Battling a Soul Emperor (3)

With a wet tearing sound, several scales fell away, spattered with blood.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yi's hands had undergone a dramatic transformation.

Her scale-covered arms suddenly swelled to more than twice their previous thickness, looking utterly ferocious. Sharp claws extended from the tips of her five fingers, gleaming with a cold metallic light and radiating an overwhelming pressure.

Yet the bloody gash running through her arm remained impossible to ignore. It was deep enough to expose bone—a horrifying sight.

Seeing this, Tian Chen silently thought, This is Dragon Transformation.

Dragon Transformation meant that Zhou Yi's offensive power, defense, and physical strength had all increased tremendously. Although the Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade could ignore all defenses, Tian Chen was surprised to discover that Zhou Yi had just withstood his attack with her flesh alone.

At the sight of the bloody wound on her arm, rage nearly consumed Zhou Yi. She cursed through gritted teeth, "You little bastard! How dare you hurt me!"

The last of her six Soul Rings, a black ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, began flashing violently. Then she shouted, "Fire Dragon Roar!" This was her sixth soul skill. An enormous crimson Fire Dragon phantom soared up behind her and roared as it charged at Tian Chen. The temperature in the plaza shot up, the air warped, and the watching students hurried backward to avoid getting caught in the attack.

Tian Chen calmly faced Zhou Yi's sixth soul skill, Fire Dragon Roar. The third black Soul Ring beneath his feet slowly rotated, and a trace of solemnity appeared in his mismatched gold and red eyes. He murmured the name of his third soul skill: "Blood-Mourning Cry." As his voice fell, an eerie sound wave erupted from the Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade.

The sound wave spread rapidly through the air like a piercing, mournful cry and collided with the charging crimson Fire Dragon phantom. On contact, their powers canceled each other out.

The watching students held their breath, their eyes fixed on the scene. None of them had expected Tian Chen to neutralize Zhou Yi's powerful soul skill so effortlessly with his third soul skill.

Zhou Yi clearly had not expected her Fire Dragon Roar to be broken so easily, and her expression darkened further. Rather than retreat, however, she grew even angrier. She swung both hands, her claws glowing a searing red, and lunged straight at Tian Chen like an enraged Fire Dragon. She was faster than before, and her strength seemed to have risen again. Clearly, she intended to overwhelm Tian Chen with a full-force physical assault.

Tian Chen remained composed in the face of Zhou Yi's ferocious charge. An eerie bloody glow rose from the Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade in his hand as his low voice sounded: "Second soul skill—Blood-Eroding Mark."

In an instant, a strange bloody aura surged from the blade, resonating with the wound that had pierced Zhou Yi's arm earlier.

At first, Zhou Yi paid it no mind. A second later, however, her expression changed sharply. The wound Tian Chen had inflicted suddenly flared up, releasing a dense bloody aura that prevented it from healing on its own. Worse still, the aura kept eating away at her flesh, gradually breaking down the tissue around the wound and intensifying the pain.

Zhou Yi gritted her teeth against the agony, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not stop the bloody aura from spreading. She could only barely hold its erosion of the wound in check with her soul power. She roared furiously, "What the hell is this?!"

Tian Chen gave her no chance to catch her breath. His figure flashed, blood-colored lightning gathered beneath his feet, and his speed surged. Like a bolt of lightning, he circled behind Zhou Yi. At the same time, the Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade traced another sharp arc, aimed straight at her opposite shoulder.

This time, Zhou Yi was prepared. She barely twisted aside to keep the blow from hitting a vital spot, but the blade still grazed her shoulder and left a fresh bloody gash. Both wounds released bloody aura simultaneously, resonating with each other in an eerie fashion. Zhou Yi felt her body slowing under their corrosive effect. Though her attacks remained fierce, they had clearly lost their earlier edge.

Every student watching was stunned. They had never seen anyone suppress a Soul Emperor-level expert in such an unusual way. Wang Dong, in particular, stared in shock. He had thought Tian Chen merely possessed some strength, never imagining that his combat methods could be so strange and powerful.

Tian Chen did not rush to end the battle. Instead, he calmly observed Zhou Yi's condition.

His second soul skill had come from a Frost Demon Dragon of the Far North. Although this soul beast's ice was not Ultimate Ice, it was even more terrifying.

Once someone was frozen by its ice, their Soul Power, spiritual power, and life force would all be drained away. The Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade had inherited this property. Its attacks could therefore do more than inflict physical damage: they could inject corrosive bloody aura into an opponent through their wounds, further absorbing their Soul Power and destroying their bodily tissue.

Anyone who witnessed this would surely mistake him for an Evil Soul Master. The crucial difference, however, was that Tian Chen could freely control the absorption effect. If he wanted it to devour, it would; if he forbade it, it could not.

Faced with Tian Chen's strange attacks and the continuing erosion of her wounds, Zhou Yi realized she could not afford to drag this out. Resolve flashed in her eyes. She had clearly decided to end the battle quickly.

