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**
Inside the square, Ling Xiao's vision was completely filled with the dense, blue-white freezing mist. To a certain extent, the thick ice-attributed aura hindered his mental power from sensing his surroundings.
He was just about to swing his axe to cleave open a path and break out of this patch of chilling mist when, before he could act, the whistling sound of rushing wind echoed several times.
Ling Xiao tilted his head slightly in response.
In the next instant, several dark shadows charged into the freezing mist from the outside, sweeping toward him like long whips. It was the Huyan brothers striking together, launching an offensive against Ling Xiao using their elephant trunks.
Five thick, whip-like shadows lashed out with a terrifying screeching sound that sliced through the air. From the sound alone, one could tell that the force they carried was enough to shatter metal and crack stone.
Holding the Profound Sky Axe, Ling Xiao wrapped his fingers around the handle and swung it toward the sky.
A massive axe radiance suddenly cut through the air, charging head-on to meet those sweeping elephant trunk shadows. In Ling Xiao's estimation, an intense clash of attacks should have erupted. However, the opponents seemed to have a calculated plan.
Although their initial striking momentum was incomparably fierce, just as the elephant trunks were about to collide with Ling Xiao's Profound Sky Slash, two of the long trunks actually retracted their force.
Instead of advancing, they retreated.
The elephant trunks, flashing with a diamond-like brilliance, whipped back nimbly, avoiding the axe radiance formed by the Profound Sky Slash by a mere hair's breadth in a dangerously close dogde.
After shattering the lashing of the other three elephant trunks, the half-moon-shaped blade radiance, filled with a domineering blackish-red soul power aura, tore directly through the blanket of freezing mist above.
Instantly, like clouds parting to reveal the sun, a gap appeared in the dense freezing mist over Ling Xiao's head. Unfortunately, just as the freezing mist was sliced open, the surrounding ice-blue cold air surged violently, rapidly flooding toward the rift to patch it up.
At the same time, two more elephant trunks attacked, pinning Ling Xiao down and forcing him to counter. Following this, several elephant trunks scattered across various positions, executing continuous strikes.
Their directions and offensives were completely different.
Streaks of dark light flashed across the air, intersecting and weaving together like a net of whips. It enveloped Ling Xiao within, trapping him inside the freezing mist formation.
Up on the square's high platform, the group of high-ranking Spirit Hall officials watching the match wore slightly solemn expressions. With their cultivation levels, they could naturally see right through the concealment of the freezing mist created by Huyan Ba.
At this moment, although the cold air could not break through Ling Xiao's Astral Qi protection and the offensive of the elephant trunks could not block the sharpness of his Profound Sky Axe—
Resulting in the Huyan brothers' trunks becoming riddled with scars after a short while and the force of their Mammoth Whiplash beginning to weaken—the disadvantage of Ling Xiao fighting seven opponents by himself was starting to gradually manifest over the prolonged battle.
Resisting the impact of the cold air for an extended period while being trapped by the combined attacks of the Huyan brothers would drastically accelerate Ling Xiao's soul power consumption.
Furthermore, in this battle, Ling Xiao no longer possessed the composed, overwhelming advantage he had when fighting Huyan Li previously. Having fought to this point, he had yet to show many signs of victory.
This forced them to worry about the outcome of this match. If he lost, Spirit Hall would lose face entirely, and this operation would turn into a joke, leaving them in a dilemma where it would be difficult to advance or retreat.
Several Soul Saints originating from Spirit Hall exchanged glances, the meaning in their eyes clear to one another. They all felt that as a member of the brilliant younger generation of the Spirit Hall Academy, Ling Xiao was ultimately still too green.
He had underestimated the enemy and overestimated himself.
Though exceptionally talented, his ambition exceeded his capabilities, making him unfit for such heavy responsibilities at this time. In the end, Her Holiness the Pope had misjudged him when choosing him to lead this operation.
In stark contrast to them, the several elders and disciple of Elephant Armored Sect below the platform showed visible joy. The former felt that they had previously viewed Spirit Hall as entirely too powerful, inflating others' prestige while destroying their own morale.
Spirit Hall was not invincible after all.
The latter felt that victory was well within their grasp. Once the news of their Elephant Armor Sect defeating Spirit Hall spread, there was no telling how much of an impact it would make on the Soul Master world.
