Chapter 525: with translation of chapter title

The fact shows that Yunming isn't that fragile; although Tang Wulin's full-force attack might be hard for him to block, if Tang Wulin holds back, withstanding this blow is not difficult for him.

After flying several hundred meters away, he barely managed to stop; after a pause of a few seconds, he flew back.

Seeing him fly back, Tang Wulin silently withdrew his Dragon God True Body; then a strong sense of weakness surged, his body swayed, and he almost fell from the sky.

Fortunately, a soft body timely supported him, so he didn't make a fool of himself.

Huo Yutong's gaze toward him was filled with worry.

"Wulin, are you alright?"

Tang Wulin smiled at her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm fine; I just need to readjust to this state."

Unlike that terrifying amplification, the consumption of the Dragon God True Body was unexpectedly small, and since Tang Wulin didn't use it for too long, his consumption was actually not large.

His performance was merely due to having fallen from the divine level back to the human level; the drop in his perception made it hard for him to adapt at once.

He looked at Yunming.

"How about it, do you need a break?"

Yunming let out a light sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

"Although I'd like to boast that I don't need one, my current state really isn't up to facing the legendary strongest Limit Douluo; could you give me ten or so minutes?"

"No need, I'll help you recover."

Tang Wulin shook his head, and then the colors of the soul rings around him changed.

Black black black red blue red red red red; although not as eye-catching as the six gold and one colored just before, it is still an extraordinary soul ring combination.

Then his third, seventh, and eighth soul rings lit up together.

The eighth soul skill's granted recovery ability can apply not only to Tang Wulin himself, but through the Bluesilver Ancient Spirit Formation, it can also apply to his teammates.

Although Tang Wulin cannot handle curse-type or soul injuries, if only considering bodily recovery, his healing ability is actually not inferior to Ya Li's level.

Feeling the terrifying life force surging within his body, Yunming discovered his injuries were almost instantly healed, and the soul power he had just consumed began to recover at an astonishing speed.

At this rate, he probably wouldn't even need a full minute to return to his original state.

"This is too terrifying..."

An ordinary support-type Limit Douluo would probably be no more than this, but Tang Wulin is actually only a ninety-first-ranked Honored Douluo.

In fact, he still miscalculated Tang Wulin's Bluesilver Ancient Spirit Formation's support ability; only forty seconds passed and he had already fully returned to peak condition, the fatigue generated in the recent battle vanished as if it were fake, leaving his entire state extraordinarily fresh.

Yunming stretched his bones and clicked his tongue in amazement: "Really impressive; if I could be your teammate, even if you didn't fight, just using your support ability to aid me would multiply my combat power several times over."

Besides that, with the super-strong recovery ability granted by Tang Wulin's support, he could completely ignore injuries and consumption to launch full-force assaults against enemies; for him, an assault-system tool martial soul master, such a level of support teammate is extremely rare.

Unfortunately, normally if Tang Wulin participates in battle, there's no need to secure victory by supporting Yunming; he himself can easily defeat the opponent.

Tang Wulin smiled faintly.

"You're too polite; actually, Yutong's support ability is stronger; after this contest ends, you can experience it."

"Alright, then I'll look forward to it."

Yunming laughed heartily.

For soul masters, battle is a good means to quickly draw two people closer; he now feels his relationship with Tang Wulin has grown much closer, to the point they can be called friends.

He looked at Huo Yutong, extending his hand to gesture and said:

"Come, let me witness the strength of the legendary Ice Spirit Douluo."

As a person of this era, Yunming couldn't possibly not be curious about the strength of the legendary Ice Spirit Douluo.

When he was young studying at Shilake Academy, he grew up gazing at that sculpture in the Ice Spirit Plaza, and back then he had countless fantasies about just how powerful this top expert who founded countless legends truly was.

Back then he never dreamed that one day he would actually stand atop the continent and clash with this senior from ten thousand years ago; although Huo Yutong, his opponent in battle, hasn't yet reached Limit Douluo level, he believes her strength will surely not disappoint him.

