Douluo: Martial Soul Iron-Eating Beast, Never Be a Slave

Unlike Martial Soul Possession, this was Qin Ming's Second Soul Skill, a state-type skill. As it activated, flames wrapped around Qin Ming's entire body, making his aura even more imposing.

With a flicker of his figure, the change in his speed became even more apparent.

He was clearly faster than before!

"Heibai, use Freeze Beam!"

Following Zhao Mu's command, Heibai smoothly shifted into Ice-Fire Form and opened his mouth, firing a snow-white beam.

After repeatedly dodging several attacks, Qin Ming was eventually struck once by accident and instantly encased in ice.

By the principles of fusion, the ice attribute should have been a nature fusion of the water and wind attributes.

However, because he had consumed the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, Heibai could not only use water-attribute attacks but also directly wield ice-attribute attacks.

"Teacher Qin?!"

Seeing Qin Ming get hit by the beam Heibai had fired and frozen solid, Yu Tianheng and the others cried out in shock.

Could Teacher Qin be about to lose?

That was likely the first thought that came to their minds.

Yet throughout the arena, only Ye Lingling and Zhao Mu did not believe Qin Ming would be defeated so easily.

As a healing-type Soul Master, especially after her Martial Soul had evolved into the Nine-Heart Begonia and improved drastically, Ye Lingling had become exceptionally sensitive to vitality and aura.

She could sense that although Qin Ming had been frozen, his injuries were only minor, and his aura remained fairly stable.

As for Zhao Mu, there was even less need to mention him. Since he was the one attacking, he naturally knew whether his strike had severely injured his opponent.

Looking closely, the flames on Qin Ming's body were still burning within the block of ice encasing him.

Crack!

Soon after, spiderweb-like cracks began spreading across the ice. They rapidly extended until they covered the entire block.

Boom!

With an explosive blast, the ice shattered and scattered in every direction, while Qin Ming landed on the ground once more.

Feeling the lingering chill in his body, Qin Ming looked at Zhao Mu with a trace of wariness hidden deep in his eyes.

As a fire-attribute Martial Soul Master, Qin Ming had naturally fought water-attribute Soul Masters before. Many had tried to defeat him through attribute suppression.

But Zhao Mu's water-attribute—ice-attribute—attacks seemed somewhat different.

They were stronger!

Though that was what he thought, Qin Ming still spoke stubbornly, intending to properly put Zhao Mu in his place so the latter would not become even more arrogant.

"Using water to counter fire is a fine idea, but unfortunately, the flames of my Blazing Azure Wolf Martial Soul are not ordinary flames. Ordinary water-attribute attacks won't work!"

"Is that so..." Zhao Mu's lips curved slightly as he continued, "Then what about this move, Teacher Qin..."

"Boil Release..."

Given the nature of Douluo, Martial Soul mutations could either strengthen or weaken a Martial Soul.

In most cases, Martial Soul mutations made them weaker, sometimes even turning them into what were called useless Martial Souls.

But the rare mutated Martial Souls that became stronger often produced far more powerful effects.

Qin Ming's Blazing Azure Wolf Martial Soul was one of the latter. After mutating, its flames had changed somewhat and were gradually departing from the realm of normal fire.

Still, only by a little. It was probably not even close to Ma Hongjun's Evil Fire.

When it came to attribute fusion, Zhao Mu was already far ahead.

His ability to use ice-attribute attacks came from the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, while Boil Release was the true result of Zhao Mu's research over this period.

It was a fusion of the water and fire attribute natures.

At Zhao Mu's command, Heibai, clad in Red-Blue Crystal Armor, instantly had one blue eye and one red eye.

The next moment, he opened his enormous mouth again.

Watching Heibai's open mouth, Qin Ming could not help but speculate.

Was he going to release that freezing beam again?

Or some other water-attribute attack?

Or perhaps a fire-attribute attack?

The puzzled Qin Ming quickly received his answer.

This time, streams of white... mist actually poured from Heibai's mouth?

So he wanted to use white mist as cover?

If that was the case, then he would disperse the mist first!

Mist was essentially water vapor as well.

If it was water vapor, then it could be dealt with!

Having made up his mind, Qin Ming's sixth black Soul Ring suddenly shone.

"Teacher Qin used his Sixth Soul Skill?! It seems Teacher Qin is getting serious!"

"Facing Teacher Qin's Sixth Soul Skill, he shouldn't be able to withstand it now, right?"

"Losing to Teacher Qin's Sixth Soul Skill wouldn't be shameful!"

The spectators could not help exclaiming in astonishment.

"Sixth Soul Skill, Burning Heaven Flame!"

As Qin Ming activated his Sixth Soul Skill, a wolf-patterned formation immediately appeared on the floor of the Soul Fighting Arena, and searing flames instantly spread across the entire arena.

Qin Ming was naturally not using this Soul Skill to defeat Zhao Mu. Through their previous exchanges, he knew Zhao Mu's so-called fire immunity was no exaggeration.

So even his most powerful Sixth Soul Skill, Burning Heaven Flame, still could not inflict much damage on Zhao Mu.

To defeat Zhao Mu, he would have to use physical attacks.

The purpose of Burning Heaven Flame was to evaporate this mist!

Water could extinguish fire, but fire could also dry up water.

The key was simply which one was stronger!

At this moment, the mist had already enveloped the entire Soul Fighting Arena, while Qin Ming's Burning Heaven Flame was likewise scorching the entire arena.

However, Qin Ming's brows gradually furrowed because he discovered that the flames could not evaporate or dry up the mist.

Could this mist be immune to fire too?

That made no sense!

Sizzle—

Suddenly, a burning pain struck him.

Qin Ming looked at his arm and found that his clothes had torn apart. More precisely, they had been... corroded through.

And this seemed to be only the beginning.

After that, every patch of Qin Ming's exposed skin was assaulted by scorching pain.

"This isn't water mist. It's acid mist?!"

For the moment, Qin Ming had no solution and could not think of any way to respond.

If this had been a real battle, he would naturally have fled the area covered by the acid mist. But this was a match, and the two of them were confined within the Soul Fighting Arena.

Both were area-of-effect attacks. His Burning Heaven Flame had little effect on Zhao Mu, while Zhao Mu's acid mist had forced him into a desperate situation.

Now, the advantage of flying-type Soul Masters became apparent, but Qin Ming could not fly.

If not for the special material of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy teacher's robes, his injuries would have been even worse.

"Teacher Qin, surrender!"

"I'm still not very proficient with this move. If this drags on, I'm afraid it may cause some serious irreversible consequences..."

Hampered by the acid mist, Qin Ming could not even clearly see Zhao Mu. He could only determine Zhao Mu's approximate position by his voice.

After holding on for only a short while, as the scorching pain across his body grew more intense, Qin Ming had no choice but to lower his proud, beast-transformed head.

Qin Ming truly did not want to lose. Especially in this wager with his own student, admitting defeat would be far too crushing a blow.

But if he did not surrender, he had no solution at all.

Who knew how Zhao Mu had created this acid mist, and it even possessed such powerful corrosive properties.

"I lost."

Qin Ming's voice was not loud, but it was enough for Zhao Mu and the others to hear.

Hearing Qin Ming concede defeat, Zhao Mu immediately stopped and withdrew the Boil Release acid mist.

After the acid mist dispersed, Qin Ming also withdrew his Martial Soul Possession.