But before Wu Changkong could ask anything, Hu Fangyuan continued his assault.
Hu Fangyuan treasured high-intensity clashes like this.
Naturally, he took them seriously.
Facing Wu Changkong-at least, Wu Changkong who had barely used any Soul Skills yet-
he was, at the end of the day, merely facing an opponent who used frost abilities.
Under these circumstances, Hu Fangyuan naturally disregarded Wu Changkong's strength and simply treated him as an opponent he needed to defeat.
His hands rapidly formed seals, and his Soul Power poured into the Heaven Refining Furnace without reservation.
The Heaven Refining Furnace shuddered violently, flames rising from its mouth. Crimson Scarlet Sun True Fire blazed at the opening, scorching the surrounding air until it warped. Yet strangely, what shot from the furnace was not flame, but an even more turbulent torrent of water.
The Pure Yang True Fire of Fire-Refined Scarlet Force was actually heating the water of Water Refining Azure Furnace!
Water and fire shared one source-using fire to heat water!
This was a method Hu Fangyuan had worked out himself.
Fire-Refined Scarlet Force governed fierceness; Water Refining Azure Furnace governed gentleness.
The two seemed opposed, but could actually complement each other.
Heating the water with true fire drastically increased both its impact and temperature, and could also break down the freezing effects of ice abilities. The three Water Guns earlier had broken through the ice precisely because of a trace of fiery force hidden in the water.
Now that he was driving it at full power, the effect was even more astonishing.
The surging water obeyed him as readily as his own limbs before the Heaven Refining Furnace, rapidly changing shape in midair into what looked like elongated Water Spears.
Every Water Spear spun at high speed, its point gleamingly sharp.
The rapidly spinning shafts reduced air resistance to a minimum, greatly increasing their speed!
In the blink of an eye, dozens of Water Spears hovered densely in midair, aimed at Wu Changkong like a rain of arrows.
"Go!"
Hu Fangyuan gave a low shout and pointed forward.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The sounds of air being pierced merged together.
Dozens of Water Spears shot out simultaneously, like pear blossoms in a torrential storm, blanketing the sky as they swept toward Wu Changkong.
Each Water Spear carried a piercing shriek, moving so fast that it left a white trail of water.
This attack covered an enormous area; it was no longer something he could dodge with a casual sidestep.
Wu Changkong's gaze finally grew a little more serious. With a flick of his wrist, the ice-blue belt twirled in his hand. Then his wrist began moving rapidly.
Ice-blue whip shadows appeared out of thin air, weaving an airtight defensive net before him.
Wherever the belt passed, fine shards of ice condensed in the air.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!
A dense succession of collisions rang out like beans popping.
The Water Spears slammed into the ice whip and instantly burst apart.
Water splashed everywhere, only to freeze into tiny beads of ice in midair under the cold, pattering onto the ground.
Wu Changkong felt his arm go slightly numb. Every Water Spear struck far harder than he had expected, heavy and weighty, with a clinging resilience. Lashing one felt less like striking water than hitting a water bag filled with lead; he could not shed the force at all.
More troublesome still, the Water Spears were filled with boiling water. When his ice Soul Power froze them, the thin layer of ice it had just formed was immediately melted by the fiery force inside. He could not freeze them solid at all.
In just a few breaths, all the dozens of Water Spears were blocked. Wu Changkong had also been forced half a step backward.
He lowered his head to glance at the belt in his hand. Much of the frost on it had melted, leaving it soaking wet.
"Interesting."
Wu Changkong raised his head and looked at Hu Fangyuan, a faint smile curling his lips. It was the first time he had smiled today. The boy really had not disappointed him. For someone at rank twenty-one to force him half a step back was already quite remarkable.
But as soon as he finished speaking, Hu Fangyuan changed tactics again.
Second Soul Skill, Fire-Refined Scarlet Force!
The flames of the Heaven Refining Furnace suddenly flared, their crimson glow washing over half the training ground.
