"Welcome to the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena. I'm your host, Guang Bo!"
"Bringing us today's exciting soul battle are the Imperial Dou Team and the Jade Maiden Fighting Team!"
"Let's welcome both sides onto the stage with a round of applause!"
On the Soul Fighting Arena, Guang Bo stood atop the suspended platform and announced loudly.
Di Lintian held the Dragon Scale Sword as he calmly walked at the very front of the Imperial Dou Team, with Na'er equally composed at his side.
In contrast, the Jade Maiden Fighting Team across from them was visibly nervous, watching the Imperial Dou Team warily.
"Both sides now have one minute for Martial Soul Possession. The match will begin promptly in one minute!"
Only after both teams had taken their places on the Soul Fighting Arena did Guang Bo call out loudly.
The minute passed in the blink of an eye. Other than Di Lintian, everyone had completed their Martial Soul Possession.
"What's with the Imperial Dou Team's captain? Why isn't he activating his Martial Soul?"
Someone in the spectator stands asked in confusion.
"Imperial Dou's captain, activate your Martial Soul! I bet on Imperial Dou to win!"
A middle-aged man shouted irritably.
Since this was the first soul battle for both Imperial Dou and Jade Maiden, the odds were one to one. This middle-aged man had gotten inside information that the Imperial Dou Team belonged to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, so he had wagered his entire fortune on them.
Di Lintian heard the man's shout as well and shot him a cold sideways glance. At that look, the man instantly felt as if he had been targeted by an evil dragon.
"The soul battle begins!"
As the referee's voice fell, the Jade Maiden Fighting Team's captain gripped an ice blade and turned into a pale-blue streak of light as she charged toward Di Lintian.
Three of the Imperial Dou Team's seven members were assault-type Soul Masters, so their tactics were fairly simple: one-on-one combat.
The moment the battle began, the Jade Maiden Fighting Team's captain took the initiative to confront Di Lintian, while Na'er charged at another Soul Ancestor from the Jade Maiden Fighting Team.
Dugu Yan, Osler, and Yu Feng each held back one member of the Jade Maiden Fighting Team as well.
Without the Shi brothers, Ye Lingling was left unprotected and could only be guarded by Yu Tianheng.
The Jade Maiden Fighting Team's captain was named Song Yue, and her Martial Soul was an ice blade.
Song Yue raised the ice blade high and slashed down at Di Lintian's head.
Before the blade arrived, the wind did.
Before the ice blade fell, the biting chill swirling around it had already reached him.
Di Lintian retreated half a step and raised the Dragon Scale Sword horizontally to block.
Clang—!
The blade's tip struck the sword. The immense force traveled through the Dragon Scale Sword into Di Lintian's palm, leaving the web between his thumb and forefinger slightly numb.
He fiercely swept the Dragon Scale Sword upward, and Song Yue used that force to drift lightly backward.
Di Lintian circulated Soul Power to ease the numbness in his arm, then tightened his grip on the Dragon Scale Sword and lunged forward, thrusting it toward Song Yue's abdomen.
"First Soul Skill, Chill!"
Song Yue's first yellow Soul Ring flashed and attached itself to the ice blade, instantly sending frigid air spilling outward.
The ice blade, condensed with chill, swept horizontally at the Dragon Scale Sword thrusting toward her.
Di Lintian swiftly withdrew the Dragon Scale Sword to prevent the chill from creeping along it and invading his body.
The instant the Dragon Scale Sword pulled back, a scorching aura erupted from it, and blazing flames flared to life.
On the other side, Na'er's opponent was Li Mengyuan, whose Martial Soul was the Dragon Lion, a draconic sub-species.
The thin dragon blood within Li Mengyuan's body normally granted her a tremendous boost in battle power, but against Na'er, that same dragon blood became her deadliest weakness.
Before Na'er's terrifying dragon might, Li Mengyuan could not even display half her original strength. Na'er could completely suppress her with nothing more than simple elemental control.
