Chapter 295: Hamao Douluo

"Such a sharp aura." Hamao Douluo's pupils constricted slightly, and his expression became a bit more solemn.

Judging from the aura Shi Quan revealed, Shi Quan's sword technique was definitely not simple.

"Then let me experience your sword technique."

Hamao Douluo launched the attack first; the Golden Spear was merely thrust out in a simple straight line, yet it lunged forward like a giant golden dragon.

As the saying goes, a spear thrust is like a dragon; it could not be more accurate to describe this scene.

Sharp sword intent emerged in Shi Quan's eyes; he lifted his sword to slash diagonally, guided it with agility, and swept toward Hamao Douluo's hands along the spear shaft.

Hamao Douluo shook his hands, lifted the spear upward, and then swept it horizontally toward Shi Quan's head.

As the saying goes, one inch longer, one inch stronger; one inch shorter, one inch riskier.

Relying on the length advantage of the spear, Hamao Douluo did not intend to give Shi Quan any chance to close in.

Shi Quan lifted his sword to block, tilted his head, relaxed the force in his hand, and took advantage of the momentum to guide the spear to one side.

Hamao Douluo only felt as if there were a suction force on Shi Quan's longsword pulling his spear forward, so he hurriedly lifted his foot to kick, forcibly changing the direction of the spear to sweep toward Shi Quan's chest.

Shi Quan raised his hand to block, and the spear and the Xuanyuan emitted a humming sound of metal clashing.

Hamao Douluo only felt the spear sweep against a wall of copper and iron; his foot was shaken with pain, and his figure retreated several meters.

"Just as Hama said, this kid's strength is shockingly great, and his sword technique is not simple either. My spear technique cannot gain the slightest advantage in front of him."

As a Title Douluo, his observation skills were astonishing; after two simple exchanges, Hamao Douluo keenly sensed the extraordinary nature of Shi Quan's sword technique.

Seeing Shi Quan pursuing, Hamao Douluo knew he could not go on like this; the Third Soul Ring lit up on the spear, and the spear shadow split into three—two of which stabbed toward Shi Quan's shoulders, while the third stabbed directly at the incoming Dragon Spine Xuanyuan.

The attack was extremely concentrated, just like three sharp needles. Before the attack even arrived, the bone-chilling cold already made one's hair stand on end.

"Break!"

Shi Quan gave a light shout and flicked his hand; the Dragon Spine Xuanyuan in his hand flew out instantly, then split into three, blocking those three attacks respectively.

A piercing explosion sounded.

Sparks burst forth between the Dragon Spine Xuanyuan and the spear.

Both the spear and the Xuanyuan stalled; the Xuanyuan flew backward, and Hamao Douluo also slid several meters on the ground before stabilizing his figure.

"You can even control swords?" Hamao Douluo's heart tightened. During the collision just now, he felt the opponent's strength was not as great as his own, yet the opponent seemed able to see through his flaws and break his attack.

"Go!"

Shi Quan narrowed his eyes slightly and raised his hand to form a sword finger; the three Xuanyuan Sharp Blades split again, dividing directly into eight Xuanyuan short blades of varying lengths, attacking Hamao Douluo from all directions.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Crisp clashing sounds continued to ring out.

Hamao Douluo reacted extremely quickly, but he was still retreating steadily under the suppression of the eight Xuanyuan short blades, and his clothes began to show signs of damage.

Just as Hamao Douluo neared the Sea within the Sea, he finally launched a counterattack.

The Fifth Soul Ring on the golden spear suddenly lit up.

As the golden spear was brandished wantonly, the spear intent condensed like a blue dragon; as it danced wildly, the seawater boiled and transformed into swimming dragons, and the powerful energy instantly forced back all the surrounding Xuanyuan short blades.

Hamao Douluo then leaped up, his figure landing steadily on the surface of the water.

"Merge!" Hamao Douluo roared. He gripped the spear with both hands and thrust it violently into the water surface. Amidst a thunderous sound, water splashed everywhere. As the Seventh Soul Ring lit up, the scattered water did not return to the Sea within the Sea; instead, as if under some strange traction, it merged into that golden spear just like Hamao Douluo.

When Hamao Douluo merged with the spear in front of him, the Xuanyuan short blades that had been knocked away flew back again. The eight short blades landed on the spear, and a piercing clanging sound erupted, with countless sparks continuously bursting from that Sea Spear.

However, strangely, the eight Xuanyuan short blades landed on the spear, but apart from the splashing sparks, they caused no damage at all.

Shi Quan narrowed his eyes, instantly noticing the anomaly. With a flick of his finger, the eight Xuanyuan short blades turned into eight streaks of light and returned to Shi Quan's side.

From the brief contact, Shi Quan recognized this as Hamao Douluo's Eighth Soul Skill, which could block enemy attacks through the spear and even absorb part of the enemy's attack energy to rebound it instantly. The higher the intensity of his own attack, the stronger the rebound he would suffer.

