Facing Xuan Zi's meteor shower of attacks that blotted out the sky, Huo Yuhao conjured a platinum shield around himself. It held every attack at bay, refusing to let them advance an inch. The attacks that missed exploded in midair, unleashing terrifying shock waves.
"Saint Tiger Protective Shield!"
Huo Yuhao had not used an Invincible Shield, but the protective shield from his saint tiger mutation. After all, a sustained shield like this was the defensive soul skill most needed in a drawn-out battle.
Seeing that his attacks were ineffective against Huo Yuhao, a trace of gravity flashed through Xuan Zi's eyes. He roared, his muscles suddenly swelling as translucent, earthen-yellow soul power armor instantly covered his entire body. Then he charged straight at Huo Yuhao.
With ranged attacks proving useless, Xuan Zi chose close combat outright. His martial soul was the Godly Taotie Bull, a top-tier beast martial soul with the Dragon God bloodline. Its physical strength was unmatched.
"Come on, then!"
Huo Yuhao shouted, dismissing his protective shield. At the same time, the second Blood-Red Soul Ring behind him lit up, instantly unleashing the second ability of his saint tiger martial soul's first soul skill.
Huo Yuhao's body also swelled abruptly, his muscles bulging as astonishing blood energy erupted from him. His hair turned white, gold, and black, the sinister allure in his eyes intensified, and his killing intent grew even stronger.
Under the soul ring's influence, the formidable, domineering phantom of the saint tiger martial soul behind him seemed to gain intelligence. It swallowed Huo Yuhao in one gulp, then wrapped its entire white, gold, and blue-green tiger body around him, becoming a majestic suit of glittering golden armor.
"Black Tortoise Saint Tiger Transformation!"
This ability gave Huo Yuhao a 30% boost across the board. Moreover, as long as his soul power did not run out, it had no time limit to speak of. It was a semipermanent enhancement.
With a thunderous boom, the two figures collided violently in the sky.
Every punch struck flesh, every move aimed to kill. In just a few breaths, they exchanged hundreds of blows.
Yet it was clear that, of the two figures fighting in the sky, the yellow one was being beaten one-sidedly. Xuan Zi, who had spent years at level 98 and possessed the top-tier Godly Taotie Bull beast martial soul, was actually on the back foot the entire time, retreating steadily.
Their clash was not merely a contest of bodies, but also of martial souls and soul cores. Huo Yuhao's martial soul and soul core were both far stronger than Xuan Zi's.
His soul core in particular was a storm soul core he had condensed on a sudden whim, a fusion that should have been utterly impossible. Its power far surpassed even Di Tian's space soul core.
Although Xuan Zi had condensed his soul core hundreds of years before Huo Yuhao, its power could not compare to his at all.
Their battle had already battered the surrounding air into a vacuum. Xuan Zi had merged his nine rings into one, but the attacks from the Giant Chicken Drumstick he had formed did not inflict any real damage on Huo Yuhao. Quite apart from his White Tiger Armor, Huo Yuhao was wearing another suit of battle armor underneath. Xuan Zi's attacks did not even qualify as a tickle.
Thus, as one gained ground and the other lost it, Xuan Zi gradually began to falter and was on the verge of defeat.
Sending Xuan Zi flying with another punch, Huo Yuhao said disdainfully, "If that's all you've got, you can die now."
As he spoke, terrifying golden light began to flicker in Huo Yuhao's eyes. An enormous golden vertical eye appeared behind him, and as golden light burst forth, his aura surged again. His strength actually increased severalfold once more.
"Such arrogance, you-"
Before Xuan Zi could finish his sentence, he saw that gleam of gold in Huo Yuhao's eyes. Only then did this veteran level 98 Super Douluo begin to feel fear in his heart.
"A body martial soul-and a gold-level second awakening at that? The Body Sect? No, you're definitely not from the Body Sect. If they had someone like you, that old bastard Du Busi would have made a grand entrance long ago."
