The battle had dragged on until even the proud Dai Huabin felt a trace of dejection. The strength he took such pride in had failed to give him the upper hand in a one-on-one fight against a Soul Grandmaster with only one soul ring. Instead, as his soul power dwindled to nothing, he could lose at any moment.
"Come on!" Dai Huabin roared. His tiger claws collided with Jiang Hai's fist, but his body flew backward as though offering no resistance. While still in midair, he instantly dispelled his third soul skill, White Tiger Vajra Transformation, and shot toward Zhu Lu.
What was he trying to do? Defeat me and Yunhai first?
Confusion stirred in Chen Yong's heart, but with Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion in place, Dai Huabin might not even be able to locate their true bodies.
"A Martial Soul Fusion Skill!" In the stands, Ma Xiaotao saw what was happening, and worry flashed through her eyes. Could he withstand a Martial Soul Fusion Skill unleashed by a level 31 Soul Elder and a Soul Grandmaster?
Liu Cheng laughed heartily. "Teacher Zhou, Teacher Mu, I won't stand on ceremony when it comes to taking your soul bones!"
"A Martial Soul Fusion Skill!" A ripple of emotion passed through Zhou Yi's and Mu Jin's eyes as well. The Evil-Eyed White Tiger and the Hell Spirit Cat-how had they forgotten that?
Yet in each generation of the White Tiger Family, only one or two pairs could perform a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. They had never expected to actually encounter one. Dai Huabin's strength had kept all his previous opponents from forcing him to reveal this skill, and now it might become the key to Jiang Hai's team's defeat.
As Dai Huabin charged toward Zhu Lu, he let out a tiger's roar. His body swelled again as he roared, white fur and black tiger stripes surging forth wildly.
As Zhu Lu advanced, her body grew increasingly transparent.
The instant they touched, Zhu Lu's body became completely transparent and merged directly into Huabin's.
At that moment, their auras underwent a profound transformation, fusing completely. The white tiger seemed to swallow the black cat, and powerful soul power erupted from their merged body in an unending torrent. Black and white light blended into one within a golden halo.
A Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
Every Soul Master who understood the significance of that skill knew that Jiang Hai's team had already lost-unless they possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill of their own.
But Martial Soul Fusion Skills were exceedingly rare, imposing stringent requirements on both martial souls. Not only did the martial souls have to be similar, their abilities also had to complement each other.
A coffin, a cloud, and a bear-could those three martial souls complement each other? Absolutely not.
Shrek Academy could already be called the representative of the Soul Master World, yet Soul Masters who possessed Martial Soul Fusion Skills remained incredibly scarce.
The Martial Soul Fusion Skill succeeded. Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu vanished from the arena, replaced by an enormous white tiger. Its body was illusory, but its tiger eyes stared coldly at Jiang Hai.
Jiang Hai's gaze remained composed as he stood calmly before the white tiger, his concentration sharpened to its utmost, just as it had been when he faced the eight-hundred-year-old Diamond Tiger in the Star Dou Great Forest.
A Soul Master without even a soul ring, facing an eight-hundred-year-old royal soul beast.
It had been a battle that should have been impossible to win, yet Jiang Hai had done it. This time would be no exception.
Dressed in white, Zhang Lexuan appeared silently in the stands and watched the boy in the arena. Three years had passed, and the impression he gave her had only grown more mysterious.
Level 20, facing a Martial Soul Fusion Skill from a level 23 and a level 31-could he still create a miracle?
"Xiaoyong, Yunhai, get off the stage!" Jiang Hai gripped the rim of the Bronze Coffin with one hand. As the white tiger turned its eyes toward Chen Yong and Sun Yunhai, his voice rang out coldly.
"Boss!" Chen Yong's and Sun Yunhai's eyes filled with conflict. A Martial Soul Fusion Skill-how could it be a Martial Soul Fusion Skill? They had been so close to winning!
Neither moved. Even if they lost, they would lose honorably, together.
"Get off!" Jiang Hai repeated.
"Let's go." Sun Yunhai appeared beside Chen Yong and tugged his sleeve. "Trust the boss!"
Chen Yong fell silent for a moment, then walked off the arena beneath the white tiger's mocking gaze.
Now, only a white tiger and a boy dragging a coffin remained in the arena.
The boy advanced toward the white tiger one step at a time, dragging his coffin. Their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, the Hell White Tiger, stood a full eighty feet tall. Jiang Hai, at only 1.78 meters, looked like a toy before it.
A cold gleam flashed through the Hell White Tiger's eyes. Its body crouched slightly, and in the next instant, it lunged toward Jiang Hai at a terrifying speed, trailing a fearsome wake of transparent ripples.
As the enormous tiger head swept down, it remained proudly raised. Its gaze looked down upon all things, displaying the majesty of the king of beasts, whose roar shook the mountain forests and whose might dominated the world.
Jiang Hai was accelerating too, moving faster and faster. Looking up at the white tiger overhead, he said coldly, "I hate it when someone looks down on me from on high. We were born free-what right do you have to look down on me?"
