Join my Patreon to be 30 chapters ahead of the webnovel releases:
patreon.com/ZeroMoney
I would appreciate your help if you could join my Patreon and support me because it would keep me motivated.
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
******
When the others heard Zhu Zhuqing's inquiry, their eyes immediately lit up.
Perhaps Ye Lan knew the answer! After all, he was widely regarded as the entire continent's foremost expert in martial soul theory.
"The first four soul rings on every member of the Ten Thousand Beasts Academy are definitively not the kind of soul rings we understand from common knowledge," Ye Lan began. "It must be some kind of new cultivation system that enables them to absorb ten-thousand-year-level soul rings. After all, when absorbing a soul ring normally, the impact energy on the body is incredibly terrifying. Absorbing a ten-thousand-year ring as your very first is absolutely, unequivocally impossible. The spiritual power level alone couldn't possibly meet the required standard."
"And even if, hypothetically, their spiritual power did meet the standard, their physical constitution absolutely could not. Physical quality, after all, is intrinsically linked to one's soul power level. It's impossible for the amount of soul power a Soul Scholar possesses to cultivate a body to the equivalent of a Soul King's," Ye Lan continued his explanation.
After finishing his explanation, Ye Lan began to frantically search the depths of his mind, scouring his past-life memories related to the Douluo Dalu novels. In his previous life, he had only read up to the first half of The Unrivaled Tang Sect, along with some scattered discussions online.
He recalled that The Unrivaled Tang Sect did seem to introduce a 'Soul Spirit' system. However, in this current timeline—where Spirit Hall still existed, a full ten thousand years before The Unrivaled Tang Sect—Gu Yuena should absolutely not have any knowledge of the Soul Spirit system.
Could it be that Gu Yuena is a reincarnator? he wondered. Or perhaps she awakened memories from a parallel world? Or was her body seized by someone from a future timeline?
For a moment, Ye Lan's thoughts flew in a million different directions, yet he couldn't grasp the crucial piece of the puzzle.
Still, at least he now knew for certain that there was a major anomaly concerning Gu Yuena, which could be considered a silver lining amidst the ominous circumstances.
"Ye Lan is correct. The Ten Thousand Beasts Academy must have mastered some kind of new cultivation system. I'm afraid the heavens of this Douluo Continent are about to change," Xiao Xue (Little Snow) said, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on Gu Yuena's pale-gold soul rings. She seemed to be pondering something deeply, and her gaze grew exceptionally wise.
As for Ye Lengleng, she simply tightened her grip on Ye Lan's right hand. Regardless of what tremendous changes the future might bring, she held an unshakeable belief that Ye Lan would be able to handle any and all troubles that arose.
On the competition stage, gazing at the heaven-defying soul ring configuration of the Ten Thousand Beasts Academy, Huo Wushuang was completely dumbfounded and stammered:
"Xiaotian, this isn't just bad, this is terrible! I knew the Ten Thousand Beasts Academy was absurd, but I never, ever expected them to be this absurd! Are those even human beings? The Ten Thousand Beasts Academy should just change its name to Shrek Academy already!"
"Let's not. Changing their name to Shrek Academy would be too disgusting," Huo Wu retorted. The mere mention of Shrek Academy brought unpleasant memories to her mind, and she frowned in distaste.
"What's truly strange is that the soul masters from the Ten Thousand Beasts Academy should all possess beast martial souls, shouldn't they? So why is their team captain's martial soul a tool martial soul, the 'Silver Dragon Spear'?" Shui Bing'er voiced her confusion.
"Big Sister! The most important thing right now is to figure out how to last even one minute against them! If we can't even hold on for sixty seconds, then our Elemental Academy's defeat will be far too humiliating! Sob!" Xue Wu said, her voice filled with misery.
"I'm going in first! I'll test the waters for all of you! For all we know, their soul rings might just be for bluffing!" Feng Xiaotian forced himself to appear calm. As the team captain, he knew he had to be the first one to act.
Immediately after, Feng Xiaotian's second and third soul rings lit up simultaneously, causing a massive light shadow of a Two-Headed Demon Wolf to appear.
This giant two-headed wolf phantom merged as one with Feng Xiaotian, instantly increasing his attack, defense, and agility by fifty percent.
A pair of enormous cyan-colored wings unfurled from his back. These wings increased Feng Xiaotian's speed by another fifty percent, and at the same time, granted him the ability to fly.
