Breaking the Star Barrier and the Absolute Defense Barrier one after another had completely unraveled the Star Luo National Academy’s battle tactics and strategy, and had subsequently changed the entire situation.
Dai Yueheng walked over to Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong and, lost in thought, bent down to support the two of them.
As that moment, a pair of hands flashed before him, and Bei Bei’s face appeared in front of Dai Yueheng’s eyes with a grin. “Let me do it, senior.”
Dai Yueheng was momentarily stunned. He instantly recovered from his mildly dense state of mind and agreed as he took a step back.
“Give him to me.” A pair of searing-hot hands reached out and s.n.a.t.c.hed Huo Yuhao from Bei Bei’s hands just as he was helping him up. Huo Yuhao was clamped under her armpit as they leapt off the compet.i.tion stage almost immediately vanished from everyone’s eyes.
The corner of Xue Sans.h.i.+’s, who was standing next to Bei Bei, mouth twitched a little as he heaved a sigh and said, “I feel bad for him. However, I have to thank him as well. Xiaotao hasn’t sought me out even once since he arrived.”
“Shrek Academy has defeated Star Luo National Academy in the first group battle round of the Semifinals.” The Heavenfiend Douluo’s indifferent and chilly voice rang out as he announced the results of the battle.
On Shrek Academy’s side, Dai Yueheng and Bei Bei had suffered varying degrees of injuries. As for Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong, they could be said to be used to the exhaustion from competing, as their cultivations were simply too low. Ma Xiaotao had had to endure the toxic backlash from channeling her evil fire, and had only managed to forcibly suppress the evil fire with Ling Luochen’s help. However, she needed Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice to completely recover, which was why she’d s.n.a.t.c.hed him away.
However, the Star Luo National Academy’s situation wasn’t that great either. Princess Jiu Jiu was injured, and Huang Heyun, their frontline a.s.sault-type soul master, had absorbed an enormous amount of soul power and had severe internal injuries. He would most likely not be able to fight again for a long time. Dugu Shangshan, another a.s.sault-type soul master, as well as the Windfire Duo, had been heavily wounded by the piercing strike that Ma Xiaotao had unleashed when she’d triggered her Evil Phoenix. If not for the Heavenfiend Douluo’s timely intervention, all three of them would have perished beneath the scorching heat of her phoenix flames. The Gigant Eagle soul master was even worse for wear, as his wings, which he relied heavily on, had been torn apart. His wings being severely damaged meant that his origin as a soul master had also been hurt. It could basically be said that not a single one of the Star Luo National Academy’s seven main team members would be able to continue in tomorrow’s single-elimination match at their peak condition. Furthermore, they’d already lost the first round, thus they would have to defeat Shrek Academy in the single-elimination round and the 2-2-3 round if they wished to turn the tables.
“How did Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong do that, Teacher w.a.n.g?” Dai Yueheng eagerly probed w.a.n.g Yan the moment he stepped off the compet.i.tion stage.
w.a.n.g Yan glanced at him, then shook his head. “I didn’t see the situation onstage. How would I know?”
Ling Luochen thought about it, then muttered, “It was most likely a martial soul fusion skill. Their Golden Road seemed to counter Princess Jiu Jiu’s barrier. Afterwards, they used another combined soul skill. That soul skill was unique, and contained a frightening aura of raw power and majesty; I can’t even begin to describe the force behind that strike. However, I know that they were the ones who broke through the weakened light barrier. Could it be that the two of them possess a second martial soul fusion skill?”
w.a.n.g Yan eyed Ling Luochen deeply as he lowered his voice and said, “We shall not discuss this any further. Let’s head back.”
Dai Yueheng frowned and said, “Are we not going to watch the epic battle between the Imperial Profound Academy and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy?”
w.a.n.g Yan shook his head and replied, “Can’t you tell from today’s compet.i.tion? The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy will never use the tactics that they have specially in store for us before they’re actually facing us on stage. Watching them will simply be a waste of time—we might as well hurry back and recuperate. Even though we probably won’t receive much resistance from Star Luo National Academy in the single-elimination rounds, we can’t be too careless.”
It was true that the soul skill that Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong had used to overcome the Star Barrier was a new martial soul fusion skill that they’d been experimenting with. To be more accurate, it was their second martial soul fusion skill.
Their combined abilities would only get stronger and stronger as their cultivations increased. This was especially true regarding their compatibility while using their Haodong power. This meant that their energy consumption when using their martial soul fusion skills would be much lower than usual.
At the same time, ever since Huo Yuhao had fused with the Life Gold, his physical willpower endurance had been greatly boosted, which had been the most important part of their ability to use two martial soul fusion skills in a row.
Huo Yuhao would have never experimented with activating two martial soul fusion skills in a row on his own had Electrolux not told him that he could do so. This was because failure would mean his death.
Unleas.h.i.+ng a martial soul fusion skill meant that two individuals martial souls and soul powers were being seamlessly fused together, and in turn releasing a different kind of soul skill. However, there was always a single person directing this how it was released.
