Chapter 30.4: The Finals
As far as they were aware, Huo Yuhao had merely stood to the side and released his spiritual-type soul skill during his team’s previous matches. Other than that, he’d never made a move.
As a result of this, Cui Yajie never expected to miss. She naturally couldn’t dodge Wang Dong’s attack, but it would’ve been worth it if she could’ve dragged Huo Yuhao down with her. After all, her teammates could be targeted by Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock at any time.
When they’d begun fighting at close range, the referee had immediately moved closer to them. The instant that Wang Dong unfurled his wings, he moved.
For the sake of allowing the six freshmen to use all of their strength, this match had no restrictions on the amount of power they were allowed to use. The spectating teachers would only be able to clearly observe their potential if they went all-out. Due to that, the referee wasn’t just an experienced teacher, but was an agility system soul master. Furthermore, his cultivation had reached the seven-ringed Soul Sage rank. The moment he made his move, his speed far surpassed that of what Huo Yuhao and the rest could’ve imagined.
When Cui Yajie had viciously launched her attack towards Huo Yuhao, the referee had already arrived next to him. Even the referee thought that the two of them would ring-out simultaneously.
Just as the referee was about to make a move, Huo Yuhao had moved.
His figure suddenly turned illusory, and his figure swiftly moved backwards with a gentle sway, unexpectedly forming an afterimage.
His speed definitely couldn’t compare to the agility system Zhu Lu’s, but the movement he’d made was definitely not something an agility system soul master could perform. More importantly, his footsteps had been extremely mysterious, which had resulted in Cui Yajie’s Foxtail Needle not being able to locate its target. As such, its condensed power hadn’t been able to be released.
In that exact moment, Wang Dong’s Light of the Butterfly Goddess surged downwards; not just towards Cui Yajie, but also towards Dai Huabin.
Wang Dong was standing on Huo Yuhao’s shoulders, and moved backwards along with him as a result. However, Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection made it so that his soul skill definitely wouldn’t miss. Furthermore, the Light of the Butterfly Goddess was an extremely strong soul skill that could be used as both an AoE attack and a single-target attack.
The referee threw Cui Yajie out of the arena with his right hand. His judgement was extremely good; Cui Yajie was no longer able to strike Huo Yuhao, but she would definitely be seriously injured, if not killed, if she were bathed in the Light of the Butterfly Goddess. As for Dai Huabin, he didn’t bother helping him.
When the Light of the Butterfly Goddess landed on Dai Huabin’s White Tiger’s Shield, a series of explosions rang out. In order to minimize the area of contact with Wang Dong’s attack, he crouched down in a half-kneeling position while using his palms to protect his head.
However, the strength of Wang Dong’s attack exceeded his imagination. Although it was only a two-ringed soul skill, Dai Huabin was nearly unable to withstand its might. His White Tiger’s Shield actually almost shattered from defending against it.
The air surrounding Dai Huabin’s body suddenly twisted as his demonic eyes turned blood-red. His third soul ring flickered with a noble purple color as it slowly rose into the air. His body—which had become muscular due to the White Tiger’s Possession—expanded yet again, causing his muscles to bulge even more. Moreover, his clothes completely burst apart, revealing the distinct silhouette of his muscles. Strangely, black patterns had appeared on his skin, and were it not for the hair on his skin, they’d be identical to that of a tiger’s.
His palms became even larger, while his claws turned bright silver. However, his body was covered by a layer of intense golden light, making it seem as if his skin had become gold-plated. In addition to that, a bloodthirsty light filled his blood-red eyes, in-turn causing the hegemonic aura of a Beast King erupt from his body.
The instant he released his third soul skill, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong both felt an intense sense of crisis fill their hearts.
A strong, golden light erupted from Dai Huabin’s body, causing his speed and strength to increase explosively. He repeatedly slammed his palms outwards, forcefully destroying the balls of light created by Wang Dong’s Light of the Butterfly Goddess.
Although the target of Wang Dong’s attack wasn’t him specifically, it was still a powerful soul skill that had been activated by their Haodong Power, and its strength had definitely reached the level of a Soul Elder’s thousand year soul skill! Dai Huabin was the first person who’d been able to block the Haodong Power-fuelled Light of the Butterfly Goddess since the start of the tournament!
