"Boom!"
The dark gold claw shadow, several yards long, struck Dai Mubai's White Tiger Protection Barrier with an overbearing force nothing could rival.
The deafening roar was not the sound of Soul Power colliding, as everyone had imagined. It was more like indestructible refined steel being violently cut and torn apart!
The white dome of light twisted and warped violently, its radiance flickering.
Dai Mubai's eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins. He poured every last bit of Soul Power in his body into the barrier like floodwaters surging through an open sluice gate, trying to hold this final line of defense.
But it was all in vain.
After a standoff lasting only a few seconds, the seemingly impregnable white dome shattered with a rapid series of cracks and pops!
Countless white motes scattered through the air like a dazzling rain of light.
After tearing through the barrier, the claw shadow's remaining force still carried an unstoppable, ferocious presence as it slammed into Dai Mubai's chest!
"Pfft!"
As though struck by a sledgehammer, Dai Mubai flew backward like a kite with its string cut.
His body crashed into the far end of the arena, plowing a long furrow through the hard obsidian floor and sending broken stone flying.
The dust cleared.
Dai Mubai knelt on one knee, his right hand braced against the ground and his left clutching his chest. Blood seeped through his torn clothes from five claw marks deep enough to expose bone.
He gasped for breath, each breath stirring the searing pain in his chest and twisting his handsome face in agony.
A deathly silence fell over the entire crowd.
The nobles in the viewing stands stared with their mouths hanging open.
One move!
Just one move!
A level fifty-one Soul King had used his strongest defensive Soul Skill, yet he could not withstand even one move from the first prince!
This was no mere gap in strength. It was a crushing defeat!
"Gulp."
Someone swallowed with difficulty, the sound especially piercing in the silent square.
The difference between them was clear at a glance!
On the imperial throne, the Star Luo Emperor's fingers had stopped tapping the armrest at some unknown point.
His deep gaze swept back and forth between his two sons before finally settling on Dai Weisi's slowly withdrawing right hand, his expression profoundly complicated.
Zhu Xiaotian, head of the Zhu Family, leaned back slightly against his chair, as though all the strength had been drained from his body.
He glanced at Prince Cheng beside him, whose face had turned ashen, and felt a trace of... relief?
In the arena, Dai Weisi acted as though he had done something utterly insignificant.
He slowly withdrew his right hand. The five dreadful Dark Gold Dreadclaws retracted into his fingers with a series of clicks, and the dark gold light on his palm faded, restoring its original skin tone.
He even had the leisure to look down at his palm, as though savoring the sensation of that last blow.
Then he raised his head and looked at Dai Mubai struggling in the distance, the same gentle smile still on his face.
Only now, in Dai Mubai's eyes, that smile was more sinister than a devil's.
"Not bad, little brother."
Dai Weisi did not speak loudly, yet his voice rang clearly throughout the square.
"You took my Dreadclaw World Annihilation head-on, and you've only suffered some internal injuries. You haven't even passed out."
He sounded as though he were genuinely praising him, yet there was a trace of playful inquiry in his tone.
"It seems that Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum truly had extraordinary medicinal effects. It really was a perfect match for your White Tiger Martial Soul."
If the strength Dai Weisi had just displayed had shocked everyone, then these words scared Dai Mubai's soul nearly out of his body!
"You...!"
Dai Mubai jerked his head up, his face, pale from blood loss, now filled with shock and disbelief. "How could you possibly know?!"
The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum!
It was his greatest secret! It was the fundamental reason he had cultivated to his current level of Soul Power at his age and possessed a physique far surpassing that of Soul Masters at the same level!
Apart from his companions and teachers at Shrek Academy, no outsider could possibly know about it!
How did Dai Weisi know?!
Seeing Dai Mubai's expression, as though he had seen a ghost, Dai Weisi's smile widened. He even chuckled aloud.
"Heh heh... why do I know?"
He asked the question in return, unhurried, like a patient hunter admiring his prey's final struggle.
"Little brother, what if I told you I ate one too?"
At those words, Dai Mubai's heart sank to the bottom of the valley.
A bone-deep chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.
Dai Weisi took two steps forward and looked down at him, his tone calm yet carrying the weight of judgment.
"Now, who do you think will lose, and who will win this struggle for the throne?"
Lose? Win?
Dai Mubai clenched his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his gums, filling his mouth with the taste of iron.
