Chapter 149: Water Explosion
Furina had initially consumed the "Blueberry Cake" to boost her speed, intending to test whether she could rely purely on speed to evade a control-type martial soul fusion technique.
Practical experience now proved that, in the confined environment of an arena, against a large-area, sustained tracking control skill like "Heavenly Net," relying solely on speed would at best allow for temporary maneuvering. As her space to move was gradually constricted step by step, there would ultimately be nowhere left to run.
That being the case, she could no longer be bothered to keep up the "performance." Although, on the surface, she was a food-type support soul master, she was still, after all, a dignified rank fifty-two Soul King, and her soul ring configuration was nothing short of world-shaking.
If, under the watchful eyes of so many, she were to lose to a freshman team whose highest cultivation was merely at the two-ring Soul Grandmaster level, it wouldn't just be a loss of face—it would be a complete trashing of her reputation.
What's more, practically everyone now saw her as the one here to bomb the fish pond. The fish pond bomber overturned by the fish? Such a dramatic outcome was certainly interesting, but it was absolutely not the script she, Furina, desired.
At this thought, Furina couldn't help but shake her head with a wry smile. She then raised her voice and called out to the Lan sisters, who were still manipulating the hair net in relentless pursuit, and to Huang Chutian, who was eyeing her covetously from the side: "Alright, alright. Warm-up time is over. I'm about to get serious now. You three, careful of your surroundings~"
She even graciously gave them a warning: "Next, I'm going to use a soul bone skill."
"A soul bone skill?!"
The three opponents were all startled upon hearing this.
Huang Chutian blurted out: "What?! She actually has a soul bone too?!"
But he immediately caught himself and smacked his own head. "No, wait... with that monstrous soul ring configuration of hers, having a soul bone is only logical. It'd be strange if she didn't have one."
Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo, currently in a state of martial soul fusion with their minds deeply concentrated, were equally astonished, though they couldn't afford to split their focus to converse, silently musing to themselves instead.
As Huang Chutian had said, considering the depth of resources Furina had displayed and her status as the Pope of the Church of the Water God, possessing a soul bone was entirely within reason.
They just couldn't help but be curious: what would Furina's soul bone skill be? Judging by her tone, it seemed to lean toward the offensive type.
For support-type soul masters, yearning to acquire some offensive or self-defense capability was an exceedingly common mentality.
Unfortunately, for the vast majority of support-type martial souls, their soul skill sequences rarely provided direct means of attack. Therefore, hunting for specific soul bones to compensate for this shortcoming became the choice of many support-type powerhouses.
Of course, there were also plenty of support-type soul masters who chose to further bolster their defensive or supportive abilities, pursuing their "specialization" to the very end.
At this moment, Huang Chutian and the Lan sisters all held their breath and focused intently, both tense and expectant, wanting to see exactly what kind of soul bone skill Furina would unleash to break their nearly perfect control chain and defeat all three of them in one fell swoop.
"Behold—my performance!"
As Furina's words fell, her figure, still under the blessing of her speed boost, made a nimble change in direction, once more opening a sliver of distance from the blue hair net that swept just past her. Simultaneously, with perfect composure, she snapped her fingers with a crisp sound.
Snap!
The very instant the finger-snap rang out—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of low, muffled detonations erupted without the slightest warning, less than half a meter from the bodies of Huang Chutian, Lan Susu, and Lan Luoluo! The radius of each explosion was extremely small, as if it were merely a pocket of air being violently compressed and then suddenly bursting. But the power contained within was shockingly ferocious.
Raging shockwaves, intermingled with minute yet razor-sharp water-attribute cutting force, instantly pierced through the soul power defenses they had hurriedly mustered in that split second.
Just from the very first wave of explosions, the three felt as though they had been struck by a battering ram. Amidst muffled groans, they simultaneously staggered backward. The radiance of the martial soul fusion technique "Heavenly Net" abruptly dimmed. The sky-filling blue hair drooped and retracted listlessly, reverting to its ordinary long-haired appearance.
