First Soul Skill: Ferocious!

Li Yuan stood on the steps with his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes brightening slightly.

With his eye, he could naturally tell that A Liang had not used any soul skills at all. He was fighting purely with his physical ability and movement technique.

A rank twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster, without releasing a single soul skill, had toyed with a rank forty-one defense-type Soul Ancestor using nothing but physical speed and reaction ability.

This man... had something to him.

In the arena, A Liang sidestepped the punch Tie Mu swung wildly at him, and his bamboo pole followed the motion, tapping lightly against the back of Tie Mu's head with a tock.

"Rank forty-one Soul Ancestor?"

He backed away two steps, a blade of grass between his teeth as he tilted his head and looked at Tie Mu, his tone light and airy. "Is that supposed to be impressive? I haven't even used a soul skill, so how are you already looking for your teeth all over the ground?"

Tie Mu panted heavily. His face, neck, and arms were covered in red marks, each one a welt left by the bamboo pole.

He raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. The contempt and mockery in his eyes had completely vanished, replaced by a seriousness he had never shown before.

He straightened up, clenched his fists, and took a deep breath.

"You're strong."

Tie Mu's voice deepened, carrying a bit of gritted-teeth earnestness. "I underestimated you. But from now on, I'm getting serious."

Four soul rings suddenly lit up around him, two yellow and two purple.

The phantom of a massive Iron-Armored Black Water Turtle condensed behind him, its shell heavy as iron, its limbs thick as pillars, water vapor churning around its body.

"Martial soul, open!"

The giant turtle phantom behind Tie Mu solidified, and his skin took on an iron-gray sheen, as if he had been draped in an invisible suit of armor.

Seeing this, A Liang chuckled, and the foxtail grass at the corner of his mouth tilted up with him. "Heh, that's it? What happened to not opening your martial soul?"

"Cut the crap!"

Tie Mu rolled his neck, his joints cracking, his gaze turning completely serious.

"First Soul Skill, Iron-Armored Black Turtle Shield!"

He snapped his right arm out, soul power condensing, and a black shield three feet square appeared in his hand. Its edges were sharp as blades, and turtle-shell patterns were carved across its surface.

He suddenly drove power through both legs. The ground cracked with a boom, and his whole body barreled toward A Liang like a heavy war chariot.

The shield came smashing down!

A Liang dodged sideways. The shield grazed the hem of his clothes and slammed into the ground, blasting out a pit half a foot deep with a boom as shattered stones flew everywhere.

Tie Mu yanked the shield free and swept it across in a backhand slash. A Liang bent at the waist and ducked under it, and the shield swept through the low wall beside him, slicing off half of it with a crash.

After opening his martial soul, Tie Mu's assault became far fiercer. Every strike carried a crushing sense of overwhelming force, but A Liang's movement was as slippery and strange as an eel. He threaded and dodged through the shield shadows, always escaping by the barest margin.

Tie Mu smashed down more than a dozen times in a row, pocking the ground with craters, yet he did not even touch a single strand of A Liang's hair.

He gasped for breath, his face ashen.

"Damn it! This brat is too fast. I can't hit him at all!"

He abruptly stopped, his gaze darkening. "I can't go on like this. Second Soul Skill, Triple Gravity!"

A pale yellow halo spread out from beneath his feet, covering an area thirty meters around him.

A Liang's figure suddenly froze. It was as if a small mountain had pressed down on him. His shoulders sank, his knees bent slightly, his soles sank half an inch into the ground, and his movements slowed considerably.

Tie Mu grinned. "Heh heh! It's over!"

He suddenly flung out his right arm, and the shield spun from his hand, flying straight at A Liang's front with a howling rush of wind.

Cold light flashed along the shield's edge. If this strike landed cleanly, even if it did not kill him, it would leave him badly injured.

A wave of sharp gasps rose from the surrounding crowd.

"It's over... That kid can't dodge!"

"I told you. How could a rank forty-one Soul Ancestor lose to a rank twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster?"

"But that kid really does have some skill, forcing Tie Mu this far."

Li Yuan stood on the steps, calmly watching the arena without moving.

The Di Jun tilted his head slightly. "My lord, should I intervene?"

"Keep watching."

Li Yuan had the feeling that A Liang still had not gone all out.

That series of dodges and evasive maneuvers just now had indeed been beautiful, but he had handled it too easily. It did not look like he was fighting for his life. It seemed more like a warm-up.

In the arena.

A Liang was hunched under the pressure of gravity. Seeing the shield wrapped in fierce wind come howling toward him, he suddenly raised his head, and the corner of his mouth beneath the bamboo hat curved upward.

"Sigh... I was planning to save some strength."

The instant his voice fell, the aura around him abruptly changed.

The man who had seemed lazy and casual a moment ago now seemed to have shed his skin. His eyes turned sharp as blades, and his whole body exuded an indescribably fierce presence.

"First Soul Skill: Ferocious."

The white soul ring beneath his feet suddenly lit up, its radiance flaring bright.

A wild, violent, boundless aura swept out from him, forcibly pushing away the Triple Gravity pressing down on him. The earth beneath his feet split outward in all directions, cracks spreading like a spiderweb.

The bamboo pole trembled faintly in his hand.

To the outside world, it looked like nothing more than an ordinary green bamboo pole, but in that moment, it was as if a divine sword that had slept for a thousand years had finally awakened.

A Liang raised his hand and casually swung a sword strike forward.

A streak of green sword light shot from the tip of the bamboo pole, thin as a cicada's wing and swift as a startled swan, wrapped in an indescribable ferocious intent.

Wherever the sword light passed, even the air was torn open, leaving a white shockwave visible to the naked eye.

The shield met the sword light.

Riiip—!

The Iron-Armored Black Turtle Shield condensed from soul power was cleaved in two down the middle, the cut smooth and even.

Its remaining force undiminished, the green light continued killing toward Tie Mu's face.

Tie Mu's pupils shrank sharply. "This... how is this possible?!"

But he had no time to think. Instinctively, he sensed the terrifying might contained within that sword light.

A chill shot from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head. Soul power surged madly through his entire body, and his fourth purple soul ring suddenly lit up.

"Fourth Soul Skill: Black Turtle Protection!"

An enormous black turtle phantom, fully three zhang tall, erupted from within him. Its shell was layered upon layered, thick and solid as a mountain, wrapping him up completely.

Bang!

The green light slammed into Black Turtle Protection, producing a dull, thunderous boom.

The turtle shell shook violently, cracks spreading outward from the point of impact like a spiderweb.

The black turtle phantom struggled to hold on for two breaths. Then there came a crisp crack.

The turtle shell shattered.

The green sword light pierced through the fragments and continued slashing toward Tie Mu's face.

Tie Mu's eyes went wide, his entire body frozen stiff.

It was over.

"Ruins of Time: Annihilation"

Just as the sword light was less than three inches from the tip of his nose, an invisible force suddenly descended.

The air seemed to freeze for an instant. That incomparably sharp green light silently dispersed, as if gently wiped away by an unseen hand, leaving not even the slightest ripple behind.

Tie Mu collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, cold sweat soaking through the clothes on his back.

The Di Jun slowly withdrew his raised finger. The power of the Ruins of Time rippled faintly at his fingertip, then sank back into silence.

The entire place was deathly silent.