Upon hearing this, Tang Wulin sensibly stepped aside.

Actually, compared to him, Huo Yutong's skill has a larger attack range; his presence would greatly affect her performance.

After confirming Tang Wulin had left, Huo Yutong lightly nodded, then extended her hand; a snow-white long sword appeared in her hand, pointing far toward Yunming.

"Alright, before we start fighting, let me remind you: the difference in combat style between me and Wulin is huge; don't fight me the way you fought him."

As she spoke, her hair quickly turned white, and her clothes were also covered with a layer of fresh snow, causing the nearby temperature to drop at a terrifying speed.

The celestial phenomenon of Golden Sun and Blue Moon appeared behind her, and Huo Yutong's aura suddenly surged.

This strange sight startled Yunming's heart, and at the same time he was astonished to discover that the whole world seemed to begin strongly rejecting him.

Yunming, worthy of being a powerhouse who has long stood at the planar peak, quickly realized what was happening.

"Divine sense suppression..."

This era differs from ten thousand years ago, with fine divisions for the realms of mental power.

Overall, from high to low they are the Spirit Origin Realm, Spirit Penetration Realm, Spirit Sea Realm, Spirit Abyss Realm, Spirit Domain Realm, and the legendary Divine Origin Realm and Divine King Realm—these seven major realms.

Among these realms, only those who have reached the Spirit Domain Realm in mental power can become Limit Douluo-level powerhouses, and only those who have reached the Divine Origin Realm in mental power can possibly advance to higher realms.

Yunming himself possesses Divine Origin Realm mental power, but to avoid being suppressed by the plane, he has long kept his mental power confined within the Spirit Domain Realm.

But this girl before him is different; although she also has Divine Origin Realm mental power, she not only is not suppressed by the plane, but is far stronger than him.

In fact, when Huo Yutong completely absorbed all the primal energy of the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm and fully evolved her martial soul into the Eye of Fate, her mental power had already taken its first steps into the Divine Origin Realm.

After absorbing Li Ya and breaking through to Soul Douluo, her mental power had already firmly established itself in the Divine Origin Realm, far stronger than Yunming now; moreover, after slaying the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign and successfully breaking through to the Honored Douluo realm, she became the undisputed number one in the mental power field.

As for why Huo Yutong is not subject to planar suppression, the main reason is that, unlike Yunming and Chen Xinjie, her mental power has completely evolved into divine sense, having fully completed its transformation, so she is no longer subjected to the world's suppression of humanity.

At this very moment, merely the pressure from mental power is strong enough to give Yunming the feeling of struggling to move.

If an ordinary Limit Douluo were here, the outcome would probably already be decided; Huo Yutong wouldn't even need to act—just releasing her mental power could crush the opponent.

Yet her doing so instead ignited Yunming's fighting spirit.

He unhesitatingly invoked the Heaven-Supporting True Body again; sharp spear-light spewed from the Heaven-Supporting Spear, instantly tearing apart the mental power pressing upon him.

Heaven-Supporting Spear, as the name suggests, is a long spear capable of holding up the heavens.

Those who possess this martial soul, like Yunming, can only unleash their true strength when they are in the sky or facing a powerful enemy.

And now the situation is exactly that—battle in the sky against the legendary Lingbing Douluo—so Yunming's strength can undoubtedly be brought to its fullest.

He let out a loud shout, and his battle armor domain burst forth, intense golden light condensing into countless spear shadows that shot toward Huo Yutong.

Huo Yutong's expression didn't change; she raised her hand, and an ice-blue halo appeared before her palm.

Instantly, Yunming felt the ice elements in the air violently surge, rushing toward the center of her palm.

Next, a gorgeous ice blossom bloomed in midair.

Countless huge ice spikes thrust forward, directly meeting Yunming's spear shadows and effortlessly blocking all his attacks.

The soul skill she just released was precisely Bajiao Ice Source Condensation and Bajiao Omnidirectional Spike.

