Second Soul Skill, Heartburn Calamity Fire!

Xu Sanshi dropped to one knee, violent breaths wrenching through his chest.

Sweat mixed with blood dripped from his hard jaw.

The unrelenting defeats and public humiliation had completely torn apart the last of his reason.

He, a dignified core disciple of the outer court, had actually been toyed with like a dog by a freshman!

The flames of fury raged in his heart, burning away every last reservation.

"Ah—!"

A beast-like roar of desperation erupted from the depths of Xu Sanshi's throat.

He abruptly straightened up. His eyes were entirely bloodshot, filled with a mad loss of reason.

He pounded his chest and forcibly spat out a mouthful of vital blood essence, spraying it directly onto the black Dark Tortoise Shield before him.

The originally pitch-black Dark Tortoise Shield absorbed the blood essence, and the ancient patterns on its surface instantly seemed to come alive, blooming with dark, profound black light.

Moisture in the surrounding air gathered wildly as the oppressive force of heavy water elements increased geometrically, even condensing into fine black raindrops above the arena.

Accompanied by a low, ancient beastly roar, an illusory black serpent burst forth from above the shield. Its thick body coiled tightly around the massive tortoise shell.

The serpent flicked its tongue, and the tortoise opened its eyes. Their auras merged perfectly, radiating an ancient, savage divine might.

Black Tortoise Awakening!

The spectators in the front rows were forced back again and again by the sudden terrifying pressure, struggling to breathe.

At the center of the arena, Yun Yi had shed his earlier casual demeanor.

His gaze was icy as he stared intently at the imposing Black Tortoise phantom, killing intent boiling in his chest.

For a Dark Tortoise to evolve into a Black Tortoise, it had to rely on a pure young girl with a specific constitution as a furnace.

Originally, Jiang Nannan should have been that tragic victim.

But because of his intervention, Jiang Nannan and her mother had escaped their misery long ago and were safe.

Since Jiang Nannan was unharmed, yet Xu Sanshi could still forcibly activate Black Tortoise Awakening, there was only one possible truth.

For the sake of this young sect master's future, the Xuanming Sect must have secretly sought out another innocent girl with suitable talent.

The fate of that girl, treated as a replacement, was easy to imagine. Her primordial yin and talent must have been forcibly stolen, reducing her to a cripple—or perhaps she had long since died miserably in some sunless corner.

He had ruined a girl's life to complete his Martial Soul Evolution, yet he could still put on an affectionate act and relentlessly pursue Jiang Nannan in public.

Such utterly selfish, nauseatingly hypocritical behavior had crossed Yun Yi's bottom line.

This beast deserved to die.

Yun Yi gripped the longbow in his hand. Crimson-gold light leaped violently across its limbs, illuminating his black eyes brimming with murderous intent.

Across from him, Xu Sanshi was immensely confident after completing Black Tortoise Awakening.

Feeling the incomparably powerful force within his body, he grinned viciously at Yun Yi.

The third purple soul ring beneath his feet blazed brightly. His thousand-year soul skill, Power of the Black Tortoise!

A deep black halo instantly enveloped his entire body.

Xu Sanshi's muscles swelled again, stretching his hard tortoise shell even thicker.

His strength, defense, and shield-strike power all surged to their limits at that moment.

Within ten meters around him, everything had transformed into a domain of heavy, viscous black water.

Any enemy who stepped inside would be greatly hindered and weakened.

"Pretty boy, come die!"

Xu Sanshi crushed the Diamond Rock beneath his feet. His entire body became a black cannonball, carrying a mountain-toppling water-element storm as he launched his final charge at Yun Yi.

This time, he was more than twice as fast as before.

Faced with the menacing Black Tortoise charge, Yun Yi remained as steady as a mountain.

He raised the bow in his left hand. This time, he had no intention of waiting for his opponent to cross that so-called five-meter line.

A deep-purple soul ring rose beneath his feet, pulsing up and down around his body.

The purple radiance was deep and pure, displaying the exceptionally high age of this thousand-year soul ring.

His second soul ring appeared!

Yun Yi hooked his right hand around the bowstring formed from pure light and pulled it back with force.

The raging fire elements around him flowed backward in a frenzy, and an exceptionally strange arrow rapidly took shape on the string.

Unlike the purely dazzling crimson-gold arrows from before, this arrow had a dark-red core at its tip that made one's heart tremble, flickering with the purest True Sunfire.

The space around the arrow warped violently as an aura of destruction aimed specifically at the spirit spread outward.

Second Soul Skill, Heartburn Calamity Fire Arrow!

