A Narrow Victory over a Soul Elder

Among the fighters on the lower-tier Arenas of the Soto Great Soul Arena, almost every Soul Master who competed regularly knew Lin Chen, the boy in the fox mask.

From beginning to end, the boy stood quietly at the rear of the Arena without attacking in person. Only a luminous, translucent white fox Martial Soul, comparable in size to a fully grown German Shepherd, crouched steadily at the center, fighting every battle and handling all offense and defense for him.

The fox Martial Soul looked gentle and exquisite, its radiance subdued. It possessed neither the savage dominance of a beast Martial Soul nor the violent momentum of a power attack Martial Soul. In truth, however, its body was compact and solid, the contours of its muscles and bones brimming with strength. It excelled at both offense and defense and possessed tremendous explosive power.

Its fighting style was steady, fierce, and watertight. Its transitions between offense and defense left no openings, and its oppressive strength seemed impossible to counter. Among opponents of the same rank, no one could break through its defenses, much less disrupt the rhythm of Lin Chen's commands.

Whether his opponents relied on ferocious power attacks, unpredictable agility attacks, heavy defenses, or bizarre control abilities, whatever tactics or Soul Skills they used, they ultimately struggled to gain the slightest advantage over Lin Chen. More often than not, they could only accept defeat. Over time, he had earned a formidable reputation on the lower-tier stages.

But the rewards Lin Chen gained from these three years of soul fighting went far beyond the hollow fame of being undefeated among his peers.

Far more valuable were his solid foundation in actual combat, his composure under pressure, and his accumulated tactical experience. He was never content merely to crush opponents of his own rank, knowing that battles at the Soul Grandmaster level ultimately had their limits.

To truly hone his fighting strength and break through his shackles, he had to confront the gap between ranks and temper himself in high-pressure battles.

Thus, he often took the initiative to accept Arena challenges from low-level Soul Elders at level thirty, deliberately fighting across ranks, pitting weakness against strength, and relentlessly honing his ability to battle opponents above his level.

The barriers between Soul Master ranks on the continent were strict, and becoming a level-thirty Soul Elder marked a genuine watershed. After unlocking their Third Soul Skill, a Soul Master underwent a qualitative transformation in total soul power, physical strength, skill forms, and explosive might, surpassing Soul Grandmasters in every respect.

The immense soul power, wide-area suppression, and distinctive transformative properties of a Third Soul Skill were things a Soul Grandmaster in the twenties simply could not match. This suppression born of rank was visible to the naked eye, an absolute gap that was difficult to bridge through technique. Countless geniuses found themselves stuck before this threshold, unable to cross it.

Over those three years, quite a few Soul Elders had fallen to Lin Chen. The most memorable among them was a level-thirty-one lightning Soul Elder of the Power Attack system.

This Soul Elder had a stable cultivation base and was proficient with his Third Soul Skill. Even among Soul Elders of his level, his strength was considerable. Confident that his superior rank would overwhelm his opponent, he looked down from the bottom of his heart on Lin Chen, who was only level twenty-eight.

He had only recently arrived in Suotuo City and fought Lin Chen without first learning anything about him. Seeing Lin Chen huddled at the rear, relying on his Martial Soul to do the bulk of the fighting, he took it as proof of cowardice and weakness.

Moreover, the fox Martial Soul was translucent from head to tail, its aura restrained, without a trace of violent pressure. It looked all flash and no substance, lacking any intimidating presence, and surely could not withstand the savage assault of a lightning Martial Soul.

With such arrogance and contempt, he swaggered onto the stage without the slightest restraint. Before the referee could give the signal, three Soul Rings—two yellow and one purple—rose around him and lit up. He instantly activated his Third Soul Skill, Thunderous Roar.

In an instant, purple lightning burst across the entire stage. Ear-splitting thunder roared without pause, making the spectators' eardrums tremble. Violent lightning soul power swept unchecked through the arena, enveloping every inch of the stage.

Dazzling purple light illuminated the arena as terrifying electrical force rampaged in every direction. Everyone watching felt their hearts tighten. They all believed the outcome was beyond doubt: the raging lightning would instantly shatter Liuli's Martial Soul form, and Lin Chen would surely lose.

Faced with the might of a lightning Soul Elder far above his own level and a wide-ranging lightning bombardment, Lin Chen remained calm in the face of danger, standing quietly where he was.

