Chapter 228: Peak Duel (Part 2)

"Hiss..." Bei Bei gasped in surprise, unsure of what effect this strike would have if it landed on a person.

After dodging Luo Yu's strike, Huo Yuhao's entire body erupted with golden light, charging toward Luo Yu like lightning; he threw a heavy right punch, aiming straight for Luo Yu's shoulder.

As their fists met, a muffled sound rang out, and both figures were simultaneously knocked back. When it came to competing in strength, as a disciple of the Body Sect, Huo Yuhao believed he wouldn't lose to Luo Yu, but he had underestimated the soul guidance armor Luo Yu was wearing.

Most of his own power had been absorbed by that strange soul guidance armor, with only a small portion transmitted to Luo Yu. However, Luo Yu's strength was also surprisingly great; the moment their fists connected, Huo Yuhao felt as if he had slammed into an indestructible piece of steel, and the massive recoil force caused both of them to retreat.

Neither of them had gained any advantage from this punch. Huo Yuhao did not continue to pursue; as the golden light on his body flickered, he finally stabilized his stance.

His armor—is there something wrong with it?

This was the greatest doubt in Huo Yuhao's heart. That suit of armor put immense pressure on him; if it were an ordinary Soul Engineer, it would have been absolutely impossible to take his punch—which utilized the secret techniques of the Body Sect—without sustaining damage.

Huo Yuhao's body shook once more, and an ice-blue domain rapidly expanded around him. In Huo Yuhao's eyes, it seemed as if the winds and snow of an endless Extreme North were roaring, and reflected deep within his pupils was the faint image of a jade-green scorpion.

"Eternal Frozen Domain, open!"

The next instant, the temperature on the competition stage plummeted sharply, and wind and snow actually began to drift across the stage!

Going head-to-head with Luo Yu, who possessed a suit of strange armor, was definitely not a wise move. Huo Yuhao asked himself if he truly had such absolute certainty.

Competing against Luo Yu, who had a strange soul guidance armor, was definitely not a wise choice. Huo Yuhao asked himself that if he continued to choose a direct confrontation, he would have to make good use of the characteristics of his Twin Martial Souls and bring his own advantages into play if he wanted to defeat Luo Yu.

As Huo Yuhao's Eternal Frozen Domain expanded, the temperature on the competition stage dropped drastically, and bone-chilling cold permeated the competition grounds; even the audience in the nearby stands could feel the biting cold.

Fortunately, Huo Yuhao's current strength was only at the Soul King level. If his soul power were a level higher, reaching the Soul Saint level, he could perfectly control the Eternal Frozen Domain and suppress Luo Yu firmly within it.

However, in reality, there are no "ifs"!

Large amounts of cold air and solid ice continuously covered the competition grounds. Before long, a thick layer of frost also covered Luo Yu's body. Under Huo Yuhao's control, the cold air continuously gathered toward Luo Yu, but a faint film of light around Luo Yu blocked the cold air's advance.

Although Luo Yu's soul power was also being consumed rapidly, he appeared very calm, quietly sensing the changes and wonders of the Eternal Frozen Domain.

"Watch closely, this is the strength of the Shrek captain. Today, what you need to do is study the strength and fighting style of everyone from Shrek!"

Luo Yu's voice rang out in the ears of the six people through a specialized soul guidance device, a scene that caused the six of them to involuntarily turn their gazes toward Huo Yuhao.

Looking from the stands, it appeared as if Luo Yu had been trapped in the domain by Huo Yuhao, but only Huo Yuhao himself knew exactly what kind of monster he had locked up.

Luo Yu looked at Huo Yuhao, and Huo Yuhao looked at Luo Yu; neither of them took the initiative to attack.

At present, Luo Yu had not received any substantial damage. Once Huo Yuhao chose to take the initiative, as long as Luo Yu caught the slightest flaw, the Eternal Frozen Domain would immediately be broken. Although Huo Yuhao himself felt that taking the initiative, combined with Reign of the Monarch, had a great chance of gaining an advantage, he truly dared not act rashly under the current circumstances—who knew if Luo Yu also had some trump card, just waiting for him to make a move.

Watching this strange scene, Xu Sanshi frowned and said, "Even Yu Hao's Eternal Frozen Domain can't have much effect on this guy named Luo Yu. What on earth is that kid wearing?"

"If I'm not mistaken, Su Yu also has a piece of soul guidance armor like that, but Su Yu's soul guidance armor is very different from his. It cannot be ruled out that Su Yu's soul guidance armor is a copy of Luo Yu's." He Caitou looked at that piece of soul guidance armor with eyes shining; that wasn't just soul guidance armor, that was his future path to becoming an Eight-level Soul Engineer!