It was not merely a physical attack, but a dual execution of body and spirit.

Not only did it possess extreme armor-piercing and explosive destructive power, but even more terrifyingly, the instant the arrow entered its target, it would nail a wisp of True Sunfire directly into the enemy's heart and spiritual sea, igniting their heartfire from within.

This heartfire used the enemy's seven emotions and six desires as fuel.

The more extreme the enemy's emotions—whether rage, jealousy, or arrogance—the more fiercely the heartfire burned.

It would forcibly disrupt the enemy's Soul Power circulation and burn away their life force amid unbearable agony.

Yun Yi's gaze was cold as he released the bowstring.

"Twng—"

The dark-red calamity fire arrow became a beam of death, instantly piercing through the air and colliding head-on with the charging Xu Sanshi.

Xu Sanshi roared as he raised the Black Tortoise Shield before him, driving the Power of the Black Tortoise to its limit in an attempt to withstand the attack with this supposedly indestructible heavy shield.

The instant they collided, an ear-piercing sound of tearing metal exploded across the arena.

The armor-piercing attribute of extreme light displayed its tyrannical dominance.

The thick tortoise shell covered by the Black Tortoise divine beast phantom was as brittle as paper before the calamity fire arrow. It was instantly pierced through, leaving a smooth circular hole with charred-black edges.

The arrow bored into the shield without obstruction.

Immediately afterward, the explosive property of extreme fire was fully unleashed.

"BOOM—!"

An earthshaking explosion echoed through the entire Soul Duel Arena.

Raging True Sunfire detonated within the Black Tortoise Shield, and a crimson-gold sea of flames swallowed the black water domain.

The supposedly indestructible Dark Tortoise Shield let out a shrill wail before shattering into countless pitch-black fragments before everyone's eyes, scattering in all directions.

The Black Tortoise phantom was directly burned into wisps of smoke by the divine fire and vanished without a trace.

His Martial Soul had been forcibly shattered, and the terrifying backlash surged into Xu Sanshi's meridians like a tidal wave.

Xu Sanshi threw back his head and spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with chunks of viscera. His massive body was hurled into the air by the blast wave, then crashed onto the platform dozens of meters away like a rag doll. He rolled more than ten times before finally coming to a stop.

His entire body was charred black, his solid muscles blown into a bloody mess. He had completely passed out, and only the faint rise and fall of his chest showed that he still had a breath left.

Everyone in the audience was struck speechless by the scene.

A renowned core disciple of the outer court had been instantly defeated by a freshman even after revealing all his trump cards, with his Martial Soul shattered on the spot.

The referee at the edge of the arena was the first to recover.

He quickly rushed onto the stage, carefully checked Xu Sanshi's injuries, then confirmed that he had completely lost the ability to fight. He immediately raised his right hand and loudly announced,

"Winner of this soul duel: Yun Yi of Freshman Class One!"

Several academy teachers in charge of medical care hurried onto the stage carrying a stretcher. Working together, they moved the severely injured and unconscious Xu Sanshi onto it and raced toward the infirmary.

Yun Yi put away his bow and brushed nonexistent dust from his sleeve. His expression remained calm, as though he had merely tossed aside a piece of trash.

He turned and walked off the arena.

In the stands, Jiang Nannan watched Yun Yi approach, her eyes full of tenderness.

Xiao Xiao's pretty face was flushed red with excitement, and her little hands nearly tore the corner of her clothes to shreds.

Wang Dong sucked in a sharp breath and silently rejoiced that she had been sensible enough in the dormitory that morning. Otherwise, her fate now probably would not have been much better than Xu Sanshi's.

Everyone's eyes followed Yun Yi's departing figure.

No one noticed that within Xu Sanshi's battered body as he was carried away, an invisible dark-red spark was silently lurking deep within his heart.

It was the source of heartfire left behind by the Heartburn Calamity Fire Arrow.

It was perfectly concealed. Not even the academy's healing-type Soul Masters could possibly detect the slightest trace of it.

The spark greedily absorbed the lingering resentment and unwillingness within Xu Sanshi's subconscious, quietly gathering strength.

As Yun Yi walked back toward the dormitory, frost filled his eyes.

He had already arranged the final ending for that hypocritical turtle.

He only needed to wait for the right moment. With a single thought, the dormant heartfire would erupt instantly, burning his organs to ash from the inside out.

When that time came, even if the academy's physicians scoured every medical text, they would only conclude that he had suffered a deviation in cultivation and died suddenly after rage had consumed his heart.

This flawless execution would offer a belated sacrifice to the innocent girl who had suffered such cruel persecution.