He swiftly predicted where the lightning would strike, issuing mental commands at tremendous speed. Liuli, who had been crouching steadily at the center of the Arena, suddenly sprang into motion. The fox's powerful, agile body darted nimbly across the Arena, using superb footwork to evade the lightning's most damaging strikes at high speed while continuously unleashing both attacking Soul Skills in a head-on counterassault!

Water-element raindrops shot out in clusters, their dense, heavy impacts colliding with scattered lightning arcs, using yielding force to shed the violent power of the lightning;

Wood-element leaves attacked in sheets, their edges keen and chilling as they spun at high speed, repeatedly piercing the lightning soul power protecting the opponent's body and tearing through the barriers of his skill layer by layer.

Although the Soul Elder's Third Soul Skill covered a broad area and possessed overwhelming might, its consumption was staggering. After several wide-area blasts hit empty space and were dismantled head-on by lower-tier Soul Skills, his soul power rapidly drained, and his attacks grew weaker and weaker. The violent lightning suppression was forcibly held back and broken apart in a direct confrontation.

Seizing the fatal opening as his opponent's soul power fell into disorder and his reserves collapsed, Lin Chen focused his thoughts to their utmost and commanded Liuli to launch an all-out chain of attacks!

The water-element and wood-element Soul Skills cycled seamlessly, erupting in alternation. Multiple clusters of raindrops and leaves overlapped in layers. The raindrops bombarded the opponent continuously with powerful impacts, while the leaves repeatedly pierced and broke through his moves with their sharp edges. The two lines of attack maintained pressure on two critical openings around his body, pressing forward step by step and crushing him with relentless force.

Liuli's agile figure darted through the sea of lightning, attacking fiercely. With only two basic attacking Soul Skills at the Soul Grandmaster level, the fox continuously dismantled the Soul Elder's lightning soul power head-on.

In desperation, the opponent tried to bypass Liuli and attack Lin Chen, only to discover that Lin Chen's footwork was exceptionally agile. He swiftly evaded the attack, and Liuli immediately launched a leaf attack from behind the opponent, forcing him to turn back and defend. In the end, with too much of his soul power exhausted, the opponent chose to concede.

By sheer force of lower-tier skills, precise timing, and flawless coordination, Lin Chen had overturned his disadvantage in rank, fought head-on, and turned the battle around through fierce attacks to narrowly defeat this level-thirty-one lightning Soul Elder. The battle drew endless cheers from the spectators.

After countless head-on battles against higher-ranked opponents, Lin Chen had long since mastered the essence of defeating stronger foes with lower-tier attacking Soul Skills. He relied neither on battlefield control nor on bizarre methods, only on precise skill hits, seamless skill combinations, and a relentless attacking rhythm that overwhelmed his opponents in the moment.

Even against a Soul Elder's suppression in rank and the qualitative superiority of a Third Soul Skill, he could still contend head-on and counterattack forcefully through his consummate use of Liuli's two attacking Soul Skills, winning more often than he lost.

The few battles he lost were merely occasions when he deliberately pushed his control to its absolute limits and honed the weaknesses in his attacking rhythm, bringing his ability to fight head-on ever closer to perfection.

Countless high-intensity Arena battles across different fighting styles and ranks had thoroughly tempered Lin Chen's mental command ability, his anticipation of the battlefield, and his composure under pressure.

He did not need to attack in person. Simply commanding Liuli with his thoughts allowed him to overwhelm opponents of his own rank and contend with Soul Elders. His battlefield planning, offensive and defensive details, emergency adaptations, and emotional control had already been honed to the utmost peak among his peers.

Behind his seemingly effortless, undefeated record lay three years of day-in, day-out Martial Soul control refined to the finest detail, along with accumulated tactical experience.

At this point, although he outwardly possessed only the cultivation of a peak level-twenty-eight Soul Grandmaster, he had long since surpassed ordinary level-thirty Soul Elders, truly becoming invincible within his rank and capable of fighting above it.

A solid, comprehensive foundation in advanced theory, deep reserves of pure soul power, supreme practical combat ability, and a steady, perceptive temperament—more than three years of study at an intermediate Academy and experience in soul fighting had brought about a complete transformation in every aspect of Lin Chen.