The blue-haired girl standing in the back was called An Lengye and had the Frost Bear as her martial soul, while the red-haired girl next to her was called Fei Yuyan and possessed the Blaze Tiger. The reason for their nickname ‘Twin Mistresses of Fire and Ice’ was because they were both control-type soul masters.
They hadn’t used any soul tools during their previous match, thus there was no way to know whether or not they would do so in this match. However, the comprehensive strength of the Thousands Spirits Soul Academy was incomparable to the Cloud Luo Academy they’d faced in the previous round.
Shen Ce was at the five-ringed Soul King level of power. According to w.a.n.g Yan’s predictions, he was around Rank 53 or 54. However, the other six members of his team were four-ringed Soul Ancestors. w.a.n.g Yan estimated that two of them were above Rank 45.
This match would absolutely not be a pushover to Huo Yuhao and the rest.
“Match, start!” Both parties simultaneously released their martial souls following the referee’s shout. There was only a single exception to this, and that was Huo Yuhao.
In reality, he had already released his martial soul. Only, his Imitation made it so that no one else was able to see his soul rings.
Huo Yuhao kept his hands over his stomach as he remained motionless, while w.a.n.g Dong and Xiao Xiao stood by his side with no intentions of moving either. The two of them had released six soul rings each, and they both had the optimum combination of soul rings.
Two yellow, two purple, and two black rings. This was the optimum combination of soul rings for a six-ringed Soul Emperor.
The easiest way to distinguish the strength of an opponent was by looking at one’s soul rings when both parties released their martial souls. Their opponents from the Thousand Spirits Academy were clearly stunned when w.a.n.g Dong and Xiao Xiao released their respective six rings. A formless pressure was now acting like a large hand that was crus.h.i.+ng their chests, causing their breathing to subconsciously become rushed.
Naturally, only the three of them stayed unmoving. Bei Bei, Xu Sans.h.i.+, Jiang Nannan, and He Caitou made their moves simultaneously.
Bei Bei and Xu Sans.h.i.+ both held cigars in their mouths. The former was puffing the Strength Amplifying Large Cigar, while the latter puffed the Defense Amplifying Long Cigar. The four of them simultaneously released their soul rings, and Bei Bei took the initiative to charge towards their opponents with large strides. Xu Sans.h.i.+ stayed by his side, while Jiang Nannan’s body flickered and vanished. However, this was only from the point of view of their opponents. In reality, she was hidden behind Bei Bei.
He Caitou followed close behind as he took large strides forward as well.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao’s trio slowly advanced forward.
Shrek Academy’s lineup could be described using the word ‘formation-less’, so much so that they even seemed somewhat scattered. It seemed as though they were each fighting their own battles.
Compared to them, the Thousand Spirits Academy was clearly much more organised.
A dark-yellow layer of light rose from the bodies of Yang Ming, Song Hu, Bai Chen, and Ye Mao as they released their martial souls. Right after that, transformations began to occur on their bodies as a result of the release of their martial souls.
Their originally-tall bodies became even more muscular, and their yellow skin became even thicker. The most noticeable part of their transformation occurred to their right arms, as their forearm muscles started twisting violently. After that, s.h.i.+elds started to sprout from their right arms.
The layers of keratin on their dark yellow s.h.i.+elds made them seem as thick as armor. The Spirit Rhinoceros’ s.h.i.+eld was a mutation of the Rhinoceros, and the four of them possessed it. The four meter-long s.h.i.+elds made it seem as though a wall was protecting the three people behind them. These four soul masters each had four soul rings, consisting of two yellow and two purple rings. They gave off a thick and solid feeling as they stood there. Were it not for the formless and choking pressure coming from the distant w.a.n.g Dong, Xiao Xiao, and Huo Yuhao, the layer of defense they’d created would’ve been even more perfect.
Their leader, Shen Ce, naturally stood behind the four of them.
Shen Ce’s martial soul looked somewhat special as it was released. He raised his arms into the air, causing his body to give off a layer of silver light. He looked towards the sky and motioned in a way that made it seem as though he was trying to hug the heavens. Right after that, a silver light instantly shot out from his back and into the sky before bouncing back into him after coming into contact with the defensive barrier surrounding the arena. This silver light then floated in front of him.
This silver light was actually an extremely sharp and long lance. Its twelve-foot-long body shone a brilliant silver, and faint carvings covered its surface. An intense aura of sharpness immediately surged from the lance the moment it appeared in Shen Ce’s hands, creating a distinct juxtaposition with the four Spirit Rhinoceros s.h.i.+elds in front of him.
This was Shen Ce’s martial soul, the Thousandstrike Lance! He gave off a somewhat familiar feeling to the seven members of Shrek Academy, being an a.s.sault-type soul master who used a tool soul. They had previously encountered this exact feeling from one of the official members of the Shrek’s Seven Monsters who was also an a.s.sault-type soul master, Chen Zifeng.
Didn’t Chen Zifeng’s Soulchasing Sword also possess a terrifying aura of sharpness like this as well? Chen Zifeng’s aura had been suppressed by Ma Xiaotao during their previous fight, resulting in his abilities not being revealed. However, Huo Yuhao and the rest had sensed just how terrifying that sharpness was.
