"That scared me to death. Good thing we prepared ahead of time." Zhou Sichen had only just climbed back to his feet when he patted his chest, still shaken.
Cao Jinxuan stared fixedly at Huo Yuhao. "Be careful. If it happens again, I won't be able to save you."
Cao Jinxuan's Martial Soul, the Time Flows Clock, was an exceedingly rare tool-type Martial Soul because it possessed the extraordinarily uncommon time attribute.
People usually listed all the various attributes together, as though they were equal.
But some attributes were always more equal than others.
Space, for instance. Fate, too. And... time.
Although his skill looked very much like Reversal of Time, it was not. Traveling backward along the river of time was far beyond the capabilities of a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster.
Cao Jinxuan's second Soul Skill, Time Bookmark, could briefly record a Soul Master's complete state, marking it like a bookmark. Within one minute, he could overwrite that Soul Master's state with the one stored in the bookmark.
It was equivalent to pulling out a Soul Master in better condition from within the past minute, disregarding all injuries and expenditures incurred during that minute. Naturally, the greater the difference between the two states, the more Soul Power Cao Jinxuan consumed.
Bringing an unconscious teammate straight back to full health like this had consumed seventy percent of Cao Jinxuan's Soul Power.
Each Soul Master could only be recorded by Time Bookmark once every twenty-four hours, and Cao Jinxuan could store at most two Time Bookmarks at a time.
Clearly, then, unlike Qi Xuan's brute-force approach of making a brick fly through sheer strength, Cao Jinxuan's Martial Soul relied on mechanics.
At this stage of the tournament, Huo Yuhao's possession of a Spiritual System attack skill that was nearly impossible to guard against was no longer a secret.
Thus, at the very start of the match, he had recorded Cui Yajie's and Zhou Sichen's states, remaining on guard against Huo Yuhao's attacks.
Sure enough, just as he had expected, once Qi Xuan and Xie Huanyue went off to duel on their own, Huo Yuhao unleashed Soul Impact on Zhou Sichen.
Although Zhou Sichen had regained his fighting strength, the bear and tiger he had summoned had vanished when he lost consciousness. He had to summon them again.
Seizing that opening, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao launched a fierce assault.
Boom!
Keeping right at the limit of her range, Xiao Xiao dropped the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron directly into the trio's formation. After several actual battles, she had grown increasingly adept at wielding her Martial Soul-who said a cauldron could only be used for passive defense? It worked just as well for actively throwing enemies into disarray!
Roar!
The Earth Bear Zhou Sichen summoned spread its paws and clamped the great cauldron in a tight embrace, preventing it from continuing to vibrate.
Cui Yajie also used the force of the impact to spring nimbly forward. The great, fluffy tail behind her lashed out as she activated her second Soul Skill, Fox Tail Needle.
But it failed.
Cui Yajie turned her head in astonishment. Under Xiao Xiao's disdainful gaze, she discovered that the cauldron behind her had grown larger still, faintly emanating a black glow.
At the same time, Wang Dong held Huo Yuhao's hand as their Haodong Power circulated at full speed. Butterfly God's Light began to blaze with dazzling golden radiance once more.
Ever since Wang Dong had tried it last time, she had fallen in love with this feeling.
With Huo Yuhao helping guide her attacks, all she had to do was pour everything into charging up and unleashing her power.
Cui Yajie cast Bewitchment, hoping to interrupt Wang Dong's charge, but Huo Yuhao stepped in front of her.
His Spirit Eyes flashed.
Their Martial Souls both possessed the mental attribute, but Bewitchment struck Huo Yuhao like a clay ox sinking into the sea, eliciting no response whatsoever.
Cao Jinxuan calmly made his decision. "Split up and run!"
Xiao Xiao clapped her hands and revealed her trump card.
National Treasure, Cauldron's Tremor's Ripple.
Three Cauldrons United erupted with a thunderous boom. A colossal cauldron, twice the size of any of the previous ones, appeared out of nowhere. Strange runes faintly surfaced across it, and an indescribable majesty burst forth with that tremendous roar.
An immensely powerful suction surged from the cauldron, catching all three of them and steadily dragging them toward its center.
Zhou Sichen's expression changed drastically. His Earth Bear was still touching the enormous cauldron, but his Soul Power was pouring away like water.
He hurriedly tried to dismiss his summon, only to discover that he could not. Soul Skills already in use could not be withdrawn, and those not yet in use could not be unleashed.
Cao Jinxuan fared slightly better. As a time-attribute Soul Master, he had tiny distortions of space and time surrounding him, so the pull affected him less.
As for Cui Yajie...
Caught off guard, she was dragged violently backward by the colossal cauldron's pull and slammed straight into it. Immobilized as well, she could only watch helplessly as the Soul Power inside her evaporated.
The same black halo that surrounded the enormous cauldron appeared around Xiao Xiao. This move also exacted a tremendous cost from her; it was her strongest battlefield-control skill at her current stage.
Never mind those three-even Xie Huanyue would have been held firmly in place for over ten seconds if he had been caught by this skill.
Thus, with ample time to charge up, Wang Dong unleashed her full firepower. Dozens of brilliant orbs of light rained down like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
Cao Jinxuan still tried to struggle. He activated his first Soul Skill, Time Slowdown, hoping to evade some of the light orbs by slowing them down.
But Wang Dong's move was a saturation bombardment. Even if he could dodge one, could he dodge an entire swarm?
In the end, the referee intervened to protect the three of them, marking their elimination.
As for Qi Xuan and Xie Huanyue, the outcome of their match had been decided from the start.
Both of them thought so.
Xie Huanyue had carefully analyzed Qi Xuan's methods of attack-his thick fat could mitigate most of the lightning element, while rolling movements of his muscles would distribute physical attacks throughout his body, minimizing the damage.
Viewed that way, Qi Xuan actually had no means of breaking through his defenses.
The only thing that alarmed him was that Xiao Xiao had kept another trick up her sleeve. Had she used that move on him, he would certainly have lost as well.
"A long time ago, I started pondering a question: how do you break through a shield with three-dimensional protection covering every direction, without a single blind spot?"
"Normally, concentrating all your strength on one point and attacking that spot with everything you have would work."
"Unfortunately, the gap between us isn't that wide, and I can't shrink the point of impact to anything smaller than my fist."
Hearing Qi Xuan still explaining so calmly, Xie Huanyue felt an ominous premonition rise within him.
He demanded sharply, "Stop trying to mystify me! Your teammates are already arrows at the end of their flight, aren't they?"
"Then suppose..." Qi Xuan's figure vanished in an instant, circling him at a speed Xie Huanyue could scarcely comprehend.
He was moving so fast that even his voice was sliced into disjointed fragments.
"What if... I simultaneously... from eight... mutually opposing directions... unleashed... attacks of differing force..."
"How would you handle that?"
Qi Xuan reappeared in his original spot with the ease of someone taking a leisurely stroll through a courtyard, as though he had never moved at all.
In that fleeting instant, he had unleashed the maximum speed of Three Thousand Thunderclaps. Even he had nearly failed to control it, barely managing to land attacks from all eight directions on Xie Huanyue at almost the same time.
The fat covering Xie Huanyue's body trembled. He was bearing pressure from eight directions at once, and although the impacts varied in strength, every one was deadly enough.
He desperately tried to dissipate them, but with pressure applied from eight directions simultaneously, he could not resist through ordinary muscle movements at all.
Thud!
A muffled impact rang through the air as Xie Huanyue's enormous body crashed to the ground, the sunken fist marks on him clearly visible.
Qi Xuan's team advanced to the finals!
Before you continue