A fourteen-thousand-year-old Soul Beast already had strength on par with a human Soul Emperor.
Ning Chuan had not used his second Martial Soul. The longsword in his hand had been forged by his sect's weaponsmith and was of fairly high quality.
Thus, Ning Chuan dared not be careless. The instant he charged out, he used the wind element of his third Soul Skill, Elemental Flow, to apply the movement Soul Skill-Windstride-to himself.
Ning Chuan's understanding of the four sword manuals had already reached a profound level, scarcely inferior to Sword Douluo's, but against this Crystal Prism Snow Spider, he still had to rely on his superior speed to keep it at bay.
There was no helping it. Without using the Suppression Seal Soul Skill to suppress the Crystal Prism Snow Spider, Ning Chuan really could not clash with it head-on.
The Crystal Prism Snow Spider was enormous, but it was not clumsy in the slightest.
Most of Ning Chuan's medium- and long-range attacks with the Sword Manipulation Technique were dodged. Even the occasional sword strike that landed failed to break through its defenses.
The Crystal Prism Snow Spider had many skills, and it was quite intelligent, too.
Seeing that it could not catch Ning Chuan, it kept spitting icy silk to disrupt his movements.
Ning Chuan could dodge it easily enough, but as he continued evading, he discovered that webs of icy silk had spread across a vast area around him.
By the time Ning Chuan tried to break out, the Crystal Prism Snow Spider tugged on one of its threads. The surrounding icy webs formed an enormous encirclement, completely cutting off his retreat.
Immediately afterward, the Crystal Prism Snow Spider shook its body, sending a dense barrage of crystalline ice spikes flying toward Ning Chuan.
"Good grief, this thing has far more combat experience than I do!"
Ning Chuan cursed inwardly, then unleashed the Star River Sword Art.
"Star River Hanging Curtain, rise!"
With Ning Chuan's low shout, the longsword in his hand split into seven swords of light condensed from Soul Power. He brought two fingers together, and the light swords swept rapidly up and down before him, weaving three layers of starlight-like curtains in an instant.
This was a defensive move from the Star River Sword Art.
The incoming crystalline ice spikes all struck the curtains of light, leaving patches of frost behind.
Once frost covered the first curtain completely, it shattered with a crack.
The second curtain did not last much longer.
Fortunately, the Crystal Prism Snow Spider's barrage of crystalline ice spikes did not continue for long and failed to break through the third curtain.
While Star River Hanging Curtain blocked the ice spikes, Ning Chuan did not remain idle.
He turned and unleashed a slashing move from the Star River Sword Art against the enormous icy web behind him-Starfall Sky-Splitting!
The longsword flashed out of Ning Chuan's hand, tracing a brilliant arc through the air like a falling meteor. In an instant, it tore an opening in the icy spiderweb behind him.
Ning Chuan moved, flying out after the sword light.
Once he was beyond the web's reach, Ning Chuan immediately turned back. Changing his hand seal, he began activating the sword technique the system had awarded him for his third Soul Ring-Sword Across the Void.
After breaking through the three curtains of light, the Crystal Prism Snow Spider saw that Ning Chuan had already escaped the web and immediately gave chase.
The moment it charged through the opening in the web, it was met by the Creation Exquisite Pagoda's Suppression Seal Soul Skill. Before the snow spider could react, it saw a heaven-shaking beam of sword light slash down toward it.
With nowhere to dodge, the Crystal Prism Snow Spider immediately mobilized the crystalline prisms on its body, interweaving them with icy silk spat from its mouth. An enormous ice-crystal shield quickly formed above it.
Clang...
The sword light struck the ice-crystal shield, and a surge of violent energy erupted, spreading in every direction.
Then, with a sharp crack, a fissure appeared in the ice-crystal shield.
The sword light did not dissipate, nor did its momentum diminish. It split the ice-crystal shield in two in an instant and fell straight onto the Crystal Prism Snow Spider's back.
"Hiss-roar..."
The Crystal Prism Snow Spider let out a low, rasping cry, and a deep, bloody gash appeared across its back.
The Crystal Prism Snow Spider was utterly enraged. It had never imagined that this human, whose Soul Power aura was clearly weaker than its own, could actually injure it.
