Ling Feng and Ye Fan staggered apart, their battle armor covered in mud and their breathing disordered.
That collision had drained even more of the little Soul Power they had left.
Qian Renxue's gaze passed over them and settled on Li Taibai, more than thirty meters away. Her golden eyes rose slightly. "You're not joining in?"
Li Taibai took a deep breath. "Everyone's pushing their combat power to the limit. If I keep hiding it, I'm afraid I won't even get a share of the soup in the future."
Li Taibai stepped forward, each step carrying the rhythm of Green Lotus Sword Qi. Before long, he entered Ling Feng and Ye Fan's combined domain.
"Green Lotus Domain."
With his soft chant, the power of the domain abruptly spread.
The mud beneath their feet churned, and a great deal of clear water seeped out, gathering into a shallow pool across the Martial Arts Platform.
"The lotus heart first blooms, shattering dust and haze, standing proud in the clear pool, its will unyielding."
"Blooming in youthful splendor, concealing a sharp shadow, countless swords congeal and howl at the heavens."
As the verses fell, azure-green lotuses quietly bloomed upon the water's surface. One, two... in the blink of an eye, hundreds of lotuses stood tall and graceful, their petals unfurling.
At the heart of every lotus, a longsword silently condensed. Cold light flowed over their blades as they merged with the aura of the green lotuses.
Ling Feng and Ye Fan exchanged a glance, and both saw the shock in the other's eyes—this guy had a domain too? That bastard had hidden himself deeper than anyone!
"Grand Elder, so your disciple has a domain as well. Did you know?" Bibi Dong looked at Qian Daoliu mockingly.
Qian Daoliu swept his gaze over Bibi Dong and smiled. "Of course. Taibai is a sensible child. He showed me the domain he comprehended three years ago. Unlike your disciple Ling Feng, who kept it hidden until now."
Bibi Dong's expression darkened, and her grip on her scepter tightened—Qian Daoliu was openly slapping her in the face!
But she could only suppress her anger and turn her attention back to the arena.
"Come, swords!"
Li Taibai gave a soft shout. Hundreds of lotuses abruptly exploded, and hundreds of longswords rose from within them, spinning around him like a swarm of bees. The sound of their ringing merged into a tide that pierced the eardrums.
"Go!"
With a sweep of his arm, hundreds of flying swords tore through the air with sharp whistles, surging toward Qian Renxue like a green torrent.
Every sword contained the might of a Soul Elder's full-force strike. With hundreds unleashed at once, even a Soul Saint would have to avoid their edge.
Qian Renxue took a pure white longsword from her Space Ring. A faint golden glow flowed over its blade.
With a flick of her wrist, she drew a smooth arc with the sword. It appeared slow, yet it precisely struck several of the foremost flying swords.
"Clang, clang, clang—"
The crisp sounds of collision rang without end. The flying swords seemed to have struck an Indestructible barrier, shattering one after another into specks of green light.
Qian Renxue stepped upon the water as though strolling through a garden. Every step perfectly avoided the flying swords' paths, and whenever she swung her sword, a cluster of flying swords shattered in response.
Eighty percent of the flying swords had yet to come within three feet of her before they were knocked into the water, sending ripples spreading outward.
"What are you two standing around for? Hurry up and attack!" Sweat beaded on Li Taibai's forehead as his Soul Power drained like a waterfall. "I can't keep up this kind of attack for long!"
Ling Feng and Ye Fan exchanged a glance and no longer hesitated. Ling Feng's figure flickered as he circled to Qian Renxue's left. Yin-Yang power gathered around his fist as he blasted at her waist with black-and-white energy.
Ye Fan charged in from the right, his Qilin Claw flashing with golden sharpness as it grabbed for her sword-wielding wrist.
Qian Renxue remained unhurried. Her longsword swept upward in reverse, its spine precisely knocking against Ling Feng's fist with a crisp clang that left his hand numb.
At the same time, her left foot snapped out with Inch Power, kicking toward Ye Fan's lower abdomen. Ye Fan was forced to withdraw his claw to defend himself, but the ingenious force caused his body to stall.
Sword light flashed as Qian Renxue's longsword scraped across their armor, leaving one clear gash after another. The shrill sound of metal grinding made their teeth ache.
At times, she twisted aside to evade Ling Feng's powerful punches; at others, she spun away from Ye Fan's claw strikes. Between them, she occasionally swung her sword to knock down several stray flying swords.
Facing the siege of all three, she remained completely at ease. Even the water and lotuses beneath her feet rose and fell with her movements.
Ling Feng's punch missed, but he used the recoil to spin and sweep his leg sideways. The wind from his kick carried Yin-Yang power toward Qian Renxue's lower body.
Qian Renxue tapped the water with her toes and rose into the air. While evading the strike, she thrust her sword diagonally, forcing Ye Fan to retreat again and again.