Huang Chutian stumbled two steps and dropped to one knee, his chest heaving violently. Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo only barely managed to remain standing by leaning on each other, their small faces deathly pale, their breath utterly disordered. Their fused state had been forcibly shattered.
Huang Chutian forcibly suppressed the churning blood and qi within him and the numbness radiating through his limbs. He lifted his head, his eyes filled with utter disbelief, and urgently asked: "Wh-what kind of soul skill is this?! How did you do it? Susu and Luoluo's Heavenly Net had clearly sealed off nearly all the space—you were still some distance from us—how could you possibly attack right next to our bodies?!"
Furina leisurely halted her steps, a mysterious smile gracing her features. She answered: "My apologies, but that's my little secret. Just as you wouldn't casually reveal the specific details of your own martial soul fusion technique to outsiders. One should always keep a few cards close to the chest."
She paused, then once more cast out her olive branch, her tone dripping with allure: "If you truly wish to know... perhaps consider joining our Church of the Water God first? Once you become one of our own, many things become much easier to discuss."
She directed her gaze especially toward the twin sisters, her voice sincere as she praised them: "In addition, I must say—your martial soul fusion technique, 'Heavenly Net,' is truly impressive. A wide control range, remarkable resilience, immense potential. Especially as Body Martial Soul masters, your room for future development is practically limitless."
"Thank you for your praise!" Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo spoke their thanks in unison. Though defeated, receiving such affirmation from this "monstrous" opponent considerably lessened their sense of disheartenment.
Furina nodded. With a thought, her first soul ring lit up beneath her feet. Three pieces of "Strawberry Buttercream Cake," emitting an enticing sweet fragrance and a gentle life-force aura, materialized in her hand out of thin air.
She stepped forward and handed the cakes to each of the three, her tone carrying both apology and concern: "These are healing cakes made with my first soul skill. The effect is quite good. Eat them—they'll help with injury recovery and stabilize your soul power. Though I controlled the force of that attack, the damage mechanism of soul bone skills is rather unique. Should it leave any lingering internal injuries that affect your future cultivation, my guilt would be far too great."
Her words were not mere pleasantry. In truth, the "Water Explosion" she had just employed had only used an infinitesimal fraction of its power.
She was deeply aware of this skill's terrifying potential—in the original story, Huo Yuhao's "Ice Explosion" and that "Death Messenger's" "Corpse Explosion" had both demonstrated the horror of being able to kill beyond one's level.
And her "Water Explosion" was, by its very nature, even more insidious and lethal, because moisture existed practically everywhere—including within living organisms, and in the air itself. Theoretically, if her intent was malicious enough, she could even directly detonate the blood within an opponent's veins! Of course, as the Water God, she would absolutely never use this technique against the innocent.
Perhaps... in the future, when dealing with those thoroughly irredeemable evil soul masters, she could "pay them back in their own coin" and let them also taste the sensation of boiling blood and detonation from within. That, she imagined, would be an execution of justice of the most exquisite perfection.
Huang Chutian and the two sisters accepted the warm, moist cakes. Feeling the pure, refined life energy flowing within them, the final trace of unwillingness in their hearts transformed into heartfelt admiration. They once more expressed their thanks in unison: "Thank you."
The outcome of this match was now beyond all doubt. Furina—victory!
Below the stage, Teacher Wang Yan, who had been observing the match with rapt attention, felt overwhelming waves of shock crashing through his heart.
The "deadly move" Furina had just revealed was, in his eyes, even more bizarre and unfathomable than Huo Yuhao's mysterious Spiritual Detection! It was as if a point in midair had been detonated from nothing—without any forewarning, directly dealing heavy damage to three two-ring Soul Grandmasters in peak condition and even forcibly interrupting their martial soul fusion technique.
He had faintly noticed, in the instant of the explosions, a trace of extremely fine, pale-blue water mist spreading... Could it be that this was a skill attached to a "Divinely Bestowed Soul Bone" unique to the Church of the Water God? Related to water, yet manifesting as terrifying explosions? This completely overturned his understanding of water-attribute soul skills!
