Chapter 191: The Power of the Blue Silver Emperor
Tianshui Academy showed not the slightest trace of nervousness. Their opponents were old rivals: seven individuals with Martial Spirits of a One-Horned Fire Tyrannosaur, Fire Shadow, two Fire Cranes, a Fire Leopard, and two Fire Sparks. They'd been easily defeated last time, and it would only be easier this time.
The referee came to the center. "Both sides line up and salute."
A total of fourteen participants stood in two rows, each side bowing to the other. Fire Dance (Huo Wu) and Huo Wushuang's eyes practically sparked. They knew they might lose again, but at the very least they wanted to perform better than they had two years earlier.
Once both teams were arranged, the Blazing Academy side frowned slightly when they looked at Tianshui Academy's lineup. The Pope's son, Qian Renchuan, was no longer standing at the very back as in the previous match but now stood in the middle—the position for a control-type soul master.
Although Qian Xunji hadn't explicitly mentioned it, Qian Renchuan had decided to stop pretending he was just a healing-type soul master. This was the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament, watched by countless; he owed it to his father and Spirit Hall to do them proud. Hiding in the back as a "healer" doing nothing—what would that be?
"You have one minute to release your martial spirits," declared the referee.
Hardly had he finished speaking when several rays of colored light shone on the stage. The crowd's fervor shot through the roof. All eyes converged on Qian Renchuan, who stood among three purple and two black—five total—spirit rings at his feet.
Such an arrangement, running counter to normal laws of the soul master world, never ceased to fascinate the common people no matter how often they saw it. Moreover, it was only Qian Renchuan's second time revealing his rings in the arena. After the first time, with Tianshui demonstrating their power, eight successive academies had simply forfeited.
Shui Yue'er and Gu Qingbo simultaneously dashed to the sides to confront two Blazing agility-type soul masters, ice colliding with fire amid hissing steam.
Meanwhile, the front lines clashed with a thunderous bang. Huo Wushuang's second soul skill met Shui Bing'er's normal attack. Both reeled, with Huo Wushuang stepping back while Shui Bing'er didn't budge an inch.
There was no hissing steam between these two—Huo Wushuang's erupting flames were thoroughly crushed. He was clearly no match for Shui Bing'er.
At the same time, Qian Renchuan stealthily made his move. Dozens of steely, blue-gold strands of Blue Silver Grass shot forward, bypassing Huo Wushuang and two agility-types to lunge at Huo Wu, Huo Yun, Huo Yu—the three support members. Their speed was no less than that of a Soul Elder agility-type.
In soul master combat, protecting one's control and support was paramount—thus control and support were also the top priority to neutralize.
Reacting, the Fire Leopard agility soul master immediately activated his second ring to tear apart the oncoming blue-gold grass vines. But to his surprise, these vines were extraordinarily tough—ripping through just one took him a whole second.
As a top-tier plant-type martial spirit, Blue Silver Grass paired with such a high-level ring configuration was terrifyingly sturdy. Once those vines entangled someone, aside from Huo Wushuang, none of the other six had any hope of breaking free.
After the Fire Leopard soul master shredded three vines, more had already closed in on Huo Wu, Huo Yun, and Huo Yu. Qian Renchuan's second ring lit up beneath his feet.
"Second Soul Skill: Blue Silver Sword Rain."
Shh, shh, shh—
Those Blue Silver Grass vines trembled slightly; each small, razor-sharp leaf on the vines stood on end, dozens of them scattering in all directions at once.
Fire Dance immediately activated her third ring.
"Third Soul Skill, Repelling Fire Ring!"
A brilliant ring of flame flared around Huo Wu and expanded, forming a blazing circular wall sixty meters across and three meters high. It covered a large portion of the arena, knocking away both the vines and the scattering leaves.
Repelling Fire Ring allowed her, so long as the opponent's attack skill didn't exceed her own spirit power by ten ranks, to ignore any skill or defense. Though lacking offensive power itself, it could eject all enemies within range to a specified distance under her control.
