"Understood, Teacher Zhou."
The boy named Zhou Yang nodded, his voice low and steady.
He glanced at the slender figure on the platform. There was no disdain in his eyes, only solemnity.
Zhou Yi had already told him how badly Liu Ping had lost—Huo Yuhao had caught a blade between two fingers and defeated him with a single palm strike.
A Soul Master of only level thirteen shouldn't have been capable of such strength.
So Zhou Yang had been on full alert from the very beginning.
He wouldn't repeat Liu Ping's mistake.
Zhou Yang took a deep breath and stepped onto the Soul Fighting Platform.
His steps were steady and powerful. Each one landed with the weight of a thousand jun.
Once on the platform, he stopped ten meters from Huo Yuhao and fixed his gaze on him, like a ferocious beast locking onto its prey.
Huo Yuhao still stood where he was, both hands in his pockets.
Looking at an opponent who was clearly steadier than Liu Ping, his expression remained calm. He seemed completely at ease.
Zhou Yang didn't waste time talking tough.
Zhou Yi had already told him about Liu Ping's crushing defeat, so he wouldn't waste time threatening Huo Yuhao before the fight like Liu Ping had.
He silently watched Huo Yuhao, his mind racing. That palm strike just now had revealed a terrifying level of physical strength.
Catching Liu Ping's full-powered strike between two fingers meant Huo Yuhao's body was far tougher than an ordinary person's.
If that was the case, Zhou Yang couldn't fight him at close range.
He had to use his own advantage, wear Huo Yuhao down from a distance, and wait for an opening.
The referee glanced at the two of them and, after confirming they were ready, raised his right hand high.
"Begin!"
The instant the words fell, Zhou Yang moved.
Unlike Liu Ping, he didn't charge straight at Huo Yuhao. Instead, he darted backward two steps, quickly putting distance between them.
At the same time, he brought his hands together in front of him, and the Soul Power within his body surged out.
Crimson Flame Lion Martial Soul, possess!
A ring of blazing red light erupted from his body, coalescing behind him into the phantom of a mighty flame lion.
The lion threw back its head in a roar. Though it made no sound, its invisible pressure spread outward like a tide.
At the same time, two bright yellow Soul Rings slowly rose from beneath Zhou Yang's feet, gleaming in the sunlight.
Two Hundred-Year Soul Rings.
Level twenty-five Soul Power.
The crowd below the platform held their breath at the sight.
This Zhou Yang was stronger than Liu Ping!
And he looked much more cautious, too!
Huo Yuhao remained where he was, hands in his pockets, calmly watching Zhou Yang.
Deep in his eyes, a glimmer of pale white light quietly swirled—Spirit Eye Martial Soul, possess.
Still, no Soul Rings beneath his feet.
Still, that same calm, unruffled look.
Zhou Yang's brows drew together slightly, but soon relaxed.
He held his hands out in front of him, palms cupped. Two balls of scarlet flame suddenly gathered there.
This was his first Soul Skill—Crimson Flame.
The flames burned at more than fifty degrees Celsius, hot enough to blister an opponent's skin or even set their clothes alight. Most Soul Masters in their twenties would only dare dodge them, not take them head-on.
Since Huo Yuhao's body was strong enough to catch Liu Ping's second Soul Skill with his bare hands, Zhou Yang wouldn't fight him up close.
He'd battle him from a distance.
Wear down his stamina.
Then finish him with a single strike.
A glint flashed in Zhou Yang's eyes. He swept both hands forward.
"Go!"
The two balls of scarlet flame left his hands, tracing blazing arcs through the air as they shot toward Huo Yuhao!
The flames roared, and waves of heat rushed toward him.
The crowd below cried out in alarm.
"It's a ranged attack!"
"No matter how strong Huo Yuhao's body is, he can't take fire head-on, can he?"
"Zhou Yang's tactics are clever! He's not giving him a chance to get close!"
In the crowd, Mu Jin's brows furrowed slightly.
She stared at the two balls of flame racing toward Huo Yuhao, worry rising in her heart. No matter how strong his body was, he was still made of flesh and blood.
If he took flames burning at more than fifty degrees head-on, he'd definitely be hurt.
What would he do?
Dodge? Or...
Huo Yuhao watched the two balls of fire flying toward him, his eyes utterly calm.
He wants to wear me down from a distance?
The flames drew closer.
Three zhang.
Two zhang.
One zhang.
Scorching waves of heat washed over him, making his cheeks burn.
Everyone below the platform held their breath.
Just as the flames were about to hit Huo Yuhao—
He moved.
His hands remained in his pockets. He didn't pull them out.
He merely turned slightly, meeting the two balls of fire in a posture so strange it seemed almost unnatural.
Then—
He raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and slowly traced an arc through the air.
The movement was so slow that everyone below could see it clearly.
So slow that he seemed less to be fighting than practicing some ancient form of boxing.
Yet the instant he drew that arc, an invisible force gathered in his palm, spinning and flowing.
