“Enough bullshit.” Xian Lin’er was infuriated, as he’d touched a sore spot. She reached into the sky with her right hand and a pillar of green flames erupted, following which a pike appeared in her hands.
A soul tool! Huo Yuhao instantly realized that the pike was a soul tool, and a close-combat soul tool at that.
It was a Class 8 close-combat soul tool!
Xian Lin’er pointed the pike forwards, and a deafening draconic roar burst forth from her mouth. Green flames instantly exploded from her, transforming into an enormous dragon head before barreling towards the dark clouds.
A large mass of dark clouds vanished within the green flames; the green dragon head held an absolute advantage.
“‘The Valkyrie Soaring Through the Skies’—impressive.” A deep voice growled. As the dark clouds dissipated, a human figure appeared in their place. He curled his right hand into a fist and then sent it barrelling through the sky.
The dragon head quickly dissipated amidst several violent booms. When it did, Xian Lin’er gazed into her adversary’s eyes in the distance.
Her adversary was an elderly man dressed in black who was standing on a patch of dark clouds. His skin was extremely tanned, while one of his eyebrows was, peculiarly, a bit higher than the other. A large ‘King’ character was written in black on his forehead. He had a small, stocky frame that didn’t match up with his voice, and looked tiny compared to Xian Lin’er, who was currently more than five meters tall.
“You still dare to appear in the world, Zhang Peng? Have you already forgotten how Elder Mu showed you mercy back then?” Xian Lin’er pointed her pike at him as she angrily asked.
The elderly man lowered his voice and replied, “Of course I remember. Elder Mu gave me a chance, and I will always remember the favor and mercy he showed me. I didn’t reveal myself to the world the entire time that Elder Mu was alive, but now that Elder Mu has passed, that vow no longer applies. That favor has taken away so many years of freedom from me—nobody else will ever restrain me like that again. Of course I’m going to show myself to the world once more. I won’t harm you or Yan Shaozhe because we were once acquainted—the two of you can go. However, you have to leave that little fella behind.”
Yan Shaozhe smiled and said, “Zhang Peng, you seem to get more and more messed up the older you get. You’re actually in cahoots with the Sun Moon Empire; seems like you’ve found a nice boss.”
The black-robed elderly man retorted angrily, “Nonsense, nonsense! I don’t know anything about the Sun Moon Empire, nor anything about the Illustrious Virtue Hall. Hand him over! The two of you can piss off.”
A chilly light flickered in Xian Lin’er’s eyes. “Don’t you think that you’re being overconfident and unrealistic? I want to see just how you plan on chasing us away.” She roared into the sky once she’d finished speaking, and her body flashed through the air like a green lightning bolt. She appeared before the elderly man in an instant, and thrust her pike towards him. A deafening boom cracked through the sky like thunder, followed by the tremendous shadow of a green dragon, which flickered once before disappearing behind her back as the tip of the pike arrived before the elderly man.
The elderly man placed his hands together in front of his chest, causing a black sphere to immediately appear in the center of his palms as two yellow, two purple, and five black soul rings swiftly rose from his feet. His nine soul rings glowed alternately, while the black sphere blocked the tip of Xian Lin’er’s pike.
Space seemed to implode in that moment, at which point Huo Yuhao felt momentarily dazed and the sky suddenly turned dark.
Xian Lin’er and the black-robed elderly man had now become embroiled in battle.
Zhang Peng’s fists were his weapons. Dense black fog appeared with every strike he delivered. On the other hand, Xian Lin’er’s fighting style was a lot more savage and wild: Loud dragon roars could be heard every time she stabbed out with her pike and repeatedly forced Zhang Peng backwards in the sky.
Yan Shaozhe said, “Watch closely, Yuhao. A battle of this level is hard to come by, and will be extremely beneficial towards your cultivation. The man in black is called Zhang Peng, and his title is ‘Scorpion Tiger’. He’s an evil soul master who’s martial soul requires him to continuously consume animal blood to sustain and evolve itself. He’s not that bad compared to most evil soul masters though. Our teacher caught him some time ago, but since his martial soul’s evil aura wasn’t that dense, and since he’d never harmed anyone else before, our teacher let him go. It’s been many years since then, thus he’s probably a Transcendent Douluo now. He’s extremely difficult to deal with. Right now, he’s just testing Xian Lin’er’s abilities; he’s yet to reveal his abilities as an evil soul master. However, he’s managed to become a Transcendent Douluo solely because his martial soul wasn’t that evil. A Transcendent Douluo who was also a pure evil soul master would be a lot harder to deal with.”
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Zhang Peng, the Scorpion Tiger Douluo, was pushed back continuously, but he didn’t seem disoriented or panicky at all. The only thing he felt was a little astonished as he passively defended himself against Xian Lin’er’s hysterical onslaught.
Xian Lin’er cultivates both her martial soul and soul tools. She’s probably still quite far from Yan Shaozhe in terms of fighting ability, but since when did her offensive abilities become so powerful? Could it be that…?
