Ye Guyi Emerges, Holy Angel Judges the Evil Soul Formation

After the first round of the finals ended, the arena did not truly fall silent.

Huo Yuhao did not immediately return to the resting area. The corner of his Spirit Eyes continued sweeping across the edge of the arena. After those three soul tool cores simulating golden aura had been shattered, the residual fluctuations had not dispersed. Instead, as if something were holding them, they seeped bit by bit into the floor tiles along the edge of the arena.

Wang Dong'er noticed it as well. Standing at Huo Yuhao's side, the aura of her Goddess of Light Butterfly trembled slightly, and her gaze turned cold.

"It's not a soul tool."

Wang Dong'er withdrew her light wings and said softly, "There's a formation underneath?"

Huo Yuhao nodded. His Spirit Eyes opened, and the clamor of the arena faded from his sight, leaving behind only lines. Soul tool lines were cold, orderly, sharp, with a metallic tang. But the line underground was dark red, like blood dried beneath the sun and then soaked through again by evil soul power.

"The Holy Spirit Cult."

The moment Huo Yuhao spoke, a scream suddenly rang out from the side of the arena. A low-level soul master had just emerged from the passage when the tiles beneath his feet abruptly cracked apart. Dark red formation patterns wrapped around his ankles, as if they intended to forcibly drain away his soul power.

The spectator stands erupted into chaos.

This was not a tournament tactic. Someone had buried an Evil Soul Formation beneath the competition grounds.

Huo Yuhao took a step forward, spreading out his Spirit Detection. But just as he was about to use Ultimate Ice to seal the formation core, a white-gold holy light descended before he could act.

The light was not dazzling, but it was incredibly cold.

Not the cold of ice, but the cold of judgment.

A girl in white leaped into the arena from another contestant passage. She bore no Shrek insignia, nor did she belong to any academy team from Star Luo. The temporary access badge on her chest belonged to the Common Alliance's soul engineer contestant passage. She clearly had not come to compete for rankings. She had come in pursuit of evil soul masters.

As her longsword swept through the air, the faint phantom of a Holy Angel emerged behind her. White-gold wings spread wide, and the dark red formation patterns instantly let out shrill cries as though being scorched.

"A Holy Angel martial soul." Wang Dong'er's eyes narrowed.

Ma Xiaotao raised a brow from the edge of the stands. "An assault-type soul master, and one who naturally counters evil soul masters. This girl has some real skill."

The girl in white ignored everyone's gazes. She drove her sword into the floor tiles, and white-gold radiance spread outward like holy light illuminating all things. The dark red formation patterns were exposed in their true form: a dense net of soul power, with several refined soul bone fragments embedded in its mesh.

The girl's gaze was clear and cold, without the slightest ripple at the corner of her lips.

"A remnant evil soul formation, using false Star Dou fortune to conceal itself and specifically draining the spiritual essence of young soul masters."

Her judgment was swift. But in the next instant, her gaze fell upon the spiritual fluctuations Huo Yuhao had not yet fully withdrawn. Those fluctuations had just locked onto Zhang Peng's Blood Baleful Intent in reverse, dismantled Sun Moon's simulated fortune, and carried traces from an old Star Dou altar. Several powers were tangled together, and under the holy light, a dark red outline surfaced along the edge of Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes.

The girl in white's gaze turned frigid. "You're raising an evil formation too?"

Huo Yuhao frowned. "Those are Blood Baleful Intent clues I captured in reverse."

"Evil soul masters often say the same thing."

Before her words had even faded, the girl in white had already struck. Her speed was not overwhelming, but it was terrifyingly clean. There was not a single unnecessary motion in the trajectory of her holy sword. Wherever the sword light passed, even the lingering evil soul aura in the air was purified into white smoke.

Huo Yuhao did not counterattack. He first retreated half a step, using Ultimate Ice to freeze the formation patterns beneath his feet, while simultaneously sharing his Spirit Detection with Wang Dong'er, Bei Bei, and Xu Sanshi.

"Don't hurt her. She misunderstood."

Wang Dong'er said coldly, "She attacked first."

"She counters evil formations. Don't let her get too far from the formation core."

Wang Dong'er had already understood Huo Yuhao's intention. Her Goddess of Light Butterfly martial soul activated, and dozens of tiny light blades struck not at people but at the intersections of the formation patterns. Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise Shield stood before Huo Yuhao, forcibly blocking the girl in white's second sword strike.

Shield and sword collided. White-gold holy light and Black Tortoise water light exploded at once.

The girl in white finally looked toward Wang Dong'er. "A light martial soul, yet you stand with an evil formation? You really do have a problem."

Wang Dong'er's gaze turned icy.

Huo Yuhao raised a hand, and his Spirit Eyes flared brightly.

"Enough."

Spirit Shock did not strike her spiritual sea. Instead, it precisely hit half an inch before the tip of her sword. The girl in white's sword trajectory shifted slightly, and Huo Yuhao used that instant to enter the formation core. Ultimate Ice flowed upstream along the dark red formation patterns.

