Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion

"It's you three!" Wu Feng, Ning Tian, and Nanmen Yun'er all gritted their teeth, their gazes fierce enough to devour the three of them alive.

It was especially apparent with Wu Feng, who had already undergone Martial Soul Possession. Her appearance and figure now resembled those of a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old. Her school uniform had burst apart, and she wore leather clothing, her thighs long and slender and her hips proudly rounded, making that impression all the more pronounced.

Red dragon scales now covered her face and the exposed skin of her arms. Under the heat of her fury, the scales of her fire-attribute red dragon martial soul seemed about to ignite. Her slender body brimmed with explosive power, and she lashed out with a long leg at the instigator, Chen Yong. The strength and speed behind that furious kick were easy to imagine.

At the same time, Nanmen Yun'er, who now had a pair of emerald-green wings on her back, charged at Sun Yunhai.

Seeing her teammates attack, Ning Tian instinctively summoned the power of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in her humiliation and anger, intending to enhance them. But the referee appeared before her and said calmly, "You've already lost!"

Ning Tian looked bewildered.

The referee pointed at the ground, and realization finally dawned on Ning Tian's face. She had neither Nanmen Yun'er's speed nor Wu Feng's strength. Jiang Hai's kick had carried just enough force to send her out of the arena.

By now, it was impossible for Ning Tian not to realize that they had fallen into a trap.

Chen Yong gave a low shout, and an astonishing transformation swept over his body as well. Already tall and broad, he grew larger still, his height now no less than that of Wu Feng in her sixteen- or seventeen-year-old form.

Chen Yong said his martial soul was a brown bear, but how could it possibly be an ordinary brown bear? Without any resources, a child from an ordinary hunter's family had reached rank twenty-two Battle Soul Master at the age of twelve.

His back bulged, and his arms grew thicker, his forearms brimming with power. His arms were now thicker than Wu Feng's thighs, and five long, blunt claws extended from his fingertips, packed with strength.

It was that terrifying strength that held back Wu Feng's storm of attacks.

An even match!

A flicker of disbelief crossed Wu Feng's eyes. Because this was a clash between beast martial souls, she felt the difference all the more keenly. This unremarkable-looking big fellow was actually a little stronger than she was. Her martial soul might not have been the Golden Dragon, renowned for its strength, but it was still a kind of dragon. Could something really possess greater strength than a dragon?

Wu Feng's red dragon was already a top-tier beast martial soul, yet Chen Yong had more surprises in store.

The first of the two yellow soul rings around him abruptly lit up. A layer of black light sank into his body, and his frame swelled a little more. His bronze skin took on a dark sheen, and a savage, primeval aura rushed forth. In the instant Wu Feng's attention wandered, a towering bear claw came crashing down.

Anticipation!

That palm strike cut off Wu Feng's next punch and left her nowhere to dodge.

"What exquisite timing!" Even the referee could not help giving a slight nod at the sight.

Wu Feng gave a low shout, her first soul ring shining brightly. A layer of red flames erupted from within her, spreading a foot around her body and meeting Chen Yong's descending palm head-on. The heavy bear paw forced the flames back, but Chen Yong felt scorching heat through his palm.

An ordinary person might have abandoned the attack because of that searing pain, but Chen Yong came from a hunter's family. He had accompanied his elders on hunts from a very young age to help support the household and had endured plenty of hardship. Moreover, his first soul skill, Black Iron Body, increased his resistance. His palm therefore drove straight through the flames around Wu Feng and landed solidly on her.

Wu Feng gave a muffled grunt and staggered backward. A red palm print appeared where Chen Yong had struck her, but the scales covering her body absorbed most of the force.

"This guy is still holding back!"

Jiang Hai could not help shaking his head, only to catch Ning Tian's concerned gaze. Ning Tian noticed him too and shot him a vicious glare. This was the scoundrel who had actually kicked her backside! No one had ever treated her like that in her entire life. Her little face puffed up with anger, looking rather cute.

Meanwhile, Wu Feng and Chen Yong continued fighting. After Wu Feng activated her first soul skill, Dragon's Fire, Chen Yong could no longer fight as recklessly as before.

Black Iron Body increased his resistance to flames, but the fire Wu Feng summoned was no ordinary flame. It was Dragon's Fire. In that brief exchange, his arm had already turned somewhat red, like a piece of iron heated until it glowed.

Their battle had become something of an even match. On the other side, the contest between Nanmen Yun'er and Sun Yunhai was also raging in full swing, and it was even more dazzling than the fight between Chen Yong and Wu Feng.

Nanmen Yun'er's martial soul was the emerald jade bird. Green light flickered, and emerald-colored edges appeared along both her arms and hands. With her arms serving as blades, the wings on her back carried her through nimble, rapid movements. Her bladework was exceptionally sharp. This was her first soul skill, Emerald Jade Blade.

Sun Yunhai was a pure support system soul master. Neither his first soul skill, Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion, nor his second soul skill possessed particularly powerful offensive capabilities. Yet against Nanmen Yun'er, an agility attack system soul master whose soul power was one rank higher than his, he showed no sign of defeat.

Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion could transform in countless ways, and Sun Yunhai had cultivated this soul skill to a wondrous level of mastery, already grasping some of the essence of cloud formlessness.

