Chapter 49: Tug-of-War

A golden light shone from Princess Jiujiu's forehead; it was a diamond-shaped gold gemstone, and from afar it truly looked a bit like an eye—Chen Qiye's Spirit Eye.

After the golden diamond-shaped gemstone appeared, it instantly burst forth with brilliant golden light, then detached from her forehead, slowly floating upward surrounded by golden light, and a gorgeous crown appeared above her head, then slowly descended and landed on her head.

This crown seemed to be composed of countless stars, all a pale gold, with the diamond-shaped gem as the starting point; it quickly gathered backward, and on the crown eighteen larger stars protruded upward, forming a beautiful circle of points.

This is Xu Jiujiu's martial soul, the Star Crown!

Two yellow, two purple, and one black—five soul rings appeared simultaneously on this princess.

………

Ling Luochen's ice staff had also been summoned in her hand; raised above her head, the ice staff exuded a rich ice mist that enveloped Xu Sanshi, herself, Huo Yuhao, and Chen Qiye, and this ice mist was spreading outward at astonishing speed to both sides, forming a huge arc that vaguely pinched towards the opponent, while the four of them were completely hidden within the ice mist.

A bright starlight shone upon everyone from Imperial Arrogance Academy; as for the Star Crown Sect, everyone would surely be unfamiliar, but mention the Spirit Hall and everyone would definitely have an impression.

Under Xu Jiujiu's Star Radiance Technique boost, most of the attacks launched by Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yaoheng were blocked, unable to inflict any effective damage. If we could quickly remove these two main attackers, this battle would basically not stir up any further waves.

At the same time, Ma Xiaotao let out a cold snort, advancing instead of retreating, and charged toward the dark tiger phantom. With a resonant phoenix cry, the fiery wings on her back suddenly unfolded, and in that instant, Ma Xiaotao's whole person seemed to truly become a phoenix.

The scorching phoenix flames suddenly rose from fiery red to white-hot. The sudden surge in temperature forced Dai Yaoheng and Bei Bei on either side to quickly pull back. Amid the rising flames, the dark tiger phantom instantly turned to ash.

Bei Bei wasn't so lucky—the opponent's speed was too great, and Bei Bei was now completely being tormented; although the opponent's attacks could inflict no substantive harm, it was utterly frustrating.

If the opponent were a pure assault type like Ye Wuqing, Bei Bei would definitely hit him again with Overlord, Thunder Domain. But this time, since Bei Bei couldn't even lay a hand on the opponent…

Huang Heyun gasped in shock as the fierce flames reached him; he realized with astonishment that he felt completely unable to resist. Where the white-hot phoenix flames passed, the air within several meters around him became utterly distorted.

It actually blocked the Star Radiance Technique's assistance from outside, and the high temperature directly caused the technique's mist to explode in the air, making it impossible to aid him any further.

………

Just as Huang Heyun was in dire straits, suddenly the pressure before him eased, and Ma Xiaotao's white-hot phoenix flames unexpectedly veered to the side and then shot upward.

Ma Xiaotao was also greatly surprised—how could her phoenix fire line deviate? With her Soul Emperor cultivation, such a lapse was absolutely impossible; where exactly had the problem arisen?

But when she turned her gaze to another, all doubts were cleared: the attacker was a girl standing not far behind Huang Heyun. She looked quite ordinary, a plain girl with dark purple hair cascading down her back, a few freckles on her face, and most striking were her eyes, which actually flickered with flames; five soul rings pulsed on her body, and her right hand was pressing forward toward Ma Xiaotao from afar.

This wind-attributed Soul King certainly had some tricks; otherwise he couldn't have diverted Ma Xiaotao's phoenix fire line. But this time it wasn't like in the original story—although he diverted part of it, a portion of the phoenix fire line still fell down, and even with Xu Jiujiu's support, Huang Heyun dared not meet it head-on.

For a moment, Huang Heyun instantly distanced himself from the others, the formation of Imperial Arrogance Academy began to show slight disorder, and Xu Jiujiu's expression on the opposing side began to shift slightly.

"Huo Yuhao, give your Ultimate Ice boost to Senior Ling Luochen; have Ling Luochen unleash your fifth soul skill, and we must make them expend a large amount of soul power right now—once Xu Jiujiu's boosting soul power behind them is depleted, we won't need to worry about anything."

A voice rang out, and a flash of unusual light passed through Ling Luochen's brows and eyes. With Huo Yuhao's boost, Ling Luochen was also the Ice Snow Queen of this battlefield; Chen Qiye's decision was entirely to give her room to shine—how could she not be pleased?

Huo Yuhao stepped forward, closed his eyes, and placed both hands simultaneously on Ling Luochen's back.

Instantly, Ling Luochen's gaze turned cold, and an indescribable aura emanated from her. A stronger power slowly welled up within her—this was the boost from Ultimate Ice.

In the next instant, she directly activated her fifth soul ring. The black soul ring burst forth with an oppressive radiance, spreading outward.

This is Ling Luochen's fifth soul skill, the Ice Radiance Ring!

With Huo Yuhao's boost, Ling Luochen's strength is certainly not inferior to Ma Xiaotao's, and after becoming the Ultimate Ice Ling Luochen, her terrifying degree is even more fearsome than Ma Xiaotao's.

At that moment, both Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yaoheng instinctively took a step back.

Piercing ice mist spread across the arena; although blocked by defensive soul tools, everyone from Imperial Arrogance Academy could still feel that bone-chilling cold.

"Damn it, how is there still a Soul Emperor? That woman is supposed to be a Soul King—how can she have such tremendous power?"

Xu Jiujiu, who was still boosting, furrowed her brows; although with her boost and their defensive soul tools they could barely block Ling Luochen's Ice Radiance Ring, her soul power was also rapidly depleting.

In this war of attrition, as long as it drags on, Ling Luochen could wear down Xu Jiujiu, after all, the stronger the soul skill, the more astonishing the soul power it consumes.

At the same time, the sky was covered with dark clouds, the air grew a bit cold, and snowflakes began to drift down; soon the ground was blanketed in snow, and no one knew that this expanse of dark clouds was the manifestation of Chen Qiye's martial soul……

Chen Qiye waited, wondering how long they could endure.

(End of chapter)