselves many times, while Huo Yuhao was the one who was using her in this moment. Ju Zi had to admit that she shouldn’t have told Huo Yuhao back then that she was targeting the Dou Ling Empire, because that fellow was just too smart.
But Ju Zi didn’t feel like she had lost. Dou Ling City’s royal palace was laid to ruin, and even if both beast-ranked soul engineer legions were massacred in the end, she would still be the ultimate victor. Reality proved that Huo Yuhao and the others were too late after all.
The situation was very messy, and that forced Ju Zi to divide her mind to deal with all sorts of problems. She was still very busy with work when she heard Huo Yuhao’s voice from outside.
Ju Zi’s first reaction when she heard Huo Yuhao’s voice was, So the person who ambushed the two legions wasn’t him?
Yes! If he was the one who did it, why would he be back so quickly? And what is he trying to do? Does he really think that I wish to capture him? Or is he trying to use our relationship to stump me? No, that’s not how he does things.
Ju Zi was a little taken aback, and her mind felt a little blank. Just as Huo Yuhao himself had said, he had to give Ju Zi a surprise to deal with her. He had succeeded for the moment.
Xia Xuanchen’s report meant that the two legions’ remaining soldiers would only return to the army at night.
That was because they had to cover a lot of ground, and another reason was that they had become extremely tense and alarmed after Huo Yuhao ambushed them continuously. They
had no choice but to be careful! Furthermore, their previous exploits made them extremely fatigued. They were already trying their best to reach their camp by nightfall.
Therefore, Ju Zi immediately realized after her momentary blankness that Huo Yuhao was probably still using her.
A smart person who wished to trump another had to think more meticulously. If Huo Yuhao had precisely calculated the time that these two legions needed to return, what was he doing, exactly?
“Pass my order. The Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion is to be mobilized, and they will escort me to take a look at what that fellow is doing. All soul tool fronts, prepare linked defenses but hold fire. Notify all soul engineers Class 8 and above to gather in the sky and prepare for battle.”
Ju Zi gave a series of orders before she walked out of her tent.
Ju Zi wasn’t concerned about her own safety at all, but Huo Yuhao was the one who was provoking her! She didn’t believe that he could take her life no matter how they fought each other. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have returned alive from that mystical demiplane.
Faint light flickered in the air, and every soul engineer from the Sun Moon Empire pulled long faces. They couldn’t lock onto their enemy. What was happening? This meant that this fellow could enter their camp as and when he wanted!
“Safety first, commander. We don’t know where that person is.” Ju Zi had just stepped out from her tent when several Class 9 soul engineers surrounded her. Furthermore, they released a linked defensive barrier and contained her within it.
Ju Zi smiled faintly and waved her hand. “It’s alright. He doesn’t dare to venture too deeply into our camp. He won’t be able to escape if he comes in. Let’s go and see what he’s doing.”
These words were simply intended for those around her. Ju Zi was very clear about how strong Huo Yuhao’s survival abilities were after finding out about his demiplane.
“Commander, the Fire Phoenix Legion has been assembled.”
Ju Zi nodded. “The Fire Phoenix Legion shall follow me into the air. Activate the legion’s linked defensive barrier.”
Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were still in the sky, but they were concealed with Imitation, and nobody could see where they were.
Light continued to flicker as a single sphere of light glowed in the sky. A fiery-red sphere slowly rose from the Sun Moon Empire’s camp in the next moment.
The sphere was translucent, and what was happening inside could be faintly observed. The Fire Phoenix Legion’s soul engineers were all wearing fiery-red soul tools, and their equipment was especially glaring.
The Fire Phoenix Legion’s status among the four beast- ranked soul engineer legions was initially second only to the Imperial Dragon Legion. Ever since Ju Zi took over and after she received Xu Tianran’s adamant support, along with her rising reputation as the War God Empress, the Fire Phoenix Legion’s status was growing increasingly comparable to the Imperial Dragon Legion’s status.
Beams of light flared one after another in the sky. The air was clearly twisting and contorting a little due to the Fire Phoenix Legion’s linked defensive barrier. This was a phenomenon due to high temperatures, as the Fire Phoenix Legion’s soul tools were mainly fire-type weapons.
Ju Zi was hovering inside the sphere. She was wearing a magnificent human-shaped soul tool that was golden-red in color which perfectly protected her body. Brilliant and flowing light coursed around this human-shaped soul tool, and this soul tool was different from the Sun Moon Empire’s other human-shaped soul tools that Huo Yuhao had seen. Even though he was only observing from afar, Huo Yuhao could faintly feel that this human-shaped soul tool’s capabilities were comparable to that of his Icy War God’s Armor. This set was possibly even superior in some respects. For instance, Ju Zi could use this human-shaped soul tool which was conspicuously at the pinnacle of Class 9 soul tools even with
her cultivation rank. This meant that her human-shaped soul tool could reduce its demand for using it. This characteristic was something that the Icy War God’s Armor didn’t have.
Of course, it also depended on who was wearing this human- shaped soul tool. Ju Zi was wearing this human-shaped soul tool more for her personal protection than anything else.
Huo Yuhao reappeared in midair with a solemn look on his face. Many soul tools beneath him locked onto him once more as he revealed himself.
However, the soul engineers responsible for locking onto his position quickly realized to their astonishment that they seemed to be locking onto nothingness. They couldn’t detect any living presence at all.
Huo Yuhao was now a veteran, so he wouldn’t put himself in danger. What he was doing was actually very simple: he used Spiritual Interference Domain and created a hologram a hundred meters away from him. The soul engineers could lock onto that as much as they wished, but they still wouldn’t find his precise location. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection covered the entire place. As long as it didn’t touch
any spiritual barriers, any soul tool that was about to fire would appear within his detection range, hence he wouldn’t have any problem dodging attacks.
“You’re the Sun Moon Empire’s War God Empress?” Huo Yuhao’s icy-cold voice travelled into the distance. However, his tone seemed to change a little when he was uttering the last few syllables.
There was no way his tone couldn’t change. There was a small hand pinching his waist and twisting his flesh a hundred and eighty degrees.
Keep pretending! Tang Wutong thought to herself resentfully.
Ju Zi stared at Huo Yuhao coldly as she lowered her voice and replied, “Yes, I am the Sun Moon Empire’s Empress. I am also this army’s commander. I didn’t expect you to show yourself. Since you’re here, then don’t resist capture. Seems like Shrek City can’t protect you after all!”
Their eyes were both very cold. They were so far apart, and there was also a protective barrier around her, so they couldn’t see each other’s eyes clearly. But strange sensations appeared in their hearts in this moment.
This wasn’t the first time that they were encountering each other on the battlefield. However, this was the first time that they were facing each other with their initial identities as everybody else looked on, and as enemies.
Ju Zi wasn’t careless because Huo Yuhao was her opponent. On the contrary, she felt a lot more alert and wary because Huo Yuhao was the one who was hovering in the sky opposite her.
It didn’t matter that she had gained the upper hand during their previous few encounters. She was very clear with her understanding of Huo Yuhao about how terrifying an opponent he could be if he unleashed his potential. Reality also proved this fact, because the damage that Huo Yuhao had singlehandedly dealt to the Sun Moon Empire rivaled that of the entire Heavenly Soul Empire. How many surveillance soul tools had he destroyed, not to mention soul engineers, soul tool fronts, and whatnot?
Ju Zi stared at Huo Yuhao in the distance, and she was already very certain that Huo Yuhao was the perpetrator who had ambushed the two beast-ranked soul engineer legions. It has to be him!
Huo Yuhao said plainly, “I’m responsible for my own actions. You’ve asked for me, and so I am here. I have already detached myself from Shrek City at the same time. Right now, I represent only myself. Catch me if you can. Whoever isn’t convinced can come get me.”
Ju Zi grunted coldly and retorted, “You seem very confident of yourself. Do you really think that you can fight against my army of a hundred thousand men all by yourself? You only have two choices: submit to us or die!”
Huo Yuhao laughed. “You want me to submit? Dream on. Who are you to ask me to surrender? Because of those soul tools that you have beneath you? If you understand me, then you should know that those soul tools are useless against me. I’m here today to tell you that I will be a plague to your army from today onward. I will follow you wherever you go. Perhaps killing you will not be easy, but I am confident of killing your subordinates. Your linked defensive barriers cannot be
activated continuously, and they can’t cover your entire army, can they?”
Huo Yuhao’s voice was projected into the distance with his spiritual power, and every one of the Sun Moon Empire’s generals’ expressions changed drastically when he said those words.
They had all seen Huo Yuhao’s prowess before. Even though they didn’t know what rank he was at exactly, he could take a hit from the Beast God and survive. He had to be a Titled Douluo, at the very least.
Normal Titled Douluo weren't a big deal, because they couldn’t hide from the Sun Moon Empire’s various surveillance soul tools. They would be blown into bits before they could come near the empire’s army.
But this fellow was different! Even though they didn’t know how he was doing what he did, they knew that could use his abilities to hide from all of their surveillance soul tools. If a formidable individual like him was determined to massacre and assassinate everyone without any care for his identity, and could not be detected, then everyone would be in danger.
Naturally, he wouldn’t target the normal soldiers. Instead, generals and soul engineers would undoubtedly become his targets.
They would probably be fine for one or two days, but what if this was done over a long period of time? How many people would he kill? Nobody knew.
Of course, they weren’t completely helpless, but dealing with somebody like that wasn’t an easy task at all!
The entire Sun Moon Empire’s atmosphere became a little tense and down.
Ju Zi’s expression turned dark as she said coldly, “Since when have Shrek Academy’s graduates become so shameless?”
Huo Yuhao smiled faintly. “This is war, and there is only victory or defeat. The winner becomes king, and the loser becomes an outlaw. You must know this, Empress, don’t you? Yes, we are no match for you on an open battlefield, and Shrek Academy has already expelled me because of you. Now, I am
independent, and I have nothing left to lose. I don’t even have a place to eat. Why can’t I have my catharsis? And you, those who have taken away my livelihood, shall be my targets.”
Ju Zi rolled her eyes. Since when has he become so shameless?
“I can give you your livelihood. If you join the Sun Moon Empire, I can decide to forgive everything that you’ve done. Furthermore, I can appoint you as one of the royal family’s Worshipped. We can give you everything you require.”
Huo Yuhao laughed, and his laughter was extremely exaggerated. “Really? If that’s the case, I can think about it! My demands aren’t that high. I’ve heard that the War God Empress is quite pretty. I already have a wife, so I can’t take you as my wife, but surely you can be my concubine. You can just be my concubine.”
“You…” Ju Zi appeared furious. The Sun Moon Empire’s army beneath them fell into an uproar. What was that? That was plain humiliation!
Ju Zi had a glorious reputation within the Sun Moon Empire’s military. She was known as a goddess of war, and she was a military genius that the world could only come across once in a blue moon. In this moment, she was being humiliated by her opponent on the battlefield. Furthermore, Xu Tianran only had this one Empress since she became the Sun Moon Empire’s Empress, and he didn’t have any mistresses or concubines. Huo Yuhao’s words were equivalent to humiliating the entire Sun Moon Empire.
The Fire Phoenix Legion’s soul engineers all felt indignant at the injustice. If not for Ju Zi’s dignity her authority, they would have lashed out a long time ago.
But no matter how furious the Sun Moon Empire’s generals and soul engineers were, they would never expect that their War God Empress was feeling very conflicted in this moment.
Bastard! You’re such a bastard. How can you say such things in front of everyone? You have to tell me such things in private. Who knows, I might even agree. Do you know that I think of that every passing day, and I would rather be your concubine than this empress!
Ju Zi’s heart was trembling faintly, and her breathing wasn’t very balanced. The Fire Phoenix Legion’s formidable individuals beside her thought that she was boiling with fury, and nobody dared to utter a word. They were all waiting for her to give the order.
“You’re asking to die, Huo Yuhao!” Ju Zi’s words were almost squeezed out from between her teeth.
But she didn’t know that Huo Yuhao, who was still in the shadows, didn’t feel very good in this moment. Tang Wutong
was punishing him angrily.
Huo Yuhao used his consciousness to continuously explain to her that he was doing this to infuriate the Sun Moon Empire’s powerful individuals so that he could execute the next step in his plan. Unfortunately, Tang Wutong was just a jealous woman right now.
“What? Do you not agree, empress? So what you said about giving me whatever I want means nothing? In that case, I know how to say meaningless words too.”
“Do you really think that we can’t do anything to you?” Ju Zi said coldly, “Huo Yuhao, do you believe that I can’t give the order right now to attack Shrek City and massacre the entire city? I will annihilate your academy’s ten thousand years of foundations, and I will remove Shrek Academy from the face of the earth for eternity.”
Huo Yuhao replied coldly, “If you dare to do that, I will do all I can to murder every single person from the Sun Moon Empire, including the empire’s citizens, even if that takes my whole life and my last breath. I will not make any exceptions. I
will do that until the Sun Moon Empire’s blood no longer runs through this world.”
“What?” The Sun Moon Empire wasn’t the only one who was astonished when Huo Yuhao said those words. Shrek Academy’s senior members who had flown into the air in the distance were also in shock.
They finally understood why Huo Yuhao would go to the Sea God’s Pavilion last night to resign, which appeared a little impulsive. He probably wasn’t impulsive at all when that happened, and he already had a plan in his mind.
What was he saying? He was a Titled Douluo, and he was threatening to make a move against innocent civilians, even though he was targeting the Sun Moon Empire. What did that mean? This meant that he would become a machine of slaughter and murder, and he would become the entire continent’s enemy. He would become an assassin.
Not even evil soul masters dared to say something like this. Huo Yuhao would become a public enemy to the entire world of soul masters, and everyone would be against him. Not even the Star Luo Empire or the Dou Ling Empire would protect
him, because what he had threatened to do was forbidden. This was absolutely forbidden! This was something that couldn’t be tolerated at all in the world of soul masters, and also in the world of soul engineers.
The strong wouldn’t prey upon innocent civilians. This was an unspoken rule that applied especially to Titled Douluo.
A Titled Douluo’s destructive power was incredible, and killing ten thousand normal civilians within a day wasn’t difficult at all. Apocalypse would descend upon the world, and rivers would run with blood!
Therefore, Huo Yuhao wasn’t just opposing the Sun Moon Empire when he said those words. He placed himself on opposite ends with the entire continent. He was going against humanity!
Elder Xuan was hovering in the air as his facial muscles suddenly twitched conspicuously.
Elder Song stared at Elder Xuan with a stunned look on her face. “Is he really going to do that?”
Elder Xuan forced a laugh and answered, “The question now is whether or not he will do this. He’s thrown his reputation out the window with his words. I don’t know what he wants to do. It’s no wonder that he wants to relinquish everything he has in Shrek Academy! This child never fails to surprise us.”
“I’m proud!” Qian Duoduo suddenly chimed in from the side.
Xian Lin’er slapped his bald head and snapped, “What are you proud of?”
Qian Duoduo chortled and said, “Don’t you guys think Yuhao is truly starting to be like an Ultimate Soldier? What is an Ultimate Soldier? An Ultimate Soldier can turn the tide of battle all by himself, even if he’s faced with thousands and thousands of soldiers and enemies. Huo Yuhao is beginning to embody that essence, and that may not be a bad thing. As for what he just said, my fellow elders, have you guys heard anything?”
Elder Zhuang was the first to shake his head. “I didn’t hear anything. We’re too far away.”
Yan Shaozhe heaved a sigh and said, “Yes! I don’t know what’s wrong with my ears nowadays, they’re not working very well. I need to go back and clean them out. Huo Yuhao’s voice wasn’t travelling towards us, and I don’t think anybody in Shrek City has heard anything either. This kid is always mumbling, who knows what he’s talking about?”
The corner of Elder Xuan’s mouth twitched again. He heaved a sigh as well and said, “I haven’t been drinking wine for a long time, but Yuhao angered me last night to the point that I had a few drinks, to the point where my head is still a little dizzy today. No, I can’t fly anymore. Let me rest on the battlements for a few moments. This kid will never lose, so what are we still doing here? Come, let’s go back.”
Elder Song’s heart was twitching instead. Damn, you’re an Ultimate Douluo, and you’re saying that you can’t fly anymore. Who will believe that? Do you really believe that yourself?
Elder Xuan stared deeply at Elder Song and said, “There are some things that, if you keep telling yourself again and again, you’ll believe in time.”
The Sun Moon Empire’s army of one hundred thousand fell into complete silence in the distance.
The normal soldiers, who were originally detached because this battle of greats was none of their business, suddenly opened their eyes wide.
Their surveillance soul tools also immediately detected that Shrek City’s soul masters who had flown out were going back. What did that mean? At the very least, this meant in their eyes that Shrek City had given up on Huo Yuhao. He was truly alone in this moment.
Ju Zi stared at Huo Yuhao, and her eyes were as black as could be. Her feelings were incredibly conflicted and messy in this moment. She had never expected that Huo Yuhao, who had always been kind and goodhearted, would say something like this. Of course, she didn’t believe that Huo Yuhao would do anything to normal civilians, but he was subjecting himself to universal condemnation with those words!
Have I really forced this to happen? Is it because the Dou Ling Empire’s royal family have been completely annihilated in Ling Dou City? Have I forced him to do this? Yuhao! Ju Zi’s
heart softened a little in this moment, and even her wariness towards Huo Yuhao seemed to change a little because of her softening heart.
“What do you want?” Ju Zi’s voice was still as cold as ever, but she wasn’t as forceful and domineering as before.
Huo Yuhao said plainly, “I don’t want anything. I’m all by myself anyway, and I’ll just pit myself against you for all of eternity.”
“Don’t you dare!” Ju Zi roared angrily.
Huo Yuhao smiled and answered, “You can try, and see if I dare to or not. I’m not using my own life in this wager anyway. There are many people here.”
Ju Zi’s body quivered. “You’re a Titled Douluo, and yet you dare to target innocent civilians. Are you not afraid of the heavens smiting you?”
Huo Yuhao said, “I would rather be struck by the heavens than have my country destroyed. The heavens will smite me, but that will save many lives that I wish to protect. So what if the heavens strike me down?”
Ju Zi seemed a little flustered. “What exactly do you want?”
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath as he looked up to the sky. “I am not sure if your trip here to ask the academy to hand me over is your original intention. But since you’ve made that request, then I am here. But catching me isn’t that easy. Why don’t we have a wager in front of these two armies?”
“Wager?” Ju Zi’s lowered guard was immediately raised once more when she heard that word.
Wager? What does he want to wager on? Ju Zi stared at Huo Yuhao confusedly.
“What do you wish to wager?” Ju Zi lowered her voice as she spoke.
Huo Yuhao said plainly, “You guys are most afraid of my abilities to conceal myself, and I do not wish to see you destroy my country. Even though I no longer have any ties to Shrek City, I still wish to protect it. We will fight ten battles to determine the victor. I will take on ten people by myself, who will take turns to fight me one-on-one. We will fight to the death, and the winner will continue, while the loser dies! If you guys can kill me in ten rounds, then everything will be over. If I win all ten rounds, then you will withdraw your army, and you cannot attack Shrek Academy within three years. We will execute this wager immediately if you agree, and if you don’t, then be prepared to pay with your civilians’ lives.”
Ju Zi had a sudden revelation. Huo Yuhao had been foreshadowing this for a long time. This was his final goal after pressuring and threatening like that.
That is so smart! He’s using his own strength and threats to tie down the Sun Moon Empire’s armies. He’s forcing me to finish this wager with him.
Ju Zi’s army of one hundred thousand was watching, and if the Sun Moon Empire didn’t take this wager, that meant the empire didn’t care about their soldiers’ safety. The army would fall into disarray, and as long as Huo Yuhao could create several
small incidents and damage, that could lead to an event that the military dreaded most: rebellion!
Ju Zi couldn’t accept that possibility, and neither could her generals.
Therefore, Huo Yuhao had paid with his own reputation to tie the entire Sun Moon Empire army down.
Furthermore, he was still so young, and he still wasn’t an Ultimate Douluo. He wasn’t even a Transcendent Douluo. He had demanded to take on ten people one after another all by himself under such circumstances, so there was no reason for the Sun Moon Empire to reject.
This fellow!
The pressure on Shrek would disappear if the Sun Moon Empire withdrew their army from Shrek City. Subsequently, the army’s plan to move against the Star Luo Empire would likely have to change. Yuhao, Yuhao, you have given me a very difficult problem.
Ju Zi’s mind spun rapidly in that short period of time.
Right in this moment, a voice suddenly appeared in her mind. This voice was very soft, but it was unnaturally clear.
“Evil soul masters are our common enemy.”
“Eh?” Ju Zi felt her heart skip a beat. She had never expected that Huo Yuhao could still project his consciousness into her mind with such a formidable linked defensive barrier protecting her. At the same time, she immediately understood what he wanted to do.
Chapter 576: One on Ten!
Getting the army to retreat was but one of his objectives. The other objective was targeted at the Holy Ghost Church.
Yes! The Holy Ghost Church was their common enemy. However, targeting the Holy Ghost Church now was something that conflicted with Ju Zi’s plan. However, Huo Yuhao could no longer be bothered with this. Now that he was in front of so many people, he had no choice.
“Huo Yuhao, I can’t believe you are foolish enough to attempt to challenge ten of my people just by yourself. We definitely have no qualms betting with you. However, it doesn’t seem to be fair, does it? If we were to lose, our entire army has to retreat. And if you were to lose, it will just be the loss of a single life. Aren’t you thinking too highly of yourself? I don’t think you’re quite there yet.” Ju Zi sneered.
Huo Yuhao really wanted to give Ju Zi a big thumbs up for the great teamwork she was showing!
It was really incredible for her to be able to instantly understand what he meant despite the tension in the atmosphere.
The main targets Huo Yuhao had in mind were naturally the evil soul masters from the Holy Ghost Church. The safety of the Sun Moon Empire’s army was definitely not enough to motivate the evil soul masters to act. After all, those evil soul masters would prefer to witness more deaths so they could capture the spirits to improve their cultivation. Hence, Huo Yuhao knew he needed something to attract all of them. And he naturally needed to produce these things himself.
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “I definitely can’t be compared with your entire army. However, I can offer a few more things on top of my life.”
As he spoke, a huge black door opened beside him. Following which, a massive creature crept out from the huge door.
After the massive creature appeared, countless observers could not help but gasp in fear.
What is that? It was a gigantic bear which over fifty meters tall that was radiating an insanely frightening aura! Its fur was somehow grey, while its eyes were blood-red. It seemed as though there were flames burning in its eyes.
Following which, Huo Yuhao retrieved a dagger from his hand. It was a dagger whose blade was radiating an icy blue color.
The dagger flew up into the sky, and instantly, the surrounding temperature plunged. The linked defensive barrier formed by the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion, which was quite a distance away, started to fade. Snowflakes also started to fall from the sky.
If Xia Xuanchen were here, he might have been able to connect the dots after seeing the black door and the Morning Dew Dagger Huo Yuhao had just released.
Unfortunately, he had yet to return. Everything was within Huo Yuhao’s expectations and under his control.
Jiangshi Ice Bear King, Er Bai, and the Sigh of the Frozen Goddess, Morning Dew Dagger.
“These two items are the most precious items I have. This dagger is a godly weapon. If not for it, I would not have been able to block Di Tian’s blow. Let me show you what it can do.”
As he spoke, the Morning Dew Dagger suddenly turned vertical in mid-air before it transformed into a blue light that shot straight towards the linked defensive barrier set up by the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion.
Before Ju Zi even gave the order, the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion instinctively enhanced the protective soul barrier to its maximum defensive potential.
However, the fiery red glow on the linked defensive barrier immediately faded the moment the dagger came into contact with it. The entire barrier turned dark blue instead before a series of loud explosive noises could be heard.
A deep cut could be seen on the outer side of the linked defensive barrier. The barrier was a hair’s breadth from being
torn open by the dagger.
It was important to note that this was a full-power linked defensive barrier which was established by a beast lord-ranked soul engineer legion.
The Morning Dew Dagger was actually able to create such an effect just from a gentle tap. The most frightening thing was how it was able to overcome its elemental disadvantage. Its fearsome extreme coldness was actually able to penetrate the protective soul barrier and be felt by the Fire Phoenix soul engineers. The fiery red color radiating from their bodies became a lot fainter. They could not believe that a single dagger was able to achieve so much.
After retracting his Morning Dew Dagger, Huo Yuhao spoke plainly, “As for my pet over here, I believe there’s no need for me to explain much. Those who dabble in spirits and spectral matters should naturally understand what it is. Isn’t that right, Leader Zhongli Wu? I know you’re scrutinizing it. Why don’t you come out?”
A purple-black light suddenly soared into the sky. Zhongli Wu, the Leader of the Holy Ghost Church, had revealed his
figure in the air.
His eyes revealed the greed he had for Er Bai. He didn’t even bother to look at Huo Yuhao as his eyes were completely focused on Er Bai’s body.
Even as the Leader of the Holy Ghost Church, Zhongli Wu was unable to tell how Huo Yuhao was able to transform such a powerful soul beast into a spectral creature. However, he was absolutely sure that this spectral creature was likely to be stronger than it was in its previous life.
It must have been a Savage Beast in its past life in order to release such a powerful aura. Turning Savage Beasts into spectral puppets had always been one of Zhongli Wu’s goals.
Previously when he went after Di Tian, he was hoping to turn Di Tian into his puppet. If he were to succeed, he believed he would become the strongest individual in the entire world.
Unfortunately, the Beast God’s power had far exceeded his expectations, and the Holy Ghost Church had sustained huge losses in their attempt to hunt the Beast God down. Even
Zhongli Wu was injured during the attempt, and he had only barely recovered after taking a rest. The only reason why they were able to flee from the Great Star Dou Forest was that the Beast God was already injured, and they were still sufficiently sensible to flee before their situation worsened. If not, their bodies might have had to stay within the Great Star Dou Forest forever.
The forces within the Great Star Dou Forest were far more powerful than they had imagined.
“Military supervisor.” Ju Zi looked at Zhongli Wu as though she was asking him for advice.
As the military supervisor, Zhongli Wu had a lot of authority in the army. He was not in charge of anyone, but was supposed to supervise Ju Zi. Whenever Ju Zi had to make an important decision, she needed to get his approval. A military retreat was an example of an important decision.
Zhongli Wu’s greed was apparent as he nodded and said, “I think what he is offering is sufficiently precious.” After finishing his sentence, he did not even look at Huo Yuhao as he turned around and flew down to the Sun Moon Empire camp.
Even though his answer was not exactly direct, Zhongli Wu had undoubtedly expressed his opinion.
Just as Ju Zi wanted to talk to Huo Yuhao, a purple-black light suddenly flashed, and Zhongli Wu had returned.
He shot a peculiar look at Huo Yuhao and said, “Huo Yuhao, if you are to lose, we can also choose not to kill you. As long as you join my Holy Ghost Church, I can spare your life.”
Even though Huo Yuhao’s words might have sounded very offensive in the ears of others, they were nothing for the Leader of the Holy Ghost Church. On top of that, after seeing how Huo Yuhao was able to showcase Er Bai and hearing some of the stories about him, he was already certain that Huo Yuhao must possess some secrets about evil soul masters. He not only wanted to know all of these secrets, but also nurture Huo Yuhao into a member of the Holy Ghost Church. With the talents that he possessed, he felt that he might have a chance at becoming the Holy Son of the Holy Ghost Church!
It would definitely be a great blow to Shrek Academy if the Dragon God Douluo’s disciple were to join the Holy Ghost
Church.
Zhongli Wu was not in the least bit worried about whether Huo Yuhao really wanted to join the Holy Ghost Church. He was confident of transforming any person—no matter what type of person he or she was—into an evil soul master.
Huo Yuhao smiled at Zhongli Wu and said, “Sure! As long as all of you can defeat me, I am perfectly fine with joining the Holy Ghost Church. After all, I am no longer part of any organization.”
Zhongli Wu also smiled. In fact, he was very happy. “Then I guess we have a promise.”
Ju Zi watched the sly foxes who were smiling before her and couldn’t help but wonder who was actually falling into the other person’s trap. Zhongli Wu, should I start mourning for you now?
Zhongli Wu was naturally unaware of what Ju Zi was thinking as he turned around and flew back to the camp.
Ju Zi exclaimed, “Alright since our military supervisor has already agreed to this gamble, I shall agree to it as well. The battle shall begin in two hours’ time at the space between our camp and Shrek City. The victor will be decided after ten rounds of battle!”
Huo Yuhao smiled, but didn’t say anything. He merely looked Ju Zi in the eye. Following which, he grabbed Tang Wutong’s hand and flew towards the flat ground behind them. The virtual image of him which he had created in the air disappeared after he left. Following which, Er Bai and the Morning Dew Dagger also turned into light that vanished into thin air.
The Sun Moon Empire army and Shrek City were about forty-five kilometers apart. The midpoint between these two locations was hence about twenty-two kilometers or so. It was undoubtedly the safest distance for both parties, as well as the fairest location to conduct the battle.
After landing on the ground, Huo Yuhao crossed his legs and sat down before beginning to meditate. Tang Wutong merely stood behind him silently as she kept watch over him.
Meanwhile, Ju Zi brought the members of her Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion into the camp.
Very soon, a meeting was held within the Commander’s Tent.
Every soldier and commander from the Sun Moon Empire had witnessed what had happened in the sky. Hence, Ju Zi did not need to introduce the challenge to the people present. After everyone had gathered in the tent, she immediately fired two questions at the rest of them.
“Huo Yuhao has challenged our army. After receiving approval from the military supervisor, we have decided to accept his challenge. In that case, we now have two problems before us. First, who are the ten people who should represent us? Second, who should keep the items that Huo Yuhao has promised to give up if he were to lose the challenge.”
Zhongli Wu was sitting next to Ju Zi. When she raised these two questions, he glanced at her before his brows furrowed together. No one knew what he was thinking about.
There were many powerful individuals within the Commander’s Tent. The elite troops from the Sun Moon Empire were all present in this camp. Other than the powerful evil soul masters, several Class 9 soul engineers were also present. And this included several powerful individuals from the Sun Moon Empire’s Imperial Consecration Hall.
One of the Class 9 soul engineers stepped forward and said, “The winnings should naturally belong to the empire. I am willing to fight for the empire and get rid of that haughty rascal.”
Another Class 9 soul engineer nodded in approval.
These Class 9 soul engineers were not idiots. After seeing Zhongli Wu fly up into the sky, they could tell that he was very much attracted by Er Bai. They would definitely not allow him to lay his hands on the Ice Bear King. Hence, they were all expressing their disagreement. At the same time, these Class 9 soul engineers were all expressing their interest to put their lives on the line for the empire to fight Huo Yuhao.
Then, Ju Zi looked over to Zhongli Wu and asked, “Military supervisor, what do you think about this?”
Zhongli Wu said, “Logically speaking, what they have said is entirely correct. All war spoils should be kept by the empire.”
As he finished his sentence, he scanned the Class 9 soul engineers with his cold gaze. The Class 9 soul engineers who fell under his gaze revealed an awkward expression. Even though they were all extremely powerful, they were still a little fearful of the Leader of the Holy Ghost Church.
“However!” It was within everyone’s expectation that Zhongli Wu would not stop at that sentence. “Since Huo Yuhao dares to challenge us, he must possess some special abilities. He is known to be adept at concealing himself, and seems to possess extremely powerful fighting abilities. He can also evade attacks from soul tools extremely well. Hence, it might be better for soul masters to go up against him rather than soul engineers. From the soul power fluctuations he has exhibited so far, I don’t think he has become a Transcendent Douluo. After all, he is only a bit more than twenty years old. Among
the two items which he has shown us, the short dagger is an ice-type godly weapon. I believe everyone has seen how powerful it is, and I agree that it should belong to the empire. As for the other item, I am certain that it is a spectral creature. It doesn’t have any direct use for our country. I believe that it can only be controlled by the Holy Ghost Church. We are the only ones capable of harnessing its power for the betterment of
the empire.”
One of the Class 9 soul engineers who was formerly addressed by Ju Zi as Elder Su stood out and exclaimed, “Does this mean that our military supervisor plans to keep the war spoils for himself?”
Zhongli Wu stood up straight as he attempted to intimidate the others with his imposing figure. “Of course I will not be taking the spectral creature without contributing anything. I believe everyone here treasures his or her life a lot. No one would willingly put their lives on the line to fight to the death with Huo Yuhao. In that case, why not allow the Holy Ghost Church to be the main fighting force for the challenge against Huo Yuhao? As long as we can defeat him, it should make sense for us to take away one of the items which are not directly useful for the country. Isn’t that right, Marshal?”
He did not even look the Class 9 soul engineers in the eyes as he turned around to look at Ju Zi.
Ju Zi looked at Zhongli Wu as a thought formed in her head. Yuhao! Yuhao! You have really made a brilliant move this time around! Everything seems to be going according to your plans! It seems like you have predicted what Zhongli Wu would do. If not, you would never have flashed that item to tempt him. In that case, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t assist you to take on our common enemy. However, are you really confident that you can defeat them?
As Ju Zi thought about it, she nodded gently. “Alright. Since the military supervisor has agreed to take on this responsibility, I shall hand this battle over to him. However, this battle concerns the pride of our army. At the same time, it also concerns the arrangement of our military strategy. Hence, there is no room for failure. Military supervisor, are you ready to receive an official military order?”
“Huh?” Zhongli Wu was caught off guard by Ju Zi’s words. An official military order? What was an official military order? When a person did not manage to achieve what was stated in an official military order, he or she would have to be punished by military law. This was something that was usually given
only for tasks which were extremely important. Zhongli Wu did not expect Ju Zi to ask him to receive an official military order. It was apparent that she did not want him to lay his hands on the powerful spectral creature.
However, Zhongli Wu was not overly concerned about receiving an official military order. After all, Huo Yuhao was so much younger than him. He felt that he had been foolish to challenge them. In fact, he believed that it was laughable for him to propose such a battle format. Zhongli Wu felt that Huo Yuhao would not stand a chance against the power of the Holy Ghost Church. If the Holy Ghost Church were to fail, he believed he would have failed as their Leader.
Under the intense scrutiny of the surrounding Class 9 soul engineers, Zhongli Wu nodded slowly and said, “Sure, I will now take on your official military order. I am willing to be punished by military law if I fail to defeat Huo Yuhao with my people from the Holy Ghost Church!”
Very soon, under the supervision of the other people in the tent, Zhongli Wu penned down the official military order. Even as the Imperial Tutor and the military supervisor, he could not amend it once it had been issued. No one was exempted from this rule.
Ju Zi nodded and said, “Alright. In that case, I wish you good luck, and that you will return victorious.”
“Hmph!” Zhongli Wu released an angry grunt as he waved his sleeve and left the Commander’s Tent furiously. Following which, the evil soul masters which had followed him into the tent left behind him.
After watching him leave, Elder Su and the other Class 9 soul engineers quickly crowded over to Ju Zi’s side.
Elder Su said, “Marshal, are we really going to allow those evil soul masters to deal with Huo Yuhao? The aura released by the spectral creature is really frightening. Even though we don’t know where it comes from, the Holy Ghost Church will definitely become a lot stronger if it were to fall into Zhongli Wu’s hands!”
The other Class 9 soul engineers were also visibly worried about the possible disaster that could happen.
Ju Zi waved her hand and replied plainly, “Huo Yuhao is a smart person. After all, he is the disciple of Mu En, the youngest member of the Shrek Academy’s Sea God’s Pavilion, and also the Heir to the Sea God's Pavilion. Do you all think that an intelligent person like him would commit to a suicidal situation? Even if a conflict were to occur between him and the Academy, he would never do something like that. Besides, I could tell from the way he conversed with me today how assured he was about his chances. In that case, he must have something up his sleeve to be so confident. Since the military supervisor is so enthusiastic about the whole challenge, I felt that there would be no harm for him to give it a try. After all, he probably doesn’t have enough people to form the ten-man team. If he can’t pull it off, we will figure out a way to solve the problem. And if he were to somehow win, we will also figure something out.”
After hearing what she said, the powerful soul engineers went silent. Ju Zi’s passive and somewhat conservative attitude was not exactly a bad option for the current situation.
Huo Yuhao sat quietly on the expansive plains between the Sun Moon Empire camp and Shrek City. The soul power in his body was fluctuating in a sustained and stable manner. However, even though Tang Wutong was standing right beside
him, she was unable to detect even a single bit of the soul power fluctuations from his body.
