New Effect of a Soul Skill

"No wonder you beat Dai Huabin into that state. I never expected your second soul ring to be purple too."

"Still, even if you, like me, have a thousand-year second ring, I'm definitely going to see just how big the gap between us is today!"

When Wang Dong saw the thousand-year second soul ring on Jiang Yue, the pride in her heart was already shattered to pieces.

In truth, Wang Dong had always been very proud. Even though her cultivation lagged behind Dai Huabin and the others, she did not think she was much inferior to them. She was merely a little lazy and neglected her cultivation, which was why her soul power did not rank among the top tier for people her age.

However, the thousand-year second ring she possessed made up for that flaw rather well.

Wang Dong beat her butterfly wings and charged at Jiang Yue at her fastest speed. During the charge, her first soul ring lit up. Her wings, which had become like guillotine blades, struck Jiang Yue head-on with the momentum of her forward flight.

Jiang Yue raised his sword to block. With a clang, the sound of metal striking metal spread outward, while the stone bricks beneath his feet cracked with a sharp crunch.

Wang Dong was indeed quite strong, but Jiang Yue also possessed a thousand-year second ring, and his soul power had already surpassed the Soul Elder level. Coupled with the physiological difference between males and females, no matter how much force Wang Dong exerted, she could not press her butterfly wings down even half an inch.

Pushing aside the wing-blades, the Passionate Sword shot straight for her throat. Wang Dong retreated in panic, barely avoiding the Passionate Sword with Huo Yuhao's enhancement to her senses.

Wang Dong had only just breathed a sigh of relief when the Passionate Sword attacked her again. She flapped her butterfly wings and clashed fiercely with the Passionate Sword, but for some reason, she simply could not grasp Jiang Yue's attacks. She could not understand from which direction he would strike. He was completely unlike anyone she had fought before, and she could not shake the strange feeling at all.

Only then did Wang Dong notice that Jiang Yue had been holding his sword in his left hand the entire time. She realized that Jiang Yue was left-handed. No wonder fighting him felt so strange.

Whether it was beast martial souls or weapon martial souls, none of Wang Dong's usual opponents had been left-handed. Their fighting habits naturally followed those of right-handed people. Suddenly facing a left-hander left her profoundly uncomfortable. This was a difference in attack patterns, and it was not something she could adapt to immediately.

Seeing herself continuously suppressed by Jiang Yue, Wang Dong clenched her teeth and brought her two butterfly wings together. She was no longer using them as blades, but as blunt weapons.

Clang!

No matter how hard Wang Dong pushed, the Passionate Sword did not shift even a fraction toward Jiang Yue.

Jiang Yue suddenly twisted his wrist, and the Passionate Sword slid upward along the butterfly wings. Wang Dong inwardly cried out in alarm and immediately retreated at high speed, leaving the sword's attack range. Yet the Passionate Sword still drew a silver thread through the air. It was neither a sword mark nor sword qi, but pure spiritual power.

Before Wang Dong could react, the thread had already entered her body. In an instant, she felt all fighting spirit vanish from her heart. Her motivation disappeared, the speed of her soul power circulation abruptly slowed, and it felt as though her mind had separated from her body. She became incomparably stiff in that moment. Even her butterfly wings stopped flapping as she fell from midair toward the ground.

With Huo Yuhao's soul skill support, Xiao Xiao barely controlled her Three Lives Soul-Calming Cauldron martial soul to deal with both Lu Bei and Zuo Fan at once. However, against a Soul Elder with ample soul power, her defeat was only a matter of time.

Seeing Wang Dong's predicament, Xiao Xiao gritted her teeth and immediately controlled one of the great cauldrons to attack Jiang Yue, who was pressing his advantage.

The spinning cauldron smashed toward Jiang Yue with unstoppable momentum. Noticing the situation, Jiang Yue immediately turned and blocked it.

Screech—

Sparks continuously burst from where the blade met the Soul-Calming Cauldron. Meanwhile, Xiao Xiao, the cauldron's owner, was already somewhat dazed. She could not understand how a weapon martial soul Soul Elder could receive her Soul-Calming Cauldron so effortlessly.

Given the Soul-Calming Cauldron's weight, even a beast martial soul Soul Elder would have to exert force. It was impossible for anyone to handle it as casually as Jiang Yue.

At that moment, seeing how relaxed Jiang Yue appeared and sensing the soul power fluctuations emanating from him, Wang Dong could determine that Jiang Yue's soul power level was likely not merely that of a Soul Elder. He might even be more than ten levels above her, a Grand Soul Master.

At the thought of that ten-level difference in soul power, Wang Dong's purple soul ring bloomed with dazzling radiance, and the butterfly wings of her Radiant Goddess Butterfly shone brilliantly as the soul ring activated.

The golden patterns on her originally blue butterfly wings continuously emitted intense, dazzling light, like countless tiny suns. Wang Dong's entire body was enveloped in light and dyed a brilliant gold.

