Chapter 163

In the second round, first match of the promotion tournament, the Seven Treasures team faced the Tianshui team; the first contestant for the Seven Treasures team was Zuo Yan, while the first contestant for the Tianshui team was, surprisingly, the team captain Shui Bing'er.

Zuo Yan's soul power level had already reached forty‑five, whereas Shui Bing'er's soul power level was only forty‑four, a one‑level difference between them.

Although Shui Bing'er's martial soul is the top‑grade Ice Phoenix martial soul, Zuo Yan's martial soul also evolved after ingesting the Rooster‑comb Phoenix Sunflower, evolving from Wind‑God Wings into Phoenix Divine Wings, and its quality is not inferior to the Ice Phoenix.

Heavenly Water Team

Upon the referee's announcement, Zuo Yan and Shui Bing'er stepped onto the Dou Hun Tai, standing opposite each other at a distance of thirty meters, and each released their martial soul.

"Zuo Yan, martial soul: Phoenix Divine Wings, Level 45 agile‑attack type Battle Soul Ancestor."

When the words finished, two yellow and two purple Soul Rings rose on Zuo Yan's body; although his Soul Ring configuration is optimal, his third Soul Ring had already reached two thousand years, and his fourth Soul Ring had reached eight thousand five hundred years, giving him an advantage even compared with Soul Masters of the same rank.

Both his soul power intensity and physical strength far surpass those of Soul Masters of the same rank.

Battle Soul Ancestor

Shui Bing'er's expression did not change at all; even though Zuo Yan was powerful, she faced him bravely, and even if she lost, she would lose honorably.

Soul Skill

When the referee's voice fell, Zuo Yan and Shui Bing'er moved simultaneously; a pair of wings behind Zuo Yan, primarily cyan with flames of scarlet red, unfolded, reaching a terrifying six‑meter span, and with just a light flap he rose to a height of thirty meters.

This time Shui Bing'er did not hide either; a pair of ice‑blue wings behind her gradually expanded, and she likewise rose swiftly.

Zuo Yan looked at Shui Bing'er and said softly, "I admire you, so I will use all my strength to defeat you."

martial soul

Then Zuo Yan's first yellow Soul Ring lit up, and his body split into three and darted toward Shui Bing'er at extreme speed; the competition arena's diameter is only one hundred meters, and the distance between them is merely fifty meters, and as an agile‑attack type Soul Master, Zuo Yan's speed is extremely fast.

Second Soul Skill

In an instant, three phantoms simultaneously surrounded Shui Bing'er from three directions.

Shui Bing'er's reaction was swift; her first yellow Soul Ring also lit, and she raised her hand to fling three ice‑blue halos.

Phantom

They activated instantly, and in that instant she launched her first soul skill three times; the three ice‑blue halos simultaneously locked onto Zuo Yan's three phantoms, including his true form.

However, Zuo Yan already had a countermeasure, because he had thoroughly studied Shui Bing'er's first soul skill.

Shui Bing'er's first soul skill can activate instantly and lock onto an opponent, but it cannot hit instantly.

Having used the first soul skill, Zuo Yan's speed was greatly amplified; he carried the three ice‑blue halos in a spiraling path and then charged toward Shui Bing'er.

Just as the three ice‑blue halos were about to hit Zuo Yan, the three phantoms flew past, clinging to Shui Bing'er, and Shui Bing'er's own first soul skill hit herself.

But she was not as panicked as imagined, because her first soul skill swept past her side and pursued Zuo Yan again.

In terms of control over soul skills, Shui Bing'er is absolutely competent, so the flashy trope of one's own soul skill striking oneself does not occur.

Seeing that this method could not break through Shui Bing'er's first soul skill, Zuo Yan simply stopped evading; his second yellow Soul Ring lit, and the scarlet flames of his wings transformed into blade‑like edges flashing with sharp cold light.

Rooster Crown Phoenix Sunflower

With his wings swinging, Shui Bing'er's previously unstoppable first soul skill was directly sliced and shattered by Zuo Yan's wings.

Shui Bing'er's first soul skill is indeed powerful, worthy of being called a top‑grade soul skill, yet it still has a weakness: pure energy attacks can counter it.

Moreover, Zuo Yan's second soul skill not only grants him formidable attack power but also enhances his fire attribute; the elemental energies of both sides are comparable, and Zuo Yan's fire element is even stronger at this moment, allowing him to break through Shui Bing'er's first soul skill.

Nevertheless, Shui Bing'er showed no sign of distress; her own wings behind her also flapped, rapidly closing in on Zuo Yan. The recent release of her second soul skill had already exposed Zuo Yan's true form; the other two phantoms have no offensive capability, and his first soul skill primarily serves to boost speed.