This was why his two soul cores were so scary. Huo Yuhao was able to rely on his soul cores to compress all of his soul power into tiny spirals in his body. These spirals were the result of a perfect fusion between spiritual power and soul power. His soul cores would only absorb the origin energy of heaven and earth from his surroundings, and would definitely not release any energy easily. Hence, even Zhongli Wu was unable to tell exactly how powerful Huo Yuhao was. He could only make a guess from his breathing that Huo Yuhao had not become a Transcendent Douluo.
Yes, Huo Yuhao might not have truly attained the Transcendent Douluo rank. However, he had twin martial souls and a second soul core. His Rank 93 soul power was not something that any other Rank 93 Titled Douluo could match.
The Icy War God’s Armor was already on his body. The human-shaped soul tool was able to keep all of its essence in its interior, and did not release a single bit of Ultimate Ice aura into the surrounding air. Hence, Huo Yuhao’s surroundings appeared to be frighteningly quiet.
Going one against ten was something that had never happened before in the world of soul masters. Huo Yuhao was like a rash young man who had acted on an impulse after running out of options. Was he really going to end his life in such a violent manner?
On top of the city wall which surrounded Shrek City.
The Elders from the Sea God’s Pavilion had all arrived. The higher-ups from the Tang Sect had also just arrived.
Even Bei Bei did not know what Huo Yuhao was intending to do. And now, there was already no one who could stop him from continuing what he had planned.
Tang Ya squeezed Bei Bei’s hand and whispered, “Bei Bei, do you think Yuhao can really do it?”
Bei Bei nodded fervently. “He can definitely do it. Since he has already suggested it to them, he must be able to do it. We must believe in him. Yuhao definitely possesses the ability to do it. He is only doing all of this to force the Sun Moon Empire army to retreat. He would not have done it if he were not
confident of pulling it off. At the same time, he probably wants to take advantage of this battle to take down some of the more powerful individuals within the Sun Moon Empire.”
Tang Ya’s worries did not seem to have lessened by Bei Bei’s words. “However, why do I feel that he is not fully confident that he will be able to triumph over all of them? It feels like he is putting himself into an extremely dangerous situation!”
Elder Xuan, who was not too far from both of them, overheard what Tang Ya said. He turned his head and nodded. He said, “That’s right. He wants to put himself into a suicidal situation. He wants to be reborn after ‘dying’. I am sure he knows what he’s doing, even though I don’t know exactly what his plan is. However, I believe that improving his own cultivation is one of his objectives.”
“There is this saying that there will be a huge amount of fear when one is placed in a life-and-death situation. Huo Yuhao wants to improve himself by putting himself under immense pressure and fear. He is very different from any other normal Titled Douluo, because he already possesses his second soul core. This grants him the ability to grow and improve rapidly. He is yearning for power to become stronger and change the current situation on the battlefield.”
“That is why he is making this decision. He wants to be stimulated by battle to activate his potential and become stronger. This would definitely speed up the process of him becoming a Transcendent Douluo. I don’t think he has even considered the possibility of failure. On top of that, this is probably not his only objective. He must have made plans for something else too. If he were to successfully triumph over the ten people, he would definitely attain a new level of understanding of his abilities, and become a lot stronger. In fact, he might even be able to push for Transcendent Douluo directly.”
Yes, only Elder Xuan was qualified to comment about Huo Yuhao. This was because he was the only other person present who had two soul cores. However, Huo Yuhao had formed his second soul core from the Yin Yang Complement technique, whereas Elder Xuan had formed his from the Resonance technique.
After gaining his second soul core, Elder Xuan did not only find his abilities greatly enhanced, but also saw the true powerful effects of a second soul core. The enhancement did not just stop at the compression of soul power, but it also increased his potential to new heights.
Elder Xuan was thinking about the possibilities Huo Yuhao would unlock if he were to successfully form his third soul core when he became an Ultimate Douluo rank after perfecting his second soul core. When that happened, Huo Yuhao would truly become one of the most outstanding soul masters ever. At the same time, he would definitely be able to overcome the limits imposed by this world. Even if he were not able to inherit a Godly Seat, he should be freed from the restrictions at Rank 99 once he formed his third soul core.
At the end of the day, all of the above were just guesses made by Elder Xuan. However, those guesses were what he hoped Huo Yuhao could achieve. Of course, he knew how hard forming the third soul core would be after experiencing the challenge of forming his second soul core.
Yuhao, Yuhao! Do you really have to push yourself so hard to become stronger?
Was this really what Huo Yuhao had planned? No, it was not entirely true.
Just as Elder Xuan had accurately predicted, Huo Yuhao already had a complete plan. Improving himself was indeed one of the important parts of the plan. However, he did not intend to put his life on the line just to force some sort of breakthrough. Instead, he wanted to gain a better understanding of the new abilities he had just acquired by fighting in a life-and-death situation.
It had already been a few days since he had formed his second soul core with the Yin Yang Complement technique. However, he still had not fully understood the capabilities of his second soul core.
By forcing himself to fight with powerful cultivators, he would be able to understand the intricacies behind his second soul core as soon as possible.
He was the second being in the world to possess a second soul core formed from the Yin Yang Complement technique. The first being was the Beast God.
Even though Di Tian was able to take on human form, he was ultimately a soul beast. Huo Yuhao was indisputably the first human to form his second soul core with the Yin Yang Complement technique. Hence, no one could teach him how to use his second soul core, or how powerful his second soul core actually was. Hence, he had to explore all of these by himself.
If Huo Yuhao had enough time, he would definitely have chosen to explore its capabilities in a more rigorous and slower manner. That would be the ideal way to prepare himself to take on the challenge to become a God in the future. However, time was definitely a luxury for him now.
Hence, he had no choice but to agitate his body with battles to see what capabilities he now possessed after forming his second soul core. It was the fastest way for him to accurately determine how much power he possessed. The greater the adversity, the more potential he could try to squeeze from his body. This was something he had learned when he had first participated in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament.
Compared to back then, his powers and abilities had grown exponentially. However, Huo Yuhao still believed that putting oneself under immense pressure was the best way to learn more about one’s abilities regardless of one’s current standing.
Very soon, two hours passed, and it was almost time for the battle.
Neat contingents of troops started to move out from the Sun Moon Empire camp.
There were not many people who left their military camp. There were less than a thousand people in total. However, all of them were soul engineers who were fully armed. They had activated their linked defensive barriers as they started to head towards Huo Yuhao, who was roughly twenty-two kilometers away from them. These contingents were surrounding a group of powerful individuals from the Sun Moon Empire.
Shrek City also opened their gates. Even though Huo Yuhao had seemed to cut off his connections with the Academy, Elder Xuan had his own reasons for dispatching some of his forces. After all, it was not possible for the Academy to sit and wait as
the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers advanced closer to the city.
Shrek City seemed to have only sent soul masters into the air. In fact, they sent more than a thousand soul masters who were all at least Soul Sages into the air.
The ones who were flying at the front of this contingent were the Elders of the Sea God’s Pavilion and the elite cultivators from the three empires.
None of them held any bad feelings towards Huo Yuhao, because they could not even hear what he had said to the Sun Moon Empire army! Elder Xuan only informed them of how Huo Yuhao had planned to take on ten different individuals to solve their current predicament.
Huo Yuhao was a hero in everyone’s eyes!
The way both parties sent out a force of close to a thousand individuals towards the battleground made it seem as though everything had been planned in advance.
If the battle was conducted in a one-on-one fashion, the Sun Moon Empire would have no chance of beating Shrek Academy even if they were to double the number of people they had. However, this was ultimately war. In a battle which included soul engineers, concepts about one-on-one battles were non- existent.
Elder Xuan brought his group of people to a position which was roughly five hundred meters from Huo Yuhao before stopping. He also did not allow anyone to go over and interact with him. All they did was line themselves up and watch the upcoming battle silently.
At this crucial moment, Elder Xuan did not wish for anyone to disturb Huo Yuhao.
The Sun Moon Empire troops also stopped five hundred meters away from Huo Yuhao. This meant that they were about a thousand meters away from Elder Xuan and the powerful cultivators of Shrek Academy.
A distance of a single kilometer separated both parties. A battle, which would definitely go down in history as one of the
most important battles in the world of soul masters, was about to take place in the space between these parties.
Ju Zi was still looking brilliant as ever in her armor. After her subordinate brought a huge chair over, she sat down in the chair as she gazed at Huo Yuhao. As the Commander of the Three Armies, she was the only person here who was qualified to sit down. Even Zhongli Wu—the military supervisor—was not entitled to do so.
Zhongli Wu stared coldly at Huo Yuhao as a light flickered in his eyes. It was unclear what was on his mind. However, the aura he was radiating was becoming more and more intense by the minute.
Even though Huo Yuhao was still meditating, he could sense the series of transformations occurring around him. However, he chose to ignore all of these movements.
“Huo Yuhao, let the ten battles begin.” Zhongli Wu announced as his low but thunderous voice traveled towards Huo Yuhao.
It was only after hearing Zhongli Wu’s words that Huo Yuhao finally opened his eyes slowly.
At the instant when Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, Zhongli Wu felt his heart beat faster. He saw a mystical pair of eyes before him.
Huo Yuhao’s eyes were differently colored. One of them was a brilliant gold. Even though it did not radiate a particularly bright light, it seemed to possess the endless depth of the sun. His other eye was flickering with an azure blue light. It seemed to embody the vastness of the big blue ocean.
The different-colored lights in his eyes only lasted for a short while before they regained their original color. In fact, this entire transformation happened without him releasing any aura at all. However, this was sufficient to make the powerful individuals from the Sun Moon Empire wary of him.
Just as Ju Zi had put it, courage was not enough to drive a person to challenge ten people to a battle. It was important to note that this was not the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. There was an age limit in the tournament, which usually helped to ensure that
competitors were of similar ranks. However, this was a matter of life and death on the battlefield. No one would hesitate to send his or her strongest members to battle. Huo Yuhao was definitely going to be up against the most powerful individuals from the Sun Moon Empire.
Even though the Death God Douluo, the Dragon Emperor Douluo, and the Sun Moon Empire’s most powerful soul engineers were not present, they still possessed top-class power which even the Shrek Academy had to be wary of!
Huo Yuhao floated above the ground before standing up. Following which, he turned around to nod in Tang Wutong’s direction.
Tang Wutong stared deeply into his eyes before stepping forward to hug him. She whispered something in his ear before walking back to where Elder Xuan and the rest were. However, she did not join them, as she chose to observe Huo Yuhao from a hundred meters in front of Elder Xuan and the rest.
Huo Yuhao stared at Zhongli Wu before looking at Ju Zi, who was sitting in her chair. He said, “Bring it on. Let’s start with
the first one!”
When Huo Yuhao mentioned how he was ready to begin with the first one, Ju Zi could not help but think of the time she had spent with Huo Yuhao at the Sun Moon Empire’s Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. It was then that Huo Yuhao had once challenged the powerful students of the Academy. Back then, he also did not cower as he used his power and abilities to go up against those students.
That was him—a powerful individual with heroic qualities, but also a soft heart.
More than ten years had passed, and he had grown to become one of the most powerful soul masters in the entire world. If he were able to win today’s battle, he would undoubtedly become one of the Sun Moon Empire’s biggest threats in the future. He would also naturally become a beacon of hope for the three other empires.
This was destined to be a battle in which Huo Yuhao would truly become famous. Even if he were to die, he would still be a hero of the three original empires of the Douluo Continent.
Ju Zi was overwhelmed by a multitude of feelings as she kept quiet. It seemed as though she had handed the entire battle over to Zhongli Wu.
Zhongli Wu let out a cold grunt as he waved his hand. A black figure launched himself forward towards Huo Yuhao from Zhongli Wu’s side.
This was a person who was wrapped tightly in his black cloak. There was no way one could see his appearance at all. He was like a cloud of black fog when he flew towards Huo Yuhao. His aura was rapidly becoming stronger. The power of darkness within his aura was brimming with evil vibes as it exploded like a geyser. Even though he had only flown a few hundred meters, huge clusters of dark clouds had already gathered above his head. They seemed to be swarming towards Huo Yuhao as they threatened to block all sunlight from reaching him.
This person’s name was Wu Yun. Even though he was not one of the eight Elders within the Holy Ghost Church, he was one of the most powerful soul masters within the Holy Ghost Church’s Hall of Consecration.
Actually, he was not a purebred evil soul master. He had been mistaken by others as an evil soul master and was, in fact, being hunted down by others because of his dark-type martial soul. In a fit of anger, he killed all the people who were going after him and chose to join the Holy Ghost Church. After several years of cultivation, he finally became a true evil soul master.
Chapter 577: First Fight, Extermination!
He was one of the evil soul masters who went after the Beast God with Zhongli Wu. That endeavor could be considered a huge failure, especially with the number of casualties they had sustained. However, he was the only one who managed to emerge unscathed.
Similar to Di Tian, he also possessed dark-type power. When they were going after the Beast God, he was able to develop a much deeper understanding of dark-type powers by sensing Di Tian’s aura, as well as observing how he controlled his dark- type power. After returning from the hunt, he not only did not sustain any injuries, but also improved his soul power, and had become a Transcendent Douluo. He managed to make a breakthrough past a bottleneck which had restricted his development for several years.
Hence, Huo Yuhao was actually facing an evil soul master who was a Transcendent Douluo for his first battle. On top of that, the evil soul master specialized in dark-type power!
The dark clouds that hung over the sky rolled towards Huo Yuhao and instantly enveloped his entire body.
After reaching the rank of Titled Douluo, the execution of soul skills was no longer the sole deciding factor in battles. Aura, soul skills, self-created soul skills, and identifying weaknesses were all important factors which could decide the outcome of a battle.
Huo Yuhao stood there without moving the whole time. He could definitely feel the immense pressure exerted on him by his opponent. In fact, this pressure felt strangely familiar. This was because the Beast God was the last person to exert that much pressure on him, and helped unlock his potential!
Even though this evil soul master was also skilled in dark- type power, he was a long way from matching Di Tian’s powers.
Dark-type powers…?
Huo Yuhao revealed a faint smile as the visor of his Icy War God’s Armor descended over his face. His entire body was now fully enveloped by his armor. Following which, the Icy War God’s Armor emanated a familiar dark blue light.
The Icy War God’s Armor was not just any armor. It was a human-shaped tool which was controlled not by Huo Yuhao’s body, but by his invincible spiritual power.
While Xuan Ziwen was making the Icy War God’s Armor, he had considered Huo Yuhao’s impossibly strong aptitude in spiritual power, and hence adjusted the armor such that it demanded an unbelievably huge amount of spiritual power from its user. Hence, a normal human being would never be able to activate the Icy War God’s Armor. Once he or she managed to activate it, the person would find his or her spiritual power emptied by the armor.
The entire Icy War God’s Armor was controlled by one’s intent. Because of how the dark clouds had completely enveloped Huo Yuhao, he was no longer able to see anything in the dark. Even his powerful Spiritual Detection seemed to have been trapped in a marshy swamp of darkness. Formless pressure was surging towards him from all directions.
However, would this power be sufficient to restrict Huo Yuhao?
“Spiritual Blast!” Huo Yuhao enunciated those words slowly. Even though he did not shout them, the two thousand powerful spectators around him could hear his words audibly.
Following which, everyone present felt as though their spiritual power had been influenced by Huo Yuhao’s attack. Even the dark clouds that had enshrouded Huo Yuhao started to surge violently.
An intense vibration started to travel through the dark-type clouds as Wu Yun started to feel a mystical energy coming into contact with the soul power he had released into those clouds. Even though his soul power was not directly affected by this mystical energy, the spiritual power he had used to control his soul power was being disintegrated by the mysterious energy. The clouds which had broken free from his control started to rise back into the sky. This strange sight resembled the mushroom clouds which usually formed after huge explosions.
A figure instantly flickered from within the mushroom cloud into the sky as the dark blue light on his body gave away his identity. Yes, he was none other than Huo Yuhao!
After ascending into the sky, Huo Yuhao, who was wearing his Icy War God’s Armor, seemed like a God who was about to descend to the land of mortals. His gaze was already locked onto Wu Yun, who was now enveloped by the dark clouds.
A transparent crystal at the forehead of the Icy War God’s Armor suddenly cracked. Following which, a streak of purple- golden light was emitted as a mystical sight formed before everyone’s eyes. Initially, the streak of light was purple-gold when it was just emitted. However, it gradually turned rose gold in the air. Then, when it penetrated into the dark clouds, it mysteriously changed into a pure golden color. A streak of light was somehow able to change colors three times in the air. How mystical was that?
A loud grunt could be heard as the dark clouds started to tremble violently.
Following which, a streak of dark blue light tore across the sky as it surged into them.
The dark clouds seemed to be melting like snow the moment they came into contact with the dark blue light as they disintegrated into fine black smoke that scattered everywhere.
Wu Yun’s figure was revealed. He was currently rapidly retreating as he started to show signs of panic. A pair of black wings had formed behind his back. However, the wings were not part of a flying-type soul tool. They were given to him by his martial soul.
His martial soul was the Darkness Crow. It was dark-type martial soul, which was extremely rare.
The wings behind Wu Yun’s back seemed to be alive as the feathers on them emitted black lasers that intertwined to form a net in front of him. They were trying to block the streak of dark blue light that was going straight for him.
Unparalleled Chill, Empress’ Sword!
The dak blue light just straight through the net. Even though the net did not break apart, its original black color turned dark blue.
A figure silently appeared at the tip of the dark blue sword.
Huo Yuhao had disappeared from the sky, and had seemed to use the sword light as a bridge to appear in front of Wu Yun.
Wu Yun’s movements seemed to be very messy. It was apparent that he had been affected by the blow landed on him by Huo Yuhao’s Eye of Destiny. However, he was still able to retaliate.
The two yellow, two purple, and five black rings on his body gave him the confidence that he could still retaliate against Huo Yuhao. His sixth ring, which was black, suddenly expanded as his entire body suddenly became illusory.
His sixth soul skill, Darkening.
Even though his consciousness had been a bit blurred by Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock, he was still able to activate his abilities. Darkening would allow him to negate seventy percent of all physical attacks and soul power attacks instantly. However, it would also mean that he would not be able to attack in that short period of time.
Wu Yun needed the five seconds of buffer time to shake off the effects of Huo Yuhao’s previous Spiritual Shock.
However, Huo Yuhao did not attack him at the first instant possible. Instead, he exclaimed a single word.
“Explode!”
A light flickered within the Eye of Destiny on his forehead.
Following which, Wu Yun’s entire body started to tremble intensely. His body, which had just started to undergo Darkening, was somehow returned to its original state under the effects of the mystical Spiritual Blast. On top of that, a black figure also exploded out from his body.
This is…
After seeing this, even Zhongli Wu could not help but gasp in surprise.
Is this spirit detachment? When did Huo Yuhao launch another spiritual attack on Wu Yun?
Huo Yuhao naturally did not launch a second spiritual attack.
He had only released his Spiritual Shock once.
Even though it was just a single attack, the power of a Spiritual Shock released with the Eye of Destiny must not be underestimated. Its power was fully released in a single instant only because Huo Yuhao had feared that Wu Yun had some alternative defensive means. He had only chosen to detonate the Spiritual Shock when Wu Yun was injured.
It was undoubtedly the best time to detonate Spiritual Shock right now. Wu Yun was not a soul engineer, and hence did not possess any defensive soul tools which could block spiritual attacks. Even though he was already a Transcendent Douluo, he was facing Huo Yuhao, whose spiritual power was on par with an Ultimate Douluo’s.
Wu Yun’s body flew backward in an uncontrollable fashion. At that instant, all the characteristics of his martial soul that his body had adopted all vanished. The black image which had
been ejected from his body was trying its best to return. However, why would Huo Yuhao give him a chance to do that?
An image flickered as Huo Yuhao vanished once again. When he reappeared, he was at a position between Wu Yun and his spirit.
Huo Yuhao swung his left hand backward, while he threw his right hand forward.
A mystical vortex suddenly appeared above Wu Yun’s spirit. The spirit, which was rapidly flying towards his body, suddenly stopped in mid-air.
“Boom!” A soft sound could be heard as Wu Yun’s body flew backward once again.
Huo Yuhao’s attack on Wu Yun’s body did not seem to be particularly strong. After all, Wu Yun was already a Transcendent Douluo. His body was definitely stronger than any normal rare metal.
Wu Yun’s body flew back by about fifty meters. Even though his spirit had been detached from his body, his body still possessed certain reflexes, which allowed him to slow himself down as he tried to regain his balance.
Without looking him in the eye, Huo Yuhao faced his spirit as a light flickered across his eyes. A streak of rose gold light suddenly shot out from Huo Yuhao’s eyes.
It was another Spiritual Shock!
“Boom!” The spirit instantly disintegrated into countless grains of light, which started to surge back towards Wu Yun’s body.
This time, Huo Yuhao did not try to stop them from reuniting.
The spirit of a Transcendent Douluo was already considered very stable. Even after striking it with two waves of Spiritual Shock, Wu Yun’s soul could still not be completely destroyed. Even so, his soul was definitely heavily damaged.
After his spirit fused back into his body, blood started to spurt from Wu Yun’s mouth and nose.
He immediately lifted his head, and the hood that had covered his head fell down. His fairly good-looking face was revealed to the spectators. Other than the fact that his face was a little pale, he looked no different from any normal human being.
However, he suddenly raised his hand and pointed at Huo Yuhao as though he wanted to say something. Nonetheless, he seemed to be unable to speak for some strange reason.
Following which, a mystical vortex suddenly appeared behind Wu Yun. The vortex was a combination of blue and gold colors. The moment the vortex appeared, Wu Yun’s body immediately took on the same combination of colors as the vortex.
“Boooommmm!”
Wu Yun’s body was instantly shattered and powderized. His already shattered soul was destroyed in this huge explosion.
There was nothing left of it at all.
From the start till the end of the battle, the entire process only took a short while. Wu Yun, the Transcendent Douluo who possessed the Darkness Crow martial soul, and the first evil soul master to represent the Sun Moon Empire, had fallen!
A heavy silence fell upon everyone present as Huo Yuhao stood calmly where he was before turning around to face the Sun Moon Empire.
Everyone had gone silent. Even Zhongli Wu, who had been brimming with confidence, became quiet.
During the two hours before the battle, Zhongli Wu had made a series of plans, and Wu Yun was the first pawn he had decided to send out.
Zhongli Wu was definitely able to guess what Ju Zi had managed to guess. Huo Yuhao must have the necessary credentials to possess the courage to step forward and challenge ten opponents.
On top of that, Zhongli Wu must have tried to understand Huo Yuhao’s abilities and fighting style. He knew Huo Yuhao was but a Titled Douluo. Hence, his plan was carefully constructed with several considerations in mind.
Zhongli Wu only had a single objective for sending Wu Yun out in the first battle. He wanted to use the strength and viscosity of Wu Yun’s dark-type powers to burn away Huo Yuhao’s soul power. This would create opportunities for the
subsequent opponents Huo Yuhao would have to face. In fact, Zhongli Wu had instructed Wu Yun to surrender when necessary.
After all, it was not easy to nurture an evil soul master to a Titled Douluo. Furthermore, Wu Yun had just successfully become a Transcendent Douluo. Once he was able to consolidate his abilities, he would definitely be a huge asset to the Holy Ghost Church.
A Transcendent Douluo had an enormous advantage over a Titled Douluo when it came to survivability. Hence, Zhongli Wu had planned for the first battle to be a protracted one. Even if Huo Yuhao were able to use his Ultimate Ice to suppress the dark clouds, he would have to exhaust a lot of his soul power and techniques in order to triumph over Wu Yun.
However, little did he expect Wu Yun to perish in just a few short encounters. Even his soul had been destroyed. In fact, Wu Yun did not even have a chance to unleash his martial soul true body. He was simply killed while he was trying to probe Huo Yuhao to see what he had up his sleeves.
Has Huo Yuhao really become so powerful?
These thoughts fleeted in the minds of the powerful soul masters and soul engineers from both sides who were spectating the battle.
As they went through the entire battle in their heads again, they realized that Huo Yuhao did not make many moves. In fact, they did not even remember seeing him release the soul rings from his body. However, his extremely powerful Spiritual Shock left a deep impression on everyone. A Transcendent Douluo was somehow unable to block his Spiritual Shocks, and had died because of his spiritual attacks. How strong must Huo Yuhao be in order to have pulled this off?
Those who were capable of keener observations would have noticed the huge explosion which happened in the end. It seemed to be some sort of ability Huo Yuhao possessed. It was important to note that an eight-ringed Soul Douluo might not even be able to kill a Transcendent Douluo even if the Transcendent Douluo were to just stand there and allow the Soul Douluo to attack him for twenty-four hours straight. On top of that, Huo Yuhao did not even seem to be using any kind of soul skills. He was somehow able to kill Wu Yun with a gentle movement of his palms.
Even if Wu Yun did not possess a spirit, and hence could not effectively control his body, it did not change the fact that his body was still impossibly strong, and his soul power was still present within his body! What kind of ability would allow Huo Yuhao have to have to achieve that feat?
His Yin Yang Complement soul cores! This was the answer which very few people actually knew.
When Huo Yuhao had planted his palm on Wu Yun’s body, he had transferred his Yin Yang Complement soul power into his body. The soul power he had transferred was an extremely unstable vortex. To put it simply, Huo Yuhao planted a mini soul core which drilled into Wu Yun’s body. And this soul core was controlled by Huo Yuhao.
The explosion of a soul core within Wu Yun's body was bound to kill him. Without his spirit to control his soul power to defend against the explosive force, he would never be able to survive no matter how strong his body was. It was important to note that Huo Yuhao’s soul core not only contained Ultimate Ice, but also his spiritual power.
Hence, Wu Yun’s already shattered spirit could never have survived the explosion formed from the powerful Yin Yang Complement soul power. His spirit was simply destroyed!
So powerful!
Ju Zi’s heart started to beat faster as she started to grasp a better appreciation of Huo Yuhao’s power.
No wonder he was able to pursue my two beast-ranked soul engineer legions with such ease.
I can’t believe how strong he’s become. Yuhao, you really are a generational talent! You are definitely the right heir to inherit Shrek Academy.
Ju Zi was amazed by the powers Huo Yuhao had exhibited. At the same time, she was becoming depressed. The more powerful Huo Yuhao became, the likelier he was to remain her enemy.
Ju Zi could still remember the words Huo Yuhao had said to her earlier. If he really wanted to continue harassing the Sun Moon Empire’s army, she would have no choice but to ask the Death God Douluo for help. And when that happened, it would definitely be a fight to the death.
“Can the second fighter please step forward?” Just when everyone was staring at Huo Yuhao as though he was an actual War God, he suddenly spoke.
Yes, now that the first one was dead, it was time for the Sun Moon Empire to send out their second representative! The battle had only just begun.
Zhongli Wu was visibly angered by Huo Yuhao’s words. After all, he had just lost an evil soul master who had just attained the Transcendent Douluo rank! It had taken him many years to develop and nurture a Transcendent Douluo, only for Huo Yuhao to take him down so easily. Wu Yun was an evil soul master who would rank in the top ten soul masters within the Holy Ghost Church.
Wu Yun’s death was completely futile! He did not even manage to showcase his abilities, and was instantly killed by
Huo Yuhao when he was still trying to probe him. This was a result of him not being sufficiently familiar with Huo Yuhao as well as the explosive power of Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power. He did not even manage to drain much of Huo Yuhao’s power.
Zhongli Wu turned around to look at Ju Zi before whispering, “Marshal, Huo Yuhao seems to possess extremely powerful spiritual power. We must borrow the power of spiritual defensive soul tools in order to deal with him. Hence, I need our Class 9 soul engineers to lend us a hand.”
Ju Zi immediately frowned.
Zhongli Wu was able to keep his wits about him and find out where the problem lay even in such stressful situations. No wonder he was the Leader of the Holy Ghost Church!
That was right! In the age of soul tools, it would be extremely difficult to beat Huo Yuhao without soul tools, especially when Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock was so powerful. However, once Zhongli Wu was able to equip his people with spiritual defensive soul tools, they should be able to withstand a few blows from Spiritual Shock. After all, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual
power was limited. He would not be able to replicate his Spiritual Shock ten times.
Ju Zi was definitely unable to turn Zhongli Wu’s request down when there were so many people, including evil soul masters from the Holy Ghost Church, around her.
She immediately turned around to look at the soul engineers behind her before asking, “Is any of you willing to lend your spiritual defensive soul tool to the military supervisor?”
There were about eleven Class 9 soul engineers behind Ju Zi, and all of them were top-class soul engineers within the Sun Moon Empire. More than half of the Class 9 soul engineers in the entire Sun Moon Empire were present here. However, after hearing Ju Zi’s words, all of them kept silent.
Zhongli Wu’s eyes widened in rage. He was angry to find out that no one was willing to help him!
Huo Yuhao was definitely not going to rush them. After all, the longer they took to send out the next person, the more soul
power and spiritual power he could recover. Of course, Zhongli Wu knew this as well.
Zhongli Wu gritted his teeth and exclaimed, “I will buy them!”
There was no time for him to lose. Considering how much he wanted the Jiangshi Ice Bear King, as well as how there was no room for failure after receiving the military order, he knew he had no choice but to buy the spiritual defensive soul tools.
After running its operations for so many years, the Holy Ghost Church possessed wealth which could rival the other empires.
The soul engineers present were visibly attracted by the proposition of a purchase. After a short discussion, they produced a price list before Zhongli Wu.
All eleven Class 9 soul engineers were like brothers from the same mother, as they produced the exact same price list as one another.
A Class 9 spiritual defensive soul tool was definitely priceless. The Class 9 soul engineers would naturally only accept rare metals as the currency of the transaction.
They requested ten types of rare metals, and one tonne of each type of rare metal in exchange for a single Class 9 spiritual defensive soul tool.
Zhongli Wu could feel his heart bleeding after seeing what the Class 9 soul engineers had quoted. Even though the Holy Ghost Church was incredibly rich, rare metals were commodities which had great strategic value!
The Duskwater Alliance, which Huo Yuhao had previously joined, specialized in trading rare metals. Even though the Holy Ghost Church had the quantity of the rare metals they had quoted, it was still a substantive cost.
But could Zhongli Wu say no? The value of a Titled Douluo evil soul master was definitely a lot more than whatever rare metals they were demanding.
I will make sure all of you pay for this! Zhongli Wu gritted his teeth and agreed to the prices offered by the Class 9 soul engineers, even though he knew they were simply trying to raid him when he was out of options.
He purchased a single spiritual defensive soul tool, because he had no idea how long Huo Yuhao could last against the next person he was about to send forward.
Zhongli Wu was trying to buy as few spiritual defensive soul tools as possible. If he needed them again, he would buy them later.
Even though the Class 9 soul engineers appeared to be very calm and collected, they were all laughing deep down. It was a pleasant feeling to see how an evil soul master was forced to accept an unfair agreement. After all, soul engineers, like soul masters, were normal people. They would naturally not have a good impression of evil soul masters. On top of that, the relationship between the Holy Ghost Church and the soul engineers was becoming increasingly strained over the past few years.
Zhongli Wu regretted not bringing some of the soul engineers from his Holy Ghost Church along for this war. He had left all of them behind in the Radiant City. If not, he would not have to agree to such an unfair deal.
Following which, Zhongli Wu passed the spiritual defensive soul tool he had just bought to the person beside him. “Little Feng, take care. Please prioritize your safety.”
“Okay.” The person who was standing beside Zhongli Wu was the woman he loved. She was none other than Feng Ling, the Vice-Leader of the Holy Ghost Church!
Zhongli Wu was going to send Feng Ling as Huo Yuhao’s second opponent.
Right from the beginning, Zhongli Wu had never planned to use all ten battles. He did not believe that Huo Yuhao had the ability to last for ten battles, even though he must have something up his sleeves. At the same time, he did not want to use all of his trump cards.
There were more than ten powerful soul masters from the Holy Ghost Church who had followed the army to war. Every one of them was at least a Titled Douluo. Other than the two Ultimate Douluo, they pretty much formed the backbone of the Holy Ghost Church.
However, after their previous battle, as well as the fight against Di Tian, they had lost a couple of people. The battle against Di Tian had been exceptionally costly. Currently, they only had nine people left, and two of those nine people were heavily injured.
Hence, they could at best send out seven people. Among the seven people, only four of them—including Zhongli Wu himself—were at the level of a Transcendent Douluo.
It was extremely difficult to cultivate to become a Transcendent Douluo as an evil soul master. It was even more difficult to nurture one. Usually, an evil soul master would have an enormous advantage over a normal soul master even if they were at the same rank. It was not impossible for one evil soul master to fight against multiple normal soul masters. However, when it came to higher-ranked battles, the advantage would gradually diminish.
For example, a two ringed evil soul master would definitely be able to slaughter a huge number of normal two ringed soul masters with his or her own evil soul skills. However, the gap would be a lot smaller when a five ringed evil soul master fought against a five ringed soul master. Eventually, after both types of soul masters had reached Titled Douluo, evil soul masters would be more or less the same as normal soul masters, except for some advantages which were near negligible.
Zhongli Wu had ranked him alongside his other Transcendent Douluo after Huo Yuhao had demonstrated the courage to fight ten different people. Even if Huo Yuhao was super arrogant, he would never have proposed such a ludicrous challenge if he did not even possess the abilities of a Transcendent Douluo.
Hence, Zhongli Wu only planned to send the Transcendent Douluo under him to fight Huo Yuhao. Sending any Titled Douluo would just be a waste of his precious resources. After all, it was very difficult to train an evil soul master to become a Titled Douluo! Those dead Titled Douluo could have been war machines on the battlefield.
Hence, the second person Huo Yuhao was about to fight was Feng Ling.
Feng Ling was the second strongest evil soul master among those who had followed Zhongli Wu to the battlefield. She was right behind him in the pecking order. The fact that Zhongli Wu had decided to send her as the second person meant that he did not want to lose any more of his powerful evil soul masters.
Feng Ling floated to a position which was about a hundred meters away from Huo Yuhao before landing on the ground.
She was also robed in black, even though she was not covering her head with a hood.
She was undoubtedly beautiful, even though she was already a middle-aged woman. Her skin was still extremely fair, and she radiated a devilish, seductive aura.
It was not the first time Huo Yuhao had seen the Vice-Leader of the Holy Ghost Church. Previously when he first met Feng
Ling, he could still remember clearly how pressuring it was to even be in her presence.
This time when they finally met again, she had become his opponent.
Feng Ling had a strange pair of eyes. Even though they were not particularly huge, they were alluring in a very different way. There were two dark red streaks which extended from the corners of her eyes to her temples. These streaks on her face gave her a very devilish look.
“Huo Yuhao.” Feng Ling spoke coldly.
Huo Yuhao revealed a faint smile and said, “Hello, Vice- Leader. We meet again.”
Feng Ling replied coldly, “You are Tang Wu, the person who participated in the Radiant City Elite Soul Engineering Tournament, right?”
Huo Yuhao smiled and answered, “That’s right! It seems like the Vice-Leader is very observant.”
“Very well.” Feng Ling’s voice was becoming colder as the black robe on her body started to flutter, even though there was no wind at all. Suddenly a piercing phoenix roar could be heard from her body as her soul rings started to rise around her.
Three purple, five black, and one red ring!
Her soul ring combination far exceeded the optimal soul ring combination. Her soul rings were radiating a brilliant glow onto their surroundings. She did not have a single hundred- year soul ring. Even her lousiest soul ring was a thousand-year soul ring.
Even Huo Yuhao was a little startled after seeing her nine soul rings appear before his eyes. He was amazed at the power she had demonstrated. No wonder she’s the Vice-Leader of the Holy Ghost Church.
Huo Yuhao did not know exactly what rank Feng Ling was at. However, he could roughly tell from her aura that she should be somewhere around Rank 96. Because of the fact that she was an evil soul master, she could even be Rank 97. This Vice- Leader would definitely pose a bigger challenge than Wu Yun.
On top of that, Feng Ling was now using a spiritual defensive
soul tool. She would be a lot more resistant to Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Eyes’ soul skills.
Huo Yuhao’s face revealed a faint glow as his Icy War God’s Armor gave off a mystical glow under his control.
Suddenly, the purple soul ring on Feng Ling’s body started to emit a bright light. At the very next instant, a pair of dark purple wings extended behind her back.
A powerful aura was instantly released as it swarmed and surged towards Huo Yuhao.
Phoenix wings? What kind of phoenix is this? Why are its wings purple?
Huo Yuhao had previously seen Feng Ling in action. However, back then, Feng Ling did not go all-out. This time, the Vice-Leader of the Holy Ghost Church was undoubtedly going to use all of her powers to take him down.
There were no flames at all despite the immense pressure the wings were radiating. That is…
Darkness? Darkness Phoenix?
No, that would be wrong. It can’t be the Darkness Phoenix. The Darkness Phoenix’s aura should be pure, and would definitely not be so cold.