Unlike the crude approach of ordinary fire-type Soul Masters, who opened by throwing enormous fireballs, Hu Fangyuan's thinking was clearly far more cunning.
The flexible tactical ideas in his mind meant he would never stick rigidly to the conventional uses of Soul Skills.
The Scarlet Sun True Fire spewing from the furnace did not condense into a mass of flame half a person's height. Instead, it rapidly split apart in midair, becoming over a hundred Fire Needles as fine as ox hair.
Every Fire Needle was condensed to the utmost, glowing red, its tip bearing a dazzling point of light, its temperature so high that the surrounding air sizzled.
"Go!"
Hu Fangyuan flicked his fingertips upward.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A dense chorus of air-piercing sounds instantly rang out.
Over a hundred Fire Needles swept toward Wu Changkong like a torrential downpour.
They covered an enormous area, each Fire Needle approaching at a tricky angle, targeting vital spots such as his joints and face.
Wu Changkong's gaze tightened slightly. This was the first time he had seen someone use a fire-type Soul Skill in such tiny fragments. Fire users generally pursued immense power and broad coverage; who split it into pieces this fine?
His wrist moved rapidly, the ice-blue belt dancing into clusters of afterimages before him. Streams of icy aura spread out, forming a translucent ice barrier in front of him.
Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting!
The Fire Needles struck the ice barrier with a dense series of crisp sounds. Most were blocked, instantly dissolving into sparks. But a dozen or so still pierced the ice and continued shooting toward Wu Changkong.
Wu Changkong raised his brows slightly, his figure swaying a little.
Several afterimages flashed past, and all those Fire Needles skimmed past his clothes. Two brushed his sleeve, instantly burning two tiny scorched holes into the fabric, their edges still blackening slightly.
Had they struck his body, they would definitely have left bloody holes.
"There's something to this," Wu Changkong said quietly. This boy's fine control over his Soul Skills far surpassed that of Soul Masters of the same rank.
But no sooner had he spoken than Hu Fangyuan changed his attack again.
The remaining sparks in midair abruptly contracted, instantly gathering into three fire spears as thick as an arm. The spears were crimson throughout, golden patterns flowing across their surfaces. Their points were incomparably sharp, and they were even more condensed than the Water Spears from before.
At the same time, two broad Fire Nets spread out from either side of the Heaven Refining Furnace, like two enormous walls of fire closing in on Wu Changkong from left and right. Flames danced across the nets, their temperature astonishingly high. Anyone who collided with them would have their skin burned open and flesh split.
More vicious still, a thick Fire Curtain slowly pressed down from overhead. Its dazzling flames lit the area around Wu Changkong a ghastly white.
Hemmed in on three sides!
In an instant, Wu Changkong's room to maneuver shrank to a mere few meters.
Standing off to the side, Xie Xie stared, his eyes fixed.
"Holy shit, you can do that? You can split a fire-type Soul Skill into Fire Needles, Fire Nets, and Fire Curtain?" This was also his first time seeing someone use fire-type Soul Skills this way. Wasn't that far too flexible? Didn't ordinary fire-type Soul Masters just throw fireballs and spew waves of flame?
Gu Yue's gaze also grew a little more serious. Her own Martial Soul was the Elemental Envoy, and her understanding of elemental control ran far deeper than most people's.
Hu Fangyuan's fine control looked simple, but actually demanded an extremely high degree of mastery over Soul Power. Even she might not have been able to perform it so smoothly.
In the training ground, Wu Changkong looked at the three walls of fire pressing toward him and finally stopped standing in place to meet the attacks head-on. He shifted his feet, his figure instantly blurring as he prepared to slip through a gap in the Fire Nets.
But just then, three nearly transparent Water Blades silently shot out from beneath the Fire Curtain, concealed by the dazzling firelight.
The Water Blades were extremely fast, compressed under high pressure, their edges as thin as paper. They were also completely transparent, almost invisible against the crimson flames.
It was an outright sneaky attack meant to catch him unawares!
Before you continue