In the other semifinal, Yu Tianheng faced a Power Attack System Beast Soul Master whose Martial Soul was the Lie Yan Black Tiger.
In terms of Martial Soul quality, it was only slightly inferior to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
The two fought in remarkably similar fashion, first trading Soul Skills head-on before closing in for hand-to-hand combat.
Although the Lie Yan Black Tiger Soul Master's Soul Power Level was one higher than Yu Tianheng's, his physical strength was inferior. In the end, Yu Tianheng struck him in the chest with a claw, sending him off the stage injured.
The formidable strength Fang Lin had displayed earlier had driven the excitement of the competition much higher. It had also given those who had initially doubted him more to look forward to in the final.
Yu Tianheng's Martial Soul and Soul Skills were powerful, but if Fang Lin could evade his attacks and wear down his Soul Power, he seemed to have a chance of winning. The greatest concern was that the gap in strength might be so vast that, even if he found an opening, he would be unable to seize it and severely injure his opponent.
The final followed the semifinals, with half an hour left in between for Fang Lin and Yu Tianheng to recover their Soul Power.
Fang Lin had only used his first Soul Skill once against Gong Qing. Although this kind of status Soul Skill continuously consumed Soul Power while active, Fang Lin had ended the fight in just a few breaths, using less than a tenth of his total Soul Power.
As they waited for the contestants, the teachers in the stands discussed the upcoming duel, with the conversation centered on three elders and a young teacher in their midst.
Committee Member Bai, who had spoken with Qin Ming earlier, chuckled.
"Teacher Qin, which of these two children do you think is more likely to win?"
Qin Ming smiled faintly. "I can't say for certain who will win, but if I had to choose, I'd rather see Fang Lin win."
"Why do you say that?" The elder beside Committee Member Bai grew interested.
He was thin and gaunt, with hardly any flesh on his face. His hair and beard were entirely white, yet his face glowed with health and his spirit was vigorous. He was Meng Shenji, the head of Heaven Dou Academy's three education committee members.
Qin Ming habitually adjusted his glasses. "Fang Lin represents ordinary Soul Masters, and what they can achieve through diligence and skill. If he wins, it will encourage many students. Most importantly, it will also help Yu Tianheng recognize his own shortcomings, which will be better for the path ahead of him."
"Well said." The speaker was another committee member. He looked ordinary, and his build was likewise normal and well-proportioned, but his gaze was sharp, and a breath of grass and trees surrounded him. He was Zhi Lin, the other Control System Soul Douluo among the three committee members.
"Still, I have high hopes for Fang Lin. I don't know if you've noticed, but he uses very little Soul Power in every match. His use of his Martial Soul and control over his physical strength are extraordinarily refined. His control is more skillful than that of many Control System Soul Masters."
At Zhi Lin's words, Meng Shenji nodded and stroked his beard. As a Control System Soul Master himself, he had noticed it too, and had seen a deeper reason behind it.
"This child is different from Control System Soul Masters. They rely on spiritual power to use every bit of Soul Power with precision. What he relies on should be purely physical memory and his own experience. It takes a great deal of training to achieve that."
As they talked, Fang Lin and Yu Tianheng stepped onto the stage one after the other.
Compared with the venue used for the round of sixteen, the stage for the final had been reinforced again. Two layers of thick bluestone bricks had been laid, and its perimeter had been made circular, both for the convenience of the students watching and to match the shape of a Soul Master Tournament stage.
Gazes converged from below the stage amid countless murmurs and bursts of conversation and laughter. This match had drawn nearly all the students and teachers of Heaven Dou Academy, including some Heaven Dou Grade students.
The moment Fang Lin stepped onto the stage, his heart involuntarily began to beat faster, and his palms grew slightly damp.
It wasn't nervousness, but excitement.
He wanted to know whether, in a one-on-one fight, he could defeat Yu Tianheng, the wielder of the world's number one Beast Martial Soul, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, whom the protagonist's group in the original book had fought as a minor boss.
On the stage, the two faced each other from a distance of just over ten paces.
"Martial Soul Possession!"
Two Yellow Soul Rings lit up beneath each of them as they activated their Martial Souls.
Stones burst from beneath their feet as Fang Lin and Yu Tianheng charged at each other almost simultaneously.
Yu Tianheng's black hair flew behind him, and two pale blue dragon-horn patterns appeared at his temples. A layer of fine dragon scales covered his arms and neck, while slender arcs of blue electricity leaped and crackled around him without cease, making even the air several degrees hotter and drier.
More distinctive still, a faint pressure swept toward Fang Lin.
A top-tier Beast Martial Soul could suppress lower-ranked Martial Souls, and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon exerted bloodline suppression on all Beast Martial Soul Masters, especially those with dragon-type and sub-dragon-type Martial Souls. Its effect was comparable to a domain, weakening an opponent's Soul Power and Soul Skills.
For a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Master with a pure bloodline, this pressure evolved into a tangible dragon's might upon reaching the Soul Saint stage.
But dragon's might had little effect on Tool Soul Masters and Control System Soul Masters with powerful spiritual power. Fang Lin merely felt the air grow a little heavier around him and suffered no actual effect.
Facing a Tool Soul Master, Yu Tianheng had placed no hope in his dragon's might either.
