This young man from the Snowdemon Sect was tall and burly; all of his muscles were well-defined and toned. He stood almost two meters tall, and his shoulders were quite broad. His hair was split between half brown and half red, both sides of which appeared very soft. His eyes were narrow and long, and contained a cold, indifferent look. His nose was straight. Although he wasn"t especially attractive, he was still slightly charming. Oddly, his skin was white, smooth, and glowed. When he raised his hands, his skin appeared very delicate.
A strong opponent! Huo Yuhao immediately had this thought. He had the feeling that this guy was probably the strongest opponent he"d faced in the tournament thus far. He might not even be able to beat him if he was in peak condition! Had the Body Sect finally sent their team leader up after losing two consecutive fights?
The young man didn"t rush to the center of the stage like the others had to reduce the time Huo Yuhao had to restore his soul power. Instead, he slowly approached Huo Yuhao. However, every step that he took increased the sense of oppression that he gave off. His aura also gradually started to grow.
Huo Yuhao"s expression changed slightly. With his acute senses, he was able to immediately sense how frightening his opponent was. His opponent"s soul and spiritual power had reached a natural and seamless stage of fusion that was superior to even his own.
Huo Yuhao"s spiritual power was still greater than this young man"s, but his soul power was weaker. When he fused them together, there were naturally some inequalities. Contrary to this, the feeling that his opponent gave him was one where his soul power and spiritual power couldn"t be differentiated anymore—they seemed to be a single ent.i.ty. Huo Yuhao had only experienced something like this from Elder Mu.
Elder Mu had once told him that anyone who managed to do something like this had the potential to become a Transcendent Douluo. If not, one"s limit would be becoming a t.i.tled Douluo, no matter how great his talent and martial soul were.
Taking a deep breath, Huo Yuhao calmed himself down. He looked at his opponent with a burning gaze and revealed a dim layer of golden light in his eyes. Soon afterwards, this layer of light quickly covered his entire body. A pure undulation comprised of his spiritual power surged towards his opponent. I might be inferior to you in terms of my fusion of soul and spiritual power, therefore I"ll use my superior spiritual power to clash against you. He couldn"t lose to his opponent in terms of his aura.
The tall and burly young man revealed a shocked expression. He stopped in his tracks momentarily, before continuing to walk towards Huo Yuhao.
Zheng Zhan didn"t stop them from staring at each other. Rather, he was astonished.
He could clearly tell that these two young men in front of him had surpa.s.sed him in certain realms, despite their inferior cultivations. Was this the standard that most outstanding soul masters of the younger generation could achieve? Zheng Zhan was certain that they"d surpa.s.s him in the future so long as they were given sufficient time to mature and improve further.
When the burly young man reached Huo Yuhao, their clas.h.i.+ng auras peaked. Even Huo Yuhao"s wheelchair revealed a dim golden glow.
Huo Yuhao seemed a little pale. His eyes had turned almost pure gold at this point, and even his hair had been dyed golden. However, his opponent still seemed as calm as ever.
Back in the waiting area, everyone from the Tang Sect was shocked. They all knew Huo Yuhao very well. Based on the situation on-stage, it seemed like Huo Yuhao was at a disadvantage despite not being suppressed by his opponent"s aura. This burly young man must be quite strong.
"Both parties, please give your names." Zheng Zhan said.
"Tang Sect, Huo Yuhao." They were only a simple few words, but Huo Yuhao struggled to simply mutter them. The pressure bearing down on him was simply too great.
"Snowdemon Sect, Long Aotian." The young man said.
"Both parties, please step back and prepare for the start of the fight."
Long Aotian nodded at Huo Yuhao, not attempting to hide the admiration in his eyes in the slightest. He then turned around and walked to his spot. Even though the stage had been heavily damaged, he didn"t seem to care or notice. As he crossed the fissures that littered the ground, there seemed to be an aura around him that carried his body over them—he crossed them like they weren"t even there.
When he turned around again, the aura and sense of oppression that he"d been directing towards Huo Yuhao disappeared. Huo Yuhao"s spiritual power surged forward, but seemed to find nothing. His opponent was obviously right in front of him, yet his spiritual power had completely lost its target. Huo Yuhao groaned, and a hint of red surfaced on his face. However, he stopped himself from spitting out the fresh blood that had filled his throat.
Strong!