The girl in white's pupils contracted.

She saw it.

Huo Yuhao was not raising the evil formation.

He was dismantling an evil soul master's methods, but at that very moment, the evil formation counterattacked. The underground blood net suddenly contracted, using the lingering Blood Baleful Intent at the edge of Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea as a passageway to bite back at his Spirit Eyes. Huo Yuhao's face paled, and Wang Dong'er immediately supported him by the shoulder.

The hand gripping the girl in white's sword paused for an instant.

She had misjudged him.

But she did not panic. The white-gold angel phantom behind her fully spread its wings, and her third soul ring lit up. Holy light flooded the arena. The dark red formation patterns smoked inch by inch under the suppression of the sacred attribute. Seizing the opportunity, Huo Yuhao drove a Spirit Shock into the deepest part of the formation core.

"Dong'er, third point on the left."

"Senior Brother Sanshi, hold down the formation footing."

"You, cut the soul bone fragment at the center of the blood net."

The girl in white gave him a cold glance, but she still swung her sword.

The holy sword descended.

Four powers closed in at once. The dark red evil formation exploded into ashes, and the trapped low-level soul master collapsed to the ground, gasping desperately.

The arena fell silent for an instant before suppressed cries of shock erupted. Huo Yuhao withdrew his Spirit Detection. A trace of white holy light briefly remained in his Spirit Eyes. The girl in white approached, her gaze still cold but no longer carrying that earlier killing intent of judgment.

"Ye Guyi."

She gave her name, her voice calm.

"Holy Angel martial soul. Assault-type battle soul master."

"Huo Yuhao," he said.

He looked at the white-gold wings that had yet to fade behind Ye Guyi, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

What the Tang Sect lacked now was not merely hidden weapons, soul tools, and battle formations. It also lacked a sword truly capable of cutting down evil soul masters. A martial soul like Holy Angel, if it could join the Tang Sect, would be of immeasurable value when they faced the Holy Spirit Cult in the future.

Ye Guyi looked at him. "I've heard that name. Sorry, I misjudged you just now."

Ma Xiaotao chuckled from the edge of the stands. "And one misjudgment is enough to settle it?"

Ye Guyi looked at her. "If you want to fight me over it, I'll accept."

Wang Dong'er frowned. "Now isn't the time to keep fighting."

Huo Yuhao raised a hand to stop Wang Dong'er, his gaze fixed on Ye Guyi. "Why are you here?"

"Tracking evil soul masters."

Ye Guyi's voice was flat.

"The Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament is a mixed crowd of all sorts. The Holy Spirit Cult likes places like this most. I entered through the Common Alliance's contestant passage to investigate them. My martial soul can suppress evil soul masters, and I can also raise my cultivation by purifying evil. So wherever they appear, I go."

Huo Yuhao nodded.

Bei Bei said quietly from the stands, "Little Junior Brother is interested."

Tang Ya froze. "In Ye Guyi?"

Bei Bei shook his head. There was a trace of amusement in his eyes, but also seriousness.

"In her martial soul."

Tang Ya immediately understood. If the Tang Sect truly wanted to rise again, it could not rely on only a few of them. Someone like Ye Guyi, with a sacred attribute and a natural opposition to evil soul masters, would not merely be icing on the cake if she were willing to join. She would be a piece of the puzzle capable of changing the Tang Sect's future battle against the Holy Spirit Cult.

Ye Guyi looked into his eyes again. "The lines around you are very chaotic. Evil baleful energy, destiny, false auspicious beast aura, a light martial soul, and some desires that should not be mixed together."

Dong'er's expression changed slightly, and her fingers tightened as well.

Huo Yuhao did not evade the issue. "Chaos does not mean evil."

A flicker passed through Ye Guyi's eyes. "People with excessive desire are the easiest for evil formations to exploit."

"Desire itself cannot be exploited." Huo Yuhao's voice was low but steady. "Only losing control because of desire can."

His words made Ye Guyi fall silent for an instant, and her grip around her sword tightened. For some reason, she disliked those words. Those who were purest feared hearing such an answer—not because it was wrong, but because it made them want to believe it.

Ye Guyi turned and left.

"Huo Yuhao."

With her back to him, her voice remained cold.

"If one day evil thoughts consume you, I will personally judge you."

Wang Dong'er stepped forward, her voice turning cold as well. "That won't be up to you."

Yet Huo Yuhao watched Ye Guyi's departing figure. The trace of holy light at the edge of his Spirit Eyes had not yet faded. It was like new evidence, proving that behind this Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament, there was more than mere provocation with soul tools.

The Holy Spirit Cult had reached into the arena.

And Ye Guyi, this sword of the Holy Angel, had officially entered the game.

Huo Yuhao already had a thought in mind.

Once this tournament ended, he would ask her one question.

Would she join the Tang Sect?