As the distance between them closed, pale blue Soul Power erupted from his body. The dragon scales on his right arm swelled, and his five fingers formed an incomparably sharp Thunder Dragon Claw. A blue claw shadow the size of a millstone took shape in an instant.
"First Soul Skill, Thunder Claw."
With a low shout, Yu Tianheng brought the lightning dragon claw down from a distance toward Fang Lin's head. The move was both a frontal assault and a probe.
For a Beast Soul Master fighting a Tool Soul Master, a close-range assault was where he had the advantage. This ranged Soul Skill was meant to create an opportunity to close in.
Fang Lin remained calm. The instant the lightning dragon claw descended, he stepped sideways. Arcs of electricity shot past, nearly grazing his chest, while the fierce lightning struck the stage, sending out waves of residual force.
Yu Tianheng seized the chance to pounce. His five fingers were covered in dragon scales, their claw tips sharp as they cut through the spreading dust and drove straight for Fang Lin's chest.
"Clang!"
The long saber collided with the dragon claw.
As the dust cleared, Fang Lin held his saber in both hands, chopping down with the blade upright to block Yu Tianheng's dragon claw. A piercing screech rang out as the blade scraped against the dragon scales, and the two became locked in a contest of strength.
"First Soul Skill, Hell Power!"
The muscles in Fang Lin's arms swelled, his whole-body strength increased by 50%, and his blade bore down fiercely, forcing Yu Tianheng's dragon claw back.
But that wasn't enough!
Fang Lin's gaze sharpened. Soul Power circulated through the meridians in his arms, stimulating several key acupoints. His arm muscles bulged another size, forcing Yu Tianheng back step by step.
And with every step he took back, Yu Tianheng's face flushed a little redder.
"Damn it!"
Veins throbbed at Yu Tianheng's temples. The mighty Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, a Beast Martial Soul whose physical strength stood in a class of its own, was actually being overpowered by brute force!
The damage was slight, but the insult was immense.
In the stands, Committee Member Zhi Lin's eyebrows twitched. Besides being surprised by Fang Lin's physical strength, he found Fang Lin's fighting style today even stranger. "Why does this child seem like a different person today?"
"He's young and hot-blooded, I suppose." Bai Baoshan laughed. "The students around him have probably had an effect on him."
"Not necessarily." Meng Shenji shook his head, a smile gradually appearing at the corners of his mouth. "Perhaps he's doing it deliberately."
Zhi Lin paused, then chuckled as though he understood what Meng Shenji meant. "It seems this child knows Yu Tianheng very well."
Just as Zhi Lin and Meng Shenji had guessed, Yu Tianheng's rage on the stage was now nearly maxed out, and arcs of electricity surged around him.
Noticing this, Fang Lin's gaze hardened, and he eased some of the strength in his hands.
"Second Soul Skill, Thunderous Might!"
Yu Tianheng roared. The arcs of electricity winding around him instantly thickened and transformed into multiple arrows of lightning that shot out across the surrounding area.
But at almost the same instant, Fang Lin abruptly withdrew his saber and used the recoil from Yu Tianheng's dragon claw to spring backward, dodging the lightning arrows at point-blank range.
"Don't even think about running!"
Yu Tianheng shouted, and the lightning arrows converged into a thicker arc that shot toward Fang Lin like a giant sharp sword. But Fang Lin had already opened the distance, and the arc merely blasted one-foot-wide holes in the ground.
Facing Yu Tianheng with his second Soul Skill active, Fang Lin shifted his footwork and kept widening the gap, giving him no further chance to close in.
Yu Tianheng's second Soul Skill was a sustained Soul Skill of extraordinary power and extremely high attack speed. It left only an instant's opening while the attack was taking shape. For a Beast Soul Master, this was hardly a flaw, since an opponent fighting at close range would find it nearly impossible to dodge.
A single hit from a lightning-type Soul Skill could paralyze the muscles and cause stiffness. Apart from knocking it down in midair, the only way to deal with one was to evade it in advance. That was a lesson Fang Lin had learned at the Soul Fighting Arena.
So from the beginning, he had been considering how to evade it in advance. After turning it over in his mind, he had found that his only option was to use his opponent's strength.
To the students below the stage, it looked as though Fang Lin had been knocked flying by one of Yu Tianheng's moves, which had also sent him out of the lightning's range.
"He did it on purpose!"
Yu Tianheng forced himself to calm down and deactivated his second Soul Skill.
As a sustained Soul Skill, Thunderous Might consumed a large amount of Soul Power both to activate and to maintain. Having also used his first Soul Skill once at the start, Yu Tianheng now had less than thirty percent of his Soul Power left, and he still had to account for the cost of maintaining Martial Soul Possession.
The higher the quality of a Martial Soul, the more Soul Power its possession state consumed. Correspondingly, however, the efficiency of Soul Power cultivation and recovery was also much higher. Yu Tianheng's remaining Soul Power was only enough to use his first Soul Skill one more time and maintain Martial Soul Possession.
"That's enough. I only need one chance to beat him."
Yu Tianheng reined in his impatience and looked at Fang Lin.
"Are you planning to keep dodging forever?"
Now that Yu Tianheng had deactivated his second Soul Skill, there was no point in Fang Lin continuing to avoid combat and wear him down. He smiled, stepped forward half a pace, and held his saber in one hand, its tip pointed slightly toward Yu Tianheng.
"Come on! Let's start our second round!"