Tang Hao Makes a Move

"Xiao Wu!" Two work-study students hurried over to help Xiao Wu up. The parts of her body struck by the Explosive Eight-Stage Kick were numb and aching, and she had already lost the ability to continue the fight.

Supported by the two work-study students, Xiao Wu let out a pained "Ouch" as she retreated into the crowd, effectively conceding the match.

"Xiao Wu—" Seeing Xiao Wu beaten so miserably, Tang San could not help but cry out.

Because he had channeled twenty levels of soul power into Combusken, Ye Chen only had ten levels of soul power for combat. Consequently, he held no advantage in his exchange with Tang San; instead, he was suppressed at every turn.

At this moment, a large number of Blue Silver Vines were coiled around Ye Chen's body and limbs, pinning him in place and rendering him unable to move.

Tang San had originally intended to press his advantage, but Xiao Wu's defeat forced him to change tactics. To prevent Combusken from continuing to stack its speed, he ignored Ye Chen entirely and turned to charge at Combusken, which had just landed safely.

The Explosive Eight-Stage Kick just performed had been extremely taxing on its stamina, and having endured Xiao Wu's Explosive Eight-Stage Throw, its body had suffered various injuries. This left Combusken mired in sharp pain and exhaustion upon landing, causing it to miss Tang San's incoming attack.

Treading the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Tang San arrived behind Combusken with a trail of afterimages. Ye Chen hurriedly warned, "Combusken, dodge quickly!"

Hearing the instruction, Combusken turned instinctively, just in time to see Tang San's Mysterious Jade Hand balled into a fist, striking directly toward its face.

Combusken wanted to retreat and dodge, but the sharp pain in its legs made movement impossible, and it took the full force of Tang San's punch.

"Chamo—" A miserable cry erupted from Combusken. Tang San's Mysterious Jade Hand was as hard as rock, and the punch, reinforced by his rage and the internal energy of the Mysterious Heaven Skill, was absolutely no less powerful than a full-force strike from a two-ring Soul Grand Master.

Taking the brunt of the blow, Combusken was sent flying backward, crashing heavily onto the ground twenty meters away.

It was not hard to see from the recent performance that while the Explosive Eight-Stage Kick was terrifyingly powerful, it consumed a massive amount of stamina.

Furthermore, Combusken relied on its outstanding mid-air maneuverability and high-frequency leg strikes against the air to execute the aerial eight-stage kick, which placed a severe burden on its legs.

Realizing this, Ye Chen sighed dejectedly. He had not expected that the Explosive Eight-Stage Kick Combusken had just learned would be a skill with a recoil effect.

Recovering from his thoughts, Ye Chen noticed Tang San lighting up his First Soul Ring. Under the enhancement of his first soul skill, Blue Silver Bind, he had already thrown countless Blue Silver Hidden Weapons.

Assisted by hidden weapon techniques, these Blue Silver Hidden Weapons shot toward Combusken from various directions.

"Combusken, use Ember!" While issuing the command, Ye Chen also tried to find a way to break free from the Blue Silver Vines binding him.

If it were just ordinary Blue Silver Vines, it would be fine, but Tang San's current vines carried a trace of paralytic poison. By now, the poison had accumulated too much in his body as the vines coiled around his limbs.

With his body gradually becoming paralyzed, it was difficult to break free with only ten levels of soul power.

Before Ye Chen could break the shackles of the Blue Silver Bind, Combusken staggered to its feet. It spat out a large amount of Ember toward the front, and those incoming Blue Silver Hidden Weapons were all incinerated before they could even change trajectory.

Seeing this, Tang San gritted his teeth in frustration. If only his Blue Silver Grass could be immune to flames, he wouldn't be countered by the fire attribute.

Just as Tang San felt helpless, Combusken's right leg was suddenly struck by a hidden weapon, forcing it into an uncontrollable half-crouch.

"What's going on?" Not just Tang San, but Ye Chen was also bewildered. With the assistance of the Insight skill, he clearly saw all the Blue Silver Hidden Weapons being burned away by the Ember, so why had Combusken still been hit?

Seeing the advantage was his, Tang San didn't care why. He waved his hands frantically, and countless Blue Silver Hidden Weapons shot from his palms, closing in on Combusken.

Its legs were already under immense strain from using the Explosive Eight-Stage Kick, and now that its right leg had been ambushed by an unknown weapon, Combusken was half-crouched on the ground and unable to move. It simply spat out Ember again to incinerate the incoming barrage of Blue Silver Hidden Weapons.

A bizarre scene occurred once more: those Blue Silver Hidden Weapons were clearly all incinerated, yet hidden weapons still struck Combusken's left leg, right shoulder, and left shoulder respectively.

The power of these hidden weapons was far greater than Tang San's. After enduring the successive ambushes, Combusken collapsed to its knees, its arms hanging limp and immobile due to the numbness in its shoulders.

Looking at the few pebbles that had appeared out of nowhere at Combusken's feet, Ye Chen suddenly understood—these pebbles must have been the hidden weapons that ambushed Combusken.

Judging by Tang San's bewildered expression, the person behind the ambush was certainly not him. Could it be Tang Hao, hiding in the shadows?

Aside from Tang Hao, a Title Douluo, there was likely no one else present who could use pebbles as hidden weapons without anyone noticing, right?

Thinking of this, Ye Chen was deeply puzzled. In previous spars with Tang San, Tang Hao had never intervened. Why choose to interfere this time?

Could it be that because the wager for this spar was knowledge of medicinal herbs, Tang Hao didn't want Tang San to lose?

Or perhaps Tang Hao feared that if Tang San continued to lose, he would be discouraged and abandon the Blue Silver Grass to cultivate the Clear Sky Hammer, prompting him to intervene?

Regardless of the speculation, Ye Chen was certain of one thing: Tang Hao had taken a dislike to him.

As the saying goes, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. Once this spar ended, he would submit his graduation application and leave Nuoding Academy as soon as possible tomorrow.

Recovering from his thoughts, Ye Chen moved his mind. He intended to deactivate his Body Martial Soul and recall Combusken into his body to prevent it from being ambushed by Tang Hao's pebbles again.

Suddenly, Tang San prioritized using his First Soul Skill, Blue Silver Bind. A large number of Blue Silver Vines coiled around Combusken's body and limbs, rendering it unable to move.

Because of this, Ye Chen discovered he could not recall Combusken into his body. Could this Blue Silver Bind actually restrict the summoning and retraction of an External Martial Soul?

The Blue Silver Bind alone, naturally, could not restrict the summoning and retraction of an External Martial Soul.

However, having learned from his three previous defeats at the hands of Ye Chen, Tang San had conducted a thorough study of the Torchic martial soul. Combining this with the summoning patterns of his teacher Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao, he discovered that by injecting Mysterious Heaven Skill internal energy into the Blue Silver Bind, he could grant the vines an internal energy adsorption effect.

Although this increased the consumption of internal energy, it was highly effective at restricting the summoning and retraction of External Martial Souls or tool-type martial souls.

Seeing that Combusken could not be recalled and had lost its ability to resist, Tang San sneered. He flicked his hands forward rapidly, and countless more Blue Silver Hidden Weapons shot toward Combusken.

Fortunately, while he could not recall Combusken into his body, he could recall the twenty levels of soul power he had distributed.

As this soul power returned to his body, Ye Chen instantly shattered the Blue Silver Vines binding him and used Agility to dash in front of Combusken.