The key to the strength of the Body Sect's body martial souls lay in their second awakening, which was divided into black iron, bronze, silver, and gold levels. Of these, the highest was the gold-level second awakening.
Ordinary Titled Douluos did not even know what a gold-level second awakening of a body martial soul meant, but Xuan Zi, who frequently dealt with the Body Sect, understood it very well.
It was a full threefold burst of power across the board. Unless someone's strength exceeded their opponent's by more than an entire major rank, death was certain. However, body martial souls also had a very significant drawback.
Body martial souls were overwhelmingly powerful early on, crushing soul masters of the same level as easily as eating and drinking. Later, however, they began to lose steam, especially after reaching the Super Douluo stage.
Du Busi and Xuan Zi were both level 98, and Du Busi's soul ring configuration was far superior to Xuan Zi's. In theory, Du Busi's gold-level second awakening should have brought him to at least the Limit Douluo level. Yet his overall strength was only somewhat greater than that of Xuan Zi, who possessed the Godly Taotie Bull and was at the same level.
Roughly speaking, he could kill Xuan Zi, but it would not be particularly easy.
The reason was that a body martial soul master's strength already included their second awakening.
In other words, only by relying on his gold-level second awakening could Du Busi overwhelm Xuan Zi at the same level. It sounded absurd, but that was indeed the case.
The same had been true of Du Busi's elder brother, Du Bisou. He had spent years at level 98, yet even with a gold-level second awakening, he had still failed to defeat Mu En, who was at the same level.
That was the limitation of body martial souls.
That was precisely why Xuan Zi was so shocked!
Even before using his body martial soul, Huo Yuhao had been able to fight him on equal footing. How powerful would he become now that he had unleashed his gold-level second awakening?
He would die!
Now, Xuan Zi hesitated no longer. Behind him, his rapidly spinning, thick-earth-colored soul core began to increase its soul power output, and his aura rose sharply.
The Giant Chicken Drumstick rapidly broke apart, becoming nine soul rings again. The seventh ring lit up instantly.
Martial Soul Avatar, Godly Taotie Bull Avatar.
Yellow light spread outward at its most brilliant, and Xuan Zi had already taken on a different form.
An enormous creature appeared out of thin air, with a goat's body, a tiny head, eyes beneath its armpits, tiger fangs, ox hooves, and a pair of immense horns. Its body was at least thirty meters long. Intense yellow light erupted from it, and nine soul rings encircled its spiral horns, which were more than five meters long.
Suspended within his martial soul avatar, Xuan Zi did not stop moving his hands. He continually formed hand seals, controlling the soul core behind him to release even greater quantities of soul power and pour them into his martial soul avatar.
With that immense influx of earth-element soul power, Xuan Zi's thirty-meter-tall Godly Taotie Bull Avatar began to grow proportionally. It expanded from thirty meters to a hundred, then to several hundred. Only when his soul core's rotation began to slow did Xuan Zi stop pouring in soul power.
He stabilized the Godly Taotie Bull at four hundred meters. As the enormous creature looked down imperiously at Huo Yuhao, who seemed no bigger than a mouse, Xuan Zi finally gained a little confidence.
Before absolute strength, everything else was an illusion. His confidence came from the hundreds of years of accumulation in his soul core. Moreover, this was not even the Godly Taotie Bull's limit. Unfortunately, if he made it any larger, controlling it would become difficult.
After breaking through to Titled Douluo, soul masters could condense a soul core. As their understanding of their martial souls deepened, their ability to use them also reached its fullest extent. By pouring soul power into their martial soul avatars, they could increase their size and power, and Super Douluos were even more accomplished in this respect.
This was what gave Super Douluos the confidence to clash head-on with hundred-thousand-year soul beasts.
When you were piloting a Gundam several hundred meters tall, you could certainly talk tough.
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The fight with Xuan Zi will last three chapters at most. After all, I've set up too many loose ends, and I need to tie them up quickly.
(End of chapter)
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