It wasn't just Wang Yan. Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and even Huo Yuhao—who had followed Furina the longest—all had expressions of shock written across their faces.
Huo Yuhao, relying on the superhuman vision granted by his "Spirit Eyes" martial soul, had caught more of the details.
He had clearly seen that in the very instant Furina snapped her fingers, within the air surrounding Huang Chutian's trio, countless imperceptibly tiny water molecules had been gathered by an invisible force with lightning speed, compressed into minuscule droplets invisible to the naked eye. Immediately after, these droplets had burst apart in a manner that defied comprehension, unleashing astonishing destructive power. The entire process had been as fast as lightning, soundless and formless, impossible to defend against.
"My heavens... to actually be able to manipulate water like that and trigger explosions... Doesn't this feel a bit like 'Ice Explosion'?" Within Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm clicked its tongue in amazement.
As a million-year soul beast with vast experience—especially having lived in the Far North where it had heard tales of the Ice Jade Scorpion clan's fearsome, unparalleled innate talent soul skill, Ice Explosion—it was more than qualified to comment. Ice Explosion was a terrifying ability that unleashed the power of ultimate ice in the form of an explosion.
Having been born in the Far North and grown up there, Tianmeng knew the resounding, dread-inspiring reputation of "Ice Explosion" all too well. Regrettably, this innate talent was not something every Ice Jade Scorpion could awaken. Even the Ice Emperor, the clan's Queen, had failed to grasp it.
Tianmeng had privately mused before that if the Ice Emperor could wield "Ice Explosion," she might truly have the qualifications to challenge the Snow Empress for her position as the foremost of the Far North's Three Heavenly Kings. But soul beasts could not absorb soul bones to acquire skills like humans, and obtain similar abilities through other channels... usually meant veering onto a path of evil and corruption, like those terrifying, spiritually-attributed Evil Eye Tyrants.
The Ice Emperor's cold, crystalline voice now also carried undisguised astonishment and a hint of... complex emotion: "What?! That little girl actually commands an ability akin to Ice Explosion? Perhaps it should be called Water Explosion... It feels, if anything, even more troublesome than our clan's Ice Explosion! Because water is everywhere, practically omnipresent. There's absolutely no need—like with Ice Explosion—to manufacture or come into contact with ice beforehand."
"And combined with the ultimate water attribute of her second martial soul... it's practically a tailor-made amplifier for this ability!"
Her words even carried a rare note of unwillingness and envy: "Damn it... comparing people truly is infuriating. Is this what it means to be a god's inheritor? Why—when I am the Queen of the Ice Jade Scorpion clan, commanding tens of thousands of ice-attribute soul beasts in the Far North—am I unable to possess such a heaven-sent talent?"
Sensing the Ice Emperor's emotional turmoil, the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm hurriedly attempted to console her, yet didn't quite know what to say. It could only follow the thread and analyze: "Th-this... it can't be helped, Bingbing. Your clan's Ice Explosion was always a one-in-a-million innate talent—something to be encountered but not sought. Besides, if every Ice Jade Scorpion had it, the Far North would probably have long since become your clan's sole domain."
"That girl Furina is the Water God, after all! She's already begun her divine trials. Who's to say this ability isn't a Divine Bestowed Soul Bone she got after completing one of the trials? It's completely different from our mundane cultivation path."
Upon hearing this, the Ice Emperor's mood did not improve. Instead, she grew more irate and vented her ire: "Whose side are you on with those words?! Boosting another's morale while undermining our own!"
The Tianmeng Ice Silkworm instantly jolted, its survival instincts kicking in fully as it hastily declared: "I was wrong, I was wrong! I'm forever on your side, Bingbing! Our ultimate ice is also the best! One of a kind!"
"...Hmph. That's more like it." The Ice Emperor gave a cold snort, temporarily letting the matter slide.