The moment the match began Long Yue charged forward. His aura exploded out from him, just as terrifyingly powerful as people remembered it from his match against Tang Wulin; He didn"t hold back right from the start!Sheng Feilong didn"t move, his cold eyes still on Long Yue as they suddenly changed into a deeper shade of gold. Five Soul Rings sprung into existence behind him, with the third purple one lighting up immediately.
At the same time, his aura suddenly rose again and the silhouette of a majestic golden lion appeared, fusing with Sheng Feilong while releasing a thunderous roar. Sheng Feilong"s Spirit Power surged to the skies as he sent out a spiritual attack against Long Yue, ten times more powerful than anything he had used in his match against Dai Yun"er.
Long Yue had barely taken two steps when his eyes suddenly constricted. The terrifying spiritual attack effortlessly invaded his mind, accompanied by an ice cold killing intent, instantly freezing Long Yue in his steps. His body shook for a moment before he fell down on one knee with a blurry expression in his eyes.
People were surprised at the sudden turn of events and the arena quickly quieted down as they didn"t understand what just happened. Only a few powerful people among them knew what had happened and all of them had solemn, frowning expression as blood slowly started to drip down from Long Yue"s ears, nostrils and eyes.
Sheng Feilong looked at him with an indifferent expression as the golden lion silhouette faded away. He slowly spoke up, imbuing his voice with his still surging Spirit Power. "Do you think that"s it already?"
His voice echoed through the coliseum, impacting into Long Yue"s mind again and instantly causing the latter to regain his focus. He stared at Sheng Feilong in shock, then sprung back as six Soul Ring appeared behind his back; three purple and three black – Long Yue was an absolutely exceptional Soul Emperor!
His body suddenly enlarged greatly and the first Soul Ring behind his back lit up shortly after. Long Yue swung his left arm up into the air as if pulling something from the ground while furiously bellowing in a deep voice. "Mountains!"
The whole arena shook. Suddenly, the landscape started changing, just like in the fight against Tang Wulin, turning into a mountainous field filled with hills, spikes and pillars of solid rock. Long Yue stood atop one of those pillars, staring at Sheng Feilong with a serious expression. He raised his left hand again, swinging into the direction of Sheng Feilong.
Another thick spike of rock shot out from the ground, directly shooting towards Sheng Feilong. The latter still didn"t move. The golden light in his eyes faded and the red symbol on his forehead vanished at the same time; He had recalled his Spirit Essence.
His eyes grew colder once again. He stared at Long Yue, then started muttering under his breath, barely audible for anyone outside the arena, but She Meixiao"s expression changed when she heard him. "Since you"ve been rampaging this whole time, come out and work off some of that steam."
She abruptly walked up to the emperor and En Ci, speaking to them in a low voice. "Your Majesty, Sir En Ci, you must stop the match immediately if something goes south." The emperor just frowned, while En Ci replied with a displeased tone, also frowning. "Miss She, there is no need to worry. What happened with Tang Wulin was an accident. We will make sure nothing of the sorts happens to your student."
She Meixiao still had the same solemn and concerned look on her face. "That"s not what I"m talking about. You must interfere immediately if Long Yue can"t hold on any more." En Ci huffed, but just as he was about to reply, a loud crashing sound was heard along with shocked gasps from the crowd.
The rock spike Long Yue had sent out just crashed head first into the defenceless Sheng Feilong! En Ci frowned again. He just said that he wouldn"t let any accidents happen, but now it seemed this She Feilong couldn"t even take a single hit. Seeing She Meixiao"s frowning and slightly distressed expression, he expected the worst.
Then, a greyish green light shone out of the swarming dust on the arena. An instant later, a terrifying wave of a dreadfully dark aura washed over the whole arena, flushing over the whole coliseum and leaving people shivering in their seats with pale faces, despite the arena"s barrier being perfectly intact!