He could not lose!
If he lost here today, he and Zhu Zhuqing would have only one path left: death!
No! Never!
A madness born of his instinct to survive overwhelmed all his fear and unwillingness.
The despair in his eyes gradually turned into the ruthlessness of a man burning his boats!
He struggled to his feet. Though he staggered, his back remained ramrod straight.
Then he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, his tiger-like eyes fixed firmly on Dai Weisi.
"Elder brother, you're right. In a one-on-one fight, I really am no match for you."
He had actually... admitted it?
A low murmur of discussion arose from the viewing stands.
Dai Weisi raised an eyebrow, seemingly a little surprised. He watched him at his leisure, wanting to see what else he could come up with.
Dai Mubai took a deep breath. The sharp pain in his chest made his face turn pale, but he forced himself to hold on, his voice suddenly rising!
"But! Don't forget! The rules of succession to the Star Luo Empire's throne have never made this a fight for one person alone!"
"This is a battle between our two pairs! Me and Zhu Zhuqing against you and Zhu Zhuyun!"
Before his words had even faded, he abruptly turned toward Zhu Zhuqing on the other side of the spectator area and roared with all his strength!
"Zhu Zhuqing, now!"
"Martial Soul Fusion Skill-Hell White Tiger!"
This sudden turn of events stunned everyone.
Even Dai Weisi, who had remained unruffled all along, let his smile falter slightly.
Behind him, Zhu Zhuyun's pretty brows instantly knitted, and a trace of contempt flashed in her eyes.
He really was... a sore loser.
On the other side, Zhu Zhuqing's delicate body jolted the moment she heard Dai Mubai's roar.
She looked at the man in the arena, so powerful he drove others to despair, then at the gravely wounded Dai Mubai, who looked half-mad. An exceedingly complex struggle flashed through her cold eyes.
According to the rules, this was indeed a battle between pairs.
But Dai Weisi had made it clear from the start that he was fighting one-on-one.
Now, Dai Mubai was practically resorting to shameless tactics to force the match back onto its original course.
But... would it do any good?
Against a monster like that, could even the Hell White Tiger really win?
Yet she had no choice.
From the day she and Dai Mubai had been bound together, she had no choice.
They would share in each other's glory and suffer each other's ruin!
In the space of a lightning flash, the last trace of hesitation in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes gave way to resolve.
"Hum!"
Four Soul Rings-yellow, yellow, purple, purple-suddenly rose from beneath her feet. She became a bolt of black lightning, charging straight toward Dai Mubai in the center of the arena at astonishing speed, without the slightest hesitation!
"Roar!"
Dai Mubai roared at the same time, gritting his teeth against the pain as he mobilized his Soul Power!
At that moment, Zhu Zhuqing's black figure plunged without hesitation into his embrace, made immensely broad and powerful by the Vajra Transformation, like a young swallow returning to the woods.
"Boom!"
In an instant, black and gold light soared into the sky, intertwining, spiraling and merging above the center of the arena!
A presence far more terrifying than either Dai Mubai's or Zhu Zhuqing's had been before erupted!
That presence blended the White Tiger's overbearing might with the Spirit Cat's sinister, uncanny coldness, forming an entirely new pressure that made hearts and gallbladders split!
Within the light, a new figure rapidly took shape.
Its body was even larger than Dai Mubai's after using the White Tiger Vajra Transformation. It was covered from head to toe in lustrous, translucent black fur, patterned all over with dark gold demonic markings rather than pure white tiger stripes.
Its four limbs were thick and powerful, and its extended claws gleamed with a chilling light. Its huge tiger head bore a pair of eerily blood-red eyes, and even the "king" character on its forehead was dark gold!
The Hell White Tiger!
And what's more, it was a Hell White Tiger that had mutated after the fusion of Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, who had both consumed Immortal Herbs!
"Roar!!!"
An earth-shaking roar erupted from the Hell White Tiger's mouth. The immense sound waves became visible shock waves that swept out in every direction!
The entire square reverberated with the roar!
Its huge blood-red eyes locked firmly onto Dai Weisi not far away.
There was no probing attack, no hesitation.
The instant the fusion was complete, the Hell White Tiger kicked off the ground with all four limbs, its massive body becoming a streak of black-and-gold light. With a shriek of tearing air, it lunged fiercely at Dai Weisi, who remained standing where he was, a smile still on his face!