"Who are you calling a big-breasted woman?" Zhu Zhuqing fumed. "My name is Zhu Zhuqing, Hell Spirit Cat Zhu Zhuqing. Remember it. And I'm not your fellow disciple, either."
"If you're not my fellow disciple, where did you get your cultivation art?"
"A senior expert taught it to me. How do you know about my cultivation art?"
Hearing them discuss cultivation arts, Ma Hongjun immediately pricked up his ears as well.
Inside the Clear Sky Sect, Tang Xiao roared with laughter. "Why are these people talking about cultivation arts again? Aren't those arts nothing but garbage?"
The second elder beside him quickly chimed in. "Exactly. Practicing them does nothing. These children are probably just playing house. Our Clear Sky Sect may not have been established for all that long, but our Martial Souls have been passed down for more than a generation or two. With all that accumulated experience, our sect has done some research into Martial Soul cultivation, yet we've never heard of anything like cultivation arts. Those children must just be making a mystery out of nothing."
"Exactly, exactly."
Inside the Dragon-Tiger Ranking, the contestants could not hear the discussions outside. Even if they could, Ning Rongrong probably would not have paid them any mind. After all, summer insects could not be told of ice.
Ning Rongrong asked, "Zhu Zhuqing, is this senior expert you mentioned named Wang Qiye?"
"How do you know his name?"
"Idiot. I said we were fellow disciples because he taught me my cultivation art too, of course."
"But how can you prove you're the eldest senior sister? Maybe he took you in after accepting me."
Zhu Zhuqing felt rather defiant. She knew Ning Rongrong was most likely the eldest senior sister. After all, Wang Qiye had only parted ways with her a short while ago. How could he have gone off and accepted another disciple? But she simply refused to accept it.
Beside them, Ma Hongjun could no longer hold back either. "You've both practiced this cultivation art? Can you control Karmic Fire too?"
Ma Hongjun knew all too well how agonizing it was to be enveloped in Karmic Fire. The thought of the three of them joining forces and covering the entire arena in Karmic Fire made him shudder. Would the three of them end up reduced to beasts ruled by instinct?
Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes. "Idiot. Each of us has a different cultivation art. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be calling me eldest senior sister?"
Ma Hongjun hemmed and hawed. Just as he was about to call her eldest senior sister, Lou Gao could no longer hold back.
"Enough playing house!" He swung the Flame Square Sword, bringing it down viciously toward Zhu Zhuqing, who was closest to him.
His Flame Square Sword possessed an innate flame ability. A single slash could unleash attack power equivalent to that of a level-forty Soul Elder, and it would have many more marvelous uses in the hands of someone with a high Soul Power Level.
However, this ability depended entirely on the special material and had little to do with Soul Power.
The Deep Sea Silver soft armor he wore was even more formidable. It could mitigate and weaken even Soul Saint-level attacks. Now that everyone was in the state of ordinary people without Soul Power, even those four Soul Masters combined could not breach his defenses.
At that thought, Lou Gao felt thoroughly reassured.
He swung his sword at Zhu Zhuqing, but she did not even dodge.
The other three all thought Zhu Zhuqing had given up resisting, but Ning Rongrong did not so much as blink. She had also studied the Nine Lives Profound Art of Penetrating the Netherworld and naturally knew its effects like the palm of her hand.
After completing his slash, Lou Gao suddenly realized the sensation was wrong. His Flame Square Sword had not struck anything at all.
Yet his eyes clearly told him that his blade had passed through her body. "How could this be? What my eyes see doesn't match what my hand feels at all. Could this be an illusion?"
Zhu Zhuqing looked at Lou Gao, her eyes icy. "Since you're so eager to die, I'll deal with you first." With that, she thrust her hand like a blade straight toward Lou Gao's chest.
"It's useless. This is Deep Sea Silver soft armor. Your attack will never..."
With a splurt, Lou Gao spat out a mouthful of blood.
As though Lou Gao wore not divine soft armor but white paper, Zhu Zhuqing's arm pierced straight through his chest and emerged from his back.
Zhu Zhuqing pulled her hand out of Lou Gao's body and shook the blood off her arm.
"I've already dealt with one. Who's taking the rest?"
"You work fast, junior sister. How about letting our junior brother handle this one?"
At Ning Rongrong's direction, Ma Hongjun actually started walking toward Qian Renxue without thinking. After two steps, however, he suddenly came to his senses. "Why am I listening to you?"
"Oh? Do you want to exchange a few moves with your eldest senior sister?"
"Who cares about eldest senior sisters or second senior sisters? Those nine levels of Soul Power are mine! Nobody's taking them!"
With that, Ma Hongjun took a deep breath, then blew red flames out with all his might. What he saw next, however, gave him quite a fright.
Around Zhu Zhuqing, the red flames flickered a couple of times before all going out.
Around Ning Rongrong, the red flames flew toward her, only to dissolve.
Ma Hongjun looked closely and finally noticed that Ning Rongrong constantly radiated a protective seven-colored treasured light. The falling red flames were directly converted into red treasured light, doing nothing but supplying her with energy.
Things were better on Qian Renxue's side. The instant the flames landed, her power only purified most of them, and they were not completely purified until the next instant. In other words, as long as he kept unleashing flames at Qian Renxue without stopping, he might soon make her succumb.
But Qian Renxue clearly had no intention of giving him that chance.
Two enormous white wings suddenly appeared behind her. With a beat of her wings, she abruptly soared high into the air.
"What's going on? Isn't this cheating? How are we supposed to hit her when she's flying so high?" Ma Hongjun huffed and glared, but there was nothing he could do.
"Looks like the only option now is to take you two down first, then deal with the one in the sky!" Ning Rongrong shrugged.
"You can't just deal with the two of us because you say so."
With that, Zhu Zhuqing's figure split in two and lunged straight at Ning Rongrong, attempting to recreate the coordinated attack between her body and shadow that she had used against Tang Hao.
But as soon as she exchanged blows with Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing sensed something was wrong. Ning Rongrong seemed very familiar with her fighting style.
Each time, Ning Rongrong merely punched straight at her, yet Zhu Zhuqing could not handle it at all.
Not only was Zhu Zhuqing slower than her, but her strength was also far inferior.
Whenever Zhu Zhuqing's shadow tried to attack, Ning Rongrong easily avoided it with a stamp of her foot or a quick dodge. Even while evading the shadow's attacks, she could exchange punches and kicks with Zhu Zhuqing with ease, without falling behind in the slightest.
Ma Hongjun also noticed that Zhu Zhuqing seemed completely unable to do anything to Ning Rongrong. In a little while, she would probably be defeated.
His eyes darted, and he went straight forward, deciding to look for a good opportunity while the two were locked in combat and use the black flames' damage-amplifying ability to defeat them both in one stroke.
Suddenly, a chill gripped his heart. He hurriedly hurled himself away in a dive. A slender sword had plunged hard into the ground where he had just stood.
Qian Renxue arrived right afterward, pulled the thrusting sword out of the ground, then beat her wings and flew into the sky.
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