"My first Soul Skill is called 'Blue Silver Entanglement.' Opponents at the same level find it very hard to break free. My second Soul Skill is called 'Parasite.' It came from a six-hundred-year-old Ghost Vine and can catch opponents off guard. It also contains a neurotoxin that can paralyze them," Tang San said, his face full of pride. Yu Xiaogang had chosen both Soul Rings for him. Although they could not compare to Ning Yuhao's, he still considered them excellent.
Ning Yuhao nodded. If everyone's fate were a thread, and people's encounters were those threads gathering into knots, then clearly, the tangled, shifting threads of Ning Yuhao and his companions had not affected Tang San.
Tang San had still acquired rather bizarre Soul Skills. At that thought, Ning Yuhao could not help shaking his head.
Seeing this, Tang San could not help frowning, and his tone turned cold. "What, do you have a problem with me?"
Hearing Tang San's challenge, Ning Yuhao laughed despite himself. "Nothing. If we become classmates, we can talk about it later. Just help Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu move around, and do your best to help Sister Rongrong get away."
Tang San felt uncomfortable, but remembering the black third Soul Ring of the person before him, and that this was no time for infighting, he swallowed it.
The time it took an incense stick to burn quickly passed, and Zhao Wuji stood up. "Well? Time's up."
Ning Yuhao stepped forward and said, "We're ready."
"Good." Zhao Wuji stretched, his bones cracking repeatedly, then took out another incense stick, lit it, and planted it in the ground.
"Seven treasures turn, and glazed tiles appear!" Ning Rongrong spun in place. Dazzling seven-colored light scattered in all directions, and a seven-colored pagoda over a foot tall appeared in her right palm.
The others then shifted positions, shielding Ning Rongrong at the rear. Tang San stood nearby, while Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing spread out to either side. Ning Yuhao stood at the very front.
Ning Yuhao also poured in his Soul Power and summoned his Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
Even Zhao Wuji was somewhat surprised. "Well, well, two from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan this year! But why is yours so big?"
In all his years, this was the first time Zhao Wuji had seen such a sight.
Ning Rongrong's pagoda was only a little over a foot tall, but Ning Yuhao's was almost half a person's height, making it extremely conspicuous.
"Come forth!" Ning Yuhao smiled slightly, and the first and third floors of his Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda both opened.
A crystalline white baby silkworm flew out of the first floor and landed beside Ning Yuhao, while an enormous Scarlet Flame Demon Bear emerged from the third floor and landed before Zhao Wuji.
"Seven Treasures Have Names: first, strength!"
"Roar!" The Scarlet Flame Demon Bear let out a furious roar and swung a paw at Zhao Wuji.
Ning Yuhao's move left Zhao Wuji bewildered. This was his first time seeing someone summon Soul Beasts to fight, but his combat instincts remained. Just as the Scarlet Flame Demon Bear's paw came down, Zhao Wuji also roared furiously. Seven Soul Rings lit up around him, and his body abruptly swelled, his height shooting up a meter in an instant as his entire figure became immensely brawny.
At that moment, a thick layer of brown fur covered Zhao Wuji's body, and his gaze was domineering. With his exceptionally broad, enormous hands, he blocked the Scarlet Flame Demon Bear's incoming attack with one and threw a punch at it with the other.
Boom!
A tremendous crash rang out. Zhao Wuji blocked the Scarlet Flame Demon Bear's paw, but his own punch was actually blocked by its other paw as well.
That reaction left even Zhao Wuji stunned for a moment. For an instant, he felt as though this summoned Soul Beast possessed intelligence. Although taking that paw strike head-on had not injured him, the ground beneath him had already sunk a little...
Yet that brief moment gave the Scarlet Flame Demon Bear its opportunity. With a sweep of its paw, it forcibly knocked Zhao Wuji's attacking fist aside, leaving him wide open. Then it furiously stomped on his instep, ducked its body down, and thrust upward, sending Zhao Wuji flying with its huge belly.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey."
Zhao Wuji spat the dirt out of his mouth, sucking in cold breaths. The Scarlet Flame Demon Bear's attacks just now had not injured him, but that stomp had put him through sheer misery. After all, what normal person trained their defense all the way down to their feet?
Caught completely off guard, Zhao Wuji felt as though that stomp had swollen his foot.
"You little brat. Looks like I really do have to use Soul Skills." Zhao Wuji stood up.
The Scarlet Flame Demon Bear pressed its advantage, charging up to Zhao Wuji in two or three strides and smashing down at his head.
Zhao Wuji's first Soul Ring lit up. "First Soul Skill! Immovable Bright King Body!"
A layer of golden light rose over Zhao Wuji's body. Not only did the Scarlet Flame Demon Bear's two descending paws fail to hurt him in the slightest, but the recoil threw its own body upward. This only enraged it further. The Scarlet Flame Demon Bear roared furiously, smashing down one paw after another, but every attack merely sent it reeling back.
Ning Yuhao watched at his leisure as the Scarlet Flame Demon Bear gave Zhao Wuji's Great Strength Vajra Bear a "thrashing." There was something inexplicably peculiar about that color scheme. Even Ning Yuhao himself had not expected this visual effect. It looked just like Briar beating up Bramble.
Once that thought arose, even Ning Yuhao, a veteran of keeping a straight face for over a decade, could no longer hold it in. He broke into a broad grin.
Beside him, one of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's two eyes shone with yellow light. Indeed, a Soul Beast summoned on its own did not possess much intelligence. Someone had to control it to pull off those brilliant moves from earlier, and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could be said to fit that role perfectly.
Although Ning Yuhao also enjoyed taking control, he was fighting a level seventy-six Soul Saint, after all. He might even need to use the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion to engage him at close quarters later, so naturally, he had no attention to spare for controlling it.
"This brat's using me as a punching bag." Zhao Wuji clicked his tongue, and his second Soul Ring lit up. "Second Soul Skill, Great Strength Vajra Palm!"
Thus, the scene changed from a one-sided beating to a mutual brawl. Pure strength, pure violence!
The others were utterly stunned by the sight. Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing hung back in the distance, not daring to approach at all. What a joke-two bears, one around five meters tall and the other nearly three, were demonstrating the pure aesthetics of violence right there. Had this not been a test, they would have run far, far away long ago.
Ning Rongrong had already seen Ning Yuhao's summoned beasts, and they had worked together before. Otherwise, she would not have known she could buff his summoned Soul Beasts.
As for Tang San, his gaze had also grown somewhat blank. Twenty-nine years in his previous life and twelve in this one added up to a full forty-one years, yet he had never witnessed a battle like this. There was not the slightest technique to speak of; it was entirely a clash of strength.
Ning Yuhao: No kidding. You play with hidden weapons. Of course you've never seen practitioners of body-hardening martial arts beat each other up.
However, the situation was not all that promising. No matter what, Ning Yuhao was only a level thirty-eight Soul Elder. If that seventeen-thousand-year-old Scarlet Flame Demon Bear were here, it might even have been able to suppress Zhao Wuji somewhat, but right now, he was merely Ning Yuhao's summoned beast.