"Hmm?"
Lu Yuan watched as Yan sat cross-legged on the ground with his knees bent, while his own Vine Strangle attack couldn't even touch the surface of Yan's skin.
Even though Yan needed to unleash the full might of his martial soul, the Flame Lord, in order to burn away Lu Yuan's vines.
Yet under these circumstances, Lu Yuan watched as Yan's soul power and stamina constantly recovered; the soul power consumed by unleashing his martial soul at full strength should be less than the soul power being restored.
Thus, both Lu Yuan and Yan were recovering soul power, and this spar would continue indefinitely.
Want to play a war of attrition? I won't give you what you want.
In Lu Yuan's hand, a ball of golden light suddenly appeared, continuously emitting outward golden annular ripples and starlight spots.
That's right, it was precisely the third new ability Lu Yuan obtained after his soul power broke through level twenty and he became a Soul Grandmaster, following the Soul Beast Compendium and the Stamina System-
Star Magic!
Originally capable of stunning elves in Locke Rian, Star Magic still retained the function of hitting targets and stunning them when brought to the Douluo Continent, and it could also deal damage.
It's just that releasing Star Magic required consuming soul power.
Moreover, the more soul power consumed, the longer the charging time, the greater the power, and the longer the stunned duration of the hit target.
Lu Yuan continued to cast Star Magic, the golden ball of light in his hand growing larger and larger, its radiance becoming increasingly brilliant.
With the soul power of Lu Yuan as a 28th-rank Soul Grandmaster, he was capable of condensing a Star Magic attack strong enough to shatter the defense of Yan, a 32nd-rank Soul Elder.
"To think... he has a second self-created soul skill?"
Xie Yue, who had been watching the spar up to this point, couldn't help but be dumbfounded. At present, his mind was entirely filled with thoughts of how Lu Yuan managed to balance a cultivation speed that exceeded ordinary people with the cultivation of self-created soul skills.
To this, Lu Yuan only wanted to say one thing:
Isn't this basically playing with hacks?
However, at this moment, Yan suddenly opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth curving upward.
"I never expected this, you brat actually have a second self-created soul skill."
Like everyone else, Yan failed to see the soul rings beneath Lu Yuan's feet rotating when he released Star Magic, assuming this was yet another self-created soul skill he had acquired through bitter cultivation.
"Unfortunately, what I've been waiting for is this exact moment!"
Yan let out a furious roar as the third, long-charged purple soul ring beneath his feet rapidly spun. Before Yan's chest, a scorching, concentrated fireball was rolling and revolving.
A massive heat pressure, accompanied by fierce soul power, spread outward. Even the soul masters near the sparring platform felt it, breaking out into a sweat and frantically fanning their faces.
"Brother, what on earth is Yan's third soul skill?"
Sensing that Yan's move carried far too much oppressive force for soul masters below the Soul Elder rank, Hu Liena felt a trace of anxiety surface on her face and hurriedly asked Xie Yue.
Little sister, are you... caring about that Lu Yuan? Xie Yue thought to himself, then spoke aloud.
"Hellfire. Yan's thousand-year soul skill is called Hellfire. After charging..."
While explaining Yan's third soul skill to Hu Liena, Xie Yue kept both eyes constantly fixed on Lu Yuan and Yan, who were confronting each other in the arena while glowing with gold and red light respectively.
Lu Yuan, under this kind of desperate situation, I wonder if you can find a way out and defeat Yan. I'm quite curious.
Yan laughed with frantic wickedness on the sparring platform.
"My thousand-year soul skill, Hellfire, has a huge attack range after it's charged up. Although its power is weakened, burning a Soul Grandmaster like you until you cry out for mommy is still not a problem."
Because Yan charged up a step ahead of Lu Yuan, he also gathered his power and attacked his opponent more quickly.
"Lu Yuan, are you going to step down and concede defeat yourself, or should I burn you into the hospital? Whatever the case, either way makes me very happy and deeply satisfied!"
Yan muttered inwardly, a frantic expression surfacing on his face as well.
He seemed to have already envisioned the wonderful scenario where Lu Yuan knelt down before him to beg for mercy, or was carried away by healing soul masters, while he himself reaped countless looks of admiration and adoration from his fellow students.
"Lu Yuan, you lose!"
Manipulating the fireball, Yan blasted it toward Lu Yuan's direction, and from it burst forth countless surging, high-temperature flames, raging in all directions like a mudslide breaking out of a mountain valley.
The massive wave of fire lunged straight at Lu Yuan, covering almost half of the sparring platform.
Yan laughed wildly, "Lu Yuan, I refuse to believe you have a third self-created soul skill that can escape my ultimate strike!"
At this point, even if Lu Yuan utilized his stamina once more, it was impossible to escape the engulfment of the wave of fire.
"No, Lu Yuan! Hurry and run, quickly admit defeat, you'll get hurt!"
Down below, Hu Liena shouted toward Lu Yuan, hoping that he would understand that the wise man submits to circumstances; getting out completely unscathed was the best course of action. What did refusing to push oneself or losing face even matter?
Yet Lu Yuan remained in place, charging his attack, standing with a resolute gaze as if he were absolutely determined to unleash this strike of Star Magic and win this soul master duel!
"No, Lu Yuan!"
Seeing that Lu Yuan remained unmoved, Hu Liena hastily raised both arms to shield her front, unwilling to witness the pitiful sight of Lu Yuan's skin being scorched black by the Hellfire.
"Nana! Nana!" Xie Yue called out to Hu Liena, tugging at her clothes.
"Brother, Lu Yuan... Lu Yuan, is he already..."
For some reason, thinking of Lu Yuan getting injured made Hu Liena feel quite distressed, and she couldn't even speak coherently.
"Nana, take another look."
Xie Yue's single sentence woke Hu Liena from her stupor. She slowly lowered her arms and once again cast her gaze toward the arena.
A miraculous scene appeared: in the areas of the arena that had been swept by wave after wave of fire, Lu Yuan's figure was nowhere to be found.
"What is going on here?"
The bystander sees clear, while the participant is lost in the fog.
Not only was Hu Liena dumbfounded, but even Yan, who was right in the middle of the intense battle, was dumbfounded.
Wait no, Lu Yuan, where did you go?
In his field of vision, the gold-red wave of fire lunged toward Lu Yuan. After the firelight vanished, the scene he anticipated of Lu Yuan being burned from the injuries was nowhere to be seen.
"It couldn't possibly be that I burned him straight to ashes, could it?"
Yan bent over, hands braced on his knees, panting heavily and sweating profusely.
He had charged up the release of this Hellfire move with the intent of achieving a one-hit absolute kill against Lu Yuan, putting every ounce of his strength into it. At this moment, Yan's soul power was also completely depleted, rendering him practically devoid of any capacity to resist as a soul master.
Yan felt a bit insecure and had a chill running down his back, thinking that perhaps he hadn't defeated Lu Yuan and the guy had really used some method to escape.
Or perhaps Lu Yuan didn't have time to react, and the power of his charged thousand-year soul skill was simply too great, truly burning Lu Yuan out of existence-that was also a possibility.
Yan's mind was an absolute mess right now; he was even pondering how he should explain things to Hu Liena so she would accept that he hadn't intentionally killed Lu Yuan, and that this newly arrived junior classmate had already passed away.
However, right at this moment, Yan discovered an unusual situation on the ground.
"What is that?"
Exhausted and with his vision somewhat blurry, Yan rubbed his eyes, trying to make out the foreign object clinging to the ground.
"A clump of... pitch-black stuff? No!"
Yan trembled all over, his pupils dilating as if he had sensed something.
This is a shadow!