However, unlike before, this time Huo Yutong did not use Bajiao Ice Source Condensation to replenish herself; instead, she directed all the gathered energy onto the Bajiao Omnidirectional Spike to counter Yunming's domain skill.

Unlike his recent battle with Tang Wulin, when facing Huo Yutong Yunming immediately employed his battle armor, Martial Soul True Body, and battle armor domain—three major amplifications—such that even Huo Yutong dare not underestimate his strength.

She drew a breath, and then a massive blizzard swept across the entire sky, fierce snowflakes dancing at extreme speed, striking Yunming's battle armor and actually producing a metallic clashing sound.

Since Yunming intended to suppress her with a domain-type skill, she likewise used a domain skill to counter-suppress, to see who could overwhelm whom.

This blizzard fully incorporated Snow Dance Radiant Sun, Eternal Freeze Domain, and the Ice Snow Bear King's Blizzard—three soul skills—its power already far surpassing ordinary domain-type skills; if one's cultivation had not reached the level of Limit Douluo, entering this domain would likely turn them into an unfreezable ice sculpture within ten seconds.

Merely to resist the domain's erosion, Yunming's soul power began to plummet at a terrifying rate; even he would likely not last more than ten minutes.

He couldn't keep wasting like this! After merely sensing the domain's effect, Yunming realized that if he continued this stalemate, he would surely be the loser.

His domain is attack-type, completely different from Huo Yutong's weather-altering kind; only by taking the initiative can it unleash its greatest power—if he simply waits to be defeated, there will be no chance of victory at all.

Moreover, as the domain spread, he lost all information about Huo Yutong's position; he was basically blind, and the probability of a random attack hitting her approached zero.

Rather than being worn down like this, it would be better to go all-in and attempt to shatter the domain directly.

Yunming made up his mind, hoisting the Sky-Searing Spear above his head; countless brilliant spear glints gathered upon it, surging energy erupting, tearing apart the sweeping wind and snow and quickly spreading.

Yunming understood that, with his spiritual power inferior to Huo Yutong's, he could not easily pinpoint her exact location; thus it was better to use a wide-range attack to encompass her as well.

His plan was sound, but perhaps because he had just gone all-out against Tang Wulin, he forgot one thing: that Huo Yutong is a control-system battle soul master.

Just as he was about to finish charging, a gorgeous rose-gold light suddenly flared in the endless blizzard; a golden beam, with the posture of tearing through spacetime, instantly reached him and struck the unavoidable Yunming.

If he could figure it out, how could Huo Yutong not understand?

In fact, before unleashing her domain skill, Huo Yutong already knew that Yunming wanted to reverse the disadvantage brought by his domain; the only way was to go all-out with a wide-range attack to break the stalemate.

Therefore, she had actually been quietly charging ever since the start, waiting for this moment—when Yunming was unavoidable—to lay the groundwork with a soul impact.

Huo Yutong's spiritual power far surpassed Yunming's; although this soul impact was not used with any other amplifying soul skill, released as Yunming was fully charging, it still instantly made him vomit blood and left his mind blank.

Huo Yutong also seized the opportunity; with a bare-handed gesture, the sky-filling wind and snow swiftly gathered in her hand, condensing into ice-blue chains that wrapped around the stunned Yunming, instantly binding him securely.

When Yunming regained his senses, he found himself completely bound by the chains formed from the Snow Dance Extreme Ice Domain, while not far ahead Huo Yutong raised her white longsword, icy-blue aura emanating from it, ready to strike down.

"……"

Yunming couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

Why did a mere daze change the situation like this? He suddenly recalled that before the fight, Huo Yutong had warned him that her combat style differed greatly from Tang Wulin's, and now he finally understood what she meant.

Tang Wulin, like him, is a typical assault-type soul master; he prefers to overpower opponents with sheer force, using fierce attacks to leave them breathless, thereby securing victory.

Huo Yutong, however, is like a textbook control-type soul master; her fighting consists of continually seeking opportunities to control the opponent, and once she succeeds, the enemy will face relentless powerful control-type soul skills—so much so that even in instantaneous burst power, she could surpass Tang Wulin.

