Playing Genjutsu Before the Sharingan?

"You actually dared to insult the martial soul of the White Tiger Duke's lineage!"

Dai Huabin's expression twisted viciously, fire seeming to blaze from his mismatched pupils.

"I'll make you regret ever coming into this world!"

With the referee's shout to begin the soul fight, both sides' momentum erupted in an instant.

Boom!

Soul Power surged as both sides summoned their martial souls.

The most eye-catching figures were undoubtedly Huo Yuhao and Dai Huabin, standing at the very front.

Dai Huabin's muscles bulged all over his body, white fur covered him from head to toe, and the character "King" on his forehead radiated dominance.

Two yellow and one purple—three Soul Rings with the optimal configuration pulsed beneath his feet.

Huo Yuhao, on the other hand, looked utterly out of place.

A lone yellow hundred-year Soul Ring rose beneath his feet.

Three rings against one.

No matter how one looked at it, this was bound to be a one-sided slaughter.

Just then, the pink-haired girl standing behind Dai Huabin moved.

Cui Yajie, whose martial soul was the Nine-Tailed Fox.

She did not rush to attack. Instead, she looked at Huo Yuhao, and two pink lights abruptly flared in her seductive peach-blossom eyes.

"First Soul Skill: Charm!"

A confident smile curved her lips as her voice turned sweet and cloying.

"Huo Yuhao, don't look down on me! Before my Charm, no one..."

However.

Before she could finish speaking, her voice abruptly cut off.

The world changed.

The bustling Soul Fighting Arena disappeared. Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu were gone as well.

Cui Yajie discovered in horror that she had appeared in an ancient, sinister Japanese-style courtyard.

There was not a cloud in the night sky. Only an enormous, eerie scarlet moon hung high above, radiating a suffocating aura of ill omen.

The surroundings were deathly silent, save for the miserable cries of unknown crows perched on withered branches.

"Caw—caw—"

"W-Where is this?"

Cui Yajie felt a chill run through her whole body. "Wasn't I taking the freshmen exam?"

Just then, two cold voices drifted from a room ahead.

"Itachi, I never thought you'd even be willing to lay hands on your own parents!"

"This was all... to test my capacity."

What an icy voice it was. To him, life seemed no more than weeds that could be harvested at any moment.

Cui Yajie was terrified by the bizarre surroundings and the murderous conversation.

Instinctively, she wanted to flee and subconsciously took a step back.

Crack.

In that dead-silent courtyard, the sound was like a thunderclap.

"Hm?"

"Is there still one that slipped through the net?"

Whoosh!

A cold flash sliced through the night sky.

The bamboo sliding door before her was instantly shattered by a slash.

Before Cui Yajie could see what was inside, an icy black chain shot toward her like a venomous snake, instantly wrapping around her neck and limbs.

"Ah!"

An immense pulling force struck her. Like a rag doll, she was yanked over in an instant and slammed heavily at that person's feet.

The force was immensely powerful and strange. Cui Yajie desperately tried to mobilize the Soul Power in her body to resist, only to find that it had seemingly frozen completely and could not circulate at all.

Trembling, she raised her head.

What entered her sight was a man in a black robe and red mask.

He held a blood-dripping long blade in his hand. He was Red-Masked Obito from the Night of the Clan Massacre.

The single eye beneath his mask looked down at her coldly.

"N-No... don't kill me!"

Tears and snot streamed down Cui Yajie's face as her mental defenses completely collapsed.

The Masked Man slowly raised his long blade. His scarlet Sharingan curved into a cruel arc.

"Oh? These eyes... They aren't Sharingan, but they're not bad either."

"I'll take them!"

Squelch!

The long blade fell, and the world plunged into darkness.

"Ah—!!!"

In the real world, atop the soul fighting platform.

The instant after Cui Yajie unleashed Charm, she suddenly let out an incomparably shrill scream.

Then her eyes rolled back, foam spilled from her mouth, and she dropped heavily to her knees. Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat, as though she had just been pulled from the water.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! Take my eyes! Take them all!"

Clutching her head, she rolled madly on the ground and begged for mercy. She had clearly fallen into a mental breakdown.