Faced with the terrifying Ten Thousand Beasts Academy, Feng Xiaotian had absolutely no intention of trying to use his 'Gale Demon Wolf Thirty-Six Successive Chops'. He knew with certainty that he would never be able to stack the self-created soul skill. He feared that upon executing the very first chop, he would be instantly struck down by the opponent.
Relying on the enhanced speed from his second and third soul skills, Feng Xiaotian flapped his wings frantically, flying towards the Ten Thousand Beasts Academy team at extreme velocity. In just the blink of an eye, he had arrived in the airspace not far above them.
His fourth soul ring flared to life instantly.
"Gale Double Blades!!"
From between the finger bones of each of Feng Xiaotian's hands, three sharp blades, each about half a chi in length, ejected. Then, the massive illusion of the Two-Headed Gale Wolf appeared behind his back.
He crossed his hands, and leveraging his incredible flight speed, a gigantic cyan-colored cross-shaped wind blade instantly slashed down toward the seven members of the Ten Thousand Beasts Academy.
This cross-shaped wind blade was more than ten meters long. If an ordinary Soul Ancestor were to encounter this strike from Feng Xiaotian, they would be instantly killed by it. Even when facing a Soul King, he possessed the power to put up a fight.
Looking at the giant cross-shaped wind blade, Gu Yuena appeared as if she were looking at some kind of amusing toy.
The silver-haired girl's fifth soul ring lit up. The massive cross wind blade vanished completely, without a single trace.
"What?!" Feng Xiaotian was utterly dumbstruck. He couldn't believe his eyes. The powerful wind-based ultimate move that he had unleashed using every ounce of his strength... had been directly confiscated by the opponent?!
How was he supposed to fight this?!
Gu Yuena's first and second soul rings lit up. With a casual flick of her slender, delicate hand, she stated in a lazy tone,
"Giving it back to you!"
A wind blade, fully one hundred meters in length, instantly appeared right in front of Feng Xiaotian.
Faced with this hundred-meter-long wind blade, Feng Xiaotian's expression changed drastically.
This is insane!
He had no way to dodge this gigantic wind blade; its speed was simply too fast!
In the blink of an eye, the one-hundred-meter giant wind blade struck Feng Xiaotian's abdomen.
Feng Xiaotian had originally thought he was about to be sliced in half at the waist by this colossal blade. Instead, an enormous repulsive force exploded from his abdomen. He was actually sent flying, pushed back a distance of over one hundred meters by this single giant wind blade.
Feng Xiaotian was pinned by this giant wind blade and dragged across the ground, scraping violently. His 'Gale Two-Headed Demon Wolf' form smashed through countless wooden structures and barriers, sweeping up innumerable fragments of debris, before the cyan figure finally, just barely, slid to a halt.
Looking at the blurred, bloody wound on his abdomen, Feng Xiaotian let out a shaky sigh of relief.
Her control over the wind element has actually reached such a realm... he thought in shock. It would have been an extremely simple matter for that giant wind blade to slice him in two.
But in the instant the giant wind blade struck his abdomen, the opponent, relying on her immaculate control over the wind element, had forcibly blunted the wind blade's edge, making it thick. Moreover, she controlled the wind blade to constantly rotate forward, actively reducing its cutting power while enhancing its pushing force.
This wasn't the opponent doing something superfluous; it was, quite simply, the opponent choosing to spare his life.
After witnessing Feng Xiaotian being completely and utterly crushed, Yu Tianxin's palms were drenched in cold sweat.
However, for the dignity of his 'Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon' clan, he could not retreat a single step!
"Xiao Yunju, prepare yourself!" Yu Tianxin shouted loudly.
Xiao Yunju (whose martial soul was Thunder Bead) immediately activated his abilities. His first, second, third, and fourth soul rings all lit up at once!
"Thunder Bead Chain!"
Eight black thunder beads flew out from Xiao Yunju's palm. The beads flew into mid-air, arranging themselves into an octagonal formation.
Zzzzzz— within the thunder bead formation, innumerable arcs of electricity began to flash violently.
"'Thunder Bead Traction'! 'Thunder Bead Detonation'! 'Thunderstorm Core'!"
A massive, profound-black thunder bead was generated in the very center of the thunder array. The instant this thunder bead appeared, countless bolts of lightning began to condense upon it. 'Thunder Bead Detonation' then caused the condensed thunder bead to explode, while 'Thunderstorm Core' instantly gathered all the scattered, explosive thunder into a single, massive sphere of lightning.
At this exact moment, the four soul rings on Yu Tianxin's body flared, shining with yellow and purple soul light.