This must be the Evil Phoenix!
Yes, this was Feng Ling’s martial soul—the Evil Phoenix. This matched exactly with her title, which was the Evil Phoenix Douluo.
The Evil Phoenix Douluo, Feng Ling!
Intense soul power fluctuations were radiating from the gigantic Evil Phoenix wings as the surrounding light started to become dimmer. It seemed as though the entire sky had turned grey. A powerful, suffocating sensation made Huo Yuhao find it hard to breathe, even though he was within his Icy War God’s Armor.
Feng Ling is really powerful!
Yan Shaozhe, who was watching from the distance along with the other powerful individuals from the Shrek Academy, was startled as he muttered, “Evil Phoenix? So she’s actually the Evil Phoenix Douluo… I can’t believe Feng Ling is the person who is holding that title. It seems like she has also joined the Holy Ghost Church.”
After hearing what he was muttering, two people looked over at him with unfriendly eyes.
One of them was naturally Cai Mei’er—Yan Shaozhe’s wife and the Vice-Dean of the Martial Soul Department. The other person was none other than Xian Lin’er—the Valkyrie Douluo.
Yan Shaozhe forced a cough as he quickly regained his composure.
Of course he knew who Feng Ling was. To be even more precise, he had once shared an ill-fated relationship with her.
Back then, when Yan Shaozhe had just completed his training, he had been the most talented individual in the new batch of students from Shrek Academy. He was not only the disciple of the Dragon God Douluo, but was also extremely powerful and handsome. Coupled with his powerful martial soul—the Radiant Phoenix—he was blessed with every single thing which could make him successful.
However, Yan Shaozhe tended to be a little flirtatious when it came to relationships. Otherwise, he would not have developed a poor relationship with the Valkyrie Douluo.
His relationship with Feng Ling had happened before he had even gotten together with Xian Lin’er. Back then, when he had just completed his training, he had bumped into Feng Ling.
Both of them had phoenixes as their martial souls. Back then, Feng Ling was a lot weaker, and the evil within her phoenix martial soul had yet to be awakened. Hence, it seemed a lot more like the Darkness Phoenix, especially when it was easy to mistake the evilness as dark-type energy.
Even though the Radiant Phoenix had just met the Darkness Phoenix, Yan Shaozhe did not ostracize her. He felt that he did not have to do so because his very own teacher—Mu En—was also very good friends with Long Xiaoyao. In fact, the Radiant Holy Dragon and Darkness Holy Dragon even became a very inspirational tale for everyone in the Douluo Continent.
Hence, instead of finding Feng Ling repulsive, he was very interested in her. After all, he might just be able to start another inspirational tale with her.
Yan Shaozhe was young, handsome, powerful, and extremely charismatic. Before long, both of them got together, and became a lot closer very quickly.
However, their blissful days did not last very long. After being together for about three months or so, Feng Ling’s evil aura was suddenly awakened one day. In fact, if Yan Shaozhe
were to only find out about it later, he would have been killed and consumed by her.
This was a special kind of connection the Evil Phoenix had with the Radiant Phoenix. To be more precise, Feng Ling’s Evil Phoenix was only able to awaken so quickly after Yan Shaozhe had developed an intimate relationship with her.
Hence, a huge battle broke out between Yan Shaozhe and Feng Ling. Yan Shaozhe was able to suppress Feng Ling with his superior powers. However, he could not bear to kill her. After all, he had already developed very powerful feelings for her. Feng Ling was the first woman in his life.
In the end, he could not help but let Feng Ling flee. Afterward, he also left. From that day onwards, he had never seen Feng Ling again. Even though he managed to catch hold of news about her attaining the Titled Douluo rank, he had no idea where she was.
Mu En had, in fact, reprimanded him severely because of this incident. The Evil Phoenix was one of the most gifted martial souls among the possible martial souls which evil soul masters could possess. This meant that Yan Shaozhe had let a powerful
monster loose! No one would know how many people would have to suffer under her wrath.
Back then, Mu En had made the exact mistake, and naturally did not want to see his disciple repeat the same mistake. In fact, he was more worried that Yan Shaozhe would fall too deeply in love with her.
Hence, Yan Shaozhe was grounded for three years as he studied and trained hard within Shrek Academy. It was the three years of closed-door cultivation which helped him develop the ability to eventually become the Dean of the Martial Soul Department.
After so many years, Yan Shaozhe finally saw Feng Ling again. The thoughts and feelings which were racing through his body and mind could only be understood by him alone.
On the other hand, Feng Ling seemed to have completely forgotten about him. She did not even try to steal a glance at him as she kept her gaze focused on Huo Yuhao. The powerful Evil Phoenix aura exploded like a geyser as it radiated from her body.
Huo Yuhao and Feng Ling were now facing one another, but neither of them took the initiative to start the attack. Huo Yuhao’s aura was well concealed, whereas Feng Ling released her aura flamboyantly. Her aura caused the weather within a thousand-meter radius to become extremely volatile. Even the powerful soul masters from both sides who were spectating had no choice but to release their soul power to defend themselves from her aura.
“Die!” Feng Ling let out a cold grunt as her figure flickered. A series of strange-looking figures were left behind her as she sped forward. The shape of the figures resembled a purple phoenix.
Feng Ling’s right hand suddenly became incredibly huge as it transformed into a gigantic purple claw as she raced towards Huo Yuhao.
It was a simple, direct attack. She did not use her martial soul true body. It was almost as though she did not learn from Wu Yun’s lesson.
Huo Yuhao neither retreated nor tried to evade her attack. Instead, he dug his toes into the ground before launching
himself forward in a ferocious manner. Similarly, he raised his right hand and waved it furiously. A gigantic dark golden claw which spanned a hundred meters immediately enveloped Feng Ling’s body.
Darkgolden Terrorclaw!
After seeing the intense glow and the incredibly sharp aura of the Darkgolden Terrorclaw which threatened to tear anything in its way apart, even Zhongli Wu was startled. He had never imagined Huo Yuhao to be so powerful. The Darkgolden Terrorclaw Huo Yuhao had released was already on par with that of a hundred thousand year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear .
Feng Ling released a cold grunt as the wings behind her folded together before she extended her right phoenix claw to grab Huo Yuhao’s Darkgolden Terrorclaw. She was trying to use her small claw against Huo Yuhao’s humongous claw!
“Cling!” A bright sound echoed in the air as a series of soul power explosions occurred at the point of contact. The loud explosive sounds traveled through the surrounding air and into the ears of the surrounding spectators.
The series of explosions released countless sharp auras which cut deep into the earth around them, resulting in humongous trenches around them.
The troops from the Sun Moon Empire and the people from Shrek Academy had no choice but to activate their strongest defensive measures to protect themselves from the invincibly sharp fluctuations which radiated from Huo Yuhao and Feng Ling.
Huo Yuhao remained stationary in the air, while Feng Ling had been forced backward by close to forty meters. Her black long robe had been torn to pieces by the sharp aura, revealing the light armor built from black scales she was wearing under it.
Chapter 578: Second Fight, Feng Ling
Feng Ling was completely decked in armor. Although Huo Yuhao didn’t know how old she was, he was still in awe. Great figure.
Huo Yuhao had gained the upper hand in their first clash. The strength of his Darkgolden Terrorclaw suppressed Feng Ling’s Phoenix Claws.
Both of them seemed to have great chemistry with each other. They leapt into the sky at almost the same time and transformed into two different projections. Instantly, they shot more than a thousand meters into the sky.
The sky was a battlefield for truly strong individuals. Otherwise, everything on the ground would be torn apart from the shockwaves generated during an intense clash between powerful individuals.
They were a hundred meters away from each other. They continued to rise into the sky. No emotional undulations appeared in Feng Ling’s eyes. She only glared at Huo Yuhao.
Just as she was rising, her own stature was also growing rapidly.
Huo Yuhao wasn’t any inferior. Dark-blue projections flashed around his body. The higher it was, the colder the air temperature. The number of ice elements also increased. With the help of the Icy War God’s Armor, these ice elements were quickly absorbed into his body before they were turned into a part of his strength.
Terrifying soul power undulations rippled through the air.
The fight between them immediately reached a peak.
A sharp phoenix cry sounded. In mid-air, Feng Ling opened her wings once again. Behind her, the sky instantly turned purplish-black. At the same time, a giant dark phoenix surfaced amidst the purplish-black. Its appearance was very subtle.
Yan Shaozhe’s Phoenix was agile, elegant and holy. Feng Ling’s Phoenix was sinister and evil! It seemed like it wanted to crush the sky.
“Bang!” A strange pop could be heard from around Feng Ling’s body. Her first soul ring also popped. The evil energy around her, which was already very strong, started to grow many times stronger.
“Her soul skill is different from before.” Yan Shaozhe muttered to himself.
He had once had a relationship with Feng Ling. Back then, Feng Ling already had six rings, even though she wasn’t as strong as she was right now. The soul skills that she demonstrated then were quite different from her soul skills right now.
Elder Xuan said, “It must be a mutation after her Evil Phoenix awakened. As her martial soul mutated, her soul skills also mutated.”
This was something that had happened to Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei. Generally speaking, a mutation of a martial soul would lead to mutations in soul skills.
Yan Shaozhe said, “I’m afraid Yuhao has underestimated his opponent this time. Feng Ling is already so strong. Zhong Liwu must be even stronger than her.”
A smile surfaced on Elder Xuan’s face, “While Feng Ling is strong, Yuhao is no longer the same as before either. Today, he’ll prove to everyone that he’s one of the strongest in the world now. Shaozhe, he’s already exceeded you in terms of cultivation and fighting strength. While Feng Ling is strong, she’s still worse than you.”
Yan Shaozhe was astonished. He hadn’t expected Elder Xuan to have such a high opinion of Huo Yuhao. It was also at this moment that Huo Yuhao experienced a transformation.
With his body as the center, a ball of blurry blue light shone in the air. At the start, it was deep-blue. However, as it spread, it turned dimmer and dimmer. When it had spread more than a hundred meters, it had turned completely white.
This white was in great contrast with the purplish-black that Feng Ling had unleashed. The white started to scatter and turn into countless snowflakes, that twisted and turned in the air.
The snowflakes were pure-white, and carried a holy aura. When Feng Ling’s evil energy spread towards Huo Yuhao, the snowflakes were stirred, but they easily dispelled the evil energy. The evil energy couldn’t get close to Huo Yuhao at all.
At the very start, it felt as if Feng Ling had gained the upper hand. Her evil energy engulfed most of the region, and even engulfed the position that Huo Yuhao was standing in.
However, this changed very soon. The snowflakes around Huo Yuhao’s body were continuously and steadily expanding. No matter how much Feng Ling tried to summon her evil energy, she couldn’t breach the region covered by Huo Yuhao’s snowflakes. Her strength was suppressed and forced back by the falling snowflakes.
Originally, she had wanted to use her evil energy to influence Huo Yuhao. However, she was the one who was being influenced right now. Although she wasn’t engulfed within his domain, the air temperature was still falling dramatically. Given her cultivation, she was still horrified when subjected to such a low temperature. The circulation of her soul power seemed to be affected too.
Ultimate Ice is actually so terrifying?
Eternal Domain of Perpetual Ice!
Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice!
Huo Yuhao had shut his eyes. Every snowflake he felt was like a part of his feelings and emotions. They kept on extending.
The evil energy that Feng Ling unleashed was very strong and pure. Normally, she wouldn’t be at a disadvantage even when up against his Ultimate Ice.
However, Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice was no longer like it was before. After he completed the fusion of his second soul core, his Ultimate Ice reached an entirely new tier.
The strongest point of the Yin Yang Complement was that ‘Yin’ was in ‘Yang’ and ‘Yang’ was in ‘Yin’.
The strength of the Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice was many times greater than before after it combined Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Douluo spiritual power and the compressed, extremely low temperature of his Ultimate Ice.
“I can’t allow this to continue!” Feng Ling immediately judged. If Huo Yuhao continued to suppress her using his domain, she would be in a far worse position as time passed. Since she was losing in the aspect of elements, she could only rely on pure fighting strength!
Her pitch-black seventh soul ring suddenly shone. Thick purplish-black light instantly devoured her.
After this, purplish-black clouds separated in the sky, and a giant purplish-black phoenix rushed out. It carried a dazzling purplish-black tail flame and brought strange ripples as it charged towards Huo Yuhao.
As she was suppressed by the Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice, Feng Ling finally resorted to using her Martial Soul True Body.
From afar, her phoenix seemed to be very elegant and dazzling. However, it had a pair of blood-red eyes, which completely destroyed any elegance it might have possessed.
Wherever this phoenix passed, the air would distort tremendously. There seemed to be countless, pathetic screams echoing around the purplish glow that came from the phoenix, and fierce-looking faces could be subtly seen.
What was the evil part of this Evil Phoenix? It was through devouring other soul masters! The Evil Phoenix devoured the martial souls of other soul masters to improve.
Comparatively speaking, Feng Ling had killed very little compared to other evil soul masters. This was because she had to devour a martial soul that was similar to her own. Furthermore, it was only effective if the other party had a roughly similar cultivation.
This was why she had wanted to devour Yan Shaozhe’s martial soul when she first experienced her awakening.
When the aura of her martial soul was fully unleashed, she became even keener to devour martial souls. Even though Huo Yuhao had an Ultimate martial soul, he was still affected. A fear that originated from his martial soul caused him to waver a little.
Huo Yuhao drifted within his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice. Against Feng Ling’s attack, he didn’t immediately unleash his True Body to resist it. Instead, he maintained his domain.
Feng Ling was about to crash into his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice. A Transcendent Douluo’s True Body was extremely terrifying, especially when she fully demonstrated her ability to devour. Feng Ling had absolute confidence that she could break Huo Yuhao’s domain.
Huo Yuhao’s expression was very serious. Suddenly, he made a hugging motion. Immediately, the snowflakes in his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice gathered towards his body. They were moving directly towards his palms.
Feng Ling’s True Body stopped in the air. He’s given up on his domain? Don’t tell me he’s going to unleash his True Body too?
This was the first thought that arose in her mind.
Following this, Feng Ling was in front of Huo Yuhao. A strong force of evil swept towards him. The Evil Phoenix True Body already had its mouth wide open, and was about to devour Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao still didn’t unleash his True Body. He drifted in mid-air, as still as a statue.
His Icy War God’s Armor unleashed intense dark-blue light. Huo Yuhao gradually pushed his right hand out to resist Feng Ling’s Evil Phoenix True Body.
It was a clash between large and small. Right now, the difference between Huo Yuhao and Feng Ling appeared to be very great.
What is he doing? He’s actually not avoiding the True Body of a Transcendent Douluo or unleashing his own True Body to resist? Is he really so confident?
Just as everyone was puzzled, Feng Ling suddenly stopped in the air.
Her gigantic True Body stopped in the air just like that. Following this, it was clear that a trace of icy-blue was spreading to the rest of the Evil Phoenix’s body from its head.
This…
Zhong Liwu’s pupils shrank.
He, he’s actually frozen Little Feng’s True Body? What strength is this? Even an Ultimate Douluo couldn’t possibly be so strong, right? Little Feng’s Evil Phoenix is considered one of the strongest among evil soul masters!
Yes, Huo Yuhao had only used his Snowless Glacier!
The strength of his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice was tapped by his soul core. He instantly compressed and gathered it before unleashing it using his Snowless Glacier.
Feng Ling felt it the most. She felt that she wasn’t just facing a palm, but a giant whirlpool of ice and snow. It was just that this whirlpool was formless. Her immense soul power was actually frozen by this formless Ultimate Ice. She was unable to move, and could only sense a terrifying chill engulfing her entire body.
Could ice freeze soul power? Huo Yuhao gave her a definite answer to this question.
A sharp scream sounded. Bright light suddenly exploded from the Evil Phoenix True Body. A purplish sun above its head tore the clouds apart before revealing itself. When this purplish sun appeared, the strength of the Evil Phoenix True Body instantly surged. Cracks started to appear on the frozen parts of its body.
A huge purplish beam of light that was more than ten meters in diameter also shot out from the purplish sun. This beam shot straight towards Huo Yuhao.
Powerful! This was Huo Yuhao’s first feeling. However, he had no intention of stepping back.
His eyes shone with golden light before his body turned ethereal. Following this, a huge vertical eye that was more than ten meters tall also appeared in mid-air.
It was his Martial Soul True Body, Eye of the Asura!
Yes, Huo Yuhao had finally unleashed his True Body.
When his Eye of the Asura appeared, time seemed to slow down. Everything seemed to have been delayed. The purplish beam of light that was shooting straight towards him was no exception.
Time has become slower? Is this a soul skill, or…
The Eye of the Asura was bright gold. Around the eye, there were dense yet dazzling rose-gold sunray patterns. A strange glow was being exuded.
This was Huo Yuhao’s first time unleashing his True Body ever since he made his breakthrough.
Bright gold light shot out in the next instant, aimed at that beam of purplish light.
As gold and purple clashed in the air, unprecedentedly bright lights were produced. Countless streaks of light scattered everywhere. It was very clear that two rings of light were spreading in a balanced manner. Within a region covering fifty square kilometers, this was completely clear and visible.
Direct clash! This was a direct confrontation. Huo Yuhao chose to resist Feng Ling’s all-out attack the hard way.
Just as the two different types of lights clashed, an ethereal projection surfaced behind Huo Yuhao’s Eye of the Asura. This projection was golden. It was huge, but ethereal.
Destiny God Beast, Emperor Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion!
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion appeared out of thin air. A rose- gold halo also rose from below the pupil of the Eye of the Asura. The color of the Eye of the Asura immediately changed. Two balls of light, black and white, intersected, fusing and turning into the core of the pupil of the Eye of the Asura.
Following this, these two balls of light shot out. They were aimed at Feng Ling, who had just struggled her way out of Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice.
Although Feng Ling had struggled her way out of Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice, the terrifying chill had still invaded her body and soul. Even her spiritual sea was affected by Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice.
Feng Ling was certain that her True Body would really have been completely frozen if she were not a Transcendent Douluo and if she didn’t immediately invoke the strength of her soul core. It would be impossible for her to break free if she waited until then.
His Ultimate Ice is frightening. It can freeze soul and spiritual power!
Even so, Feng Ling’s expression was still very fierce and serious. There was no look of fear in the blood-red eyes of her True Body. There was only a look of arrogance!
The black and white lights reached her almost instantly. Feng Ling’s first reaction was to dodge. Her immense True Body turned illusory, as if it had become transparent.
However, something strange occurred. The black and white lights spread when they landed on her, and added two layers of light to her body. They did not lose their effect just because her body had turned illusory.
How was this possible?
Feng Ling was in a daze. This ability of her True Body was able to easily neutralize any soul power or material attack. But how did Huo Yuhao manage this?
Was it a spiritual attack? However, Feng Ling didn’t sense any spiritual attack!
What was going on? Feng Ling was completely unaware. At this moment, his Eye of the Asura shot out a beam of light once again. This time, a beam of bright gold light shot straight at Feng Ling.
Feng Ling groaned! A hostile look flashed across her eyes. The purplish sun above her didn’t instantly unleash an attack to resist Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock. Rather, it shot out a beam of purple light towards the main body of the Eye of the Asura.
She had the intention of perishing together with Huo Yuhao.
In fact, Feng Ling was carrying a Class 9 spiritual defensive- type soul tool. She was confident of resisting Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock. The Devouring Light of the Evil Phoenix that she unleashed couldn’t be dealt with so easily.
No one knew the true terrifying part of an Evil Phoenix. In fact, her origin strength came from spiritual attacks. She also devoured the spiritual origins of martial souls to strengthen her own body.
The evil and devouring characteristics ignited by spiritual power was what spawned the purplish sun.
This purplish sun was also Feng Ling’s ninth soul skill, Sun of the Evil Phoenix. When she first became a Titled Douluo,
she couldn’t even use this hundred thousand year soul skill. She could only use it after she became a Transcendent Douluo.
It was also precisely why she could become a Transcendent Douluo in a few decades, and become the vice-leader of the Holy Ghost Church.
The Devouring Light of the Evil Phoenix unleashed by the Sun of the Evil Phoenix had landed on the Eye of the Asura earlier. Suddenly, the Eye of the Asura was stained purple. The sunray patterns around the eye quickly retracted as a result, as if the eye had been greatly harmed.
However, Feng Ling opened her eyes wide at the next instant. What she sensed was different from what others saw. She couldn’t sense that Huo Yuhao had been attacked. This also meant that everything that had happened was just an illusion.
Just as this feeling developed, Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock also hit her.
At almost the next instant, Feng Ling’s True Body was destroyed by that immensely powerful beam of golden light.
She reverted to her original form, and her entire body was also engulfed by the beam of golden light.
A necklace released intense silver light to protect her. It demonstrated the strength of a Class 9 spiritual defensive-type soul tool.
Feng Ling only felt that her heartbeat had quickened. When she faced Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock, she finally understood why Wu Yun was defeated so quickly. He was simply too strong. His spiritual power was simply too immense. She felt as if she were facing the Death God Douluo, Ye Xishui.
Fortunately, she had a Class 9 defensive-type soul tool. If it could block his attack, whatever was expended to create this soul tool would have been worth it.
Feng Ling glared at Huo Yuhao. Right now, the problem she was facing was that she had just been struck by his Spiritual Shock. She couldn’t use her spiritual power to detect where he was. In this way, she couldn’t tell what Huo Yuhao was really up to.
“Ka ka!” A slightly horrifying sound echoed.
When Feng Ling lowered her head, she was astonished to find out that her necklace was already on the verge of failing. There were already cracks in it.
This…
It’s a Class 9 soul tool! It’s actually beginning to fail because of that fellow’s attack.
An indescribable fear surged in her heart. In her mind, she couldn’t help but think about the black and white lights that had appeared on her body earlier.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao’s Eye of the Asura was destroyed by the Devouring Light of the Evil Phoenix. His Spiritual Shock also ended.
“Piang!” Feng Ling’s soul tool cracked, but still finally managed to resist Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock.
However, Feng Ling’s fear didn’t disappear. She only felt as if she was being watched by some kind of savage beast. It was a torturous feeling.
Subconsciously, she unleashed her Martial Soul True Body again.
However, it was also at this moment that she heard an anxious exclamation.
This was a very familiar voice. Didn’t it come from Zhong Liwu?
A huge vertical eye silently appeared behind Feng Ling. The Eye of the Asura seemed to have transcended space. It was dazzling gold, and ten meters high. The sunray patterns were also still shining around it.
Yes, the Eye of the Asura hadn’t been destroyed. It was still there!
Golden light shot out. Compared to before, it might be a little weaker. However, it engulfed Feng Ling’s entire body.
Feng Ling’s body turned rigid. Her True Body turned into countless streaks of purplish smoke that quickly dissipated.
She was even more shocked to realize that there was no movement in her spiritual sea. Against such a spiritual attack, she was completely unable to resist. The terrifying spiritual power instantly struck her brain.
Feng Ling groaned, and her body shook in the air. After that, she passed out.
The golden light retracted, and a hand grabbed her neck.
Huo Yuhao also jolted himself out from his Eye of the Asura.
The entire place descended into silence.
Second! She was the second to be defeated. She was even a Transcendent Douluo, the Evil Phoenix Douluo! The powerful vice-leader of the Holy Ghost Church was defeated just like that. If Huo Yuhao had wanted to kill her, he could have done so earlier.
What Huo Yuhao did wasn’t complicated at all. However, only he was capable of doing it.
Before he unleashed his Spiritual Shock, it was evident that the divine skill the Three-Eyed Golden Lion conferred onto Huo Yuhao was used on Feng Ling. It was Destiny’s Demise, Spiritual Reaving. All material and spiritual defenses could be overcome by this skill.
While a Class 9 spiritual defensive-type soul tool was strong, it could only block Huo Yuhao’s all-out attack.
When he unleashed that strike earlier, Huo Yuhao had actually used his Spiritual Interference Domain too.
His Spiritual Interference Domain had caused Feng Ling’s lock-on and vision to be slightly off. This was why her
Devouring Light of the Evil Phoenix didn’t actually hit him, but a projection that Huo Yuhao had imitated through his Spiritual Interference Domain and Imitation.
After this, things were much easier. He used his Instant Teleportation and sent the real Eye of the Asura behind Feng Ling. Following this came his second strike of Spiritual Shock.
If Huo Yuhao had really wanted to, he could have really hurt Feng Ling by tapping into the strength of his Spiritual Reaving earlier. After that, he could even kill her.
However, he didn’t do so. Instead, he sealed Feng Ling’s senses and spiritual sea before capturing her.
He slowly landed on the ground. There was a strange glow in his eyes. After two consecutive fights, it seemed like he had won very easily. In fact, only he himself knew that he had to react very quickly during these two fights. He had to rely on his strengths to win these two fights easily.
From the start until the end, Huo Yuhao didn’t conserve his strength at all. This was because he knew that the more he didn’t want to unleash his soul power, the more he would be drained. He still had more fights after this. The recovery speed
of his twin soul cores and the amount of soul power he had was unimaginable. However, even so, he couldn’t possibly last ten rounds.
This was why he didn’t kill Feng Ling. Instead, he grabbed her and gave himself some time to recover. Also…
As he landed on the ground, Huo Yuhao took lifted his visor. He grabbed Feng Ling with one hand and had no intention of relaxing at all.
Zhong Liwu stood where he was and didn’t move. Feng Ling was already in Huo Yuhao’s hand. Even if an Ultimate Douluo were here, he couldn’t possibly save her from his hands. Once Huo Yuhao unleashed his Darkgolden Terrorclaws, he could tear Feng Ling’s neck apart in an instant.
“What do you want?” Zhong Liwu asked coldly. They were clever people. He wouldn’t demand that Huo Yuhao release Feng Ling. Since Huo Yuhao didn’t kill her, it meant that there was room for negotiation. He had to have some kind of agenda. To Zhong Liwu, Feng Ling was very important. Not only was she his right-hand man, but she was also his wife.
Evil soul masters weren’t devoid of emotions! This was even though Zhong Liwu didn’t control Feng Ling using emotions!
“I want to exchange her for your other Holy Lady. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether a Holy Lady or your vice-sect leader is more important.” Huo Yuhao revealed his demands simply.
Yes, he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He couldn’t find where the Holy Ghost Church’s headquarters was. This was why he couldn’t find Ma Xiaotao at all.
Not long ago, Huo Yuhao attempted to use his Spiritual Detection to search for her before when they first entered Radiant City. However, he didn’t find any trace of her. Since he couldn’t find her, he could only turn to the Holy Ghost Church.
After hearing Huo Yuhao’s demand, Zhong Liwu focused his gaze. “Keep daydreaming.”
When he had first captured the two Holy Ladies, he had used the Holy Ghost Church’s methods to stimulate them and rapidly increase their cultivations. After that, the Bluesilver
Holy Lady Tang Ya was captured by Huo Yuhao and the others. This left them with only the Fire Phoenix Holy Lady, Ma Xiaotao. Zhong Liwu had high hopes for Ma Xiaotao. She was close to becoming a Transcendent Douluo. Furthermore, she had an Ultimate martial soul! The evil energy of her Ultimate martial soul became fuel for her Ultimate Fire under the stimulation of the Holy Ghost Church’s special methods. Her
abilities had grown significantly over the past few years. She
was bound to become a pillar of the Holy Ghost Church in the future.
In Zhong Liwu’s plan, Ma Xiaotao could become an Ultimate Douluo in a decade’s time. Once she succeeded, she would completely lose her own awareness and become a puppet, a puppet who was an Ultimate Douluo.
Then, even though both Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao would eventually pass away, the Holy Ghost Church would still remain strong.
This was why Zhong Liwu immediately rejected Huo Yuhao’s demand the moment he mentioned Ma Xiaotao.
He had feelings for Feng Ling. However, his feelings weren’t important compared to the future of the Holy Ghost Church. This was the Holy Ghost Church’s motto – profit was the most important.
“Are you saying that you don’t want her life anymore?” Huo Yuhao lifted Feng Ling high.
A sharp, dark gold blade shot out from his index finger, shining brightly. The tip of it came extremely close to Feng Ling’s throat.
“Stop!” Zhong Liwu shouted furiously.
He was conflicted! He couldn’t bear to watch Feng Ling die. It was his first time regretting this mission. If he hadn’t personally requested to fight this battle, Wu Yun wouldn’t have died, and Feng Ling wouldn’t have fallen into Huo Yuhao’s hands.
While the Vampire Ice Bear King was precious, he was still not worth it compared to two Transcendent Douluo! Zhong Liwu subconsciously clenched his fists.
Huo Yuhao said, “Sect leader, you can take some time to consider. I’m not in a rush either. I have ten rounds to fight. I can’t wait to get some rest.” He pointed out his weakness, and even did it with a grin on his face. He wasn’t afraid that Zhong Liwu wouldn’t buy his words.
Zhong Liwu’s breathing became a little heavy. He was very aware that the generals of the Sun Moon Empire army were all looking at him from afar.
He had already given a military order. If he failed, his reputation in the army would fall dramatically, even if he wasn’t dealt with according to military laws.
He was now caught in a bind. What should he do? All sorts of ideas rose in his mind. He really didn’t know what to do right now.
He couldn’t bear to give Feng Ling up. However, he was even more unwilling to sacrifice the Fire Phoenix Holy Lady!
Zhong Liwu’s expression turned grim as he took in a deep breath. “I can’t pass the Fire Phoenix Holy Lady to you. She’s already one of the pillars of the church. Even as the sect leader, I have no right to exchange her for Little Feng. If you are willing, I can make her fight you next. You can use your own abilities to snatch her away. If you can do that, I’ll have nothing to say. However, I can’t directly pass her to you.”
“It’s a promise.” Huo Yuhao answered without any hesitation.
A cold light flashed across Zhong Liwu’s face. He waved towards the back.
A terrifying aura swept over immediately. The cries of a phoenix sounded following this.
It was different from the cries of Feng Ling’s phoenix. Feng Ling’s phoenix cries were sharp and shrill, whereas this phoenix cry was filled with dominance. It was extremely domineering! It rocked heaven and earth.
A mighty aura exploded into the air. Scorching air currents surged. One person slowly walked out from the Sun Moon Empire crowd.
She wasn’t very quick, but every step she took left a fiery-red footprint on the ground. Fiery-red light shone from her without dissipating at all.
She was wearing a red hat with a veil that covered her entire head. That mighty yet scorching aura exuded from her body.
Huo Yuhao focused his gaze and stared at her. Is that you, elder sister?
It was unknown what that red hat was made of. It didn’t appear to be damaged even as it was subjected to the scorching air currents.
Zhong Liwu turned around and walked towards a bunch of soul engineers. He gritted his teeth before grabbing another Class 9 spiritual defensive-type soul tool.
This time, it was a bracelet. He returned in front of that person in red.
The person in red lifted her left hand. Her palms were milky- white, but there were red air currents coming from them. Intense soul power undulations originated from her body, which couldn’t be suppressed at all.
Her scorching aura made her seem like a volcano that could erupt at any time.
Zhong Liwu gave her the bracelet. After this, he turned to Huo Yuhao and said, “She’s here. You can let go of Feng Ling now.”
Huo Yuhao coldly replied, “How do I know if she’s the one?
Ask her to lift her veil and reveal her true appearance.”
Zhong Liwu nodded and gestured at the lady.
The lady lifted her veil. When she revealed her appearance, Huo Yuhao’s pupils shrank.
All these years, he had done his best to find Ma Xiaotao. However, he couldn’t find her. Now that he saw her, his heart sank.
Ma Xiaotao was still Ma Xiaotao. Her appearance had not changed at all. Time also didn’t leave any marks on her beautiful face. However, her eyes had changed.
Her eyes had turned completely red. Whether it was the black or white part of her eyes, everything had turned red. It was even a deep red. It was as if blood could seep out of her eyes at any time.
When she lifted her head and looked at Huo Yuhao, there was only a strong killing intent and terrifying evil energy coming from her eyes.
Sister Xiaotao! Huo Yuhao’s heart was shuddering.
Sister Xiaotao, I was the one who harmed you! For various reasons, I couldn’t leave with you when we first met. After that, we were attacked by the Holy Ghost Church’s Third and
Fourth Elder, which caused Qiu’er to sacrifice herself. After Qiu’er sacrificed herself, Shrek Academy was struck by the beast wave. I had no choice but to return to Shrek. When I returned, I could no longer find any traces of you.
When Huo Yuhao saw her years later, today, he could clearly sense that she had lost a part of her soul. She had become a killing machine controlled by the Holy Ghost Church.
Huo Yuhao’s killing intent grew instantly. Holy Ghost Church, Holy Ghost Church!
An icy-cold look flashed across his face. He stared at Zhong Liwu. A cold smile appeared on Zhong Liwu’s face. He turned to Ma Xiaotao and said, “Kill him.”
There were so many people around. Huo Yuhao couldn’t renege on his words. Huo Yuhao shook his right hand before he flung Feng Ling towards Zhong Liwu. At the same time, Ma Xiaotao was already like a ball of intense flame as she charged towards him.
The air immediately distorted due to the heat. Ma Xiaotao seemed to have gone crazy. She opened her arms wide and shot a phoenix-shaped, dark-red flame towards Huo Yuhao.
She immediately used her fourth soul skill, Phoenix Skywhistle.
Ma Xiaotao’s phoenix flames were much stronger now compared to before. Her Ultimate Fire was mixed with some kind of terrifying energy that Huo Yuhao couldn’t even recognize. The flame was aimed straight at him. Ma Xiaotao’s nine soul rings instantly rose at the same time.
Chapter 579: Third Fight, Holy Phoenix Lady
Apart from the soul rings that Huo Yuhao was familiar with him, there was an extra blood-red ninth soul ring on her body.
The Holy Ghost Church had gone all-out to nurture her. They even gave her a hundred thousand year soul ring.
Huo Yuhao opened his arms, and a beam of jade-blue light shot out from his backbone. It was his Ice Empress’ Wrath.
Red and jade-blue clashed in the air. It was a confrontation between Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire.
A deafening sound echoed, as if hot oil had been spilled onto ice and snow. A huge amount of fog rose instantly.
Ma Xiaotao’s Fire Phoenix disappeared. The last shockwave from Ice Empress’ Wrath hit her, and caused her to shudder.
In terms of cultivation, she was no longer as strong as Huo Yuhao. She wasn’t as strong as that fellow she had almost killed in a manic rage back at the lakeside of the Sea God’s Lake.
Her body turned cold, and Ma Xiaotao went into a bit of a daze. However, the aura of Ultimate Ice was quickly expelled by the phoenix flames in her body.
Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire were two extreme strengths. Since time immemorial, they suppressed each other. As for which way it went, it depended on the cultivation of their owners.
Her huge phoenix wings opened behind her back. She used her third soul skill, Soaring Phoenix. As her Soaring Phoenix grew stronger and stronger, Ma Xiaotao’s stature kept growing. Phoenix flames reached towards Huo Yuhao.
He couldn’t fight her on land.
Huo Yuhao pointed his toes to the ground, as if he were about to shot into the sky. However, Ma Xiaotao was only filled with
boundless killing intent and the innate desire to fight. Why would she be bothered where they were?
Earlier, Feng Ling was already not in a very good mental state. However, she was already much better compared to Ma Xiaotao. Ma Xiaotao was like a killing machine now.
As she opened her mouth, she spat out a beam of dark red fire towards Huo Yuhao. It was her first soul skill, Phoenix Fireline, which was enhanced by her Soaring Phoenix.
Not only this, but her entire body also started to smoke with burning flames. Her entire body released an indescribable yet immense aura. Then, she unleashed her second soul skill, Phoenix Baptism.
Huo Yuhao had already beaten two evil soul masters. In terms of soul power cultivation, both Feng Ling and Wu Yun were above Ma Xiaotao. However, Huo Yuhao felt more strained when he fought Ma Xiaotao.
The reason was very simple. Ma Xiaotao was in a manic state right now. Furthermore, her Ultimate Fire didn’t fear Huo
Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao didn’t dare to go heavy on her!
Given these restraints, Huo Yuhao was unable to fully unleash his abilities. Naturally, he was under some pressure.
Huo Yuhao took in a deep breath. He lifted his right hand and grabbed towards the Phoenix Fireline.
A layer of diamond ice crystals surfaced on Huo Yuhao’s Icy War God’s Armor.
Ultimate Ice and Divine Ice Crystals, which were used to build the Icy War God’s Armor, were complementary. In terms of cultivation, Huo Yuhao was far superior to Ma Xiaotao, as he was enhanced by his Icy War God’s Armor.
Ice Empress’ Pincer!