Shi Quan did not attack, and Hamao Douluo did not strike either. The spear tip trembled rapidly, turning into countless spear shadows, stirring the seawater below and instantly dyeing it gold. Like a long whale drinking water, it pulled the seawater into the air and merged it into the spear, and the golden spear expanded rapidly during this process.

Taking advantage of the damage-immunity phase of his Eighth Soul Skill, Hamao Douluo released his special Domain, using it to devour seawater and absorb the energy within it to strengthen himself.

"Go!"

Shi Quan gave a light shout, and the eight Xuanyuan blades split into sixteen; eight guarded Shi Quan's side, while the other eight flew out, eight golden lights streaking across the Sea within the Sea, causing water to explode.

Although he could not attack Hamao Douluo, Shi Quan could influence the speed at which Hamao Douluo absorbed the seawater.

According to Shi Quan's speculation, the duration of Hamao Douluo's Eighth Soul Skill was definitely not long, and this type of soul skill was clearly strong when facing strength and weak when facing weakness; if the absorbed attack was not strong, the resulting offensive power would not be as strong as imagined.

As long as he dragged it out until the Eighth Soul Skill ended, it would be time to counterattack.

Seeing that Shi Quan did not attack proactively, the speed of seawater absorption was greatly reduced under his influence.

The spear finally could not hold back and launched an attack; the absorption motion paused, and then it suddenly sprang up. Countless golden lights exploded like rain, just like a sun bursting, emitting countless golden light shadows.

The Xuanyuan short blades under the spear were instantly knocked away. Shi Quan simply let the Xuanyuan short blades be knocked away, condensed his Spirit Sense, and the eight Xuanyuan short blades in front of him moved instantly.

They rotated at high speed like a round shield, pushing forward. Each golden thread caused a series of air explosions, like sharp spears.

The golden light struck the sword shield formed by the Xuanyuan short blades, and it was like a spear stabbing a shield, emitting muffled sounds; the powerful force pressed the sword shield to retreat slowly.

However, the golden light soon disappeared; without absorbing enough power, the offensive intensity brought by the spear's Eighth Soul Skill was clearly discounted significantly.

The sharp Xuanyuan short blades resisted it directly. With the growth of Shi Quan's strength, the sharpness and toughness of the Dragon Spine Xuanyuan had long reached a terrifying level; its strength was likely no weaker than any Tool Spirit that had released its Martial Soul True Body.

His Spirit Sense reconnected to the eight Xuanyuan short blades that had been knocked away, and the sixteen short blades merged back into eight.

With Shi Quan's current Mental Power, he could only control eight flying blades without affecting the intensity of the attacks; each flying blade could exert the strength of one hundred percent of Shi Quan's mental power. If the number increased, the attack intensity of each flying blade would decrease by a certain margin.

Seeing the flying blades attacking again, the golden spear had no chance to catch its breath. The spear lashed violently at the sea surface; amidst the sound, a layer of golden water curtain was lifted by the golden spear. The spear swept horizontally, and thousands of water droplets turned into points of light, stabbing toward Shi Quan with a piercing sound of breaking through the air.

The Xuanyuan flying blades danced with agility, directly and forcefully breaking through all the water droplet attacks.

The powerful attack power and toughness displayed by the Xuanyuan flying blades clearly exceeded Hamao Douluo's expectations; facing his own attack, the Xuanyuan flying blades were actually able to go head-to-head.

Seeing Shi Quan just standing on the platform controlling the flying blades to collide with him, dragging him out, not letting him absorb water, and with his own Mental Power unable to cut off Shi Quan's control over the flying blades, while his every move seemed to be seen through by Shi Quan—advancing to attack and retreating to defend—Shi Quan was playing these flying blades with such mastery.

He had no advantage in melee combat, and he was being suppressed to death at range.

His powerful attack power had not even been brought into play.

"Be careful!" Hamao Douluo's voice came; seeing that if he dragged it on like this, he would only have a losing outcome, he prepared to release his strongest strike, ready to decide the victory in one blow.

The Golden Spear suddenly burst forth with a radiance like the sun, the black Ninth Soul Ring lit up, and the Golden Spear expanded rapidly; countless Magic Patterns emerged on the smooth spear, which were identical to the patterns on the Sea Spear Sacred Pillar. The massive energy fluctuation caused the seawater below to split along the direction the spear pointed. The terrifying energy fluctuation even caused dozens of twisted black electric arcs to swirl around the spear.

For the first time, Shi Quan's expression revealed a sense of gravity; he could feel the power of Hamao Douluo's strike, and eight golden Xuanyuan Sharp Blades rapidly gathered in front of Shi Quan.

The next second, the spear galloped over, its terrifying attack speed like Teleportation.

The eight golden Xuanyuan Sharp Blades formed a straight line in front of the spear, erupting with brilliant golden light and pressure.

