Just then, a low dragon roar echoed within the dim basement. A golden, translucent projection appeared before Xuan Zi. Though it was only a projection, it looked as solid as cast gold.
At this moment, Mu En was no longer stooped; his back was bolt upright as he stood there calmly. The surrounding light elements intensified several times over.
Xuan Zi's murky eyes blinked a few times, and he spoke with a raspy voice.
Almost instinctively, he said, "Elder... Elder Mu... I... I'm hungry..."
"…!"
It was a good thing this projection wasn't his true body; otherwise, Mu En felt he truly might have been provoked to death by this blundering fool Xuan Zi.
Regardless, Xuan Zi was his martial nephew and the designated next Master of the Sea God Pavilion. Mu En couldn't actually kill him; sealing his soul power was intended to clear the fellow's head so he wouldn't think only of eating.
In truth, the seal wasn't that firm. As long as Xuan Zi cultivated diligently for a period, he would be able to break it.
But he hadn't expected that this idiot's mind would still be filled with nothing but food!
Mu En stepped forward and delivered a kick, letting Xuan Zi's head make intimate contact with the floor for a moment before grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up.
"Tell me, how did Xi Xi die?! How were Bei Bei and the others injured?!"
Xuan Zi dazed for a moment, struggling to recall those names.
Xi Xi... Bei Bei... Lan Xuanyu...
After his brain stalled for a long while, Xuan Zi finally turned his head away in fear, muttering and not daring to make a sound.
"Useless!" Mu En delivered another slap, then hauled Xuan Zi directly out of the Sea God Pavilion. Once the golden projection returned to his main body, he carried Xuan Zi and flew toward Star Luo City.
Hopefully, there was still time! Mu En also possessed a hidden ultimate skill: Divination.
[The original work mentions that Mu En performed a divination for Tang Ya, stating she faced a great calamity but would be helped by a benefactor—that benefactor, of course, being old Huo.]
Those who become Limit Douluo are invariably individuals of great fortune. To some extent, manipulating destiny is not a rare occurrence for them.
Furthermore, powerful experts often possess unexplainable premonitions regarding unknown events.
Knowing that Shrek was in an extremely dangerous period, he spared no expense of his origin to perform a specific divination for Huo Yuhao.
Even though Mu En was a Limit Douluo and a person of great fortune, the gap in destiny was still too vast when facing a Child of Fortune who appears only once in ten thousand years. This act of nearly peering into the Heavenly Dao naturally resulted in a severe backlash.
[Thrive by his hand, or perish by his hand]
That was the result of the divination.
Therefore, even if he had to chop off Xuan Zi's head on the spot, Mu En had to keep Huo Yuhao at Shrek!
…
Star Luo City.
The participating members of Shrek Academy and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Engineer Academy had all entered the arena.
Unsurprisingly, leading the way was their captain, Ma Rulong.
Behind him were the siblings Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen. As the two main pillars of the preparatory team, the Sun Moon Empire was no longer hiding them.
The team battle was where the Sun Moon Empire's advantage lay, so they had to take it!
It could be said that compared to previous years, this tournament was the closest they had ever been to the championship of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duel Tournament!
As long as Ma Rulong could stall Ma Xiaotao and the Hongchen siblings successfully dealt with Huo Yuhao, the others would no longer be a threat!
Even the boy-crazy Meng Hongchen no longer looked dazed; instead, her eyes held a firm resolve for victory.
"First match, Team Battle. Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Engineer Academy and Shrek Academy, please take the stage!"
The two teams faced each other from a distance as a murderous aura spread from the competition platform.
Shortly after, the Sky Fiend Douluo, Huang Jinxu, gave a loud shout.
"Match start."
Both sides adjusted their team formations while simultaneously releasing their martial souls and soul tools.
In terms of soul ring colors, Shrek's side was much more orderly and impressive than the Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Engineer Academy; almost everyone had optimal configurations—except for a certain slacker showing off four white soul rings to fool people...
The Sun Moon team quickly formed a line, all standing behind the member named Lin Xi, activating long-range soul tools to continuously cover the Shrek side.
This was their tactic: not necessarily to kill the opponents, but at least to suppress them and prevent the Shrek team from getting close, wearing them down with long-range attacks. Power cells were something every team lacked—except for the Sun Moon team.
It was a good strategy, but...