The Phoenix Fireline was blocked, but Huo Yuhao was also astonished to find out that the diamond ice crystals on his Ice Empress’ Pincer were about to melt under the attack of Ma
Xiaotao’s Phoenix Skyline. This was unthinkable. There was a huge gap between their cultivations. Why was Ma Xiaotao’s Phoenix Fireline so strong?
Just as Huo Yuhao was astonished, Ma Xiaotao had already turned into a Fire Phoenix and flew towards him.
She was still using her Phoenix Skywhistle. The only difference was that her second and third soul skills, the Phoenix Baptism and Soaring Phoenix, enhanced her Phoenix Skywhistle this time. It was even stronger than before.
Huo Yuhao squinted. An icy-blue halo spread from his body.
Star Anise Ice Origin! It was a soul skill that originated from the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass.
In fact, Huo Yuhao wasn’t in his best state right now. This was because his six Spirits were all in deep sleep. He was affected without his Spirits. He could only use the powers that belonged to his Spirits. There were even some special abilities he couldn’t use.
For example, he couldn’t use the complete version of the Pride of the Ice and Snow Empresses when both the Ice and Snow Empress were asleep. At the same time, he couldn’t use his Ultimate Ice True Body too. The Ice Empress was asleep. If he used the Ice Empress’ True Body, he couldn’t possibly unleash its essence. This was not to even mention that the Ultimate Ice True Body also depended on tapping into the Snow Empress’ strength.
However, even so, Huo Yuhao was still considered one of the strongest in the world of soul masters because of his Ultimate martial soul.
Under the effect of the Star Anise Icy Origin, his Icy War God’s Armor dazzled. He punched out a fist.
It was just his fist; he didn’t use any soul skills. However, at this instant, Huo Yuhao seemed to have fused with heaven and earth. Ma Xiaotao, who was against him, seemed to be subjected to the wrath of heaven and earth.
“Cluck——” Ma Xiaotao’s Phoenix Fireline was forcefully crushed, and she was thrown back. Her entire body seemed to be covered by a layer of diamond ice crystals. Even her Class 9
defensive-type soul tool on her wrist shone brightly. Evidently, it was taking effect. It was helping her resist Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power.
Zhong Liwu had only just dispelled the Ultimate Ice soul power in Feng Ling’s body right now. When he saw this scene, his expression changed completely.
That fist contained the principles of heaven and earth! He got the same feeling from his mother’s body. However, it wasn’t as intense. He also sensed that from Long Xiaoyao’s body, which was a little stronger than his mother. Di Tian was the one who left him the deepest impression when it came to this feeling. It was just that Di Tian was a soul beast, and didn’t seem to be able to completely fuse with heaven and earth. However, Huo Yuhao appeared to have originated from heaven and earth when he unleashed his fist earlier! He didn’t use a lot of his soul power, but Ma Xiaotao was greatly disadvantaged.
Huo Yuhao didn’t try to call out to Ma Xiaotao at this moment. This was because he was clearly aware that she was greatly poisoned. She wouldn’t respond so easily. He needed to save her first before he had a chance to neutralize the toxins and wake her up.
The first thing he had to do before he could save her was defeat her!
Lights flashed, and Huo Yuhao revealed a determined and serious look on his face. He forced Ma Xiaotao back with one fist, and felt the undulations coming from the two soul cores in his body becoming a little more intense. The slight collision between his soul cores generated a whirlpool of soul power that seemed to strengthen the impact of his fist.
Heaven was Yang, and Earth was Yin. Yin and Yang complemented each other according to the principles of heaven and earth.
Yes, this was the origin of his fist earlier. It was a perfect combination of his spiritual and Ultimate Ice soul power. If there was something lacking, it could only be emotions!
Yes, it was emotions!
If it was before he met the God of Emotions Nian Rongbing, Huo Yuhao would perhaps not know why his Three Ultimate Haodong Skills were so strong. After that, he realized that it
was because they fused his emotions. Soul skills without emotions were like soul skills without souls. The strength of a soul determined the potential and power of a soul skill.
His Three Ultimate Haodong Skills were only so strong because they perfectly unleashed all his emotions. They were so strong that he could defeat an opponent that was much stronger than him in terms of cultivation.
Right now, he was much stronger than before; even compared to if he hadn’t fused his emotions into his self- invented skill. When he unleashed this fist, his understanding of his Yin-Yang Complement twin soul cores suddenly deepened.
“Ang!” A sonorous phoenix roar sounded. A huge fire phoenix appeared in the air. It was the Phoenix True Body!
Ma Xiaotao didn’t know what fear was in her manic state. There was only one thing in her mind right now, which was to kill.
When she revealed her Phoenix True Body, she charged towards Huo Yuhao. The sky distorted, and there seemed to be an extra layer of ripples high up in the sky. The earth also distorted. The temperature turned terrifyingly high, and caused the battlefield to burn.
Countless scorching meteors formed in the sky before they shot towards Huo Yuhao. This was Ma Xiaotao’s sixth soul skill, Phoenix Meteor Shower!
Against this soul skill, Huo Yuhao was feeling very touched. A long time ago, Ma Xiaotao used this skill to help them win the championship during the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament!
Right now, he could still clearly remember how strong Ma Xiaotao was back then, how awe-inspiring she was. When he saw this soul skill again, he was very touched, even though the meteor shower was coming towards him.
Snowflakes drifted once again. Ice turned into spikes and bloomed like icy flowers in the sky.
Star Anise Omnithrust!
Every spike accurately hit a meteor. When ice and fire clashed, ice melted, and fire became weaker. Dazzling lights also turned into dazzling fireworks in the sky.
Perhaps this fight wasn’t the most dangerous compared to the previous two fights, but it was certainly the most eye- catching.
The Star Anise Omnithrust managed to resist the Phoenix Meteor Shower. However, the Phoenix True Body was still charging towards Huo Yuhao with the Phoenix Skypierce.
Undoubtedly, the best way for Huo Yuhao to react right now was to use his Ice Jade Empress’ Scorpion True Body. Even without the Ice Empress’ help, he was still confident of suppressing Ma Xiaotao using his Ultimate Ice True Body.
However, he didn’t do so. The reason was very simple. Ice and fire were two extremes. This was even more so between Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire. He was worried that he would
hurt Ma Xiaotao using such extreme methods. If that happened, he would be regretful.
Ever since his mother had died, Huo Yuhao had no close relatives. When he came to Shrek Academy, he seemed to have found his home. Ma Xiaotao also became like his biological elder sister. Even though they didn’t spend a lot of time together, Huo Yuhao still considered her to be very important in his life.
Moreover, Huo Yuhao blamed himself a lot for landing Ma Xiaotao in this state. He believed that she only ended up like this because he didn’t leave with her immediately before. This was why he was willing to risk anything to save her.
A layer of diamond ice crystals surfaced on the Icy War God’s Armor. It was the Ice Empress’ Armor.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao clasped his hands together in front of his chest. He unleashed his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice.
His eighth soul ring shone!
He unleashed his Ice Bear Blizzard!
The Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice and Ice Bear Blizzard were unleashed at the same time, with Huo Yuhao at the center of both attacks.
Right now, he was like the eye of a blizzard. A whirlpool of ice and snow that resembled a tornado swept towards Ma Xiaotao.
By doing this, he was even stronger than when he unleashed his True Body. It was also much easier for him to maintain control. He wouldn’t end the fight immediately, but approach the situation slowly. It was only by doing this that he could control his own attacking strength based on the changes to Ma Xiaotao’s soul power.
The only shortcoming of doing this was that his soul power would be drained much more than if he used his True Body.
Normally, soul masters would enter a weakened state after using their True Body. Huo Yuhao didn’t have such a concern. However, domain-type abilities could only be maintained by draining a lot of soul power, no matter what stage of cultivation a soul master was at.
After Ma Xiaotao’s Phoenix True Body was entangled in the Ice Bear Blizzard, it was as she had been chained up. The terrifying blizzard was challenging her Ultimate Fire, and a
great amount of fog rose into the air. No one could see what was happening.
Zhong Liwu’s expression was very gloomy. However, there seemed to be a shifty look in his eyes.
What Huo Yuhao didn’t know was that Zhong Liwu was only prepared for five out of the ten fights. Among the five fights, Ma Xiaotao was actually involved in one of them.
What was more effective against Ultimate Ice than Ultimate Fire? It was just that Ma Xiaotao was supposed to be fourth on Zhong Liwu’s list. She was shifted forward by one now, but it didn’t affect his plan too much.
Of course Zhong Liwu was aware of Ma Xiaotao’s background. She had been a top-performing student in Shrek Academy, and the immediate disciple of Yan Shaozhe. Huo Yuhao was also from Shrek Academy. It was only natural that she shared a close relationship with him.
This was why he wasn’t worried about her safety when she was sent out to fight. Once Ma Xiaotao drained Huo Yuhao up
to a certain point, it would be time for him to doom Huo Yuhao.
In Zhong Liwu’s mind, he wasn’t the most concerned about the Ice Bear King, but Huo Yuhao himself.
Ultimate Ice martial soul! If he could get a Holy Son with an Ultimate Ice martial soul and who was a Titled Douluo, the Holy Ghost Church’s strength would only stand to increase even if he lost the Bluesilver Holy Lady. In the future, he could have two Ultimate Douluo by his side. They were even Ultimate Douluo with Ultimate martial souls. Who else in this world could fight him then? Even those soul engineers would be helpless against him.
An Ultimate Fire and Ultimate Ice Douluo was an extremely strong combination!
If he could get this Holy Son, he wouldn’t mind sacrificing more. This was because his appearance would only serve to offer the Holy Ghost Church unlimited potential.
Zhong Liwu’s goal wasn’t just to become an Imperial Advisor of an empire. He wanted to become a ruler, the ruler of the entire continent. Whether it was the Douluo Continent or Sun Moon Continent, his goal was to rule.
The Fire Phoenix was struggling in the sky. However, the Ice Bear Blizzard and Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice were only getting stronger and stronger.
The heat in the air had already disappeared. What replaced it was a refreshing chill. The air temperature changed drastically from high to low. This dramatic change left everyone in awe.
Phoenix flames were released continuously. However, their temperature was quickly brought down when a snowflake landed on them.
Suddenly, the Fire Phoenix stopped in the air. She opened her wings to their limit, and her body started revolving in the air. A dazzling halo was formed by her wings, and sonorous phoenix calls continued to echo. Dark red streaks of light started to expand, isolating the blizzard.
The Fire Phoenix also picked up speed. In just an instant, she came in front of Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao only had time to lift his hand. He lifted his right hand in an attempt to stop the Fire Phoenix.
It was Ma Xiaotao’s eighth soul skill, Nine Heavens Phoenix Dance!
Scorching phoenix flames were already in front of Huo Yuhao. Two balls of blinding light shone behind Huo Yuhao’s back.
A sun and a moon appeared. The sun was gold, while the moon was blue. The sun and the moon intersected weirdly, causing Huo Yuhao to enter a special state.
The phoenix flames struck his body, but they started to revolve tremendously. After this, they were flung away. The Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice also experienced weird changes.
Snowflakes started to conjoin in the air, forming lines of snow. After this, they tangled up and formed chains that started to entangle the Fire Phoenix from all directions.
This was the improved version of the Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice, Ice Snow Chain.
Every chain was a consolidation and fusion of Ultimate Ice. When they landed on the Fire Phoenix, they caused her to shake tremendously. The temperature of the phoenix flames fell drastically. No matter how much Ma Xiaotao tried to muster her soul power, her flames couldn’t get past Huo Yuhao’s palm.
There was an unprecedently strong force in his palm. All the energy that rushed to his palm would instantly be flung away. They couldn’t breach it.
The shining sun and moon behind Huo Yuhao’s back became stronger and stronger. Even the Sun in the sky seemed to lose some of its glow in the face of Huo Yuhao’s sun and moon.
What kind of power is this? Everyone was astonished, but none of them knew anything about it.
Even Zhong Liwu was astounded. However, he knew more than the rest. This was because he could still recall that he had seen a similar sun-moon projection behind Di Tian before. It was just that Di Tian’s was much stronger. However, their auras were very similar.
What kind of strength has he understood to make him so strong now?
Just as Zhong Liwu was astounded, the look of delight in his eyes intensified. The stronger Huo Yuhao was, the stronger the future Holy Son of the Holy Ghost Church would be if his plan succeeded.
Yes, what a brilliant Holy Son!
As the chains entangled her further and further, the Fire Phoenix struggled less and less.
Ma Xiaotao’s soul power fell significantly as she was restrained by the chains.
Huo Yuhao heaved a faint sigh of relief. He had used the power of his twin soul cores, which enabled him to trap Ma Xiaotao without hurting her. It was important to know that this wasn’t easy. It was actually very difficult.
However, he had succeeded. Even though he was drained, it was worth it.
Just as he heaved a sigh of relief, the Fire Phoenix suddenly lifted her head. There was a manic streak of light that seemed to come from her eyes.
What? This isn’t good.
Huo Yuhao was shocked. Just as he was about to react, it seemed like it was already too late.
A terrifying ball of golden-red light was suddenly unleashed from Ma Xiaotao’s True Body. The chains were instantly
crushed. Heat dominated again, and the frightening explosive flames instantly devoured Huo Yuhao.
Yes, this was Ma Xiaotao’s ninth soul skill!
Phoenix Nirvana.
A phoenix and the fire of baptism led to nirvana and rebirth!
In a state of nirvana, a phoenix was at its strongest and its weakest state. At the beginning of nirvana, a phoenix was at its strongest. At the end of nirvana, it was at its weakest. However, they both brought new life to the phoenix.
This Phoenix Nirvana was Ma Xiaotao’s strongest and ninth soul skill.
If the enemy didn’t die, she would most certainly die after unleashing her Phoenix Nirvana, since she would be in a weakened state for a month. However, this attack was at the standard of an Ultimate Douluo. If she could become a
Transcendent Douluo in the future, even an Ultimate Douluo would need to fear such an attack from her.
This was one of Zhong Liwu’s trump cards. He wasn’t afraid that Huo Yuhao would kill Ma Xiaotao. He was even less worried that Ma Xiaotao wouldn’t be able to unleash her Phoenix Nirvana.
She didn’t even need to accumulate for this soul skill. She could just unleash it with a thought. The price to pay was to become weak for a month. This was a testament to how much power she could unleash with this attack.
Huo Yuhao didn’t know that. This was why he was engulfed by her Phoenix Nirvana. The entire sky turned golden-red. It was as if countless golden-red flowing clouds were shaking the sky.
Within a fifty kilometer radius from Shrek City to the Sun Moon Empire’s base, a heatwave seemed to sweep over everything. The heat caused everyone to feel extremely fearful and frustrated.
Tang Wutong stood where she was and watched everything in a daze. She didn’t move. There was only a very unsettled look in her eyes.
Zhong Liwu smiled. He was delighted.
Was Huo Yuhao dead? Of course he wouldn’t die. Zhong Liwu was very confident in Huo Yuhao. He was a Transcendent Douluo who possessed Ultimate Ice. He even had many powerful soul tools on his body as well as that divine blade. How could he possibly die so easily?
However, he would surely be skinned even if he didn’t die.
This was enough.
The scorching golden-red flames lasted for a good minute before they slowly disappeared.
The first figure that appeared was drifting in mid-air.
Strange golden-red runes spun around her body. She was calmly lying in the air. Her hair was flowing, and her eyes were shut. It was as if everything in the outside world had nothing to do with her.
Yes, she was Ma Xiaotao. At this moment, she was no longer the Phoenix Holy Lady. She had lost consciousness, and was drifting in the sky like a patch of red clouds, slowly falling to the ground.
Zhong Liwu revealed a cold smile on his face. He pointed his toes to the ground and wanted to leap up to catch her.
However, it was at this moment that a pitch-black hole appeared below Ma Xiaotao without any warning. It was like a slit had opened up in the sky. Ma Xiaotao was instantly devoured, and the slit sealed up. She disappeared just like that. Not even her aura was left.
Zhong Liwu was completely dazed in the air. She’s gone? The Phoenix Holy Lady is gone? What kind of power was that?
An ethereal projection flashed. Another person appeared in the air. It was Huo Yuhao.
His Icy War God’s Armor had dimmed significantly. Its original deep-blue hue had turned shallower. There were even scorch marks left behind on this Class 9 soul tool.
His expression wasn’t shown, as his visor was lowered.
However, his Ultimate Ice aura remained.
“I’ve won. This is my third one.” Huo Yuhao said coldly.
Zhong Liwu lifted his head to look at him. The sinister look in his eyes turned even more intense. “Huo Yuhao, where did you take my Phoenix Holy Lady?” His script definitely didn’t involve her disappearance.
Huo Yuhao replied, “You don’t need to know that.”
Zhong Liwu’s eyes turned colder. “Great, great, great!”
What left Huo Yuhao surprised was that Zhong Liwu flew back to the ground after he finished saying those three words.
Is this his only reaction?
Yes, it was just like this. In Zhong Liwu’s mind, would he be afraid that he couldn’t get the Phoenix Holy Lady if his plan succeeded and he controlled Huo Yuhao?
This was why he wasn’t anxious. He suppressed his rage. However, he immediately waved at his own side after he landed on the ground.
The fourth person representing the Sun Moon Empire, or rather, the Holy Ghost Church, appeared!
A black figure leapt out and charged towards Huo Yuhao. This time, the Holy Ghost Church didn’t give Huo Yuhao any buffer time.
The Phoenix Holy Lady had been defeated and abducted by Huo Yuhao. But that was fine! Zhong Liwu had still managed to achieve his goal. He believed that Huo Yuhao would definitely have been greatly drained after that earlier attack, no matter how strong he was. How could he possibly survive the next round?
Even so, he didn’t personally fight in the fourth round. He never did anything he wasn’t confident in. This was why the fourth round was still a prelude to his personal involvement.
When that black figure charged towards him, Huo Yuhao immediately recognized him.
He was familiar. Yes, he was a very familiar person.
He was the Scorpion Tiger Douluo, Zhang Peng!
When Huo Yuhao first met the Scorpion Tiger Douluo, Zhang Peng was pursuing and trying to kill him. Then, Huo Yuhao had Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin’er with him. Xian Lin’er fought Zhang Peng, and they ended in a stalemate. That time, it was also Huo Yuhao’s first meeting Long Xiaoyao. He only managed to chase Long Xiaoyao off through a wager.
Not long ago, Huo Yuhao had learned from Mu En that Long Xiaoyao didn’t harbor any ill-intentions towards him. Otherwise, he would have been able to kill him at their first meeting.
He was no longer as weak as he used to be. He was a powerful Titled Douluo now. This Scorpion Tiger Douluo was already a Transcendent Douluo back then. So many years had passed. His cultivation would have increased. Even though he wasn’t as strong as Feng Ling, the difference wouldn’t be too great either.
Zhang Peng let out a low-pitched tiger roar before he appeared in front of Huo Yuhao. Behind him, a projection of a giant scorpion tiger surfaced. He instantly punched a fist towards Huo Yuhao’s chest.
Huo Yuhao’s Eye of Destiny opened. Huo Yuhao unleashed his Spiritual Shock at the Scorpion Tiger Douluo.
Huo Yuhao had always been very good at making use of his strengths. He was doing that right now.
Zhang Peng groaned, and intense black light was released from his body. It turned into a small mirror that flashed with black light in front of him.
When Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock struck the mirror, it was instantly refracted.
Oh? It can refract spiritual power? No wonder he didn’t purchase a spiritual defensive-type soul tool, and no wonder Zhong Liwu sent him to fight. The Holy Ghost Church has strong foundations indeed!
However, that small mirror still cracked, even though it had refracted Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock. Zhang Peng’s body shook a little, and his fist arrived right in front of Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao pushed his right hand forward. He was using his Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, a skill that came from the Tang Sect’s Secret Techniques.
He was no longer the same Huo Yuhao who had just entered the sect. When he used his Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, it felt very profound and magical.
Zhang Peng only felt a strong suction force coming towards him, causing his fist to deviate to one side. At the same time, Huo Yuhao pressed his other hand against Zhang Peng’s chest.
Zhang Peng roared, and his entire body started to shine brightly. His body suddenly expanded, and his other arm straightened like a blade. After this, he slashed it towards Huo Yuhao’s palm.
Huo Yuhao’s shoulder shook. The pull from his left hand and push from his right hand brought his palms together. Suddenly, strong whirlpool-like soul power was instantaneously unleashed. A terrifyingly strong destructive force was released. Before Zhang Peng’s attack could even hit Huo Yuhao, he was already knocked far away.
From the observers’ point of view, there was nothing separating Huo Yuhao and Zhang Peng. However, Zhong Liwu revealed an evidently satisfied look on his face.
From Huo Yuhao’s reaction, he could tell that his abilities had weakened slightly compared to before. He didn’t even use his Ultimate Ice immediately. Evidently, he must have had been affected when he was resisting the Fire Phoenix Holy Lady earlier.
Just as Zhang Peng moved back, he let out a tiger roar, revealing his True Body. A huge scorpion tiger appeared out of thin air. The sky turned dark. Following this, beams of black light formed in the air. They turned into countless, flashing black needles, which shot towards Huo Yuhao.
What is this?
Scorpion Tail Needle!
The Scorpion Tiger Douluo’s lethal weapon was his scorpion tail. This was a very powerful soul skill that Zhang Peng possessed.
The needles blocked off all of Huo Yuhao’s escape routes. This was the type of attack that a Transcendent Douluo could unleash when he used his True Body.
Huo Yuhao squirmed in the air. After this, he turned illusory. When the needles were about to hit him, he turned into broken pieces and disappeared into the air.
Concealment?
When they saw Huo Yuhao disappearing, the soul engineers from the Sun Moon Empire had the biggest reaction.
Huo Yuhao’s concealment abilities had caused great problems for the Sun Moon Empire. Without such abilities, he couldn’t have destroyed so many of the Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools! Without his concealment abilities, how could he have threatened the Sun Moon Empire’s army by himself?
He finally used his concealment abilities in the fourth fight. This also confirmed everyone’s suspicions that he was the one who had destroyed so many of the Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools. It was him!
The needles swept past, but didn’t hit anything. When Huo Yuhao reappeared, he was already above the Scorpion Tiger Douluo.
A white halo silently flew out from Huo Yuhao before landing on Zhang Peng.
The Scorpion Tiger Douluo only felt a little giddy, and he was soon engulfed by intense weakness.
This was the upgraded version of Mass Enfeeblement, Singular Enfeeblement.
Huo Yuhao could use his spiritual power in ways other than his Spiritual Shock. That small mirror that drifted above Zhang Peng could resist offensive spiritual attacks. However, it was helpless against such an auxiliary spiritual ability.
Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Eyes enabled him to adopt different ways of fighting. He didn’t just have to fight directly.
Just as he was weakened, Zhang Peng’s figure flashed, and he instantly picked up speed in the air. Wings extended from his ribs, enabling him to make a turn in the air. When he faced Huo Yuhao again, his needles shot from the sky once more. This time, they covered an even bigger area.
His spiritual cultivation was far beneath Huo Yuhao. He had already unleashed all his spiritual power earlier, but he
couldn’t discover Huo Yuhao at all. Zhang Peng also knew that it was impossible for him to locate his enemy using his spiritual power. Since this was the case, he used his attack to seek Huo Yuhao.
The needles seemed to have taken effect. Huo Yuhao didn’t choose to hide himself this time, but his body turned illusory.
But when the needles flew past his body, his body only rippled. He didn’t get hurt at all.
It’s not real? Zhang Peng was astonished.
At this moment, he felt as if everyone in this world was spinning. Everything seemed to become unreal.
Only those observing could tell that there was an extra whirlpool above his head. This whirlpool was revolving very quickly, as if it were sucking out Zhang Peng’s soul.
It was Huo Yuhao’s fourth soul skill, Spiritual Confusion.
Huo Yuhao was only able to perfectly demonstrate the strength of this soul skill by strong spiritual suppression. He had the greatest advantage in terms of his spiritual power. Why would he not use it? He had only used a part of it in the earlier rounds. In this fight, he was counting on his spiritual power.
Although his Spirit Eyes only had eight soul rings right now, Huo Yuhao still had the confidence to resist the strongest Ultimate Douluo in the world with it.
Chapter 580: The Scorpion Tiger Dies and Zhong Li Comes Out
Another Huo Yuhao suddenly appeared, and this time, he appeared behind the Scorpion Tiger Douluo. The Huo Yuhao who had appeared before was still in the sky. Two identical people appeared at the same time. How could that not be astonishing?
Spiritual Interference Domain!
Huo Yuhao’s second domain-type ability.
Not many people paid attention to this domain because it wasn’t as well-known as his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice. But there were many instances where his Spiritual Interference Domain was much more fearsome than his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice. Not a single one of the four soul skills that the Skydream Iceworm’s million year soul ring had bestowed upon him were useless.
Formidable soul power undulations erupted in the sky as Huo Yuhao’s Darkgolden Terrorclaw sliced through the air and
went straight for the Scorpion Tiger’s enormous martial soul true body.
Brutal force to break brutal force!
Zhang Peng was affected by Huo Yuhao’s formidable Spiritual Confusion and single-target enfeeblement. He couldn’t possibly dodge this attack.
But just as Huo Yuhao’s claw struck Zhang Peng, he suddenly trembled vigorously before a dark golden beam of light erupted from his body.
Zhang Peng’s Scorpion Tiger True Body was torn to pieces in front of Huo Yuhao’s Darkgolden Terrorclaw. However, a dark shadow suddenly appeared soundlessly behind Huo Yuhao’s back.
Frightening sharp blades went straight for Huo Yuhao’s heart from behind.
Exuviating Cicada! It was one of the Scorpion Tiger Douluo’s automatic defensive soul skills, and this soul skill was known as a godly skill compared to his other soul skills.
This soul skill was automatically triggered when Zhang Peng was struck with an attack that he couldn’t defend himself against. If this automatic release was successful, then his original body would be extracted, and he would use thirty percent of his soul power to instantly teleport himself to wherever he wanted. Zhang Peng had cultivated this soul skill to its highest possible level, and he could reach anywhere within a thousand meters with it. At the same time, Exuviating Cicada allowed him to use another thirty percent of his soul power to unleash an attack at his peak condition. However, he couldn’t use any other soul skills during this time.
Sixty percent of the Scorpion Tiger Douluo’s soul power would be expended after this attack, so he would evidently be unable to continue the battle.
This attack was excellent in a fight to the death, and it was also excellent in ambushing others! There would always be many strange and peculiar soul skills in the world of soul masters.
Zhang Peng had thought that he would definitely win this battle when he first locked horns with Huo Yuhao because Huo Yuhao had already fought three times before this.
But when they truly clashed, Huo Yuhao’s formidable spiritual power and his Spirit Eyes’ various soul skills made Zhang Peng understand that he was no match for Huo Yuhao even when he had already expended so much energy.
Spiritual Shock was no longer effective, so Huo Yuhao didn’t use it, but Zhang Peng still couldn’t take Huo Yuhao’s other spiritual-type soul skills. The gap between their spiritual powers was just too vast.
Therefore, Zhang Peng had no choice but to go all-in. In that moment when he was struck by Spiritual Confusion, Zhang Peng could have done something to weaken part of the soul skill’s effects, but he decided against it. Instead, he chose to take the soul skill’s entire effect. The reason for his choice was so that he could retaliate and end the battle with his Exuviating Cicada.
Zhang Peng would defeat his enemy and win this battle if he was successful, but if he wasn’t, then he would turn and
escape.
Zhang Peng was a member of the Holy Ghost Church’s Worship Hall, but he never considered placing his life on the line for the Holy Ghost Church.
Zhang Peng’s idea was good, and his tiger claws were already right behind Huo Yuhao’s heart. Everything was going according to plan.
Unfortunately, he forgot about something. Huo Yuhao still had another extraordinary skill, and that was Spiritual Detection!
Spiritual Detection conferred three-dimensional detection to Huo Yuhao, and even if he didn’t realize anything when Zhang Peng began his attack, his reappearance with all those soul power and spiritual power undulations in the air was long within Huo Yuhao’s senses.
Therefore, Zhang Peng’s tiger claws still sliced through the air anticlimactically in the end.
Missing an attack at full strength was even more agonizing than taking a heavy hit from an enemy. Zhang Peng almost vomited blood.
And Huo Yuhao? He reappeared behind Zhang Peng’s back. His Darkgolden Terrorclaw didn’t grow bigger this time, but a five sharp dark golden about thirty centimeters long plunged into the Scorpion Tiger Douluo’s back and protruded from his chest.
Zhang Peng’s body froze in midair. The corner of his mouth curved, as he was very unconvinced and unwilling about what had just happened. His eyes were filled with hysteria, and his soul power immediately erupted from his dantian.
Zhang Peng’s heart had been impaled, and he couldn’t possibly continue living. He had dominated the world throughout his lifetime, and he wasn’t willing to just die like this.
Zhang Peng’s stable soul core within his dantian was suddenly triggered by his riling soul power.
Self-destruction! This was Zhang Peng’s final choice. He had to take Huo Yuhao with him even if he had to die and disappear from the world. A Transcendent Douluo’s self-destruction was comparable to that of a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell. Zhang Peng chose such a brutal path, and he lived up to his name as the Scorpion Tiger Douluo.
Zhang Peng’s muscles immediately contracted, and even his skeleton was withdrawn toward his chest. Huo Yuhao’s Darkgolden Terrorclaw was instantly stuck. Zhang Peng was using his full strength right before his death to tie Huo Yuhao down.
Zhang Peng’s eyes weren’t dimming at all in this moment. There was only hysteria in his eyes, an otherworldly insanity, the kind that didn’t belong to this world.
Since he had chosen to self-destruct, then he had to pull Huo Yuhao down with him. He wouldn’t give him a chance to survive at all.
A Transcendent Douluo’s eruption right before his death was absolutely terrifying. Not even an Ultimate Douluo could easily shake Zhang Peng’s grip within a short period of time.
Zhang Peng even raised his hands and used his own tiger claws to clamp down on the Darkgolden Terrorclaws protruding from his chest. He used all the strength he had left to channel his soul core and stop Huo Yuhao from leaving.
However, he couldn’t see Huo Yuhao, who was still behind him. Huo Yuhao didn’t panic at all because of Zhang Peng’s retaliation right before his death. His expression didn’t even change. There was only pity in his eyes.
This pity was towards a dying man, towards one who had been defeated, and towards a formidable individual.
Huo Yuhao planted his left palm soundlessly on Zhang Peng’s back, while his torso, which was almost pressed against Zhang Peng’s back, erupted with intense bluish-green colors.
Huo Yuhao’s formidable Ice Empress’ Wrath immediately swallowed Zhang Peng’s body and bathed his entire body in bluish-green light. A cold sensation that chilled even his heart followed his veins as it coursed through his body. Zhang Peng didn’t have any strength to resist this because they were so
close together, and he was using his full strength to trap Huo Yuhao and trigger his own soul core.
A Transcendent Douluo’s retaliation right before his death was powerful. However, how could a Titled Douluo who had spiritual power that rivaled that of an Ultimate Douluo, who possessed two formidable soul cores and had an Ultimate Ice martial soul, be any weaker when he had the absolute upper hand?
Zhang Peng’s body immediately froze, and he realized to his intense fear that his rapidly exploding soul core’s rotation was starting to slow after he was struck. Zhang Peng’s blood was also starting to freeze, and every ounce of strength that he had left was quickly disappearing as his heart froze over.
No! Zhang Peng wanted to shout at the top of his lungs, but his voice stuck in his throat. He could only wheeze, and he could no longer speak with that originally bright and clear voice of his.
Huo Yuhao’s Darkgolden Terrorclaw vanished, and Zhang Peng’s blood, muscles, and skeleton had been frozen. He could no longer trap Huo Yuhao’s claws.
Zhang Peng’s tiger claws crumbled and broke as the two figures separated in midair.
Shadows flickered as Huo Yuhao reappeared a thousand meters away.
“Boom!”
Bluish-green flames erupted in the air like firecrackers exploding through the sky. But a formidable soul master who had dominated the entire Continent, who was a Transcendent Douluo, was obliterated just like that.
Huo Yuhao descended from the sky, and his aura seemed to be raised to its highest possible level in this moment.
This battle wasn’t that magnificent or spectacular, but everyone who was watching fell silent at the outcome.
This was the fourth one. This was already the fourth one, and two had perished in battle. Huo Yuhao used his formidable
strength to tell everyone that what he had claimed about ten battles wasn’t an impossible task.
Zhongli Wu’s expression was as black as could be. However, there was no turning back for him. He was already sustaining such heavy losses, and if he still couldn’t gain anything from it, the Holy Ghost Church would be taking an overwhelming blow in both their strength and their mental states. He was supervisor to the Sun Moon Empire’s entire army, and if his reputation suffered like that, how would those soul engineers who never had a good impression of him think about him?
Zhongli Wu’s dark and gloomy expression gradually turned cold. As matters were, he could only capture Huo Yuhao and win this battle so that he could make up for everything that had happened.
Huo Yuhao gradually drifted down, while Zhongli Wu raised his head and stared at him with burning eyes. There was a tinge of hysteria in Zhongli Wu’s eyes amid all that iciness.
The same hysteria in Zhongli Wu was vastly different from Zhang Peng. Zhang Peng’s insanity was retaliating when on the
brink of death, but Zhongli Wu’s insanity was like a sharp knife plunging into Huo Yuhao’s chest.
Huo Yuhao’s breathing became a little rushed, and it seemed like he had expended a lot of energy from his four continuous battles. However, his eyes were still as calm as ever, and he wasn’t affected by his breathing. Huo Yuhao stared back at Zhongli Wu sharply.
If Zhongli Wu’s eyes were like a razor-sharp knife, then Huo Yuhao’s eyes were like mountains of ice. No matter how sharp that knife was, it couldn’t pierce through the mountain, which seemed like it was made from mysterious ice over ten thousand years, and descending from the sky with a crushing pressure.
Nobody knew how much energy Huo Yuhao had expended besides himself, and Zhongli Wu could only make certain judgments based on the soul skills that Huo Yuhao had used in his previous fights.
Huo Yuhao’s eyes revealed a trace of ice-cold light as he stretched his arms out to his sides. Circles of icy blue light rippled from his Icy War God’s Armor one after another, and formless ice elements condensed toward his body at an incredible speed.
Star Anise Icy Coagulation!
Zhongli Wu suddenly howled, and it sounded like a dragon’s roar as his soul rings rose from beneath his feet. A formidable aura emerged and flourished.
Zhongli Wu’s soul rings only had two colors: black and red.
Yan Shaozhe’s expression changed drastically out of fear when he saw those soul rings.
Zhongli Wu’s soul rings weren’t like that when they had last battled, but he had six black and three red soul rings now! His
combination wasn’t that much inferior to Huo Yuhao’s.
The colors of a soul master’s soul rings didn’t mean everything, but they were a symbol of a soul master’s strength. Furthermore, Zhongli Wu was an evil soul master, and he was a Transcendent Douluo. The Holy Ghost Church’s supreme leader was stronger than anyone had expected.
Huo Yuhao’s expression grew solemn. He was aware that after his previous four battles’ consumption, his battle against Zhongli Wu would be the hardest moment today.
If the previous evil soul masters’ cultivation ranks were lower than Huo Yuhao’s, then Zhongli Wu’s true strength was definitely comparable to Huo Yuhao, and possibly even stronger. Huo Yuhao’s only advantage was his two soul cores. His chances of victory against Zhongli would also decide his chances of success in this one-versus-ten contest. This battle would determine the outcome.
Zhongli Wu pointed his right hand into the air as a black soul ring flickered on his body, and an enormous staff appeared in his hand.
This staff was black all over, and another silhouette appeared behind his back when it appeared. This figure didn’t seem very big, about the same size as Zhongli Wu’s body. However, everyone who was watching could feel their hearts constrict when this shadow appeared.
What was that?
Yan Shaozhe had crossed paths with Zhongli Wu before, and even he wasn’t entirely sure what Zhongli Wu’s martial soul was.
Elder Xuan’s expression had become incredibly solemn as he watched in the distance. He muttered under his breath, “Back then, Ye Xishui’s martial soul mutated into a Blood Soul Demonpuppet. Zhongli Wu’s martial soul seems superior to Ye Xishui’s martial soul, and it must have mutated once more. But for some reason, it feels extraordinarily powerful. Its origins must be similar to Ye Xishui’s Blood Soul Demonpuppet.”
“Ye Xishui’s Blood Soul Demonpuppet is a martial soul that improves continuously by nourishing itself with human souls. This is one of the most important reasons why Elder Mu couldn’t approve of her anymore, no matter what. Many
humans have perished at Ye Xishui’s hands, and Zhongli Wu’s martial soul should have the same characteristics as hers. I just don’t know how powerful he can be. This battle will be very difficult for Yuhao.”