This was the strength of a top-ranked Beast Soul. In the end, Wang Dong’s cultivation rank was still inferior to Dai Huabin’s. After all, he wasn’t a Soul Elder, even after he’d fused his soul power with Huo Yuhao’s. If Huo Yuhao’s cultivation rank had reached Rank 20, Dai Huabin definitely wouldn’t have been able to react in such a manner. However, their current situation was due to the gap in their strength.
In an instant, Wang Dong’s attack completely dissipated. After ‘sacrificing’ Cui Yajie, Dai Huabin—who was now at his peak condition—had finally arrived before Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. Although it was a 1v2, he’d already taken the upper hand in terms of pressure alone.
The instant Wang Dong’s Light of the Butterfly disappeared, Dai Huabin stamped the ground with his left foot, causing a muffled bang to ring out. Immediately afterwards, he shot forward like a bow, not towards Wang Dong, but towards Huo Yuhao.
This was Huo Yuhao’s first time being so close to Dai Huabin. With his hated enemy so close to him, Huo Yuhao was unable to remain calm no matter how hard he tried to forced himself.
Huo Yuhao hurriedly moved backwards with the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, but how could his speed compare to that of the Soul Elder-ranked Dai Huabin? The distance between them instantly shrank, and Dai Huabin sent his palm straight towards Huo Yuhao’s chest.
At that exact moment, Huo Yuhao suddenly stopped moving. He stared at Dai Huabin with a brilliant light in his eyes, causing the air within a five-meter diameter of him to slightly distort. Even the major powers observing from the Spectator’s Stand weren’t able to notice this slight change.
This wasn’t his Spiritual Shock, but his Spiritual Interference. Huo Yuhao clearly understood that the only person who’d suffer a loss if he used his Spiritual Shock on Dai Huabin in his current state would be himself. Furthermore, he’d definitely suffer a backlash. Thus, he chose to use Spiritual Interference, which would never have a backlash. Furthermore, he used his ever-growing amount of control over his spiritual power to limit the range of his skill to a diameter of five meters.
The instant Huo Yuhao activated his Spiritual Interference, Wang Dong suddenly fell forward in a strange manner, as if he’d slipped. However, his Guillotine Wings flickered with a pale orange light, and still slashed towards Dai Huabin. He’d aimed his attack at both sides of Dai Huabin’s neck.
No matter how tough the White Tiger’s Vajra Transformation made him, Dai Huabin definitely wouldn’t dare to forcefully take on Wang Dong’s Guillotine Wings with just his neck. However, Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Interference had distracted him for a second. It was just a second, but he’d still been slowed down half a beat!
Because of that, Dai Huabin’s movements had become slightly sluggish when he felt the sharpness of Wang Dong’s Guillotine Wings. Thus, he could only use his palms to forcefully block Wang Dong’s attack.
How could a hastily-released attack be compared to an attack that had been charged up? Although Dai Huabin was using his White Tiger’s Vajra Transformation, he still wasn’t able to blast Wang Dong away. On the other hand, a golden light suddenly appeared on Wang Dong’s folded wings. Once again, he activated the Light of the Butterfly Goddess.
With the support of Huo Yuhao and the Haodong Power, the strength and activation speed of Wang Dong’s soul skills far surpassed his usual level. His current strength had already reached the Soul Elder level. Compared to a Soul Elder, the only thing he lacked was a third soul skill.
Dai Huabin was inwardly astonished. Wang Dong’s grasp of tempo was simply too amazing, to the extent that he simply couldn’t react. Helpless, he could only go all-out with his defense. He activated his White Tiger’s Fierce Light Wave at close range, causing it to collide with Wang Dong’s Light of the Butterfly Goddess.
One was a concentrated all-out attack, while the other was a defensive counterattack that had been hastily released. One was a thousand year soul skill, while the other was a hundred year soul skill. At this moment, both parties had similar levels of soul power. Thus, the winner of the clash was immediately decided.
A violent boom rang out from the area between Wang Dong and Dai Huabin. Wang Dong had launched his attack from above, while Dai Huabin had launched his while facing upwards from down below.
After the terrifying boom rang out, Wang Dong flew into the air with his wings unfurled, easily dispersing the force of their collision. However, Dai Huabin was left in a sorrier state; he’d sunk knee-deep into the ground, while his upper body was bared and facing the sky. A golden light exploded from his body, showing that his White Tiger’s Vajra Transformation had sustained an incredible blow.