At that moment, Na'er was controlling the ice element to form towering walls of ice, trapping Li Mengyuan within them.
The seven elements Na'er controlled did not include ice, but she could use it as a derivative application of the water element.
The ice walls Na'er created were not thick. Rather than trying to restrain Li Mengyuan, she was more like teasing her.
Every long-range attack Li Mengyuan launched was returned to her intact through Na'er's spatial power.
Li Mengyuan had genuinely been tortured to the point of collapse by Na'er. She was now sitting quietly inside the ice house Na'er had prepared for her, no longer struggling.
Using the powerful venom of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent, Dugu Yan surrounded two members of the Jade Maiden Fighting Team and slowly let the poison seep inward.
Yu Tianheng had also encountered a Jade Maiden Fighting Team member head-on. He had originally thought he would coast through the entire match and had even figured out how to ask Teacher Mystic Water to transfer him back to the front lines afterward.
Yet someone had actually tried to ambush Ye Lingling. Fortunately, Yu Tianheng had remained vigilant, so she had failed.
Osler and Yu Feng teamed up, taking turns battling the sole remaining Jade Maiden team member.
The situation was already very clear. Unless they had some hidden trump card like a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, they could prepare to leave the arena.
Other than the battle between Di Lintian and Song Yue, the Imperial Dou Team held an absolute advantage on every battlefield.
Di Lintian gripped the Dragon Scale Sword again and slashed down at Song Yue. She shifted her feet, turned, and sidestepped gracefully, evading his attack.
"You're better suited to a blade."
Song Yue's hands did not stop moving as her ice blade stabbed straight at Di Lintian.
"I think you're better suited to a sword."
Di Lintian raised his sword to block.
"Is that so? I think so too."
Song Yue used her ice blade to knock the Dragon Scale Sword aside and continued thrusting inward.
Di Lintian lightly tapped the ground with his toes and drifted swiftly backward.
"Third Soul Skill, Piercing Thrust!"
A cold gleam flashed from the ice blade's tip as it suddenly lengthened, relentlessly pursuing the retreating Di Lintian.
Di Lintian used Roaming Dragon Steps, copying Song Yue's earlier movements as he shifted his feet, turned, and sidestepped her third Soul Skill.
"Well, well, you're even stealing this lady's footwork!"
Song Yue's second Soul Ring flashed. She instantly lunged and arrived before Di Lintian.
Her blade attacks came in an unbroken stream—thrusts, lifts, points, twists—every move deadly, every strike leaving no gaps.
Di Lintian's expression sharpened. Song Yue was finally getting serious.
"Second Soul Skill, Demon Dragon Body Protection!"
Three Soul Rings in an unprecedented configuration of purple, purple, and black flashed by. Di Lintian had no choice but to activate his second Soul Skill to defend himself.
The phantom of the Dark Demon Dragon King's true body appeared, shielding Di Lintian within.
Song Yue's tide-like barrage struck Demon Dragon Body Protection without causing Di Lintian the slightest injury. Instead, it allowed him to learn quite a few sword techniques from her.
After Song Yue's offensive ended, Di Lintian tried to imitate it. First came the thrust, as the Dragon Scale Sword slowly stabbed forward. Then came the lift, as the Dragon Scale Sword swept upward. Next came the point, as the Dragon Scale Sword suddenly jabbed forward. Finally came the twist, as Di Lintian turned his wrist and rotated the sword to one side.
Di Lintian slowly completed the entire chain of moves Song Yue had used against him earlier.
"Not bad. You're improving quickly."
Song Yue smiled and shouted loudly to the referee, "Referee, we surrender! We can't win, so we're done fighting!"
"Thank you for going easy on me!"
Di Lintian looked at Song Yue's sunny smile and returned it with a sincere one.
"Why did they surrender?"
"Fixed match! It's fixed! Give me back my hard-earned money!"
Dissatisfaction instantly erupted through the spectator stands, but the Soul Masters responsible for security at the Great Soul Arena quickly suppressed it.
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