Yan Shaozhe forced a laugh and said, “What this child is doing is too risky. He’s challenging the Sun Moon Empire’s powerful individuals all by himself. He really…”
Elder Xuan shook his head gently. “I can understand what he’s thinking. He’s laying down the foundations for his future. At the same time, he really is confident to some extent. Perhaps he is estimating his chances at fifty percent, but fifty percent is enough to try. As long as he can complete this battle peacefully, then no matter who he faces afterwards, he will definitely be able to escape with his life even if he loses in the end. And if he lives after today’s episode, then he will undoubtedly give everyone a big surprise.”
“Eh?” Yan Shaozhe glanced at Elder Xuan in surprise. “Surprise? What surprise?”
Elder Xuan glanced back at Yan Shaozhe and said, “We are soul masters, and we have to deal with any problem rationally.
However, once our cultivation rank reaches a certain standard, we have to be passionate, and we have to be crazy, besides just accumulating and working hard. I have lacked this insanity, and that’s the reason why I have dallied for so long. What Yuhao is doing is relying on external forces to fully unleash his
potential. When he obtained his second soul core, his potential far exceeded ours.”
Yan Shaozhe started to think. Using battles to unleash one’s potential? He did want to do that, but at his cultivation, finding a suitable opponent who could threaten his life was just too difficult. There were some in Shrek Academy, but who in the academy would wish to fight with him to the death? A showdown with outsiders to the death was too dangerous, and it was hard to find such opponents.
Huo Yuhao had just recently obtained his second soul core, and he was doing this to train himself so that he could fuse with his two soul cores even more perfectly and seamlessly. He also wanted to stimulate his immense potential at the same time so that he could prepare for the future. The future? What was Huo Yuhao’s future like?
Yan Shaozhe couldn’t tell what Huo Yuhao’s future would be like anymore. He was only praying for him, praying that he
could emerge victorious against Zhongli Wu in this battle. However, he didn’t approve of how Huo Yuhao was forcefully pressuring himself. He was up against a powerful evil soul master. How dangerous was that?
Huo Yuhao and Zhongli Wu’s battle had begun in the sky.
Zhongli Wu didn’t attack Huo Yuhao at once. He tapped his staff in the air as a deep howling sound could be heard, and the enormous head of some beast appeared in front of him.
Surprisingly, it was a dragon’s head. It was entirely black, but it emanated translucent green light as intense green flames danced within its eyes. Chilly and sinister winds billowed through the air as the dragon head appeared.
What was that?
Yan Shaozhe had crossed paths with Zhongli Wu before, but he had been incinerating himself back then so that he could buy time for his companions, while Zhongli Wu didn’t give his full strength in that battle. Yan Shaozhe now watched as Zhongli Wu suddenly released an enormous dragon head. This
dragon head seemed to be related to his martial soul, yet it seemed like it wasn’t. Yan Shaozhe was astonished. How powerful is Zhongli Wu, exactly?
Not many people in the Holy Ghost Church knew what Zhongli Wu’s true power was like, not to mention Yan Shaozhe.
The enormous dragon head wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning.
Its large black frame gradually snaked out, and the dragon’s claw quickly reached out as the dragon slowly revealed its tremendous body. This was a giant black dragon! However, the differences were that this black dragon didn’t have scales, muscles, or flesh, but was formed entirely from black bones. Even then, this black dragon’s aura was comparable to that of an actual dragon.
Huo Yuhao didn’t attack Zhongli Wu as he was releasing his dragon. Instead, he just hovered quietly in midair and waited. He had his Icy War God’s Armor covering him, so nobody could see his expression, while he was using Star Anise Icy Coagulation to swiftly recover his soul power.
Why didn’t Huo Yuhao take this opportunity to attack?
Shrek Academy’s various elders were all worried.
The black bone dragon took ten seconds to appear fully in front of everyone. The dragon was a hundred meters long, and its wingspan was also about a hundred meters wide. This size wasn’t considered much compared to a top-tier individual’s martial soul true body. Soul masters like Elder Xuan’s martial soul true body could easily reach a thousand meters.
However, this black bone dragon looked almost material! Furthermore, all sorts of illusions and images flickered in the sky as it appeared. There were mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and they all belonged to soul beasts. There were countless soul beasts’ agonizing cries echoing through the heavens, like there were uncountable avenging beast spirits crying out hysterically.
How many soul beasts did Zhongli Wu have to kill to create something like this?
Zhongli Wu was standing on the enormous bone dragon’s skull. He was very small compared to the bone dragon, but he
gave off a stifling feeling that created a terrifying pressure.
“I discovered this set of dragon bones in some historical remains. The dragon’s soul hadn’t dissipated back then. Even though the dragon itself isn’t considered a top-tier draconic species, and even though its bloodline isn’t even pure, this dragon has a tinge of the Silver Dragon on its body. You’ve probably heard of the history of the dragons, that the Dragon God split into the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King. In addition to the nine sons of the Dragon God, they were considered kings of their species. Their descendants all have a little of their blood in them. But the truth is, there are still some other secrets.”
“Only the Dragon God’s nine sons passed on their bloodline. The Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King had no offspring. The Golden Dragon King met its demise for some unknown reason after the split, while the Silver Dragon King disappeared. That was the reason why the dragons fell from grace. However, the Dragon God released large amounts of energy when he split into the two dragon kings. Some of that energy contained the Golden Dragon King’s Ultimate Strength and the Silver Dragon King’s control of the elements. Those dragons who were bathing in the Dragon God’s favor were partially affected by those energies, and their claims afterward
about how they possessed the Golden Dragon King or the Silver Dragon King’s bloodline arises from this fact.”
“The Silver Dragon King blessed this dragon when it was still alive, therefore, the dragon’s soul is undying, while it also possesses part of the Silver Dragon King’s powers. This dragon is the strongest beast spirit among those that I possess, and it took me ten years to capture it, and I couldn’t receive any external help during that period of time. Ten years later, the dragon’s strength enabled me to break through directly to become a Transcendent Douluo. Subsequently, I took over as the Holy Ghost Church’s supreme leader.”
“Normally, I would never use this dragon’s power, because it has become my origin beast spirit, and even part of my martial soul. Today, you can be proud that you’ve forced me to unleash my Bone Dragon King.”
Zhongli Wu’s voice was deep and cold. The Bone Dragon King’s aura became a little stronger, and the sky a little darker, with every syllable he uttered. Zhongli Wu’s soul rings flickered amid the black light from the beginning to the end, and nobody could tell whether he was using his soul skills.
“You’re spouting so much nonsense.” Huo Yuhao said plainly, “aren’t you afraid that I’ll recover all my strength during this time?”
Zhongli Wu laughed out loud. “So what if you recover? Do you really think you can challenge me one-on-one? Furthermore, what you’ve expended before along with the Holy Lady’s strength isn’t that easy to recover from. I’m spouting so much nonsense to you only because I’m confident of defeating you. The heavens and the earth will change as the winds and clouds rumble!”
A strange sight occurred as Zhongli Wu exclaimed those words. The giant dragon beneath his feet suddenly turned green, and the dark clouds in the sky turned green at the same time. Strong winds gusted through the air, and the heavens and earth did seem to change in that moment.
Wind! This was the power of wind, and Zhongli Wu was completely unlike an evil soul master at this point.
Strong winds billowed as tiny tornados appeared in the sky and swept toward Huo Yuhao. Frightening winds gusted at him, and the elements of water in the sky swiftly plummeted as Huo Yuhao’s Star Anise Icy Coagulation was dispelled just like that.
Such powerful winds. Is this the Silver Dragon King’s mastery over the elements?
This peculiar fighting style was entirely out of a normal soul master’s scope, and not a single person could tell what soul skill Zhongli Wu was using. He was using his beast spirit to fight, and his beast spirit was entirely different from Huo Yuhao’s Spirits.
Huo Yuhao was the only person who could understand a little about what was happening at a time like this.
He still couldn’t tell what Zhongli Wu’s martial soul was, but he could be sure that Zhongli Wu had relied on his martial soul to capture this Bone Dragon King as his beast spirit. Zhongli Wu should be targeting soul beasts, but there were so many soul beasts’ agonizing cries, while he only had one beast spirit.
This meant that those soul beasts that Zhongli Wu had killed had probably become nourishment for this Bone Dragon King!
It was no wonder he wanted to chase down and kill the Beast God, Di Tian. Of course, Zhongli Wu wouldn’t use this Bone Dragon King to consume the Beast God if he was successful. Instead, he would directly control the Beast God as his new beast spirit, and he would probably use that new beast spirit to consume this Bone Dragon King. Zhongli Wu’s own strength increased continuously with this continuous cycle of the strong swallowing the strong. Zhongli Wu evolved with every instance.
When Zhongli Wu’s spirit was sufficiently powerful, he would consume other soul beasts to strengthen his beast spirit. When his own beast spirit wasn’t strong enough, he would go the other way and change his beast spirit.
Zhongli Wu himself probably wasn’t sure how many soul beasts had died at his hands from the beginning of his career until now, when he was a Transcendent Douluo. His soul skills were probably all auxiliary skills to support his beast spirit. What a formidable evil soul master! He has his own salient characteristics and overbearing might.
Huo Yuhao shook his arms amid the strong winds and swiftly soared into the sky. However, he realized to his surprise that he couldn’t really control his body, as his attempt at breaking out wasn’t successful.
Any kind of flight had to rely on air resistance and air flow, whether the individual flying was using the air in the sky or releasing air from his own body. When Huo Yuhao released his soul power once more, he found that the air around him had been completely sucked away. Huo Yuhao’s soul power landed in empty space, and his body barely moved before he stopped.
Right at this moment, enormous green blades of wind that were several meters long and about a meter thick cut down toward him from all directions. Ear-piercing crackles could be heard as gashes were opened in the air again and again. Huo Yuhao felt like the air around him had been shattered, and he was about to be torn apart.
Strength like this is just too frightening.
I can’t fight, and I can’t even control my own movement.
What do I do? Do I take this head-on?
These winds are actually so powerful!
Huo Yuaho’s eyes glowed as he swept his right arm in front of him, and he began to move.
Light flickered as he vanished into thin air just like that. Right when everyone thought that he had used Instant Teleportation, he reappeared at his original spot.
Huo Yuhao’s disappearance and reappearance coincidentally evaded the first few blades. He to phase in and out on the spot, and his position seemed to change a little, but those changes weren’t big.
Zhongli Wu raised the staff in his hands, and his expression became even darker as he watched what was happening. However, there was only astonishment deep in his eyes.
Normal soul masters couldn’t tell what Huo Yuhao was doing at this moment, but how could he not know? Huo Yuhao was clearly using spatial power!
Zhongli Wu was all too clear about who had the ability to control space. Ultimate Douluo, and only Ultimate Douluo, could control spatial power. How could Huo Yuhao accomplish that?
Zhongli Wu had seen such power from his mother and from the Darkness Holy Dragon, the Dragon Emperor Douluo. Zhongli Wu had also seen this from Di Tian when he was chasing him down. Di Tian had relied on his mastery over spatial power to repel Zhongli Wu and the others. Di Tian was clearly injured, but he could still launch a series of retaliations to the point where Zhongli Wu and the others had to escape wretchedly. They would have perished in the end if they hadn’t escaped quickly enough.
But such powers shouldn’t appear on Huo Yuhao! How old is he? What’s his cultivation? How can he have mastered the secret of spatial power?
Had Huo Yuhao really mastered spatial power? The answer was no, because Huo Yuhao only had a brief and superficial understanding of spatial power.
Zhongli Wu’s suspicions were also correct, because only Ultimate Douluos could control spatial power. More accurately put, only individuals with two soul cores could do so.
A human with two soul cores could use his two soul cores’ connection to sense and feel everything in the world more intricately. Spatial power was among those things.
Those who formed two soul cores through the Yin Yang Complement method would have a much easier time feeling and sensing everything, because their strength was produced as Yin and Yang clashed and fused in their bodies. There was a certain extent of spatial transformation embodied within them.
Therefore, even though Huo Yuhao’s control over spatial power was still very shallow, his ability to understand was even stronger than other Ultimate Douluo.
Faint light flickered as Huo Yuhao’s expression grew strange, because his understanding of spatial power grew deeper with every break through space.
What was spatial power? Spatial power was just different nodes of time. One who wished to master the secrets of spatial power also had to master the transformations of time. The secrets contained within this were extraordinarily profound.
Those blades forced Huo Yuhao to understand spatial power a little better, and he couldn’t evade every blade because he was still a little unfamiliar with what he was doing. However, a single blade couldn’t really hurt him with his Icy War God’s Armor.
The reason why he couldn’t use spatial power to phase to someplace else was because he wasn’t familiar enough with it. If the Beast God had been here, so what if there wasn’t any air around him to use? The Beast God would penetrate directly through space and appear right in front of Zhongli Wu.
But even so, Zhongli Wu was still greatly astonished.
The blades suddenly stopped as the tornadoes appeared once more. There wasn’t just a single tornado, but many small tornados concentrated and stacked together. The tornados were actually multiplying into each other as they became an even larger one.
The air was being torn apart, and some of the tornado’s strength was even starting to create gashes in space.
You can draw upon spatial power, can’t you? Then I shall tear open space and mess everything up. Let’s see how you can control space then.
The Beast God would have been able to control space if he were here, but Huo Yuhao couldn’t really do that because he was just starting out.
Huo Yuhao’s body swayed amid the strong winds, and his Icy War God’s Armor radiated intense dark blue light and blocked the winds around him. However, even lower-tier soul masters could tell that he was expending a lot of soul power to do this.
However, Huo Yuhao didn’t seem to care. His movements were very slow, and his arms slowly closed around his body as a strange force appeared as his hands wrapped around himself.
That was a small air flow, and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s silhouette appeared behind Huo Yuhao’s back. Huo
Yuhao was protecting this sphere like a jewel as it gradually took shape, and it was rotating in a direction opposite to the tornado.
Does he plan to use this small air flow to resist my tornado?
My tornado will just instantly consume it.
Zhongli Wu’s face was filled with contempt, but he didn’t do anything. He wanted to defeat Huo Yuhao, but he didn’t want to kill him. He could only convert Huo Yuhao into the Holy Ghost Church’s Holy Son by capturing him, and only then could he maximize his profit.
Zhongli Wu had chosen to enter a war of attrition from the beginning, but who knew that he had to consume so much because of his tactics in the end.
Zhongli Wu had sent four people, and two perished in battle, one was returned in exchange, while the last was just missing. Huo Yuhao’s strength had far exceeded his expectations, and he had to be equivalent to a Transcendent Douluo. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao was a Transcendent Douluo with an Ultimate martial soul. There had to be something peculiar about that soul tool on Huo Yuhao’s body as well. Otherwise,
he couldn’t possibly become a Transcendent Douluo at such a young age.
But so what? Huo Yuhao still had to consume energy even if he was a Transcendent Douluo, and he would definitely be defeated if he expended energy continuously.
Therefore, what Zhongli Wu wanted to see most was for Huo Yuhao to continue using his soul power. He could only admit defeat once he was beyond a certain threshold.
Zhongli Wu’s tornado contained terrifying strength, but he had some way to minimize his own expenditure. This was his Bone Dragon King’s doing, as it could perfectly control the element of wind so that he could minimize the soul power that he had to use.
The airflow in Huo Yuhao’s arms slowly became bigger, but the size was relative. The small sphere started releasing its aura, but it was immediately broken once it touched the destructive cyclone.
Chapter 581: Fire Phoenix Transformation
However, Zhongli Wu was unable to tell that Huo Yuhao was actually smiling under the Icy War God’s Armor. In fact, he was revealing a very satisfied smile.
He was smiling because this scenario was extremely similar to what he had experienced when he first tried to form his Yin Yang Complement soul cores! However, back then, it was a lot more dangerous than his current situation.
Even though this tornado was extremely powerful, it was probably nothing compared to what he had to go through when he tried to form his first soul core.
With the help of this tornado, he was improving his mastery over the icy storm he was forming with the Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon technique. At the same time, he was gaining a better understanding of the element of air while he was being buffeted by the tornado.
This was no longer something that was within the realm of soul skills. It was a form of understanding that was required to
create one’s own soul skills.
Even though Di Tian had never properly explained it to Huo Yuhao, he had gradually discovered the biggest benefit of the Yin Yang Complement soul cores from his past few battles.
The biggest benefit was comprehension!
It was an enhanced ability to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth, and was not something that could be innately developed.
Heaven and earth were split into Yin and Yang. The formation of his Yin Yang soul cores allowed Huo Yuhao to observe and comprehend many things he could not even see in the past. These things included spatial power, elemental energy, and many other finer details.
Hence, even while he was fighting his opponents, he was able to sense the changes in some of these power around him, and gain a better comprehension of these powers, even though the others would not be able to do so.
Right now, he was appreciating the power of wind, as well as the secrets behind wind-type elemental energy.
These wind-type elements were being forcefully controlled. However, It was apparent that both Zhongli Wu and his beast spirit—the Bone Dragon King—were simply relying on soul power to control these elements. After all, the Bone Dragon King was but a beast spirit, and not an actual dragon which had mastered the secrets of the element of air. Even though the Bone Dragon King had the ability to generate wind, it was not able to fully appreciate the intricacies behind wind-type power. Otherwise, it would no longer be the Bone Dragon King. It would have been the Silver Dragon King itself.
Huo Yuhao was trying to sense the changes in the wind-type elements through his ice-type elements, as well as appreciate how gentle and agile the wind was.
This was a golden opportunity for him to improve his understanding of wind power. How else was he going to find so much wind-type elemental energy under normal circumstances?
As for the offensive power of the tornado, Huo Yuhao was not worried about it in the least. At the end of the day, Zhongli Wu was but a soul master, not a soul engineer. If a Class 9 soul engineer were to be the one attacking him instead, he would definitely not be using such a scattered form of attack.
Even though the tornado was strong, its energy was very scattered. It would be extremely difficult for it to penetrate the Icy War God’s Armor—a top-tier Class 9 soul tool. Furthermore, the Icy War God’s Armor was built for defense. The Divine Ice Crystals which were used to make the armor granted it immense defensive capabilities. On top of that, the wind from the tornado could not even be compared to Ma Xiaotao’s Ultimate Fire, which had been extremely destructive. Hence, the flickering light on Huo Yuhao’s Icy War God’s Armor was created intentionally by Huo Yuhao to dupe Zhongli Wu into believing that he was expending a lot of power to counter the tornado.
However, Zhongli Wu would not be duped that easily. After all, he had a wealth of battle experience. In less than half a minute, he realized that something was amiss. He started to realize that the color of his tornado was starting to change.
Its original green color was now infused with tinges of blue.
This blue did not belong to his wind-type elements!
What was Huo Yuhao’s martial soul? His main martial soul was his Spirit Eyes. At every point in time, Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was enshrouding the entire battlefield. He was immediately able to react the moment he discovered that Zhongli Wu’s aura was starting to change.
The extremely concentrated air current which was in his hand was suddenly released as it collided with the huge tornado. An unbelievable sight formed before everyone’s eyes.
The golden sun and blue moon which were behind Huo Yuhao suddenly fused together when the icy tornado he released collided with the huge tornado.
The gigantic tornado suddenly paused in the air before disintegrating into tiny tornadoes which scrambled in every possible direction. The huge cluster of wind-type element energy instantly broke free from Zhongli Wu’s control and scattered everywhere.
Zhongli Wu was extremely frustrated after seeing how Huo Yuhao destroyed his tornado. He felt as though he had stripped a copious amount of elemental energy from his body at that instant. On top of that, he did not seem to be hurt at all.
Zhongli Wu immediately recognized the problem at hand. Even though he was not aware of Huo Yuhao’s two soul cores, he was starting to sense that something wasn’t quite right.
The Bone Dragon King beneath his feet let out a low roar, following which, it tilted its humongous head upwards and released a green ball of light towards Huo Yuhao from its mouth.
This ball of green light was not big. It was only about the size of a human head. This made it seem very disproportionate when compared to the size of the Bone Dragon King.
Zhongli Wu pointed at the ball of green light with the staff in his hand as the soul rings on his body shone. Streaks of light landed on the ball of green light as the color of the ball became a lot darker.
When Huo Yuhao used his Spiritual Detection on the ball of light, he was instantly startled by what he detected.
Even though he didn’t know what Zhongli Wu’s move was called, he couldn’t help but shiver in fear. This sensation was extremely similar to what he had experienced when he first used his Spiritual Detection to analyze the decomposition cannon shell. There was an insane amount of wind-type elemental energy compressed within that tiny ball of light. Its power was definitely several times stronger than that of a decomposition cannon.
A streak of azure blue sword light descended from the sky and slashed accurately at the ball of light. Unparalleled Chill, Empress’ Sword.
The usually invincible Ultimate Ice was instantly pulverized the moment it came into contact with the ball of green light.
Pulverized? Even my ice-type elemental energy was pulverized? How can Zhongli Wu control such concentrated and volatile wind-type energy? He must have borrowed that power from the Silver Dragon King!
Very soon, the ball of green light was approaching Huo Yuhao. There was no way that he could use spatial power to evade the ball. After all, the surrounding space and void were already messed up by the violent and chaotic wind-type elemental energy. Huo Yuhao could not even use his Instant Teleportation.
Even the Icy War God’s Armor might not even be able to block this crazy ball of energy.
In that case, I shall do this then!
Huo Yuhao retracted his right first before punching it outwards!
A sneer formed on Zhongli Wu’s face.
This ball of green light was called Extreme Wind. It was the strongest attack he could muster with the wind-type elemental energy he could control. By condensing the wind-type elements to an extremely dense state, he could slice an entire mountain with his Extreme Wind.
Is he really planning to use his fist to block my Extreme Wind? I can’t believe he isn’t even using a soul skill to parry my attack.
However, the sneering expression on his face only lasted for a short while. At the very next instant, the ball of green light disappeared!
“What?! This is impossible.” Zhongli Wu almost leaped out and exclaimed in rage.
Even if Huo Yuhao was somehow able to survive after a humongous explosion, he would still be able to accept that as an outcome. However, the green ball had somehow vanished. This was something he could not accept.
That was a ball that contained incredibly violent and chaotic wind-type energy! How could it disappear just like this?
Of course, Huo Yuhao would not be telling him the answer. When he launched his fist, he was actually borrowing the effects of spatial power.
Even though the space and void around him had been messed up by the wind, he did not stop chanting his incantations. A small spatial gate had opened up before his fist after his incantations were complete. This door was a spectral gate that led to the spectral demiplane. Hence, he was able to direct the Extreme Wind effortlessly into the spectral demiplane.
Huo Yuhao was definitely unable to accurately determine how much damage the Extreme Wind would do within the spectral demiplane. However, he knew it would not land at the same place as where Ma Xiaotao was.
However, Huo Yuhao did not manage to achieve this at no cost. He had to invest a lot of effort and energy to stabilize the space before his fist in order to direct the Extreme Wind into his spectral demiplane. If not for his increased understanding of spatial power, he might not have been able to pull it off.
After the Extreme Wind vanished, the surrounding space became normal again. And Huo Yuhao’s body disappeared at the very next instant.
The dark sky above them suddenly became incredibly cold as snowflakes started to fall from the sky.
Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice.
Even though Zhongli Wu was displeased with how things had turned out, he was able to regain his composure very quickly. The air around him suddenly became extremely restless. The green wind vanished, to be replaced by intense fire.
The sky instantly turned red as the surrounding temperature, which had just plunged, started to rise again. Huge amounts of fiery meteors ravaged the sky as they collided with the snowflakes released by Huo Yuhao.
Is this what the Silver Dragon King can do? It has moved onto the element of fire after controlling the element of air!
As the Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice collided with the fiery meteor shower, brilliant flashes of red and blue illuminated the sky.
While the fiery meteor shower released by Zhongli Wu through his Bone Dragon King was not of Ultimate Fire, its
quantity was a lot greater than what Huo Yuhao had summoned. With the support of his incredible soul power, the meteor shower brought its insanely destructive power almost everywhere. Huo Yuhao’s Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice was unable to even fully take shape.
Rings of fiery light were also radiating constantly around Zhongli Wu’s body. This prevented Huo Yuhao from getting near him.
The power of the fire was a lot more frightening than that of the wind previously. It was a lot more violent and explosive.
The bones on the Bone Dragon King had turned completely red as it flapped its huge wings. It was like a gigantic fire dragon.
Neutralizing ice with fire was undoubtedly a wise decision. This was especially smart when Huo Yuhao had already expended large amounts of soul power in his previous battles.
Zhongli Wu was following his plan closely as he aimed to drain Huo Yuhao of his soul power. He would not be giving
him any chance to retaliate.
If they were to compete purely based on techniques, Huo Yuhao might have a chance to showcase his abilities. However, when they were competing on soul power, it would depend on who had a higher rank, and who had larger reserves of soul power. Huo Yuhao would never be able to evade such attacks no matter how powerful his Spiritual Detection was. It was not hard for Zhongli Wu to launch attacks with huge areas of effect.
Hence, very soon, Huo Yuhao reappeared in the sky. The effects of the Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice were still present, as snowflakes neutralized every fiery meteor that was about to hit him.
Huo Yuhao seemed to be suppressed by Zhongli Wu quite badly. Even the Icy War God’s Armor on his body was starting to show charred marks.
Zhongli Wu remained on the head of his Bone Dragon King. His face revealed a solemn expression, and no one could tell what he was feeling. However, everyone could tell that he had gained the upper hand in this battle.
This type of battle was extremely shameless for the evil soul masters, especially when he was fighting Huo Yuhao, who was already weakened by his previous battles. However, evil soul masters would never be concerned with intangible things like shame.
Huo Yuhao’s audible sigh could be heard by everyone who was spectating this battle. It seemed like he was at his wits’ end.
Even though Zhongli Wu was undeniably shameless, it was still a brilliant move. He had chosen to launch a head-on attack. Besides, he was even able to control the direction of his meteor shower to focus it on Huo Yuhao, forcing him to block the fiery meteors.
Everyone knew what the outcome would be if this were to continue.
Is this the power of fire? Violent and cruel? While Huo Yuhao was sighing, he was actually smiling as he sensed the transformation in the fire-type elements around him.
It was rumored that the Silver Dragon King could control the following elements: fire, water, earth, wind, light, dark, and space. He could also control mutated elements, which included lightning, ice, and many other elements.
This Bone Dragon King was only blessed by the Silver Dragon King, and was definitely unable to control every single element. Huo Yuhao wished it could control more so that he could learn more about the different elements.
When Huo Yuhao sensed that Zhongli Wu was about to use fire to curb his ice powers, he almost burst out laughing.
After all, he possessed Ultimate Ice! On top of that, his Icy War God’s Armor was built from Divine Ice Crystals. It usually took more than ten thousand years just to form a small piece of such crystal. They were naturally extremely resistant to fire- type energy. If the wind earlier was not able to penetrate the armor, the fiery meteor shower would not even stand a chance. Huo Yuhao had no idea why Zhongli Wu had decided to use such a method to attack him.
However, he admitted that it was a pretty good experience feeling the beauty of the fire-type element.
Unfortunately, as someone who naturally possessed ice-type powers, Huo Yuhao would always struggle with developing a deep understanding of the element of fire, no matter how powerful his comprehension was. This was an elemental problem, and it was not related to his comprehension ability.
After seeing how ineffective his continuous fiery meteor shower was, Zhongli Wu waved the staff in his hand again as the Bone Dragon King tilted its head upwards to release a blue fiery ball at Huo Yuhao.
Similar to the Extreme Wind earlier, this blue flaming ball was undoubtedly insanely powerful.
Of course, it disappeared in the same way as the Extreme Wind. Huo Yuhao could only apologize to the spectral demiplane later.
The sky suddenly quieted down in an eerie manner.
So far, both sides had battled in a fairly balanced way, as though both parties were just trying to better understand each
other’s abilities. Even though it looked as though Huo Yuhao was at a disadvantage, Zhongli Wu had probably expended more soul power than him. At least, this was what Huo Yuhao believed. Even though he had also expended his soul power during this period of time, he was able to get away with expending less soul power because of his Icy War God’s Armor.
“Huo Yuhao.” Zhongli Wu’s cold voice rang in the air.
Huo Yuhao stared calmly at Zhongli Wu and replied, “Yes?
What do you have to say?”
Zhongli Wu suddenly smiled. It seemed as though he was genuinely very happy. “Do you really think you’re very smart? Do you really think you will be able to negate most of my attacks with minimal soul power by using your Class 9 soul tool?
“Huh?” Huo Yuhao was caught off-guard by Zhongli Wu’s words. “What are you trying to say?”
Zhongli Wu flashed a smile and said, “I just want to tell you that you’re wrong. I was just charging up my energy while I
was throwing wind and fire at you!”
“Charging up energy?” Huo Yuhao was not sure what Zhongli Wu was saying.
Zhongli Wu said, “There’s no need to hide it from you. After all, you will be one of us very soon.” Only Huo Yuhao could hear what he was saying.
Chapter 582: Who's Scheming Here?
“After all, my Bone Dragon King is not a real dragon. It cannot use the toughness of a dragon’s body to negate the detrimental effects brought by its usage of different elements. Hence, it always requires time to make some adjustments to its body before releasing any elemental ability. Even though it has consumed so many spirits from the soul beasts I have fed it, it still needs this annoying warm-up phase. It can only perform at its greatest potential afterward. My Bone Dragon King might have only inherited the fire-type and wind-type elements from the Silver Dragon King, but its mastery of the two elements is almost perfect. Hence, what you will be facing up next is the frightening combination of fire and wind.”
After finishing his sentence, the light around Zhongli Wu’s body suddenly intensified as the Bone Dragon King beneath him regained its black color The sky above everyone suddenly turned both green and red.
Once again, fiery meteors started to appear in the sky.
However, they were all blue this time round.
Gusts of green wind started to appear once more. It was well understood by everyone present that the wind would help that enhance the power of the fire! At the next instant, the blue fiery meteors were like cannon shells which sped straight towards Huo Yuhao.
The frightening aura released by the meteor shower created a burning smell in the air. A scary suffocating atmosphere enveloped the entire area fifty kilometers from their battleground.
Elder Xuan, who had managed to maintain his composure all this while, suddenly revealed a startled expression. The aura Zhongli Wu was radiating right now was actually on par with his!
Even an Ultimate Douluo like him would have to be extremely focused and careful when handling the attack Zhongli Wu had just released. In fact, he might even have to unleash his martial soul true body. Zhongli Wu’s power had exceeded Elder Xuan’s estimation.
Zhongli Wu was obviously not an Ultimate Douluo yet. However, he was at least a Rank 97 Transcendent Douluo. The
most frightening thing was how he was able to elevate his power to that of an Ultimate Douluo with his peculiar beast spirit. No wonder he was one of the greatest evil soul masters in this continent. If he were to successfully become an Ultimate Douluo in the future, his abilities would definitely be a lot stronger than those of the Death God Douluo.
How was Huo Yuhao going to handle an attack which even an Ultimate Douluo had to fear?
Ju Zi had already stood up after seeing Zhongli Wu’s attack. She was clenching her fists as she gazed intently at the sky. Of course, she would not stand up in joy because Zhongli Wu had gained the upper hand. Instead, she only stood up because she was worried about the man who was about to be caught between fire and wind.
Can he really survive a blow like this?
A faint light flickered as Huo Yuhao revealed a cold expression on his face. It’s finally here! This is what Zhongli Wu is truly capable of. In that case, it’s also time for him to see what I’m capable of.
A faint streak of icy blue light was released from Huo Yuhao’s body as it shot straight up into the sky. The fiery atmosphere in the sky was instantly weakened. An insane soul power fluctuation swept towards the fire and wind which were swarming towards Huo Yuhao as Zhongli Wu’s attack paused for a short while.
A blue pillar of light more than ten meters in diameter shot straight into the sky and illuminated the sky above the fiery clouds. The blue moon that was behind Huo Yuhao became even more radiant. This also resulted in his Icy War God’s Armor radiating a more intense blue light. His frightening Ultimate Ice was actually concentrating on his body.
Zhongli Wu was not the only person who had not gone all- out in the previous moments. Huo Yuhao had also not used his full power to fend off the attacks launched at him by Zhongli Wu. Now, their battle had only just begun.
A short dagger suddenly appeared in Huo Yuhao’s hand. After noticing the appearance of the dagger, Zhongli Wu’s pupils contracted slightly. This was obviously one of the items Huo Yuhao had chosen to bet with. He had referred to it as a godly weapon.
To be honest, Zhongli Wu was not particularly interested in this dagger. After all, a powerful weapon which was full of Ultimate Ice power was not of much use for him. However, no one would ever worry about having too many precious items. It would still be a good thing for him if he were actually able to get his hands on it.
However, Zhongli Wu was genuinely interested to see how Huo Yuhao would use this dagger to defend himself against his wind-infused fiery meteor shower.
Huo Yuhao gave him the answer he wanted very soon. Wielding the short dagger with his right hand, Huo Yuhao slashed it forward with a gentle and moderately fast movement. A streak of blue dagger light was immediately emitted as light was projected forward close to ten meters.
By then, the blue meteors were approaching Huo Yuhao. However, they immediately vanished upon coming into contact with the flash of light released by the dagger. They did not even leave a single trace of smoke.
Huo Yuhao started to increase the speed of his slashing motion. He flitted across the sky like a gust of wind with
nimble footsteps as the blue pillar of light followed wherever he went. The pillar was essentially functioning like a vacuum chamber, which ensured that the violent air current in the sky would not restrict his movements. He was as quick as lightning. With every slash he made, a meteor would vanish. The people around him were starting to notice how Huo Yuhao was actually moving so fast that the meteors were unable to catch up with him. Even though Zhongli Wu had used a lot more soul power to release such an overwhelming attack, its effects could not be compared with Huo Yuhao’s, as only a
small portion of his meteors would be able to come into
contact with him.
Huo Yuhao was starting to find a rhythm to this as he continually used the dagger in his hand to handle the meteors that were coming his way. No matter how the meteors tried to smash him, surround him, or encircle him, they just could not hit him.
If one were to say that Zhongli Wu had held the upper hand throughout the course of the battle so far, then it would be apt to say that Huo Yuhao had managed to gain absolute control within the advantage that Zhongli Wu had seemingly created.
The Sigh of the Frozen Goddess, Morning Dew Dagger! Huo Yuhao had finally found the perfect stage to showcase the true power of the dagger. Its powerful blade light allowed it to slice through any flame which lay before it. With the help of his Icy War God’s Armor and the Morning Dew Dagger, Huo Yuhao was able to survive an onslaught which would even threaten the life of an Ultimate Douluo!
Has he been withholding his power all this time?
Yan Shaozhe’s jaw dropped as he stared at Huo Yuhao, who was flitting across the sky. He finally understood why Huo Yuhao dared to challenge Zhongli Wu, even after defeating four Transcendent Douluo. Huo Yuhao was a lot more powerful than what he had thought! Transcendent Douluo? A Transcendent Douluo with an Ultimate strength martial soul? It was probably not just that. Even though Huo Yuhao’s equipment played an important role, they would never have been able to exhibit their power without his abilities.
Right now, Huo Yuhao felt as though the Morning Dew Dagger had become an extension of his body. Every simple action he made was able to harness the dagger’s brilliance.
Wherever the flash of light radiated by the dagger landed, the ice-type element in the air would immediately congregate. There was always a layer of icy mist surrounding the blade of the dagger.
This was the Morning Dew Dagger. The Morning Dew Dagger which was encrusted with the gem of the Frozen Goddess. This was a real godly weapon! Huo Yuhao knew that no one—including Zhongli Wu and Ju Zi—had believed him when he had revealed how the Morning Dew Dagger was a godly weapon. This was because everyone in the world of soul masters believed that the strongest weapon ought to be a soul tool. In their eyes, a godly weapon was a Class 9 soul tool. However, it was apparent that the Morning Dew Dagger was not just any soul tool.
This was a culmination of power and energy that did not exist in their world!
A faint smile formed on Huo Yuhao’s face. He had never felt the need to try to convince others to believe him. He knew he just had to show it to them.
The wind-infused fiery meteor shower lasted for a couple of minutes. When the last meteor was finally destroyed by the Morning Dew Dagger, the sky returned to its normal state. Even the Bone Dragon King returned to its original black color.
Zhongli Wu stared at Huo Yuhao, who was wielding the dagger in a composed manner, as he nodded gently. “Now I finally believe that dagger is a godly weapon. There’s no way you could have blocked my attack without it.”