His third soul skill, 'Thunder God's Wrath', activated, increasing his lightning attacks by one hundred percent and his total soul power by one hundred percent.
His other three lightning-based attack soul skills were 'Blue Lightning Dragon Claw', 'Thunderous Myriad Jun', and 'Blue Lightning God Dragon Rush'. Aided by the boost to his soul power and lightning attribute, Yu Tianxin unleashed these other, greatly enhanced lightning soul skills, directing them all into the 'ball lightning'. This caused the 'Thunderstorm Core' to expand once again!
Yu Tianxin leaped high into the air, plunging his long, draconian Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon arm deep into the center of the massive 'Thunderstorm Core'.
Gritting his teeth and enduring the agonizing, paralyzing pain, Yu Tianxin stared down at the silver-haired girl and shouted, "I will make you understand the true power of the 'Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon'!!"
"Wind rolls as the rain arrives, clouds cover the sun! A dragon roams the Nine Heavens, Yu Tian's Thunder!!"
After a moment, the 'Thunderstorm Core', under Yu Tianxin's guidance, transformed into a ten-meter-long dragon head made entirely of thunder.
Yu Tianxin thrust his hand downward, aiming directly at the silver-haired girl.
AOOO— Accompanied by a resonant dragon's roar, the gigantic thunder dragon head smashed down toward Gu Yuena.
The silver-haired girl raised her head, looking at the massive thunder dragon head, and murmured to herself, "A dragon, is it?..."
Gu Yuena's first and second soul rings instantly lit up with light.
Her first soul skill, 'Elemental Tide', activated instantly. A purple light flashed across Gu Yuena's body. A powerful surge of lightning-elemental energy immediately rushed out toward the 'Dragon Roams the Nine Heavens, Yu Tian's Thunder'.
Her second soul skill, 'Elemental Control', caused the rushing lightning-elemental energy to instantly condense into a gigantic dragon of pure thunder.
The appearance of this dragon was completely identical to the 'Dragon Roams the Nine Heavens, Yu Tian's Thunder' that Yu Tianxin had unleashed.
Except for one small detail... it was over fifty meters long!
Yu Tianxin's jaw dropped wide open. He could only watch, dumbfounded, as his own strongest, ultimate attack was instantly and completely engulfed by the 'Thunder Dragon' unleashed by the silver-haired girl.
In the very instant that the fifty-meter 'Thunder Dragon' was about to strike Yu Tianxin, Gu Yuena pressed her index and middle fingers together and pointed them straight toward the sky.
Her second soul ring shone with its dark-golden light. The 'Thunder Dragon' instantly changed direction and shot skyward, grazing just past Yu Tianxin's body.
After flying five hundred meters into the sky, the 'Thunder Dragon' immediately exploded.
Its entire body shone with a light so dazzling it blotted out the sun.
The world instantly turned into a sheet of pure white!
BOOM!!
An incomparably massive clap of thunder exploded, making the ears of countless spectators ring painfully.
Yu Tianxin stared blankly at the lingering after-effects of the 'Thunder Dragon's' explosion, hundreds of meters up in the sky. He couldn't even begin to imagine... if the opponent's control over the lightning element hadn't been so precise, if that fifty-meter 'Thunder Dragon' had actually struck him... he would probably have been blasted into smithereens.
"Captain, are you alright?!" Xiao Yunju cried out in alarm.
Only then did Yu Tianxin snap back to reality. He hadn't been eliminated from the match. But his draconian claws hung limply at his sides, and he said in a dejected voice,
"Xiao Yunju, we forfeit."
"Alright! Captain, as long as you're not hurt, that's all that matters," Xiao Yunju said, letting out a visible sigh of relief.
"Wushuang, Huo Wu, Shui Bing'er, Xue Wu... you all must do your best," Yu Tianxin said earnestly to his remaining teammates. "The opponent's strength is simply too terrifying. It doesn't matter if it was wind-attribute attacks or lightning-attribute attacks, we were completely and totally crushed."
Huo Wu's expression, however, showed no trace of fear. Instead, she smiled and said, "What's the big deal? The worst that can happen is we lose! This is a perfect opportunity to help scout them out for our idol!"
"Huo Wu is right. The opponent is a Soul Emperor, after all, and she possesses those bizarre six dark-golden soul rings. Her strength definitely cannot be measured by any normal standards," Shui Bing'er analyzed calmly. "The fact that she can participate in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament proves her age is definitely under twenty-five. And just based on her appearance, she might even be younger than me, perhaps around seventeen years old."