A loud phoenix cry rang out. Ma Xiaotao's entire body was covered in a layer of brilliant, fiery-red phoenix feathers. Two yellow, two purple, and two black—six soul rings—flashed simultaneously.
A lifelike Fire Phoenix appeared above Ma Xiaotao's head, flapping its wings as the aura of the King of Birds filled the entire arena.
Her figure was already proud enough, but against the backdrop of these brilliant fiery-red feathers, she possessed an even more noble and commanding temperament. Combined with her incredibly charming and beautiful face, the impact on the opposite sex was absolute.
But then, the seductive and fiery aura on Ma Xiaotao's body underwent a 180-degree transformation. Her long hair, originally red as fire, turned completely black. The brilliant red feathers dimmed and shifted to a dark reddish-black, and her red team uniform turned black.
The previously clear phoenix cry became hoarse and low. The terrifying heat did not diminish, and it was now accompanied by a darkness capable of corroding half the arena.
The Fire Phoenix phantom also transformed; its size even shrank slightly, turning from gold-red to dark-red. Those phoenix eyes were bright purple, with purple light flowing between every feather, trailing light patterns through the air.
It was still Ma Xiaotao, but her aura was expanding almost exaggeratedly. Wang Yan jumped straight out of his chair. "What's going on?! How did Xiaotao's martial soul... Could it have mutated?!" Zhang Lexuan calmly pulled Wang Yan back, a hint of pride on her face as she gestured for him to look beside Ma Xiaotao.
It was Huo Yuhao, who was currently holding Ma Xiaotao's left hand.
This was exactly the alternative application of the martial soul that Huo Yuhao had once guided Ma Xiaotao to explore.
Not completely suppressing her own Evil Fire, but transforming it into another state when necessary—similar to a transformation.
And what stood before them was Ma Xiaotao's [Dark Phoenix] state.
Gong-yang Mo looked at the transformed Ma Xiaotao, his lips twitching as he suppressed the urge to run away. His five soul rings lit up simultaneously, and five halos of light landed on Ma Xiaotao.
The buffing effect of the Rainbow Dragon was not inferior to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, let alone Gong-yang Mo's attribute buffs. This move instantly pushed Ma Xiaotao's aura to the Soul Saint level!
The Dark Phoenix wings flapped, and a vast wave of pure black air currents erupted from her body. Accompanied by the impact of high heat, it neutralized all the soul tool light shells from the Sun Moon Empire side in one go and smashed directly into their main formation.
The corrosion of darkness and the heat of flames were displayed to the fullest in Ma Xiaotao's strike. Though the members of the Sun Moon team all released defensive soul tools in time to withstand the shockwave, they couldn't avoid being left dazed and battered.
The Sun Moon Empire's formation was broken just like that—and it was broken by Ma Xiaotao alone. Ma Xiaotao stomped hard on the ground, even leaving corroded boot prints, and charged like a cannonball into the Sun Moon team's ranks, bringing Huo Yuhao, Bei Bei, and the others with her.
Individual combat had always been what Shrek excelled at most.
Their speed was simply too fast. The Sun Moon team hadn't expected their formation to be broken so quickly; in the blink of an eye, Ma Xiaotao and Huo Yuhao had rushed to the very front.
Ma Rulong shouted, "Second plan, fight individually!"
Of course, those words were only for Shrek to hear. The Sun Moon team actually had a contingency for this situation. Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen quickly retreated to open up space, while others regrouped in twos and threes to concentrate their firepower.
Deafening explosions followed one after another, making the competition platform's protective shield tremble continuously.
As the backbone of the Sun Moon team, Ma Rulong was naturally no pushover. A large blue-purple cannon barrel instantly appeared on his shoulder, and in the next moment, it erupted with intense blue-purple light.
Immediately following, streaks of light spread rapidly, actually forming a giant blue-purple cage that enveloped Ma Xiaotao and Huo Yuhao.
Sixth-level soul tool: Prison of Thunder and Lightning—Ma Rulong's masterpiece.
Just as the Prison of Thunder and Lightning was about to trap Ma Xiaotao and Huo Yuhao...
"???"
"This... this is impossible..."
The scene unfolding before him exceeded Ma Rulong's imagination—or rather, he had never even dreamed of seeing such a thing. Huo Yuhao nonchalantly raised a single palm and grabbed the lightning cage that was closing in on him and Ma Xiaotao.
And then...