Just like him, the battle had barely begun when he was directly forced into a desperate situation.

But if he were to lose like that, it would be utterly embarrassing; so Yunming sighed and softly uttered two words.

"No-Fly."

"?!"

Huo Yutong, who was about to bring down her longsword, suddenly changed expression and uncontrollably plummeted toward the ocean.

This is precisely one of the Sky-Searing Spear's traits: No-Fly; as long as he activates it, even a Limit Douluo-level powerhouse cannot continue flying within its area of effect.

Affected by this trait, Huo Yutong's attack rhythm was instantly interrupted, and Yunming successfully gained a breather, his whole body blazing with light as he shattered the chains formed from the Snow Dance Extreme Ice Domain.

During her fall from high altitude, Huo Yutong quickly calmed; with a flash of silver light, she employed spatial power to appear on the sea surface.

"Crack-crack-crack!"

The instant her toes touched the seawater, a crisp sound rang out, and as far as the eye could see, the ocean surface was covered with a thick layer of solid ice.

Meanwhile, in the high sky, golden light flickered, and countless spear glints poured down like rain.

"Sigh."

Huo Yutong sighed helplessly, then switched martial souls; her soul ring configuration changed from three red, one blue, five red to one gold, eight red, and as the sixth soul ring lit up, a massive rose-gold vortex began to expand from her as the center.

Still the same large-range spiritual soul skill she commonly uses, the Spiritual Vortex, but this time its oppressive feel was completely different; its effective diameter reached several kilometers, and any of Yunming's spear glints entering its range would be instantly shredded by its formidable spiritual power.

Huo Yutong was on the sea surface while Yunming was in the high sky, separated by tens of thousands of meters; for a moment neither moved.

Both were contemplating how to defeat the other.

From just that exchange, Yunming already clearly realized that in long-range and wide-range attacks he was inferior to Huo Yutong; as long as the distance remained unclosed, he had absolutely no chance of victory.

But did he really have to close the distance and engage Huo Yutong in melee?

Gazing at the high-speed spinning Spiritual Vortex that pulverized his spear glints like a meat grinder, Yunming twitched the corner of his mouth, feeling that idea was not very wise.

Huo Yutong's spiritual power was simply too great; with the Spiritual Vortex—a large-range soul skill that in some sense approaches a domain skill—engaging her in close combat would truly not be a good method.

Unable to prevail at range, and melee combat unlikely to succeed, Yunming fell into confusion for a moment.

And on the sea surface, Huo Yutong likewise fell into confusion.

However, unlike Yunming, she was pondering how to end the fight without inflicting serious injury on him.

In fact, today's battle—she and Tang Wulin had not truly gone all out; otherwise, both fights would have ended in an instant.

Besides, if Huo Yutong's soul impact she just used on Yunming were replaced with Spacetime Light, Yunming would already have fallen.

Consider that when Diyin was struck by the Spacetime Light of the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign, even with Biji's healing and the Life Lake's aid, it took a full thousand years to recover; given Huo Yutong's spiritual power now far exceeds that of the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign, if she used Spacetime Light on Yunming, even with Tang Wulin and Ya Li giving their all to heal him, he likely could not be saved—only if Huo Yutong employed Fate Anchor to pre-fix Yunming's state could she revive him.

And if Tang Wulin had used his Dragon God True Body from the start, Yunming would hardly withstand a single move against his godly level.

Defeating Yun Ming was no difficulty for her and Tang Wulin; the real trouble was how to end the battle without seriously injuring Yun Ming.

After thinking it over, Huo Yutong finally sighed, suddenly withdrew her spiritual vortex, and said to Yun Ming:

"Your Excellency, aren't you wanting to experience power above the divine level? How about we stop worrying about so much and just decide the victor with a single strike?"

Her voice was not loud, yet it directly appeared in Yun Ming's mind despite the distance of ten thousand meters.

Anyway, the purpose of this battle was also to help Yun Ming experience divine-level power; the outcome and process don't matter, so it's still simplest to decide the victor with a single strike.

