"That's all,"
"Nothing special."
Facing Qian Daoliu's attack, Shui Wuhen's expression remained calm. An ice-blue long blade instantly appeared in his hand as he swung it out.
New Ice Slash · Instant Thirty-Six Slashes!
In an instant, thirty-six dazzling blade lights emerged in the void, like a blooming flower, colliding with the angel phantom's longsword.
Crack~
The golden longsword in the angel phantom instantly shattered. The flower formed by the thirty-six brilliant blade lights only slowed slightly before continuing to surge toward Qian Daoliu.
"Not good!"
Qian Daoliu's hair stood on end as he realized something was wrong. At this moment, he felt the threat of death.
Thus, his Ninth Soul Skill instantly activated. He raised the sacred sword, a golden shield appeared around his body, and behind him, the angelic golden light erupted brilliantly, becoming almost tangible as he slashed his giant sword toward the thirty-six radiant blade lights forming the beautiful flower.
BOOM——
The golden giant sword and the radiant flower collided, causing a terrifying energy storm that swept outward in all directions.
But after only a brief stalemate, Qian Daoliu's expression changed. He discovered that his strongest soul skill was actually being suppressed in this clash!
"What kind of soul skill is this?"
Qian Daoliu's heart was filled with shock as he looked at the radiant flower formed by the thirty-six blade lights resisting his golden giant sword.
A moment later, Qian Daoliu spat out a mouthful of blood. The hundred-meter-tall angel phantom shattered and turned into specks of golden light that dissipated.
Fortunately, the radiant flower formed by the thirty-six blade lights also seemed to have exhausted its power from the clash and disappeared.
Then, Qian Daoliu gave a bitter smile and dismissed his Angel Domain before cupping his hands toward Shui Wuhen.
"You win."
Qian Daoliu still had the ability to continue fighting. This level of backlash injury meant nothing to him, but it was meaningless.
Even his strongest Ninth Soul Skill had been overpowered by Shui Wuhen. What would be the point of continuing?
Unless he chose to use his foundation and draw upon the divine power of the Angel God to strengthen himself, he would undoubtedly lose.
But even if he truly went all out and borrowed the power of the Angel God, would he necessarily win?
It must be known that Shui Wuhen looked completely relaxed, clearly not using his full strength. He had not even forced out Shui Wuhen's true martial soul form.
His purpose was only to test Shui Wuhen's strength, not to fight to the death.
Now that he knew Shui Wuhen's strength was unfathomable, that was enough. The rest was not something he needed to consider.
As long as Shui Wuhen did not intend to destroy the Spirit Hall, everything else could be left as it was.
Hearing this, Shui Wuhen was slightly stunned, but he still retracted his domain and soul rings.
Although he did not expect Qian Daoliu to admit defeat so readily, he could still tell that Qian Daoliu's combat power was far below his own.
What a pity. Such a good opportunity to test his strength had ended after only testing the power of the New Ice Slash.
"It seems my current strength has no opponents on this continent, at least on the surface."
Shui Wuhen thought to himself.
Although the Ice Slash was quite powerful, it was not his strongest technique; it was only a regular move, and its soul power consumption was extremely low.
Even the strongest Thirty-Six Slashes could recover the consumed soul power in a single breath with the help of his inner core.
Thus, he did not need to hold back when using Ice Slash and could use it freely.
One Thirty-Six Slash could offset the Ninth Soul Skill of a peerless Douluo and even leave some excess power. What about two, three, four… or more?
Under the doubled soul power consumption pressure of the Freezing Domain, how many Ninth Soul Skills could the opponent even release?
Not to mention Shui Wuhen still had even stronger techniques like Absolute Zero.
Realizing this, the pressure that had always weighed on Shui Wuhen's heart suddenly eased. From now on, there was no need for him to deliberately restrain himself, as there was no longer anyone on this continent who could threaten him.
On the other side, Qian Daoliu descended as if he had aged ten years.
It had finally been a battle in his own domain—the sky—but he had still lost so completely.
Some time ago, Tang Chen had surpassed him. Now even an eighteen-year-old junior had surpassed him. It seemed he was truly old.
"Old is fine… old is fine. Once Xue'er completes the first eight trials of the Angel God's inheritance, I can also rest in peace and offer myself as a sacrifice."
Although he thought this in his heart, for some reason, a trace of bitterness still lingered within Qian Daoliu.
Inside the Spirit Hall, the other Enshrined Elders became overjoyed when they saw Qian Daoliu return.
Qingluan Douluo rode his bird forward and approached Qian Daoliu, preparing to welcome him, but he immediately noticed Qian Daoliu's dejected expression and realized something was wrong.
"This situation… could it be that the Great Enshrined has lost?"
Qingluan Douluo was shocked by his own guess. He knew Shui Wuhen was only eighteen years old, yet he had actually defeated Qian Daoliu, who was like a god in his heart. This…
On the other side, Bibi Dong was also shocked.
"Qian Daoliu actually lost! How is that possible?"
Although she did not want to admit it, Qian Daoliu's strength was indeed above hers, even with her twin martial souls.
But someone stronger than her—Qian Daoliu himself—had actually lost to Shui Wuhen. Did that not mean she was also no match for him?
Even fighting him might mean being instantly killed?
"Damn it. I am a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo, yet when did Peerless Douluo become so worthless?"
Bibi Dong felt a bit numb. Clearly, as a twin martial soul user, her combat power should be stronger at the same level, so why could she not even beat anyone anymore?
At the same time, Shui Wuhen slowly descended on Articuno, while sweeping his spiritual sense across the Spirit Hall scene.
"Good grief. There are fewer than ten titled Douluo known to the public on this continent, yet just the number of titled Douluo here in the Spirit Hall alone is close to twenty."
Shui Wuhen's mouth twitched slightly as he could not help but sigh.
Just as he had suspected, these spirit master factions had indeed hidden their strength—but not hidden stronger beings above titled Douluo, rather their numbers.
On the surface, the Spirit Hall only had Ju Douluo Yue Guan, Ghost Douluo Gui Mei, and the Pope Bibi Dong as its three titled Douluo. Even the Spirit Hall's symbol was represented by Yue Guan and Gui Mei's martial soul characteristics.
But in reality?
Not to mention figures like Qian Daoliu, a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo, just the number of titled Douluo alone was several times greater than what was publicly known. Their public strength and true strength were severely mismatched.
Who knew if forces like the Haotian Sect, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan were the same as well?