Huo Yuhao did not try to deny it as he nodded gently. “If you hadn’t lived for a hundred years more than me, you would not have been qualified to stand before me.”
After hearing how Zhongli Wu was trying to poke at the fact that he had relied on a godly weapon, Huo Yuhao could not help but make fun of the pointless extra hundred years Zhongli Wu had lived. Even after cultivating for an additional hundred years, they were still somewhat on par.
Zhongli Wu released a cold grunt as he raised the staff in his hand once again. The Bone Dragon King beneath him repeated the same action of tilting its head upwards. Its gigantic wings started to flap in a vigorous manner as Zhongli Wu’s body
started to grow bigger at an incredibly fast rate. The image which had been suspended behind his back all this while was gradually fusing with his body. His seventh soul ring, which was red, started to radiate an intense light.
This was the first time that Huo Yuhao was going to see Zhongli Wu unleash a soul skill. Was he about to use his martial soul true body?
Aren’t all of his soul skills of the strengthening kind? Then, what use does his martial soul true body have? Would it allow him to fuse with the Bone Dragon King?
Even though Huo Yuhao was not sure what Zhongli Wu was up to, he was not overly concerned. After all, this battle was meant to be the biggest test for his abilities. The stronger the enemy, the better it was for him, as he would only learn more and become stronger.
Yan Shaozhe’s worries were non-existent in Huo Yuhao’s eyes. He had never thought that he would actually be killed by Zhongli Wu. This was the confidence that belonged to a soul master who possessed a pair of Yin Yang Complement soul cores.
After becoming ten meters tall, Zhongli Wu’s body stopped growing. Right now, his entire body was enshrouded by darkness.
Compared to the hundred meter or thousand meter-tall martial soul true body of a Titled Douluo, his ten meter-tall martial soul true body did not seem very impressive. However, Huo Yuhao was visibly startled—even though no one could see his facial expression under his visor—after Zhongli Wu’s martial soul true body was complete.
The staff that Zhongli Wu had been holding also became bigger as Zhongli Wu expanded. His staff had evolved into a sickle after he had grown to his ten meter size. The blade of the sickle was about ten meters long. Hence, it looked strangely disproportionate for a ten meter-tall Zhongli Wu to wield a ten meter-long sickle.
However, after his transformation, an indescribable pressure started to exert itself on Huo Yuhao from all directions. The overwhelming, formless pressure made Huo Yuhao feel as though his spirit was about to be squeezed out from his body.
This sensation was truly frightening. He was starting to understand what Zhongli Wu’s martial soul was.
His martial soul was not just one which only offered strengthening and support. Instead, his martial soul also possessed powerful fighting strength.
This fighting strength was what Zhongli Wu had gained a result of the fusion between his spirit and his body, as well as the enhancement gained from his mutated martial soul.
Similar to how Xu Sanshi’s martial soul had evolved into the Xuanwu Shield, Zhongli Wu’s martial soul was probably also continually evolving as his cultivation continued to improve. Its real name should be called the Death God Demonpuppet.
Yes, the Death God Demonpuppet.
The Death God Douluo’s martial soul was the Blood Soul Demonpuppet. It was already an extremely powerful martial
soul. However, Zhongli Wu’s martial soul was even stronger than his mother’s.
Death God Douluo? From the current look of things, Zhongli Wu was more deserving of the title. After all, his martial soul true body was the Death God’s true body itself! The Bone Dragon King must be the Death God’s mount!
This must be Zhongli Wu at his most powerful state. No wonder he did not panic at all when I repeatedly blocked his attacks. That’s because he had been holding back all this while!
Huo Yuhao did not release his martial soul true body. The Snow Empress and Ice Empress were still asleep, and the Eyes of the Asura were not ideal for close-combat. And based on the situation before him, close-combat seemed to be the only option. Neither of them would be able to run away from that.
The Bone Dragon King let out a deafening roar as its gigantic body soared into the sky. Its frightening wings flapped intensely as it blocked everyone’s view of the sun and the clouds. It carried the Death God above its head as it surged towards Huo Yuhao.
Even though its body was enormous, it was able to fly at an incredibly fast speed. Within a split second, the gigantic Death God’s Sickle was right before Huo Yuhao.
Six fire-wind vortexes also appeared around Huo Yuhao at this instant as they made sure that he couldn’t move away to avoid Zhongli Wu’s attack. The frightening suffocating sensation threatened to tear Huo Yuhao apart.
Huo Yuhao’s eyes immediately radiated intense light. The Eye of Destiny on his forehead had long been activated, and a streak of purple-golden light slammed into the head of the Bone Dragon King.
The green spirit fire instantly trembled vigorously. The six fire-wind vortexes disintegrated immediately as Zhongli Wu lost control over them, and they released a series of violent air currents.
Even though Zhongli Wu was also caught in the air currents, he was not really affected by them, as he was a user of wind- type and fire-type power. The Death God’s Sickle in his hand did not even budge as he continued to advance towards Huo Yuhao.
“Cling!” Huo Yuhao had raised his Morning Dew Dagger to block Zhongli Wu’s Death God’s Sickle. Immediately, Huo Yuhao found himself thrown backward by the incredible force produced by the collision. While he was flying backward, his entire body was enshrouded by streaks of black air. Those black currents were somehow able to fuse into his body directly. In fact, most of them went straight for his head, as though they were trying to consume his soul.
On the other hand, Zhongli Wu only shook a little on the head of the Bone Dragon King. He merely had to adjust his footing to find his balance again. The Death God’s Sickle in his hand now had an additional blue layer of ice on it. However, the blue ice was rapidly melting under the impact of the black current released from Zhongli Wu’s body.
This was absolute power. The power of the Death God.
Even though Huo Yuhao was being thrown backward by the force, his eyes were radiating with passion and enthusiasm. Yes, this was the pressure he wanted! Even Elder Xuan would not have been able to give him this stifling sensation. This was because Elder Xuan did not possess any murderous intent against him.
The Yin Yang Complement soul cores within his body were rotating at an insane speed as the streaks of soul power which were perpetually colliding against one another produced a soul power vortex. It was running at a speed that was at least three times its normal speed. Huo Yuhao’s power was continually ejected from his body into his surroundings.
His soul cores were the true trump card he had against Zhongli Wu. Huo Yuhao’s regenerative ability was way above any normal soul master because of his Yin Yang Complement soul cores. Hence, the soul power he had actually expended would always be less than what it seemed on the surface.
However, Zhongli Wu’s fighting strength had also exceeded his expectations. The Death God’s Sickle was indeed very powerful! This sickle appeared to be the evolved state of the staff he had produced from his first soul skill. However, Huo Yuhao could tell with his Spiritual Detection that it was actually his eighth soul skill.
Zhongli Wu had only become so strong because he had used his seventh soul skill—Death God True Body—and his eighth soul skill—Death God’s Sickle. He would definitely stand a
chance against a real Ultimate Douluo with these two soul skills.
After that collision, even the Ultimate Ice ability of the Morning Dew Dagger was unable to completely seal the death aura contained within the Death God’s Sickle. This frightening death aura was actually eating away at Huo Yuhao’s body at an incredibly fast speed. Even though the Icy War God’s Armor was able to filter off a significant portion of it, some parts of it had still managed to creep into the armor. It was like a persistent worm that was able to eat through anything. Because of how hard it was to remove the death aura, it would be an extremely serious problem for anyone who was to find his or her body attacked by it.
However, Huo Yuhao was the exception. After creeping into his body, the death aura was about to begin to devour his life energy. These streaks of death aura were able to strengthen themselves by devouring life energy until Huo Yuhao was dead. That was the power of the Death God!
However, the streaks of death aura found themselves up against countless tiny vortexes after creeping into Huo Yuhao’s body. These vortexes contained Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power and Ultimate Ice. Even though the vortexes were not able to
directly dissolve the death aura, they were able to latch themselves onto the death aura. Following which, both of them would be ejected from Huo Yuhao’s body under his careful control.
There was also an extra coat of black on the Morning Dew Dagger. If one were to go up close to look at it, one would realize that it was a small black vortex which contained an incredibly frightening amount of power.
“You should surrender now. You will never stand a chance against me. I don’t want to kill you. With the gifts you possess, you can definitely become my successor at the Holy Ghost Church.” Zhongli Wu spoke coldly. Even then, his eyes showed the pity and admiration he had for Huo Yuhao’s talent.
Zhongli Wu was able to sense that Huo Yuhao was still not a Transcendent Douluo from their previous collision. Huo Yuhao was only able to parry his blow because of his human-shaped soul tool and the godly weapon. On the other hand, Zhongli Wu was an actual Rank 98 Transcendent Douluo! There was a gap between their abilities that could not be bridged. Just his beast spirit alone was enough to negate the difference between their martial souls.
Huo Yuhao shook his head obstinately as he said, “Tell me that again only after you have defeated me!” As he spoke, he raised the Morning Dew Dagger once again as a look of determination formed on his face. The violent wind-type and fire-type power continually attacked his body as his Icy War God’s Armor radiated a powerful glow.
How is he not affected by the death aura? Zhongli Wu’s eyes widened in disbelief. There’s no way the death aura has not had any effect on him. He must have found a way to suppress it temporarily.
The gigantic bone dragon let out another roar as it flapped its wings before flying towards Huo Yuhao again. Even though Huo Yuhao had hurt it with his Spiritual Shock, the damage sustained by its soul was still limited because its soul was fused with Zhongli Wu’s.
Just when the gigantic dragon started to fly towards Huo Yuhao, Zhongli Wu made his move. He waved his gigantic Death God’s Sickle once again as its scary black blade slashed across the sky. The blade seemed to have torn apart the space which separated it and Huo Yuhao as it instantly appeared before him.
The attack was so fast that Huo Yuhao could only block it with his Morning Dew Dagger. Once again, he was knocked back by the powerful force. This time around, he did not even have the time to release his Spiritual Shock before the sickle came for him.
While he was flying backwards due to the impact, streaks of black fog flickered around him as they tried to devour him.
The Bone Dragon King accelerated as it appeared where Huo Yuhao had landed almost instantly. It took aim as it swept its gigantic dragon tail towards Huo Yuhao’s waist.
Huo Yuhao’s body flew away like a homerun baseball as he was hit once again. The Icy War God’s Armor let out a deafening sound after it was hit by the dragon tail.
The most frightening thing was how large vortexes of fire- type and wind-type energy continued to attack his body even though he had been sent flying away from the Bone Dragon King.
Throughout the entire attack, Zhongli Wu never left the head of the Bone Dragon King. Once again, he slashed his Death God’s Sickle as it tore apart the space before him. A black image flickered before disappearing into the void.
The same black figure ripped apart the space Huo Yuhao would go by along his flight trajectory as he reappeared before him.
The figure seemed like the spitting image of Zhongli Wu as it slashed the sickle in its hand onto Huo Yuhao’s body.
Everyone who was watching the battle could not help but hold their breath as they watched the sight before them unfold.
That’s it. Huo Yuhao is probably going to be finished this time around.
“Cling!” Just when everyone expected the sickle to land on Huo Yuhao’s body, he suddenly turned his body in mid-air as he waved his Morning Dew Dagger towards the sickle at an impossible angle. He managed to block the deadly blow of the
sickle with his dagger! However, his body was once again sent flying away. By now, his Icy War God’s Armor was shrouded with death aura. It seemed as though he was about to be consumed by the black streaks of energy.
Huo Yuhao no longer tried to fight Zhongli Wu as he turned around and tried to fly into the distant sky.
“Are you trying to flee? I don’t think you can run away from me.” Zhongli Wu let out a burst of cold laughter. Because their spirits were fused, the Bone Dragon King immediately understood his intent as it flapped its humongous wings. At the next instant, it was already more than a thousand meters from where it had been. It was almost as if they had teleported as they continued their pursuit of Huo Yuhao.
Right now, it seemed as though the battle was finally coming to an end. It was extraordinarily hard for soul masters above the Titled Douluo rank to turn the tables after their opponent had gained a serious upper hand.
Huo Yuhao had undoubtedly sustained injuries after receiving those blows from Zhongli Wu and his Bone Dragon
King. That was apparent from how he was unable to retaliate against their power.
Right now, he was trying to flee so that he could suppress the power of the Death God which was trying to ravage his body. However, what would happen next? Zhongli Wu's attacks would simply continue. He had to figure out another way to handle him and his mount!
While Zhongli Wu was chasing after Huo Yuhao, he was surprised to discover that Huo Yuhao's Icy War God's Armor was still functional. It was still accelerating Huo Yuhao in an intermittent but explosive manner. The armor was able to increase the distance between Huo Yuhao and Zhongli Wu as they went around in circles.
Such explosive acceleration would be extremely demanding on the user's soul power. What is this lad trying to do?
Zhongli Wu simply let out a burst of cold laughter as he continued to go after Huo Yuhao. Even though the sky had turned dark, he was in no hurry at all. The blue pillar that was shining on Huo Yuhao from the sky had gradually disappeared.
Without support from this pillar, Zhongli Wu believed that Huo Yuhao would not be able to last much longer.
However, a strange white light suddenly shot towards Zhongli Wu and the Bone Dragon King at this instant.
Zhongli Wu was startled by the white light, and he instinctively slashed at it with his Death God’s Sickle. However, the sickle was not able to block the light. The white light was somehow able to pass through the incredible Death God power and land on the body of the Bone Dragon King.
Zhongli Wu had already cultivated the Bone Dragon King to become his origin beast spirit. Hence, their spirits were already deeply intertwined. Even though the white light did not seem to have caused any harm to the Bone Dragon King, Zhongli Wu felt an intense sense of uneasiness in his heart.
It was also at this instant that Huo Yuhao, who had been trying to flee from Zhongli Wu, suddenly turned around and released a mystical power from his body.
The streaks of black energy that were hanging onto his Icy War God’s Armor were somehow transformed into tiny
vortexes before they started to scatter towards Zhongli Wu.
Those black vortexes did not only contain the death aura that belonged to the Death God, but also Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice and spiritual power.
Zhongli Wu was not prepared to be complacent as the Bone Dragon King beneath him released its powerful breath to neutralize the power stored within those tiny vortexes. However, because of this little interjection, its flying speed was affected.
At this instant, Zhongli Wu suddenly heard Huo Yuhao release a cold grunt.
He then noticed how the Icy War God’s Armor, which was now cleared of all the black energy streaks, had lost its dark blue glow. Instead, it now took on a crystalline grey color.
A gigantic projection suddenly appeared behind Huo Yuhao’s back. This figure was extremely peculiar. It was actually a gigantic turtle. It was a gigantic turtle that was completely golden.
“Hehe… It’s time for Huo Yuhao to retaliate!” Someone from the crowd that was gathered nearer to Shrek City sniggled to himself.
A golden light flickered as it instantly attached itself to Huo Yuhao and Zhongli Wu. Following which, everyone was surprised to see how both of them had swapped positions at that very instant.
Zhongli Wu had appeared where Huo Yuhao was, and Huo Yuhao was now standing above the head of the Bone Dragon King.
Huo Yuhao was now wielding the Morning Dew Dagger with both of his hands. The dagger was now pointing downwards. A layer of white light suddenly surged from Huo Yuhao’s body before it gushed into the Morning Dew Dagger.
The Bone Dragon King beneath Huo Yuhao started to panic as it attempted to break free from him. However, Huo Yuhao’s feet remained rooted on the dragon’s head as though they were glued to it.
At the same time, a golden ring of light radiated from Huo Yuhao’s head, and enveloped the entire head of the Bone Dragon King.
“Spiritual Blast!”
A silent explosion occurred around the Bone Dragon King’s head. Its green spirit fire could now be seen from the crack in its skull caused by the Spiritual Blast.
Zhongli Wu tried to rush back from where he had been teleported, but he could not help but let out a grunt of pain. His massive Death God True Body started to shrink rapidly.
This is impossible. The Bone Dragon King’s spirit fire is immensely powerful. This Spiritual Blast is obviously not as powerful as the previous Spiritual Shock! Why would it instantly sustain such a heavy injury?
Unless it was because of the white light?
Yes, it was because of the white light. That was one of the two divine skills the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had passed onto Huo Yuhao. It was called Spiritual Reaving. It was able to instantly reduce an enemy’s spiritual defense to zero.
Huo Yuhao immediately brought the sharp Morning Dew Dagger downwards and stabbed it deep into the skull of the Bone Dragon King.
The Bone Dragon King let out a painful howl as cracks started to form on its skull. Streaks of white light instantly enveloped the head of the Bone Dragon King.
Upon coming into contact with the white light, its spirit fire was instantly doused. The humongous body of the Bone Dragon King immediately turned stiff and still.
Purification power!
Huo Yuhao had been intentionally acting in a passive manner as he allowed himself to be attacked continuously by Zhongli Wu and the Bone Dragon King. Even now, his mouth was still
bleeding. He had done all of the above just so that he could buy himself enough time to chant his incantations.
He had allowed the death aura released by Zhongli Wu to remain on his Icy War God’s Armor just so that it could help him conceal the necromantic abilities he was about to unleash.
This battle was not just about competing against one another’s power. It was a battle of wisdom and intellect.
So at the end of the day, who had managed to trick who?
While Zhongli Wu was dashing back to the Bone Dragon King, he suddenly stopped in mid-air as he released an inhuman shriek. Very soon, his massive Death God body transformed back into his human form. Zhongli Wu immediately vomited large amounts of blood from his mouth.
Ultimately, the extremely powerful beast spirit was connected to Zhongli Wu. In fact, it was almost a part of him. Hence, Huo Yuhao was able to injure him very badly when he killed his beast spirit.
This was something Zhongli Wu had not expected. He could not understand how his immensely powerful Bone Dragon King was unable to withstand a single blow from Huo Yuhao.
At the end of the day, spectral creatures were still spectral creatures. No matter how strong the Bone Dragon King was, it would never be able to escape the limitations of a spectral creature.
And Huo Yuhao was currently the only necromancer in the entire Douluo Continent!
Purification power was the natural enemy of any spectral creature. Even if the spectral creature—like the Bone Dragon King—was extremely powerful, it would still be vulnerable to purification power. The combination of Spiritual Shock, Spiritual Blast, and the Morning Dew Dagger was simply acting as a conduit for the final blow, which involved Huo Yuhao’s purification power.
Under such circumstances, the Bone Dragon King would never be able to withstand it, even though it was extremely powerful.
Huo Yuhao had been waiting for this opportunity from the beginning of the battle until now. He had first improved himself by sensing the pressure from his opponent before unleashing the potential that was forced out by his opponent. Subsequently, he feigned weakness to tempt his opponent into
attacking him before he retaliated at the most crucial moment. Everything went according to his plan.
Zhongli Wu’s biggest mistake was that he had forgotten the fact that Huo Yuhao was actually a control-type soul master!
The white purification power quickly spread across the massive body of the Bone Dragon King. It had now completely lost its soul, and the elements were no longer under its control.
Zhongli Wu appeared to be frozen in mid-air as he stared at Huo Yuhao with hatred in his eyes. He did not feel that he deserved to lose! He could naturally see how Huo Yuhao was supposed to be weaker than him. After all, Huo Yuhao was only a Titled Douluo. He believed that Huo Yuhao had only defeated him by using an unknown power.
However, he had forgotten how evil soul masters usually had an advantage over normal soul masters because of how
unorthodox their skills were.
When Zhongli Wu raised the staff in his hand again, his hand was already trembling. Once again, the frightening aura spread around him. It was almost as though his aura had not been affected by his injuries.
Huo Yuhao also straightened his back as the dark blue light formed once again on his Icy War God’s Armor.
The Morning Dew Dagger’s blade was also radiating a brilliant glow as its blinding light traveled across the sky. At the same time, the dagger was also emanating an Ultimate Ice aura from its blade.
“Huo Yuhao, you have won.” Zhongli Wu nodded in Huo Yuhao’s direction. “However, from this moment onwards, you will be considered one of the greatest enemies of our Holy Ghost Church. In the near future, we will definitely do whatever it takes to kill you instead of forcing you to join us. You seem to be in possession of a power which threatens me. No matter what, we will never allow you to become an Ultimate Douluo, because if that happens, the Holy Ghost
Church’s days will be numbered. You might have won today, but you will definitely die the next time we meet.”
After finishing his sentence, Zhongli Wu’s body suddenly released a blinding light. Following which, he transformed into a black meteor as he sped into the distant sky. He did not even return to join the Sun Moon Empire’s army.
Now that he had lost, he definitely had to receive military punishment according to the military order. Hence, he could only choose to leave for now.
The other members of the Holy Ghost Church were at a loss right now. Even until now, they were still not quite sure how their leader had lost. It was simply beyond comprehension.
There was a deafening silence from the Sun Moon Empire’s side, whereas the Shrek Academy’s side cheered euphorically after a short pause.
This was the fifth match. Huo Yuhao had already won his fifth battle!
Huo Yuhao was actually able to kill two powerful evil soul masters from the Holy Ghost Church before abducting another person. Following which, he went on to defeat two more individuals. It was important to note that all of them were Transcendent Douluo. In fact, one of them was the Leader of the Holy Ghost Church!
Regardless of whether Huo Yuhao was unable to win his remaining battles, he had undoubtedly made a name for himself after today.
From this moment onwards, he was officially initiated into the group of individuals that every soul master on the Douluo Continent would revere.
The gigantic Bone Dragon King’s body dropped from the sky before shattering to pieces.
Huo Yuhao descended with it, and landed at a place which was not too far from the bones. He planted a single knee on the ground as he started to pant rapidly.
It had been an extremely difficult battle for him. The attacks from the Death God’s Sickle had ultimately injured him. In order to create an opportunity to turn the tables and conceal his necromantic abilities, he had had to bear with it. The cost of bearing those attacks were immense soul power expenditure and injuries.
The dark blue light on Huo Yuhao’s Icy War God’s Armor continued to glow as he gradually stood up straight again.
Because he was wearing his armor, no one could see him clearly. In fact, the light on the Icy War God’s Armor was not the least bit dimmer than before.
A heavy silence had fallen upon the Sun Moon Empire troops.
After watching five Transcendent Douluo which were all evil soul masters crumble under Huo Yuhao’s powers, none of them were confident of fighting him. They believed that even an Ultimate Douluo might not have achieved this feat with ease. However, Huo Yuhao was somehow able to pull it off.
The Class 9 soul engineers who were standing behind Ju Zi revealed a look of fear.
None of them wanted to die at Huo Yuhao’s hands on this battlefield.
Even though they knew that he had expended a large amount of soul power, no one dared to volunteer to fight him.
After the leader of the Holy Ghost Church had been defeated, the remaining members of the Holy Ghost Church were not going to challenge Huo Yuhao anymore. Feng Ling led the remaining members to Ju Zi and bowed as one. Afterward, they did not say anything as they retreated to the back of the contingent.
Zhongli Wu had fled, as he was not willing to accept military punishment. This also meant that he was no longer there to question Ju Zi’s decisions. Without a military supervisor, the War God Empress was now the sole owner of the entire army.
Chapter 583: Blade Technique of the God's Realm
Ju Zi was elated after her objective had been achieved. The evil soul masters were finally killed and Zhongli Wu had been chased away with Huo Yuhao’s help. Her plan was finally completed. So what if she were to retreat without attacking Shrek City? It was important to solve one’s internal affairs before looking to tackle one’s external problems. This was something she understood very well.
However, her elation did not last very long. Worries and frustrations started to enter her mind. This was because Huo Yuhao was simply too strong!
Ju Zi understood Huo Yuhao a lot better than any of the Class 9 soul engineers around her. It was definitely disadvantageous for him to exhibit such power in front of them.
Even though Ju Zi had known that Huo Yuhao was the person who had been destroying huge amounts of aerial surveillance soul tools within the Sun Moon Empire, the others
did not know. Most of the people and higher-ups from the Sun Moon Empire did not even know of his existence.
However, this was about to change. Huo Yuhao had shown how he was able to take down five powerful evil soul masters— including the Leader—from the Holy Ghost Church consecutively. He was definitely going to become famous after so many people had watched him achieve this feat before their eyes. At the same time, he would also be prioritized as the main killing target by the Sun Moon Empire.
A young and brilliant soul master like him would definitely become one of the key members within Shrek Academy. In fact, he was most likely going to become one of the leaders within the entire world of soul masters. Now that he was trying to go against everything the Sun Moon Empire was doing, Xu Tianran would not be able to eat and sleep in peace without killing him. At the same time, the Holy Ghost Church would also be looking for an opportunity to exact their revenge.
Ju Zi’s mind was a mess. Huo Yuhao’s incredible power was affecting the plans she had laid out. However, after her attitude changed, she was no longer that concerned with all of those
plans she had prepared. She was more worried about Huo Yuhao getting into serious trouble.
Huo Yuhao gradually stood up straight. Even though his breathing was still fairly rapid, there was no sign of weakness in his pupils. In fact, his eyes were extremely radiant.
Huo Yuhao had pitted his courage and intelligence against Zhongli Wu in this battle and had managed to defeat him, despite the odds being against him. This battle had a tremendous effect on him. As the Yin Yang Complement soul cores rotated with an unbelievable speed within his body, the huge amount of soul power he had expended was recovering at an incredibly fast speed.
Titled Douluo were extremely power because they possessed a soul core. Ultimate Douluos were able to tower above every other soul master because they possessed two soul cores!
It was through such battles that Huo Yuhao was better able to understand the benefits his two soul cores offered to him. As of now, his abilities were not sufficiently matured to allow him to fight powerful soul masters like Zhongli Wu. He had to rely on external power like his Icy War God’s Armor and the Morning
Dew Dagger. However, he believed that he would not have any problem attaining the rank of an Ultimate Douluo with the help of his two soul cores.
“Next.” Huo Yuhao’s cold voice echoed across the battlefield.
Just when everyone believed that he would try his best to delay the proceedings so that he could recover more soul power, he went ahead to request the next battle from the Sun Moon Empire.
This entire challenge had started to take on a different flavor after Zhongli Wu was defeated.
Initially, no one had believed that Huo Yuhao would be able to accomplish this feat. Now, the powerful individuals within the Sun Moon Empire were starting to fear him. After all, he had used his abilities to prove to everyone that it could be done.
Without the Holy Ghost Church calling the shots, the soul engineers from the Sun Moon Empire all looked at Ju Zi.
By now, Ju Zi was no longer absorbed in her thoughts. In fact, the gasp she had made earlier did not seem to have been noticed by the others. Or at the very least, no one understood why she gasped.
“Who among you is willing to take down Huo Yuhao?” Ju Zi asked in a composed manner.
Right now, she had more than ten Class 9 soul engineers standing around her. There were legion commanders from the various soul engineer legions and several Worshipped from the Imperial Shrine. Only these Class 9 soul engineers would be qualified to fight Huo Yuhao.
However, none of these soul engineers had attained the equivalent rank of a Transcendent Douluo. They could only rely on their soul tools if they were to fight him.
Besides, they had all witnessed the previous battles. None of them were confident of defeating Huo Yuhao. After all, this was a battle which concerned their life and death. If even Zhongli Wu was defeated by him, it was very unlikely that they could return alive.
There was complete silence for a good few seconds as Ju Zi revealed a growingly furious expression. Some of the soul engineers who were weaker started to become embarrassed. It was extremely shameful that the Sun Moon Empire no longer had an individual who was brave enough to accept Huo Yuhao’s challenge! All this while, the Sun Moon Empire had been invincible. They had never experienced such a shameful and
humiliating situation.
“Marshal, I am willing to fight Huo Yuhao!” A bright voice could be heard from the back. A soul engineer from the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion stood up. One could tell that he was just a normal soul engineer from the soul tools which he was equipped with. He was at best a Class 5 soul engineer. However, one could tell that he was not afraid of Huo Yuhao at all from the gusto in his voice.
After hearing what he said, every single Class 9 soul engineer revealed a frustrated look. At the same time, they were embarrassed that a Class 5 soul engineer was more willing to put his life on the line to protect the name of their empire than them.
Then, another soul engineer stormed out and exclaimed, “Can you not be a fool and overestimate your ability? Do you
think you are qualified to represent our army? Scram, or I will punish you by military law!”
This person who had stormed out was concealed within a black human-shaped soul tool. There were two long blades were sheathed behind his back. His entire body was radiating an extremely powerful piercing aura.
One could see how the young soul engineer wanted to rebut what he had just been told. However, the young soul engineer ultimately lowered his head and retreated into the contingent.
The soul engineer who was wearing a human-shaped soul tool turned around before bowing toward Ju Zi. “Marshal, allow me to represent our empire!”
Ju Zi nodded and said, “Alright. Take care, Commander Liao.”
“Thank you, Marshal.”
The soul engineer who had just stepped forward would definitely not have volunteered to fight Huo Yuhao if he had a choice. However, there was no way he could afford to not step forward. This was because he was Liao Mengkai—the legion commander of the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion.
After seeing how his subordinate had the courage to represent the empire, there was no way he would be able to lead his soul engineer legion if he were to continue to cower. Hence, despite not having much confidence, he still stood up to take up the challenge.
Amongst the Hand that Protects the Nation, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion was undoubtedly the strongest. They were followed by the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion. The last three were the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion, the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion, and the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion.
The Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was extremely powerful because of the resources they had hoarded. The Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion had also improved a lot after the War God Empress had taken over. The Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion specialized in speed. They were extremely great at pursuing enemies and then killing them. What about
the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion? They were definitely the most unorthodox soul engineer legion among the five legions which formed the Hand that Protects the Nation.
As stated in their name, the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion specialized in assault operations.
The Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear was known as the strongest assault-type soul beast. Its close-combat ability was unparalleled among soul beasts of a similar level. The Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion was exactly the same. Other than some of the necessary linked defensive soul tools, all of their members specialized in close-combat. This also meant that this soul engineer legion primarily consisted of close- combat soul engineers.
Ranged attacks were the most common attacking style among soul engineers. However, the fighting power of a close- combat soul engineer was, in fact, a concept that was very similar to what Huo Yuhao had initially envisioned. He had wanted to see the fusion of the abilities a soul master and a soul engineer possessed.
By relying on soul tools to enhance one’s martial soul’s fighting ability, one would be able to strengthen one’s attacking power within a limited range. This was something all close- combat soul engineers were trying to work towards.
For example, Ji Juechen was essentially a close-combat soul engineer. To a certain extent, Huo Yuhao was also a close- combat soul engineer.
Once one cultivated his close-combat ability to their maximum potential, their overall combat ability would even outpower that of a ranged-attack. At the same time, one’s survivability would be greatly enhanced.
Hence, the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion was often dispatched to assault fortified structures. Their members were all extremely disciplined, and were not afraid of dying.
Liao Mengkai was the legion commander of this soul engineer legion. This naturally meant that he was extremely skilled in close-combat fighting.
After deciding that he would accept the challenge, Liao Mengkai did not hesitate anymore as he leaped from where he was to where Huo Yuhao was currently standing. He immediately accelerated through the air as he raced toward him.
Even though no one knew how much soul power Huo Yuhao had expended in his previous battles, everyone knew that they must have taken a lot out of him. Hence, he knew that he had to try his best to reduce the amount of time Huo Yuhao could use to recover his power. This was the best way to improve his odds of defeating him. Even though a Titled Douluo possessed incredible regenerative ability, it was ultimately limited. In addition, recovering one’s expended spiritual power was a lot more difficult than recovering soul power.
When Liao Mengkai leaped into the air, the black human- shaped soul tool on his body instantly released a dark golden glow. He grabbed the blades which were sheathed behind his back with both hands before unsheathing them.
His pair of blades were matte black, and did not seem to reflect any light at all. At the same time, they gave off the impression that they could devour anything that stood in their way. Even though they were radiating their sharp aura from a
distance, everyone was still able to sense how intense their aura was. While they were being brought across the air, they seemed to be leaving two fine traces after slicing through the air.
Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection landed on him instantly.
This person has an incredible amount of life energy!
Huo Yuhao was startled to discover that the life energy this soul engineer was radiating was actually comparable to his. It was a lot more powerful than what a normal Titled Douluo had.
Even though one’s life energy would not directly decide one’s fighting power, a powerful individual with strong life energy tended to display powerful abilities during battles, and was usually able to sustain high combat performance over extended periods of time.
However, so what?
Huo Yuhao was floating in mid-air as he waited for Liao Mengkai's arrival. This person did not unleash his martial soul! This was something Huo Yuhao had accurately determined.
Normally, even soul engineers would first unleash their martial souls in battle to either strengthen or support their attacks. At the end of the day, any kind of boost would be better than nothing. Huo Yuhao had only seen one other person who relied purely on his soul power and soul tool. That person was none other than Ji Juechen.
However, Huo Yuhao was able to tell that this person was treading on a different path from Ji Juechen. If he was planning to attack in a similar way as Ji Juechen, he would not have his human-shaped soul tool. His blades would have sufficed.
The light from his matte black blades intersected each other in the air as they formed a cross that sped towards Huo Yuhao.
The sharpness of his blades gave off the impression that the cross would be unstoppable.
Huo Yuhao raised the Morning Dew Dagger in his hand as the blade of the dagger instantly released an icy blue glow. The glow stabbed right into the center of the cross.
The matte black light from the blades paused before turning white. Following which, they disintegrated into the air like the morning mist.
Liao Mengkai's heart sank after watching this.
It was one thing to spectate Huo Yuhao's battle with the five evil soul masters, and another thing to be up against him in person.
Liao Mengkai could not seem to sense any pressure from Huo Yuhao's body. It was almost as though he did not have any aura at all.
However, this only served to put more pressure on Liao Mengkai. After all, he had seen how Huo Yuhao had taken down five Transcendent Douluo consecutively with his own eyes! The thought of going up against someone like Huo Yuhao crushed his morale as his battle intent weakened.
After the first probing collision ended, Liao Mengkai appeared before Huo Yuhao at the very next moment.
He had positioned one of his blades to the front and the other to his back as he slashed both of them towards Huo Yuhao.
Soul engineers rarely used their martial soul true body, as it would affect the effects of their soul tools. However, it was even more rare to see people like him, who did not even unleash his own martial soul.
The sharp light from his blades was easily parried by Huo Yuhao's Morning Dew Dagger. At the same time, Huo Yuhao lifted his land hand as a streak of dark blue sword light came towards Liao Mengkai.
Unparalleled Chill, Empress' Sword!
Liao Mengkai was the only person who could sense the chill that was traveling down his spine. Huo Yuhao had long been able to concentrate his Ultimate Ice after understanding the intricacies of the element of ice.
Liao Mengkai's figure flickered as his entire body became a little illusory.
"Poof!" A soft sound could be heard as the Unparalleled Chill turned the black figure into an ice sculpture before the sculpture started to fall from the sky. However, another black figure had appeared on the other side of Huo Yuhao as it surged towards him with its brightly illuminated blade.
Huo Yuhao moved his body and teleported away instantly.
However, the black figure also vanished at that very instant. In addition, Huo Yuhao found himself unable to locate the person's position even with his Spiritual Detection.
"Huh?" Could this be…
Huo Yuhao was visibly startled by what he had just witnessed.
Until now, Liao Mengkai had not even unleashed his martial soul. Hence, his teleportation ability must have been granted to him by a soul tool. Could the human-shaped soul tool he is wearing now possess the ability to teleport? No, it can't be this simple. From the look of things, it’s almost as if he completely vanished. It's not the same as teleportation. This means that his human-shaped soul tool must possess some sort of ability which is very similar to spatial power. That would be insane!
While Huo Yuhao was trying to understand Liao Mengkai's power, a figure had suddenly appeared behind him. The figure was wielding a black blade which was giving off a menacing black glow.
Because Huo Yuhao had been enveloping the entire battlefield with his Spiritual Detection, he was able to react instantly. The Icy War God’s Armor immediately emitted a layer of dark blue light. When that matte black blade glow came near the Icy War God’s Armor, it was almost as if it had sunk into a marsh. It instantly stopped as an extremely cold aura immediately attacked the black figure.
The effects of Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice were always present. Even though he had become a lot more conservative with it, and had not released his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice again, he was still able to unleash the power of Ultimate Ice on his opponent by just activating his intent.
Without hesitating at all, the black light flickered, and Liao Mengkai vanished again. In that short instant, Huo Yuhao’s Morning Dew Dagger was about to stab into Liao Mengkai, but he vanished in the nick of time.
This was exactly how assassins liked to fight. After failing to land their blows, they would immediately retreat to prepare for their next blow.
Of course, Huo Yuhao was able to instantly understand what Liao Mengkai wanted to do. It appeared that Liao Mengkai had the same plan as Zhongli Wu. Both of them wanted to expend his power. They wanted to use their various methods to burn his spiritual power and soul power.
What a good move!