When that time came, their reputation would inevitably soar, and perhaps they could even move up a few spots in the ranking of the Lower Four Sects, competing with the Royal Feather Sect for the position of the leader of the Lower Four Sects.
On the square, Ling Xiao suddenly sensed a fluctuation of soul power behind him.
He leapt aside and swung his axe, once again cleaving away the elephant trunk that came sweeping toward him. However, at that exact moment, his right arm—which was wielding the Profound Sky Axe—suddenly tightened.
Ling Xiao felt a jolt of alarm in his heart.
Turning his head to look, he saw a massive elephant trunk radiating a glacial crystal brilliance rushing out from who knows where, actually wrapping itself around his right arm and locking it down tightly.
Furthermore, the elephant trunk gripping Ling Xiao's right arm immediately twisted and curled. The tip of the trunk aimed right at the Profound Sky Axe in Ling Xiao's hand.
An ice-blue light flashed, and in the next instant, a wave of cold air spat out. The freezing energy completely blanketed the Profound Sky Axe and Ling Xiao's right hand holding it, generating a layer of solid ice that fully sealed his wrist and the Profound Sky Axe within.
"Crap!"
The moment his arm was entangled by the elephant trunk, Ling Xiao knew things had gone south.
He had miscalculated.
As it turned out, Huyan Ba had used his third soul skill to create this patch of freezing mist and teamed up with the others to trap him inside not to drain his soul power, but to use the thick ice-attributed aura to disrupt his mental power perception.
At the same time, it allowed him to infuse his own attacks with an intense icy aura, merging them seamlessly into the freezing mist so that Ling Xiao wouldn't notice, thereby allowing the strike to land successfully.
What a Huyan Ba.
His utilization of the ice attribute power within his soul ring was truly remarkable.
It was no longer just a simple use of an additional attribute's power within a soul ring to launch direct attacks in the form of a soul ring soul skill; it was more like he had fused it together with his own Martial Soul.
Right now, his right hand and the Profound Sky Axe were sealed inside the solid ice. Under the condensed frost, the bone-chilling cold air almost broke through the protection of his defensive Astral Qi and penetrated inside.
In just a few short breaths, his arm was gradually beginning to suffer from the invasion of the frost. To counter this, Ling Xiao had no choice but to circulate his soul power to resist the encroaching cold.
Just as Ling Xiao was planning to use other means to break the ice and break free from Huyan Ba's trunk entanglement, several whistling sounds suddenly erupted from within the freezing mist.
He turned his head slightly and saw multiple elephant trunks charging into the mist. Only this time, they did not turn into fierce whip-shadows; instead, they lunged rapidly toward Ling Xiao like giant pythons and nimble serpents.
Under Huyan Ba's direction, the others accurately pinpointed Ling Xiao's location.
Meanwhile, because Huyan Ba had restricted and frozen his right arm and the Profound Sky Axe, Ling Xiao's movements were hindered. Consequently, he failed to dodge these elephant trunks, and his remaining limbs were entangled one after another.
Instantly, Ling Xiao plunged into a dire situation.
The Profound Sky Axe and his right hand were frozen solid, his arms were bound in pairs by four elephant trunks, and his legs were each pinned down by a trunk as well. His entire person was almost completely immobilized.
Outside the freezing mist, after the Huyan brothers executed the Mammoth Entanglement to restrict Ling Xiao, they suddenly bellowed out in unison: "Up!"
Before their voices could fade, these six brothers—excluding Huyan Li—displayed flawless coordination.
They simultaneously circulated their soul power to further stimulate their Martial Souls. The elephant trunks of their Martial Soul forms exerted force together, continuously lifting and raising higher.
Under the combined strength of the six men, they locked down Ling Xiao's limbs with their trunks, hoisting his body off the ground and dragging him horizontally into midair, even pulling him completely out of the blanket of freezing mist.
This scene truly shocked the entire audience.
The disciples of the Elephant Armor Sect were wild with excitement; to them, this battle already seemed to be an absolute victory.
**
Enjoying the story? Support the translation and get early access to future chapters here: www.patr eon.com/c/FanficTranslator
Thanks for reading!
I have 100+ advanced chapter now on Patreon. I will post 5 advanced chapter on Patreon everyday except Sunday