Up in the VIP section, a few high-level soul masters glimpsed Qian Renchuan's second soul skill and paused—those scattering leaves seemed neither very powerful nor well-focused, basically looking like a half-useless skill. The Pope of Spirit Hall actually gave his son such a half-wasted soul skill?
If Chrysanthemum Douluo caught wind of their thoughts, he'd have slapped them each across the face. He had specially picked that ring to harden the leaves of Blue Silver Grass so Qian Renchuan could use hidden-weapon techniques. What did these ignoramuses know? Right now, Qian Renchuan wasn't even using half his strength.
No sooner had the Repelling Fire Ring dissipated than Qian Renchuan's fourth ring flashed, sending three of the repelled vines shooting out like crescent blades toward Huo Wu, Huo Xing, and Huo Yu. Moving at lightning speed, they slashed with a sharpness on par with the Eight Spider Lances.
Such was the terrifying might of the Blue Silver King evolving into the Blue Silver Emperor.
It wasn't until after his martial spirit truly became the Blue Silver Emperor that Qian Renchuan realized just how powerful his mother's spirit was. Control and healing both multiplied by several times, and its attack power was equally formidable. After infusing massive amounts of life energy into his body, his physical strength also soared unbelievably. Using Tang Sect techniques, he could probably hold his own in a straight-up fight even against those top-tier assault-type martial spirits without using any soul skills at all.
"Ah!!"
Two screams echoed. The auxiliaries Huo Yun and Huo Yu failed to dodge, each letting out a spurt of blood on their chests. Huo Wu promptly used her second soul skill to swap places with Huo Ying, escaping the blow herself. Yet soon enough the Blue Silver Grass vines came again, giving her no time to charge up her finishing move, "Burning Sun Dance," before she was securely bound. There was no shaking free.
Such was the oppressive control power of the Blue Silver Emperor. It might not be the single strongest healing spirit, but as a control-type, it was absolutely top-tier. Even an equal-level Huo Wu would be overpowered—let alone that the pair was a rank apart.
At that point, Xue Wu conjured a cloud overhead, dropping rain upon Tianshui Academy to boost them. Meanwhile, Blazing's support and control were all incapacitated, so even if the rest threw themselves in, it didn't last more than two minutes before the entire Blazing Academy lost.
Seeing five Blazing members collapsed on the ground, Huo Wushuang sealed in ice, and Huo Wu pinned by vines for two minutes without escape, the referee announced Tianshui's victory.
With the match concluded, Shui Bing'er and Qian Renchuan released Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu from their control.
Crossing his arms, Huo Wushuang shook continuously under the effect of Ice Phoenix's low temperature. His single-horned Fire Tyrannosaur simply couldn't melt the ice around him.
"Wait!"
Suddenly, Huo Wu spoke up. Her eyes locked on Qian Renchuan. After a long silence, she spat out her frustration. "Aren't you a healing-type soul master? How can your control be so strong?"
Qian Renchuan blinked, not expecting Huo Wu's question—apparently, she was so proud of her own control that being thoroughly suppressed left her unwilling to accept it.
"I am indeed a healing-type soul master."
With those words, his first ring lit up underfoot. Two beams of golden light emerged from the Blue Silver Emperor, flying over to the far back where Huo Yun and Huo Yu were lying off the stage, awaiting medical attention. The ghastly wounds on their chests healed at visible speed.
That staggering healing ability left the Soul King-level healing master the Blazing Academy had quickly summoned sighing in astonishment.
"Hey, hey, Huo Wu, you want to be a spoiled brat? Then get lost back to Blazing Academy." Shui Yue'er stepped forward, pointing at Huo Wu and flipping her arm with a hand on her hip. "Seriously, how ignorant. My brother-in-law's mother is the soul master world's greatest in both healing and control. Don't show off your little bit of control in front of him."
"You—!!" Fury lit Huo Wu's gaze; she almost lunged to tear Shui Yue'er's mouth apart. But Huo Wushuang held her back.
"Huo Wu, let's go."
Still, Shui Yue'er stuck out her tongue at Huo Wu, making a silly face. Veins popped at Huo Wu's temple in rage.
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