With another rasping cry, the Crystal Prism Snow Spider opened its mouth and spat out a vast cloud of icy mist, which rapidly spread in every direction.
Ning Chuan did not evade it. The icy mist spread quickly and covered a large area, and he did not want the Crystal Prism Snow Spider to use it to escape.
Of course, Ning Chuan was not being overconfident either. The instant the icy mist enveloped him, he activated the Origin Restoration Soul Skill.
"Hm? This icy mist is poisonous, too! Good thing I activated Origin Restoration beforehand!" Ning Chuan murmured in relief, then released his Soul Force to sense the Crystal Prism Snow Spider's location.
Inside the icy mist, Ning Chuan dared not drag things out for too long.
Although he could restore himself to peak condition indefinitely, the icy mist had freezing and slowing effects in addition to its poison.
Origin Restoration could not remove the frozen state, so Ning Chuan had to finish the fight quickly.
As he sensed his surroundings, he began channeling the Heart Sword Art. Soul attacks were unaffected by a lack of visibility.
The Crystal Prism Snow Spider was intelligent. After being wounded by Ning Chuan, it clearly had no intention of approaching him again and instead planned to wear him down to death with the icy mist.
Unfortunately for it, Ning Chuan's powerful Soul Force soon locked onto its location.
He first used Suppression Seal to suppress it. While the snow spider resisted the Suppression Seal Soul Skill, he unleashed the Heart Sword Art-Soul-Slaying.
The Crystal Prism Snow Spider thought it was safe, only to suddenly sense an extremely dangerous aura. It immediately condensed an ice shield to defend itself, but the Heart Sword Art struck directly at the soul. How could an ice shield stop it?
The Crystal Prism Snow Spider felt as though an invisible sword had struck it. Its consciousness immediately grew muddled, and the surrounding icy mist began dissipating rapidly.
Shui Bing'er and the others had been worried when they saw Ning Chuan enveloped in icy mist. Had Sword Douluo not assured them that he was fine, they would already have been unable to resist intervening.
As the icy mist dispersed, Shui Bing'er and the others saw the Crystal Prism Snow Spider trembling in place. Although it was not dead, it had already lost the ability to fight.
"Shui Bing'er, it's yours!" Ning Chuan called.
Shui Bing'er did not hesitate. She immediately activated her fourth Soul Skill-Ice Plume Flash-and killed the dazed Crystal Prism Snow Spider on the spot.
"Thank you!" Shui Bing'er said, then began absorbing the Soul Ring left behind by the Crystal Prism Snow Spider.
Xue Wu, Shui Yue'er, and the others knew Ning Chuan was strong, but they truly had not expected him to defeat this fourteen-thousand-year-old Crystal Prism Snow Spider single-handedly.
"Ning Chuan, I feel like you could win this Soul Master Tournament all by yourself!" Shui Yue'er said. Xue Wu and the others nodded in agreement.
Ning Chuan smiled. "The tournament doesn't allow weapons other than Martial Souls, so I'll still have to rely on you!"
"I suppose that's true!" Shui Yue'er nodded. "But the move you used to defeat the Crystal Prism Snow Spider was that Heart Sword Art that can attack the soul, wasn't it?"
"Yes!" Ning Chuan nodded slightly. During their time cultivating at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, they had also studied the way of the sword under Sword Douluo.
Sword Douluo had taught them all four sword arts, but they had only gained a rudimentary grasp of the Sword Manipulation Technique so far. An offensive technique like the Heart Sword Art, which fused the way of the sword with the soul, was simply impossible to learn in a short time.
"No wonder it's so hard to even get started!" Shui Yue'er murmured to herself.
Xue Wu then said, "This move doesn't seem to require a sword, does it?"
"It doesn't, but I won't use it casually during the tournament," Ning Chuan said.
A sword strike against the soul would cause permanent soul damage. It was unlike illusion techniques, whose victims could recover after resting for a while.
Ning Chuan had used it on this Crystal Prism Snow Spider because, after rendering it dazed, he had sent a Creation Spirit Seal into it. Thus, even after Shui Bing'er killed it, its Soul Spirit, containing its complete consciousness, would enter the Creation Exquisite Pagoda.
Soul damage was difficult to repair in the outside world, but after enough time inside the Creation Exquisite Pagoda, it would eventually recover.
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