She Meixiao"s expression hardened even more. Among the people present, she understood this aura best by far and she also immediately understood that it was even more terrifying than when Sheng Feilong normally released his Netherworld Putrefaction Demon; This time, an ice cold, bone chilling murderous intent was mixed into its aura!
The stands at the side and the waiting area for other contestants was influenced by this aura all the same, but, other than the people on the arena itself, the people most affected where the members of Shrek and Monster Academy"s teams. All of their faces turned ghostly pale and they could barely remain seated upright.
Among them, Monster Academy"s Shadow King Teng Teng and Yuanen Yehui were affected the most. Their whole bodies were drenched in sweat, both of them not even daring to gaze upon the arena as they felt their very souls shiver in dread; All of their instincts were screaming for them to run away as fast as they could as far as they could, but they couldn"t move an inch.
Next to Yuanen Yehui sat Gu Yue, who didn"t seem to be any better off. She shivered just as much with a similarly ghostly face as unconsciously spat out a few words in utter shock and disbelief with a violently shaking voice. "This is impossible... How can such a monster be here...?"
A few powerful Soul Master promptly went to the edges of the audience"s stands and used their own Soul Power to create barriers all around to keep the citizens safe from the dreadful aura. Only then did the people gradually calm down to see what was going on on the arena.
By now, the dust had settled down, revealing the arena for everyone to see. On it stood Long Yue, still on the same pillar of rock as before, with a pale face and shocked expression. Opposite of him, about a hundred metres off to the other side; The stone pillar had impacted. But not into the ground, rather, it was held in a single hand, or claw.
Sheng Feilong had completely transformed. His skin was greyish black with muddy green veins running all over his body, all originating from his chest where a green flame was burning, seemingly holding his chest together as it looked like it had split open from under his ribcage all the way over his left shoulder.
His eyes had taken on a ghostly green colour while two ma.s.sive horn protruded from the sides of his head. His hands had turned into thick, armoured claws with the same veiny, green pattern running through them. He was staring at Long Yue with a calm gaze, but the aura radiating off of his body contained the same bone chilling killing intent the audience had felt before.
His left hand was firmly clamped around the tip of the rock spike that Long Yue shot out before. Extending a bit of force, he crushed the pillar with a single hand, causing the veiny, green patter to run all across the pillar before it crumbled to the ground, breaking under Sheng Feilong"s grasp, sizzling and leaking a sickening green gas.
Sheng Feilong opened his mouth, speaking in a neutral voice while the whole audience was staring at him in shock. "This little trick of yours isn"t bad. But, honestly, it"s way too weak." The dreadful aura radiating from Sheng Feilong suddenly spiked tremendously, enough for even the Soul Douluo that acted as the referee to shock a dreading expression. "An imitation isn"t bad, but let me show you what a true Domain looks like."
He slowly lifted his leg, then furiously stomped down on the ground, causing the arena flooring to crack. These cracks were glowing in a muddy green light, similar to the corroding rock pillar at the side, while a grey vapour rose from them. "Netherworld Ascension – Planes of Decay." Sheng Feilong spoke only a single sentence in a monotone voice, causing the cracks on the ground to explosively spread outwards, covering the whole arena and every and all of the rocks, pillars and spikes Long Yue had created.
The green cracks didn"t stop there and started to actively spread onto the barrier covering the arena, slowly crawling up on its edges for a few centimetres before finally coming to a halt. Besides She Meixiao, everyone else was staring at the stage in dread and disbelief as most of them had never seen a Domain ability and those that did knew just how terrifying they were.
At the centre of it all, Long Yue"s face changed drastically and, for the first time since the start of the tournament, he showed a hesitant, fearful even, expression; He had completely lost his control over the landscape he had created and felt his very strength continuously being drained by Sheng Feilong"s domain.
Sheng Feilong looked at him with a calm expression, the same one he had on his face ever since transforming into the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon, and once more spoke in a monotone voice as he slowly walked in Long Yue"s direction. "Use your every last bit of power now. You will not have that chance much longer."