Zhao Wuji watched the figures facing each other in the arena. His throat bobbed as he exclaimed, disbelief shining in his murky eyes. "That kid is a monster among monsters! He used only one Soul Skill from start to finish, yet he forced the thirty-seventh-level Dai Mubai to use his third Soul Skill and still defeated him!"
Xiao Wu's almond-shaped eyes widened, and she clenched her fists. The rabbit ears in her hair trembled slightly with anger. "He's used up so much Soul Power that he can't hold out much longer. Xiao San, if we join forces, we'll definitely beat the shit out of him."
She turned to Tang San beside her, only to find the young man gazing down at the ground, his well-defined fingers unconsciously stroking the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges. He was evidently already working out how to defeat the enemy with Tang Sect Hidden Weapons.
Ning Rongrong huffed twice, her cheeks reddening with indignation. "We were just careless for a moment earlier, that's all! Right, Zhu Zhuqing?" She tugged at Zhu Zhuqing's sleeve, but received only a subdued "Mm" in response.
She was still staring blankly into the arena, her pale lips trembling slightly. That seemingly effortless crushing defeat had left her unable to believe even now that her opponent was the same age as her. "He really is very strong."
Tang San believed he had no reason to fear him. Tang Sect Hidden Weapons were unrivaled under heaven, and this fellow could not withstand their power. With the Mysterious Heaven Skill added to that, he really could not imagine how he could lose. But once he actually entered the arena...
He felt an inexplicable pressure, one he had never felt even from Zhao Wuji. His whole body felt cold. He was like a demon come into the human world; he showed no killing intent whatsoever, only a gaze as indifferent as still water. Yet it was precisely that gaze that seemed so terrifying to him.
"Control-Type Battle Spirit Master, Tang San. Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass," he said in a low voice. Blue Silver Grass appeared from his hand, winding and curling around him. Xiao Wu moved to stand at his side in silent coordination, her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul Possession activated, blazing fighting spirit in her pink eyes.
"State your name!" Tang San quietly concealed a Bone-Piercing Nail in his hand.
Huo Yuhao lazily twirled the red silk ribbon in his hand, his lips curving into a teasing smile. "Remember it. My name is Huo Lai." He deliberately drew out the last syllable, a playful gleam flashing in his eyes. "Enough nonsense. Let's get started. I hope you're stronger than that fellow just now."
Huo Lai-whose calamity had come? Calamity had come for Tang San and the others.
"I've finally waited for you, Tang San." Huo Yuhao's lips curved coldly, a long-suppressed sharpness surging in his eyes.
Tang San had only uttered the words "Blue Silver Entang-" when a palm strike carrying icy Soul Power tore through the air toward him.
Bang! The palm strike landed like a thunderclap, its tremendous force sending Tang San flying several meters. All he felt on his cheek was naked pain. No one would have imagined that a Two-Ring Soul Master could possess such strength.
A glowing white light rose around Xiao Wu as she instantly activated her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul Possession, a cold glint flashing in her pink eyes. Like a bolt of pink lightning, she closed in on Huo Yuhao's side in the blink of an eye. Her long, slender leg swept out with tremendous force, the air shrieking where her toes passed.
Yet the instant her attack reached him, it abruptly stopped. Huo Yuhao's large hand clamped around her ankle like an iron vise. As his fingers tightened, Xiao Wu could even hear the faint sound of her bones shifting.
The next moment, Huo Yuhao gave his wrist a sharp flick, sending Xiao Wu spinning wildly through the air like a windmill. Wind howled past her ears, the scenery on the ground blurred into patches of color, and the girl's terrified screams scattered into the rushing air.
Finally, Huo Yuhao exerted force, and Xiao Wu shot away like an arrow loosed from its bow. She slammed heavily into the distant ground, raising clouds of dust.
The blow had left Tang San somewhat dazed, with a faint ringing still in his ears. He got to his feet again and saw Xiao Wu being flung away. Fury instantly swept through him.
Blue-violet vines burst from the earth and danced wildly around him. "First Soul Skill! Blue Silver Entanglement!" Dozens of tough vines suddenly sprang from the ground and coiled around Huo Yuhao's ankles like spirit snakes. The second Soul Skill, Parasitism, followed close behind, a pale golden glow spreading along the vines in an attempt to halt his opponent's movements.
