Watching Ma Rulong approach, Huo Yuer felt a heavy weight in her heart. Facing this opponent, she would have to give her all—she wouldn't be able to fight while slowly recovering her soul power as originally planned.
"You shouldn't have come so early," Huo Yuer muttered gloomily before the fight began.
Far from underestimating Huo Yuer due to her lower cultivation level, Ma Rulong replied earnestly:
"You're too strong, and our Sun Moon Empire can't afford to lose so disgracefully."
Huo Yuer paused for a moment, reflecting on her earlier performance. In an effort to conserve energy, she had unintentionally appeared overwhelmingly dominant, which now led the Sun Moon team to aim for humiliating her side in retaliation.
It seemed Huo Yuer had dug her own grave.
"Begin!"
At the referee's command, Ma Rulong instantly summoned a soul tool.
Knowing that Ma Rulong could unleash a Level 7 soul-guided cannon, Huo Yuer immediately opted for a close-range assault instead of retreating to create distance and look for opportunities.
But how could someone who led the Sun Moon team be so simple? Ma Rulong had already anticipated Huo Yuer's strategy.
To everyone's surprise, his first move wasn't an attack but rather summoning a Level 4 flash grenade launcher.
In an instant, a silvery-white orb of light coalesced and shot toward Huo Yuer.
Instinctively, Huo Yuer raised a thick wall of extreme ice to block it—but no impact followed. Instead, an intense flash erupted, catching her completely off guard.
"Ahh!" Huo Yuer screamed in pain as her eyes burned with agony.
The audience fared no better. Aside from a few soul engineers who recognized the flash grenade and shielded their eyes in time, everyone else was caught in its blinding effect.
Cries of pain filled the air, but Ma Rulong showed no hint of shame for the collateral damage.
After all, the Soul Master Tournament had no rules against using flash grenades.
No rule forbidding something meant it was fair game. If others failed to protect themselves, they had only themselves to blame.
Now, Ma Rulong 's priority was to press his advantage and repay the humiliation inflicted upon the Sun Moon Empire by Huo Yuer earlier.
However, Huo Yuer had already erected a thick ice wall to protect herself before being blinded. Ma Rulong needed to quickly reposition to land a strike—after all, not everyone possessed Huo Yuer's "God's Eye" vision.
As an advanced soul engineer capable of crafting soul tools at his level, Ma Rulong was well aware of the flaws in the automatic full-body soul-guided armor Mi Jia had used earlier. Thus, he avoided using such equipment altogether.
Instead, Ma Rulong somehow equipped a pair of boots on his legs, which instantly propelled him at a speed that made him vanish from sight, reappearing at Huo Yuer's flank.
"!?"
Ma Rulong blinked in surprise. "Where did she go?"
Shaking off his momentary confusion, Ma Rulong swiftly summoned a defensive soul tool.
His judgment proved sharp—just in time, as a fierce wave of freezing cold engulfed the spot where he had stood moments before. Fortunately, his protective barrier absorbed the brunt of the attack.
Ma Rulong frowned, deeply impressed.
"You truly live up to your reputation as a monster captain who has fought your way here despite only being at the Soul Elder level. It seems your second martial soul possesses extraordinary spiritual detection abilities alongside your Snow Empress martial soul."
Since Huo Yuer hadn't used her Spirit Eye abilities throughout the tournament, most people merely speculated about its powers, assuming it granted her heightened perception.
Ma Rulong had even resorted to using a flash grenade—a dirty trick—to weaken Huo Yuer's sensory capabilities and secure a quick tactical advantage.
But clearly, he had underestimated Huo Yuer's means of perception—it wasn't reliant solely on vision but also on spiritual awareness.
Though fragile, her Spirit Eye martial soul far surpassed ordinary human eyes in resilience.
Despite the searing pain in her eyes, Huo Yuer gritted her teeth, silently berating herself for her carelessness. Quickly regaining focus, she expanded her spiritual senses across the entire arena.
Her opponent might be strong, but Huo Yuer wasn't one to give up so easily.
Meanwhile, back in Tianxing Academy's competitor lounge, the other women were still wiping away tears caused by the flash grenade. However, thanks to their greater distance from the blast, its effects were significantly diminished, allowing them to recover quickly.
Jiang Nannan looked anxiously at Huo Yuer on the arena stage, wanting to say something. But when she turned her head, she saw Ye Wen sitting casually, wearing sunglasses like an old man.
"!?"
"Master!"
Ye Wen chuckled as he removed his glasses, calmly observing the match.
"Don't worry. Your senior sister won't be defeated so easily."
Huo Yuer exhaled a deep breath of icy air. The tears triggered by the intense flash had already frozen into beads of ice, trailing down her cheeks.
"I won't give you another chance to pull such tricks," she declared firmly.
Ma Rulong wore an equally serious expression. He had no experience with soul tools designed to interfere with spiritual detection—now, he could only rely on brute force.
But facing someone as formidable as Huo Yuer, Ma Rulong dared not unleash his strongest attacks right away.
"Let's test the waters first."
In an instant, Ma Rulong somehow conjured ten glowing orbs around himself, launching them rapidly toward Huo Yuer.
Rather than meeting the attack head-on, Huo Yuer relied on her agility to dodge and quickly close the distance to Ma Rulong .
Ma Rulong inwardly clicked his tongue in astonishment. She had instantly seen through his ruse.
The Big-Headed Spirit Ape wasn't suited for close combat.
Though Ma Rulong carried melee soul tools, he wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could trade blows with Tianxing Academy's experts in self-created close-combat skills.
With a burst of energy from his boots, Ma Rulong unleashed a powerful surge of speed, darting away from Huo Yuer. If he couldn't beat her head-on, he could at least play a game of hit-and-run.
During this brief moment of separation, Ma Rulong swiftly equipped over a dozen floating turrets on his body, unleashing a relentless barrage of attacks toward Huo Yuer.
While these projectiles weren't particularly powerful—averaging around Level 4 or 5 soul-guided tools—they posed a significant challenge for Huo Yuer, who was only a Soul Elder. Dodging was manageable, but taking hits directly would strain her considerably.
Huo Yuer had faced opponents of this type before, but none compared to Ma Rulong 's precision.
His attacks were concentrated, and his ability to predict her movements was uncanny.
After taking several direct hits, Huo Yuer finally realized:
"At this rate, I'm doomed to lose!"
------------------------------------------------------
400+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)