"Hmph, I'm not afraid of him."
Wang Dong let out an angry shout. Bolstered by Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing, she kicked hard off the ground and beat her butterfly wings, shooting forward in a streak of blue and gold.
"Wing-Blade Guillotine!"
She folded her wings forward, their edges gleaming with sharp golden light. Like a hurled golden war blade, she tore through the air toward him. The light along her butterfly wings carved two razor-sharp trails through the air with a piercing whistle, aimed straight at Nezha's face.
Meanwhile, the Spiritual Detection image in her mind revealed every trace of soul power flowing through Nezha's body. She sensed his right shoulder dip slightly and the butt of his spear rise-a sign that he was about to strike. Wang Dong gritted her teeth and abruptly tilted her wings in midair, tracing an arc to avoid a head-on clash and slash toward Nezha's flank.
Not a bad reaction.
Nezha tilted his head slightly and lifted the Fire-Tipped Spear from his shoulder. With a casual flick of its butt, he struck the side of that golden arc of light. A crisp metallic clash rang out across the arena. Wang Dong felt a tremendous, scorching force surge through her wings, sending her flying sideways. She tumbled through half a turn before barely steadying herself. A few sparks landed on her butterfly wings, burning two tiny scorch marks into them.
Before Wang Dong could catch her breath, Xiao Xiao's attack arrived.
"Three Cauldrons Unite! Nation's Heavy Armament, Cauldron Shockwave!"
Xiao Xiao brought her hands together. The three small cauldrons above her palms slammed into one another in midair, their light surging as they transformed into a massive, three-legged cauldron half a person's height. Its body was ancient and imposing, and its three legs struck the ground solidly, cracking several fine lines into the bluestone paving. A deep boom then sounded from within it, and a visible shockwave burst from its mouth, sweeping toward Nezha in a fan. Wherever it passed, loose stones bounced half a foot into the air, and even the air compressed into spreading ripples.
The Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, the Nation's Heavy Armament.
The shockwave came at tremendous speed, reaching Nezha in the blink of an eye.
The Wind Fire Wheels beneath Nezha's feet turned slightly, lifting him three inches into the air. The shockwave howled past just beneath his wheels and slammed into the low wall behind him in the Assessment Zone. The stone wall shuddered with a humming vibration, splitting open along a long crack. Before Xiao Xiao could change her move, Nezha raised his left hand. The Universe Ring on his wrist flared with golden light and flew free.
The golden ring traced an arc through the air, avoiding the front and cutting in from the side to slip precisely around one leg of the massive cauldron. The Universe Ring abruptly tightened, its amplification patterns blazing gold. A powerful binding force erupted from within the ring, locking the cauldron firmly in place. Xiao Xiao's expression changed. She desperately channeled her soul power, trying to recall the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, but it remained utterly motionless, as though nailed to the ground.
Wang Dong lunged at him again from the side, unleashing Wing-Blade Guillotine once more. This time, she had learned her lesson. Instead of charging straight at him, she flew low over the ground, her wings carving intersecting golden arcs that slashed toward Nezha from three directions at once.
The corner of Nezha's mouth lifted slightly.
He held the Fire-Tipped Spear horizontally and spun it sharply. Beneath the sunlight, the scarlet shaft became a blurred ring of fire, while the purple flame at its tip trailed a spiral of flame.
The three golden arcs struck the ring of fire almost simultaneously. Three metallic chimes rang out in succession, and all three of Wang Dong's Wing-Blade Guillotine strikes were stopped outside the spear's spinning circle.
Each impact felt as though she had slashed a scorching mountain of iron, leaving her wings numb and the webbing between her thumbs and forefingers feeling ready to split.
Nezha drove the Wind Fire Wheels beneath his feet forward. Rather than retreating, he pressed toward Wang Dong. With a flick of the spear tip, its purple flame surged, and a scarlet spear image shot forth like a dragon rising from the abyss, thrusting straight at Wang Dong's chest.
Huo Yuhao's expression changed. Through Spiritual Detection, he could see the path of Nezha's thrust with perfect clarity. The purple flame at the spear tip compressed into a single point of white light, heading straight for Wang Dong's chest.
The strength and speed of this thrust were far beyond anything Wang Dong's Wing-Blade Guillotine could block. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm barked inside his mind, "Yuhao, act!"