Thousand-year soul skill, Butterfly Goddess Light!

Without exaggeration, the power of the skill Wang Dong was using was absolutely somewhat greater than an ordinary Soul Elder's third soul skill. After all, Butterfly Goddess Light had such an obvious charging motion.

However, just as Wang Dong's Butterfly Goddess Light was about to burst forth and turn the battle around in one stroke, a snap sounded in her mind. She felt the connection between her mind and body sever at that moment, and she completely lost the desire to attack. The sensation came and went quickly, lasting only an instant.

Yet because of that momentary change, the light on Wang Dong's butterfly wings collapsed in the blink of an eye. The Butterfly Goddess Light, which had practically finished preparing, completely dispersed.

The sudden development left Wang Dong at a loss. She had clearly already consumed a substantial amount of soul power, so why had Butterfly Goddess Light failed to activate in the end? It was as though someone had forcibly cut off the progress bar of the entire soul skill at the very last moment.

Wait!

Wang Dong looked at Jiang Yue in disbelief. The first thing that entered her sight was Jiang Yue's confident smile. Then she saw that the sword in Jiang Yue's hand was pointed at her from afar, while the Soul-Calming Cauldron was being blocked by one of his bare hands!

Wang Dong knew perfectly well just how heavy Xiao Xiao's Soul-Calming Cauldron martial soul was. The spinning cauldron was even more powerful—calling it a meat grinder would not be an exaggeration. Yet Jiang Yue had actually stopped it with his bare hand? Furthermore, there was not even a trace of blood or wear on the lustrous white soul beast hide wrapped around his hand.

Below the stage, Wang Yan was naturally also utterly shocked by everything taking place above. As a leading theorist of Shrek Academy, he could determine that the soul beast hide wrapped around Jiang Yue's hand definitely did not come from a soul beast known for defense. Judging by its appearance, it should have come from some soft-bodied soul beast. Such hide could be said to have even less defensive power than ordinary soul beast hide.

That sort of soul beast hide had no use beyond a little decoration. In other words, Jiang Yue's ability to stop the Soul-Calming Cauldron so effortlessly could only be explained by his own strength.

At least, that was what Wang Yan thought.

If the hide wrapped around Jiang Yue's hand had merely been the shed skin of an ordinary iceworm, then things would indeed have been much as Wang Yan imagined. But it was not. It was the shed skin of the million-year soul beast Dream Iceworm, a unique treasure in this world. When fully activated, while its defensive power might not withstand beings at Di Tian or Bear Lord's level, it could at least deal with the Ice Empress and Purple Ji without any problem.

Although Dream Iceworm was not personally using its own shed skin now, preventing the hide's various abilities from being fully unleashed, it was still not something the Soul-Calming Cauldron could damage.

Jiang Yue's physical constitution far surpassed that of soul masters at the same level. Combined with the fact that his cultivation was now that of a genuine high-level Soul Elder, catching the Soul-Calming Cauldron was naturally effortless.

What shocked Wang Dong most was the Passionate Sword in Jiang Yue's hand, pointed at her from afar, as well as the first soul ring floating behind him.

Jiang Yue's first soul ring had merely come from a hundred-year Purple Spirit Jackal. Although its effect was rather good as an early transitional soul skill compared to other people's first soul rings, it was only barely usable in the long run.

Jiang Yue was fairly satisfied with his first soul skill. After all, he was not living in the era of Soul Land Three. Not only was it impossible to find any time-type soul beasts, there was no method to increase a soul ring's age either. Even if there were, Jiang Yue did not know what soul spirit Passionate Douluo Zang Xin possessed.

After obtaining his first soul ring, Jiang Yue had originally considered whether, once he became stronger, he should hunt certain special spiritual-attribute soul beasts—such as the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler, which had comprehended the Light of Time and Space—to see whether he could obtain a ferocious-beast-level reversal soul skill.

Yet when obtaining his second soul ring, Jiang Yue encountered Dream Iceworm. After Dream Iceworm's origin strengthened him, the age of his first soul ring had already become thousand-year level. It was merely disguised as a hundred-year ring through the shed skin's illusion.

After advancing into a thousand-year soul ring, Jiang Yue's first soul ring also developed a special effect on top of its original abilities. So long as Jiang Yue wished it, any enemy previously struck by the Passionate Sword could be forcibly interrupted, regardless of whether they were charging a soul skill or continuously maintaining one.

In common terms, cutting the other side's internet cable.

It was precisely this special effect that forcibly interrupted Wang Dong's charging Butterfly Goddess Light.

Snap!

Putting all his strength into it, Jiang Yue slapped the Soul-Calming Cauldron aside—and vanished.

As a spiritual-type Soul Master, Huo Yuhao's instincts and sense of danger far surpassed those of his peers. Yet he had only sensed the danger; his body had not had time to make even the slightest response.