Li Taibai seized the chance to control his flying swords and send them diving down from above, but Qian Renxue blocked them with her scabbard and knocked them all away.
Ye Fan roared as his Qilin Battle Armor erupted with five-colored light. His fist, carrying Five-Elements Power, smashed toward Qian Renxue's back.
Qian Renxue seemed to sense it. Without turning around, she simply exerted force through her waist and abdomen and drove a backward elbow into Ye Fan's fist.
Ye Fan felt a tricky force surge into his body, forcing him to channel it into the ground. The clear water beneath his feet instantly exploded into droplets that filled the sky.
Ling Feng seized the opening. His hands drew circles through the air, and two crescent-shaped currents of energy, one white and one black, formed in his palms before slowly merging into a spinning Taiji Pattern.
"Yin-Yang Duality." He gave a soft shout, and the Taiji Pattern suddenly expanded. Its black half spread like ink, enveloping Qian Renxue.
Ling Feng, Ye Fan, and Li Taibai were wrapped within the white half, completely separated from Qian Renxue.
"Repel."
With Ling Feng's low shout, the black and white Yin-Yang Duality abruptly split apart, forcibly pulling both sides several meters away from each other.
Qian Renxue looked at the black region confining her. Her fingertips traced the air as she sensed the Yin-Yang power within it, and a smile curled across her lips. "This thing is quite interesting. It can actually force us apart."
"My Soul Power is nearly exhausted." Ling Feng's face was pale, veins bulging on his forehead. "You two, seize the chance!"
Ye Fan nodded, determination flashing in his eyes. "I don't have much Soul Power left either. We'll decide the outcome in one strike! Fourth Soul Skill, Wrath of the Qilin!"
A massive phantom of the Five Elements Qilin appeared behind him and opened its mouth in a roar. Five-colored streams of light converged upon his right fist, and his aura became violently intense.
Li Taibai gritted his teeth. "Fourth Soul Skill, Ten Thousand Swords Piercing the Heart!"
Dozens of flying swords condensed and floated behind him, greedily absorbing the sword qi of the Green Lotus Domain. The light on their blades became blindingly bright.
Qian Renxue's blood and qi instantly began to boil.
The muscles throughout her body began resonating at a strange frequency, and even the surrounding space rippled faintly.
"Inch Burst."
She gave a low shout, and the frequency of her body's vibrations suddenly increased, resonating with the frequency of the surrounding space.
The air over the Martial Arts Platform seemed to ignite, producing a humming resonance as invisible waves spread outward.
"Thump... thump... thump—"
The hearts of Ling Feng and the other two trembled uncontrollably, resonating with the chaotic frequency of the surrounding space. Their blood and qi churned, and their auras instantly fell into disarray.
Ye Fan's Wrath of the Qilin abruptly collapsed, while Li Taibai's flying swords shook violently before shattering completely.
Their Soul Skills had been forcibly interrupted. Sweetness rose in both their throats as they suffered a slight backlash.
"Break!"
Qian Renxue's blood and qi suddenly burst from her body, transforming into a crimson torrent that slammed into the black region imprisoning her.
With a crisp crack, the black region shattered and dispersed into wisps of black qi.
"Blood Qi Manifestation, Slash!"
She gripped the pure white longsword and slashed in one motion. Golden blood qi split into three crimson sword energies, shooting toward Ling Feng, Ye Fan, and Li Taibai respectively.
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
All three spat out blood at the same time, flying backward before crashing heavily onto the ground.
The battle armor on Ling Feng and Ye Fan shattered inch by inch and vanished.
Li Taibai's flying swords turned into green light and disappeared. He himself curled up on the ground, blood continuously spilling from the corner of his mouth.
All three domains dissipated at once. The Martial Arts Platform returned to its original state, but it had already become a complete mess.
The center was riddled with craters. The once-hard stone had turned into soft earth, covered in countless tiny holes—the marks left by Li Taibai's flying swords.
The incense stick atop the stone pillar burned through its final trace, and its ash drifted gently down.
PS: Qian Renxue infiltrated Heaven Dou, and as a Soul Saint, she could fight a Titled Douluo. The Three Heroes were at the Soul Ancestor realm, but with their conditions fully unleashed, their combat power rivaled that of Soul Saints. That isn't excessive, right?
Ling Feng and Ye Fan possessed Divine Level martial souls. Their martial souls improved along with their cultivation. Their current strength was too weak, so their martial souls could only temporarily be raised to the Divine Level.
Li Taibai possessed the Green Lotus Sword, a superior martial soul. The Sword Immortal Wine Gourd was an auxiliary companion martial soul with no offensive ability whatsoever; it could only provide support. When the two were combined, they rivaled a Divine Level martial soul. Their endurance surpassed that of a single Divine Level martial soul.
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