Battle Against Xiao Hongchen

Seeing Lin Chen agree so decisively, Xiao Hongchen finally realized that he had been played. So Lin Chen had been waiting for him to take the bait!

But words spoken were like spit already spat out. Xiao Hongchen could not go back on his word, and since he had been the one to provoke Lin Chen first, refusing to fight now would be downright disgraceful.

In truth, Lin Chen had not been plotting against Xiao Hongchen at all. He genuinely had not wanted to fight; after all, one of his principles was that less trouble was always better.

However, when Xiao Hongchen mentioned a wager involving a Class 6 Soul Tool, Lin Chen had been tempted. Then, when he raised it to a Class 7 Soul Tool, Lin Chen accepted without the slightest hesitation.

"Fine. Eight tonight, at the Soul Fighting Platform," Xiao Hongchen said.

"No, no, I don't have time to fight you tonight. If we're fighting, we go now."

"Fine, let's go." With that, Xiao Hongchen took the lead toward the Soul Fighting Arena, while Lin Chen followed at an unhurried pace.

Their wager had already drawn plenty of attention, and once Lin Chen agreed, many students followed along to see whether he could truly defeat Xiao Hongchen.

However, most believed Lin Chen would lose, because he had never displayed his strength in the Outer Court. The only time they had seen him fight was during the advancement assessment, but he had passed it without exerting much effort at all. Thus, everyone assumed Lin Chen was no match for Xiao Hongchen.

Xiao Xiao, Lin Xiaolei, and Wang Dong also went to the Soul Fighting Arena. Xiao Xiao even ran to Class Four and dragged Zhou Mingxing along to watch Lin Chen's duel with Xiao Hongchen.

Five minutes later, the two arrived at the Soul Fighting Platform.

The matter continued to spread, and with some students deliberately publicizing it, even a few upperclassmen from the fifth and sixth years came to watch the soul battle.

Xiao Hongchen had fought Outer Court students from the fifth and sixth years before. However, those upperclassmen were far inferior to Lin Chen's year, because Huo Yuhao was in this class. Some of them were not even as cultivated as Lin Chen now.

"Little Earth, go!" Xiao Xiao shouted from the spectator stands.

"Soul battle, begin," the teacher in charge of the Soul Fighting Arena announced.

The two revealed their Soul Rings at the same time.

Two yellow, two purple, and two black rings surrounded Xiao Hongchen, while one yellow, four purple, and one black ring surrounded Lin Chen.

Good grief, has this guy advanced so quickly that he's already started taking drugs? Lin Chen thought.

In order to win the championship, Xiao Hongchen had taken so many drugs during the second tournament that he had reached the Soul Saint level. Though it had put immense pressure on the other competitors, it had also left him permanently stalled at Soul Saint. Lin Chen truly felt there was something wrong with his head.

Golden light blazed around Xiao Hongchen as metal tubes extended from the empty air behind his back.

With a wave of Xiao Hongchen's hand, countless soul-guided beams, soul-guided lasers, and soul-guided bombs shot toward Lin Chen.

"Fifth Soul Skill, Thunder Body." The black Soul Ring flashed, and the sky gradually darkened as vast clouds replaced the blue heavens. A bolt of lightning descended from the clouds and struck Lin Chen, causing thunderous light to flare across his entire body.

This Fifth Soul Skill had also inherited the Thunder Qilin's abilities. It could raise his attack power and speed by two hundred percent, while also imbuing his attacks with Thunder Force to deal a double blow to his opponent.

Without question, this ability was most suited for dealing with Xiao Hongchen. It practically countered him completely.

Metal conducted electricity, and lightning and electricity shared similar properties. The only difference was that the former was far more powerful.

With Thunder Body active, Lin Chen stepped through Lingbo Weibu and evaded Xiao Hongchen's attacks.

Yet everyone present saw only a streak of blue light darting back and forth across the platform.

"Wow! Little Earth is that fast?!" Xiao Xiao exclaimed excitedly from the stands. It seemed Lin Chen's chances of winning were very high!

Not merely high—they could not have been any higher!

After playing with Xiao Hongchen for a while, Lin Chen no longer intended to continue. He still had to return to eat and cultivate, so he simply activated his Soul Bone skill.

"Thunder Qilin Left Arm Soul Bone Skill, Nine Heavens Thunder Prison!"

In an instant, Xiao Hongchen and all the metal tubes covering him were enveloped by Lin Chen's Nine Heavens Thunder Prison, continuously bombarded by heavenly lightning.

Nine Heavens Thunder Prison was not a domain skill. It did not weaken the opponent in any way; rather, it was an area-of-effect skill that functioned only within a certain range. Once the opponent left that range, continuing to maintain the Soul Skill would only be self-defeating and drain the user's Soul Power.

Xiao Hongchen had already withdrawn the metal contraptions covering his body. While trapped within Nine Heavens Thunder Prison, one of his metal tubes had been struck by lightning, directly conducting the Thunder Force into his body and injuring him.

Then the second, third, and fourth metal tubes also conducted the thunder within Nine Heavens Thunder Prison into his body, dealing Xiao Hongchen a considerable blow.

Xiao Hongchen realized that this was a skill that completely countered him. Not only could the Thunder Force travel through metal, but his own body, along with the Soul Cannon, was far too large. It was almost impossible for him to avoid the descending lightning within Lin Chen's area-of-effect Soul Skill.

Thus, he had no choice but to abandon the combat method most advantageous to him. He put away the Soul Cannon, intending to escape Lin Chen's Nine Heavens Thunder Prison first.

But how could Lin Chen let him escape so easily? He directly deployed his Third Soul Skill around the Nine Heavens Thunder Prison. The moment Xiao Hongchen approached, he would immediately be attacked by sword shadows.

Driven to desperation, Xiao Hongchen directly unleashed his Fifth Soul Skill, Golden Attachment, intending to charge through the Sword Shadow Whirlwind.

Seeing Xiao Hongchen's actions, Lin Chen was completely speechless. I said there was something wrong with your head, but I didn't expect there really was.

Wasn't the substance created by his Fifth Soul Skill still metal?

A bolt of lightning instantly struck the metallic liquid Xiao Hongchen had transformed into, shattering his Fifth Soul Skill at once. Xiao Hongchen himself was numbed by the strike and collapsed on the ground, blackened all over. This was even with Lin Chen pulling back his Soul Power at the last moment.

After all, he had no grudge against Xiao Hongchen. There was no need to take a life.

"Brother!" Meng Hongchen no longer cared about watching Wang Dong. She hurried onto the Soul Fighting Platform, picked up Xiao Hongchen, and glared furiously at Lin Chen.

"How could you strike so ruthlessly?" Meng Hongchen demanded angrily.

"Please get the facts straight. First, your brother was the one who provoked me. Second, I already restrained my Soul Power at the end. Your brother's life is not in danger; he only needs to recuperate for a while to recover. Can you figure out what happened before losing your temper?"

Unable to outargue Lin Chen, Meng Hongchen glared at him before carrying Xiao Hongchen away.

"The winner is Lin Chen!" the referee announced loudly.

In a corner, three figures stood there.

"Not bad talent," Cai Mei'er said.