Moreover, just now she had already used the Eye of Fate Anchor to drop an anchor point; even if Yun Ming really died from this strike's collision, she could pull him back directly.

Yun Ming widened his eyes in slight astonishment, then gave a bitter smile and nodded.

"Alright, then I accept the concession."

He felt that the number of times he had bitterly smiled today would soon exceed the total of the past ten or more years; indeed, since becoming the continent's strongest, few could surprise and embarrass him like this.

Yun Ming naturally understood that as a control-system soul master, Huo Yutong actively chose to abandon her endless control methods and instead directly clash with him, an attack-system opponent, which was her holding back; but the problem now is that even with Huo Yutong holding back, he doesn't see any chance of victory.

For a spirit-system soul master who can use spiritual power as soul power, the realm of spiritual power is actually more important than the level of soul power.

Therefore, when Yun Ming discovered that Huo Yutong's spiritual power realm far exceeded his, he actually knew that he had no chance of winning this battle.

Fortunately, the outcome of this battle doesn't matter; indeed, for Yun Ming, losing would be better, because it means his identity shifts from pioneer to follower, which is far easier than his previous predicament of having no method and relying solely on his own exploration, and following two beings stronger than him greatly increases the success rate compared to his own aimless exploration.

Yun Ming raised the Heaven-Piercing Divine Spear, pointed it at Huo Yutong ten thousand meters below, and said in a deep voice: "Heaven-Piercing, Shoot the Sun!"

Instantly, terrifying golden light spread across the sky, with his Heaven-Piercing Divine Spear as the center, space began to break apart layer by layer, revealing the boundless void beyond.

This is nearly the strongest attack he can muster; while using all the power of his Heaven-Piercing Divine Spear, he also draws on the heavenly laws, its power nearly reaching the level of a god-slaying strike below the divine realm, which even the Douluo plane can hardly withstand.

If he could one day use this strike while wielding a god's position, his attack power might even reach the level of slaying gods; but given his circumstances, it's basically impossible to encounter a situation requiring him to use a god's position to defend against.

Even in his battle with Tang Wulin, he never used this move, because before Tang Wulin unleashed his Dragon God True Body, he feared accidentally killing Tang Wulin with it, and after Tang Wulin unleashed his Dragon God True Body, the move became meaningless.

But now, facing Huo Yutong, he can finally unleash this ultimate technique with confidence, believing she will definitely block it; even if he misjudged and she couldn't block it, Tang Wulin not far away would surely help her block it.

Facing this move of his, Huo Yutong's gaze also turned serious.

The power of Yun Ming's strike is indeed formidable, having reached the highest level attainable by humanity; to surpass him, one must use divine-level power, and even she has few means to counter it.

The Ice Snow Girl Martial Soul requires activating the divine-level Ninth Soul Technique, while the Necromancer Martial Soul requires using the God-Descent Technique; both are extremely high-cost, high-damage moves.

Therefore, at this time, she still chose to use her strongest martial soul, the ability of the Eye of Fate.

Under Yun Ming's somewhat shocked gaze, her feet gradually left the ground, resisting the Heaven-Piercing Divine Spear's ability to banish from space, her whole body slightly hovering in midair, and she opened her third eye on her forehead.

The next second, intense rose-gold light burst forth; the ice beneath her feet instantly shattered, revealing the ocean below, which had also been completely dyed gold by her spiritual power.

The petite girl's figure had somehow disappeared, replaced in place by a huge vertical eye, gorgeous patterns spreading from its edge outward, exuding a sacred and noble aura.

This is likewise Huo Yutong's first use of her Martial Soul True Body after successfully condensing her second soul core; this huge vertical eye is the true form of the Eye of Fate.

Although her Martial Soul True Body hasn't broken through to the divine level like Tang Wulin's, Yun Ming can still feel that its might far exceeds his own Heaven-Piercing True Body; if that soul impact just now had struck him while he was in his Martial Soul True Body, he would most likely have suffered severe injury and lost combat ability.

