No Reservations, A Duel with Wu Changkong

Xie Xie perked up the moment he heard that, his spine straightening as he smugly brushed back a non-existent fringe. "That's right! Obviously! You think about who I've been hanging out with all these years?"

He gestured toward Yao Chuan with his chin, his tone carrying the boastful pride of a little fanboy. "This is all thanks to the Boss's personal guidance and subtle influence, bit by bit! Get it?"

Tang Wulin's gaze toward Yao Chuan grew even more complex, a spark of curiosity igniting within him. He lowered his voice and asked, "Hey, Xie Xie, what exactly is the Boss's level right now? You're with him every day, you must know something, right?"

"Cough, cough!"

The smugness on Xie Xie's face froze instantly, like a duck being throttled. He coughed twice, his eyes darting away, his voice stuttering. "Well, this... the Boss... he's... um... unfathomable!"

"Huh?" Tang Wulin looked bewildered. "No way? You don't even know?"

Xie Xie's face flushed red, his toes curling in his shoes from the sheer awkwardness as he scrambled to recover.

"Damn! You think I don't want to know? The point is, the Boss... he doesn't play by the rules at all! The gap between me and him isn't just a small ditch; it's the Mariana Trench! Do you understand what 'tactical retreat' means? I can't even touch the hem of his clothes, so how am I supposed to measure him? Him just lifting a hand is a dimensional strike to me!"

He leaned closer to Tang Wulin, his face a mask of misery and helplessness. "For example, have you ever seen an ant understand why humans build spaceships? Same logic! The gap between me and the Boss is the gap between an ant and a spaceship! We aren't even creatures of the same dimension! How strong is he exactly? I can only say—strong! Invincibly strong! Ceiling-level strong! Get it?"

Tang Wulin's mouth hung slightly open as he finally understood. It wasn't that the Boss was hiding things; it was just that his little brother, Xie Xie, was at such a low rank that he barely even qualified to look up at him. He watched Yao Chuan standing quietly in the arena, his anticipation reaching its peak. When a big shot makes a move, it has to be earth-shattering!

Just then, Wu Changkong's icy voice pierced through their whispering like an icicle.

"Yao Chuan!"

Wu Changkong stepped into the arena, his ice-blue eyes locked onto Yao Chuan, a chill radiating from him that warned others to keep their distance. His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried clearly across the entire field: "Now, it is your turn."

The entire class's gaze shifted in unison, focusing on Yao Chuan. The air seemed to stagnate, leaving only the sound of heartbeats drumming like war drums.

Wu Changkong looked at Yao Chuan, his tone flat yet carrying an unquestionable majesty: "I will suppress my Soul Power to the thirty-first level, matching yours. Do not have any reservations; bring out your full strength."

As soon as he finished speaking, rings of Soul Rings suddenly lit up beneath his feet!

Yellow!

Yellow!

Purple!

Three rays of light circled his body, and a powerful wave of Soul Power instantly spread outward. Even though he had deliberately suppressed his realm, the aura belonging to a powerhouse still made every student feel a suffocating pressure.

"Come." Wu Changkong stood with his hands behind his back, his white robes as pure as snow, his eyes calm and waveless, as if he were speaking of a trivial matter. Yet, that invisible confidence and anticipation were as heavy as a mountain.

Yao Chuan looked at Wu Changkong, who stood across from him with an aura as steady as an abyss. Those deep, black eyes were no longer calm as an ancient well. A trace of something extremely subtle, yet exceptionally bright—like a spark ignited in the darkness—flashed quietly in the depths of his eyes.

That was... anticipation!

Anticipation for a true opponent!

"Good." A calm voice rang out. Yao Chuan made no unnecessary movements; he simply took a single step forward.

Hum—!

A terrifying aura, completely different yet not the least bit inferior, surged forth like a primordial beast suddenly waking from its slumber!

Profound!

Overbearing!

Filled with a destructive will that could annihilate everything!

