There's a saying: "An inch longer, an inch stronger."
Yang Tai's Soulbreaker Spear was managing to suppress Huo Wushuang for the time being, especially with the support of the soul power wings on his back, granting him excellent speed in the air.
Having fought Feng Xiaotian before, Huo Wushuang had experience dealing with airborne Soul Masters and had developed a specific strategy for them.
"Everyone, stay alert! Aside from Feng Xiaotian, their flight time must be limited. Conserve your soul power!" Huo Wushuang shouted.
"Flame Fist!!"
His iron fists clashed repeatedly against Yang Tai's spear thrusts. Though he was on the defensive, there was no shame in that — victory was what truly mattered.
Blazing Fire Academy's Martial Souls all had flame attributes. Fire was both expansive and explosive, giving them a wide attack range.
But while Blazing Fire had powerful coverage, Wuji Academy had flight.
Oscar's flying soul skill was absurdly overpowered. It granted its users the flight speed of a Wind Demon Bird and allowed them to remain airborne for up to three minutes.
"Third Soul Skill: Lethal Fire Lines! ×2!"
Huo Xing and Huo Chen, the twin brothers, activated their third control-type soul skill simultaneously, targeting Niu Tian, the defense-type Soul Master.
As for Oscar? Just a support-type. Let him fly around a bit more — he couldn't possibly pose any real threat. Right?
Two scorching whips of fire arced toward the airborne Niu Tian.
If it were just one, Niu Tian could have dodged easily. But now he was surrounded by two blazing fire lines, giving him no room to maneuver.
—
Meanwhile, Huo Yun and Huo Yu, the twin sisters of Blazing Fire Academy who wielded the Fire Crane Martial Soul, had an inherent flight ability. Upon discovering that Wuji Academy also had flying capabilities, they immediately honed in on what they believed to be Wuji's weakest links: the two Soul Elders, Huang Weiyuan and Qiu Wuji.
"Third Soul Skill: Firecloud Trajectory!"
Huo Yun and Huo Yu's bodies ignited in flame as they streaked across the battlefield, drawing vibrant red trails through the sky like fiery meteors — beautiful yet deadly.
Huang Weiyuan and Qiu Wuji flapped their soul power wings to speed up in response.
They knew their role well: against weaker opponents, they'd be frontline fighters. But against stronger teams, their job was to stall — to buy time.
"You think I'm not a threat?" Oscar muttered to himself.
"It's time to shatter the world's prejudice against food-type and support-type Soul Masters."
On the Douluo Continent, Soul Masters were categorized by Martial Soul into:
Beast-type,
Tool-type,
Body Martial Souls.
Functionally, Soul Masters were classified as:
Assault-type
Agility-type
Control-type
Defense-type
Support-type
Food-type
In theory, there were no "high" or "low" classes, just different roles in team fights. But where people exist, so do social hierarchies. "Equality for all" was often just an empty slogan.
Even among Soul Masters, a hierarchy of disdain prevailed:
Assault types are considered top-tier.
Control-types believed they were number one, with Assault-types second.
Agility-types admitted Assault-types were first but claimed second place for themselves, putting Control-types third.
Defense-types looked down on Support-types,
and Support-types looked down on Food-types.
In the end, everyone thought they were the best, the most skilled, and the most underappreciated.
Yet there was one undeniable truth — while most Soul Masters may look down on Support-types, they can't live without them.
No one escapes the power of the "smells-so-good" law.
Oscar created three more Frenzied Greenwing Mushrooms, and with a gulp, consumed them all.
The wings of pale green energy on his back grew even more solid.
With a powerful flap, Oscar accelerated straight toward Huo Yu, the 37th-rank Agility-type Soul Elder.
At that moment, Huo Yu was still pursuing Qiu Wuji and hadn't noticed the threat approaching from behind.
She might not have noticed, but the audience did.
A wave of chatter and skepticism surged through the crowd:
"Hmph, a food-type Soul Master trying to join the fight? Laughable. Just because he can fly, he thinks he's untouchable?"
"I thought this food-type Soul Master was a genius, but his soul skills are great — his brain, not so much."
To most spectators, a food-type Soul Master was still just that — even with decent combat skills, they couldn't possibly threaten a battle-type Soul Master.
Sure, Oscar could fly, but there was no way his sneak attack would cause any real damage.
To them, Oscar's move looked like a death wish, an arrogant stunt. Only a few experts with high soul power sensed something different.
Ning Fengzhi narrowed his eyes. "That is…"
Salas grinned. "Interesting~"
Meng Shenji furrowed his brows.
Then it happened.
The crowd went completely silent.
They saw Oscar suddenly conjure a ball of wind-element soul power in his hand — and then, with great force, hurl it straight at Huo Yu.
Before she could even cry out in pain, she was struck mid-air and plummeted to the ground.
The crowd was stunned. The scene before them shattered everything they thought they knew. That food-type Soul Master, Oscar, had used a single, hand-crafted wind-element soul power orb to knock a Blazing Fire Soul Elder clean out of the sky!
"This... this can't be real?!"
Disbelief rippled through the arena as people rubbed their eyes in shock, unsure whether to trust their vision.
In their long-standing worldview, a food-type Soul Master should never pose such a threat to a combat-type.
But the truth was right in front of them — impossible to deny.
Oscar's attack was not only powerful but dead-on accurate, striking Huo Yu's weak point with surgical precision. She didn't even have time to scream before she dropped like a stone from the sky.
"If Blazing Fire Academy keeps fighting like this, they're doomed," said Dugu Yan from the Wuji spectator section, eyes locked on the match.
"I'm sure they know that. Blazing Fire Academy follows the 'extreme specialization' path," someone replied.
Extreme-path Soul Masters believed each Soul Master should focus solely on their greatest strength. For example, users of the Clear Sky Hammer typically pursued overwhelming power and offense.
Extreme-path Soul Masters amplified their strengths to achieve explosive combat potential, but this made them very vulnerable to counter-strategies or attribute disadvantages.
Most extreme-path Soul Masters were found in the Heaven Dou Empire, especially among the Five Elemental Academies, the four major single-attribute clans, and the Clear Sky Sect.
Their opposite? Balanced-path Soul Masters.
As the name suggests, Balanced-path Soul Masters sought well-rounded development — attacking power, defense, speed, and spiritual strength — striving to become all-around powerhouses.
This made them adaptable and less likely to be caught off guard in unpredictable scenarios.
Balanced-path Soul Masters were mostly found in the Star Luo Empire.
The very existence of these two opposing cultivation philosophies was one of the reasons why the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires clashed so often.
Balanced-path Soul Masters didn't have major weaknesses, but also lacked dominant strengths. They were jacks-of-all-trades but masters of none. That said, in a team setting, they could fill in wherever needed.
Yun Yibai chuckled:
"Just watch. The rest of this match is going to be good."