As he spoke, golden light flickered over Jiang Hai's body, and his aura condensed to its utmost. Dragging the enormous Bronze Coffin, which weighed over a thousand jin, he leaped high into the air, higher even than the Hell White Tiger. Behind him, the massive Bronze Coffin resembled a divine stele that could suppress the world. He swung it through a half circle in midair, bringing it down from above toward the enormous tiger head.
At that moment, the pride in Jiang Hai's eyes shone even more brilliantly than the pride in the white tiger's.
Zhang Lexuan quietly watched Jiang Hai high above and thought, Is this the real you?
She had always sensed pride and loneliness in Jiang Hai, but she had never imagined his heart could be so proud-so proud that even a Titled Douluo had never possessed such a gaze.
Sensing the lofty superiority in Jiang Hai's eyes, the Hell White Tiger's lantern-sized eyes flashed with anger. Why? What right do you have to be prouder than me? I am the future White Tiger Duke of the Star Luo Empire, beneath one man and above ten thousand. You are nothing but a lowborn commoner. What right do you have to be prouder than me? The white tiger growled, raised its head toward the descending Bronze Coffin, and charged straight into it.
What right?
Disdain flashed through Jiang Hai's eyes as he looked at the Hell White Tiger. I have seen vistas you will never see, vistas you could never imagine in your entire lives. What right do you have to flaunt your pride before me?
Boom!
The Bronze Coffin collided with the white tiger.
No one doubted the outcome of that collision. Even the dean of studies, Du Weilun, understood clearly that although Jiang Hai's final strike, delivered from above with gravity on his side, possessed strength beyond the limits of his age, he was still only a Soul Grandmaster without even a second soul ring. His opponent, meanwhile, was the Hell White Tiger, formed through a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
The white tiger struck the ground, and cracks spread through the layers of blue bricks paving Shrek Academy's arena. Yet its imposing aura had not diminished in the slightest. Jiang Hai's arm, on the other hand, was already stained red with blood where he held the Bronze Coffin.
Du Weilun sighed and was about to step into the arena.
Flung high into the air, Jiang Hai showed no change in his eyes, as though he could not feel any pain. He flipped once in midair and used the heavy Bronze Coffin to steady himself before bringing it crashing toward the white tiger's head again. This time, however, the coffin seemed to have grown even heavier. An intensely scorching aura burst forth, and purplish-red flames seemed to ignite across its surface.
The flames brimmed with evil, as though all the evil in heaven and earth had gathered within them.
"What is that?" Several teachers stood up, staring at the transformation of the coffin in disbelief.
Zhang Lexuan's and Du Weilun's gazes immediately settled on Ma Xiaotao. Phoenix evil fire-and purer than Ma Xiaotao's own phoenix evil fire at that.
Why could Jiang Hai wield phoenix evil fire?
Feeling their gazes upon her, Ma Xiaotao kept her expression unchanged and did her utmost to suppress the fluctuations of soul power within her.
When Jiang Hai leaped up for the second time, the soul power within her had begun draining rapidly. Although she could easily cut off that flow, strangely, Ma Xiaotao did not choose to do so. Instead, she worked desperately to conceal the aura.
Zhang Lexuan seemed to sense something. She gave Ma Xiaotao a long look but said nothing.
Boom!
The flaming coffin crashed down again. The white tiger seemed to suffer a blow too heavy to bear, and even its proud head could not help sinking. A ripple spread from the point of contact, and even the light in its eyes scattered a little.
Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Hai swung the Bronze Coffin, blazing with scorching flames. A second blow followed immediately, smashing into the white tiger's head once more.
Never forgetting, never relenting.
One coffin blow followed another. Jiang Hai's arms were stained with blood, but his gaze did not change in the slightest. It was just like his encounter with the eight-hundred-year-old Diamond Tiger: no matter how formidable its defenses were, once it gave Jiang Hai the smallest opening, he would never give it another chance.
As though there were no end to it, Ma Xiaotao's soul power continued draining away. Her face grew somewhat pale, and she gritted her teeth while doing everything she could to suppress her aura.
Yet few people in the stands paid attention to Ma Xiaotao's changes. They stared dumbfounded as Jiang Hai battered the Hell White Tiger into submission.
Watching this, Wang Dong could not help swallowing. Tongue-tied, she said, "This guy is actually this ferocious? Can we... beat... him?"
Huo Yuhao was equally horrified, but as he watched the enormous Hell White Tiger bow its head again and again beneath the Bronze Coffin's suppression, he could not help releasing a breath of pent-up resentment.
Mom... sooner or later, I'll be able to do all this too.
Boom!
Another coffin blow came crashing down. At last, the enormous Hell White Tiger could endure no more and dissipated beneath the Bronze Coffin's assault, revealing Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu within, their faces pale and their gazes vacant.
Light flashed. At some point, Du Weilun had appeared beneath the Bronze Coffin and caught it with one hand. Eight soul rings emerged, and a powerful surge of soul power suppressed the evil fire on the coffin.
Jiang Hai flew backward. The Bronze Coffin vanished, and his face was deathly pale as well.
Du Weilun gave him a long look, then announced expressionlessly, "Jiang Hai wins!"
With that, he glared at the somewhat dazed referee and returned to the raised platform.
The referee smiled sheepishly. If not for him, Du Weilun would not have needed to intervene.
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