Ma Rulong watched as his masterpiece acted as obediently as if it had seen its own father. With a casual toss from Huo Yuhao, it reversed and landed on Ma Rulong himself, trapping him instead... Huo Yuhao shook his head with some regret.
Do you even understand what Ultimate Lightning means? Using this kind of thing to trap me?
Ma Xiaotao and Huo Yuhao exchanged a look and simply bypassed Ma Rulong, the team captain. With a flap of dark-red wings, they charged straight for Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.
Elder Ma in the rest area was stunned by the sight.
The plan they had agreed upon was for Ma Rulong to block Ma Xiaotao while Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen dealt with Huo Yuhao first, then join forces to handle the rest.
How did Shrek end up flipping the script... Thinking of this, Elder Ma frowned deeply. However, did this Ma Xiaotao really trust Huo Yuhao that much?
Xu Sanshi raised his shield to act as Bei Bei's meat shield. Under the full-force attack of Bei Bei, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon soul master, the one named Lin Xi was electrocuted into a stupor and forced off the stage.
But he was a Soul King expert after all, and he managed to pull Bei Bei down with him.
Trading a "lower horse" for a "middle horse" was a great deal for Shrek.
The five soul rings behind Ling Luochen flashed alternately. Her cold aura perfectly froze the soul tools of every Sun Moon team member—for instance, preventing them from pressing switches or freezing their muzzles—executing the critical role of a Control System master to perfection.
He Caitou pulled out his Ultra-Concentrated Soul Tool Cannon. Previously shielded by Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Interference Domain and boosted by power cells, one shot managed to blast someone named Chen Fei off the stage.
By this point, the Sun Moon team had no way out.
The remaining members also pulled out their trump card high-level soul tools, fighting intensely with the other Shrek members.
But the crucial point remained with Huo Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao. If the two of them could eliminate Ma Rulong and the Hongchen siblings, Shrek would win this team battle. Otherwise, the opposite was true.
The Hongchen siblings being rated as the top geniuses of the Sun Moon Empire in a century was not without reason.
Revealing his Three-Legged Golden Toad martial soul, Xiao Hongchen crouched slightly. Four soul rings lit up in succession, and a vast amount of metal-attribute elements in the air gathered toward his body.
Then, a scene appeared that even made Ma Xiaotao pause.
Thick metal cannon barrels actually began to grow out of Xiao Hongchen's body.
Having been with Huo Yuhao for so long, even though Ma Xiaotao couldn't make soul tools yet, she could tell that everything on Xiao Hongchen's body was a fifth-level soul tool...
At a rough glance, there were at least a hundred barrels on Xiao Hongchen. If such firepower were allowed to explode fully, perhaps...
Unlike her brother Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen did not release soul tools but instead released her martial soul.
Her wine-red hair turned white, and her originally ice-blue eyes instantly became blood-red. Her face, palms, and all exposed skin became snow-white.
Two yellow, two purple, and one black—five soul rings pulsed around her graceful figure. Simultaneously, a projection slowly emerged behind her. It was a toad as white as jade, with blood-red eyes that looked like they could drip blood...
Her first soul ring flashed, and Meng Hongchen pushed her palms forward. A stream of air, white tinged with green and a foot in diameter, headed straight for Ma Xiaotao.
This is... For a moment, Ma Xiaotao couldn't recall what Meng Hongchen's martial soul was.
But at this stage, there was no choice but to attack. Ma Xiaotao's body swayed suddenly; the Dark Phoenix wings ignited with fierce black flames, vaporizing the air current instantly as she aimed a kick at Meng Hongchen.
Although she smelled a foul, fishy stench, Ma Xiaotao didn't take it to heart. A blast of Phoenix Fireline carrying the power of dark corrosion shot straight toward Xiao Hongchen.
Her plan was to knock the Hongchen siblings off the stage as quickly as possible, then deal with Ma Rulong together with Huo Yuhao.
…
Seeing his teammates failing one after another, Ma Rulong could no longer sit still.
Although he was trapped by the Prison of Thunder and Lightning, the prison also possessed impressive defensive power. Huo Yuhao, a mere Soul Ancestor, naturally wouldn't be able to break it.
But now, with the situation unfavorable, it was no longer time to hide his strength.
Ma Rulong pressed his palms together, and his six soul rings flashed rapidly. As his own aura rose sharply, a giant gold-red sword appeared before him, accompanied by immense pressure.
"This is..."