Book 14: The Finals!
An ear-piercing boom enveloped the entire stage, and the seemingly-ordinary golden ball of light instantly exploded the instant it collided with Meng Hongchen’s sword shadow.
This was the Butterfly Goddess Slash, Wang Dong’s third soul skill.
This was a soul skill that Wang Dong used very, very rarely. However, its strength was absolutely not as ordinary as that of a normal thousand year soul skill.
Wang Dong’s second soul ring was already a thousand year one, and his third one had actually surpassed three thousand years of age. In other words, his third soul skill was practically equivalent to Meng Hongchen’s fourth one. Although his attack couldn’t take on a Soul King, the explosive power generated by the Butterfly Goddess Slash that was strengthened by the Haodong Power was extremely great.
It clearly wasn’t possible for him to use this soul skill to defeat Meng Hongchen, but it was enough for him to merely stall for time.
The waves of light blades instantaneously detonated, making the hundreds of golden light blades resemble the bloom of a rose bud. Then, it once again exploded into countless flower petals. The instant the tightly packed blades of light detonated, they carried the aura of the sun and flew around in all directions.
Meng Hongchen was flustered as she faced Wang Dong’s attack. After all, she had lost her powerful defensive armor, which meant that she would be injured if the blades of light struck her. If she were in her peak condition and fully equipped with her soul tools, she would’ve even dared to charge through an attack like this without feeling any pressure.
However, this was clearly impossible now. This was the final battle, and victory in this match would determine whether or not they would be able to bring the champion’s trophy back. How could she dare to be careless at all? Furthermore, she subconsciously felt that Wang Dong was very strong. Perhaps these were her inner feelings wreaking havoc on her, or just the feelings of a young girl.
Because of that, Meng Hongchen instantly danced about with her swords the instant she collided with the Butterfly Goddess Slash, creating an airtight barrier that blocked all of Wang Dong’s attacks. Whenever her thin swords collided with a blade of light, they would release a large amount of the Vermillion Clear Icetoad’s poison. As long as her poison took effect, this battle would be over.
At this exact moment, an indescribable sense of terror suddenly rose in Meng Hongchen’s heart. Her mind started to uncontrollably tremble violently.
This suppression came from her mind itself, or rather, the source of her power--her martial soul.
An enormous illusory figure noiselessly emerged behind Wang Dong. Its crystalline and translucent body emitted a chilly aura, and its jade-green tail gave off the light of a serene forest. The most terrifying thing about it was the suppression it caused to the very depths of Meng Hongchen’s soul, causing her movements to slow greatly due to her astonishment.
This was the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, Huo Yuhao’s second martial soul. At this moment, the aura of a four hundred thousand year soul ring had completely emerged due to his Imitation.
Although the Vermillion Clear Icetoad didn’t reside in the Extreme North, nor was it a pure ice-type martial soul, a large part of its comprehensive power came from the element of Ice.
It was just as the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion had said--she was the master of Ice, and all ice-type soul beasts would have to revere her as their king. How could the Vermillion Clear Icetoad’s aura be comparable to that of the Ice Empress? Moreover, this was the aura of a four hundred thousand year Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.
Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen had watched over Huo Yuhao’s previous matches, but their line of sight had been blocked by the protective barrier surrounding the tournament stage. As such, they were only able to see Huo Yuhao’s hundred thousand year soul ring and the imposing aura that it gave off; they hadn’t sensed its true aura.
The facts had shown that what Huo Yuhao had done was merely an illusion. After that battle, Huo Yuhao hadn’t used an ability like that in any of his other battles. Although the other teams wouldn’t go so far as to completely ignore his soul skill, a large majority of them reckoned that he had been seen through, which meant that there was no longer any practical meaning to it anymore.
However, as Meng Hongchen faced the aura that belonged to the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, she immediately realised how much of a joke her judgement had been.
The terrifying aura of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion was just so realistic, and even if they were trapped in an illusory domain, this was one that was infinitely close to reality! Her martial soul was fully suppressed in front of this terrifying aura, to the extent where she wasn’t even able to release a half of her true cultivation. This was even compounded with the sensation of terror that came from the very depths of her heart, causing a tremendous impact to her will to fight.
It was no wonder that so many people had suffered disastrous defeats when facing the hundred thousand year soul ring that Huo Yuhao had released; the deterrence it gave off was just that powerful.
Meng Hongchen wasn’t the only person affected by the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s aura. Even Xiao Hongchen was similarly affected by it.
The Vermillion Clear Icetoad and the Three-Legged Golden Toad were both toad-type martial souls. Out of the five poisons, the poison that came from a toad and the poison that came from a scorpion were equally matched. There wasn’t too much of a difference between both parties, and thus victory and defeat would be decided by the levels of the two creatures.
