Book 3: Fusion of Martial Souls
Chapter 19.3: Soul Fusion Skill—Empyreal Net
However, the battle hadn’t ended yet. Although Huang Chutian had been greatly astonished by the fact that they weren’t able to defeat their opponents, he quickly returned to his senses. He pounced towards Wang Dong, who was the closest to him, and let out a low roar. From his point of view, it must’ve been Wang Dong who’d broken their soul fusion skill. Huo Yuhao merely had a ten year soul ring, so he wouldn’t attract any attention under normal circumstances.
At this moment, Wang Dong was nearly exhausted. As he looked at the approaching Huang Chutian, he forcefully flapped his wings backwards in retreat. He shouted, “Xiao Xiao, I’m counting on you!”
“Leave it to me.” Xiao Xiao humphed, causing the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron that she’d separated to attack the Empyreal Net to re-merge. Although she didn’t have the assistance of Huo Yuhao’s Mental Detection, Huang Chutian’s objective was obvious. The large cauldron shifted horizontally, placing itself in front of Wang Dong’s body in order to block Huang Chutian’s way.
On the other hand, Huo Yuhao immediately sat down in a cross-legged position behind Xiao Xiao, attempting to recover his mental energy via meditation. His earlier move had drained him by a considerable amount. Fortunately, he was no longer the rookie that he’d previously been at the eleventh or twelfth rank; his Purple Demon Eyes had also experienced a qualitative leap, which was why his energy hadn’t been completely depleted. However, that move of his had caused waves of dizziness to fill his mind. Thus, he was no longer able to simultaneously maintain both his Mental Detection and his Mental Sharing; he needed to rest for a while.
For someone to break a soul fusion skill with Huo Yuhao’s strength? That was obviously impossible. He was still only a one-ringed soul master. Although his million year soul ring was strong, he was still far away from being able to use the true might of the Skydream Iceworm.
The reason that he’d been able to destroy the Empyreal Net was a culmination of many factors. Of them, Huo Yuhao had played the most crucial role.
When he’d shouted Wang Dong’s name, the latter had immediately understood him, and had released his second soul skill while the Empyreal Net was unceasingly contracting. Wang Dong’s second soul skill was naturally unable to destroy a soul fusion skill by itself, but don’t forget that Wang Dong’s second soul skill was from a thousand year soul ring, which meant that its strength was considerably higher than normal. Although it couldn’t destroy the Empyreal Net, it was still able to rapidly increase the Lan sisters’ soulforce consumption.
Following that, it was time for Huo Yuhao’s attack. Since the Empyreal Net blocked his Mental Detection, he’d focused it in one direction. This allowed his strong mental undulations to overcome the Empyreal Net and for it to penetrate through it. However, this was in one direction only.
When he found the Lan sisters, he immediately released his Spirit Shock skill that was also amplified by his Purple Demon Eyes at full power; the dizziness that Xiao Xiao had felt had been caused by Huo Yuhao’s all-out attack.
The facts showed that Huo Yuhao’s all-out effort had succeeded. The Lan sisters’ soul fusion skill was sufficiently strong, but it wasn’t flawless. Its greatest flaw lay in the fact that their cultivation levels were just barely sufficient to utilize it. Hence, they weren’t able to maintain it for a long time. After Wang Dong had drained them with his soul skill, Huo Yuhao’s sudden Spirit Shock had struck their minds. The strong mental undulations had instantly collapsed their skill, while the large backlash from their soul fusion skill had immediately knocked them out.
Despite this, the Lan sisters had been able to almost completely rid Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong of their combat capabilities. From this, it could be seen just how strong a soul fusion skill was. Huo Yuhao seemed very weak, but he had a million year soul ring!
Huang Chutian’s hands viciously slammed into the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron; this was his first soul skill, the Vigorous King Kong fist.
“Boom—” His metallic fists slammed into a black halo, instantly sending the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron three metres away. However, Huang Chutian stood unmoving in his original spot, his body violently shaking for a moment.
Xiao Xiao’s Cauldron Quake had a strong stunning effect. It wasn’t only capable of hurting her opponents; all enemies within a one metre radius of the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron would be stunned on impact.
Once Huang Chutian was stunned, Xiao Xiao coldly snorted and clasped her hands together, causing the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron to instantly split into three, trapping Huang Chutian in the middle.
The stun effect only lasted a short while. As such, Huang Chutian quickly regained his senses after a short while. This time, he didn’t immediately make a move; he decided to pause for a moment in order to observe the situation in front of him.
The Lan sisters had already fainted, resulting in them losing all of their combat capabilities. On the other hand, Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao seemed to have lost their fighting capabilities as well, but they were still conscious. As a result of this, it wasn’t certain when they’d be able to rejoin the battle. Only a blitzkrieg strategy would give Huang Chutian’s team a chance of obtaining victory in this assessment.
Once he’d finished thinking about this, Huang Chutian let out a loud roar. He suddenly stamped his feet, causing his body to quickly ascend. Meanwhile, he clasped his hands above his head, his second soul ring lighting up. Power Cannon was activated once again.
Xiao Xiao gestured inwards with her hands, immediately causing the three cauldrons to simultaneously rise upwards and strike inwards. The strength of Huang Chutian’s Power Cannon was extraordinary; as a result, she absolutely couldn’t let him release it.
However, Huang Chutian let out a cunning smile. His body suddenly flipped around in midair, turning his body upside-down before the three cauldrons could converge. He swung his clasped fists with all his strength, causing a ball of yellow light to immediately shoot towards Xiao Xiao.
When fighting an enemy, one has to consider their own safety. Huang Chutian didn’t believe that Xiao Xiao was willing to go through mutual destruction. As long as she returned her Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron to protect herself, he’d have a chance to approach her. Then, the opportunity to win would present itself to him.
Indeed, Huang Chutian’s plan was extremely clever. If Xiao Xiao wanted to defend herself against his Power Cannon, she’d have to merge her three cauldrons. And if that happened, Huang Chutian would have enough time to approach the trio. No matter who he decided to attack, they’d definitely have a hard time resisting him.
However, he suddenly felt as if his eyesight had gone bad the instant before he made his move. His Power Cannon had been released, but it had actually been sent out in the wrong direction...
The yellow ball of light was accompanied by an explosive sound as it flew outwards at a tilted angle and blasting the Examination Area’s partitioning walls to smithereens. The students from the neighbouring area, who were currently undergoing their assessment, couldn’t help but look towards their direction with an astonished expression.
And at this moment, the victor of the match between Huo Yuhao’s team and Huang Chutian’s team was decided.
Xiao Xiao’s three cauldrons merged back into one in preparation to protect her. However, after the large, re-merged cauldron had flown back several metres, it swept back and viciously struck Huang Chutian’s body. After Xiao Xiao’s second soul ring lit up, Huang Chutian was enshrouded by a black halo, and was sent flying out of the arena. Wang Yan stretched his arm out to catch him, thus he wasn’t sent flying even further.
That black light unceasingly lingered on his body; it took a full three seconds for Huang Chutian to regain the ability to move.
This was the second soul skill of Xiao Xiao’s Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron: Cauldron Sweep.