Closing in on Zuo Yan, Shui Bing'er's fourth purple Soul Ring on her body lit simultaneously; this was her first use of her fourth soul skill in the tournament, so even Zuo Yan could not now predict whether her fourth soul skill would be a control or an attack.

So Zuoyan did not just sit and wait for death; his fourth Soul Ring on his body surface also lit up, and as he used his fourth soul skill, the originally illusory two phantoms actually became solid, and on the field three identical Zuoyans appeared at once, though slightly different.

The difference lies in the wings behind the three Zuoyans: Zuoyan's main body's wings are mainly bluish-green, with bright red blade edges, and they are burning with crimson flame.

The other two Zuoyans are mainly bluish-green and red respectively, as if they are the two attribute avatars of flame.

This is the effect of Zuoyan's fourth soul skill; his fourth soul skill is called Wind-Fire Avatar, the two avatars respectively possess wind-element and fire-element power, and simultaneously possess forty percent of the main body's strength, truly granting strong attack capability.

The three Zuoyans fled from three directions, attempting to evade Shui Bing'er's fourth soul skill attack in this way.

After all, Shui Bing'er's fourth soul skill is only one, whereas Zuoyan has three, so Shui Bing'er can only choose to attack one of the Zuoyans.

But Shui Bing'er knows that the flame's first soul skill and third soul skill alone are not particularly special; however, if these two soul skills are combined, they become somewhat peculiar.

In the previous match, Zuoyan had already shown this peculiarity: as long as the avatar remains intact, Zuoyan's main body can switch forms with the two avatars, meaning any avatar can serve as the main body.

But Shui Bing'er still locked onto Zuoyan's main body at this moment, because Zuoyan was studying her, and she too had studied Zuoyan.

She had long anticipated this outcome, so she actually already had a countermeasure.

Only see Shui Bing'er's fourth soul skill released; her icy-blue wings behind her fluttered, endless ice feathers shot out, widely wrapping Zuoyan's main body.

In the air it is indeed more agile than on the ground, but facing a range attack, it is equally difficult to dodge.

Only see Zuoyan's main body simply had no thought of dodging; it directly exchanged forms with the wind-element avatar, thus avoiding Shui Bing'er's fourth soul skill.

However, the wind-element avatar also had no way to resist; it erupted with all its strength and clashed head-on with Shui Bing'er's fourth soul skill, thus greatly consuming Shui Bing'er's soul power.

Meanwhile, Zuoyan's main body and the fire-element avatar approached Shui Bing'er from two directions for a pincer attack, and the purple third Soul Ring also lit up.

Shui Bing'er directly erupted her fourth soul skill to destroy the wind-element avatar, then her wings fluttered and she rushed madly toward the edge of the competition platform.

The diameter of the competition platform is 100 meters; if a flying Soul Master spends more than ten seconds outside the platform's diameter range, it is also considered elimination!

「Third soul skill: Whirlwind Garrote! 」

The fire-element avatar and the main body arrived instantly; the crimson flame blade flashing with cold light mercilessly fell upon Shui Bing'er.

Zuoyan has affection for Shui Bing'er, but this is a match, so he has no reason to hold back.

Facing the encirclement, Shui Bing'er still had no intention to stop; she actually directly rushed to high altitude outside the competition platform's range, and at the same time her second soul skill on her body surface lit up.

「Second soul skill: Ice Ring Armor! 」

This is a defensive soul skill; she actually intends to hard-resist Zuoyan's attack!

However, Zuoyan is very smart; just as he discovered that Shui Bing'er was determined to rush outside the platform, he guessed her intention.

The fire-element avatar suddenly ceased its offensive and made a detour toward the platform's range.

Zuoyan's main body then erupted his third soul skill and went to garrote Shui Bing'er.

Shui Bing'er saw Zuo Yan acting so cautiously, her heart felt complicated; she had no resistance left, relying only on her second soul skill for defense, yet Zuo Yan still dared not go all out?

She had originally intended to release her third soul skill, but did not, because the soul ring for her third soul skill could no longer achieve the desired effect; as long as Zuo Yan's main body remained within the competition platform, he could still swap with his clone.

Her third soul skill is called Repelling Light, with the same effect as Huo Wu's third soul skill; as long as Zuo Yan and his clone simultaneously attack Shui Bing'er, she can use this soul skill to bounce him out of the arena, and then preventing him from returning to the platform means victory.

But now this plan is clearly impossible.

However, she did not give up; her first soul skill lit up again, releasing three icy-blue light halos, but not aimed at Zuo Yan, because his speed was too fast for her to lock on.

These three icy-blue light halos emanate from around her; if Zuo Yan attacks, she has a chance to freeze him, even for just a second, which would be enough.