Huo Yuhao did not hesitate. The invisible spiritual fluctuations between his brows abruptly condensed, and white light blazed in his eyes.
"Spiritual Shock!"
A cone-shaped spiritual wave burst from between his brows, condensing into an invisible spike that shot past Wang Dong's shoulder and stabbed straight into Nezha's mind.
This was his most proficient first soul skill, formed from the million-year spiritual soul ring the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had bestowed on him. Spiritual Shock's power did not lie in soul power damage, but in directly bombarding an opponent's Sea of Consciousness. A mild hit could leave the opponent distracted for a moment; a severe one could briefly knock them unconscious. Among the new students, almost no one had the spiritual strength to withstand it.
Spiritual Shock was incredibly fast. Almost the instant Huo Yuhao acted, it had already pierced the space between Nezha's brows.
Wang Dong felt an invisible gust brush past from behind. Then she saw Nezha's Fire-Tipped Spear, which had almost reached her chest, abruptly halt.
Its tip stopped less than three inches from her chest. Purple flames danced and heat washed over her, but it could not advance another fraction.
Overjoyed, Wang Dong beat her butterfly wings furiously and seized the chance to retreat several yards, putting distance between them.
After landing, she gulped for breath, her forehead covered in cold sweat. She glanced back at Huo Yuhao, her eyes filled with the relief of having escaped death.
Xiao Xiao also seized the instant Nezha stood dazed to desperately channel her soul power. At last, she recalled the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron locked by the Universe Ring, and the three small cauldrons resumed spinning above her palm.
"Did it work?" Wang Dong asked quietly.
Huo Yuhao did not answer. His gaze remained fixed on Nezha, his face even paler than before.
Because he had seen it.
Nezha stood where he was, the Fire-Tipped Spear still extended in its thrust, his entire body as though someone had pressed pause. A faint layer of white light flickered almost imperceptibly between his brows. Then his fiery red eyes refocused.
From beginning to end, only a single breath had passed.
One breath later, Nezha blinked, as though returning from a brief lapse in attention. He tilted his head and looked at Huo Yuhao, a thoughtful glint in his fiery red eyes and a slight curve at the corner of his mouth.
"A spiritual attack?" He rolled his neck, producing a few crisp cracks, his tone utterly casual. "Interesting, but-"
He paused, then abruptly drove his Wind Fire Wheels forward, charging toward Huo Yuhao like a bolt of scarlet lightning.
"You can't shake this young master's Sea of Consciousness."
First soul skill-Bathe in Fire.
Second soul skill-Dragon Soaring Through the Sun.
Huo Yuhao's pupils quaked. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm cried out in shock inside his mind, "Impossible! Something is protecting the outside of his Sea of Consciousness. Even my power can't penetrate it!"
Enhanced by both soul skills, Nezha was far too fast. With his Wind Fire Wheels driven at full power, he left a scarlet afterimage across the arena. In almost the blink of an eye, he was about to break past Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao's defensive line and pounce straight at Huo Yuhao in the rear.
Ning Tian and Nanmen Yun'er reacted at that moment as well.
Ning Tian turned her palm over, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda blazed with light. The magnificent pagoda spun in her hand as her first and third soul rings lit up simultaneously.
"Seven Treasures Have Names, First: Strength, Third: Speed!"
Two streaks of light shot from the pagoda and sank precisely into Nezha's body. He felt a vast surge of strength rise from the base of his spine. At the same time, his body grew lighter and his Wind Fire Wheels accelerated further, turning him into a scarlet streak almost too fast to see.
Nanmen Yun'er refused to fall behind. Under her Jade Greenbird Martial Soul Possession, she pushed off with both feet and skimmed low over the ground toward Xiao Xiao like a green swallow sweeping across water.
She moved with incredible speed, her short ponytail streaming straight behind her. She pressed her hands together like a beak and aimed directly at Xiao Xiao's flank.
Xiao Xiao had only just recalled the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron and had yet to steady her footing when Nanmen Yun'er's surprise attack threw her into a flurry. There was no time for the three small cauldrons to unite. They could only fight separately, barely managing to shield her.
The state of the battle was clear: Huo Yuhao's team had fallen into an overwhelming disadvantage.
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