Finally Entering the Arena, First Encounter with Spirit Hall's Saintess Hu Liena

"Miss, I know you favor that boy."

"But his trump card has already been exposed. Our Spirit Hall Academy already has a way to deal with it. He has no chance of winning at all."

Pufferfish Douluo shook his head.

To tell the truth.

The reason Li Qinglian had been able to defeat Dai Tianyao and his fiancée's Martial Soul Fusion Skill with a single sword strike was merely because there had been flaws in their fusion.

Not every Soul Master's martial soul fusion could reach a perfect state.

For both sides of a martial soul fusion, aside from an extremely high compatibility between their martial souls, enough to complete a Martial Soul Fusion Skill—

There was another important factor: the compatibility of their souls and affection.

Dai Tianyao and Zhu Zhuyun clearly had not reached a perfect state yet. Therefore, in reality, Li Qinglian had split apart their martial soul fusion state with one sword. After Li Qinglian broke their martial soul fusion, both of them suffered backlash.

Li Qinglian had taken a shortcut.

The Dai Clan had arranged marriages for generations, but precisely because of that, aside from the first generation, the two sides of their later Martial Soul Fusion Skills had been forcibly bound together, with a weak emotional foundation.

If a true Soul King stood before Li Qinglian, no matter how strong Li Qinglian's Sword Intent was, it would still be very hard for him to win.

And Spirit Hall possessed Soul King powerhouses.

Xie Yue and Hu Liena were siblings, with deep feelings between them and an extremely high degree of martial soul fusion. It would also be very difficult for Li Qinglian to find a flaw easily.

More importantly, aside from Ao Tian and the Xie Yue siblings, the rest of Spirit Hall Academy's members all had cultivation above rank forty-five.

And a rank forty-five Soul Ancestor, in Tianshui Team, already had the strength to serve as captain!

How could such a terrifying Spirit Hall Academy possibly lose?

"Then how about it, Elder? Make a bet with me. If I win..."

"Mm... then Elder has to agree to one request of mine. Of course, I haven't decided what to bet on yet."

Qian Renxue stroked her chin and gave a soft laugh.

"Very well. Since Miss has such refined interest, I'm naturally willing to bet."

Pufferfish Douluo laughed.

He discovered it.

Miss seemed to have become much more cheerful, to the point that she could even joke around now.

Snake Spear Douluo also looked at Qian Renxue in astonishment.

What a pity.

Li Qinglian was still too young.

But for a Soul Master, youth truly was not much of a problem.

It was just that, for Li Qinglian, his greatest problem had yet to be exposed.

"What a pity. Li Qinglian's martial soul is the Evil Fire Phoenix. He'll suffer backlash from the evil fire for his entire life."

"I wonder how many tribulations he's already survived. The further he goes, the harder it will become. The road of the phoenix's nirvana is not so easy to walk."

The secrets of the Evil Fire Phoenix were no secret to top-level powerhouses.

Over the past thousand years, it was not as though no geniuses whose martial souls had mutated into the Evil Fire Phoenix had appeared.

Almost all of them had been dazzling.

But they all perished midway.

Li Qinglian was very strong, but if he was a genius destined to fall, then that would be far too disappointing.

"Xue'er actually came back?"

"She came back for Li Qinglian?"

Pope Bibi Dong's beautiful eyes looked in Qian Renxue's direction.

She knew Qian Renxue was very proud, even somewhat arrogant and dismissive of others.

Li Qinglian's appearance should have brought her no small amount of pressure.

"But she's probably here to fight me for him."

Bibi Dong shifted her gaze away.

As for Li Qinglian, she was already determined to have him.

"If Li Qinglian is unwilling to join my Pope Palace, I absolutely won't let him go to the Consecration Hall either."

Bibi Dong said this in a low voice.

Over the past few years, all of Spirit Hall's geniuses had belonged to the Pope Palace.

The Consecration Hall's strongest genius, Qian Renxue, had already left Spirit Hall, leaving the Consecration Hall without successors.

If Li Qinglian entered the Consecration Hall, then all her efforts over these years would have been in vain.

This day...

Without a doubt, it was the liveliest Spirit City had been in decades.

The birth of an unparalleled monster like Li Qinglian had shaken the world.

Powerhouses and geniuses from countless factions rushed over one after another.

They wanted to see this unparalleled monster who had broken through to Soul Elder at ten years old and comprehended Sword Intent.

Even though the match had not yet begun, the audience's gazes were all focused on Li Qinglian.

For the first time in a thousand years, another team had stolen the spotlight from Spirit Hall's team.

Spirit City was originally Spirit Hall Academy's home ground, but that person was simply too dazzling.

So dazzling that even people who had never cultivated knew how freakish he was.

"Li Qinglian. My name is Ao Tian. I'm the captain of Spirit Hall's team."

As they walked onto the competition stage, Ao Tian took the initiative to greet Li Qinglian.

No matter the result, Li Qinglian had already won his respect.

"Li Qinglian, ordinary member of Tianshui Team."

One did not slap a smiling face. Li Qinglian shook hands with Ao Tian.

"Li Qinglian. Actually, there's been a question buried in my heart all this time. I wonder if you can give me an answer."

Ao Tian spoke.

"Go ahead. At this point, I don't think I have anything to hide."

Li Qinglian nodded.

As expected of an elite student from Spirit Hall, his manners were indeed much better than those of Star Luo Team.

Even if Li Qinglian could tell that the other party did not really take him seriously.

"You're actually from Blazing Fire Academy. Why did you join Tianshui Team?"

"Your first martial soul is Fire Phoenix, and your second martial soul is a sword. And it's a sword martial soul without any soul rings attached."

"Water and fire are incompatible. Your first martial soul clashes with Tianshui Team. If you represent Tianshui Team in battle, you can't use your first martial soul. But your second martial soul is only a sword without soul rings."

"Even if your Sword Intent is indeed very strong and shocking, that doesn't represent strength."

"Even without making any preparations, I still couldn't possibly be caught by you as easily as Dai Tianyao was."

Ao Tian rambled on.

"Actually. You're wrong."

"Water and fire being incompatible isn't exactly the correct conclusion."

Li Qinglian smiled and patted Ao Tian on the shoulder.

"How is that possible? Water and fire counter each other. That's common sense. If you were to use your martial soul together with the people of Tianshui Team, not only would the power of your martial soul be greatly reduced, the strength of the rest of Tianshui Team would also be affected."

Hu Liena, who was walking behind Ao Tian, could not help but speak.

Li Qinglian turned around.

The young woman wore Spirit Hall's team uniform, a tight outfit that outlined her slender yet dangerous curves. Her chestnut hair and fox-like eyes, which were gradually gaining a soul-snaring allure, were especially striking.

Apart from Dai Davis and Zhu Zhuyun, this was the second time Li Qinglian had seen characters from the original plot.

Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden, Hu Liena!

"My name is Hu Liena. You still haven't answered my question."

Hu Liena's pretty face flushed slightly.

"Is common sense always right?"

The corner of Li Qinglian's mouth lifted.

"What else would it be?"

Hu Liena puffed up her cheeks and widened her eyes in a glare.

"True knowledge comes from practice. Sometimes, conclusions within common sense only hold under specific conditions."

"Under ordinary conditions, ice and fire are incompatible, but under certain circumstances, the situation may change."

Li Qinglian very earnestly gave Hu Liena a little science lesson.