Huo Yuhao revealed a cold smile. It might be very demanding for me to deal with Zhongli Wu. But do you really think it will be demanding for me to deal with you? A soul engineer who has not even reached Rank 95? You might have a human- shaped soul tool, but I have one too. On top of that, there are some things I have which you do not possess.
Huo Yuhao gradually raised the Morning Dew Dagger in his hand until it rose above his head. The dark blue glow on the Icy War God’s Armor suddenly weakened before it intensified and illuminated the area around him.
After sensing this extremely intense cold, Liao Mengkai, who had just reappeared next to Huo Yuhao, immediately went back into the void without any hesitation.
Huo Yuhao slashed his Morning Dew Dagger outwards. At that instant, no one could see exactly what he was doing. His entire body was like a dark blue ball of light, where countless streaks of light were radiating from his body.
At that instant, everything within a thousand meters of him was enveloped in a piercing blade light. The icy blue light ripped apart all space easily.
This was obviously an indiscriminate attack. Even when he was up against Zhongli Wu, Huo Yuhao had not unleashed such an attack.
What kind of technique is this?
Fortunately, Ji Juechen was not present. If not, the sword fanatic would definitely bug Huo Yuhao to spar with him after this battle. He would not have cared even if he were to lose. After Huo Yuhao had unleashed this technique, the entire sky had changed color, and now revealed a radiant picture. It was as though a gigantic icy blue dragon was flying in the sky. Every single scale on the dragon’s body was immensely clear.
Is this something a sword technique is supposed to be able to achieve?
Everyone from Tang Sect was startled by what they had just witnessed. None of them knew when exactly Huo Yuhao had mastered this technique.
After all, this technique did not belong to the Douluo Continent! It was passed on to Huo Yuhao by a God!
Rain Dragon’s Dance!
This was the first time Huo Yuhao was using this technique on the battlefield. At the instant he unleashed this technique, he felt as though the soul power stored within his Yin Yang Complement soul cores was being gulped down furiously by the Morning Dew Dagger.
The black figure was forced out from his hiding spot within the void as Liao Mengkai frantically waved his blades before him to protect himself.
Nonetheless, he could not help but sustain thirteen cuts on his body.
His Class 9 protective soul barrier was shattered!
His invincible barrier was also shattered!
One could also see the streaks of icy blue light that were left on his human-shaped soul tool. The piercing cold instantly penetrated his human-shaped soul tool and went straight into his bones.
Even though his human-shaped soul tool was also Class 9, its defensive ability could not be compared to the frightening power of the Morning Dew Dagger.
The formation arrays within the Class 9 human-shaped soul tool were instantly destroyed by the blade light. If he had not been wearing an additional suit of Class 9 inner armor, he would have turned into an ice sculpture.
It was frightening—simply too frightening. What kind of dagger technique could shred space over two thousand meters? Huo Yuhao was somehow able to restrain himself, and only use it now. How many trump cards does he actually possess?
The powerful soul engineers and soul masters from the Sun Moon Empire could not help but tremble as they watched Huo Yuhao unleash that technique.
However, they did not know that he was also regretting what he had just done.
Even though the Rain Dragon’s Dance was able to startle everyone, it demanded too much from him. He realized how much soul power he had lost just because of that technique. Even the powerful regenerative ability of the Yin Yang Complement soul cores was not able to compensate for the soul power he had spent.
It took almost thirty seconds before the sky started to lose its peculiar appearance after it was carved and torn into the shape of a dragon. Now, the sky had turned into a sea of Ultimate Ice. It was clear how much soul power Huo Yuhao had expended to achieve this feat.
“Die!” A loud howl escaped from Liao Mengkai’s mouth. Following which, two long matte black blades were released in Huo Yuhao’s direction. They sped towards him like lightning, while Liao Mengkai started to drop towards the ground from the sky.
Everyone knew there was only one reason why a person would toss out his or her weapon in the middle of a battle. This
was because the person wanted to create an opportunity to escape.
Even though a Class 9 soul engineer might not be able to match a top-class soul master when it came to fighting power, their ability to survive was definitely a lot stronger than that of a soul master.
If it were a soul master with an equal or even higher cultivation than Liao Mengkai who was on the receiving end of Huo Yuhao's Rain Dragon's Dance, he or she would have already been shredded to pieces. However, Liao Mengkai was still alive.
Two matte black blades instantly appeared before Huo Yuhao one after another. The blades were staggered by a single meter.
A serious look immediately formed on Huo Yuhao's face. In fact, from his first battle until now, he had not revealed an expression this serious.
Huo Yuhao raised his Morning Dew Dagger to deflect the first black blade. Following which, he did something which no one
was unable to understand. He tilted his body slightly as he used his left shoulder to take on the attack of the second blade.
"Tskk!" The long blade pierced through his shoulder instantly. Even the powerful defensive ability of the Icy War God's Armor was unable to block the blade.
However, Huo Yuhao' shoulder did not seem to be bleeding.
He simply stumbled before he fell from the sky.
Tang Wutong immediately panicked after seeing him fall. She was about to dash over to catch him when she saw him raise his right hand and signal her not to come over.
Following which, two loud thuds could be heard.
Liao Mengkai and Huo Yuhao had crashed into the ground one after another.
When Liao Mengkai landed, his body fell forward in an unsightly manner before he rolled over into a sitting position. On the other hand, Huo Yuhao landed in an extremely steady
manner. However, the blade in his shoulder made him look very frightening.
“HAHAHAHAH! It seems like you were shot down by my blade.” Liao Mengkai let out a burst of laughter. He was obviously very pleased with himself for successfully harming Huo Yuhao—a feat which not even Zhongli Wu had managed to do.
Huo Yuhao nodded at Liao Mengkai. He said, “I never expected to see someone like you who would dedicate your life to perfecting a single art. If I had not been watching you and sensing when you would release your martial soul, I would probably have been in a worse state. You were actually able to ignite your own life energy to freeze the flow of my internal energy. If I am not wrong, your martial soul should be a blade, right?”
Liao Mengkai nodded. He was impressed by how Huo Yuhao was able to deduce all of this during the battle. “That’s right. My martial soul is a blade. To be more precise, it is a blade soul! My blade soul does not possess a true physical form. It is quite different from the usual weapon martial souls which you probably see. However, it is able to fuse into any metallic object perfectly. When I had just started to cultivate it, it was
extremely weak and powerless. However, as I became stronger, I started to realize how powerful and useful it is.”
Huo Yuhao continued, “Even though your previous attack looked as though it was intended to prevent me from going after you, you had actually fused your martial soul into your second blade while you burned your life energy to restrict the flow of energy within my body. The first blade was meant to be a distraction, as you had simply thrown it over in a fairly normal fashion. It seemed like you must have consumed a lot of tonics and herbs to strengthen your life energy.”
“Yes. In fact, I actually unleashed my ninth soul skill earlier. It is called Soulsplitting Blade! If I am to be honest, you are doomed. From the moment my blade entered your body, you were bound to die even if you were to chop off your limb. After all, my Demonic God Blade is a Class 9 soul tool. The other blade is a Class 9 soul tool. By using my Soulsplitting Blade to enhance my Class 9 soul tool, it is essentially indestructible. Even if you were an Ultimate Douluo, you would still die because your passageways would be severed by the destructive energy which will ravage your body. To be honest, I don’t think I would have been able to freeze the flow of your internal energy if you had not fought so many people beforehand. After releasing that powerful technique of yours which exposed my
location, you had expended too much power, and became vulnerable to my technique.”
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “I admit that I have underestimated you. This is the price I have to pay for doing that. However, I want to remind you not to overestimate the power of your blade soul. Even though it can hurt me, it will not be that easy to kill me.”
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao gripped the hilt of the Demonic God Blade with his right hand as he slowly pulled the five foot blade out from his shoulder.
Right now, Tang Wutong no longer dared to watch Huo Yuhao. Her fists were clenched as she wished she was the one in his place! However, Huo Yuhao did not allow her to go over. After all, this battle against ten opponents was a battle which was exclusively his. It was a man’s battle.
Liao Mengkai was startled to see Huo Yuhao removing the blade from his shoulder. He did not expect him to possess the energy to remove the blade. “What?! This can’t be happening. Why do you still have the strength? Shouldn’t you have used
all of your soul power to suppress my blade soul? Why do you still have the strength to remove the blade?”
Liao Mengkai had already ignited his life energy and used every single ounce of energy in his soul power to launch an all- out attack. Even though his attack was successful, its effects fell short of his expectations. How could he still be able to remove the long blade?
There was actually another reason why Liao Mengkai was willing to go out and challenge Huo Yuhao today. He was, in fact, driven by his greed. He wanted Huo Yuhao’s Morning Dew Dagger.
As a powerful fighter who possessed a blade soul, he believed that he ought to be able to control the Morning Dew Dagger even if he did not possess an Ultimate Ice martial soul. He believed that he had a good chance of becoming a Transcendent Douluo if he were to couple his blade soul with the godly weapon.
It was important to note that one could only become a Class 10 soul engineer after attaining the abilities of a Transcendent
Douluo. This was something he had been dreaming of for a long time.
Liao Mengkai watched Huo Yuhao slowly remove the five foot blade without spilling a single drop of blood. However, because Huo Yuhao had a visor over his face, no one could see his expression. Nonetheless, everyone believed that he was not in that much pain, since he was able to extract the blade in a fairly steady manner.
Finally, the entire Demonic God Blade was removed by Huo Yuhao. His body trembled a little as he held the Class 9 soul tool in his hand.
The Demonic God Blade only had a single characteristic: its extreme sharpness!
Similar to how Liao Mengkai went after the extreme in his fighting style, it was the same for his weapon. It was so sharp that even the Icy War God’s Armor was unable to block it. Powered by his blade soul, the attacking power which was unleashed by the Demonic God Blade at that instant was almost on par with that of a godly weapon. If Huo Yuhao had
reacted slower and treated it as a normal attack, his heart would have been pierced by the Demonic God Blade.
“Ho-How were you able to do that?” Liao Mengkai asked Huo Yuhao in a dazed manner.
Huo Yuhao wielded the Demonic God Blade in a reverse grip as he used the side of his palm to lift his visor. Even though his face appeared to be a little pale, Huo Yuhao revealed a calm and composed expression.
“I have kept you alive until now just so that I can show you how useless your attack is on me. You had no chance of killing me at all. Now, it’s time for you to vanish from the surface of this earth!”
“Please show mercy!” Ju Zi exclaimed from her seat.
However, this was the battlefield! There was no room for mercy in war!
“Boom!” An intense explosion could be heard. Liao Mengkai’s body had exploded into pieces. Even till his last breath, his eyes were still widened in disbelief.
Liao Mengkai had ignited his life energy and given up on defending his body to launch his final attack. In fact, he had injected all his soul power into the weapon, and used his other soul tool to conceal the glow of his soul ring in order to unleash such a deadly blow. However, why was his enemy still alive?
By banking everything on his final attack, it implied that he had completely given up on defending himself. However, the truth was that all of his passive defensive measures had already been shredded by the Rain Dragon’s Dance executed by Huo Yuhao’s Morning Dew Dagger.
By the time Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice had permeated into Liao Mengkai’s body and he had fallen to the ground, he was already seriously injured. Most of the passageways in his body were already frozen solid. Under such circumstances, the Ice Explosion was definitely all that was required to deal the finishing blow.
Huo Yuhao gradually turned around to face the Sun Moon Empire’s army. He stabbed the five foot long Demonic God Blade into the ground as he used it to support his body.
Suddenly, he let out a serious cough as two streaks of blood shot out from his left shoulder like arrows. After leaving Huo Yuhao’s body, these two streaks of blood formed the shape of a blade as they turned around to attack Huo Yuhao.
A golden light immediately shone from Huo Yuhao’s forehead and enveloped the bloody blade soul. Following which, the blade soul exploded silently before vanishing into thin air.
The blood stopped flowing from Huo Yuhao’s shoulder. It had only left some bloodstains on Huo Yuhao’s Icy War God’s Armor. He remained standing there as though nothing had happened.
“Next!”
The blood did not make him look vulnerable or weak. In fact, it made him look a lot more intimidating. The contrast of the
blood against his pale, cold face made him look like a devil who had just descended onto their land.
Sixth. This was already the sixth person. Huo Yuhao was able to win all six battles with his superior abilities. He had killed three, injured two, and captured one.
If Ju Zi was not exactly very upset by the Holy Ghost Church’s failure earlier, it pained her to see the legion commander of the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion fall. After all, Liao Mengkai was a Class 9 soul engineer! On top of that, he was the legion commander of a soul engineer legion. It usually took a couple of decades to nurture a talent like him. Every Class 9 soul engineer like Liao Mengkai was a strategic resource of the Sun Moon Empire.
Ju Zi was starting to understand why Huo Yuhao had suggested this challenge. He was not only trying to force the Sun Moon Empire into a retreat, but also trying to reduce the Sun Moon Empire’s power while improving his own abilities.
Even though Ju Zi could not control the Holy Ghost Church, the Holy Ghost Church was still on the side of the Sun Moon Empire! Under Huo Yuhao’s ruthless attacks, the Holy Ghost
Church had sustained huge losses. Now, they were starting to lose their soul engineers. Even though the Sun Moon Empire had quite a few Class 9 soul engineers, they were still very limited! They did not have more than twenty Class 9 soul engineers even including those who were initiated in recent years. However, Huo Yuhao and his peers had already taken down more than one.
On top of that, it also pained Ju Zi to see Huo Yuhao injured.
Right now, Huo Yuhao’s breathing was slightly labored. It was evident that his injury was not light at all. Liao Mengkai’s final attack was something he really had not expected. It was the first time he had seen such a powerful all-out attack.
Liao Mengkai’s attack was built on extreme sharpness. Hence, every single attribute which he possessed was developed with that consideration in mind. His invincibly sharp soul tool was greatly enhanced by his blade soul to an incredibly frightening extent.
By the time Huo Yuhao was able to sense its insane power with his Spiritual Detection, he immediately knew that there was no chance he would be able to block that blade. Hence, he
instantly used his Ultimate Ice to freeze and protect the passageways in his left shoulder to attempt to block it.
At the end of the day, his Icy War God’s Armor was still effective at defending him. It was able to negate about fifty percent of the blade soul’s power. After the remaining power had entered his body, it had started to try to ravage his body in a furious manner. Just as Liao Mengkai had predicted, it had tried to shred everything within his body to pieces.
Fortunately, Huo Yuhao possessed his Yin Yang Complement soul cores. With the nourishment they provided, Huo Yuhao’s body had gained strength that put it on par with Di Tian’s. The soul power vortex in his body had played a big role in preventing Liao Mengkai’s energy from tearing his body apart.
Huo Yuhao’s soul power vortex was able to lock onto the blade soul before forcing it into a corner with its continuous rotation. This prevented the blade soul from hurting his vital organs.
Nonetheless, he still fell to the ground because he had trouble controlling his body in that moment.
Eventually, he managed to use his soul power to force the blade soul out of his body. In fact, the entire process was extremely risky. If he had not formed his Yin Yang Complement soul cores before this challenge, Liao Mengkai’s attack would have been fatal. He would have died instantly.
However, Huo Yuhao did not emerge from this costly battle without any benefits. While he sustained a serious injury, he gained a better understanding of his Yin Yang Complement soul cores and their useful effects.
However, the truth was that performing the Rain Dragon’s Dance with the Morning Dew Dagger had been too demanding on Huo Yuhao’s body. Now, he was left with less than twenty percent of his original soul power. Many of his bodily functions were also slightly damaged. Nonetheless, he continued to stand there as he stared down the people from the Sun Moon Empire with cold eyes.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao was trying his best to activate his Yin Yang Complement soul cores to recover his soul power. He was definitely going to fight on no matter what. After all, he still had his invincible spiritual power and…
Chapter 584: Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Rong Nianbing
Huo Yuhao began to chant his incantations in a low and deep voice. Under the influence of his Imitation and his Spiritual Interference Domain, no one could hear his incantations nor sensed what he was doing.
Ju Zi took a deep breath before letting it out. She was no longer able to make decisions as the Commander of the Three Armies. The strength Huo Yuhao had demonstrated was extremely suffocating.
How? What should I do next? The usually quick-witted Ju Zi found her mind completely blank. While she was not willing to see Huo Yuhao die, she knew that if the Sun Moon Empire were to lose this challenge, the entire army’s morale would take a huge hit. Everything she had done prior to this would go down the drain.
“Let me do it!” A loud exclamation rang out from beside her. Elder Su, who had been standing next to Ju Zi, strode out to face Huo Yuhao.
Ju Zi opened her mouth and wanted to stop him. However, no words escaped her. Even though she did not want to put Huo Yuhao’s life in danger, she knew that she could not allow the morale of the army to be shaken.
As Elder Su slowly walked towards the center of the battlefield, the various sool tools he had brought with him started to appear. The people who were watching the battle could hear the crisp metallic sounds as Elder Su’s human- shaped soul tool started to form on his body.
As Huo Yuhao stared at Elder Su, the pupils in his eyes contracted.
He was able to tell from today’s battles that the Sun Moon Empire must have mastered the core technology used to build human-shaped soul tools. In addition, they must have developed a certain method to use these human-shaped soul tools.
Xuan Ziwen’s research had shown that one needed significant spiritual power in order to exercise the precise control needed for a human-shaped soul tool to fit perfectly with one’s body.
It was important to note that the stronger the human-shaped soul tool was, the more spiritual power it consumed. Without superior spiritual power, it would be next to impossible to control a human-shaped soul tool like one’s limbs.
Huo Yuhao did not find it strange that these Class 9 soul engineers had their own human-shaped soul tools. He was more interested to find out how the other soul engineers within the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion were able to use human-shaped soul tools. They must have used some sort of special method in order to achieve that.
“You are very powerful! I am very impressed with what you have achieved at such a tender age. I must say you are the most gifted soul master I have ever seen in my life. Unfortunately, we serve different masters. Whatever strength and power you possess will only become a greater justification for us to kill you. I promise I will destroy you at all costs.” Elder Su said solemnly.
Huo Yuhao stared calmly at him and said, “Then let’s begin.”
A huge black gate suddenly formed behind him, following which, a massive body emerged after releasing a deafening
howl. It was none other than the Jiangshi Ice Bear King, Er Bai!
Now that Huo Yuhao was facing his seventh opponent, he could not help but call for reinforcements.
Huo Yuhao leapt upward before landing on Er Bai’s shoulder. Following which, he sat cross-legged his shoulder as though he were glued there.
Er Bai looked up into the sky before releasing another deafening howl as it started to stomp towards Elder Su.
Elder Su revealed a condescending look. It was important to note that he was not a close-combat soul engineer, but one who specialized in ranged attacks. Even though Er Bai was humongous, and radiated an intensely powerful aura, it was nothing more than a clumsy target in Elder Su’s eyes.
Two red cannons appeared on the shoulder plates of his human-shaped soul tool. Those two cannons were not very big, but they instantly released two red soul rays towards Er Bai.
When a soul engineer became a Class 9 soul engineer, the power of their soul tools could no longer be measured by their size.
Because Er Bai was so big, it was an easy target even if Elder Su did not aim properly.
However, an unexpected outcome formed before everyone’s eyes. Just when the two rays were about to land on Er Bai, Er Bai charged forward, and suddenly angled his body in an agile manner. In fact, it even pushed itself off the ground with the tips of its feet to avoid the two rays.
“Huh?” Elder Su’s eyes widened in disbelief. After all, he had only launched his soul rays after he had locked his cannons onto Er Bai. How was it able to avoid the rays?
Spiritual Interference Domain and Spiritual Detection Sharing.
That was the answer!
It was Huo Yuhao’s answer to the challenge Elder Su had given!
While Elder Su was hesitating, Er Bai had gotten extremely close to him. It waved its humongous fist and planted it in Elder Su’s direction. Its overwhelming aura caused the surrounding ground to sink even before its fist came into contact with it.
Elder Su instantly retreated rapidly in a bid to evade Er Bai’s attack as two streaks of light were released from the bottom of his feet.
Er Bai looked up into the sky as it released another low growl. It opened its mouth as its white smoky breath surged out at Elder Su.
A huge circular gem that was attached at the front of Elder Su’s human-shaped soul tool suddenly emitted a powerful beam of light. The beam instantly went past the breath Er Bai had released and landed on Er Bai’s body.
Even with the help of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection Sharing, Er Bai was simply too big and too close to avoid this attack. Hence, it could only use its strong chest to take this blow.
Because of the powerful speed his human-shaped soul tool had given him, Elder Su was able to instantly retreat and avoid Er Bai’s breath after releasing his attack. This allowed him to widen the distance between him and Er Bai.
However, he was shocked to see that Er Bai was able to shake off any effect the beam had on its body. Following which, it continued to charge towards Elder Su.
How is this possible? That was a Class 8 Goldmelting Cannon.
It was important to note that even a Class 9 soul engineer was not able to only possess Class 9 soul tools. This was because it was incredibly difficult to build Class 9 soul tools. On top of that, it often took too much time to build them.
Tools like milk bottles were a lot less useful for soul engineers of higher classes. They simply did not have the time to replenish what they had expended. At the end of the day, one’s soul core was still the most reliable source of soul power. Hence, it was extremely logical to see powerful soul engineers equip themselves with soul tools of different classes.
Even though the Goldmelting Cannon was only a Class 8 soul tool, it was able to melt gold and any other similar metals. On top of that, it was focused on a single target. Hence, it was extremely powerful.
However, it only left a faint black mark on the gigantic bear’s body. It didn’t seem like it had managed to cause much harm to Er Bai.
At that end of the day, there was still a difference between Er Bai and Little Bai. Little Bai was a powerful controller of ice and snow. Even though Er Bai had inherited Little Bai’s body, it did not inherit Little Bai’s ability to control ice and snow. Or rather, Er Bai only possessed a tiny bit of control over snow and ice. However, Er Bai also had its very own advantage—its immensely tough body. After becoming a spectral creature within the spectral demiplane, its body was affected by the aura within it, and had mutated. It definitely possessed the
strongest body within the entire spectral demiplane. If not, it would never have become the king of the entire spectral demiplane.
Hence, it was extremely difficult for a Class 8 soul tool to harm Er Bai. On top of that, the Goldmelting Cannon was a fire-type soul tool. It was natural for its effect to be weaker on Er Bai, who was an ice-type spectral creature.
Er Bai stomped its left foot on the ground as it sent tremors and vibrations across the earth around it. As the earth trembled, everyone, including the Sun Moon Empire troops who were about five kilometers away, found the ground beneath them shaking and vibrating.
By borrowing the reactive force from its stomp, Er Bai leapt into the air before rolling itself into a ball. Following which, it flew towards Elder Su like a massive rotating cannonball. The aura it possessed was similar to that of an icy meteor falling from the sky. This was the only ice ability Little Bai had passed on to Er Bai. Even though its Ultimate Ice ability was lacking compared to Little Bai’s, Er Bai’s physical power was definitely more powerful than what Little Bai could achieve.
After recovering from his momentary shock, Elder Su immediately regained the speed he had lost. To be honest, he was not in the least bit scared of Er Bai. After all, speed was his specialty. On top of that, his Class 9 human-shaped soul tool was able to prevent him from being locked on by his opponent. This meant that Er Bai would never be able to lock onto his position.
With a single flicker, Elder Su was able to maneuver his body and avoid Er Bai’s attack. At the same time, a matte black Class 9 soul cannon appeared on his shoulder. Since the Class 8 soul tool was not enough to take Er Bai down, Elder Su had decided to go with a Class 9 one. This time around, he also made sure to choose one which was not fire-type.
Attacking power had never been a problem for any Class 9 soul engineer.
However, just when Elder Su had finally locked onto Er Bai’s position and fully charged his Class 9 soul cannon, his spiritual sea suddenly alerted him of an impending threat. This was an instinct which only Titled Douluo possessed.
Elder Su was extremely trusting of his senses. This was because they had saved his life countless times. Without hesitating, he immediately stopped charging the soul tool on his shoulder as he flipped around and revved up his human- shaped soul tool in a bid to escape from whatever that was coming for him.
A blue light suddenly flickered in the sky as Elder Su’s rapid flipping motion suddenly froze. Following which, his body suddenly released a huge blood mist.
If one were to pay close attention to Elder Su, one would notice a single hole in his Class 9 protective soul barrier, invincible barrier, and human-shaped soul tool which all lined up. Even though the hole was not very big, it was sufficient for it to be fatal. This was because they had all appeared at Elder Su’s head.
“Boom!” Er Bai’s massive body landed onto the ground. Following which, a figure gradually appeared on its shoulder. He was none other than Huo Yuhao.
However, Huo Yuhao was no longer sitting down and meditating on its shoulder. He was now standing on Er Bai’s
shoulder.
A streak of blue light made a parabolic path in the air before returning to his original position.
Elder Su’s dead body fell from the sky and landed heavily on the ground. There was no longer any reaction from him.
It had ended. The seventh battle had ended just like this.
Another Class 9 soul engineer had fallen.
However, no one knew why and how Elder Su had fallen.
Huo Yuhao’s body was swaying from left to right, but he grabbed Er Bai’s head and managed to steady himself. Following which, he sat back down on Er Bai’s shoulder. This time, he did not push the Sun Moon Empire for their next representative like before. Instead, he quietly sat down cross- legged.
Ju Zi’s face had turned very pale.
From the beginning until now, the gigantic ice bear had just been a decoy. It was a decoy that had attracted Elder Su’s attention! Huo Yuhao was still the one who dealt the final blow.
Ju Zi had already felt that something was amiss when the Ice Bear King had transformed into an icy meteor. She had realized that Huo Yuhao was no longer on its shoulder after it had turned into a meteor. However, Elder Su had been completely focused on Er Bai’s massive body and powerful aura. He had totally forgotten about the deadly opponent he was up against.
The bright blue light instantly reached Elder Su the moment it had appeared before everyone’s eyes. On top of that, it was able to determine exactly where Elder Su would try to dodge. Huo Yuhao’s attack was built on his ability to predict Elder Su’s thoughts and actions.
After Elder Su’s head was penetrated by the light, there was no chance of him surviving.
Ju Zi closed her eyes as sadness and pain overwhelmed her heart. She had lost another valuable subordinate. This meant that she had already lost two Class 9 soul engineers!
This was only the seventh round. If he were actually able to win all ten rounds, it meant that Huo Yuhao would be taking three more Class 9 soul engineers from her army.
No, I can’t let it go on like this. Even if the army’s morale suffers, I have to make sure we don’t lose any more Class 9 soul engineers.
At this instant, Ju Zi knew that she had been duped by Huo Yuhao right from the start. Even though she was a very scheming person, she had still fallen prey to his ploy.
It was now obvious that Huo Yuhao had used himself as bait to initiate this challenge. However, Ju Zi had forgotten how people from the Shrek Academy were the best when it came to one-on-one battles!
Without their linked defensive soul tools or linked offensive soul tools, soul engineers did not possess much of an advantage against soul masters of a similar cultivation during one-on-one battles. This advantage was something that all of them, including Ju Zi, had taken for granted after their previous victories.
Ju Zi closed her eyes before sighing guiltily. She said, “Let’s admit defeat.”
“No, Marshal. We have not lost yet. We are willing to take him on.” After seeing Elder Su die, the other Class 9 soul engineers were now extremely furious. This was because Elder Su was usually the friendliest one among them. After watching two of their comrades die, the fear in their hearts had been taken over by rage.
“I have already said it! We are going to admit defeat! This is an order.” Ju Zi suddenly opened her eyes and exclaimed furiously. “I can’t watch all of you die like this. We have made a mistake right from the beginning. We should never have agreed to fight one-on-one with people from Shrek Academy. We have been tricked. Now that we have lost, we must admit defeat. I will bear all of the consequences. Spread my orders and get the army to retreat immediately.”
As she spoke, Ju ZI turned around as she strode towards the Sun Moon Empire’s army camp. Her voice was also transmitted by a sound amplifying soul tool.
“Huo Yuhao, I admit that we have lost this time. However, our battle has only just begun. I really hope that you will be this lucky the next time around. Everyone from the Sun Moon Empire, retreat now!”
The powerful soul engineers and the soul engineer legions from the Sun Moon Empire started to retreat slowly. As the rage in their hearts started to fade away, the Class 9 soul engineers started to feel relieved that they did not have to fight that frightening young man.
Even though it looked as though he was pretty close to his limits, they knew that Huo Yuhao still had Er Bai around. In addition, they did not know what other trump cards he might be hiding up his sleeves. Hence, this was a challenge no one would willingly accept.
After all, we all only have one life!
A faint light was sparkling around Huo Yuhao as he rapidly absorbed the ice-type elements in the air to replenish what he had lost during the battle.
In fact, he had only managed to survive till now because of the powerful regenerative ability granted by his Yin Yang Complement soul cores.
He had heard Ju Zi’s voice very clearly, and was a little disappointed to know that they had given up. After all, he really did possess more trump cards. If not for all of these trump cards he had hidden up his sleeve, he would never have proposed this challenge.
In fact, Huo Yuhao was still holding onto the ring that had belonged to the legion commander of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion. He knew well enough that there were plenty of stationary soul cannon shells in it—including several Class 9 ones.
If he were really forced into a corner and caught in a life- threatening situation, Huo Yuhao would not hesitate to use these stationary soul cannon shells and expose the fact that he had killed the legion commander of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion.
At the end of the day, those were Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells! Regardless of whether they were used against
the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions or their Class 9 soul engineers, they would definitely hurt his opponents. At the very least, they would be able to buy him enough time to rest up and recover the energy he had expended.
Huo Yuhao could still remember the humongous stationary soul cannon shell launcher Teacher Xuan had designed specifically for Er Bai very clearly. That toy would definitely be able to allow him to launch multiple Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells.
Ju Zi was indeed very smart. At the same time, she had the gumption and courage to make difficult decisions.
To be honest, Huo Yuhao was no longer afraid of revealing the fact that he had killed the legion commander of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion. After all, he had already killed two Transcendent Douluo from the Holy Ghost Church and injured Zhongli Wu. At the same time, he had managed to save Ma Xiaotao. Under such circumstances, the Holy Ghost Church must have been weakened tremendously. Even if the Sun Moon Empire were to continue to receive help from them, they would not be much of a threat.
Hence, whether he was able to make them the scapegoat was no longer that important. The most important thing was to kill as many Class 9 soul engineers from the Sun Moon Empire as possible. If more of them were to die, there would be fewer powerful individuals who could pin Shrek Academy down. That would then be a huge success for the academy!
As he watched the soul engineer legions retreat, Huo Yuhao took in a deep breath. At the end of the day, the place he was currently waiting at was not safe. It would also be better for him to return to Shrek City before he began his recovery.
Just when he was about to jump down from Er Bai’s body, an extremely peculiar sensation suddenly swept across his body. It was as though someone was trying to choke him.
Shit!
Huo Yuhao immediately activated his Yin Yang Complement soul cores as he tried to break free from this sensation. However, it was already too late. His current ability paled in comparison to his ability when he was at his peak.
Black streaks of energy started to evaporate from the Icy War God’s Armor as a black figure formed behind him. A matte black dagger also formed before it was suddenly thrust at Huo Yuhao’s back.
At this instant, Huo Yuhao’s entire body was sealed. He was completely immobilized. There was no way he could avoid the dagger.
Then, a loud scream suddenly echoed in the air at this critical moment. Following which, a streak of purple-gold instantly appeared before Huo Yuhao, almost as though it had teleported there.
Nonetheless, Huo Yuhao’s body was still stabbed by the black dagger. However, another figure had also appeared behind his back. She was none other than Tang Wutong, whose entire body was now radiating an intense purple-gold glow.
Right after Ju Zi had announced their retreat, Tang Wutong was the first person to rush forward from Shrek Academy’s side. After all, she was the one who understood Huo Yuhao’s current situation best. When she saw how he was losing his balance on Er Bai’s shoulder, she knew that he was definitely
not acting this time round. He must have expended too much energy, and sustained injuries.
Hence, she wanted to be there for her man at the first moment to protect and treat him.
When the black figure started to form behind Huo Yuhao’s back, Tang Wutong was already less than a hundred meters from him. At that instant, she ignited her soul power and used their martial soul fusion skill to appear right behind Huo Yuhao’s back.
Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong had four martial soul fusion skills in total. Their last one was the Solitary Dance Amidst the Frost, Raiment of Light.
This was a skill that allowed both Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong to fuse their powers to unleash a stronger fighting power.
When either of them executed this skill, the powers they possessed would draw both of them closer. Tang Wutong had used this skill along with her teleportation ability to attach
herself to Huo Yuhao’s body. When the dagger was about to pierce both of them, Tang Wutong was able to separate Huo Yuhao from her on time. She had used her body to block the dagger for Huo Yuhao.
After releasing a grunt, Tang Wutong’s body suddenly released an unbelievably powerful aura. The purple-gold light she was emitting made her look like a purple-gold sun behind Huo Yuhao. Its intense radiant aura instantly caused the black energy to surge violently, and no longer be able to attack Huo Yuhao’s body.
Huo Yuhao was finally able to move again. When he turned around to find that Tang Wutong had been stabbed in the chest, he felt as though his mind was about to explode.
He immediately extended his arm to bring Tang Wutong into his embrace. Huo Yuhao released a deafening howl as he slammed his right first outwards in the direction of the black figure.
It was apparent that the black figure was a physical manifestation of the Death God’s power. This power originated from the Death God Demonpuppet. Yes, Zhongli Wu had never
fled from where they had fought. In fact, he had planted his powers on Huo Yuhao’s body in advance. Even Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was not able to pick it up.
The power of the Death God was only activated when Huo Yuhao was at his weakest and most relaxed state. After all, Zhongli Wu’s targets had always been Huo Yuhao and Er Bai. It was now clear that the Leader of the Holy Ghost Church had made alternative plans all along.
At this instant, an image silently formed behind Huo Yuhao’s back. Tang Wutong could see very clearly that the image was of a young man with long golden hair. Even though the young man had a smile on his face, Tang Wutong could not help but notice how the man’s pupils were radiating different colored lights. One of his eyes was a black vortex, while the other was a white vortex. This gave him an extremely peculiar look.
A very special aura started to form on Huo Yuhao’s body. The fist he had punched out was originally radiating a golden light. However, while it was on its way to hit the black figure, the light it was giving off instantly transformed into a black and white vortex of light.
“Boom!” When the light of Huo Yuhao’s fist slammed into the black image, the image tried to resist it. However, the golden-haired man behind Huo Yuhao suddenly emitted an overwhelming radiance as the vortex on Huo Yuhao's fist released a mystical power.
Tang Wutong could sense the powerful melancholy and sadness radiating from the vortex on Huo Yuhao's fist. Following which, the black image was shredded to pieces by the vortex before it vanished into thin air.
In a dense outgrowth five kilometers from where Huo Yuhao was.
Zhongli Wu released a loud grunt as he spat blood out from his mouth. His face had become paler than before. This time, he had really sustained serious injuries.
Even though his beast spirit had fused with him, it was not a complete fusion. Only a part of its spirit had fused with Zhongli Wu's body. Zhongli Wu had actually left his martial soul true body on Huo Yuhao. In fact, he had left his martial soul—the Death God Demonpuppet—with Huo Yuhao.
Zhongli Wu had felt that it was the best time to strike when Huo Yuhao had been weakened, and had lowered his guard. His Death God Demonpuppet was definitely more than met the eye. Even though it had been forced out of Huo Yuhao's body, it was still able to attach itself to him with the help of dead spirits.
To put it simply after Huo Yuhao had killed a person, his body would be enshrouded by some death aura. However, this death aura would only be there for a short while. It would usually disappear after a while.
However, Zhongli Wu's Death God Demonpuppet was able to attach itself to this death aura. Because of how the death aura was shapeless and formless, Huo Yuhao would never be able to detect it no matter how strong his spiritual power was. On the other hand, Zhongli Wu would be able to surprise his enemy with an attack from his Death God Demonpuppet.
If Huo Yuhao was at his best condition, the surprise attack would have failed. He would simply break free from the immobilisation with his soul power. In fact, he could even retaliate with ease.
However, the Death God Demonpuppet was exceptionally skilled at timing its surprise attack! After fighting so many battles, Huo Yuhao was already fairly drained. In fact, the insane blow he had released with his Ghostcarving Blade had almost consumed all of his spiritual power and soul power. If not, how would he be able to kill a Class 9 soul engineer so easily, and shock everyone who was watching the battle?
Right now, Huo Yuhao had simply become too weak. He was so weak that Zhongli Wu saw a golden opportunity to attack him. This was, in fact, a great opportunity, as Zhongli Wu succeeded in getting his Death God Demonpuppet to launch a surprise attack on Huo Yuhao.
