Giving Huo Wu a Dignified Defeat

"A Soul Ancestor?" Huo Wu looked at Su Ling in confusion.

A Soul Ancestor, yet he looked so young-seemingly about her own age.

"Good, very good. If you really are a Soul Ancestor, I can fight you with everything I have. Beat me, and you'll get three thousand Gold Soul Coins."

"My name is Huo Wu, a rank thirty-nine control-type Soul Elder."

Su Ling said, "All right, let's begin!"

Huo Wu immediately released her Martial Soul, flame shadow, but Su Ling did not release his.

"Why aren't you releasing your Martial Soul?" Huo Wu looked at him in confusion.

Su Ling simply shook his head. "No need. You're a Soul Elder, and I'm a Soul Ancestor. I'll give you the advantage of fighting without my Martial Soul."

"You!" Huo Wu clenched her teeth. Her earlier, inexplicable anger had yet to fade, and Su Ling's words only poured oil on the flames.

Below the platform, Feng Xiaotian said, "Huo Wu's angry. This brat is finished. Making my dear Huo Wu angry? He's asking for death. His soul power is only rank forty-three, not much higher than hers, and he's refusing to use his Martial Soul. He's in for a world of pain."

He still had no idea that he was the one who had kindled her anger.

"Then I'll force you to use it!" Huo Wu charged straight at Su Ling. As she approached, he quickly retreated two steps before catching her fist.

Su Ling was relatively lacking in hand-to-hand combat techniques. The previous owner of his body had focused on physical training and his family's inherited archery, rather than ordinary attacks with fists and feet.

After all, for a ranged Soul Master with a bow Martial Soul, those were not the most important skills.

As a result, Su Ling was somewhat lacking in that area.

None of the cultivation methods he had obtained from chests covered it either, so his hand-to-hand skills still needed improvement.

Thus, Su Ling was willing to trade blows with Huo Wu, even while holding back his strength. Unfortunately, he was simply too strong for it to be an even exchange.

Every strike left Huo Wu aching, as though she were fighting a lump of iron.

Huo Wu was not short-she stood at least 175 centimeters tall. Her legs were long, and she mixed all sorts of kicks into her attacks.

Bang...

When Huo Wu kicked at him, the movement was so fast that Su Ling instinctively reached out and caught her lower leg.

Huo Wu tried to pull her foot back on instinct, but Su Ling's strength was too great, and her first attempt failed.

She tried harder, but it still would not budge.

"A girl shouldn't wear a skirt to a fight like this," Su Ling said quietly.

From that angle, he seemed to catch a hazy glimpse of things he should not have seen.

"You filthy pervert! You're asking for a beating!"

Huo Wu flipped, lifting her other foot and trying to spin free of Su Ling's hold.

But Su Ling was still far too strong, so Huo Wu immediately unleashed a Soul Skill-her third Soul Skill, Repelling Fire Ring.

In an instant, a dazzling ring of flames erupted outward with Huo Wu at its center.

Although the Soul Skill had little offensive power, it could knock away every opponent within the Repelling Fire Ring's thirty-meter radius.

The Repelling Fire Ring could ignore any skill or defense, temporarily driving away all skills within its range.

Provided her opponent's attacking skill did not exceed her soul power by more than ten ranks.

That was also why she had set up such a small Soul Fighting Platform.

Although everyone was welcome to challenge her, she had her own little calculations. The Gold Soul Coins did not matter, but Blazing Fire Academy could not lose.

Almost none of the people from the other academies could withstand this move, leaving her virtually invincible.

Yet against the man before her today, her Repelling Fire Ring failed for the first time.

Su Ling still held her lower leg, without being knocked away.

"Forget it. I'm done playing with you."

It was hardly appropriate to keep holding someone's lower leg. Besides, quite a few people below the platform already harbored murderous intent toward him, especially Feng Xiaotian.

Huo Wu was outstanding, and she had no shortage of suitors at Blazing Fire Academy.

Once Su Ling let her go, Huo Wu looked as though she could not believe what had just happened.

"My Repelling Fire Ring didn't work? How is that possible? You're only a rank forty-three Soul Ancestor. Were you lying?"

Although Huo Wu's Repelling Fire Ring had a powerful effect, Su Ling really could withstand it.

After absorbing the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring and the external Soul Bone, Su Ling's physique had already reached the peak Soul Emperor level.

His strength alone was at the Soul King level, and after more than twenty days of training to his limits, it was even approaching the Soul Emperor level.

Against such physical strength, Huo Wu's third Soul Skill really was ineffective. Its effect was powerful, but that also depended on the opponent.