Zhou Yi drew a deep breath, and the soul power within her erupted. All six soul rings lit up at once, radiating an unprecedented, overwhelming pressure.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi's right hand shone with a dazzling red light, as though a flickering flame were burning in her palm. This was no ordinary release of soul power. It came from the right arm bone within her body—a rare ten-thousand-year Fire Dragon Right Arm Bone. This soul bone not only enhanced her control over fire but also granted her a unique soul skill: Fire Dragon's Grasp.

Zhou Yi swept her right hand forward. Scorching flames instantly condensed into an enormous fiery claw that lunged at Tian Chen like a roaring Fire Dragon. Wherever the claw passed, the air ignited, and a deep, charred scar was left in the ground.

Yet Tian Chen stood motionless through it all, as though he had turned into a wooden figure. He allowed Zhou Yi's Fire Dragon's Grasp to pierce his chest.

At the sight, all the students covered their eyes, unable to look directly at the gruesome scene.

Wang Dong's first reaction when he saw Tian Chen struck was disbelief. He had thought Tian Chen could easily neutralize Zhou Yi's attack, but when the dragon claw pierced Tian Chen's chest, he clenched his fists, his eyes filled with worry.

On closer inspection, however, no blood sprayed from Tian Chen's body. Instead, it emitted a strange blood-red glow.

Tian Chen's body gradually blurred, as though his very existence were an illusion. Then his motionless figure shattered in an instant. With a low hum, blood-red lightning flickered wildly around him. The lightning not only tore through the air but also condensed into three distinct figures, each wielding an Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade as they attacked Zhou Yi.

Caught in the sudden assault from three Tian Chen clones, Zhou Yi could not tell which was the real one. Her Fire Dragon phantom circled overhead, trying to find an opening, but the three blood-red figures darted about at incredible speed, working together flawlessly and leaving her almost nowhere to direct her attacks.

Wang Dong watched in astonishment. He had thought Tian Chen might already be gravely wounded, but now that he saw him unharmed and displaying such an incredible ability, his worry instantly turned to delight and admiration. He murmured, "What kind of soul skill is that? How can it create such lifelike clones?"

Then the three Tian Chen clones attacked Zhou Yi one after another.

Seizing her moment, Zhou Yi struck one of the figures with her palm. It immediately shattered and dispersed into bloody light.

Not this one? Zhou Yi frowned slightly, puzzled, but she did not lower her guard.

By then, the other two clones were closing in on either side of her, moving almost too fast to track. Zhou Yi took a deep breath and swung her arm sharply. Scorching flames instantly condensed into a huge fiery claw that lunged at one clone like a roaring Fire Dragon. At the same time, she swiftly swept her other hand outward, trying to cover a wider area with her soul skill to prevent a sneak attack.

Yet just as her attack was about to land, the second clone also shattered on contact, dissolving into blood-red light in the air.

"It seems the last one is the real body." Zhou Yi fixed her gaze on the remaining figure, resolve flashing in her eyes.

She stamped down hard. Her immense Soul Power cracked the ground, and the resulting surge of Soul Power blasted the final Tian Chen away.

But when she looked closely, she discovered that this figure, too, had dissolved into bloody light without leaving a trace.

"None of them were real?" Zhou Yi exclaimed in surprise.

"You noticed too late!" High in the air, Tian Chen raised the Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade and drew the Blood Demon Heart-devouring Thunder from the sky onto it. He had stumbled upon this method while practicing Three Thousand Thunder Movement. It worked on a principle similar to a lightning rod, allowing him to concentrate lightning energy in his weapon and release it.

Dark clouds churned overhead. Amid low rolls of thunder, a blood-red lightning bolt descended from the sky and struck the Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade with pinpoint accuracy. Dense blood-colored arcs instantly covered its surface, radiating eerie, powerful fluctuations of energy. That energy made the surrounding air scorchingly hot, while a faint, spine-chilling wail rose from within it, as though countless wronged souls were roaring inside.

Tian Chen held the Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade high, its surface shrouded in blood-colored arcs, and spoke in a low voice: "Blood Demon Thunder Baleful Intent!"

As he uttered the skill's name, the Blood Lightning on the Emperor-Slaying Ghost Blood Blade erupted, forming an enormous blood-red pillar of light that shot into the heavens. Its power tore through the surrounding air and unleashed violent energy fluctuations, making the entire plaza seem to tremble. Meanwhile, the dark clouds overhead churned even more fiercely. More blood-red lightning began darting through the clouds and gathering together, seemingly drawn by Tian Chen's power.

Faced with this sight, Zhou Yi's expression filled with terror.

Zhou Yi tried to dodge, but her body suddenly froze, and her eyes went blank.

What's happening? Could it have been back then? The moment Tian Chen had used Blood-Mourning Cry against her sixth soul skill suddenly flashed through her mind. Even then, she had felt a covert spiritual attack. Its effects had not manifested immediately, however. Instead, it had lain dormant deep within her consciousness, gradually eroding her spiritual power until it finally took full effect now.

At that very moment, Blood Demon Thunder Baleful Intent came crashing down toward her. The tremendous energy it released alerted a great many powerful experts throughout Shrek Academy.