Just then, Yun Ming's expression suddenly changed; under his gaze, the color and aura of Huo Yutong's Eye of Fate instantly underwent a complete transformation, shifting from the original gorgeous noble rose-gold to a purple filled with madness and despair.

Yun Ming had seen this kind of energy before; this is——

"Destructive Power?!"

The eye-shaped external soul bone left behind by the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign, besides containing a vast amount of spiritual origin and the memories of the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign, also retains a powerful soul skill—the Destructive Light he once used in his battle against Huo Yutong.

Although this soul skill's power is not as great as the Light of Time and Space, as a terrifying soul skill that combines spiritual power with destructive power to directly devastate the opponent's spiritual origin, its attack power ranks among the foremost among the spiritual-system soul skills Huo Yutong possesses.

At this moment, Huo Yutong chooses to use this move against Yun Ming.

As the Eye of Fate changed color, the ocean's color also quickly shifted; boundless purple rapidly spread, turning the sea beneath Huo Yutong's feet into a demonic realm.

"Really impressive..."

Tang Wulin, watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

The golden sky and purple ocean faced each other, the intense color contrast striking his eyes, making him feel deep admiration.

Without using his Dragon God True Body, the power of his strongest attack is probably no more than this.

No wonder Yun Ming can be called the strongest human of the present age; he has indeed touched the limit of what humanity can achieve, and only by becoming a god can one step further.

But just like that, he still couldn't defeat Huo Yutong.

Tang Wulin muttered softly, having already judged the outcome of this clash in advance.

It's not that he looks down on Yun Ming; this is a qualitative gap.

Because Huo Yutong fully unleashed her spiritual power in this blast of Destructive Light, which, like his Dragon God True Body, has reached the divine realm and cannot be completely neutralized by any attack below the divine level.

In the sky, Yun Ming raised his Heaven-Piercing Divine Spear high; its tip almost became a new sun, the blinding golden light seeming to annihilate all evil, and under its radiance, he who holds the Heaven-Piercing Long Spear appears like a god.

He abruptly turned the Heaven-Piercing Divine Spear's direction, swinging the long spear downward; the golden light at its tip instantly burst forth, forming a huge golden spear shadow that assailed the vertical pupil below.

At the same time, the center of the vertical pupil formed by Huo Yutong lit up with a deep purple beam, and subsequently a light pillar with a diameter of up to a hundred meters shot out from it, meeting the Judgment Light falling from the high sky.

At the instant the golden and purple collided in midair, time seemed to pause for a moment, then a tremendous shattering sound rang out, and the entire space shattered under the aftermath of their attacks, unable to heal for a long time.

Yun Ming's body in the high air suddenly shuddered, his face turned pale, and he spat out a mouthful of blood with a 'wah'.

Although he successfully blocked the main body of Huo Yutong's Destructive Light, he could not block the destructive intent contained within; his Sea of Spirit instantly suffered severe damage, and were it not for the support of his battle armor, he might even have fallen from the high altitude.

In contrast, Huo Yutong's situation was much better; the huge vertical eye returned to human form, her face was also very pale, but not as miserable as Yun Ming's.

She lightly lifted her gaze to the sky, extended her small hand, and clenched it tightly; the black cracks across the sky vanished instantly, and the purple sea beneath her feet returned to azure, restoring vitality.

The plane, originally riddled with holes from their attacks, instantly returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

Moreover, as the world recovered, the destructive power that had been ravaging Yun Ming's Sea of Spirit vanished without a trace; even the damage previously suffered was fully restored, and looking down, Huo Yutong's condition also returned to full.

The conditions of the two, who had suffered different injuries, all reverted to their pre-clash states; Yun Ming suddenly realized this was due to Huo Yutong using some unknown soul skill.

He couldn't help but reveal a bitter smile again.

"Looks like I lost again this time."

Unlike just now, this time he truly used his strongest killing move aside from his god's position, while Huo Yutong obviously still had many moves unused.

Indeed worthy of being the strongest Extreme Limit Douluo in history, true to its name.

(End of Chapter)