Bei Bei looked serious and remained silent for a long time before slowly saying, "Yu Hao is consuming the opponent's strength. The opponent's strength is too great. At the very beginning, Huo Yuhao's several mental attacks couldn't land an effective blow on Luo Yu. Now that Luo Yu has been dragged into Yu Hao's Eternal Frozen Domain, the next period of time will be a test of consumption between the two. In terms of soul power, Luo Yu's soul power isn't as much as our little junior brother's, but I'm not sure what other hidden cards Luo Yu has. This match is too difficult..."

Five more minutes passed, and Luo Yu was still standing quietly in the center of the Eternal Frozen Domain, but Huo Yuhao's face was somewhat pale at this moment. The consumption of the Eternal Frozen Domain was too great; he couldn't maintain it for a long time yet, and furthermore, he hadn't utilized the advantage of the Eternal Frozen Domain to launch an active attack, which resulted in his consumption being exceptionally high.

Huo Yuhao's figure gradually disappeared from Luo Yu's field of vision, hiding within the Eternal Frozen Domain. Luo Yu unhurriedly activated the soul guidance detector while turning the soul power output of the soul guidance protective barrier to the maximum.

Huo Yuhao's aura had completely vanished within the domain, but no matter how well his aura was hidden, as long as Huo Yuhao launched an attack, the soul guidance detector would immediately discover his location.

When Huo Yuhao arrived silently at Luo Yu's side, his hands had already turned ice-blue. With a figure like a ghost, he struck like lightning, his palms descending toward Luo Yu's shoulders.

Bang!

The soul guidance protective barrier was instantly destroyed by these two seemingly light palms. Luo Yu did not hesitate; he turned, raised his hands, and met Huo Yuhao's Ice Empress's Pincer with his own palms.

Seeing this scene, Bei Bei breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Luo Yu was careless. He shouldn't have used his hands to take Yu Hao's soul skill. The outcome is decided; Yu Hao has won."

However, what happened next did not go as Bei Bei had imagined; a crimson light emerged from the palms of Luo Yu, who was within arm's reach.

"Damn, the captain plays dirty. That's a Palm Thunder Cannon! The closer the distance, the greater the damage. It's something the captain only tinkered with a while ago; I didn't expect him to use it today. Damn it, if only I could be equipped with this thing too." Leiqier looked at the crimson light in Luo Yu's palms with an envious expression.

In an instant, Huo Yuhao realized something was wrong. He saw the light in Luo Yu's palms erupt; the crimson light, carrying a roar like thunder, exploded in an instant, as if several bolts of lightning had burst open simultaneously. The deafening sound shattered the surrounding solid ice, sending it flying.

Not good, it's a trap! Too late to dodge, the distance is too close!

Boom!

Two Palm Thunder Cannons slammed solidly into Huo Yuhao's Ice Empress's Pincer. The massive power instantly poured onto Huo Yuhao's body. Even though Huo Yuhao had gathered a large amount of Extreme Ice in a short time to block the explosion, a considerable portion of the blast still landed squarely on the Ice Empress's Pincer.

The massive impact sent Huo Yuhao flying back violently. Before Luo Yu could continue his attack, Huo Yuhao immediately used the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, utilizing his powerful physical constitution to quickly vanish into the Eternal Frozen Domain.

In terms of the speed of adapting to changing circumstances, Huo Yuhao had already pushed what he could do to the limit. Yet, he had still been dealt a heavy blow by Luo Yu. If Huo Yuhao hadn't reacted in time, the Palm Thunder Cannon just now would have been enough to cripple his hands!

Although the Palm Thunder Cannon just now hadn't caused fatal damage to Huo Yuhao, it had completely shattered the Ice Empress's Pincer, and even Huo Yuhao's own hands had been scorched black by the explosion.

Fortunately, it hadn't injured his tendons or bones, but his hands were trembling slightly now, and the power of that explosion still left him with lingering fear.

If it happened again, Huo Yuhao wouldn't have the Ice Empress's Pincer to block it; relying solely on the Tang Sect's Mysterious Jade Hand would be impossible to block the Palm Thunder Cannon at close range.

Luo Yu put away the Palm Thunder Cannon with fluid movements, a soul guidance long sword appeared in his hand, and he thrust it toward a spot not far away.

With one thrust, a crisp sound of ice shattering instantly rang out from the Eternal Frozen Domain. A figure was knocked back by the impact, then vanished into the domain once again.

A delicate soul guidance bomb was aimed and thrown by Luo Yu in one direction. Huo Yuhao immediately controlled the domain to use ice to block that soul guidance bomb. The moment he blocked it, the delicate bomb instantly exploded. The violent blast caused the Eternal Frozen Domain to vibrate slightly, but just as Huo Yuhao looked toward the explosion again, he saw a blinding white light bloom instantly once more.