Two massive, ink-black dragon shadows, as if capable of swallowing even light, condensed and swirled behind him without warning! Their cold, draconic eyes looked down upon the entire training ground without a hint of emotion!

Following that, three equally dazzling Soul Rings rose suddenly from beneath his feet!

Purple!

Purple!

Purple!

Three purples!

The light of three Soul Rings, far exceeding the limits of conventional knowledge, instantly tore through the cognitive limits of everyone present!

"Hiss—!"

"Holy crap!!"

"Purple... purple? Thousand-year?! And three of them?!!"

"I'm blind! I must be dreaming!!"

"Is this guy even human?!!"

"666! Big shot, please accept my kowtow!"

The entire training ground exploded instantly! Gasps, screams, and the sound of people sucking in cold air rose one after another, like boiling water! Everyone was completely stunned by this scene that defied their worldview! Two purples and a black? Was this guy cheating?!

For the first time, a visible, violent ripple appeared on Wu Changkong's ten-thousand-year-old icy face! His ice-blue pupils contracted sharply, his gaze, sharp as a blade, nailed to the deep, heart-stopping black Soul Ring at Yao Chuan's feet!

Thirty-first level?!

Three purples?!

This was impossible!

It absolutely exceeded the limits of his definition of a genius!

But he was Wu Changkong, after all! The shock lasted only for an instant! The next moment, extreme excitement surged through his nerves like an electric current!

Deep within his cold eyes, a raging fire of battle ignited!

Such an opponent! He was worthy of his full effort!

"Good!" Wu Changkong's voice carried a hint of excitement he hadn't even noticed himself. "Now that's more like it!"

Before the words had even faded, Wu Changkong moved!

There was no probing whatsoever! A white blur flashed, his speed reaching the absolute limit! A bone-chilling cold instantly enveloped Yao Chuan, as if the frigid winds of the far north had suddenly descended!

"First Soul Skill: Frost Mark!"

He pressed his fingers together like a sword, and a deep blue line of ice, carrying a chill capable of freezing the soul, tore through the air, striking straight at Yao Chuan's throat! Ruthless! Precise! Merciless!

Facing this lightning-fast strike, Yao Chuan's expression remained calm.

He hadn't even fully released his Martial Soul Avatar; only the phantom of the Black Dragon behind him raised its head slightly.

No dodging!

No blocking!

He simply raised his right hand.

With his fair, slender fingers, he tapped lightly against that line of ice, which possessed enough power to shatter metal and stone!

Hiss—!

It was as if a red-hot iron had been pressed against a block of ice!

That fierce Frost Mark ice line, while still half a foot away from his fingertips, encountered an invisible barrier and emitted a harsh, melting sound!

Ice shards flew!

The cold air dissipated!

That attack, capable of threatening a Soul Grand Master, was casually shattered by Yao Chuan's single finger, vanishing into nothingness!

The entire arena fell into a deathly silence!

Every student had their mouth agape, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets! Teacher Wu's fast, ruthless, and precise strike was just... gone? Erased by a single finger poke?! This scene was too surreal to believe!

A brilliant light surged in Wu Changkong's eyes! Far from being angry, his fighting spirit burned even brighter!

"Fine technique!"

He let out a low shout, and the second Soul Ring beneath his feet shone brilliantly!

"Second Soul Skill: Frost Mist!"

Extremely dense, ice-blue mist erupted from his body like an explosion! In an instant, it shrouded nearly half of the training ground!

Vision was obscured!

The temperature plummeted!

The bone-chilling cold invaded every person within the Frost Mist, leaving no corner untouched! Their movements felt frozen and sluggish!

Even more terrifying, this Frost Mist acted like a living creature, possessing powerful corrosive properties and a viscous texture, attempting to freeze and paralyze the flow of the opponent's soul power!

Within this hazy and deadly Frost Mist, Yao Chuan's figure was instantly swallowed.

Wu Changkong's figure merged into the mist like a phantom, his presence completely erased. Cold killing intent permeated the fog, like a viper hiding in the shadows, ready to launch a fatal strike at any moment!