The Imperial Might was vast.

The Golden Spear's movement slowed, and the Xuanyuan Flying Blades immediately met it; the trajectory of the flying blades was very slow, so slow that one could clearly see the path of their movement, yet at the same time, it gave one a contradictory feeling of extreme speed.

With every movement of the flying blades, it was as if a thin thread was released and wrapped around the Golden Spear; the eight flying blades moved along with the spear, and these threads accumulated more and more, as if forming tufts of silk cotton, wrapping the Golden Spear up.

Using one's own bluntness to block the enemy's edge—this is the method of Taiji Yin and Yang; Shi Quan had already mastered this method of deflecting force, and even the flying blades could execute it.

Under the suppression of the Imperial Might, Hamao Douluo already felt his consumption of soul power increasing, making it even harder to control.

Now, after being entangled by these flying blades, not only was his offensive weakened, but he himself felt heavier and heavier, giving him a feeling that his soul power was unable to keep up.

But to think that this alone could directly break a Title Douluo's Ninth Soul Skill was, of course, impossible.

Although the high-speed spear was suppressed by force, in the blink of an eye, it had already arrived in front of Shi Quan.

"Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill!"

A golden glow emerged beneath Shi Quan's skin; he raised his hand into a fist, brilliant radiance burst from his eyes, and the muscles throughout his body as well as the soul power within him surged layer upon layer like a raging sea.

Boom!

In an instant, the entire Ring Sea seemed to be under heavy pressure, suddenly sinking several meters.

The Golden Spear flew backward, splitting into two, and Hamao Douluo's figure tumbled from it into the seawater.

Shi Quan's figure also flew backward, tumbling into the Ring Sea for dozens of meters; he tapped his toes repeatedly, and after neutralizing all the impact force, he landed steadily outside the Ring Sea.

Bright red blood stained Shi Quan's right palm, even though he had suppressed and weakened Hamao Douluo's Ninth Soul Skill as much as possible.

But in the collision, Hamao Douluo still broke through the defense of Shi Quan's Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill and caused him injury, which was enough to show just how astonishing Hamao Douluo's attack power was.

"As expected of Hamao Douluo."

The original work stated that Hamao Douluo's ability was known for its powerful attack power; his indomitable attack power and formidable breakthrough power were his characteristics.

Now he had witnessed it.

However, Hamao Douluo on the opposite side was having an equally hard time; his Ninth Soul Skill had been suppressed so severely that his soul power was insufficient to sustain the skill, and the collision just now was almost equivalent to taking one of Shi Quan's punches solidly.

"I have lost."

Hamao Douluo, now separated from his spear, leaped out of the seawater, panting heavily while leaning on the Golden Spear that had already developed a layer of cracks in his hand. The lapels of his clothes in front were already stained red with blood.

"I have offended you; I hope you will be magnanimous, Senior."

With a thought, Shi Quan summoned the scattered Dragon Spine Xuanyuan back, merging them into his own body, and only then did he bow to Hamao Douluo.

"Injuries are inevitable in a spar; it is my skill that is inferior to others, I do not blame you." Hamao Douluo clutched his chest, retracted his martial soul, and sat down before the sacred pillar.

Shi Quan's figure flickered, and he floated out to land on the sacred pillar platform once again, "This junior possesses healing abilities; I can help Senior treat your injuries."

As he spoke, Shi Quan released the Blue Silver Light of the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone; under the illumination of the Blue Silver Light, Hamao Douluo's complexion quickly returned to a rosy hue, and the injury on Shi Quan's right hand also recovered as before.

"Such a strong healing ability." Hamao Douluo was startled, stood up, and thanked him: "Thank you."

Facing a strong person, this was the respect that was due.

"It is nothing." Shi Quan waved his hand, "May I ask Senior for the direction to the next sacred pillar?"

"This way."

"Then this junior will not disturb Senior further." Shi Quan looked in the direction Hamao Douluo pointed, then soared into the air.

In the battle with Hamao Douluo, although he was injured, under the healing effect of the Blue Silver Light, he recovered directly, and the Mental Power and soul power consumed should all be able to recover on the journey.

After flying slowly for about half an hour, seeing that his state had recovered almost completely.

Shi Quan finally reached his next destination.

From the previous two stops, Shi Quan deduced that the route he was taking should be consistent with the route Tang San and the others challenged in the original work; when he saw the slender, straight, fifteen-meter-high hexagonal pillar in the center of the platform, Shi Quan was even more certain of his deduction.

Because this place was exactly the Sea Illusion Sacred Pillar.

Sea Illusion Douluo was a middle-aged man who looked to be about fifty years old, with a fairly handsome appearance.

Sea Illusion Douluo stood up and looked at Shi Quan with a faint smile, "To be able to defeat Sea Horse and Sea Spear in succession is indeed very impressive, but wanting to win against me will not be that easy..."

(End of chapter)