He also lunged at Huo Yuhao again. He first used his first Soul Skill, Blue Silver Entanglement, to bind Huo Yuhao's legs, then activated his second Soul Skill, causing a stalling effect. This was Parasitism.
With this opening, the chance had finally come for Tang San and Xiao Wu to show what they could do. Xiao Wu seized the opportunity to attack, clamping her legs around Huo Yuhao's neck. Her pink eyes widened, and a startlingly supple force burst from her waist and abdomen as she tried to spin Huo Yuhao's body along with hers.
But things did not go as she wished. When she clamped her legs around Huo Yuhao's neck, it was as though her strength could not move his body at all. Huo Yuhao's lips curved into a teasing smile, and his well-defined hands seized her slender calves. He freed himself from her hold, then slammed her from side to side. In the end, she went flying out in yet another way.
Tang San seized that fleeting opening. Turning his palm backward, he drew in the air and used the Tang Sect Secret Art, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon. Under the pull of that powerful suction, Huo Yuhao's body tilted slightly forward, but he said leisurely, "A petty trick like that, and you call it a technique?"
Just as Tang San's fist, with all his strength gathered behind it, was about to strike his opponent's face, Huo Yuhao obliged him by suddenly kicking upward with his right leg. His leg, filled with tyrannical Soul Power, struck like a viper darting from its hole, precisely hitting Tang San's vital spot-his crotch.
Agonizing pain swept through Tang San like a surging tide. His vision went black, and both knees crashed to the ground. Cold sweat soaked his clothes in an instant. Clutching his crotch, he said through gritted teeth, "What a despicable trick!"
Watching from the side, Ning Rongrong covered her mouth and cried out in shock. Zhu Zhuqing turned her pale face away. Dai Mubai instinctively clamped his legs together and sucked in a cold breath, looking at Huo Yuhao with wariness and anger. The brutality of this fight far exceeded everyone's expectations.
Soul Power surged violently around Xiao Wu, the soft white light flaring brightly as her second Soul Ring lit up. Her eyes instantly turned an eerie blood-red, like two dancing flames, and locked firmly onto Huo Yuhao. Her gaze carried a trace of enchantment.
Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow, his lips curving into a playful smile. "That skill looks a little familiar..." Before he had finished speaking, his hand flashed out like lightning, howling through the air before slapping Xiao Wu hard across the cheek.
The girl's body shuddered, and she flew backward like a butterfly with broken wings, tracing a pitiful arc through the air.
"Huo Lai! How dare you hurt Xiao Wu!" Tang San's eyes nearly split with rage as his Purple Demon Eye shone with dazzling violet light. With an angry shout, his hands darted like lightning toward the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges at his waist. In an instant, sounds of weapons slicing through the air rang out one after another as several Bone-Piercing Nails shot toward Huo Yuhao like cold stars.
These Hidden Weapons came from treacherous angles, concealing deadly intent. They were a closely guarded secret of the Tang Sect, designed to catch enemies completely off guard.
Yet Huo Yuhao remained calm, as though he had already seen through everything. He raised a hand and waved it lightly. Scarlet and cyan Soul Power intertwined in his palm, instantly transforming into a howling tornado of fire.
The fire tornado swept forward with enough force to burn the heavens and boil the seas, swallowing every last Hidden Weapon. The clang of colliding metal mingled with the crackle of burning flames, throwing off dazzling sparks.
Tang San's pupils contracted sharply, surging waves of shock rising in his heart. Th-this couldn't be his second Soul Skill, could it?
Gritting his teeth, he sent out coin darts, willow-leaf knives, and flying locust stones in succession, attempting to break through the fire tornado's defense. Yet every one of the Hidden Weapons was swept into the flames and reduced to powder.
"Is that all you've got?" Huo Yuhao's lips curved into a mocking smile, his voice full of contempt. "I wonder what mediocrity taught you."
"Shut up!" Blue Silver Grass surged wildly around Tang San, killing intent bursting from his eyes. "How dare you insult my teacher? You have courted death!"
Blue Silver Grass churned around Tang San like a horde of wild pythons, attacks pouring forth like a rainstorm as he shouted, "How dare someone like you mock my teacher? He is Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, renowned throughout the Soul Master World, who proposed the theory that there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters!"
