A faint golden halo spread outward from Tang Wulin for an instant.
In that single instant, Wang Jinxi's closing Bone Dragon Claws visibly faltered.
It was not a lack of soul power or a slow reaction. It was as though his martial soul itself was afraid.
The Bone Dragon King.
A top-tier darkness-type martial soul.
Yet before the golden aura emanating from Tang Wulin, it seemed to have encountered some higher existence, and even Wang Jinxi could no longer fully control it.
The Golden Dragon Claw came crashing down toward his head.
"Look out!"
"Hold back!"
Long Hengxu and Ye Yingluo shouted almost simultaneously.
But the fury brought on by Xie Xie's grievous injuries had already gone to Tang Wulin's head. That claw descended with all his rage and strength behind it. He could no longer pull it back.
Just then, a slender hand silently appeared beside Tang Wulin's right arm.
The hand gave only a gentle nudge.
It neither forcibly blocked him nor met his strength head-on, yet it precisely shifted Tang Wulin's entire center of gravity.
The Golden Dragon Claw, originally aimed at the top of Wang Jinxi's head, veered aside and struck his right Bone Dragon Claw instead.
Crack!
A crisp yet heavy impact rang out.
Wang Jinxi's body, nearly twice Tang Wulin's size, was knocked straight out of the air by that claw and slammed heavily onto the competition platform.
Tang Wulin himself was guided aside by a gentle, icy force and landed nearby.
"Enough."
An icy voice sounded beside his ear.
Like a basin of cold water, like the toll of a bell, that voice instantly jolted Tang Wulin's muddled mind awake.
Wu Changkong stood beside him.
One hand still hung at his side, while his other arm held the gravely injured, unconscious Xie Xie.