There was no question that Huo Yuhao was the main director of the Golden Road and the second soul skill, thus it was natural that he had to endure more. When he’d obtained the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s bones, enduring the Golden Road no longer proved to be much of a problem. In light of his fusion with the Life Gold, and in addition to his increase in cultivation, using a second martial soul fusion skill right after the first had become he and w.a.n.g Dong’s current limit. w.a.n.g Dong had fallen unconscious because of this, as Huo Yuhao had extracted all of w.a.n.g Dong’s soul power whilst being pushed to the limits of his own soul power.
Their second martial soul fusion skill was the product of fusing their other two powerful martial souls: the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion and the Clear Sky Hammer.
The Spirit Eyes were the main director in the fusion between the Spirit Eyes and the Radiant b.u.t.terfly G.o.ddess, which meant that it was a fusion between spiritual power and light power in addition to the Purple Demon Eyes’ mighty power, with their Haodong power as the source of activation. Comparatively, the Golden Road was a powerful martial soul fusion skill that leaned towards control rather than destructive capabilities.
What about their other two powerful martial souls, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion and the Clear Sky Hammer?
There was no question that both ent.i.ties were the pinnacle of offense and destructive capabilities. One was an Ultimate martial soul, and was known as one of the Extreme North’s Three Heavenly Kings. The other held the reputation for being the most frightening a.s.sault-type martial soul in existence. Their fusion could only mean one thing: devastation.
Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong’s second martial soul fusion skill had a corresponding name to the Golden Road.
Blaze Amidst the Frost, the Heavenly Emperor’s Hammer!
The Ice Empress, as an Ultimate Ice martial soul, became the main controlling power as the Ultimate Ice’s elemental destructiveness fused impeccably with the Clear Sky Hammer’s pure cataclysmic power. The result was a illusion of Huo Yuhao’s mature figure as it ripped through s.p.a.ce with a terrifying strike. The devastating power produced in that single instance was already far greater than their combined might using their Haodong power.
Perhaps it was because their martial souls’ compatibility rates were so high, but their level of success during their experiments with martial soul fusion skills in the past few days had been so high that even they hadn’t been able to believe it.
In theory, two soul masters with twin martial souls should be able to unleash four mighty martial soul fusion skills. In fact, they’d already achieved electrifying success with the other three besides the Golden Road. This was the most important reason that w.a.n.g Yan had been willing to send the two of them out in the semifinals group battle round. If he hadn’t, their combined strength wouldn’t have been able to compare to He Caitou and Jiang Nannan’s strength without any special abilities.
The outcome proved that w.a.n.g Yan’s decision was right: Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong’s two powerful martial soul fusion skills had been the key part in Shrek Academy forcibly turning the tide. Even though Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection Sharing’s power had been greatly weakened, he’d become Shrek Academy’s spark once again in this battle.
However, Huo Yuhao was currently in trouble, as Ma Xiaotao was dragging him back to the Grand Imperial Star Hotel.
Ma Xiaotao rushed into her room like a gust of wind, then slammed the door shut with a bang and locked it.
Her body was like a pile of burning coal at this point, while her skin was covered in a seductive pink layer due to the evil fire’s adverse effects within her body. The dull red color in her eyes had grown a shader darker, and her flowing red hair was so bright that it appeared to be dripping with blood.
She shook Huo Yuhao with all her might and exclaimed in a hoa.r.s.e and trembling voice, “Get up, you can’t sleep now!”
Huo Yuhao had expended too much soul power, and his body had endured too great a hit from his martial soul fusion skill. He’d been unconscious since the match. Therefore, simply shaking him a few times wouldn’t wake him up, but Ma Xiaotao’s situation was extremely dire at this point.
She’d forcefully suppressed the evil fire within her body with the help of Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice the last time around, and this had changed her att.i.tude towards battle, as she felt as if she could just let herself go. She’d begun to develop a change in mindset, as if she’d forgotten the pain once the scars were healed. This was even more due to Huo Yuhao being by her side. In fact, she’d begun to be a lot less watchful about controlling that evil fire within her body.
Recently, she’d felt the evil fire within her body beginning to stir again, but she hadn’t hurried to ask for Huo Yuhao’s help in suppressing it. She intended to ask for his help after they’d completed the rest of the compet.i.tion.
She’d triggered the evil fire within her body of her own volition in today’s compet.i.tion. This had caused her phoenix flames to reach a petrifying level that she was no longer able to control, even if she wanted to suppress it in certain situations. Even though Ling Luochen’s ice element was powerful, the gap in their cultivations was too great. Her normal ice element couldn’t even compare to Ma Xiaotao’s evil phoenix flames. This in turn led to her not being able to control the evil fire within her body when she returned to the hotel.
Fortunately for her, Huo Yuhao’s body was ice cold, and his body also contained the Ice Empress’ bones. Ma Xiaotao was still able to retain a trace of her rationality by hugging him ever so tightly. However, she couldn’t even tell that the peaks on her chest were currently being pressed out of shape as she squeezed their bodies tightly together.
“What now? What should I do? This fellow just won’t wake up.”
Ma Xiaotao grasped Huo Yuhao’s body impatiently as the evil fire surged periodically within her body. She could acutely feel that she was about to lose control completely. This hotel was inside a bustling district, and she was afraid of the lives that would be lost the moment she went berserk.