This was Genjutsu backlash.

Huo Yuhao had not used any profound eye technique. He had merely reflected the mental power she had cast at him.

And thoughtfully included a scene from the Night of the Clan Massacre.

"Yajie?!"

Zhu Lu's expression changed drastically. She hurriedly tried to help her up, only to be shoved away wildly by Cui Yajie.

"This is... mental backlash?"

Zhu Lu looked at Huo Yuhao across from her, who had not even blinked, and felt a chill rise in her heart.

She quickly turned to warn Dai Huabin.

"Huabin! Be careful! That Huo Yuhao's mental power is terrifying! Don't look into his eyes!"

With both hands in his pockets, Huo Yuhao watched the scene with utter mockery in his heart.

A Nine-Tailed Fox martial soul? Charm?

She actually dared to use Genjutsu before the Sharingan?

She was simply showing off before an expert.

The gap between her and him in mental power and Genjutsu mastery was a hundred times greater than the gap between Itachi Uchiha and Kurenai Yuhi!

However, the disdain in Dai Huabin's eyes only deepened.

"Tch."

"Cheap tricks."

Dai Huabin snorted. "Before absolute power, these mental parlor tricks are nothing!"

Boom!

Dai Huabin threw back his head and roared.

The third Soul Ring on his body suddenly lit up, purple light blazing brilliantly.

"Third Soul Skill: White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"

His body swelled another size, his muscles bulging like granite as a golden sheen emerged over his skin.

His attack, defense, strength—every attribute surged at once!

Then he opened his bloody maw and aimed it at Huo Yuhao.

His second Soul Ring flashed.

"Second Soul Skill: White Tiger Intense Light Wave!"

Roar!

A milky-white sphere of light as large as a basketball, carrying destructive Soul Power fluctuations, blasted toward Huo Yuhao like a cannonball.

Enhanced by the White Tiger Vajra Transformation, the Intense Light Wave was powerful enough to heavily wound a Soul Elder of the same rank!

"Huo Yuhao! Watch out!"

Wang Dong's expression changed behind him, and she was about to step forward to defend.

"Don't move."

Huo Yuhao still wore that indifferent expression.

Facing the howling sphere of light, he advanced instead of retreating.

His hands instantly became afterimages.

Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.

The fire-attribute Chakra in his body compressed madly, gathering at his throat.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Huo Yuhao took a fierce breath, then forcefully exhaled.

Whoosh—!!!

A massive orange-red fireball over three meters in diameter, carrying rolling waves of heat, charged head-on into the White Tiger Intense Light Wave.

Boom!

The two forces collided violently in midair.

The white light wave and crimson flames devoured and compressed each other before finally erupting in a violent explosion.

Smoke and dust billowed as heat waves swept across the entire arena.

Dai Huabin's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.

"What?!"

"The Intense Light Wave enhanced by White Tiger Vajra Transformation... was stopped so easily?!"

That was one of his strongest long-range attacks!

It had actually been neutralized by that seemingly ordinary fireball?

Within the smoke and dust.

Huo Yuhao's figure flickered faintly into view.

He stood where he was without a scratch. Even the hem of his clothes had not been singed.

"Is that your full strength?"

Huo Yuhao's voice passed through the smoke, thick with contempt.

"Your move can do nothing more than stir up dust."

"Playtime is over."

With that, Huo Yuhao formed hand seals once more.

The water-attribute Chakra in his body transformed into dense moisture.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique!"

Whoosh—

Huo Yuhao opened his mouth and exhaled.

Before the smoke and dust from the explosion had even dispersed, an even denser, wetter white mist instantly spread outward.

In only a few seconds.

The entire soul fighting platform was completely shrouded by the thick white fog.

Visibility instantly dropped to less than half a meter!

Dai Huabin saw nothing but white before him. Forget Huo Yuhao—even Zhu Lu beside him was nowhere to be seen.

"What? What kind of technique is this?!"

Dai Huabin panicked inwardly and instinctively assumed a defensive stance.

"Stop playing tricks! If you've got the guts, come out!"

However, the only answer he received was deathly silence.

And murderous intent that flickered faintly within the mist.