However, just as everyone held their breath, wondering how Yao Chuan would deal with this predicament where both vision and perception were stripped away—

Hum!!!

An indescribable, vast, and ancient terrifying pressure, as if originating from the dawn of time, suddenly erupted from the center of the Frost Mist!

It was like a sleeping monarch awakening, declaring his majesty!

The pervasive, viscous, and deadly Frost Mist let out a "hissing" wail under this pressure, like snow under a scorching sun!

It was forcibly pushed back, evaporated, and dissipated at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Yao Chuan's figure was revealed once more.

He remained standing in the same spot, not even the hem of his clothes having moved an inch.

Only those deep, black eyes were now shockingly bright! It was as if golden lightning flashed within them for a fleeting moment!

The Black Dragon Martial Soul phantom roared silently behind him, radiating a terrifying aura that suppressed everything!

Frost Mist domain?

Shattered!

Wu Changkong's figure was forced to manifest a few meters behind and to the side of Yao Chuan, his eyes revealing a look of extreme gravity for the first time! This was no longer a simple case of Martial Soul restraint! This was an absolute suppression of rank! The grade of the Martial Soul this kid possessed was terrifyingly high!

"Very good! Very good indeed!" Wu Changkong's voice carried a hint of irrepressible excitement. "It seems I have no choice but to use some real skill!"

He took a deep breath, his eyes becoming incomparably sharp!

The light from the first and second Soul Rings beneath his feet faded, and the deep purple third Soul Ring suddenly erupted with a blinding radiance!

A terrifying cold, several times more powerful than before, condensed in his palm like a storm!

"Third Soul Skill: Sky Frost Slash!"

With a low shout from him, a massive, deep-blue ice blade condensed out of thin air! It exceeded three meters in length! The blade was encrusted with magnificent yet lethal frost patterns, radiating a biting sharpness that seemed capable of slicing through space itself!

Carrying a terrifying momentum that threatened to freeze all things and sever the spark of life, the ice blade tore through the air with a shrill, piercing whistle as it hacked down directly toward Yao Chuan!

Facing this earth-shattering strike, the look in Yao Chuan's eyes finally changed.

It was no longer indifferent, but carried a hint of seriousness.

He slowly raised his left hand.

He did not point his finger this time, but gripped the air!

The black dragon phantom behind him seemed to move in sync with him, letting out a low, majestic dragon roar!

Hum—!

A heart-palpitating crimson light suddenly bloomed in the palm of his left hand! It was as thick and substantial as actual blood!

That light carried a terrifying aura of violence, destruction, and the devouring of all things! It was as if countless vengeful spirits were wailing within it!

The light rapidly condensed and extended!

In the blink of an eye, a strange spear about ten feet long appeared out of thin air in his hand!

The shaft was dark red, as if forged from congealed blood, and covered in dense, black patterns that writhed like living creatures! The spearhead was not solid, but a swirling vortex of dark red energy that constantly twisted and radiated waves of destruction!

Blood Spear!

Second Martial Soul: Blood Spear!

The moment it appeared, a thick, nauseating stench of blood and a will of destruction permeated the area! The temperature of the entire training ground seemed to drop to freezing—not from cold, but from a deathly silence where all things withered and life was extinguished!

It was as if this spear existed solely to harvest lives and annihilate souls!

"Second Soul Skill: Blood Spear!"

Yao Chuan's cold voice rang out like the verdict of a grim reaper.

He gripped the Blood Spear, which seemed to have come from hell, with one hand. Without any flashy techniques, he simply thrust it forward, straight and unyielding, toward the terrifying Sky Frost Giant Blade whistling toward him—

He thrust!

BOOM—!!!

Dark red and deep blue!

Destruction and extreme cold!

Two equally tyrannical and terrifying powers collided violently in the center of the arena without any pretense!

A blinding light erupted instantly!

It was like a small sun exploding!

