War Soul Emperor

Song Teng paused for a moment, then laughed out loud: "Interesting."

The three of them walked toward the center of the training ground. Song Teng stood with his hands behind his back, and crimson soul power flames began to surge around him. Six soul rings rose from beneath his feet—two yellow, two purple, and two black—a standard top-tier configuration.

The flames churned like magma erupting from the earth, and a scorching heat filled the air. The weeds at the edge of the training ground curled and turned yellow at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Blazing Fire Dragon, a top-tier beast soul, renowned for its violent fire-based attack power and the domineering physique of a dragon-type soul.

Mu Chen took a deep breath and stepped forward into the scorching heat wave.

Four soul rings rose from beneath his feet.

Yellow, purple, purple, black.

When that black ten-thousand-year soul ring lit up, a wave of stifled gasps erupted from the edge of the training ground.

Even though they had seen it once before, facing that deep, abyss-like blackness again, every student instinctively felt a sense of oppression emanating from the depths of their souls.

His long blue hair moved without wind, and the scent of the Ocean permeated the dry, hot air, like a clear stream pouring into boiling magma.

Mu Chen gripped his right hand, and the Trident appeared out of thin air. The blue-gold shaft refracted shimmering light under the sun, as if the entire Ocean had been condensed between the three-foot blade.

"Wang Dong, left flank." Mu Chen's voice was low and clear.

"Understood." Wang Dong spread the wings of the Radiant Goddess Butterfly. The pink-blue wings shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight, and with a flash, she darted to the left.

"Huo Yuhao, provide support from the rear." Mu Chen did not look back.

"Got it." Huo Yuhao's voice rang directly in his mind. At the same time, a three-dimensional perception map unfolded in Mu Chen's consciousness. Song Teng's positioning, the trajectory of his soul power flow, and every detail of the surrounding environment became as clear as the lines on one's palm under the coverage of Spiritual Detection Sharing.

With this, it was equivalent to having a pair of eyes overlooking the entire battlefield.

Mu Chen gripped the Trident tightly.

The coldness of the blade traveled through his palm into his veins. The power from the Ocean surged and roared within his meridians like an angry tide locked behind a floodgate, waiting only for the command to swallow everything.

"Come," he said.

Song Teng moved.

No probing, no buildup; once a powerhouse at the Soul Emperor level strikes, it is like mountains collapsing and the earth splitting.

Crimson soul power condensed into a giant dragon head on his fist, slamming forward with the momentum to incinerate the world. The air twisted and deformed under the high temperature; before the fist even arrived, the ground had already cracked into spiderweb-like fissures.

"Second soul skill, Deep Sea Imprisonment."

Mu Chen's voice exploded in the scorching air. He slammed the butt of the Trident into the ground. Centered on him, six water pillars as thick as vats rose from the ground, locking onto Song Teng from six directions simultaneously.

The water pillars began to evaporate the moment they formed, filling the air with white mist, but the structure of the imprisonment did not collapse, forcefully stalling Song Teng's momentum.

It was this stall.

Mu Chen's figure was no longer in its original spot.

Utilizing Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, his figure left several afterimages in the churning mist. The Trident thrust out from an incredibly tricky angle, the sharp whistle of the blade piercing the air causing people's eardrums to ache.

Song Teng's eyes narrowed. He swept his left arm across, his blazing fire soul power condensing into a flame shield to take the strike head-on.

Clang.

The deafening sound of metal clashing made the distant students cover their ears.

A visible shockwave exploded on the flame shield. A shallow pit formed under Song Teng's feet, but he himself did not move an inch.

Mu Chen used the recoil to flip backward, adjusting his posture in mid-air.

Just then, a pink-blue figure cut in from the side.

Wang Dong's second soul ring lit up. The Radiant Goddess Butterfly's wings bloomed with dazzling light, and countless light butterflies scattered from the tips of her wings, turning into a rain of light that enveloped Song Teng's flank.

The light butterflies landed on the flames with a hissing sound. Although they could not break through the fire's defense, they successfully interfered with Song Teng's line of sight.

"Nice!" Song Teng praised, backhanding a punch toward Wang Dong.

The momentum of the punch was fierce and fast. Wang Dong had no time to dodge and was about to grit her teeth to take it, when Huo Yuhao's voice suddenly rang in her mind: "Shift left three feet, sink two feet."

Wang Dong's body reacted faster than her consciousness. With a flap of her butterfly wings, she darted diagonally to the lower left.

The crimson fist aura grazed her hair, the scorching heat wave making her scalp tingle, but it missed.

The prediction from Spiritual Detection Sharing had saved her life by a hair's breadth.

Mu Chen did not waste this opportunity.

The moment Song Teng threw his punch, his third soul ring lit up.

"Deep Sea Storm."

The air in the center of the training ground suddenly sank.

Centered on Mu Chen, the space within a thirty-meter radius felt as if it had been gripped by an invisible giant hand.

Immediately after, sea-blue soul power erupted from the Trident, transforming into the phantom of a monstrous wave. The waves came one after another, layering on top of each other. Each crest contained multiple layers of force: the first wave a frontal impact, the second a lateral tearing, and the third an undertow from below.

Even more terrifying was that each wave carried a mental-level impact.

Song Teng's expression finally turned serious.

He let out a low shout, and his fifth soul ring lit up. The phantom of the Blazing Fire Dragon roared behind him, and crimson flames erupted from his body, colliding head-on with the incoming phantom of the sea waves.

BOOM!

The collision of water and fire erupted into a sky-filling mist. The shockwave, laden with gravel, blasted outward, forcing the spectating students to retreat in a hurry. A few who were slow to react were struck in the face by debris, wincing in pain.

Within the white fog, Mu Chen moved once again.

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

His figure vanished completely into the mist, leaving not even a lingering afterimage behind.

The blade of the Trident slid silently through the vapor, like a shark cutting through the dark currents of the deep sea—no sound, no trace, only a lethal chill.

Song Teng's pupils constricted violently.

He sensed danger, yet he could not see where the attack was coming from. Spiritual Detection Sharing covered his range of perception, but Huo Yuhao had deliberately obscured the trajectory of Mu Chen's attack, leaving a blank void in the sensory map.

This was the synergy Mu Chen and Huo Yuhao had honed outside of their fused cultivation: one used Spiritual Detection Sharing to illuminate the battlefield for their teammate while simultaneously creating a blind spot for the opponent.

The tip of the halberd broke through the mist.

Song Teng let out a fierce roar, and his sixth soul ring ignited instantly.

His stature surged, crimson dragon scales surfaced across his skin, his hands transformed into dragon claws, and a tail wreathed in raging flames whipped out from behind him, sweeping precisely toward the direction of the incoming Trident.

This soul skill could be considered a weakened version of the Avatar of the Martial Soul.

BANG!

Mu Chen was sent flying, halberd and all, only stabilizing his stance after flipping twice in the air.

A small, bloody gash split the web between his thumb and forefinger, yet the expression on his face grew even calmer.

"You've already used your sixth soul skill." He landed, a deep, dark light flashing in his blue eyes. "It seems the pressure on you, Teacher Song, is greater than I imagined."

Song Teng did not refute him.

Because he truly felt the pressure.