There was no doubt that the Three-Legged Golden Toad was of a higher level than the Vermillion Clear Icetoad, and the two were also top-ranked martial souls. However, they were akin to subjects who were facing their king whilst facing the unrivaled martial soul, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. Regardless of how strong they were, they were still petty and weak in front of a true king.
They were completely unable to imagine how a mere illusory domain could cause such a great effect. However, was what Huo Yuhao was releasing now still a mere illusory domain?
As the saying went, the truth would become a lie when a lie became a truth. If a person added a few true things within an illusion, it would be hard to tell that the illusion was fake. The illusory figure behind Huo Yuhao was created using his Imitation, but the aura it possessed came from the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s soul ring! This was a true four hundred thousand year soul ring! Could an illusory domain fake an aura like this? This was the aura of pure Ultimate Ice, and also the aura of one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts.
There was no need to even mention the two of them; even the Heavenfiend Douluo Huang Jinxu, who was nervously presiding over the match as referee, felt his heart palpitate after sensing the aura of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.
Everything happened within an extremely short amount of time. Although Meng Hongchen was able to neutralise the Butterfly Goddess Slash while her body and soul were shaken, the force behind her following attacks was greatly weakened. On the other hand, Xiao Hongchen had just gotten back to his senses from the Light of the Butterfly Goddess, and was slowed down for a brief moment while trying to assist his sister.
At this exact moment, the combination of an icy-white aura and the supreme majesty of an emperor blossomed from Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.
Meng Hongchen was simply too close to the two of them, and thus she had no chance of dodging the omnidirectional release of this light. As her martial soul had clearly been affected, she couldn’t even take the opportunity to attack Wang Dong.
A strange, cold aura instantly spread through her body, and Meng Hongchen’s body stiffened instantly in midair. Since she awakened her martial soul, she couldn’t even remember the last time she felt cold. At this moment, however, the extreme cold that seemed to dig into her bones made her body tremble violently. A layer of light-blue frost even seemed to cover the surface of her skin.
Huo Yuhao’s combat strength instantly reached its peak. Although the extremely cold air only spread for a relatively short distance, the illusory figure of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion that appeared behind his back emitted a dazzling light. This was especially so for its jade-green tail, which seemed to have halos flowing around it.
Due to Huo Yuhao’s Imitation concealing his body, nobody was able to see that his sternum, ribs, and spine were releasing an intense jade-green light.
Right, this was the powerful soul skill granted to him by the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s torso bone, Domain of Perpetual Ice.
This was a true display of the power of Ultimate Ice, and also its tyrannical might. Even the Vermillion Clear Icetoad that was also an ice-type martial soul wasn’t able to endure it. Although Huo Yuhao couldn’t truly use the might of this domain-type soul skill, he was still able to unleash a portion of the Ice Empress’ power in a limited range.
Meng Hongchen reached the top point of her jump as her body was instantly frozen in the Domain of Perpetual Ice, causing her to immediately plummet to the ground.
How could Wang Dong just give up on a good opportunity like this? Folding his wings, he instantly chased after Meng Hongchen and activated his Guillotine Wing.
However, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong didn’t notice that a dark-red chain had somehow been connected to Meng Hongchen’s waist. The instant Wang Dong’s attack was about to land, Meng Hongchen was instantly pulled away, bringing her out of Wang Dong’s attack range. Right after that, a large energy storm flew straight towards him, blocking his pursuit.
The dark-red chain had appeared in Xiao Hongchen’s hand first, and his current expression was that of solemnity.
Right. As they walked onto the tournament stage, neither he or Meng Hongchen had thought that this battle had any meaning. However, he now felt that he had been wrong. As he faced these two youths, he realized that he couldn’t use their level of soul power to judge them.
Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao were extremely well-coordinated, but Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen were siblings! The two had grown up together, and had worked, fought, and cultivated together. The level of synergy they possessed wasn’t any inferior to Huo Yuhao’s duo.
At this moment, a dark-red light lit up by Meng Hongchen’s chest. Right after that, an icy mist shot out from her body with a flash of red light. Then, it quickly returned and entered her body once again, allowing her to unexpectedly recover from the Domain of Perpetual Ice. Although her body was still trembling, and she didn’t seem to be able to hold her swords properly, she had regained the ability to move.
Huo Yuhao had used the Domain of Perpetual Ice many times in the past, and he had even used it against Soul Kings before. However, this was the first time he met someone who was able to bypass it so quickly.
Other than the difference in their cultivations, the profundity contained within the Vermillion Clear Icetoad’s fusion of ice and fire had played an important role in this.
Huo Yuhao was quickly thinking to himself, It’s no wonder the Vermillion Clear Icetoad didn’t get decisively sealed in front of my Ultimate Ice. Aih, if I were also a Soul King, how would she be able to break through my Domain of Perpetual Ice so easily?
At this moment, both parties seemed to return to their original positions. Under Xiao Hongchen’s all-out attacks, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong weren’t able to complete their pursuit.
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