Yu Hairou and Shen Liuyu pressed forward from the front. Yu Hairou's Coral Barracuda Martial Soul transformed into a fishbone-shaped spear in her hand, its tip gathering aqua-blue Soul Power as it thrust toward Yang Wudi's chest.
Shen Liuyu was even more direct. The massive phantom of the Enamel Fortune Crocodile appeared behind her, and she wrapped herself in a surge of water, charging head-on like a humanoid battering ram.
Yang Wudi swept his spear horizontally. Black flames wrapped around its tip, carving a semicircle through the air and knocking aside both their attacks.
Yu Hairou was sent staggering back several steps, while Shen Liuyu was jolted into falling backward. Fortunately, she reacted quickly, rolling backward once before regaining her footing.
"Not enough force," Yang Wudi commented, but his gaze never left Bing Yekong in the center of the arena.
From the beginning of the fight until now, Bing Yekong had remained where he stood. He was waiting for the right moment.
He knew Yang Wudi's strength well. He would gain nothing from a frontal clash; he had to rely on the openings his teammates created to land a fatal strike.
Shui Yue'er finally found her chance. She slipped in through Yang Wudi's blind spot. After Martial Soul Possession with her Jade Dolphin, she moved as swiftly as a fish, silently circling behind Yang Wudi through the icy mist before chopping at the back of his neck with her hand.
Without even turning his head, Yang Wudi flicked the Soul-Breaking Spear behind him, its butt precisely deflecting her attack. But in the instant he was distracted by the threat behind him, Gu Qingbo darted in like an arrow from the other side, driving a short blade formed from sailfish bones toward his waist.
The two attacks arrived almost simultaneously.
Yang Wudi turned slightly, spinning the Soul-Breaking Spear once in his hand and blocking attacks from both front and back at the same time. Just as he was about to knock the two of them away, he suddenly felt a chill rise from the ground beneath his feet.
Bing Yekong moved.
This was the exact instant he had been waiting for, when Yang Wudi was restrained by the two agility-type attackers. With the Tianshuang Sword in hand, five Soul Rings—yellow, purple, purple, black, black—rose from beneath his feet. Cold light surged across the fifth ink-black Soul Ring. It was the fifth soul skill he had only just acquired.
"Fifth soul skill, Frost Sky Sword Domain!"
The instant the Tianshuang Sword pierced the ground, an icy-blue pillar of light flowed from the blade into the sparring platform. Then, centered on Bing Yekong's point of impact, an intensely frigid domain abruptly expanded outward.
The icy mist condensed into solid form, and dozens of blades formed from Ultimate Ice stabbed up from the ground, thrusting toward Yang Wudi from every direction.
Those ice blades had not emerged at random. They sealed off every route Yang Wudi could use to evade. Shui Bing'er's icy mist overlapped with Bing Yekong's sword domain, nearly turning the space around Yang Wudi into an ice prison.
A trace of surprise flashed through Yang Wudi's eyes before turning into excitement. He shouted, and the black flames on the Soul-Breaking Spear surged violently as he swept it across, shattering every ice blade stabbing toward him from the front.
But this slowed him by half a beat. Shui Yue'er and Gu Qingbo seized the chance to flash past his sides, leaving two shallow cuts on the hem of his robe.
"Good!" Yang Wudi laughed heartily. "You little brats work well together!"
But he gave Bing Yekong no chance to continue his assault. He spun the Soul-Breaking Spear in his hand, gathering a streak of black light at its tip before viciously driving it into the ground.
A powerful shockwave exploded outward from him, shattering every ice blade within several yards and even blasting a breach through Bing Yekong's Frost Sky Sword Domain.
Bing Yekong was forced back several steps, his blood and qi churning in his chest. He shook his slightly numb right arm, gaining a new understanding of Yang Wudi's ferocity.
This guy really was just like the legends said. Once he started fighting, he cared nothing for consequences. Even with his cultivation suppressed, that berserk style of attack was still incredibly hard to withstand.
"Yekong!" Shui Bing'er's voice came from the side. She had already flown above the sparring platform, her Ice Phoenix wings spread wide as her fourth Soul Ring shone with utmost brilliance. "Prepare to fuse!"
Bing Yekong instantly understood what she meant. He charged forward with his sword raised, cold light blooming from the Tianshuang Sword as the power of the Ice Dragon King Martial Soul quietly surged within him.
Shui Yue'er and Gu Qingbo immediately changed tactics. Rather than continuing to entangle Yang Wudi head-on, they retreated to the far sides and kept harassing him, creating space for the two of them to launch a joint attack. Yu Hairou and Shen Liuyu gritted their teeth and stepped forward, using their bodies to block Yang Wudi from Bing Yekong.
"Liuyu, help me hold him back!"
Shen Liuyu roared, driving the Enamel Fortune Crocodile Martial Soul with all her strength. A wall of surging water rose before her. At the same time, Yu Hairou unleashed her third soul skill. A Coral Barrier burst up from the ground, and the two layers of defense combined to forcibly withstand Yang Wudi's sweeping strike.
The instant the barriers shattered, Bing Yekong was already within three steps of Yang Wudi.
He leaped into the air as Shui Bing'er descended from above. The instant their hands clasped in midair, their Ultimate Ice Soul Power fused wildly like floodwaters bursting through a broken dam. An icy-blue pillar of light shot into the sky. Dragon roars and phoenix cries intertwined across the training ground as a pressure far beyond that of a Soul King poured forth.
Within the pillar of light, an ice dragon and an Ice Phoenix circled through the air. The two phantoms gradually drew closer as they spun, fused together, and finally transformed into a dazzling icy-blue radiance.
Immortal Lord Returns.
The blue-haired immortal lord appeared upon the sparring platform, a dragon and phoenix circling around him. His long hair and robes fluttered fiercely in the cold air. As he stood there, the air within dozens of yards nearly froze solid, and even Yang Wudi felt the biting pressure bearing down on him.
"Ultimate Ice Dragon Phoenix!"
The immortal lord raised a hand and pointed. The ice dragon and Ice Phoenix flew out at once, the two spiritual beasts formed from Ultimate Ice spiraling together in the air as they carried an energy storm capable of freezing all things and crashed head-on toward Yang Wudi.
Yang Wudi's pupils suddenly contracted. He did not choose to take the blow head-on. Though he might not have been seriously injured even if he had, the force of this attack made him feel a genuine threat.
He held the Soul-Breaking Spear horizontally before him and retreated several yards in a flash. Black flames burned madly around the spear tip, forming a thick defensive barrier.
The instant the dragon and phoenix struck the barrier, the entire sparring platform shuddered violently. Icy-blue energy exploded outward. Wherever it passed, the Azure-Steel Rock floor cracked inch by inch before freezing over, while the shockwave sent even Yu Hairou and Shen Liuyu flying from the outskirts.
Crack.
A fissure opened in the barrier, followed by a second, then a third. Finally, it shattered with a thunderous blast. The remaining power of the dragon and phoenix slammed into Yang Wudi's chest, forcing him back four or five steps in succession.
His heels had already reached the edge of the sparring platform.
Yang Wudi steadied himself, lowered his gaze to the thin layer of ice on his chest, then looked up at the blue-haired immortal lord in the center of the platform as it slowly separated into two figures. Suddenly, he threw back his head and laughed.
"Hahaha! Good! Very good!"
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