How could Huo Yuhao let this opportunity go? He immediately voiced the doubts in his mind, “Dean Yan, the gigantic dragon conjured behind Dean Xian should be her martial soul, right? Her body has become so huge, and it looks a bit like she’s using her Martial Soul True Body. Yet, her martial soul seems like a dragon. What’s going on?” There was no way that he could address Yan Shaozhe as his senior brother, as Yan Shaozhe was more than a hundred years old. Thus, he respectfully addressed him as “Dean Yan”.
Yan Shaozhe replied, “All seven-ringed soul masters have a Martial Soul True Body. However, Martial Soul True Bodies can be mutable. Through years of research within the academy, we’ve discovered another method of unleashing our Martial Soul True Body once we become Transcendent Douluos. Even though this won’t increase its power, we’ll be able to maintain human form in battle. For soul masters that are more adept at close combat, being able to keep their human form can be quite beneficial. We call this battle technique ‘True Body Possession’.”
Huo Yuhao felt his heart tingle after hearing Yan Shaozhe’s explanation. His martial souls were the Spirit Eyes and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. Even he himself had no idea what his Martial Soul True Body would be like once he broke through to rank 70. Would he transform into a scorpion for battle? As for his Spirit Eyes, would he actually become a pair of eyes? Only time would tell.
“Dean Yan, are seven-ringed soul masters entirely unable to use the True Body Possession battle technique?” Huo Yuhao asked.
Yan Shaozhe replied, “Not necessarily. However, using the True Body Possession technique will divide a soul master’s concentration, thus the soul master must be extremely adept at manipulating their spirit. They’ll have to figure out the proper fusion between soul power and spiritual power, as well as the issues brought about by using the True Body Possession technique after revealing their Martial Soul True Body. Even if they’re able to achieve this, the duration that it can be maintained in battle will be reduced by two-thirds compared to using one’s Martial Soul True Body.
“It’s strenuous and unrewarding. You’re a spiritual-type soul master, so spiritual manipulation won’t be a problem for you, but it remains to be seen how well you’re able to manipulate your spirit. Even if you can successfully use the True Body Possession technique, it might weaken your abilities, and the benefits might not make up for the losses. You’ll understand more when your cultivation reaches that stage and you can see for yourself.”
“Yes.”
Huo Yuhao didn’t think too much about the issue of True Body Possession. His cultivation was still low, and his situation was drastically different from that of a normal soul master’s. His spiritual power was far stronger than anyone else at the same level, and he had twin martial souls, one of which being Ultimate Ice. Furthermore, the Snow Empress’ soul had also miraculously appeared, and he’d obtained four powerful soul skills just like that—even if one couldn’t be used.
This was the reason that Huo Yuhao could faintly feel that, once his cultivation reached rank 70, his situation would be even more different than a normal soul master’s. As such, he also felt that this True Body Possession technique might actually be useful for him after all.
The battle raging in the sky continued to become even more violent and epic. Xian Lin’er lived up to her name as the Valkyrie as she spiraled and waltzed through the sky. The sky crackled vigorously every time she struck with her pike, green flames transforming into air ripples that expanded outwards. As things continued, she repeatedly forced Zhang Peng back, and it felt as if Zhang Peng was barely holding on.
“Dean Yan, Dean Xian’s martial soul…”
Yan Shaozhe slapped his forehead and said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Lin’er’s martial soul is very unique; it’s considered a mutant martial soul, thus that means she’s probably the only one in the entire world with her martial soul. She’s named her martial soul the ‘Greenflame Dragon’. If you think that her martial soul is a fire-type martial soul, then you’re extremely wrong. Her mutant Greenflame Dragon martial soul is actually wind-type. The green flames that you see are actually made up of extremely compressed air that’s constantly reverberating. They’re exceptionally destructive, and can cause disintegration.”
“Disintegration?” Huo Yuhao stared at the green flames in curious astonishment. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t tell that her martial soul was a wind-type martial soul.
Yan Shaozhe nodded and said, “Disintegration refers to the explosive power brought about when the winds are so compressed that their energies expand outwards once the winds erupt. Under such circumstances, anything that the winds touch will be damaged by this explosive power, and in turn will disintegrate. The explosiveness is possibly superior to the Fire Dragon martial soul, which is the reason that Lin’er is adept at frontal battles and breaking through lines. However, you can’t underestimate Zhang Peng, as he hasn’t revealed his true abilities yet. Even though he’s only considered a half-evil soul master, he’s still an evil soul master; he’s still quite difficult to deal with.”
Zhang Peng finally couldn’t take it anymore as Xian Lin’er continued to force him back. The dark clouds suddenly contracted into the sky, and he roared as he punched out with both fists. A deep and coarse tiger roar echoed through the air, while the sound waves and air ripples knocked Xian Lin’er’s three continuous strikes away. Zhang Peng’s body rapidly expanded, and he instantly transformed into an enormous black tiger—his Martial Soul True Body.
The giant black tiger was more than fifteen meters long, while his tail was raised high into the air and now had a hook that flickered with dark light on the end. The dark clouds in the sky were now beneath his feet, and his purple eyes were bursting with hostility. He opened his mouth and roared, the intense sound waves permeating the skies as endless echoes reverberated through the air. Dark shadows were repeatedly released from the dark clouds beneath him, and they transformed respectively into soul beasts of all shapes and sizes as they wailed and howled shrilly and then pounced towards Xian Lin’er.