Angel's Descent! Break for Me!

"Fourth Soul Skill: Holy Light Storm."

The golden sword radiance transformed into countless hair-thin streams of sword qi, converging on Li Long from all directions at a speed so fast their trajectories were almost impossible to follow.

Li Long's pupils constricted. Rather than trying to block every stream of sword qi, he shortened the Iron Rod back to its normal size, lowered his body, and activated his second soul skill with all his strength. He spun rapidly in place, the Iron Rod forming an impenetrable curtain around him.

Clang clang clang clang clang!!!!!!!

A dense series of impacts erupted, so rapid they nearly merged into a single sound.

The sword qi struck the rod curtain and shattered one after another, golden fragments scattering across the ground like a fine golden rain.

But there was simply too much sword qi, too densely packed.

Gaps inevitably appeared in Li Long's rod curtain.

Three streams of sword qi broke through the golden defense from the side, grazing his left arm and waist and leaving three thin, shallow bloody cuts on his skin.

Blood seeped out and stained his clothes, but he did not stop spinning.

When the final wave of sword qi dissipated, Li Long dropped to one knee, bracing himself with one hand on the rod.

He looked up at Qian Yaoting. His opponent stood where he was, still gripping his longsword, though the glow of his fourth soul ring was slowly fading.

Qian Yaoting did not immediately activate his fifth soul skill.

He looked at the three bleeding wounds on Li Long's waist and arm, then at the golden sword qi fragments scattered across the ground. His expression was so complicated that even he could not describe it.

His fourth soul skill had been almost completely blocked by a three-ring Soul Elder.

Though Li Long had suffered grazes, not one wound had pierced through him, and not one was serious.

"Your body..." Qian Yaoting said, his voice much lower than before. "A three-ring body cannot possibly be this strong. No wonder you can absorb soul rings beyond your limit."

Li Long straightened up and wiped the blood from his left arm with his sleeve. The three wounds were already closing rapidly.

The self-healing ability of a three-ring Soul Elder meant he did not need to worry too much about injuries this minor.

"I've tempered this body for years—medicinal baths every day, weight training every day, beating myself over and over with a rod every day. If I weren't strong enough, I wouldn't have dared absorb soul rings beyond my level."

Li Long's voice was slightly hoarse, but his tone remained steady. "Senior Brother, let's continue. These minor flesh wounds are nothing to fear! Let me see you at your peak!"

As he spoke, he gripped his Iron Rod, his battle intent surging.

The next instant, he burst forward and launched an attack on his own initiative.

Before Qian Yaoting could reply, Li Long had already charged in front of him.

Wrapped in the cyan wind pressure of his second soul skill, the Iron Rod swept out. It was noticeably faster than before, cutting viciously toward the back of Qian Yaoting's knee.

Qian Yaoting flapped his wings and rose into the air to evade the strike, but Li Long's assault did not stop.

He shattered the stone slabs beneath his feet to launch himself upward, thrusting the Iron Rod from below. Qian Yaoting had to flip in midair to avoid it.

The two attacks missed, but Li Long had already found his rhythm.

He pressed forward relentlessly, not giving his opponent the time to widen the distance again.

Qian Yaoting dodged while blocking with his longsword, the surprise on his face gradually turning to seriousness.

He had assumed Li Long would pause to catch his breath after taking the fourth soul skill, but instead, Li Long had pounced directly on him, and his offensive was even fiercer than before.

He had only seen this seamless transition from defense to attack in battle-hardened Soul Kings. For a ten-and-a-half-year-old Soul Elder to pull it off was simply unbelievable.

The exchange in the fifth round lasted nearly twenty breaths.

Li Long launched more than ten consecutive rod strikes, forcing Qian Yaoting back from the center of the courtyard all the way to the edge of the courtyard wall.

During that time, Qian Yaoting tried three times to rise into the air and open up the distance, but Li Long predicted his movements and blocked his ascent path in advance every time.

Only on the fourth attempt did Qian Yaoting block a rod strike, twist his sword, and violently knock Li Long's Iron Rod aside. He seized the chance to flap his wings and rise thirty feet into the air.

He looked down at Li Long, his breathing slightly more hurried than before.

Two tears had been sliced into his everyday clothes by the wind from the rod. Though his flesh had not been injured, this Soul Emperor now looked somewhat disheveled.

"I didn't want to use my fifth soul skill," Qian Yaoting said, a trace of helplessness in his voice. "But you forced me to."

The fourth soul ring lit up again, and at the same time, the fifth soul ring rose beneath his feet.

Golden light surged. As the two soul rings revolved at once, the fluctuations of Qian Yaoting's Soul Power suddenly rose to a level that made the air throughout the entire courtyard begin to tremble.

"Fourth Soul Skill: Holy Light Storm."

Golden sword radiance once again transformed into countless fine streams of sword qi that rained down from above.

But this time, as the sword qi descended, the longsword in Qian Yaoting's hand also changed.

Complex golden patterns emerged across the blade's surface, its radiance condensing until it was almost solid.

The fifth soul ring completed its final revolution, and its light exploded.

"Fifth Soul Skill: Angel's Descent."

Qian Yaoting transformed into a streak of golden light and plunged straight down from the sky.

The pillar of light carried an overwhelming pressure, forcing all the surrounding air away. His sword-wielding posture merged with the beam itself, sword tip first, his entire body like a meteor falling from the heavens.

The fifth and fourth soul skills were unleashed simultaneously.

First, Holy Light Storm sealed off Li Long's room to move. Then Angel's Descent delivered the fatal strike.

Qian Yaoting said he did not want to use it, yet when he attacked, he held nothing back.

Standing on the ground, Li Long watched the golden sword qi raining down from all over the sky and the streak of golden light piercing through the sword curtain as it plummeted toward him. The heavens full of golden radiance reflected in his eyes.

The wounds on his left hand and waist still throbbed faintly, and after the continuous battle, more than half the Soul Power within him had already been depleted.

But at this moment, he had no path of retreat.

All three soul rings rose at the same instant. Golden, purple, and deep-purple light intertwined, enveloping his entire body in a violent aura.

The Iron Rod expanded to thirty feet, the light around its body so dense it seemed almost liquid.

"Three soul skills at once."

"Break for me!!!!!!!"

He swung the thirty-foot giant rod in a full arc and smashed it toward the streak of golden light. Wherever the Iron Rod passed, the air was torn apart into visible distorted ripples, while the wind pressure it generated swept shattered stones into the air and flung them in every direction.

The golden streak and the enormous purple-gold rod collided with a deafening boom above the courtyard.

The entire East Courtyard trembled.

A blinding burst of light erupted from the center of the explosion, illuminating the entire courtyard as brightly as day.

The shockwave spread outward in a ring, collapsing half the courtyard wall. The stone slabs on the ground exploded outward in radial fractures from the point of collision, the cracks stretching all the way to the bases of the corridor pillars.

Li Long was sent flying backward, his back smashing into the wall of the cultivation room and leaving a spiderweb-like crater in the crumbling bricks.

He slid down the wall and dropped to one knee. The Iron Rod fell from his grasp beside him as he braced both hands against the ground, panting violently.

The Soul Power within him had been completely drained. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest, and the cuts in the webbing of his hands had burst fully open, blood dripping through his fingers onto the shattered stones.

But he did not pass out.

He raised his head and looked toward the center of the explosion.