The Thousandstrike Lance flickered with two yellow and three purple soul rings. There was no doubt that the Soul King-ranked Shen Ce was incomparable to Chen Zifeng. However, his abilities were extremely similar, and his attack power was undoubtedly extraordinary. His fifth purple soul ring gave off an extremely profound feeling, and although it wasn’t a ten thousand year soul ring, it was an eight thousand year soul ring at the very least.
Just as Shen Ce released his Thousandstrike Lance, two entirely contrasting lights appeared behind him, acting as a backdrop to his actions. On the left was a blue-colored Ice, while on the right was a red-colored Fire.
These were the martial souls that An Lengye and Fei Yuyan had released.
The martial souls these two soul masters possessed were very distinguishable. They were both possessors of beast souls, but their beast souls didn’t cause any changes to their bodies. Instead, they appeared as images of light in front of them.
An enormous, three-metre bear that was dark-blue in color appeared in front of An Lengye, emitting an intense aura of ice. On the contrary, a two-and-a-half-meter long tiger appeared in front of Fei Yuyan, its red body interwoven with black stripes.
Huo Yuhao had learned about things like this in Shrek Academy. What An Lengye and Fei Yuyan possessed were called martial soul mimicries. If the first soul ring that a soul master obtained was identical to their martial soul, there was a chance that he or she could cultivate a martial soul projection.
A martial soul projection wouldn’t give too much of a power-up to a soul master; it mainly changed a soul master’s fighting style. An ordinary beast soul master would use their martial soul to strengthen a particular area of their physical body, then fight using that. On the contrary, a soul master who had a martial soul projection would command their projections to fight for them. The comparative load on their bodies would be lighter, and this made it easier for their companions to protect them. However, there were very glaring flaws to this fighting style–their physical bodies would be comparatively weaker. Thus, it was necessary for a soul master to carefully command their projection to protect themselves.
An Lengye, who possessed the Frost Bear, and Fei Yuyan, who possessed the Blaze Tiger, should’ve been a.s.sault-type soul masters. However, the fact that they were girls and their clans were relatively powerful made it so that they chose to cultivate a martial soul projection during the earliest parts of their cultivation. This allowed them to become control-type soul masters instead. This was the ‘Twin Mistresses of Fire and Ice’ that w.a.n.g Yan had spoken about.
Unlike Shrek’s charging a.s.sault, the seven members of the Thousand Spirits Academy didn’t make a move after releasing their martial souls. The four wielders of the Spirit Rhinoceros’ s.h.i.+elds came together, protecting the other team members behind them. At the same time, the four of them simultaneously released their first soul skill, s.h.i.+eld Wall!
Countless dark yellow shadows blossomed from the Spirit Rhinoceros s.h.i.+elds, and the four s.h.i.+elds instantaneously transformed into a thousand s.h.i.+elds that blocked the line of sight and path of the Shrek’s Seven Monsters.
Unfortunately, they didn’t know that Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection had been activated since the start of the match. Shrek’s team simply didn’t need to use their eyes to see what was going on behind the s.h.i.+eld Wall.
The elegant-looking An Lengye and Fei Yuyan simultaneously released their soul skills in a careful manner. An Lengye’s soul skill activated first, and the Frost Bear strutted forward with its head held high. After reaching the s.h.i.+eld Wall, it vigorously thumped its own chest. At the same time, An Lengye’s first soul ring lit up.
An intense, icy-blue wave of light instantly spread out from the Frost Bear, and the originally-yellow s.h.i.+eld Wall was immediately encased in an icy-blue light. This was An Lengye’s first soul skill, Frost s.h.i.+eld.
Her Frost s.h.i.+eld combined with the Spirit Rhinoceros s.h.i.+elds, causing the latter’s defensive capabilities to instantly triple.
The person who had the highest cultivation rank after Shen Ce within the Thousand Spirits Academy was An Lengye, who was a Rank 45 soul master.
The Frost Bear’s abilities weren’t limited to just that. After thumping its chest, it suddenly raised its enormous paws and pounded the ground heavily. An ice-blue wave of light spread out from them, cleverly maneuvering around the four Spirit Rhinoceros s.h.i.+elds before expanding outwards. The icy aura generated from it immediately caused the temperature on the tournament stage to drop drastically. This was An Lengye’s second soul skill, Frost Seal!
Affected by the icy air, the charging Bei Bei, Xu Sans.h.i.+, Jiang Nannan, and He Caitou were slowed down dramatically. Furthermore, a layer of frost started to rapidly cover the floor of the tournament stage; the now-smooth surface caused their footing to become somewhat unstable.
An Lengye’s control of Ice was extremely strong, while the four Spirit Rhinoceros s.h.i.+elds seemed impenetrable. However, they weren’t attacking, but defending. If that was the case, how was the Thousand Spirits Academy going to win?
A blazing fire rapidly sprouted from Fei Yuyan’s Blaze Tiger, and her first, second, and third soul rings flickered alternately.
The Blaze Tiger formed an intense ball of fire in its mouth, then spat it directly at Shen Ce’s feet.
A fiery red ring of light immediately appeared, dyeing Shen Ce’s entire body a scarlet-red.
Fei Yuyan’s first soul skill, Raging Flame Ring, imbued its target with the fire attribute, along with a strong resistant to fire. At the same time, it gave its target the ability to attack and defend using the power of Fire by imbuing the element of fire into their soul skills. This was a powerful Fire-type auxiliary skill. Unfortunately, it was only a single-target skill.