Huo Yuhao darted through the vines like a phantom, a contemptuous smile never leaving his lips. "Grandmaster Yu? I have indeed long heard of him. But some people can't hide the pedantry inside them, no matter how great a title they wear."
He came to an abrupt halt, Soul Power surging around him, his eyes full of mockery. "That Ten Core Competencies theory might look profound and unfathomable, but it's riddled with holes. It's nothing but a trick to fool the ignorant."
"It leaves people utterly bewildered, but in the end, it's just a garbage theory cobbled together by a good-for-nothing. Your teacher's theory is so commonplace that I can't even bring myself to listen to it.
He sneered, his tone growing sharper. "As far as I know, that fellow hasn't even broken through level thirty, has he? A fool's disciple is still a fool. You're no different from him."
"Shut up!" Tang San's eyes were bloodshot, his killing intent bursting forth as though it had substance. "Today, I, Tang San, will make you pay for those wild words!" Blue Silver Grass surged forward like a tide. Soul Skills such as Blue Silver Entanglement and Parasitism followed in succession, attempting to bind Huo Yuhao.
Immediately afterward, he tapped his toes against the ground and used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, flashing away to open the distance. A cold gleam suddenly appeared at his sleeve-Sand Projecting Shadow! Dozens of poisoned steel needles shot toward Huo Yuhao like a rainstorm, each concealing deadly intent.
Huo Yuhao, however, merely smiled faintly as an earthen-yellow light suddenly shone around him. In an instant, a solid stone wall rose from the ground, precisely blocking every Hidden Weapon.
The steel needles struck the wall with crisp clinks, but failed to cause the slightest damage. This was Earth Elemental Magic. Most magic of this kind was defensive; only a few skills were for attack.
"Th-this... how is that possible? Could he still have been hiding his strength?" Ning Rongrong stared at the scene with wide, disbelieving eyes. Zhu Zhuqing's expression was grave as she murmured, "He's clearly the same age as us..."
Dai Mubai frowned deeply, his eyes full of caution. "It seems we all underestimated this fellow. Just how many trump cards is he still hiding?" Discussion broke out around the arena, everyone staring openmouthed at the sudden turn of events.
Huo Yuhao's lips curved into an icy smile, a dark, teasing gleam flashing in his eyes. "You're truly treacherous. I won't give you another chance."
"Damn it." Tang San's fingertips twitched, and several Dragon Whisker Needles glinting with a cold blue light sliced through the air, aimed at the major acupoints all over Huo Yuhao's body from treacherous angles.
But the red silk ribbon circling Huo Yuhao suddenly became a streak of blood-colored light. Like an impenetrable barrier, it precisely intercepted the Hidden Weapons, then used Soul Power to send them bouncing back.
Amid the shriek of the Dragon Whisker Needles tearing through the air, Tang San grunted as several silver needles sank deep into his shoulder. The intense pain made him stagger, but it only stirred the ruthlessness in his bones. Clutching a small black-iron hammer in his right hand, he became a streak of black light and brought it crashing down at Huo Yuhao's head with tremendous force.
"You overestimate yourself." Huo Yuhao snorted coldly and caught the hammer's handle firmly in his well-defined hand. Vast Soul Power erupted along his arm as he kicked the head of the hammer with precision, sending the small black-iron hammer flying from Tang San's grasp.
His attacks immediately poured down like a raging storm, both fists carrying howling blasts of air, each blow striking with an unstoppable force.
Tang San hastily formed a barrier with Blue Silver Grass, but it shattered inch by inch under the wind of Huo Yuhao's fists. He was beaten back step after step, and the blood spilling from the corner of his mouth blossomed like red plum flowers across the front of his robes.
"How does it feel to have the Hidden Weapons you fired yourself stuck in your own body?" Huo Yuhao's voice was piercingly cold, yet his punches and kicks grew even more vicious. Tang San's injuries continued to worsen. His once delicate face was swollen and bruised, and blood dripped down his cheeks, staining the ground dark red.
"Enough!" Zhao Wuji's face changed in alarm at the sight, and he roared as he charged into the arena. But Huo Yuhao acted as though he had not heard him. There was only hatred-soaked scarlet in his eyes as his fists continued to fall like a rainstorm, each blow carrying undisguised killing intent.
Finally, he snatched up the small black-iron hammer from the ground and brought it crashing down toward Tang San's head with all the strength in his body...