Chapter 55: This Sword, Piercing All the Gods

"Sister, come. Let us end them. We can't hesitate any longer," Xiao Hongchen barked gravely.

Meng Hongchen said hesitantly, "But your body…"

Xiao Hongchen replied proudly, "What are these minor injuries? Let them see the strongest attack of us siblings."

"The captain has already paid such a great price for us; we have no reason not to win this match!"

"Quickly, in this match we must not lose, must not give them any chance. If we defeat them, we become the academy's glory, the empire's heroes."

While speaking, all the soul conduits on Xiao Hongchen's body suddenly shattered and fell, turning into metallic powder; even the core formation that crashed to the ground he ignored, instead opening his arms to his sister.

Meng Hongchen's slender sword vanished, she turned and leapt into Xiao Hongchen's arms. Instantly, a pillar of light mixing gold and icy blue shot upward, instantly engulfing their bodies.

The rising light pillar around Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen began to change. It solidified in the air into a huge toad shape, and oddly, as all the light gathered on the toad, its color shifted.

The golden hue of the three‑legged golden toad and the icy blue of the Zhuqing Ice Toad vanished at that moment, leaving only a metallic‑sheen red. That crimson‑gold glow rendered the five‑meter‑tall massive toad dazzlingly brilliant. Its eyes were as black as a abyss.

Its huge mouth opened, and within it a faint crimson‑gold vortex swirled violently, ready to spew out at any moment.

Xiao Hongchen's voice rang across the arena; even now, he had not forgotten his role as the hero who turns the tide.

"Take this, kids. Let you witness what a truly powerful martial soul fusion technique looks like. Red Dust Affection."

Indeed, Red Dust Affection is the name of their martial soul fusion technique, taken from the surname they share. Upon close inspection, the crimson‑gold toad is three‑legged, but as it is about to spew the crimson vortex, its eyes turn the same sheen as the Zhuqing Ice Toad.

"Damn it! You really thought I was a sick cat?" Chen Qiye, for some reason, felt an unnamed fury surge from his heart the moment Ma Xiaotao was injured.

"I originally wanted to play with you, but didn't expect to forget your Judgment Sword."

"Fine then, I don't want to play with you anymore!!!"

"Let you see the gap between you and me."

Five soul rings beneath Chen Qiye's feet began to flash continuously, cracks appearing across the rings.

At that moment, the aura of the 100,000‑year soul‑beast soul ring was fully released.

The blood‑red light illuminated the entire arena in an instant. An aura brimming with cold, cruelty, slaughter, madness and other terrifying scents erupted suddenly.

In that instant on the stage, every Soul Master was passively releasing their martial soul.

Thousands, even tens of thousands of hundred‑year and thousand‑year ones appeared on the spectator seats, strikingly visible, yet still suppressed by the terrifying aura of the blood‑red light.

Cries rose like crashing waves simultaneously from hundreds of thousands of people. The sense of oppression was overwhelming.

Even the Emperor, Empress, and civil‑military officials of the Xingluo Empire on the city walls rose in shocked unison. The Heavenly Doom Douluo was dumbfounded; he could feel the aura of the 100,000‑year soul‑beast beneath the soul rings, and if his rank were any lower he too would, like those on the field, release his martial soul.

The cracked soul rings beneath Chen Qiye's feet disintegrated into fragments, turning into pure streams of soul power that poured into his body.

An immeasurably vast aura of soul power surged out from his body.

Retreat and fear—that is the reaction of a titled Douluo, with not a hint of resistance. In that instant, Heavenly Doom Douluo Huang Jinxu had no idea how to fend off the massive blue ice sword. Of course, as a judge he could not intervene.

Yet he still found it unbelievable; this truly was only a five‑ring Soul Master, not a titled Douluo…

The ice sword, as it blossomed, coincided with the eruption of Red Dust Affection. The vortex‑shaped crimson‑gold light turned into a torrent that poured down, sweeping toward the massive ice sword.

That crimson‑gold light was filled with metallic clang and icy rigidity; more terrifyingly, its heat caused the air to warp violently as it appeared.

Various contradictory forces converged, creating an almost twisted, hysterical madness. The entire arena, bathed in the crimson‑gold blaze of Red Dust Affection, seemed to become a sea of lava.

However, no matter how overwhelming Red Dust Affection's power was, it could not stop the impact of the blue ice sword.

When the massive ice sword struck the huge crimson‑gold toad's body, the toad shuddered violently, then the crimson‑gold light abruptly shattered, and Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen's figures instantly reappeared, rapidly falling from mid‑air.

The martial soul fusion technique Red Dust Affection was cut down by that sword as soon as it was unleashed.

The siblings' eyes were blank, as if they had completely lost themselves, unable even to control their fall. Floating in mid‑air, blood as serpentine as a small snake surged out from Xiao Hongchen's seven apertures.

The terrifying martial soul fusion technique Red Dust Affection lasted only an instant; though it still filled the arena, it had no further effect.

Yet even this Red Dust Affection was not easily resisted. The terrifying power, like molten metal turning to iron, fell, and the arena boiled as if a volcano erupted. The metallic frenzy combined with the Zhuqing Ice Toad's deadly toxin and the fusion of ice and fire turned the vast arena into a living hell.

At that moment Chen Qiye also withdrew his soul power, landing again on the arena, but the poisonous aura that had spread across the field was instantly frozen into icy clumps by a massive, inert ice‑type soul power.

Now Chen Qiye's blood‑red eyes were filled with cold ruthlessness and exuded madness, bearing the conviction that he alone reigns supreme between heaven and earth.

In that state, Chen Qiye lifted the Zhilian Sword again.

"This sword, shines through all the gods."

A massive dragon roar emanated from Chen Qiye's sword; the blade of the Zhilian Sword shattered, turning into pieces of iron plating that fell.

Beneath the fragments lay a long sword engraved with twin mysterious yellow dragons.

Chen Qiye's spirit‑sea mirror flow watched the boiling spirit sea and the ever‑shifting dragon patterns on its surface; his handsome brows twitched, "Not good, it's awakened ahead of schedule!!!"

(End of Chapter)