It was as soft as water, yet as tough as silk.
The two balls of fire plunged into the arc.
There was no explosion.
No burn.
Not even a sound.
The scarlet flames seemed to be drawn by some invisible force. Following the path traced by Huo Yuhao's hand, they began to spin.
They revolved above his palm, winding around each other and merging—as if they were wild beasts brought to heel, or streams guided along their course.
Everyone below the platform stared, wide-eyed.
What kind of Soul Skill was this?!
The composure on Zhou Yang's face froze at once.
He stared with his mouth agape, disbelief filling his eyes.
He'd caught fireballs with his bare hands?
His Crimson Flame burned at more than fifty degrees. Even Soul Masters at the same level could only dodge it; none would dare take it head-on.
And Huo Yuhao had caught it with his bare hands?
But he hadn't simply blocked it. He had...
Guided it? Controlled it?
Zhou Yang's mind went blank.
But what happened next shocked him even more.
Huo Yuhao gave a gentle push with his palm.
The two balls of flame he had guided into a spin abruptly changed direction and shot toward Zhou Yang!
They were faster than before!
The flames burned even hotter!
They were no longer Zhou Yang's Crimson Flame.
They were flames whose power had doubled under the force of Huo Yuhao's Heaven Earth Reversal!
This move was called Heaven Earth Reversal.
Like Overlapping Wave Palm, the move that had defeated Liu Ping, it was one of Huo Yuhao's Self-Created Soul Skills.
Huo Yuhao had created Overlapping Wave Palm in his previous life after watching waves rise and fall across a lake.
Back then, he had only just reached level thirty and had recently fought Ji Juechen, who had suppressed his cultivation to level thirty.
The two had fought until the heavens darkened and the earth dimmed, neither able to overcome the other.
After the battle, Huo Yuhao sat alone by the lake, watching waves roll toward the shore, layer upon layer. Suddenly, something clicked.
One wave piled on top of another, each stronger than the last.
What would happen if he infused that stacking force into a palm technique?
So he watched the lake, reached enlightenment, and entered Deep Meditation. His spiritual power reached a boundless level.
And so, Overlapping Wave Palm was born.
Its attacks surged like tides, like ocean waves stacking upon one another, its power seemingly endless.
Once mastered, all seventy-two waves could be unleashed in a single barrage, rivaling an ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill.
Overlapping Wave Palm had six stages: three waves, six waves, nine waves, eighteen waves, thirty-six waves, and, at the peak, seventy-two waves.
Though the palm technique was powerful, it had one fatal flaw: it placed enormous demands on the body.
If the body wasn't strong enough to withstand Overlapping Wave Palm, forcing it would kill the user, not the opponent.
That was why Huo Yuhao had only dared to use it after Body Tempering Powder had tempered his body into Copper Skin Golden Muscle.
Heaven Earth Reversal, however, was another story.
In his previous life, while studying the Body Sect's secret techniques, he had happened upon an ancient text.
The Body Sect had been passed down for thousands of years, and had accumulated countless Self-Created Soul Skills and secret arts.
While reading through the text, he came across the story of a top expert famed for the Lightning Five-Chain Whip.
That expert had created the Lightning Five-Chain Whip and the three-word formula—"catch, redirect, return"—a technique that had resounded throughout the entire Body Sect.
"Catch" meant catching any attack.
"Redirect" meant neutralizing its force.
"Return" meant sending it back with multiplied strength.
The essence of the three-word formula lay in using an opponent's strength against them, overcoming hardness with softness, turning their attack to one's own advantage and then striking back with even greater force.
Deeply inspired, Huo Yuhao had studied the principles day and night, and finally created this move himself—
Heaven Earth Reversal.
Now, for the first time, this Self-Created Soul Skill was showing its edge on the Soul Fighting Platform.
"What?!"
Zhou Yang blurted out in shock.
He watched helplessly as the flames he had released came flying back at twice their speed and twice their power. His mind went blank.
But he was a third-year student with plenty of battle experience. His shock lasted only a moment before he reacted, raising a hand to try to control the flames again.
His Crimson Flame Martial Soul had a natural connection to fire. In theory, he could absorb or disperse the flames he had released.
However—
When he tried to control them, his Soul Power seemed to slam into an invisible wall.
The flames were completely beyond his control.
They no longer belonged to him.
Now, they belonged to Huo Yuhao.
Zhou Yang's pupils contracted. With no time to think, he abruptly threw himself to the side.
"Boom!"
The two balls of flame roared past his shoulder and crashed into the Soul Fighting Platform behind him.
The flames burst apart, showering the air with sparks.
Two shallow craters were blasted into the platform floor. Gravel flew, and dust filled the air.
Zhou Yang rolled across the ground twice in a sorry state, barely dodging the attack.
He pushed himself up and gasped for breath, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
That had been close.
Just a little closer, and he would have been hit by his own flames.
If those flames, burning at more than fifty degrees, had struck him head-on, he might not have died, but he would have been badly injured.
