The result sent the entire arena into an uproar. The famed Hell White Tiger, renowned across the continent, had been crushed on contact by an unheard-of Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
"Something's wrong—those two kids!"
Du Weilun hurried onto the platform to check on Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu. Fortunately, their movements had only been restricted briefly, and neither was seriously hurt. The only strange thing was that a number of lumps had inexplicably risen across Dai Huabin's body.
"Dragon Whisker Needles?!"
The moment he saw the terrifying things, Du Weilun rushed over to Huo Yuhao, who had just finished using the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, and told him to remove the needles from Dai Huabin as soon as possible. But as soon as Du Weilun finished speaking, Huo Yuhao rolled his eyes and fainted.
"Yuhao used up all his Soul Power. He's completely drained."
Wang Dong helplessly spread her hands. Du Weilun's face turned pale, then flushed red. Left with no choice, he took Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu to the infirmary first. In the wake of this battle, the final could only be postponed for two days.
On the other side, Ning Tian had barely finished calling out her Soul Skill and hadn't yet had time to apply the enhancement to Wu Feng when Su Qing threw her out of the ring. Furious beyond words, Wu Feng activated Dragon's Fury to strengthen herself and charged at Su Qing. To her surprise, He Bin's sandalwood suddenly appeared beneath her feet and tripped her. Then, consumed by rage, she was kicked flying by Su Qing.
Knowing she had no way to respond, the remaining Nanmen Yun'er left the ring of her own accord. The spectators on the neighboring viewing platform were discussing how little there was to enjoy in this fight, but the people watching from Huo Yuhao's side were cheering that they hadn't come for nothing. Martial Soul Fusion Skill against Martial Soul Fusion Skill—now that was exciting!
"Hehe, Xiao Qing, we've got this in the bag!"
After watching Wang Dong carry Huo Yuhao away, Xiao Xiao hurried over to Su Qing, who had finished fighting long ago, unable to contain her smug delight.
"You're so sure I'll give you the chance to use a Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"
Su Qing raised an eyebrow. Was this girl getting a little too carried away? The ring was only twenty meters across. From its center, his Wind-Gathering Wing-Weaving could take him anywhere on it in an instant. Interrupting a Martial Soul Fusion Skill would be as easy as drinking water.
"Ah—then do you dare let them successfully use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"
Realizing that having a Martial Soul Fusion Skill didn't guarantee victory, Xiao Xiao immediately tried to provoke him into taking on the pair's fusion skill head-on.
At that, the corner of Su Qing's mouth twitched. Tilting his head, he said,
"Do I look like an idiot to you?"
"Hehe!"
Xiao Xiao gave an awkward grin. Hearing that innocent little laugh, Su Qing finally understood. So the idiot was right there beside him.
"You've already done amazingly well to make it this far. You did a great job using your awareness to block Zhu Lu's escape route just now. Our Xiao Xiao's gotten quite a bit smarter!"
Compared with the original story, she had become much more skilled at using the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, and much more flexible at coordinating her skills with her teammates. It was clear that she'd truly been working hard to keep up with him. Naturally, Su Qing wasn't stingy with his praise.
"Of course! Soon, I'll be able to help you out!"
"Mm."
After a brief exchange, Su Qing invited her to go sightseeing in Shrek City. Xiao Xiao happily agreed.
"Elder Xuan, what do you make of the Martial Soul Fusion Skill those two youngsters used today?"
After taking care of the matters related to the match, Wang Yan sought out Xuan Zi again to ask his opinion about the unprecedented Martial Soul Fusion Skill. As a scholar, he had a nearly fanatical thirst for knowledge about Martial Soul Theory.
"The Martial Soul Fusion Skill is impressive, but that one-ring kid has poor talent. It won't be long before he can't keep up with Wang Dong's strength, and the skill's effect will drop off sharply."
Xuan Zi didn't offer a fair assessment. In his view, although a Body Martial Soul with a Mental Attribute could excel in spiritual power, the boy's talent was too poor, and his Soul Power Level couldn't keep up. It would all amount to nothing. He understood Wang Yan's excitement at finding a promising talent, but pouring a great deal of cultivation resources into a child with an uncertain future could easily prove a waste.
"Elder Xuan! You can't jump to conclusions!"
Wang Yan's earnest pleading began to wear on Xuan Zi's patience. In the end, he agreed to give Huo Yuhao the benefits of a core disciple. Whether he was worth cultivating further would depend on his performance. Seeing how firm Xuan Zi was, Wang Yan had no choice but to let it go. He just wondered whether Huo Yuhao would mind.
"Hahaha, Yuhao, you acted so well! Director Du couldn't tell you were faking that faint. Hahaha, poor Dai Huabin—he won't be able to sleep through the pain of those Dragon Whisker Needles!"
That night, Wang Dong couldn't stop laughing as she thought about what had happened during the day. Tossing and turning until she could no longer stand it, she leaped onto Huo Yuhao's bed and smacked his thigh over and over.
"Go easy. Keep that up and you really will knock me unconscious."
Huo Yuhao rubbed his aching thigh, then looked at Wang Dong with a solemn expression once again.
"Whatever you do, don't let anyone find out about this. Otherwise, we won't be able to explain it to Director Du."
The two of them had come to the decision to fool Du Weilun without even discussing it. The joy of defeating the Hell White Tiger head-on had nearly made Huo Yuhao forget that the Dragon Whisker Needles were still inside Dai Huabin. So when Du Weilun asked him to remove them, he pretended to faint. Fortunately, Wang Dong had reacted quickly; otherwise, Du Weilun would probably have woken him up and made him take the needles out.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But what are we going to do in the final? How can we beat Su Qing? His first Soul Skill is too fast. We probably won't be able to use a Martial Soul Fusion Skill in front of him."
Not wanting to be lectured, Wang Dong hurriedly humored him with a couple of replies, then steered the conversation toward the final.
"I'll figure something out when the time comes..."
Huo Yuhao fell silent for a moment. The gray bead in his Sea of Consciousness had awakened, and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had already been told he wasn't allowed to sleep for the next few days...
"You mean that white-haired boy briefly gave you the power of Ultimate Fire, and that's what let you break free of the Evil Fire's control? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Beneath the Golden Ancient Tree, Yan Shaozhe's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he listened to Ma Xiaotao explain. How could she not have told him about something this important sooner? Now that he'd offended Su Qing, if he wanted the boy to help purge her Evil Fire, wouldn't he have to humble himself and apologize first?
"I only figured it out recently. At the time, I thought I'd caused trouble, so I was panicking and didn't realize..."
Ma Xiaotao scratched her head in embarrassment. She'd only noticed after training later on that her Evil Fire had weakened, and figured it out after going over what had happened.
"Ah, forget it. In that case, I'll go speak to him myself. If he really can solve your Evil Fire problem, then even if I have to kneel before him, I'll make him agree to help!"
Yan Shaozhe, who had given up hope of getting rid of the Evil Fire, saw hope flare in his eyes once more. What was a little pride compared with his disciple? As long as he apologized sincerely—if that didn't work...
As he thought, he looked at Ma Xiaotao. The girl had plenty going for her, too. If all else failed, he'd have to let her use her charms to tempt Su Qing. But how would he explain it to Zhang Lexuan? After turning it over in his mind, he decided to sound Mu En out first.