Chapter 168: Martial Soul Complete, Golden Awakening
It's a success!
Before Huo Yuhao could even celebrate, the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast let out a furious roar, and cyan dragon-shaped flames descended upon him.
Huo Yuhao couldn't dodge in time; a large portion of his clothes and trousers were incinerated, and the ice floe he was standing on began to melt rapidly...
With no time to think, he stomped his foot hard using the Golden Tortoise left leg soul bone. Several sharp rock pillars rose from the sea surface, their jagged tips scraping against the scales of the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast, forcibly trapping the creature within and blocking its attack.
This was another application of the left leg soul bone skill "Earth Core"—[Precipice Blades].
Huo Yuhao did not use his Invincible Barrier. If he used such a life-saving move now, he wouldn't be able to provide himself with enough pressure to break through.
Leaping onto the rock pillars created by the Precipice Blades, Huo Yuhao flew upward and struck with his sword at the third segment of the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast's body.
When hitting a snake, hit the seven-inch mark. Although the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast wasn't a snake, it looked very much like one, and Huo Yuhao could only guess that this was the approximate location.
Sparks flew, accompanied by a surge of fresh blood. The roaring and writhing of the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast became even more violent.
It seemed Huo Yuhao had hit a sore spot, but the pain only ignited its ferocity.
With a twist of its body, the dragon tail whipped toward Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao had been keeping the third soul skill of the Evil Eye, Epitaph, active. Although he had foreseen the move, there are many times when the brain reacts but the body cannot keep up with the thought.
Despite having already circulated his blood essence power to its limit for defense, Huo Yuhao still couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood upon receiving such an impact.
The physical capabilities of a soul beast are naturally stronger than those of a human. Even with a blood essence vortex, Huo Yuhao was, in the end, only a Soul Ancestor, while the opponent was an overlord-level sea soul beast of the ocean, equivalent to a Soul Douluo. The combat endurance and explosive power were overwhelming for the current Huo Yuhao.
Talent is not a reason to cross ranks in battle so casually.
Like a skipping stone, Huo Yuhao skipped across the sea surface several times before falling into the seawater, which was instantly stained red by a large amount of blood.
The red and blue light in the mouth of the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast suddenly exploded; the scorching heat even evaporated the surrounding seawater.
High in the sky, Du Busi let out a sigh of regret.
This time, the already unconscious Huo Yuhao would definitely be unable to hold on.
Dark green soul power condensed into a giant hand in mid-air, preparing to strike the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast.
His performance had already been excellent, and with the talent of twin martial souls right there, no matter what, he couldn't actually let Huo Yuhao lose his life here!
Right at that moment, a brilliant golden light appeared where Huo Yuhao was, turning into a pillar of light that shot straight into the sky, illuminating the surrounding sea surface.
The naked Huo Yuhao had his head hanging low as he slowly floated up within this golden pillar of light, suspended in mid-air with his eyes tightly shut. Behind him, a massive vertical eye opened. With this vertical eye as the center, golden ripples spread out in all directions like waves.
The red and blue light emitted from the mouth of the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast simply dissipated after being swept by those golden ripples. It seemed the Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast could no longer control its own attack; furthermore, for some reason, the massive creature just stood there blankly in the water, seemingly devoid of consciousness.
It was a pure, ultimate gold.
Du Busi's eyes widened. Normally, shouldn't it be a Silver-level Awakening? Why was the halo golden? And why did it look so familiar?
It was only then that Du Busi noticed the narrow vertical eye behind him; the pupil was actually golden as well!
Was it the color of his spiritual power? Or...
Du Busi's heart nearly skipped a beat. This is impossible!
In reality, the highest level of innate Second Awakening for a body martial soul is Silver-level. Only Silver-level users have the chance to evolve to Golden-level when their cultivation breaks through to the Titled Douluo realm.
The greater the power of the Second Awakening, the more it overdraws the self. At the Golden-level, it actually consumes life force. Only at the Titled Douluo level is there enough soul power and life force to support the consumption of a Golden-level Awakening.
This was also why the Body Sect emphasized the cultivation of blood essence power so much, because blood essence power can, on a certain level, be viewed as a part of life force. Dense blood essence power offsets the consumption of life force; otherwise, the Golden-level Second Awakening wouldn't be a trump card, but a "suicide" move.
Therefore, performing a Golden-level Second Awakening at such a young age was fundamentally impossible!
In mid-air, Huo Yuhao suddenly threw his head back. Although his eyes were still closed, his face showed a look of agony. His body was convulsing, and his arms were wrapped tightly around himself, curled up as if enduring something unbearable.
"What to do, what to do..."
Du Busi was extremely anxious. Such a situation was completely unrecorded in the secret manuals of the Body Sect. He didn't know whether he should go up and interrupt him or continue to protect him.
Gritting his teeth, Du Busi chose to continue believing in his disciple!
A moment later, two more eyes slowly opened from the space behind Huo Yuhao. The large pupils on the left and right sides appeared as cyan-gold vertical slits, much like the vertical eyes of a dragon. Behind the middle eye, there was a flickering golden cluster of light, which seemed to contain endless convolutions.
After these two eyes opened, Huo Yuhao's expression seemed to relax. His body unfolded, and vast spiritual power surged out from his Sea of Consciousness, erupting like a mountain landslide or a tsunami, surging in all directions. Even the seawater below turned golden.
Even a Super Douluo like Du Busi felt bursts of dizziness in this spiritual power tsunami and had to condense his soul power to remain conscious.
The Nine-Segmented Fish Dragon Beast wasn't so lucky; its head was directly blown apart within this golden spiritual power tsunami.
Now Du Busi could be certain—this was 100% a Golden-level Second Awakening!
"Stop! Don't release the Second Awakening anymore!" Du Busi shouted impatiently.
The Golden-level Awakening of a body martial soul is the highest explosive method of the body martial soul, capable of increasing attack power by one to three times in a short period. Historically, only the Sect Master of the Body Sect could accomplish this during the Titled Douluo stage.
Current Huo Yuhao was only a Soul Ancestor. Using a Golden-level Second Awakening meant for a Titled Douluo could very likely cause his life force to be consumed by this terrifying power.
As if hearing Du Busi's shouts, the golden lights gradually retracted, and Huo Yuhao slowly opened his eyes.
Du Busi had been observing him closely and was instantly shocked to find that when Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, they possessed not a shred of luster, as if he had lost his very soul.