Ignoring defenses still depended on whose defenses it was trying to ignore.

When the gap between two people grew too large, its effect became much less significant. Besides, Su Ling had withstood it while holding her, which had also weakened the Repelling Fire Ring's effect somewhat.

"I don't believe it! Your grip on me must have been why my Soul Skill failed!" Huo Wu's Soul Ring lit up, and she unleashed Repelling Fire Ring again.

Seeing Huo Wu about to use the Repelling Fire Ring again, Su Ling immediately leaped four or five meters into the air.

The Repelling Fire Ring had a thirty-meter radius and a sixty-meter diameter. If used repeatedly, it was practically a game-breaking bug in a Soul Fighting Arena between opponents of the same level.

Fortunately, the Soul Skill had one limitation: its effect reached only three meters high.

As long as Su Ling jumped higher than three meters, the Repelling Fire Ring would have no effect on him.

In the novel, Huo Wu had also tried to use this Soul Skill to knock Tang San out of the competition area during their fight, but she had failed.

Today, Huo Wu was using the same method against Su Ling.

Fortunately, Su Ling could not only withstand it head-on, but also knew the skill's effects and weaknesses.

"You... actually did it again..." Huo Wu stopped there. Otherwise, she would expose the skill's weakness to even more people.

Of course, observant people might already have guessed something, and Huo Wu did not dare keep using it.

Angry as she was, there were things she could not reveal too freely.

But Huo Wu was not someone who admitted defeat easily. She had to defeat this man named Su Ling.

"Good, very good. Let's see whether you can take this move. You'd better use your Martial Soul, too."

As Huo Wu finished speaking, all three of her Soul Rings lit up, and the flame shadow Martial Soul behind her turned incandescent white.

Ring Fusion?

Was Huo Wu already going to unleash her big move?

Ring Fusion was not a skill, but an innate talent!

It allowed her to release, all at once, the soul power consumed by the skills of her three Soul Rings.

Or rather, it let her unleash a vast amount of soul power in an instant to attack her opponent.

"Sister, don't use that move!"

Huo Wushuang hurriedly called out a warning. He was speechless.

Why expose her trump card over an inconsequential fight?

But on second thought, it made sense. His sister's competitive streak was anything but ordinary.

She would give everything she had to defeat an opponent, even if it meant revealing her strongest strike.

Huo Wu's move was indeed formidable. Su Ling could withstand it head-on, but that would leave the goddess with far too little dignity.

So Su Ling decided he ought to give her a slightly more dignified way to lose.

He released his Martial Soul, controlling his soul power so that the five-element transformation displayed only the fire attribute.

Thus, when Su Ling's Martial Soul appeared, flames covered the entire bow.

"You're a fire-attribute Soul Master too?" Huo Wu asked in surprise.

Su Ling did not answer her question. Instead, he said, "You'd better be careful of this arrow, too."

Three Soul Rings lit up around Su Ling-the third Soul Skill of his fire-attribute Soul Ring, Explosive Flame Arrow!

Previously, this arrow had produced no burst of flames at all, making it a skill as useless as a chicken rib-little to savor, yet a pity to discard.

With the Five Elements War Bow, however, the arrow's power was different.

The arrow flew out and collided squarely with Huo Wu's Ring Fusion attack, erupting in a thunderous boom.

The exploding flames blasted Huo Wu straight off the Soul Fighting Platform.

Not only that, but because the platform was so small, the nearby spectators were also caught in the blast, throwing the scene into chaos.

"Sister!"

"Huo Wu!"

Huo Wushuang and Feng Xiaotian hurried over to her.

Huo Wu rose from the ground, wiped her mouth with her hand, and said, "I'm fine."

The flames had not hurt her, since she herself had the fire attribute. It was the force of the explosion that had injured her internal organs.

"Damn him! How dare he hurt my dear Huo Wu! I'm going to kill him!"

At the sight of her, Feng Xiaotian charged out.

Huo Wu hurriedly said, "Feng Xiaotian, if you dare attack him, I'll never speak to you again."

[Ding... Huo Wu's affection +20. Obtained White Chest ×8, Yellow Chest ×3, Purple Chest ×1.]

Still standing on the platform, Su Ling heard the system notification and smiled.

When Feng Xiaotian saw Su Ling's smile, he completely lost control, turning at once to attack him.

But just then, the injured Huo Wu darted forward, disregarding her own injuries to block Feng Xiaotian's path.

"He's my guest. You're not allowed to attack him." With that, Huo Wu turned, climbed onto the platform, and walked toward Su Ling, completely ignoring Feng Xiaotian behind her.