However, he had failed to consider how Huo Yuhao was no longer alone after the challenge was over. He had companions, friends, and most importantly, Tang Wutong.
Tang Wutong had willingly sustained a life-threatening injury to block the blow for Huo Yuhao. This bought him precious time. As he threw his fist at the black image, he developed a greater understanding of the power of emotions.
The Three Ultimate Haodong Skills lost their effects the moment Tang Wutong had returned to Huo Yuhao’s side.
However, Huo Yuhao could clearly sense how he was about to lose her. At that instant, his previous feelings of sadness, pain, and longingness for Dong’er suddenly surged in his heart. The seed of emotion which was planted in him had finally sprouted. The fist he had thrown out had contained the essence of the Three Ultimate Haodong Skills. On top of that,
the power of emotions had drawn power from Huo Yuhao’s emotions, spiritual power, and soul power as well as Huo Yuhao’s grief. All of these powers were concentrated in that single punch. Hence, it was able to smash the Death God Demonpuppet into pieces.
After his martial soul has been destroyed, Zhongli Wu instantly felt the pain and damage dealt to his body. This kind of injury was definitely inevitable. Zhongli Wu felt his soul power drop by two ranks instantly. On top of that, it would probably take a long time for him to actually recuperate from this injury.
After punching the black image, Huo Yuhao was near his limits. Nonetheless, he did not let go of Tang Wutong.
Now that the Death God Demonpuppet was dead, the short dagger which was formed from the power of the Death God had also disintegrated. However, the intense death aura was still ravaging Tang Wutong’s body from within.
The purple-gold glow on her body was starting to become faint as her face became incredibly pale.
Huo Yuhao stared at her as he gritted his teeth. His entire body was now trembling intensely.
“Wutong, Wutong…”
A faint golden light was suddenly emitted from Tang Wutong’s forehead. Following which, it projected Huo Yuhao’s dreaded golden trident. It was as though Tang Wutong had gained another eye on her forehead.
Following which, the image of the golden-haired man reappeared behind Huo Yuhao.
“Rong Nianbing, what are you trying to do?” A cold voice rang in Huo Yuhao’s and Tang Wutong’s ears. This was a voice that only they could hear.
“I’m not doing anything. I am just trying to find a successor for myself. I think Yuhao is very suitable. He is a person who is honest with himself and the people around him. Most importantly, he is a good young man. In fact, he has already started to develop an understanding of my power of emotions.
If he were to continue like this, it won’t be long before he truly becomes qualified to take my place.”
“Rong Nianbing! Don’t tell me you don’t know that I’ve already chosen him!” The cold voice rang again.
“I really didn’t know! Even though I have monitored him and had seen how you have interacted with him, I have only seen you torture him. You have never given him any guidance or advice. On the other hand, I had even passed my godly seed to him already. I guess I can only say I’m sorry! You were simply too slow, Brother Tang.”
“You-!” The person with the cold voice seemed to have become angered by Rong Nianbing’s words.
At this instant, Huo Yuhao could no longer hold it any longer. He was overwhelmed by the dizzy sensation as his mind turned completely blank. However, he did not loosen his grip on Tang Wutong as he fainted with her in his embrace.
……
In the God Realm.
White clouds enshrouded the tall mountains that encircled the God Realm. It seemed as though some sort of spiritual aura was enveloping the entire area as a mysterious fragrance drifted in the air.
There were two people standing on top of the mountain. In fact, there was no one else other than the two of them.
One of them was a man dressed in a long blue robe. He had long blue hair that was so long it touched the ground. He was wielding a golden trident, which was radiating a brilliant golden light.
There was another man standing opposite him. However, that man was wearing a white chef’s outfit. The only thing missing from his outfit was his hat. He stood there in a relaxed manner with his arms crossed across his chest.
“Rong Nianbing, don’t even think of leaving if you don’t give me a reasonable explanation today!” The blue-haired man growled loudly.
Rong Nianbing flashed a smile and said, “Tang San, can you stop growling like this? It’s really not easy to find someone with good potential like Huo Yuhao. Now that I have found him, I can’t just let him go like this, right? Also, I must have misunderstood your intentions. I thought you hated that lad after seeing you stop him from being intimate with your daughter. I can’t help but pity him after seeing what you have done to him. You must have been displeased with his background to have done what you did to him. On the other hand, look at what I have done. Now that I have given my Godly Seat to him, he is now worthy of your daughter. At the end of the day, I am also a Tier One God. Even though I pale slightly in comparison to you—an actual Enforcer—I believe my Godly Seat is still worth something.”
“You!” Tang San stared intensely at Rong Nianbing. “Rong Nianbing, do you dare to say that you didn’t know what I had in mind! Let’s not lie to one another and make things difficult. I will let it go if you take your Godly Seat back right now. If not, forgive me for being impolite.”
Rong Nianbing brought his arms to the back of his head before saying, “Alright, that’s enough. Stop acting. Do you really think I don’t know what kind of temper you have? You are a good person, and would definitely obey the laws of the
God Realm. There’s no way you can do anything to me since I haven’t broken any of the laws. Why don’t you just find another successor for yourself?”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Tang San said coldly, “tell me where am I going to find someone else? Do you really think anyone can inherit my Godly Seat? For all these years, all of you have been getting lazier. All of you have been putting more pressure on me. If not for the recent instability within the God Realm that required me to reduce my time spent monitoring Huo Yuhao, you would never have had a chance to steal him from me.”
Rong Nianbing replied, “It’s impossible for me to take back my Godly Seat. This kid has already started to understand and comprehend my power of emotions. If I were to take it away from him now, it would only cause irreversible harm to him. His development would definitely be adversely affected. When that happens, even you would not be able to get him to inherit your Godly Seat.”
“But then I admit I am somewhat at fault here. How about this? Before Huo Yuhao truly becomes worthy enough to be a God, I will help share some of your responsibilities in the God
Realm. I will only leave to travel after Huo Yuhao is able to shoulder my responsibilities. How does that sound?”
Tang San let out a sigh as a bitter smile formed on his face. “Do you not know that I am actually going after freedom?”
Rong Nianbing replied, “And am I not going after the same thing? At the end of the day, the God Realm has only become so unstable after Kindness and Evil fled. If not for those two shameless Godkings who have fled, you would not have had such a tough time in the God Realm.”
Tang San’s face started to contort with rage after hearing Rong Nianbing mentioned Kindness and Evil.
“Rong Nianbing, I will not let our matter rest just like this. It’s true that I can’t do anything to you. However, I want you to remember this. Now that you have decided to snatch Huo Yuhao from me, I will stop treating him as my successor. You should know that Wutong is my daughter. I will make sure that he won’t be able to be together with my daughter so easily.” Tang San vowed viciously.
Rong Nianbing was startled by what he had just heard. “You can’t be serious. Tang San, are you going to go harder on him? I am warning you not to go overboard with this.”
Tang San let out a cold grunt and said, “That will depend on your performance. We can talk more about it after you have fulfilled your promise. Have you not seen how my daughter has gotten hurt for that little rascal? I was still able to do something for her legally by the laws that governed the God Realm because she is my blood kin. However, you would not be able to do anything unless he somehow evokes you again.”
Rong Nianbing started to frown as he pleaded, “Yuhao has led a very tough life. Tang San, can you just spare him for me?”
Tang San waved his sleeve furiously as he drifted into the sky and disappeared amongst the clouds.
Rong Nianbing’s face revealed a frustrated look as he shook his head. He muttered to himself, “Yuhao, Yuhao. It’s not that I don’t want to help you. I am simply out of ideas! You only have yourself to blame for falling in love with his daughter. However, I must admit that it feels great to steal something from Tang San under his nose. Hahahaha!”
“Tang San, are we really going to just let him go like this?
What Rong Nianbing did is simply unacceptable!”
“Xiao Wu, do you really think I would have lost to him? If I hadn’t released the seal I had placed on Huo Yuhao’s aura, do you think Rong Nianbing would have been able to sense his existence?”
“What? So you did it on purpose? Why? Weren’t you bent on letting Huo Yuhao inherit your Godly Seat?”
“It’s best for him to inherit a Godly Seat which is the most suitable for him. Rong Nianbing’s Godly Seat is definitely more suitable for him. This also means that I probably won’t be able to give away my Godly Seat anytime soon. Right now, the God Realm is not only unstable, but also seems to be bound for a huge change in the near future. I have scried from the skies that something big is about to happen—even though I have no idea what exactly it will be. Now that the two Godkings are no longer around, I must hold onto my Godly Seat to solve this problem. I am afraid we might have to postpone our traveling plans. I am so sorry.”
“Don’t say that. As long as we’re together, I am already very happy.”
Chapter 585: Burn! Ma Xiaotao's Extreme Fire
Stars filled the night sky when Huo Yuhao finally awoke from his deep slumber.
There was an inexplicable soreness all over his body, but there seemed to be a lot of liveliness rippling through him at the same time.
Huo Yuhao’s vitality had recovered as his mind and body healed. His soul power began circulating, and he could tell with a simple look inward that his Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores were rotating very stably.
Furthermore, his dual soul cores had clearly improved.
When Huo Yuhao’s Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores had first taken shape, their whirlpool-like soul power had been very uneven, and changed with his soul power and spiritual power undulations, and even his breathing.
But now, his soul cores were transforming. When his two soul cores’ power clashed, the tiny whirlpools of soul power were all the same size. Furthermore, his largest whirlpool from before couldn’t compare to his soul power right now. Every whirlpool was also extremely stable, and his soul power condensed into both gold and blue. His spiritual power and his Ultimate Ice coexisted.
Even though Huo Yuhao’s mind and body were still fatigued, his soul power had recovered to his peak condition. Furthermore, his soul power had so evidently improved that there was no question that his cultivation had risen once more.
This was the result of forcing himself to unleash his potential, and of his dual soul cores gradually integrating and taking shape. His one-versus-ten stunt wasn’t wasted, and he managed to achieve his initial goal.
However, his excitement lasted for but a moment. His memory came back, and he immediately thought about what had transpired before he fell unconscious. Huo Yuhao almost immediately bounced to his feet and leapt from his bed.
Wutong, how is she? Where is she?
Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power stretched out with a single thought, and he immediately discovered that he was back in the Sea God’s Pavilion, and Tang Wutong was in a room not far from his.
Huo Yuhao dashed to Tang Wutong’s room as quickly as he could.
Tang Wutong was in the room, and Xiao Xiao was sitting beside her bed and taking care of her. There was nobody else around, and Xiao Xiao hurriedly placed her index finger to her mouth as Huo Yuhao came in.
Huo Yuhao clenched his fists subconsciously. He was now completely awake.
“Xiao Xiao, how is she?” Huo Yuhao whispered.
Xiao Xiao shook her head softly as she stood up and pulled him out of the room.
She stared at Huo Yuhao with a complicated look in her eyes as they stepped out. Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s relationship was the most turbulent among their generation of Shrek’s Seven Monsters. Even their eldest senior brother was back together with Xiao Ya.
“You have to remain calm, Yuhao.” Xiao Xiao was very clear on how he felt about Tang Wutong.
Huo Yuhao’s heart skipped a beat as he took a deep breath. He lowered his voice and said, “Tell me, I’m very calm. At least, is Wutong still alive?”
Xiao Xiao continued, “Wutong’s situation isn’t very good. Elder Zhuang has taken a look at her. Death circulates within her body, and this aura of death is something that her soul power cannot dispel. It is already entangled with her soul power and spiritual power, and it has shut her consciousness down. That’s why she’s in a coma. Nobody can extract that aura of death right now, because doing so can hurt Wutong’s body. She can only rely on her own willpower, and she can only recover when her soul power and spiritual power can expel that aura of death from her body.”
Huo Yuhao pursed his lips tightly. Wutong has fallen into a coma.
Back then, Wang Dong’er fell into a coma when he sent her back to the Clear Sky Sect, and now Wutong was in a coma. Was history repeating itself?
Huo Yuhao would have no dignity left to face the Clear Sky Sect’s two leaders if he sent her back again.
Xiao Xiao heaved a sigh and said, “The two of you have been unconscious for three days. Don’t worry, Yuhao, she will definitely recover.”
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and asked, “Has the aura of death in her body declined over the past three days?”
Xiao Xiao hesitated for a moment, but she couldn’t bear to lie in the end as she shook her head softly.
Huo Yuhao closed his eyes painfully as he dashed back into the room and pounced beside Tang Wutong’s bed. He held her
hands tightly.
Tang Wutong’s hands were very cold, and her beautiful face was ghastly pale. There wasn’t a single hint of color on her face, and her life energy was pitifully weak.
Huo Yuhao extended a tiny thread of soul power into Tang Wutong’s body, and he immediately understood what Xiao Xiao was telling him before. She was right; nobody could do anything to save Tang Wutong in her current state.
Tang Wutong’s soul power had become very messy and disoriented. Her purplish-golden soul power was layered with greyish-black colors, and those dark hues had completely integrated into her soul power, and even into her veins. Fortunately, there seemed to be some special force protecting her organs and other vital parts. Otherwise, this aura of death could have already taken her life.
Huo Yuhao quickly made an accurate judgment that he couldn’t treat Tang Wutong, at least not with his current strength. His best choice would be to take Tang Wutong back to the Clear Sky Sect.
Only the Clear Sky Sect’s two leaders understood Tang Wutong’s cultivation best, and only they would know how to heal her.
But I haven’t been able to protect her yet again, so how can I face the two sect leaders if I go back there? Huo Yuhao didn’t know, but he knew that he had to go. What would happen to him was no longer important, because what was important was that Tang Wutong could get better.
Huo Yuhao quickly made up his mind.
He wasn’t like he used to be, and even though his heart was filled with grief and pain, he still chose to stand up resiliently. To be overcome by intense grief was a display of weakness, and he had to be strong.
“Xiao Xiao, can I trouble you to take care of her? I need to deal with some matters before I take her for treatment.” Huo Yuhao said to Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao nodded and said, “Don’t worry. Elder Xuan has made an exception to allow me into the Sea God’s Pavilion to
look after Wutong. You have contributed greatly to the academy this time, so you can just go ahead and do what you wish to. We will do all we can to help you if you need our help, and we will do our best to help her recover.”
“Yes,” Huo Yuhao nodded before he stepped out of the room.
Elder Xuan, Yan Shaozhe, and Xian Lin’er were already waiting quietly outside.
“Elder Xuan,” Huo Yuhao’s voice was trembling a little when he saw Elder Xuan, and the grief in his heart surged.
Elder Xuan patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t be sad, Yuhao. I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to protect you and Wutong.”
Huo Yuhao shook his head. “Elder Xuan, has the Sun Moon Empire’s army retreated?”
Elder Xuan nodded and replied, “They’re gone, and it seems like they’re retreating into the Heavenly Soul Empire’s original
territory. I don’t know where they’re going afterwards, because their lockdown on surveillance is very tight.”
Huo Yuhao said, “According to our deal, she will leave the academy alone for now. Elder Xuan, there are some things I have to give you which will guarantee the academy’s safety. Can you ask the Star Luo Empire and Dou Ling Empire’s elites to return home as quickly as possible so that they can prepare to deal with the Sun Moon Empire’s invasion?”
“The Sun Moon Empire has taken quite a hit from what has transpired. I have destroyed one of their beast-ranked soul engineer legions, and several of their Class 9 soul engineers have perished in battle. The Holy Ghost Church is also severely hurt, and they’ll need some time to adjust and regain their strength.”
Elder Xuan took the storage ring that Huo Yuhao handed him and asked, “What’s this?”
Huo Yuhao answered, “This contains some Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells that I snatched from the Imperial Dragon Legion’s commander, along with some other soul tools. There are a total of fifteen Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells
inside. If they’re all fired at the same time, you can annihilate everything within thousands of square kilometers. These cannon shells will have no problem ensuring the academy’s safety.”
Elder Xuan exhaled deeply. Huo Yuhao had truly solved one of the academy’s major problems all by himself! With these stationary soul cannon shells, Shrek Academy no longer needed the Star Luo and Dou Ling Empire’s elites to guard the city. They could then use their strength directly against the Sun Moon Empire.
Furthermore, even though Huo Yuhao’s one-versus-ten battle wasn’t completed in the end, he had emerged victorious across seven battles. He had severely injured their opponents’ powerful individuals, and dealt an unprecedented blow to the Sun Moon Empire’s morale and momentum. The Sun Moon Empire’s army had been momentarily repelled.
“What are you going to do next, Yuhao? Wutong’s situation…” Yan Shaozhe’s voice seemed a little gloomy.
Huo Yuhao replied, “Dean Yan, I wish to treat sister Xiaotao first, and then I’ll take Wutong for treatment. Only her family
knows how to treat her. I don’t know when I’ll return after I leave, but I wish all of you can forgive me. Wutong’s life is everything to me.”
Xian Lin’er said, “You’re a good kid, Yuhao. Feel free to do whatever you need to. I like your personality of courageous love and emotion, and you’ve done enough for the academy.”
Elder Xuan patted Huo Yuhao’s shoulder once more. “Your reputation has been cemented with this battle. Come back as soon as you can, because the academy needs you.”
“Yes. I will return as soon as possible once Wutong’s situation stabilizes.”
Huo Yuhao bid his farewells to Elder Xuan and the two Deans as he left the Sea God’s Pavilion. He kowtowed in front of the Golden Tree once more before he began to chant further away, and opened his spectral gate.
Elder Xuan and the two Deans looked on as the enormous black gate opened, and Huo Yuhao vanished into the darkness.
Yan Shaozhe heaved a faint sigh as he watched the gate that was swiftly closing. “He has truly grown up. He still knows what’s important, and he still knows what he should do even in a time like this. I was a far cry from him when I was his age.”
Xian Lin’er laughed coldly. “Especially about your emotions and your life.”
Yan Shaozhe’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t say anything in response. He could never win an argument against Xian Lin’er about this.
Elder Xuan said, “Shaozhe, gather the three empires’ commanders immediately. We will open a meeting as soon as possible to devise a strategy against the Sun Moon Empire. We can relax a little because the Sun Moon Empire has retreated, but we to make the right move afterward. Otherwise, the War God Empress will astonish us once again.”
Inside the spectral demiplane.
Huo Yuhao stepped out from his spectral gate with a flash, but realized to his surprise once he came out that somewhere in the distance was an ocean of fire.
Agonizing cries and furious roars could be heard as surging undead auras erupted both inside the sea of fire and around it.
Huo Yuhao was this spectral demiplane’s owner, and he could clearly feel that his entire demiplane’s undead aura had been weakened by at least ten percent. What kind of destructive force could achieve that?
Huo Yuhao howled into the air as he tapped his foot on the ground and soared into the sky. Flourishing Ultimate Ice swiftly permeated outward as he rose into the air, and the temperature quickly plummeted as enormous snowflakes danced around his body.
Huo Yuhao could get a better look from a higher altitude. Everything within five kilometers of a certain point was bathed in fire. Fortunately, Huo Yuhao didn’t choose a place near the soul engineer legions’ camps when he placed Ma Xiaotao into his spectral demiplane. Otherwise, all their resources stored inside the demiplane would have been destroyed.
Ma Xiaotao was like a savage beast in human form as she charged around on the ground, and undead creatures were reduced to dust wherever she went.
Ma Xiaotao’s Ultimate Fire wasn’t pure, but still possessed immense destructive power. The undead creatures were not even afraid of Holy auras, but they were very fearful of her Ultimate Fire. All kinds of undead creatures couldn’t really resist her Ultimate Fire.
Fortunately, the overbearing Ma Xiaotao had infuriated several Ice Dragons inside the spectral demiplane, and those Ice Dragons had teamed up and barely stopped her hysterical massacre.
Huo Yuhao slapped his forehead. Er Bai was clearly not around, because he hadn’t taken the jiangshi Ice Bear King
back in when he fell unconscious. Otherwise, Ma Xiaotao wouldn’t be so destructive if he were around to command the other undead creatures.
Huo Yuhao unleashed his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice as his long howl traveled far into the distance. He was this place’s dictator, and those undead creatures had approved of him long ago as he continued to grow stronger.
Ice Dragons were the strongest undead creatures inside his spectral demiplane. Of course, that was excluding Er Bai. These Ice Dragons’ fighting strength could almost compare to that of a Titled Douluo, and three Ice Dragons teaming up could barely restrain Ma Xiaotao. They were all injured and battered, and they immediately roared deeply when they heard Huo Yuhao’s howl to ask him for assistance.
Ma Xiaotao seemed to sense Huo Yuhao’s aura as she turned her head towards the sky. Her dark red eyes immediately radiated intense insanity. When enemies came face-to-face, their eyes would burn with hatred!
Huo Yuhao had tossed her in before this, and she had recovered a little before she began to massacre everything
around her. The Holy Ghost Church had carved murder into her bones a long time ago.
Ma Xiaotao shouted angrily when she saw Huo Yuhao, and her phoenix wings flapped as she dashed toward him like a shooting star.
Huo Yuhao paused in the air as he immediately unleashed his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice. Vigorous hurricanes of ice and snow immediately formed a giant whirlpool that swept toward Ma Xiaotao.
Even though his mind was still a little fatigued, his Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores’ regenerative ability had enabled him to fully recover his soul power.
How could Ma Xiaotao be a match for him under such circumstances?
Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice locked her down completely. Ma Xiaotao was like a tiny moth struggling in a blizzard. She had already consumed much of her soul power because she had been fighting for a long time. She was now faced with Huo
Yuhao, and his Ultimate Ice affected her soul power while she expended soul power continuously to the point where her soul power was finally depleted. Ma Xiaotao was so hysterical that she wanted to detonate her soul core, but Huo Yuhao dashed forward in the nick of time and used his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice to completely immobilize her.
Huo Yuhao brought Ma Xiaotao back to the ground. He stared at her frozen body and berserk expression as he heaved a long sigh.
“I’ve let you down, sister. I wasn’t able to rescue you earlier, and that’s why you’ve become like this.” Huo Yuhao opened his arms as he spoke and hugged Ma Xiaotao gently.
Huo Yuhao had completely recovered from the injury he had sustained from the Demonic God’s Blade due to his tremendous life energy. Huo Yuhao’s soul power rippled, and his Ultimate Ice diffused into Ma Xiaotao’s body through his hug and suppressed the evil fire in her body.
Ma Xiaotao’s soul power was just starting to recover because of her soul core, but her soul core now slowed down as the Ultimate Ice surged forcefully into her body.
Huo Yuhao helped her cross her legs to sit down before he sat opposite her, and he used Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon to draw her palms forward and place them against his as he slowly channeled his Ultimate Ice soul power, which was as pure as could be and mixed with his spiritual power, into Ma Xiaotao’s body.
Huo Yuhao’s soul power entered Ma Xiaotao’s passageways, and his heart twisted into a knot. Ma Xiaotao’s situation was different from Tang Wutong. The aura of death had completely corroded Tang Wutong, while Ma Xiaotao was plagued by evil. Ma Xiaotao’s situation was comparatively better, but her passageways, skeleton, and organs had been eroded by evil qi for a long time, and that was troublesome, especially since that evil qi had vigorously invaded her spiritual sea.
However, Huo Yuhao wasn’t like how he had been when he had first attempted to treat Ma Xiaotao. There was nothing he could do back then, and he could only rely on his Ultimate Ice to suppress that evil. Everything was different now, and his spiritual power was so much stronger than all that time ago.
Huo Yuhao’s soul power forcefully suppressed Ma Xiaotao’s evil fire under his intricate control, and he forced out the evil
qi thread by thread, like he was extracting parasites from her body. Huo Yuhao had trouble guiding the evil qi out of her body in the beginning, but he began to chant a spell, and the evil qi became a lot more malleable when the power of purification gradually coursed through Ma Xiaotao’s passageways. In other words, the evil qi was being directly purified.
Huo Yuhao used his Ultimate Ice, his formidable spiritual power, and his power of purification as he gradually rinsed and cleansed every corner of Ma Xiaotao’s body through those three channels. He dispelled every ounce of the evil qi, while he maintained her fire-type soul power.
Ma Xiaotao’s depletion and exhaustion from before proved very beneficial. She didn’t have a vast pool of soul power, and Huo Yuhao had restricted her recovery. This enabled him to focus on her body from the beginning.
Huo Yuhao took twelve hours to dispel all the evil qi from her body, and her spiritual sea was next.
Ma Xiaotao could only truly awaken if the evil qi in her spiritual sea was also dispelled.
This was undoubtedly a difficult process. It wasn’t hard to imagine how sophisticated a person’s spiritual sea could be, and furthermore, both parties were opposing each other.
Huo Yuhao contemplated deeply for a few moments before he finally decided to proceed with a relatively riskier method because he couldn’t delay any further. Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea was releasing evil qi from the beginning to the end, and if he didn’t cleanse her spiritual sea completely, then everything he had just done could be wasted.
Huo Yuhao controlled his thoughts as he used Spiritual Dispossession against Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea.
Spiritual Dispossession could allow anyone’s defenses against spiritual power to be instantly reduced to zero, and all defensive capabilities against spiritual power would be completely dispelled.
Huo Yuhao quickly used Spiritual Blast after he finished using Spiritual Dispossession.
Under his delicate control, his Spiritual Blast was only fifty percent as strong as normal. Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea trembled vigorously as his Spiritual Blast coursed through it, and Huo Yuhao took this opportunity to inject a thread of his spiritual power that had the power of purification embedded within it into Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea.
Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea was entirely dark red. If Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea was a golden ocean, then her spiritual sea was molten lava.
Molten lava boiled and bubbled as the thread of purification power entered her spiritual sea. A single patch of dark red lava immediately turned golden red, but the lava immediately retaliated against Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power ferociously.
It’s effective!
Huo Yuhao immediately made an accurate judgment, and no longer held back as he fully unleashed his embedded purification power. Gentle white light covered a large patch of Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea and fought valiantly against all the evil qi contained within it.
Huo Yuhao took this opportunity to raise his right hand as he placed his finger in between Ma Xiaotao’s eyebrows, and continuously infused his power of purification into Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea.
Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power was protecting her, so his power of purification couldn’t possibly hurt her brain. Furthermore, his control was very intricate and delicate, and he made his move against the core regions of Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea. The power of purification would spread outward from those central areas, which meant it wouldn’t touch her vital organs and parts around her spiritual sea prematurely.
Time continued to pass, and Ma Xiaotao’s sinister and twisted expression began to recede. Her dark and insidious face gradually regained some color and rosiness, as her evil qi was dispelled one drop after another.
Huo Yuhao seemed like he was in a steamer basket as large amounts of mist and water vapor effused from his body and rose through the air.
This represented Huo Yuhao’s formidable spiritual power that could rival that of an Ultimate Douluo. Another person in
his shoes would have crumbled a long time ago.
Huo Yuhao had to use Spiritual Dispossession against Ma Xiaotao continuously, because only then could he ensure that his power of purification could enter continually.
Ma Xiaotao’s soul power was slowly recovering through her soul core. There was still some evil qi contained in her soul power, but that evil qi was a lot fainter than before. Furthermore, she still couldn’t do anything because Huo Yuhao had shut off her spiritual sea, and her eyes were closed as painful expressions appeared on her pretty face from time to time.
Huo Yuhao’s power of purification finally dispelled the last thread of evil qi in Ma Xiaotao’s spiritual sea. He took a deep breath, and slowly retracted his finger and placed it back onto her palm. Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice soul power rushed into her body, and the icy chill immediately gave Ma Xiaotao a cold shiver as she opened her eyes.
Ma Xiaotao seemed a little lost when she first opened her eyes, but her soul seemed to return when she saw Huo Yuhao in front of her.
Ma Xiaotao’s face flowed with pleasant surprise, and she seemed like she wanted to say something, but she immediately felt Huo Yuhao’s flourishing Ultimate Ice soul power that was coursing through her body, and she hurriedly channeled her own soul power to cooperate with him.
Everything became a lot smoother once she started to cooperate. Huo Yuhao’s formidable Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores’ spiritual power was overbearing, and terrifying soul power swept over her and quickly wiped out the evil qi in her body. Much of Ma Xiaotao’s soul power was also purified.
Much of her soul power was still filled with evil qi, and that would continue affecting her if he didn’t cleanse it all.
Huo Yuhao exhaled deeply as he withdrew his palms.
Ma Xiaotao also took a deep breath, and her body felt very comfortable and relaxed, but she felt a little empty at the same time. Her strength had plummeted, and she didn’t just lose her Ultimate Fire. She had also lost almost a third of her soul power. Even though she would recover very quickly, she knew that there was something wrong with her martial soul, and that the evil qi in her body could relapse if she recovered her cultivation. The underlying problem was still there, but at least her mind was back to normal.
Light flashed on Huo Yuhao’s hand at this moment as a jade box appeared in his hands.
The box opened, and a golden-red paste that resembled honey appeared in front of Ma Xiaotao. A faint aroma that was mixed with dense and pure elements of fire immediately caught Ma Xiaotao’s attention.
Huo Yuhao came up to Ma Xiaotao and he fed the Blazing Rubber inside the box into Ma Xiaotao’s mouth bit by bit.
Ma Xiaotao didn’t speak from the beginning to the end, and neither did she decline as she swallowed the Blazing Rubber
piece by piece. Tears were welling up in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, sister. I was too slow, and you’ve suffered so much as a result. I will definitely fix you once and for all this time, and you will become a true soul master of Ultimate Fire after today. You will not have to worry about that evil qi anymore. This is called Blazing Rubber, and it’s a fire-type immortal herb’s essence. It will only appear after gestating for at least ten thousand years.”
Ma Xiaotao felt the Blazing Rubber in her stomach as thick elements of fire rose within her body, and the weakness that she felt was immediately replaced by a swelling feeling. Gorgeous rosy red colors radiated all over her body as those thick elements of fire continued swelling and rippling.
Huo Yuaho couldn’t help her anymore, because his Ultimate Ice would only be counterproductive if he injected it into her body now. How Ma Xiaotao would emerge from her cocoon was now up to her own cultivation process.
Huo Yuhao didn’t doubt the Blazing Rubber’s potency. He had almost squeezed the Blazing Delicate Apricot dry back then for this piece, and a hundred thousand year soul beast’s
essence should be sufficient to help Ma Xiaotao purify her martial soul.
Ma Xiaotao quickly entered meditation, and Huo Yuhao finally heaved a sigh of relief. He had finally treated his elder sister successfully, which had been one of his greatest wishes.
Huo Yuhao didn’t just leave, but instead sat opposite Ma Xiaotao and quietly channeled his soul power so that he could recover, while he protected her at the same time.
Ma Xiaotao was absorbing the Blazing Rubber more quickly than he had expected, and she only took two hours before her aura began to transform drastically.
The temperature around her began to rise continuously, and the ground beneath her feet turned dark red. Faint golden-red light shone twenty meters around her and pulsed with her breathing, and Huo Yuhao was forced further away because of that scorching aura so that he wouldn’t be affected.
“Ang—” A bright phoenix call echoed through the skies as a pair of golden-red phoenix wings stretched out behind Ma
Xiaotao’s back.
Yes, her wings were golden-red, no longer dark red, as her fiery aura surged into the sky.
Ma Xiaotao flapped her wings heavily as she took herself high into the sky. There seemed to be another golden-red sun in the sky that shone over the great earth and triggered countless undead creatures’ agonizing howls at the same time.
Sunlight was an important part of life for the Douluo Continent, but such intense sunlight only meant death and destruction inside this spectral demiplane.
Most of the undead creatures fell to the ground in fear and waited for this destructive and apocalyptic force to descend upon them.
Fortunately, everything was just temporary.
The golden-red light gradually receded in the sky, and Ma Xiaotao’s fiery red hair regained its color. Every strand seemed
to be formed from red jewels threaded together.
Ma Xiaotao’s attractive frame gradually drifted down as she arrived in front of Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao was already on his feet, and he stared at her with a faint smile on his face.
“Welcome back, sister,” Huo Yuhao said with a smile.
Ma Xiaotao opened her arms and gave him a bear hug. She was a buxom girl, and her busty body squeezed Huo Yuhao until he felt a little suffocated and awkward. But he felt more happiness and bliss.
Ma Xiaotao kissed his cheek heavily as she looked up and said, “Thank you, little brother.”
Huo Yuhao shook his head. “No, I was too late. You wouldn’t have had to suffer so much if I had come for you earlier.”
Ma Xiaotao’s face darkened. “I will take back what the Holy Ghost Church owes me someday. Where are we? Why are there so many undead creatures here? Watch me kill a whole bunch of them first.” She turned and was about to walk away as she spoke.
Ma Xiaotao’s mind had recovered, and her fiery temper was also back.
Huo Yuhao hurriedly pulled her back as he briefly explained his spectral demiplane’s origins, and only then did Ma Xiaotao change her mind.
“Let’s go out, sister. Everyone in the academy is worried sick about you, and there are some things that I have to deal with.”
The black spectral gate reopened as Huo Yuhao took Ma Xiaotao back to the Sea God’s Pavilion.
The Sea God’s Pavilion was still radiating faint golden light, and the tall Golden Tree was still there. Everything that Ma Xiaotao was familiar with was still here, and tears fell from her
eyes uncontrollably when she saw everything as she knelt on the ground.
“I’m back. I’m finally back! I’m finally back home!” Ma Xiaotao started bawling, and she was like a wanderer who had returned home in this moment. She didn’t seem like a formidable Titled Douluo at all.
Roughly ten years had gone by since she had been captured. Those ten years passed like a dream! She had been immersed in evil qi and killing from the beginning to the end, and she didn’t have control over her mind. Huo Yuhao had rescued her halfway for a period of time, and she tried to control herself, but she wasn’t able to do that for long. She fell back into that dreadful cycle in the end.
Her martial soul had finally sublimated, and she finally became a true soul master of Ultimate Fire. Evil qi would no longer cause her any trouble, and she felt like she had been reborn.
Huo Yuhao knelt down beside Ma Xiaotao, but he didn’t attempt to console her. She had been immensely affected by all
that evil qi over these years, and her emotions had been stifled too much. Catharsis was definitely beneficial for her.
Ma Xiaotao cried for fifteen minutes. There was someone else tearing up at the same time, but it wasn’t Huo Yuhao. Instead, it was the Dean of Shrek Academy’s Martial Soul Department, Yan Shaozhe, who was standing in front of the Sea God’s Pavilion.
Ma Xiaotao finally cried until she was a little tired. She raised her head, and when she saw Yan Shaozhe, she immediately exclaimed at the top of her voice, “Teacher!”
Ma Xiaotao dashed into Yan Shaozhe’s arms with a quick step, and continued crying uncontrollably.
Yan Shaozhe had raised her since she was a child, and teacher and disciple were very close. Yan Shaozhe didn’t have any kids, and he had always treated her like his own daughter. He had never given up searching for her even though she had been missing for so many years, but the world was vast, and the Holy Ghost Church was the one who had kidnapped her. How could he possibly find her?
But now Ma Xiaotao had returned, and her mind was back to normal. How could Yan Shaozhe hold back his tears any longer?
Ma Xiaotao’s deafening cries finally attracted the elders’ attention as they stepped out from the Sea God’s Pavilion one after another.
Everyone revealed gratified expressions as they witnessed Ma Xiaotao’s return, and that she was back to normal. Furthermore, her return represented an addition to the academy’s strength. They had seen Ma Xiaotao’s strength during her battle against Huo Yuhao. Even though she was still weaker in comparison, she was still more talented overall than Zheng Lexuan. Ma Xiaotao was almost a Transcendent Douluo.
She had been one of the inner courtyard’s most outstanding students before she had been captured, and her return was definitely wonderful.
Just when everyone was feeling happy and excited, Huo Yuhao quietly entered the Sea God’s Pavilion and walked into Tang Wutong’s room as he sat down next to her quietly.
“I wish to be alone with Wutong for a while. Is that alright, Xiao Xiao?” Huo Yuhao asked softly.
Xiao Xiao nodded as she turned to leave.
A faint smile appeared on Huo Yuhao’s face as he stared at Tang Wutong’s ghastly pale face as she lay on her bed. He gently combed her pinkish-blue hair before he kissed her gently on her tender cheeks.
“I’ve done everything I can. The Sun Moon Empire’s army has retreated, and sister Xiaotao has returned. Two of my wishes have been fulfilled. Even though there are some other things that require my attention, you are more important. We will go home right now, back to your home. No matter what those two sect leaders do to me, I have to help you recover. If you don’t, then I will go wherever you go. I will never leave your side again for the rest of my life no matter what, even if I have to become a corpse.”
Huo Yuhao took out a piece of paper as he spoke, and wrote some things before he placed the paper gently on a table beside him. He began chanting, and a spectral gate quietly opened.