...
Facing the shocked gazes of the Tianshui team members, Xuan Hao merely stretched lazily, not even assuming a defensive stance.
"Use whatever tricks you have up your sleeve. I can handle them all."
"Don't say that I, a Soul Saint, am bullying you. I'll give you a chance to make a move first. If you can't even break through my defense, then you might as well get out of here."
Shui Bing'er took a deep breath, a resolute glint in her eyes: "Proceed according to plan! Scatter!"
With a delicate shout from Shui Bing'er, the seven girls of the Tianshui team instantly scattered like butterflies flitting among flowers, surrounding Xuan Hao in the center of the arena.
Immediately afterwards, the colorful soul rings flashed wildly on the arena!
"First Soul Skill..."
"Third Soul Skill..."
"The second soul skill..."
Without holding back, the support class's Amplifying Aura, the control class's Frost Chains, and the offensive class's Ice Blade...
The seven elite geniuses of Tianshui Academy unleashed their most treasured offensive soul skills as if they were free, raining them down on Xuan Hao, who was in the center of the encirclement!
In an instant, the entire arena was covered in ice and snow, and the dazzling light and shadow of the soul skills almost completely swallowed up Xuan Hao's figure.
However, faced with this relentless barrage of attacks, Xuan Hao simply stood still.
He didn't even release his martial spirit; he simply allowed the extremely violent blood energy within his body to dissipate naturally.
A faint golden-red aura swirled around him, like an insurmountable barrier!
The sharp ice blades and frost that were powerful enough to tear apart high-level Soul Masters were instantly evaporated by the terrifying high temperature upon touching this blood and qi shield.
This "gua sha-style beating," which appeared thrilling to outsiders but was actually completely chaotic, lasted for almost the time it takes to burn an incense stick.
It wasn't until the seven girls of the Tianshui team had exhausted most of their soul power, and were all panting and drenched in sweat, that they finally reached their goal.
Suddenly, Shui Bing'er raised her hand and stopped attacking.
The next second, the members of the Tianshui team quickly retreated and regrouped, restoring their original neat positions from the start.
Seeing this, not only were the people in the audience stunned, but even Xuan Hao, who had been "gang-beaten" for half a day, raised an eyebrow in confusion:
"What are you doing? Is it over already?"
Panting heavily, Shui Bing'er wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"We can't win, we admit defeat!"
Xuan Hao was stunned, his face full of astonishment: "No... I've been standing here without moving a single finger, and you're just admitting defeat like this?
If you knew you couldn't win, then why did you put on such a big show in the first place, even using every ounce of strength you had?"
"Of course, it's for the sake of saving face!"
Shui Bing'er rolled her eyes dramatically and retorted confidently,
"Our Tianshui Academy is one of the five major elemental academies!
If we face you in the opening battle and surrender without even lifting a finger, where will we put our face?
How will we ever be able to face the Soul Master world again?"
"But things are different now!"
Shuiyue'er chimed in smugly, "We've been attacking you with all our might for so long, and tens of thousands of eyes were watching!
Everyone could see clearly that your defense as a Soul Saint is just too monstrous.
We had no fault in the fight; it was simply a matter of overwhelming strength!"
Shui Bing'er shrugged. "Now that we've saved face and demonstrated our strength, what are we still doing here?
Are we just looking for trouble?"
"If you get impatient and casually touch us, we'll break a few bones.
How are we supposed to play in the qualifiers?
We can't afford to lose the whole team in the first match, can we?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Shui Bing'er decisively raised her right hand, preparing to signal to the referee Dou Dou in mid-air, directly announcing her surrender and defeat.
However, Xuan Hao clearly couldn't let these young girls so easily gain both "face" and "substance"!
"Come and go as you please? There's no such thing as a free lunch!"
Xuan Hao sneered, "Stay here!"
Boom!
A surge of blood energy, more than ten times more violent than before, suddenly exploded from Xuan Hao's body!
Almost instantly, the entire massive main arena was completely enveloped by a terrifying heat wave that seemed to solidify into reality!
Even the air on the arena was tinged with a faint crimson hue by this domineering power of blood energy!
The seven girls from the Tianshui team felt a blur before their eyes, and then they were horrified to find that they seemed to have suddenly fallen into a blazing alchemical furnace!
Even though they were all top-tier water and ice attribute soul masters with extremely strong resistance to high temperatures, at this moment, they still felt a terrifying heat that was almost suffocating from the inside out!
Shui Bing'er was horrified to discover that the frozen air around her was like an invisible giant hand, tightly gripping her throat!
Forget about shouting surrender; even breathing normally had become incredibly difficult for her, and she could only make hoarse, gasping sounds.
Whoosh!
Xuan Hao's figure vanished from the spot in an instant, closing in on Shui Bing'er.
"I'm sorry everyone."
"If I really let you guys come up here, wander around without a scratch, demonstrate your skills, and then go down unscathed and admit defeat..."
"Then, in the next few rounds, there will probably be countless teams trying to piggyback on my popularity and gain attention from me!"
"Your exit unscathed might even send the wrong message to the outside world, making them mistakenly believe that I am a kind-hearted man or woman who does not hit women! In that case, it will definitely attract countless people to test me out of boredom!"
"Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble later, I have no choice but to make an example of you and send you to warn others!"
"Today, you can only lie down!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xuan Hao's eyes narrowed!
Buzz—!
His originally deep blue eyes instantly transformed into cold and cruel crimson-gold vertical pupils!
And that flowing silver short hair, under the violent surge of blood and qi, quickly turned into a fiery golden-red color!
With the initial awakening of his martial spirit, Xuan Hao's aura underwent a terrifying and earth-shattering change at this moment!
That ultimate pressure, belonging to a top-tier true dragon, was no longer concealed in the slightest and was released without reservation!
The cheers of tens of thousands of people in the huge audience were instantly silenced by this overwhelming power, and the entire venue fell into a deathly silence!
On the high platform.
The smile on Emperor Xueye's face froze completely.
"What is he going to do?! He's not really going to get serious and kill me, is he?!"
Ning Fengzhi was also covered in cold sweat, his eyes twitching violently.
He forced a smile and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down... Xuanhao is a rebellious child, but he should know his limits. He shouldn't... go too far. He should..."
Read 20+ chapters ahead at Patreon
patreon.com/TaroYamato
patreon.com/TaroYamato