After three rounds of battle, Huo Yuhao still felt pretty good. While the amount of cold air the Snow Lady could absorb was limited, this was because Snow Lady was still a part of him. After the cold air was absorbed, the origin energy of Ultimate Ice would form new cold air. He also made his body absorb some of the origin energy when the Snow Lady took away the cold air. While the speed was slow, it was an alternative form of cultivation, and much easier than him trying to absorb it by himself.
The biggest benefit for this competition was that Snow Lady could maintain her momentum after she absorbed the cold air from his body. This was why Huo Yuhao said to Wang Dong’er that his temporary paralysis might not be a bad thing.
The other four members of the Earthdragon Sect could no longer sit still. After the first three members had been frozen into ice sculptures by Ice Lady, Huo Yuhao did not ask them to not take part in the upcoming group round. However, according to this tempo, they would soon find themselves unable to take part anyway.
Among the four remaining members of the Earthdragon Sect, the only female soul master stood up and walked to the stage with a serious expression.
“Hello, I’m Nan Qiuqiu.” The Earthdragon Sect member took the initiative to greet Huo Yuhao.
“Hello,” replied Huo Yuhao with a gracious smile.
Nan Qiuqiu looked at Snow Lady in Huo Yuhao’s arms and said, “I know that she is an ability of your martial soul. Hence, I won’t show mercy like my comrades.” With that, she nodded at Huo Yuhao and turned away.
---
On the main podium, Xu Tianran, who was watching the scene interestedly, turned to Ju Zi and asked, “That should be the captain of the Earthdragon Sect, right?”
Ju Zi replied respectfully, “Yes, Your Highness. She’s called Nan Qiuqiu, and she’s the captain. While the more powerful members of their sect did not take part this time, she’s still one of the most powerful members of their sect. She’s probably competing to ensure that they don’t do too badly.”
Xu Tianran said, “Eh, not bad. While you’re no longer in charge of intelligence anymore, you’re still very well-informed! So, tell me, who do you think will win this round?”
Ju Zi was stunned. Then, she shook her head and said, “I don’t know.”
Xu Tianran said, “Huo Yuhao was a former exchange student in our Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. He had the same teacher as you. How can you not know his prowess?”
Ju Zi was shocked, but her expression remained calm. She subconsciously looked at the middle-aged man who stood behind Xu Tianran. He had just passed the Prince a piece of paper.
“I interacted with Huo Yuhao for less than a month, and my knowledge of his abilities is limited. I just knew that he was a four-ringed soul ancestor, but he possessed twin martial souls. Now that he’s in a wheelchair, I don’t know how powerful is he anymore, nor do I know how much progress has he made in the past two years. Hence, I don’t dare to make a judgment.”
“Oh… then let us see,” Xu Tianran smiled.
“Yes,” replied Ju Zi politely.
Jing Hongchen, who sat next to Ju Zi, said, “Your Highness.”
“Eh?” Xu Tianran looked at him inquisitively.
Jing Hongchen said solemnly, “We can’t let this person go back. After the competition, we must make him disappear.”
Xu Tianran looked in shock at Jing Hongchen and asked, “Hallmaster, why are you so interested in him?”
Jing Hongchen said bitterly, “Please don’t laugh at me, Your Highness, but this person has made me suffer terribly. Not only is he exceptionally gifted, but he’s almost as crafty as the Devil. He knows how to analyze the situation and make use of limited resources. I’ve only recently heard from my grandson that he’s not competing on behalf of Shrek Academy, but instead on behalf of the Tang Sect.”
Xu Tianran said interestedly, “What did he do to make you afraid of him?” For him to take part in this competition, he had to be younger than 20 years old. If someone so young could scare the Hallmaster, he must be extraordinary in some way.
Jing Hongchen said, “Huo Yuhao was the champion of Shrek Academy’s team in the last tournament. At that time, he did not even have three rings, and yet was able to compete alongside his teammates. Furthermore, he showed off his skills in that tournament. He has twin martial souls, one spirit-type and the other ice-type. Furthermore, his ice-type martial soul is the rare Ultimate Ice. The fact that he can compete twice is a testament to his strength. Furthermore, on his way back to Shrek Academy the last time, he was even able to escape Senior Long’s pursuit.”
Hearing this, Xu Tianran was dumbfounded. “How can this be possible? With his cultivation, how can Senior Long…?”
