When he was less than five meters from Qian Ran, Bei Bei suddenly leaped up and brought his scale-covered right arm crashing down at him. His right hand seemed to have become a dragon's claw, wreathed in blue-violet arcs of electricity.
Seeing that Qian Ran actually intended to meet him head-on, Bei Bei revealed a look of disdain.
In the outer court, no one could fight him head-on.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon was no weak Martial Soul!
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect was the continent's very finest Power Attack System Martial Soul!
At that moment, Bei Bei's explosive power had firmly reached the Soul Ancestor level.
Qian Ran remained unhurried. Golden light flickered over his right fist as light energy gathered around it. He too punched fiercely toward Bei Bei.
Bang!
The blue-violet arcs collided with the golden power of light.
The two fists smashed together with a tremendous boom.
Both of them were knocked back several steps.
All the freshmen present stared, dumbfounded. They had thought Thunderbolt Bei Bei would defeat Qian Ran with a single punch, sweeping through him like a force crushing rotten wood. They had never expected Qian Ran to withstand it. The overwhelming domination they had envisioned never appeared; instead, Bei Bei seemed to have faintly fallen on the back foot.
Bei Bei had struck first, which naturally should have given him a greater advantage, yet he had failed to bring out any advantage at all.
"He really is strong." Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, and all the freshmen in Class One were dumbfounded. Qian Ran had only just dealt with a genius in their class today, and now he was fighting an upper-year genius on equal footing? They truly did not know whether being assigned to the same class as such a powerhouse was good fortune or a tragedy.
An unusual gleam shone in Tang Ya's beautiful eyes. Qian Ran's strength had deeply shocked her.
She knew Bei Bei's strength very well. He was practically the representative of the outer court's current geniuses.
Even Xu Sanshi would only dare raise his shield to defend against an outburst of Bei Bei's caliber.
Yet Qian Ran had actually met Bei Bei head-on with his fist, without showing the slightest sign of falling behind.
My heavens!
No wonder Qian Ran was so confident. Perhaps he really could defeat Bei Bei!
Wasn't the very appearance of this man, who had brought light into her life, already a miracle?
Now, perhaps he was about to create another miracle.
The strongest first-year genius against the strongest fourth-year genius!
If Qian Ran won, he would leap straight into becoming the most dazzling presence in the outer court! All the other outer court geniuses would pale before him.
Tang Ya felt a faint sense of anticipation. She looked forward to seeing Qian Ran shine in all his brilliance.
"Your strength isn't bad." Bei Bei's expression was ugly as he forced out a smile. Qian Ran had actually not gone down under his punch? Even if he won today, it would still be a disgrace.
He had spent four more years cultivating at the academy than Qian Ran.
He could defeat an ordinary freshman without the slightest effort, even the strongest geniuses among past freshmen. But Qian Ran was different from all those freshmen before him.
With strength like this, he was still called a freshman?
"Same goes for you." Qian Ran rubbed his fist, and angelic power dissolved every blue-violet arc lingering on it.
"Unfortunately, you're still going to lose."
Bei Bei's second and third Soul Rings lit up simultaneously.
The first to shine was his thousand-year third Soul Ring. As the purple ring blazed with light, a low boom suddenly erupted from Bei Bei's body. Intense blue-violet lightning rose all over him, and the scales on his right arm rapidly spread across his body, covering his right chest as well. His presence surged instantly.
Thunderous Fury.
Then his second Soul Ring lit up. Thick, serpent-like bolts of electricity burst forth, exploding outward with Bei Bei's body at their center.
Thunderous Might.
Was this Sikong Zhen using his ultimate?
But Bei Bei's presence had now grown stronger than before.
Bei Bei's Soul Power turned into countless electric serpents that slowly expanded, forming Light and Lightning Arrows that flashed in the air. They densely interwove into a net of lightning, covering the area around Qian Ran.
At this moment, Bei Bei truly regarded Qian Ran as an opponent, without the slightest contempt.
If Qian Ran blocked his attack again, he would become the laughingstock of the outer court.
Thunderous Fury combined with Thunderous Might-to end the battle quickly, Bei Bei had already played all his trump cards.
"Unfortunately, this little bit of strength still isn't enough. Others might fear you, Bei Bei, but I don't." Even setting aside the fact that light was the primary attribute of Bei Bei's Soul Power, Qian Ran had no fear of him whatsoever, even without attribute suppression.
His First Soul Ring lit up, and a longsword slowly appeared in Qian Ran's hand, condensed from holy fire. This Soul Skill could increase the purifying effect of his Angel Soul Power by three hundred percent. If an ordinary Soul Master took a slash from it, a substantial amount of their Soul Power would dissolve.
If an Evil Soul Master took a slash, unless their cultivation was especially profound, their Martial Soul would suffer heavy damage at best, or be annihilated outright at worst.
The Holy Sword slashed Bei Bei, and the light of the electric arcs around him visibly dimmed. Even his imposing presence seemed to have been cut down a notch.
"Keep going."
The corners of Qian Ran's mouth lifted into a smile.
Bei Bei's Thunderous Might could originally increase his combat strength by around fifty percent in an instant. Yet Qian Ran's Holy Sword had directly dissolved that entire increase.
Bei Bei could now feel his Soul Power draining at a terrifying speed!
"Die!"
The lightning around Bei Bei contracted, gathering entirely in his feet. He accelerated, using the Tang Sect's Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track footwork to swiftly circle around in front of Qian Ran, then raised his right leg and swept it straight at him.
"Oh?" Qian Ran's Martial Soul was the Six-Winged Angel. Speed was one of his strengths.
Qian Ran dodged Bei Bei's sweeping kick, then kicked fiercely at his left leg instead.
With his footing unsteady and his body off balance, Bei Bei slammed hard into the ground.
Qian Ran pressed his sword directly against his throat, lightly drawing a line of blood across his neck.
If Bei Bei moved recklessly, the sword could easily slice his neck open.
Bei Bei was indeed very strong. Even Qian Ran needed to expend some effort to defeat him, but that was all.
No matter how one looked at it, Bei Bei did not possess the ability to defeat him.
Qian Ran was not Huo Yuhao. When Huo Yuhao obtained those cheats, his Soul Power had only been at rank ten. Those cheats had only improved his talent, without translating into combat strength in the short term. Qian Ran was different. If he still could not beat Bei Bei with so many cheats, he might as well find a tree and bash himself to death against it.
"I lost?"
Bei Bei's eyes were vacant.
He had actually lost to a freshman.
But his defeat was not undeserved. He had not underestimated his opponent, and he had used his powerful trump cards. He had wanted to defeat Qian Ran with the force of a thunderbolt and defend his glory as an outer court genius. Thus, he had not held back at all. At most, he could say that he had been unfamiliar with Qian Ran's Soul Skills.
Yet even if he fought Qian Ran again, he might not be able to win.
Qian Ran was very strong. In all fairness, he was the strongest freshman in all these years.
At that moment, he did not know how to face his own heart. He truly was inferior to Qian Ran, so what reason did he have to stop Tang Ya from liking him?
Bei Bei climbed up from the ground and walked away alone in silence. He looked somewhat dispirited, all his radiance gone. It could be said that Qian Ran had crushed his confidence and had even become a nightmare in his heart.
[That's four updates. I'll most likely keep posting multiple updates from now on. Aren't you beasts going to show some appreciation?]
Before you continue