The sense of crisis came swiftly and vanished just as swiftly. By the time Huo Yuhao could no longer feel it and had begun to relax, Jiang Yue had already broken through Xiao Xiao's defense and arrived before him, his palm resting against Huo Yuhao's neck.

All of it silently declared Huo Yuhao the first person eliminated from the match.

A thin sheen of cold sweat appeared on Xiao Xiao's forehead, though she did not notice it. Jiang Yue's speed had completely exceeded her expectations.

It was not just Xiao Xiao—Wang Dong had not reacted in time either. Only now did the two of them understand just how enormous the gap between a Great Soul Master and a Soul Elder truly was.

A light breeze swept past, and the Passionate Sword was already resting on Xiao Xiao's shoulder. A strand of her hair brushed the blade and was cleanly severed, drifting away on the wind.

Xiao Xiao had only just recovered from the fact that she had been eliminated and was about to say something when Jiang Yue had already disappeared from sight.

Seeing both of her teammates eliminated by Jiang Yue in an instant, Wang Dong was stunned. The butterfly wings behind her back instinctively beat rapidly, carrying her into the air and keeping her below the maximum permitted height.

Among every generation of freshmen, there had always been students with flying martial souls. While most of them could not fly as freely as Wang Dong did, Shrek Academy still imposed a height limit on flying martial souls.

Wang Dong naturally knew that if the standoff dragged on too long, she would be the first to run out of stamina. At that point, never mind defeating Jiang Yue—even winning the matches below would be cause for thanks to heaven.

Just as Wang Dong prepared to wait for an opening among Jiang Yue's team and launch a sneak attack, she saw countless fist-sized stones hurtling densely toward her.

She frantically dodged the incoming stones and looked down. The arena below had been carved into square pits by Jiang Yue's Passionate Sword. That was where the stones had come from.

"Seriously?! You can throw them this high?! Who exactly has the beast martial soul here?!"

Wang Dong was beginning to question her life. Normally, beast martial souls significantly strengthened a Soul Master's body, making beast martial soul Soul Masters stronger than tool martial soul Soul Masters in the early stages and allowing them to absorb somewhat older soul rings.

That was indeed normally the case, but Jiang Yue clearly did not fall within the normal category. He had successfully absorbed a thousand-year second soul ring without a beast martial soul enhancing his body, and his third soul ring was even four to five thousand years old.

It could be said that at level thirty, Jiang Yue's physical constitution was already comparable in some respects to that of an ordinary beast martial soul Soul Ancestor. Not to mention now—even though a tool martial soul did not enhance physical attributes, he could at least contend with a beast martial soul Soul Ancestor above level forty-five.

Even though Wang Dong's soul power was not low and she also possessed a thousand-year second soul ring, she would still be left baring her teeth in pain if those stones hit her.

Wang Dong turned into a spinning top once again. The centrifugal force generated by her rapid rotation, combined with the sharpness of her wing blades, shattered the stones in a short time.

Wang Dong's stamina and soul power began to drain rapidly with the intense exertion. Seeing how relaxed Jiang Yue looked below, she gritted her teeth, dodged another wave of stones, and seized the moment to dive toward him.

Perhaps Wang Dong's speed seemed fast to outsiders and the other freshmen, but in the eyes of a spiritual-type Soul Master like Jiang Yue, he could see her speed clearly without even deliberately mobilizing his spiritual power.

Seeing Wang Dong prepared to go all out, Jiang Yue became serious as well. He waited for the right moment, and when Wang Dong was only two or three meters away, he stomped heavily on the arena, leaving a clear footprint as he dodged to the side.

Just as Wang Dong, unable to stop within such a short distance due to her speed and gravity, was about to have an intimate encounter with the ground—

Smack—!

"Ah!"

A silver-white flash of sword light streaked past. Wang Dong let out a scream as she was sent flying backward. Just as she was about to crash into the barrier to the side, Wang Yan, who was overseeing the exam, released his soul power and caught her firmly.

However, though Wang Dong had been saved, she bent over with her body hunched, baring her teeth and sucking in breaths through her nose and mouth. Her hands tried to cover the still-burning pain on her back, but the more she touched it, the worse it hurt.

No blood seeped out. Wang Dong's white freshman uniform remained completely unchanged, but the pain made her unable to straighten her body.

"It hurts! It hurts so much! Jiang Yue, weren't you a bit too heavy-handed? If you leave a scar on my back, I'm not letting this go!"

"Heavy-handed? If I'd used the blade just now, you'd already have been cut in half. If getting hit by the flat of the sword can leave you scarred, you should hurry up and donate that cultivation of yours."

"All right, all right. You two students should go rest. Team Jiang Yue from Class Five wins this match."

Upon hearing Wang Yan announce the result, Wang Dong shot Jiang Yue a vicious glare before trudging with some difficulty toward a corner.

There were still several matches to come, so she had to hurry and recover her stamina.