“So this is one who made a bet with Uncle Long.” On Xu Tianran’s other side, the person clothed entirely in black opened his mouth to speak. His voice was weird, and one could not tell his age from his voice. Even his gender was indistinguishable. He looked demonic, and everyone couldn’t help but turn to look at him when they heard his voice.
“Imperial Tutor, you know about this person?” Xu Tianran asked the person in black.
From the order of the seating, one could tell that the person in black was ranked even higher than Jing Hongchen.
“Yes. Hallmaster Hongchen asked for our help…”
---
In the arena, Huo Yuhao, who had started to battle, did not know that even in his crippled state, he had still caught the attention of the Sun Moon Empire’s leadership. His attention was completely on his opponent. Nan Qiuqiu from the Earthdragon Sect was no easy opponent.
As the judge announced the start of the competition, Nan Qiuqiu released her martial soul. Two yellow, two purple, and one black soul ring appeared, showing off her rank as a Soul King, appeared.
A pink, chestnut-shaped crystal appeared on her forehead as she released her martial soul. Following that, her body started to grow. She seemed to have grown a head taller.
She pointed into the sky with her ring finger, and bright pink dragon scales started to grow from her fingertip. Unlike the other Earthdragon Sect soul masters, her scales were bright pink. With the growth of her scales, her right hand appeared to have turned completely bright pink. A faint pink light shone and instantly burned her entire right sleeve off to reveal an arm covered entirely in scales.
Then, she pointed in Huo Yuhao’s direction. Her first soul ring lit up, and a ray of pink light shot toward Huo Yuhao. It was able to cross 100 meters in an instant as it appeared before Huo Yuhao.
This speed was almost as fast as a ray shot by a Class 4 soul engineer!
Huo Yuhao did not ask the Snow Lady to block it. He had to find out what kind of power this was.
He raised his right hand too, which was covered with a layer of ice crystals. He made a grabbing motion, and blocked the pink light ray.
The pink light ray was instantly destroyed. However, Huo Yuhao was deeply shocked. While it did not appear very powerful, since it had just crossed such a wide distance so quickly, its power exceeded his expectations.
It was not about the offensive power of the ray or its destructive strength. Instead, it was its specialty.
When the pink light ray came in contact with the Ice Empress’ Pincer that was formed from diamond-like ice crystals, Huo Yuhao felt the ice in the center of his palm melt. That was unprecedented!
As a wielder of Ultimate Ice, he had yet to see anyone whose fire could beat him. Even after Ma Xiaotao formed his Dark Phoenix, Huo Yuhao was unable to judge the effects of its fire on him because they had never fought.
However, Nan Qiuqiu’s ability was not Ultimate Fire! The soul power she released was extremely warm, and yet this soul power was able to melt Ultimate Ice.
This was…
The only ability this could be was…. annihilation? A power which could destroy all other types?
In the lessons of Shrek Academy, there was a special course that explained all types of soul power to the students. Annihilation was mentioned during that course.
Annihilation was extremely powerful. After it hit its opponent, it was able to destroy its target based on the target’s type.
There were two things one had to watch out for when dealing with annihilation-type soul power or attacks. Firstly, it could not be countered by any type. Secondly, after it hit its target, its target’s soul power would be depleted quicker than normal.
Huo Yuhao could not feel the depletion of his soul power just yet, as he possessed an Ultimate Ice martial soul. No matter how powerful annihilation was, it would have to expend a lot of soul power to disintegrate an Ultimate martial soul. If they continued to fight like this, the effects of its second trait would not be as obvious on Huo Yuhao.
Even so, Huo Yuhao was shocked. The teachers of Shrek Academy had mentioned that Ultimate martial souls were only slightly rarer than Annihilation martial souls. Just like Huo Yuhao’s spirit-type, it was also difficult for them to form soul rings. He had never expected to meet one in this tournament.
Annihilation-type… Looking at her, could her martial soul be the rarely-seen Rogue Dragon of the First Dragons? That would be bad!
Other than being Annihilation-type dragons, Rogue Dragons also specialized in long-range attacks!
Nan Qiuqiu watched Huo Yuhao react to her first soul skill, the Light of Annihilation. A cold smile crossed her face. As Huo Yuhao assessed her abilities, how could she not assess his?