The entire Eternal Frozen Domain was instantly shrouded in white light. Huo Yuhao sensed something was wrong and immediately closed his eyes. This fighting style gave him a damnably familiar feeling. He couldn't say where this fluid fighting style came from, but his intuition told him he had definitely seen it before.

Time was tight; he had no extra time to think about these things. Under heavy pressure, Huo Yuhao's brain was running at high speed.

The next moment, the Eternal Frozen Domain disappeared; Huo Yuhao had voluntarily deactivated the Eternal Frozen Domain.

The current situation no longer allowed him to continue maintaining the Eternal Frozen Domain, because it seemed that some kind of mark had been planted on him by Luo Yu, and the Eternal Frozen Domain could no longer provide him with protection.

In the distance, Luo Yu's pair of blood-red wings spread out like a dragon unfolding its wings. Seeing this scene, Huo Yuhao did not hesitate; his pair of Spirit Eyes erupted with ice-blue light, and countless threads appeared out of thin air, continuously winding toward Luo Yu.

Looking at that pair of double pupils radiating ice-blue light, Luo Yu knew that Huo Yuhao had now completed the second awakening of his Body Martial Soul, and his body had been greatly strengthened; otherwise, it would have been impossible to take his Palm Thunder Cannon.

When he first invented the Palm Thunder Cannon, it was to defend against those types of people with extremely powerful close-combat abilities. Although he had sparred with the Hall Master back then, it seemed now that the power of this cannon was quite impressive.

Countless ice-blue rays of light gathered, firmly restricting Luo Yu's movements in mid-air. That pair of double pupils erupted with an unprecedented binding force at this moment.

Finally, Luo Yu was sealed into an ice-blue ball of light. Through the ball of light, one could seemingly still see a figure flickering within.

"Admit defeat." Huo Yuhao stood up in a disheveled state, looking at Luo Yu who had been sealed into the ball of light.

"Is that so?"

Answering him was a pitch-black Collapse Ray. The destructive power of the Collapse Ray was extremely great, but its shortcomings were also very obvious; its speed was not fast, and it was very easy for people to dodge.

Three consecutive Collapse Rays were fired. The ice-blue ball of light trembled slightly, but no changes occurred, not even a single crack.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three Palm Thunder Cannon blasts were fired in quick succession, following closely behind the light orbs; the violent explosion caused the icy blue light orbs to emit a sound of tearing under the unbearable strain, finally drawing to a close amidst a teeth-grinding sound of cracking.

Clang!

A large amount of debris fell to the ground, and Luo Yu landed slowly, looking at Huo Yuhao, whose eyes were filled with disbelief; at that moment, in Huo Yuhao's eyes, it seemed as if something had shattered...

"Impossible, how could my awakened soul skill..."

Just as Luo Yu looked into Huo Yuhao's eyes, a violent Spirit Shock poured into his mind.

Fell for it!

This was Luo Yu's only thought at the time, and then Luo Yu did not hesitate, using his wings to wrap himself within them, instantly forming a perfect Defense System.

However, even the most powerful Defense System requires someone to maintain it, not to mention that Luo Yu was currently trapped in the mental blankness of a Soul Shock.

Huo Yuhao naturally would not give up this excellent opportunity; he summoned his Ice Jade Empress Scorpion martial soul once again, wrapping a large amount of Extreme Ice onto Luo Yu's Soul Guidance wings, with a vast amount of soul power continuously condensing.

When Luo Yu regained consciousness, he could feel a large amount of soul power gathered on his Soul Guidance armor, and this soul power was extremely unstable, ready to explode at any moment.

Ice Jade Scorpion Soul Bone, Ice Explosion Technique!

Huo Yuhao did not hesitate and immediately activated the Ice Explosion Technique; the soul power contained within the massive amount of Extreme Ice erupted instantly, the entire arena was submerged by the violent explosion, and even the arena's Soul Guidance Protective Barrier was nearly shattered by the blast.

Watching Luo Yu being submerged by the Ice Explosion Technique, the members of the Sun Moon Battle Team all broke into a cold sweat; although they believed in Luo Yu, the current scene was indeed not optimistic.

A tremendous sense of pressure and a feeling of shattering continuously stimulated Luo Yu's nerves.

Just as Luo Yu had expected, those Extreme Ice shards, which had condensed Huo Yuhao's soul power, erupted in a violent explosion after the soul power reached its peak.

The massive impact caused the Soul Guidance armor wings that Luo Yu had spent a great price to forge to be instantly ruined, and Luo Yu himself was also sent smashing hard against the arena's Protective Barrier by the terrifying impact force.