Ning Rongrong and Tokisaki Kurumi were bantering with each other.
Suddenly, intense soul power fluctuations erupted from the battlefield.
"Rip—"
From their vantage point, a gleaming blade tore through the thick smoke.
The billowing smoke dispersed along the path carved by the blade, leaving behind a swirling vortex of soul power in its wake.
Qian Daoliu's figure emerged, his entire body radiating a golden glow.
The six-winged Seraphim Martial Soul behind him flapped its wings slowly, exuding an aura of sacred purity.
"You're not bad. If you were just a bit stronger, you might have even injured me," Qian Daoliu remarked, his tone carrying a hint of emotion.
"Then take a look at this move!" As Ning Fengzhi's voice fell, the sky lit up once more.
A massive sword, gleaming with a fierce light, came crashing down.
"Impossible." Qian Daoliu's face was filled with shock. The descending sword's power was only at the level of a 95th-rank attack, but its design—wasn't that the Sword Douluo's ninth soul skill?
Why…?
Moreover, high in the sky, where there had been nothing before, a figure resembling the Sword Douluo now appeared.
No, the aura was wrong…
"Ning Fengzhi's soul power fluctuations?" Qian Daoliu's eyes widened in disbelief.
Looking past the Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, who stood shielding Ning Fengzhi, the eighth soul ring on Ning Fengzhi's Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda shone with a piercing light.
"A replication-type soul skill?" Qian Daoliu, after all, was a battle-hardened soul master and quickly discerned the trick.
But how had Ning Fengzhi concealed the activation of this soul skill from his perception?
Suddenly, as Qian Daoliu locked eyes with Ning Fengzhi, his body stiffened momentarily.
"Not good." His hand, which had been raised to block the attack, hesitated for a split second. Though he quickly dispelled the soul power interfering with him, the delay had already occurred.
"A 100,000-year soul bone!" Qian Daoliu was inwardly horrified.
Only a 100,000-year soul bone could cause such a momentary daze.
This sensation… it resembled the abilities of the Evil Spirit Orca King.
Back when he had sailed out with Tang Chen, they had encountered a young 100,000-year soul beast—likely the same one that had used this very skill to escape from them.
"So that's it." Qian Daoliu suddenly understood. One of the three overlords near Sea God Island, the Evil Spirit Orca King, had disappeared. It seemed it had fallen into the hands of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
However, Qian Daoliu no longer had time to dwell on this. Blocking the attacks from the Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo hadn't been easy.
When he arrived here, he was still carrying injuries from his previous battle with Tang Chen, which hadn't fully healed.
Sustaining high-intensity defenses continuously was still taxing on the body.
After Ning Fengzhi's mental-type attack, similar to the Evil Spirit Orca King's, there was no time left to mount a proper defense.
"Fifth Soul Skill—Angel's Protection!"
Just as the replicated Sword Douluo's ninth soul skill, "Slash of Gods and Demons," was about to strike Qian Daoliu's head, his soul power condensed into a circular shield, rapidly encasing him in a protective barrier.
"Boom—"
Another deafening explosion.
The soul skill's attack was blocked by Qian Daoliu.
Before he could even catch his breath, a terrifying pressure locked onto him.
Qian Daoliu instinctively looked toward its source—and his pupils constricted violently:
"This can't be!"
The space around Ning Fengzhi began to peel away layer by layer. Behind Ning Fengzhi and the other two, a colossal phantom emerged, radiating a fearsome aura.
"Damn it, these three… all their attacks were leading up to this?"
Qian Daoliu finally realized—first, they disrupted his perception, using some kind of special mental illusion technique to obscure the surrounding space, preventing him from accurately sensing the origin of their power.
"Careless. I, Qian Daoliu, have hunted birds all my life, only to be pecked by one today."
The massive light sword gathering in the sky, blotting out the sun, carried a momentum far surpassing the limits of a 98th-rank attack.
This pressure was approaching the 99th rank.
From Qian Daoliu's experience, the other party hadn't yet mastered this technique perfectly.
But without a doubt, this was the embryonic form of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill—one that had already reached a certain level of completion.
The phantom, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Sword Douluo, gripped the Seven Kill Sword with both hands and held it before its chest.
Its gaze, filled with disdain for the world, swept over Qian Daoliu, making him feel as though he were being scrutinized by a god or demon.
Due to its unstable formation, the soul power emanating from it continuously dispersed outward.
The overwhelming sword intent radiating from the colossal blade gave off a sharp, murderous sensation.
The trio's Martial Soul Fusion Skill was on the verge of taking shape. The energy of 26 soul rings fused into the giant sword.
The enormous phantom grew even more terrifying.
The black-and-white blade, resembling a sword of gods and demons, unleashed a pressure that spread farther and farther with time.
Deep within the Extreme North.
Ice Empress, holding the "secret manual" from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, arrived at Snow Empress's palace.
"Snow Empress, do you sense that?"
From the western part of the Extreme North, terrifying soul power fluctuations were emanating.
The sword intent, carrying the aura of gods and demons, was something even Snow Empress's Emperor Sword couldn't match.
"A battle is taking place, and both sides are humans," Snow Empress said, gazing out the window thoughtfully. "Both are extremely powerful—one might even rival me."
"Should we go take a look?" Ice Empress propped her chin on her hand. "I suspect this might be humans trying to intimidate us."
"Hmm…" Snow Empress pondered briefly before nodding. "Very well. With our strength, we have nothing to fear from human soul masters anyway."
"Speaking of which, Ice Empress, is that thing in your hand what that little girl from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan gave you?"
"Just what is it?!"
Had Ice Empress been enchanted by it?
"Ah, that…"
Ice Empress hurriedly tucked it into her clothes, looking embarrassed. "N-Nothing important. Don't worry about it."
"Let's go. We should check it out."
Without waiting for Snow Empress, she flew out the window, as if afraid of being questioned further.
"Ice Empress has been acting stranger and stranger lately." Snow Empress sighed, then transformed into a mist of snow and soared out the window, heading west beyond the Extreme North.
...
The Shui Family.
Shui Cangyue and Dugu Bo were handling follow-up matters.
"A battle between 99th-rank powerhouses isn't something you get to witness every day," Dugu Bo suggested. After a moment's consideration, Shui Cangyue nodded in agreement.
The two then took to the skies, flying toward the battlefield.
"Ah… how enviable. Title Douluo!" Ye Renxin shook his head.
Without the strength of a Title Douluo, he didn't even qualify to spectate.
He couldn't ask Dugu Bo or Shui Cangyue to take him along—it was far too dangerous.
A mere Soul Douluo like him, and an auxiliary-type soul master at that, might just…
End up vanishing mid-spectation.
What, you say Ning Fengzhi is an exception?
Since when are auxiliary soul masters from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan the same as ordinary ones?
Who knew what kind of secret techniques they had?
Take Ning Rongrong, for example…
That little girl, an auxiliary soul master?
Since when could non-flight-type soul masters fly at the Soul Sage level?
What kind of auxiliary soul master is this? Her flight speed rivals that of a Title Douluo!
If even the young sect master is like this, wouldn't the sect master be even more formidable?