A violent shockwave of energy swept out like a tsunami! The hard ground of the training ground was torn apart! Gravel flew everywhere! Dust and smoke soared into the sky!

The students on the periphery were forced back repeatedly by the shockwave, screaming in alarm! Those with weaker strength even felt their blood surge and their soul power become unstable!

The light dissipated.

Yao Chuan stood firmly in place, holding the dark red Blood Spear, like an immovable demon god.

And that aggressive Sky Frost Giant Blade, which seemed capable of cleaving through everything—

Had actually been forcibly held in mid-air by the tip of that strange Blood Spear!

The twisting dark red vortex at the spearhead spun frantically, like the maw of a gluttonous beast, constantly eroding and devouring the massive icy soul power on the blade!

The massive deep-blue ice blade was crumbling and melting inch by inch at a speed visible to the naked eye, emitting a teeth-grinding "crack" sound!

Wu Changkong's pupils shrank!

His third soul skill had actually been blocked head-on by the opponent's single soul skill?! And it was even being devoured and disintegrated?!

Yao Chuan looked at Wu Changkong, whose expression had finally turned completely grave, and the hint of seriousness in his eyes suddenly blazed with intensity!

He gave his wrist a violent jolt!

"Explode!"

With a low shout!

The dark red energy vortex at the tip of the Blood Spear, which was pressed against the Sky Frost Giant Blade, suddenly collapsed inward to its limit!

And then—

BOOM!!!!

An indescribable, thunderous roar!

It was as if a thunderclap had struck on flat ground!

The highly concentrated energy of destruction exploded at the spearhead like a detonated bomb!

A visible, terrifying shockwave mixed with dark red and destructive lightning spread out in a ring!

It did not move outward!

Instead, it followed the crumbling Sky Frost Giant Blade like maggots on a corpse, instantly sweeping back in the opposite direction!

It charged straight at Wu Changkong himself!

Crack-crack-crack—!

The Sky Frost Giant Blade, already on the verge of shattering, was struck by the counter-destructive thunderbolt and disintegrated into a sky full of ice crystals like fragile glass!

The terrifying shockwave showed no signs of slowing, carrying an aura of annihilation that instantly swallowed Wu Changkong's figure!

Danger!

A feeling of lethal danger!

Every hair on Wu Changkong's body stood on end! That destructive thunderbolt shockwave was too fast! Its range was too wide! The power it contained was both bizarre and formidable! It absolutely exceeded the limits of a Soul Elder!

If he were hit head-on by this thing, even with his profound cultivation, he would never be able to withstand it with only his level thirty-one soul power!

In the blink of an eye!

Wu Changkong held nothing back in his eyes!

All suppression was instantly lifted!

A vast surge of soul power, far exceeding what he had shown before, erupted from his body like a volcano!

An ice-blue radiance soared into the sky!

Beneath his feet, beside his three existing soul rings, a fourth deep purple soul ring suddenly ignited like a sun!

Hum—!

An incredibly powerful soul power barrier instantly coalesced before him! It was like the sturdiest glacial rampart!

BOOM!!!

The destructive thunderbolt shockwave slammed violently into the ice-blue soul power barrier!

A deafening roar rang out once more!

The entire training ground trembled!

The ice-blue barrier shook and rippled violently, instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks! It seemed as if it would collapse completely at any moment!

Under the force of this violent impact, Wu Changkong's body actually...

Thud! Thud! Thud!

He retreated three steps!

With every step he took, he left a deep indentation in the solid ground!

Only then did he barely manage to steady himself!

For the first time, that icy face of his, which never changed in ten thousand years, was clearly written with—incredulous shock!

He looked down at the cracked, dim soul power barrier, then abruptly looked up toward the center of the arena at the young man holding the dark red Blood Spear, his black hair fluttering and his eyes as deep as an abyss.

He had actually... been forced to lift his own soul power suppression!

He had even used the power of his fourth soul ring!

Just to barely... hold his ground?!