"Next, let me go up. Shui Bing'er, your Martial Soul Fusion Skill is the strongest, so you should save it for last!" Huo Wu declared.
"Alright!" Shui Bing'er nodded, agreeing to Huo Wu's plan. Her Martial Soul Fusion Skill was a full-coverage, area-of-effect attack. No matter what, she had to be the last one to unleash it, otherwise, her own teammates would also get caught in the blast.
On the other side, Gu Yuena seemed to think of something and spoke to her team. "The opponents seem to be purely elemental soul masters. In that case, leave this battle to me. It's been a long time since I've properly stretched my muscles."
"Yes, Young Lord!" Xiong Jun, Wang Chi (Di Tian), and Zi Ji could only suppress their own inner desire to do battle.
They were participating in this All-Continent Advanced Academy Elite Soul Master Tournament for a specific purpose. In order to achieve that purpose, they had to follow all of their Lord's commands.
Of course, even if they didn't have that purpose, they would still have to obey their Lord.
After all, their Lord was the absolute, undeniable core of all soul beasts.
"Brother, transfer your fire-type soul power to me!" Huo Wu shouted.
Huo Wushuang nodded immediately, placing both his hands on Huo Wu's back. Immediately, a massive amount of fire-type soul power surged from his body into Huo Wu's.
Feeling the explosive increase of soul power within her body, all four of Huo Wu's soul rings lit up brightly.
However, Huo Wu was not simultaneously releasing four different soul skills. Instead, she was releasing a single soul skill. This was her innate talent: Ring Fusion!
Ring Fusion was an ability that could take all the soul power that would be used to cast multiple soul skills simultaneously, and channel all of it into a single soul ring. This meant that the power of that one soul skill would be multiplied many times over.
By using the soul power provided by Huo Wushuang, in addition to her own soul power, and then employing the Ring Fusion technique, she could concentrate every last bit of their combined power into her fourth soul ring.
"Fiery Dance Blazing Sun!!!"
A gigantic, incandescent white fireball began to condense in Huo Wu's palm.
In just a brief moment, this fireball expanded dramatically.
As the fireball grew larger, the soul power within both Huo Wu and Huo Wushuang's bodies began to deplete at a terrifying rate.
This 'Fiery Dance Blazing Sun', enhanced by 'Ring Fusion', was going to completely drain every last drop of soul power from both of their bodies!
A blazing white sun, five meters in diameter, appeared above the arena. The very air around it was completely distorted by its heat. Its dazzling, blinding light made it impossible for countless soul masters to open their eyes; they could only squint, trying desperately to observe the situation on the stage.
The Silver Dragon King (Gu Yuena) looked with genuine interest at the incandescent white sun floating above Huo Wu's palm. She had not expected that two such mediocre martial souls, the 'Fire Shadow' martial soul and the 'Single-Horned Fire Tyrant Dragon' martial soul, relying solely on human talent and ingenuity, could actually create an attribute attack that reached the level of 'Ultimate Fire'.
If their cultivation ranks were both at the Soul Emperor level, then even she would find this miniature sun somewhat tricky to deal with.
Gu Yuena extended her right hand. Her fourth dark-golden soul ring lit up, and a nine-colored silver staff instantly materialized in her hand.
This was her fourth soul skill, 'Elemental Staff'. It could greatly increase the power of her released elemental attacks, enhance her elemental control, and significantly reduce her soul power consumption.
Following that, her first and second soul rings once again lit up with that same dark-golden light.
Gu Yuena lifted the 'Elemental Staff', pointing it directly toward the sky.
A blue soul light flashed across her body. Immediately, countless water-attribute soul power particles from the surrounding air were attracted by the 'Elemental Staff' and began to gather.
Innumerable vortexes appeared from thin air just above the tip of the 'Elemental Staff'. These vortexes rapidly condensed, forming a dark blue ball of water.
Before the countless spectators even had time to get a good look at this water ball, it had already expanded three times in quick succession.
The water ball's size instantly grew tenfold. The violent gales displaced by the water ball's sudden expansion were repelled outward, blowing fiercely toward the soul masters in the audience.
"Supreme Yin!!"
Huo Wu stared in absolute shock at the gigantic water ball, fifty meters in diameter, that the silver-haired girl had just created. Her own incandescent white 'Sun', in front of this colossal water ball, suddenly looked as small and insignificant as a chicken's egg...
(End of this chapter)