Bang!
A wave of heat rushed at him, and the fire whip snapped in two.
Bai Mu's expression did not change as he continued closing the distance between them!
"What?!"
Huo Wu's face changed drastically. She had never expected her attack to be shattered barehanded.
But she reacted quickly. With a flick of her wrist, the fire whip once again whipped up fiery arcs as it launched a second attack at Bai Mu.
This time, the whip did not strike with brute force. Instead, it moved like a soft fire snake, trying to bind and restrain Bai Mu directly.
"Interesting."
Going along with her plan, Bai Mu reached out and grabbed the fire whip, enduring the searing flames as he yanked hard!
"Ah~"
Huo Wu immediately stumbled. The fire whip flew from her hand and shattered into sparks.
Bai Mu's momentum did not slow. Seizing the opportunity, he rushed to within less than ten meters of Huo Wu.
In the next second, he would be close enough for hand-to-hand combat!
"Blazing Impact!"
Without time to think, Huo Wu raised both hands, and her Spirit Ring lit up.
A violent burst of flame erupted from her palms, transforming into a fan-shaped shockwave that surged forward.
This Spirit Skill was not especially powerful, but it could forcibly knock back enemies who got too close!
The blazing flames scorched him, and the heatwave slammed into his face.
Yet Bai Mu did not slow down in the slightest.
With a twist of his body, he actually used Iron Mountain Lean to smash through the shockwave head-on.
The instant he closed in, a heavy punch blasted toward Huo Wu's beautiful face!
His fist moved like the wind, savage as thunder!
"Sett's Haymaker!"
Huo Wu hastily raised both arms to block.
Bang!
The instant fist met arm, Huo Wu was sent flying into the air. After landing, she staggered back three steps before barely steadying herself.
Her hands seemed to have gone numb, trembling uncontrollably.
Shock flashed through her eyes—this man's strength was actually greater than that of many assault-type Soul Grandmasters!
"Don't space out!"
Bai Mu did not let up. His fists and kicks crashed down on Huo Wu like a raging storm.
Huo Wu tried to widen the distance, but the arena was limited in size. There was simply no room for her to dodge.
"It's over."
Before Huo Wu's hands could regain feeling and retaliate, Bai Mu swept her legs out from under her and casually kicked her off the Soul Fighting Arena.
"The winner—Dragon of Order!"
The referee announced loudly.
"Wow!"
The audience erupted. He had defeated Blazing Academy's genius across ranks without even summoning his martial soul or using a single Spirit Skill!
"Just who the hell is this guy...?"
Below the Soul Fighting Arena, Huo Wu bit her lip and looked unwillingly at Bai Mu.
The intense pain radiating through her body told her that this was no dream!
She had actually been defeated by a Spirit Master who had not used any Spirit Skills.
The only thing that comforted her was that her Spirit Skill had at least inflicted quite a few burns on Bai Mu—
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Huo Wu's eyes widened.
A strange ripple spread from Bai Mu's body, and the burns she had inflicted healed instantly.
When that ripple enveloped her, the pain in her body vanished without a trace.
"What a boring battle. Your Spirit Skill combination is an absolute mess. You didn't show even a hint of Fire Shadow's elusive nature," Bai Mu said from atop the stage, looking down at Huo Wu. "No control when you need control, no attack when you need attack, no speed when you need speed. What a disappointment."
After just this battle, he finally understood why Huo Wu never used her first and second Spirit Rings in the original story.
It was because those two Spirit Skills were simply too useless—even worse than Tang San's combination!
What he understood even less was why someone with a Fire Shadow martial soul would play control. Wouldn't it be better to learn from Ghost Douluo and become an agility attack type?
"What did you say?!"
Huo Wu's beautiful eyes seemed ready to spit fire.
"..."
Bai Mu merely glanced at her indifferently before turning and walking off the stage.
He found a staff member and asked them to continue matching him against new Soul Grandmaster opponents.