As the clouds shifted, Nanmen Yun'er faced nine identical Sun Yunhais. It was not even certain whether the real Sun Yunhai was among them.

Moreover, these nine Sun Yunhais all had different martial souls, including both tool martial souls and beast martial souls. Among the nine, one Sun Yunhai had a Bronze Coffin as his martial soul-Jiang Hai's martial soul, unmistakably. Another had Iron Shuo, another a Green Steel Sword, and another a brown bear. They were all martial souls belonging to people Sun Yunhai knew well. Neither their bearing nor their expressions revealed the slightest flaw. It truly looked as though nine soul masters had surrounded Nanmen Yun'er and were attacking her.

It would have been manageable if all nine figures had been illusions, but Sun Yunhai himself was mixed in among them, making truth and falsehood impossible to distinguish. These illusory duplicates were all formed from gathered clouds, and the cloud martial soul had one particular trait: it did not fear attacks. The nine illusions could shatter at any moment and reform just as readily.

"What an interesting martial soul!" Even Nanmen Yun'er's homeroom teacher, Mu Jin, had to acknowledge how remarkable the martial souls of these Class One students were. Still, Sun Yunhai's martial soul was not without flaws. Yun'er, when will you discover them?

Mu Jin glanced at Zhou Yi beside him. Where did this bitch get such good luck?

After a while, apart from Jiang Hai, who remained utterly unruffled, the other four in the arena all began to struggle to sustain their soul power. After all, they were only Soul Grandmasters. In such intense combat, the rate at which they replenished soul power could not keep pace with their consumption.

"Second soul skill, Dragon's Wrath!" The proudest of them, Wu Feng, was the first to lose patience. Her second soul ring abruptly lit up as she unleashed her second soul skill. Not only did her strength and speed increase dramatically, but her first soul skill also grew more powerful. The temperature of Dragon's Fire instantly rose by a hundred degrees.

If the battle dragged on, she would certainly benefit from having the highest soul power. But proud and arrogant as she was, how could she accept relying on that advantage to coast until the match ended? Besides, there was still someone on the other side who had been watching the show from beginning to end.

Even before her outburst, Wu Feng had been subtly drawing the battle toward Jiang Hai. Now, with the eruption of her second soul skill, she brought him within her attack range as well.

As Wu Feng unleashed her second soul skill, Dragon's Wrath, a spark of realization flashed through Nanmen Yun'er's eyes. She had spotted Sun Yunhai's weakness. The instant the temperature around Wu Feng rose, an illusory duplicate nearest her suddenly wavered violently. Fire overcame water, and Wu Feng's flames happened to counter Sun Yunhai's martial soul ability.

Having understood Sun Yunhai's weakness, Nanmen Yun'er reversed direction without the slightest hesitation. She unleashed the full speed of an agility attack system soul master, leaving Sun Yunhai's attack range at an almost unimaginable pace and rapidly closing on Jiang Hai. The instant Wu Feng saw Nanmen Yun'er burst into motion, she matched her with perfect coordination. Her long leg struck Chen Yong like a whip, and she used the recoil to propel herself toward Jiang Hai. In an instant, the two had surrounded him.

Sun Yunhai had little offensive power of his own and could not keep up with Nanmen Yun'er's speed. Speed and reaction time were also Chen Yong's weaknesses. Wu Feng's sudden change of tactics was something his half-baked ability to anticipate moves had utterly failed to foresee.

But once the two saw that the girls' target was Jiang Hai, they smiled guilelessly and acted as though they had seen nothing. A hint of schadenfreude lurked in their smiles. Of all the people these two girls could have chosen, they just had to pick their boss.

Sun Yunhai's smile, in particular, grew even stranger!

The boss was so devious! Every tactic they had used since the assessment began had been Jiang Hai's idea.

Wu Feng and Nanmen Yun'er both wanted to finish off an opponent quickly, and now they went all out. Nanmen Yun'er brought her hands together, and an emerald crescent of blade energy appeared along her arms. With a sweep of her raised arms, the emerald blade energy tore forward, while Wu Feng's attack came rushing in just as swiftly.

But as Wu Feng's scorching attack thundered toward him, Jiang Hai, whose calm expression made him look as though he had abandoned all resistance, suddenly began to tremble violently, his body becoming unstable. Only then did Nanmen Yun'er recognize that familiar sensation. Emerald Jade Slash passed through his chest, tearing Jiang Hai's body into two halves.

The next moment, a tremendous force struck their backsides. Both lost their footing and flew straight out of the arena. Turning to look back, they saw Jiang Hai watching them with a broad smile.

Their faces alternated between green and red as they glared at the three boys in the arena, gritting their teeth in fury.

When did he... A trace of confusion flashed through the referee's mind as well. Of the nine Sun Yunhai illusions, only eight were now present in the arena. The next moment, seven illusions dispersed, leaving only Sun Yunhai himself.

The referee suddenly understood. Truth mixed with falsehood-even he had been deceived. The Jiang Hai who had been watching the show all along was an illusion created by Sun Yunhai, while the real Jiang Hai had been among those nine illusions the entire time.

"Jiang Hai's team wins!" the referee announced expressionlessly, though his eyes made no attempt to hide his admiration for Sun Yunhai and the others.