El halted his relentless assault.
He stood where he was, waiting for Huo Yutong, who had been knocked to the ground, to make her decision.
"Hah, hah!"
Sitting on the platform, Huo Yutong struggled to prop herself up on arms covered in bruises and shattered scales, gasping for breath.
It felt as though a ball of fire burned in her throat...
Painfully hauling herself upright, the young Huo girl gritted her teeth and looked up once more at the figure standing so proudly before her.
Admit defeat...?
The shadow cast by her hanging bangs hid the girl's eyes.
Huo Yutong knew El was right.
When faced with an opponent she could not possibly defeat at present, a tactical retreat was indeed the best option.
After all, her current talent could be called unmatched in the world.
Becoming a god was only a matter of time.
Once she had fully developed her strength, there would be no grudge she could not settle.
Besides,
Brother Tian Meng was still counting on her to bring him eternal life, and Mama Water was counting on her to make the ice dragon clan's name resound far and wide.
Most importantly, there was El.
El was also waiting for her to grow strong enough to become his reliable support.
So neither retreat nor surrender was shameful.
But...
That was how a worthless coward thought!
Huo Yutong raised her head, her icy-white eyes shining brilliantly.
If she truly faced certain death someday, was she supposed to die an ugly death while fleeing?!
Or if an enemy told her she could live by selling El out, was she supposed to obey?!
Right now, she was only sparring with El.
She would never surrender of her own accord!!
"Good! That's the spirit!"
In those eyes, El saw the girl's resolve.
The corners of his mouth curled upward almost imperceptibly.
"Though I don't exactly agree with your decision."
"Still."
"Fighting to the bitter end may be unwise, but it isn't foolish."
A phantom Alatreon appeared behind El, its savage maw raised in a roar toward the heavens.
"Brace yourself!"
A streak of scarlet flashed through his orange-gold eyes, trailing a drifting tail of light through the air as he moved.
"Chaotic Dragon Fist!"
El decided to do a little cosplay as the legendary Pseudo Immortal Venerable.
Its power certainly could not compare to an immortal killer move yet, but making a convincing imitation was no problem.
A chaotic surge of spiritual power clung to El's fist, mixed with soul power and bloodline pressure, forming a dragon-shaped force that barely covered his forearm and fist.
The miniature Alatreon phantom let out a soundless roar.
Roar!
Facing that blow head-on, Huo Yutong found all manner of jumbled thoughts surfacing in her mind before it even struck her.
Even though her spiritual power had undergone a qualitative transformation and could be said to have reached the half-step tangible realm, she could not react in time.
There was no dodging it, no blocking it!
Since Huo Yutong wanted to experience the desperate situation of refusing to retreat even in the face of death, then as her... contractor, El naturally had to oblige.
"Down you go!"
Just as the self-created soul skill El had thrown together was about to strike Huo Yutong, something unexpected happened.
A faint icy-blue gleam suddenly flashed through the girl's dragon eyes, which had grown somewhat vacant under the interference of Chaotic Dragon Fist.
It was an almost imperceptible change, yet it gave the impression that her entire demeanor had transformed.
If the previous Huo Yutong had seemed like a resilient, somewhat stubborn little girl, then this one...
Could probably be called a mischief-maker.
El was exceedingly familiar with that glint in her eyes.
After all, he wore the same look whenever he wanted to have some fun.
The Water Dragon King?!
Why had she come out again?
El's thoughts raced, and he realized what had happened.
It was the heaven-tier dou technique-possession!
What did Huo Yutong's thoughts being scrambled have to do with her, the Water Dragon King?
Surprise~
A sly smile appeared on "Huo Yutong's" face.
She did not launch a counterattack. After all, El's fist was already almost touching her face; there was no time to whip up a move.
She simply controlled Huo Yutong's body, swiftly crouching down and covering her head.
She dodged El's Chaotic Dragon Fist!
Their earlier one-on-one exchange had already brought them near the edge of the arena, and Huo Yutong was right at its very rim.
"Huh?"
His power-packed punch missed its target, and El, who had only meant to toy with her, stumbled, nearly going straight out of bounds and falling off the platform.
Just as he struggled to adjust his center of gravity, "Huo Yutong" beside him decisively lent him a hand.
She stuck out a foot and tripped him.
Instinctively flailing his arms, El lost his footing and watched the ground draw closer and closer.
The atmosphere of the battle utterly collapsed.
The hot-blooded excitement built up by the earlier elemental explosions and bone-jarring blows was instantly demolished by this downright comical scene.
"This..."
The situation had reversed so suddenly, and in such a theatrical fashion, that everyone watching was left profoundly speechless.
Even El was filled with disbelief and surprise.
Forget it. Let it end like this.
It was only the Freshman Assessment championship anyway. It didn't matter who won...
No.
That wasn't right!
Just as El was about to touch the ground, going out of bounds and losing the match.
In that split second, a strange sense of understanding suddenly arose within him.
This championship...
He absolutely could not give it away!
A deep-blue light suddenly shone in his eyes, like a star hanging askew in the heavens.
It was not bright, yet it was striking.
A ribbon of deep-blue energy suddenly appeared in El's hand.
It twisted like a dragon, wrapping directly around "Huo Yutong" as she was standing up.
The next instant, a tremendous force struck.
"Huh?"
Before "Huo Yutong" could even finish her questioning cry, she was dragged off the platform and landed on the ground.
Meanwhile, every purplish-black reverse scale across El's body receded,
And with his arms now covered in layers of translucent, deep-blue scales that looked smooth and soft, El rode that force to flip back onto the platform.
The outcome was decided!
Everyone's gaze was fixed firmly on El.
But it was not the championship they cared about.
Those were...
"Twin martial souls!"
The wine bottle in Xuan Zi's hand shattered as he watched silently from the sidelines.
Yet he felt no regret whatsoever over the century-old vintage.
"That freakish brat actually has a second martial soul?!"
It was definitely no secret art or special state.
That was a second martial soul!
Anyone present who was a soul master could recognize it.
His earlier Alatreon had radiated devastation and destruction, like an unparalleled weapon of slaughter drawn from its sheath;
But this martial soul exerted a powerful attraction, brimming with vitality, as though it were the center of the world's energy.
No, not "as though."
The moment El's second martial soul appeared, the free-floating energy between heaven and earth had already rushed over like Liangzi catching the scent of stewed starch jelly!
"An innate instinct... to control the energy of heaven and earth?"
Yan Shaozhe's pupils contracted, then a wry smile appeared on his face.
That talent was a little too unreasonable.
The higher one's cultivation, the better one understood just how monstrous that talent was.
As a Super Douluo, Yan Shaozhe undoubtedly had the right to speak on the matter.
Having this second martial soul meant that when El reached the stage where he needed to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth, he would face no bottleneck at all.
As long as his understanding of his own martial soul was sufficient, the stretch from rank 95 to rank 98 would amount to nothing more than accumulating soul power.
And furthermore...
"This child might truly become a god."
Sensing that unusual power, Mu En, who lay in a reclining chair outside the freshman dormitory while keeping his perception trained on the assessment grounds, sighed softly.
"Even without receiving the legendary divine trial, he might establish a self-created godhood, just like the first gods of antiquity."
"Twin martial souls. Excellent, excellent."
Mu En closed his eyes again.
"It's time to prepare for a proper meeting with him."
Now Mu En could rest easy.
As long as he could confirm that this child was not a transformed soul beast, he had no objection.
And as everyone knew, a transformed soul beast could only possess a single beast martial soul.
Someone with twin martial souls could never be a soul beast.
Before you continue