Next—
Against a level 23 Blazing Pig martial soul Soul Grandmaster, he won.
Against a level 25 Flame Wolf martial soul Soul Grandmaster, he won.
Against a level 29 Lava Turtle martial soul defense-type Soul Grandmaster, he still won.
The three battles grew more difficult one after another.
Especially the last one. Bai Mu fought his opponent for over ten minutes before finally exhausting him to death.
"Impossible..."
"He doesn't even have a Second Spirit Ring. He's relying purely on his physique and that Healing Spirit Skill... How could that be possible?!"
Huo Wu sat in the audience, staring at the figure on the stage who never revealed his true appearance. Her heart churned violently.
What the proud Huo Wu found hardest to accept was not Bai Mu's strength.
It was that among everyone Bai Mu had fought, she was the one who had lost the most miserably!
"No! I just didn't perform well this time! I underestimated him!"
"If we do it again, I definitely won't lose so badly!"
Huo Wu kept telling herself this. She deliberately sought out Bai Mu again, trying to prove herself.
What she never expected was that she did prove herself—just in the opposite direction.
"You again!"
Not long after, Bai Mu looked speechlessly at Huo Wu, who had appeared before him once more.
"This time, I won't lose!"
Huo Wu confidently puffed out her rather ample chest.
"Fine, let's see what you can do..."
Bai Mu smiled faintly. The instant the match began, he accelerated forward at full speed.
Seeing Huo Wu swing her fire whip toward him, he shifted his feet and lightly dodged aside.
"So fast?!"
Huo Wu was shocked. She hurriedly raised both hands, intending to unleash Blazing Impact regardless of the Soul Power consumption!
She wanted to blow Bai Mu straight off the arena in one go.
However—
The moment the fiery shockwave erupted from her hands, Bai Mu's heavy punch descended at the same time.
Bang!
His fist shattered the shockwave, and the force drove through her waist and back.
Huo Wu's vision went black, and she collapsed on the spot.
"I thought you had some new idea. After all that, this was it..."
Bai Mu looked at Huo Wu speechlessly.
Young people were great. They could fall asleep the moment they hit the ground.
"Where is that Dragon of Order?"
After waking up, Huo Wu angrily grabbed the staff member by the shoulders.
"He... already left."
"When will he come again?"
"I don't know..."
"It's time to deal with the Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber."
After returning to the small courtyard, Bai Mu took out the high-quality Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber.
He roasted it over a charcoal furnace at its highest temperature, but the Whale Rubber softened at an agonizingly slow pace.
"The temperature is barely enough..."
Bai Mu sighed helplessly. "Xiao Ruan, do you really not know any fire attribute moves?"
"Woof~"
Zygarde tilted its head, conveying an innocent feeling. Over the past half year, it had worked very hard. It had evolved Dragon Breath into the more powerful Dragon Pulse, and through Agility, it had comprehended Double Team.
But fire attribute moves... that was asking a little too much of a dragon.
"Sigh~"
Bai Mu could only accept reality and wait patiently.
After all, in the Pokemon games, the only Fire-type move Zygarde could learn was Sunny Day.
Even if it could learn fire attribute moves, it was not something that could be achieved overnight.
Sizzle—
After waiting a full ten minutes, the Whale Rubber finally softened.
"Finally..."
Bai Mu grabbed it and refined it in an instant.
The energy of the Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber erupted like a mountain flood, once again surging through his entire body.
He sat cross-legged, guided it with Soul Power, and refined it with all his strength.
In the blink of an eye, several months passed.
"I made it!"
When the last piece of Whale Rubber fused into his body, Bai Mu opened his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing through them like lightning.
He rose to his feet and threw a punch.
The wind from his fist tore through the air and actually knocked green leaves from a tree.
"My physique... is probably no weaker than a Soul Ancestor's now?"
He felt the earthshaking changes in his body.
"Even if I absorb a Five-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring now, there definitely won't be a problem!"
Next, it was time to consider his Second Spirit Ring!
Before you continue