Zuo Yan naturally understood Shui Bing'er's thought, but he was not afraid, for with the aid of his second and third soul skills he could instantly break the ice seal.

In the end, Zuo Yan's cleaver strike landed on Shui Bing'er; the first blow alone shattered more than half of her ice-ring armor, followed quickly by the second, third strikes…

Zuo Yan's third soul skill is somewhat similar to Feng Xiao Tian's self-created soul skill, both being a succession of ever-stronger strikes until the opponent is completely shredded.

However, Zuo Yan's second strike landed on one of the icy-blue light halos surrounding Shui Bing'er's body; his attack was not frozen, because the ice seal had not yet formed before being torn apart by the powerful blazing flames and terrifying blade.

Although it did not block Zuo Yan's blade, it did slow his advance; the power of this second strike was almost the same as the first, and when it struck Shui Bing'er it shattered another large portion of her ice-ring armor.

Shui Bing'er let out a muffled groan, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth; her second soul skill could block at most two more strikes before breaking completely, and Zuo Yan's third strike could cleave her in half at the waist!

But Zuo Yan remained calm; this was no time for pity, and as his third strike fell, it was blocked by a mass of icy-blue light.

Zuo Yan's cleaver was still not frozen, yet his momentum slowed again, and the power of this strike decreased once more.

The third strike struck Shui Bing'er's chest; the armor there instantly shattered, she groaned again, and more blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

When the fourth strike fell, the final icy-blue light halo actually stalled Zuo Yan's attack for a moment; in that instant, Shui Bing'er no longer merely defended passively, but instead seized the moment to wrap her arms around Zuo Yan's waist, lock her legs around his, and directly immobilize him.

At this moment Zuo Yan finally understood Shui Bing'er's resolve; since she could not defeat him head-on, did she intend to take him down with her?

Zuo Yan's first and third soul skills work together in an inexplicable and disgusting way, but they have a fatal weakness: his main body cannot be bound, otherwise he cannot swap with his clone.

Instantly bound, Shui Bing'er's remaining soul power erupted; her icy force surged and for a time restrained Zuo Yan's flames, and their bodies fell together from midair.

This sight drew gasps from everyone present—thirty meters high!

For a Soul Master, this height is nothing, but if the two fell without any protection, the least outcome would be serious injury.

Zuo Yan gazed at the lovely face within reach, his heart unexpectedly began to waver; after being rejected again and again by Li Li, he had resolved to seal his heart and lock away love.

After all, Li Li's eyes hold only Gu Xuan, and Gu Xuan is her elder brother, so he really had no choice.

Although Shui Bing'er is outstanding, Zuo Yan merely admired her greatly; yet for some reason, at this moment he found himself drawn to her decisiveness.

"Silly girl, my physical constitution is not something an ordinary Soul Ancestor can match; if it were an average person, they might already have lost the strength to resist, but I am different."

Shui Bing'er stared fixedly at Zuo Yan; when he spoke those words she froze for a moment, then felt his terrifying power erupt, which directly broke free from her arms' restraint.

Shui Bing'er's hope of ending in a draw was dashed, and she felt somewhat unwilling.

At that moment, Zuo Yan's voice sounded again in her ear: "You are strong, but still not enough."

"But… I do admire you."

Then a even more terrifying blazing flare erupted; the two opposing attributes collided instantly, yet no imagined steam appeared, because these two attributes actually fused.

Soon after, a resounding, soul-stirring phoenix cry echoed across the arena; the pair, still falling, were enveloped in a cluster of red-and-blue laser light, then shot skyward.

When the dazzling light faded, only a single figure remained suspended in midair: she had icy-blue hair reaching her shoulders, with a pair of red bangs falling over her forehead like a phoenix's finest feathers, her pupils heterochromatic—left blue, right red—and behind her a trio of green, red, and blue wings shimmered with iridescent light; merely seeing those wings made them absolutely divine.

Her feet transformed into a pair of icy-blue phoenix talons, and her whole body was clad in feather armor dominated by green, with red and blue accents.

The crowd stared dumbstruck at this—"Holy shit… a martial soul fusion skill? Can you even pull off a martial soul fusion skill in a fight?"

Those who knew Gu Xuan all gave him strange looks, for aside from the wings and talons, this somehow looked exactly like Gu Xuan.

Gu Xuan felt astonished inside while also cursing, "Damn it, did someone steal my legendary skin?"

At that moment, a gender‑indistinct yet magnetically ethereal voice rang out from high above: "What's happening?"

PS: Typos will be fixed later.

It's a pity that Shui Bing'er in the original story is wasted; Li Li secretly loves the protagonist, and Xiao Yanzi has been a simp for years, so we found him a partner so he can have a Valentine's Day!

Later, Shui Bing'er will also ascend to the divine realm!

(End of chapter)