In the arena.
Yan's expression had completely darkened.
He pulled back his fist, and the web between his thumb and forefinger tingled faintly.
That lightning power was unlike an ordinary lightning martial soul that merely clung to the body's surface. It possessed a certain penetrating quality. Even though he had neutralized most of it with flame power, residual arcs still shot into the meridians of his arm, leaving half of it slightly numb.
It made him extremely, extremely, extremely unhappy.
What stung him even more was the gaze from the sidelines.
He did not look over, but he knew Hu Liena's eyes had to be fixed on Chen Li right now.
The girl he had pursued for two years, who had never shown him any special emotion, was looking at another man with the very gaze he had longed for.
No, he was only a brat!
But that realization only made the fury in Yan's heart burn even hotter.
"Damn it!"
Borrowing the recoil from Chen Li's punch, he suddenly leaped backward and opened the distance. At the same time, the first soul ring on his body lit up!
The bright yellow glow reflected off his gloomy face, making it look especially savage.
"First Soul Skill, Hell Lava Charge!"
Boom!
A dark-red lava pillar as thick as an arm erupted from Yan's palm!
It was not ordinary fire, but molten rock—viscous, scorching liquid stone condensed to the extreme. Its temperature far surpassed that of ordinary flames, and it carried tremendous impact force along with intense clinging, burning properties!
The lava pillar tore through the air, carrying destructive heat as it blasted straight toward Chen Li!
Yan stared fixedly at Chen Li, yet the corner of his eye could not help darting toward Hu Liena at the edge of the arena.
He saw that Hu Liena's gaze remained on Chen Li. She did not even spare him a glance.
At that instant, the jealousy and frustration in his heart completely entwined into a frenzied torrent.
"Aaargh!!!"
With a furious roar, he crazily poured even more Soul Power into the lava pillar! The arm-thick stream instantly swelled to the width of a thigh, and the blazing firelight dyed the entire training ground crimson!
With this strike, he would completely crush Chen Li!
Chen Li narrowed his eyes slightly.
He did not retreat.
He extended his right hand, spreading his fingers with his palm facing the scorching torrent rushing at him.
Lightning condensed!
It was not a soul skill, merely the most fundamental control of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Yet at that moment, the purple thousand-year soul ring within him suddenly resonated. As though sensing its host's fighting spirit, it poured forth even more vast, even purer thunderous power!
"Two Hundred Million Volts, Thunder Bird!!!"
Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle!!!
Dazzling blue-white lightning wildly compressed, expanded, and took shape in Chen Li's palm! A gigantic lightning bird with a wingspan exceeding two meters, formed entirely of highly condensed thunder and with countless tiny lightning serpents flickering between its feathers, abruptly materialized before him!
The Thunder Bird let out a cry toward the sky—though it was merely a piercing shriek produced by high-frequency electrical vibrations—then beat its wings and fearlessly pounced toward the Hell Lava Charge!
Rumbleeeee!!!
Thunder and lava collided head-on at the center of the training ground!
In an instant, the entire training ground seemed to have been cast into a hellscape where storm and volcano intertwined!
Blue-white lightning and dark-red lava madly tore at each other, annihilated one another, and exploded! Shockwaves spread outward in rings, flipping over and shattering slabs of specially made pressure-resistant floor tiles! The air was filled with the scorching smell of ozone and the acrid stench of sulfur!
Xie Yue raised a hand, erecting a pale silver Soul Power barrier in front of himself and Hu Liena. His crimson eyes remained fixed on the two figures in the arena, his brows tightly furrowed.
"This level of destructive power..." His voice was low, carrying a trace of disbelief. "Chen Li's attack isn't even a soul skill, yet it has power on this level?"
He had seen Chen Li's battle records, and Elder Yue Guan had also mentioned that the boy's martial soul was exceptionally pure.
But hearing about it was one thing; seeing it with his own eyes was another. That Thunder Bird had no soul ring enhancement and no added soul skill effects. It was merely lightning shaped and energy compressed, yet it had forcibly blocked Yan's full-powered attack enhanced by his first soul skill!
"Otherwise, how would he qualify to join our core group?" Hu Liena sounded unconcerned. She had already found a clean stone block and leisurely sat down, resting her cheek on one hand.
Yet her gaze had never left the figure in the arena surrounded by lightning.
"Still..." Her tone shifted. Though she still sounded relaxed, a sharp gleam flickered in her eyes. "Yan hasn't gotten serious yet. This is still far from his true strength."
"True." Xie Yue nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yan's trump card has never been this kind of long-range clash. How far Chen Li can push him is the real highlight of this spar."
In the arena.
The smoke and dust gradually dispersed.
Chen Li and Yan stood more than ten paces apart, each on a patch of ruined ground.
Chen Li's breathing was slightly more hurried than before, and several spots on the hem of his clothes were scorched black. But the lightning around him remained steady, and his gaze remained calm.
Yan's expression, meanwhile, had become hideous beyond measure.
He had used a soul skill.
He had used a soul skill empowered to its limit.
Then Chen Li had blocked it head-on with lightning shaped into form, not even a soul skill.
There was no laughter from the sidelines. Xie Yue and Hu Liena were not such shallow people. Yet that very silence was Yan's greatest mockery.
No.
Absolutely not!
How could he lose so much face in front of Hu Liena?!
Yan's eyes seemed ready to spit fire. He took a deep breath, and the Soul Power around him suddenly boiled!
"Second Soul Skill, Granite Rock!!!"
Buzz!
The second Yellow Soul Ring on his body flared brilliantly! At the same time, the three-meter-tall Flame Lord phantom behind him howled toward the sky, and its arms suddenly merged with Yan's body!
Yan's entire right arm began to mutate at a visible speed!
Cracked rocky patterns flowed across his skin, glowing with dark-red molten lava! His muscles bulged in blocks. It no longer resembled an arm of flesh and blood, but the arm of a giant forged from ancient volcanic rock! The instant his five fingers clenched into a fist, even the air let out a strained boom!
Granite Rock condensed the Flame Lord's earth-element power to the utmost in his right arm, granting it terrifying physical destructive force and nearly absolute defensive hardness. Combined with the long-range suppression of the first soul skill, Hell Lava Charge, this punch was enough to smash a Soul Master of the same level, along with their soul skill, head-on!
"This punch..." Yan stared fixedly at Chen Li, his voice as low as churning magma. "Let's see how you block it!!!"
The ground beneath his feet suddenly collapsed! Like a burning meteor, he charged straight at Chen Li with an earth-shattering momentum!
He held nothing back in this punch.
Twenty meters.
Ten meters.
Five meters!
The petrified giant fist, carrying enough terrifying force to shatter steel, had reached within three feet of Chen Li's face!
And Chen Li—
Did not retreat.
He raised his right hand.
His palm faced the giant fist that could smash through anything.
The deep-purple lightning finally stopped hiding.
It was not pure lightning shaping like Two Hundred Million Volts.
It was not some form change enhanced by a soul ring.
It was the unique trait branded deep within the source of his first soul ring.
It was the instinctive gift bestowed upon him by that high-quality thousand-year soul ring.
Before you continue