Huo Yuhao was sure that he"d met the greatest opponent in his life thus far; the Body Sect deserved to be known as the most mysterious and powerful sect in the continent! Long Aotian"s cultivation was on another level compared to his own. He had to be the team leader of the Body Sect.
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath to calm the surging blood and energy in his body. After a moment, he slowly pushed his wheelchair towards his own spot.
Back in the waiting area, w.a.n.g Dong"er looked at Bei Bei anxiously.
Bei Bei shook his head at her and said, "Don"t worry, he knows his limits. We have to trust him.
"This Long Aotian is going to be a tough nut to crack. Sans.h.i.+, you should start preparing."
"Yes." Xu Sans.h.i.+ looked at him. After years of brotherhood, he immediately understood what Bei Bei meant by the look in his eyes.
Huo Yuhao retreated to his side of the stage and turned his wheelchair around. He grabbed the handle with his right hand and pulled himself up even straighter.
Long Aotian was facing him again, but the aura from his body wasn"t nearly as strong as before. Despite this, he seemed to have fused with the stage where he stood.
Unity of Heaven and Man. Had his cultivation reached such a level?
Huo Yuhao"s eyes lit up. This was the level that he was pursuing! It wasn"t just him. In the resting area, Ji Juechen"s eyes also brightened. Both he and Huo Yuhao had very high goals when it came to their fighting techniques. No one else could compare to them in this aspect. It was also because of this that they were more intrigued when they saw Long Aotian"s current condition.
Zheng Zhan gestured as he shouted, "Begin!"
Huo Yuhao quickly lifted his head. Instantly, his eyes brightened and five soul rings surged upwards from his body. Following this, two streaks of purplish-gold light shot out of his eyes towards his opponent.
He wasn"t going to hold back anymore. After winning two consecutive fights, his soul and spiritual power had been greatly depleted. This third round would be a huge test for him.
Huo Yuhao"s first soul ring shone brightly, a hint of white hidden amidst the glow. Now that he"d increased his spiritual power to its limit, his Imitation wasn"t able to conceal the true color of his soul rings anymore.
Two streaks of purplish-gold light swept through the air and instantly reached Long Aotian.
Long Aotian didn"t move from his position and made a weird gesture in front of his chest. He raised his right palm towards the left and curled his fingers. He then raised his left palm towards the front with his fingers straightened.
As he did this, he released a s.h.i.+ny glow from his body. Surrounded by the glow, he seemed to have become a jade sculpture.
When Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Shock arrived, Long Aotian"s sculpted body lit up with a blinding purplish-gold light. Following this, it disappeared. His body swayed a little, followed by the s.h.i.+ny glow on his body dispersing.
On the other side, Huo Yuhao let out a m.u.f.fled groan, and he seemed very grim.
He hadn"t gained any advantage from this attack. However, he was slightly excited by how Long Aotian had resisted his attack. He could sense that Long Aotian had fused his spiritual and soul power with his entire body and then fused it with the heaven and earth to resist his attack.
Such an experience and sensation were very enlightening to Huo Yuhao. This was the realm that he"d been searching for! This was the direction that he"d been working towards after he entered the concrete-immaterial realm.
If he could achieve a breakthrough and enable his spiritual and soul power to fuse with his body, his cultivation, physical strength, and control could rise to yet another level.
Such a live experience was incredibly valuable for him. At the same time, his opponent"s strength was also stimulating Huo Yuhao"s own potential.
Long Aotian was stunned after resisting this attack. He gently pressed his feet against the ground, and seemed to slide across the ground towards Huo Yuhao.
Soul rings started to rise from beneath his feet. Yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black. Seven soul rings of the best combination, out of which, four were ten thousand year soul rings. This number had only been achieved by w.a.n.g Dong"er in the Tang Sect—apart from Huo Yuhao—who was special. However, w.a.n.g Dong"er was still one level lower than Long Aotian in terms of cultivation.
Huo Yuhao finally understood why the sense of oppression from his opponent had been so strong: Long Aotian"s abilities had reached an unprecedented level.
Seven rings! He was a Soul Sage.
Long Aotian wasn"t the only Soul Sage in this tournament; there had also been the Three-Legged Golden Toad, Xiao Hongchen.
However, everyone from the Tang Sect could tell that Xiao Hongchen had gained his seven-ringed cultivation through both medicine and some other special methods. He might even have sacrificed his future improvements as well as overstimulated his current potential in order to have become a Soul Sage in time for the tournament.