And right then—
Huo Yuhao moved.
He didn't step forward or run. He—
disappeared.
Before everyone's eyes, he simply vanished into thin air.
Only an almost imperceptible pop of air remained, echoing above the Soul Fighting Platform.
"What?!"
Zhou Yang's pupils shrank to pinpricks. His mind had not yet recovered from the shock of what had just happened when a fresh wave of terror swept over him.
He had just struggled up from the ground, still catching his breath. His vision had not yet fully focused—how could he have had time to search for Huo Yuhao?
He had not even had time to turn around.
No time to release a Soul Skill.
No time to put up any defense.
A bone-deep chill suddenly shot up from the base of his spine, all the way to the crown of his head.
Behind him.
Huo Yuhao was behind him.
Zhou Yang's pupils trembled violently. His body instinctively wanted to throw itself forward, to roll away, to do something—
But it was already too late.
A palm had already pressed against his back.
The palm was warm, still carrying a trace of heat from catching the flames moments earlier.
Yet that very warm palm made Zhou Yang feel as if he had plunged into an ice pit from head to toe.
Below the platform, everyone's eyes widened, but none of them could make out what had happened.
They had only seen Huo Yuhao standing ten meters away a moment ago. In the next instant, he was behind Zhou Yang.
No process, no trajectory.
It was like teleportation, like Gui Mei.
"What kind of speed is that?!"
"Are my eyes playing tricks on me?!"
"Where is he?! Where did he go?!"
Exclamations rose one after another, but no one could answer.
Mu Jin and Zhou Yi sprang to their feet, their beautiful eyes filled with shock.
Neither of them had seen how Huo Yuhao moved. And they were Soul Emperors—Six-Ring Soul Emperors! How could they fail to see the movement of a thirteen-level Soul Master?
How was that possible?!
On the Soul Fighting Platform.
Huo Yuhao stood behind Zhou Yang, his right fingers held together, his palm poised to strike.
The movement technique he had just used was called—
Explosive Step.
It was not his own creation. In his previous life, he had happened upon this combat technique while browsing the Body Sect Scripture Pavilion.
The Body Sect had been passed down for several thousand years, and its original combat techniques and secret arts were as numerous as the stars.
Explosive Step was one of them, ranked in the middle tier among the Body Sect's movement techniques.
Its core principle was to compress Soul Power into the legs using a special method, then detonate the compressed Soul Power in an instant, using the explosive force to achieve rapid movement.
It sounded simple, but was extremely dangerous to perform.
Compressing Soul Power was already an exceedingly precise operation.
Compressing it into the fragile legs was even more dangerous.
Compress it too much, and the meridians in the legs would burst. Compress it too little, and it would not produce the explosive effect.
One careless mistake could cripple an entire leg.
Therefore, this movement technique placed extremely high demands on the strength of the body.
And Huo Yuhao—
He had completed both the first and second stages of the Myriad Tribulation Indestructible Body. With Copper Skin Golden Muscle, his physical strength far surpassed that of Soul Masters at the same level.
This movement technique was practically made for him.
At that instant, he compressed Soul Power into his legs and detonated it—
Ten meters, covered in the blink of an eye.
Faster than Liu Ping's blade.
Faster than Zhou Yang's reaction.
So fast that no one could see it.
So fast that Zhou Yang did not even have the chance to turn around.
Now, Huo Yuhao stood behind Zhou Yang, his right hand poised to strike.
He looked at his opponent, who was still trying to turn around, his eyes utterly calm.
Overlapping Wave Palm—
Double Layer.
He thrust his palm forward, seemingly without effort.
This palm was faster, fiercer, and heavier than the one that had just defeated Liu Ping.
The First Layer Overlapping Wave Palm was already powerful enough to instantly kill a twenty-three-level Soul Grandmaster.
The Double Layer Overlapping Wave Palm was twice as powerful as the First Layer Overlapping Wave Palm.
Twice the force, aimed straight at the chest.
Zhou Yang had just dodged that reversed flame attack. His old strength was spent, and his new strength had yet to rise.
His body was still half-kneeling, his balance unsteady, his breath ragged—how could he dodge this palm?
"Bang!"
The palm struck Zhou Yang squarely in the back of the heart.
A muffled boom burst out. Zhou Yang felt as though his internal organs had shifted all at once. A wave of agony swept from his chest through his entire body, almost tearing him apart.
His eyes flew wide. The blurry figures below the Soul Fighting Platform were reflected in his pupils. His lips parted, but not a sound came out—
Then his body flew forward like a kite with its string cut.
No, not flew.
It was hurled.
His whole body shot into the air, tracing an arc over the edge of the Soul Fighting Platform and past the horrified gazes of the crowd below—
"Bang!"
He crashed heavily onto the ground beneath the platform.
Dust flew in every direction.
Zhou Yang lay flat on his back, eyes shut and breathing faintly, completely unconscious.
Youth really was great—you could just lie down and fall asleep!
Before you continue