In this state, Dai Huabin's eyes were bloodshot, murderous ferocity spilling from him as he stood imposing and formidable.
But Qi Xuan showed not a trace of fear. Playing Wu Song, he swung his fist and smashed it into him.
"Roar!" Dai Huabin cried out in pain and retaliated with a swipe of his claws.
Qi Xuan's uniform jacket was torn open, but his body remained unscathed. His right fist shot straight toward Dai Huabin's face.
Crack.
Dai Huabin took the punch squarely on his left cheek, a sharp crack ringing in his ears.
He could feel that his left cheekbone seemed to have fractured, leaving his handsome face crooked.
"Pfft." He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. The injury only stoked his ferocity.
He lunged straight at Qi Xuan with brute force. Qi Xuan caught both his arms and pressed them down to either side.
Dai Huabin discovered, to his shock, that he was actually losing in sheer strength!
With Dai Huabin's guard wide open, Qi Xuan drove a knee straight into his chest with a dull thud.
Dai Huabin got back to his feet, panting heavily. Two of his ribs seemed to have broken as well.
Apart from his shredded clothes, Qi Xuan seemed to be in excellent shape.
Although Dai Huabin had taken a savage beating from Qi Xuan, Huo Yuhao did not spare him a glance. His mental resistance in this state was absurdly high; using Soul Impact on him would certainly cause a backlash.
In terms of enhancement, Spiritual Detection was actually no worse than Ning Tian's abilities. Its benefits were simply less visible.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's million years of accumulated power had made that unprecedented Million-Year Soul Ring with four Soul Skills possible.
Seeing Huo Yuhao turn his eyes toward her, Ning Tian started and hurriedly focused her mind, preparing to resist his Soul Impact.
But nothing happened.
Huo Yuhao seemed to have merely glanced at her before immediately turning back to observe the situation on the field.
"Xiao Xiao, switch opponents."
Xiao Xiao could only defend passively for now. Sooner or later, Zhu Lu would break through her defenses, and then he would be in danger too.
At Huo Yuhao's command, however, Wang Dong was the first to act. Her Butterfly Wing Guillotine forcibly drove Wu Feng back, leaving two wounds on her palms that steadily oozed blood.
Then Wang Dong quickly moved toward Xiao Xiao, preparing to swap opponents.
An opening!
Zhu Lu's eyes lit up. As an agility attack system Soul Master, she keenly spotted the gap left as Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao switched opponents.
And that gap led straight to Huo Yuhao!
Netherworld Shadow Clone!
Netherworld Ghost Claw!
Her figure streaked toward Huo Yuhao like a bolt of black lightning.
"Do all agility attack system Soul Masters move faster than they think?"
Xiao Xiao's mocking voice rang out behind her.
National Treasure, Cauldron's Tremor's Ripple!
The enormous cauldron stood across the center of the arena, catching both Zhu Lu and Wu Feng within its range. A powerful gravitational pull followed, dragging them steadily toward it.
"Feng!"
Caught off guard, Wu Feng was pinned against the edge of the enormous cauldron, struggling desperately to break free.
Zhu Lu was farther away and kicked off in a sudden dash. She was confident that, with her speed, neither Xiao Xiao nor Huo Yuhao could lock onto her.
But...
The cauldron's gravitational pull seized her without mercy. This was not Zhu Lu's mistake. Amid the tangled situation moments earlier, Huo Yuhao had used the enormous cauldron as cover to secretly launch a Soul Impact at Ning Tian.
Although the prepared Ning Tian negated most of its effects, it still interrupted her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's enhancement for an instant.
Without her speed enhancement, Zhu Lu was now slow enough for Xiao Xiao to catch. With one side prepared and the other unsuspecting, she too was immobilized.
"Xiao Xiao, buy me fifteen seconds." Wang Dong beat her wings and landed beside Huo Yuhao, wrapping her arms around his waist. Pink, blue, and gold flowed around them, enclosing them together like an enormous cocoon.
She did not use a charged Butterfly God's Light again. If Dai Huabin forced his way out of his fight, his current physical toughness might allow him to take the attack head-on for his teammates.
For the sake of Huo Yuhao's request before the match, she brought out the ultimate technique she had kept at the bottom of her chest.
Ning Tian quickly recovered her senses, but she was powerless against Cauldron's Tremor's Ripple-as a pure support system Soul Master, she had no control skill with which to interrupt Xiao Xiao.
Behind her, the blazing golden light grew ever larger, soaring skyward to form a terrifying crescent-shaped blade of light.
Thanks to Haodong Power, Wang Dong now had much greater control over energy-gathering skills like this. Giving it everything she had, she hurled the blade of light outward.
"Butterfly Light Slash!"
Ling Luochеn hesitated, unsure whether she should intervene to block the strike.
By her judgment, neither Wu Feng nor Zhu Lu could withstand it.
"Roar!" An earthshaking roar came from the other battlefield. Bathed in blood, Dai Huabin charged out of a cloud of dust and headed straight toward Zhu Lu.
A white-clad figure flashed past, forcibly rescuing Wu Feng from Cauldron's Tremor's Ripple and taking Ning Tian behind her away as well.
Ling Luochеn took a closer look. "Dean Yan?"
The newcomer was none other than Shrek Academy's dean, Yan Shaozhe, a rank ninety-five Super Douluo.
"Don't blame me for stealing your job, little Ling. These youngsters are all a bit uncanny."
With that, he flashed back onto the Competition Platform.
Wu Feng stood up indignantly and complained to Ling Luochеn, "Senior, it's true I couldn't block it, but my young mistress could still keep fighting."
Ling Luochеn glanced at her, the chill emanating from her making Wu Feng shiver involuntarily. "She couldn't take part in the rest of the match either."
Wu Feng wanted to argue further, but Ning Tian caught her sleeve. "Feng, Senior Ling is right. Look at the platform."
The reason Yan Shaozhe left Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu alone was simple: they had a trump card too.
And no one knew their trump card better than Shrek Academy.
As the smoke and dust cleared from the arena, Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu had vanished. In their place stood an enormous white tiger over eight meters long.
Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Hell White Tiger!
Huo Yuhao's mind reeled. As a member of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, how could he not know this glory passed down from their ancestors?
Yet that glory had been inherited by the very person he hated most!
The white tiger threw back its head and roared, displaying all the domineering might of a king.
But the fur on one side of its body was stained scarlet with blood, and a horrifying wound had even been cut into it.
Enhanced by Haodong Power, Butterfly Light Slash combined two Soul Skills into one. How could it possibly be blocked so easily?
Xiao Xiao's face was deathly pale. Against the Hell White Tiger, her Cauldron's Tremor's Ripple was almost completely ineffective, and she had been forcibly driven back. Only gritting her teeth and holding on kept her from fainting.
Charging Butterfly Light Slash had consumed most of Wang Dong's soul power. Even with Haodong Power restoring it, she was already a candle guttering in the wind.
The outcome was decided.
Almost everyone thought so, including Huo Yuhao himself.
The Martial Soul Fusion Skill of the Blue Sisters, two Soul Grandmasters, had been enough to trap a Soul Elder with no way out. The Hell White Tiger formed by Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu was certainly not something they could withstand now.
But one person stood in front of them. Qi Xuan brushed the dust off himself and strode toward the Hell White Tiger.
Compared with that enormous body, Qi Xuan's figure seemed so very small.
The promise Qi Xuan had made the previous night flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind.
"As long as you haven't given up, I'll be right there beside you."
That was what Qi Xuan had said.
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