The Great Soul Arena, Solving the Monster

With that thought, she canceled her third soul skill.

Ning Rongrong once again used Trapped Beast to intercept the vine lash, though this time, her health bar dropped significantly more.

Then she remembered that her third soul skill also had the effect of cleansing poison status; by turning it off, she would become poisoned, thereby taking increased damage.

However, she gritted her teeth, returned the copied attack first, and then reactivated her third soul skill.

-4%.

Oh, I see. It is completely immune to poison-attribute attacks, but under the effect of my third soul skill, my attacks deal 100% physical damage plus 60% poison-attribute damage, so it still deals 4% damage to it. The Eight Spider Lances must be useless here as well.

She had a sudden realization and simply kept her third soul skill active.

The monster lashed its vines about wildly, only for Ning Rongrong to catch and reflect them back time and time again. It took a long while for the creature to realize this move was futile, so it switched to a ground-shaking attack.

The vines slammed heavily into the ground, sending out wave after wave of shockwaves.

These shockwaves were very similar to those of Zhao Wuji, though slightly weaker.

If Ning Rongrong could dodge Zhao Wuji's, what kind of effective attack could this possibly be—

No.

Ning Rongrong's eyes flickered.

The previous vine lashes could only be considered single-target attacks, but what if these shockwaves were area-of-effect attacks?

Meaning, what if these shockwaves could treat the monster as multiple targets, dealing multi-stage damage?

Action followed thought; Ning Rongrong performed a plunging attack to quickly return to the ground, then activated Trapped Beast to block the hit. Her health didn't drop as much as before, leaving her a bit uncertain.

Nevertheless, she still unleashed the copied attack in retaliation.

-1%

It was a huge disappointment.

What disappointed her even more was that the monster began to focus solely on shaking the ground, not even using its vine lashes anymore. Ning Rongrong had no choice but to copy the shockwaves and return them. The time, health potions, and mana potions consumed were significantly higher.

The monster realized the shockwaves were useless too and switched to using poison spikes...

Poison spikes—they were similar to Ning Rongrong's opening attack, and similar to Liu Jiayi's poison spike attacks as well.

They were just more numerous and faster.

But even if they were faster, they weren't that fast. With her second skill active to boost her speed, Ning Rongrong could keep up with it perfectly.

The monster finally began mixing all three types of attacks, but Ning Rongrong hadn't run out of potions yet, so these attacks naturally couldn't harm her.

After another period of time, accompanied by an angry roar, Ning Rongrong finally ground the monster to death.

Having killed the monster, Lu Ma couldn't feel happy at all.

He watched the monster's figure gradually turn into points of light on the screen, looked at the white loot it dropped, and instead of rushing to pick it up, he began to grumble.

"This skill set... it's just too simple. Boring, so boring. If your vine attack was a 'fast-and-slow' blade, if your ground-shaking attack could one-shot me, or if your spikes exceeded my potion-chugging speed, then maybe I could have played along with you."

He controlled his character to step forward, and upon seeing the loot, Lu Ma finally felt a spark of interest.

It was a Holy Spirit Pill. A Holy Spirit Pill untainted by any filth, exactly the same as the one Donald had in the cave at the beginning, even the description was identical.

"So this monster drops Holy Spirit Pills too, but what's the use of just one?"

Lu Ma opened the soul master interface again to confirm; reversing the second soul skill required two, and reversing the third soul skill required three.

This single pill was indeed of no use.

But he didn't mind the small amount and tucked the Holy Spirit Pill into his spatial bag.

At the same time, the white mist gradually dissipated, and with a loud crack, the barrier shattered.

"It worked!"

Just then, the combined attack of the three people outside landed on the barrier the moment the white mist began to clear.

With that cracking sound, the three of them assumed they had succeeded, their faces filled with joy.

But when they saw the fighting platform covered in blood and green monster fluid, the three of them couldn't help but freeze. The six people from the spectator stands had just come down and were also stunned.

What on earth had happened on this stage just now?

Everyone was confused. They looked up and saw the tattered green robes from the battle, arms covered in wounds, and higher up, a cold face filled with aloofness. Ning Rongrong, at this moment, seemed to be looking down on them with pride.

Higher still, the monster's figure was long gone.

Everyone's heart couldn't help but tremble.

"Rongrong!"

Ning Fengzhi rushed onto the stage, took out his portable medical kit, and began bandaging Ning Rongrong's wounds.

Ning Rongrong wanted to say this was an unnecessary gesture; as long as she drank a health potion, the wounds would naturally disappear.

But she suddenly realized this might not be a certainty. Health was health, and wounds were wounds. Moreover, after this battle, her health and mana potions had decreased significantly, with only about 170 bottles of each remaining. These potions seemed to only be granted when opening treasure chests, and given the consumption rate of this fight, her reserves would only last for two more reckless battles at most.

Better to save a bottle where she could; Ning Fengzhi's method restored health anyway.

She thought this to herself, said nothing, and didn't utter a single word.

His gaze swept past Ning Fengzhi, moved over Bone Douluo, Flender, and then the other six.

These were likely the only survivors left in the Great Soul Arena, excluding the one on the ground who was dead beyond all saving.

Looking around, the Great Soul Arena was in such a dilapidated state that it probably wouldn't be operational again for quite some time.

Ah... I might as well think about what to have for dinner during this unskippable cutscene; it feels like I've been fighting for a long time... didn't someone ask me out to eat?

However, the blank expression on Ning Rongrong's face caused by Lu Ma's daze was interpreted quite differently by the others.

A chill ran through the hearts of the eight people present.

Bone Douluo, in particular, felt it; as the only one besides Ning Fengzhi who had witnessed Rongrong's madness following the Evil Soul Master incident, Ning Rongrong gave him a strange feeling right now, as if she had shifted to the opposite extreme.

The usual Ning Rongrong was cute, mischievous, and willful.

The Ning Rongrong back then was terrified and desperate for validation.

But this Ning Rongrong was clearly not terrified; her eyes were cold, as if she had cast everything aside, the kind of state where "whether you acknowledge me or not makes no difference."

This was terrifying.

If things continued like this, he would really have to discuss sending Ning Rongrong to a place like a Psychological Rehabilitation Center with Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin.

"Rongrong, how are you feeling?"

Ning Rongrong glanced at Gu Rong without saying a word.

Gu Rong felt even more distressed.

Wuwu, his cute little Rongrong seemed to be slipping away from him...

Flender felt as though he had done something wrong, even though objectively speaking, he hadn't committed any fault.

But since Ning Rongrong had been so severely injured, he, as her teacher, certainly had to take responsibility.

He stood where he was, intending to apologize to the two men from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

"Sect Master Ning, this matter is my..."

"We shall discuss this matter later."

Ning Fengzhi's stern voice came from ahead, just as he finished bandaging all of Ning Rongrong's wounds.

At this moment, everything from Ning Rongrong's head down was wrapped in white bandages, which actually gave her a peculiar, aesthetic beauty.

Flender, also keenly sensing that this incident was likely no accident, turned and instructed Dai Mubai:

"Mubai, take the five of them and find a safe place first. What follows is not something you should be privy to at your current stage."