Just before exiting the passage, Lu Tianyu turned to Dai Mubai, slightly opening his eyes, and said, "No reason, just to avoid doing anything I'll regret."
With that, Lu Tianyu walked out of the dimly lit passage and arrived at the edge of the Third Soul Arena, illuminated as if it were daytime.
Dai Mubai stared blankly at Lu Tianyu's back. At this moment, he realized he had never truly understood Lu Tianyu, and even found Lu Tianyu's ever-present smiling face utterly unfamiliar.
Lu Tianyu walked to the entrance of the Soul Arena and handed the Iron Soul Badge representing himself and Dai Mubai's team to the staff of the Soto Grand Soul Arena.
The staff member glanced at the name on the badge and said, "There's one more contestant. Both contestants need to arrive at the same time to go up to the Soul Arena."
Lu Tianyu turned around and saw Dai Mubai still standing at the entrance, and couldn't help but say, "Hurry up, Mubai, what are you thinking about?"
Dai Mubai only came to his senses after being reminded by Lu Tianyu, and hurriedly ran to Lu Tianyu's side, saying, "Sorry, I just remembered something."
Lu Tianyu just smiled slightly at Dai Mubai, reached out and patted him on the shoulder without saying a word.
At this time, the host on the Soul Arena was already introducing the two-on-two Soul Battles. This time, Lu Tianyu and Dai Mubai's opponents were an Iron Soul Battle duo called the Double Elephant Combination. They
had already won thirty-five matches in the Soto Grand Soul Arena and were a very strong combination.
Lu Tianyu and Dai Mubai's White Feather Combination had just been formed, and the host couldn't give them a detailed introduction even if he wanted to.
Upon stepping onto the Soul Arena, Lu Tianyu and Dai Mubai's gazes both settled on the two burly, overweight middle-aged men opposite them. Their portly figures clearly indicated they were brothers.
The hair around the edges of their heads was shaved, leaving only a patch on top, which was then braided into a rather comical shape.
Dai Mubai said helplessly, "I hate the Mountain Elephant and Earth Elephant brothers the most. Their martial soul is the elephant; not only is their defense astonishing, but their strength is also extraordinary."
In fact, just from their team name, one could tell their martial soul was the elephant; elephants are known in nature for their strength and resilience.
Lu Tianyu chuckled and said, "A half-defense, half-strength Soul Master, huh? As long as our strengths are their weaknesses, we have a way to defeat them."
"Besides, Mu Bai, don't you know my Soft Fist is specifically designed to deal with defensive Battle Soul Masters? If they're defensive Weapon Soul Masters, it will indeed take a lot of effort for us to win."
After habitually reading the rules of the Soul Arena, the host loudly announced, "I declare the Soul Battle open!"
As the host's voice fell, the four on the Soul Arena simultaneously summoned their Martial Souls. To Lu Tianyu's surprise, both members of the Double Elephant duo had the best Soul Ring configuration.
Three Soul Rings—two yellow and one purple—slowly rotated beneath their feet, one with a Soul Power level of 36 and the other 30.
On the White Feather duo's side, Dai Mubai's Soul Power was 36 and Lu Tianyu's was 33, but their Soul Ring configuration had one more thousand-year Soul Ring than the Double Elephant duo.
"First Soul Skill: Savage Elephant Charge."
The Double Elephant duo, having won thirty-six matches in the Soto Grand Soul Arena, naturally weren't afraid of Lu Tianyu's Soul Ring configuration.
After summoning their Martial Souls, they simultaneously unleashed their first Soul Skills. Instantly, two phantom elephants, each about five meters tall, charged towards Lu Tianyu and Dai Mubai.
Lu Tianyu said to Dai Mubai, "Mubai, find a way to separate them and defeat them one by one."
Dai Mubai nodded and activated his Soul Power, shouting, "Third Soul Skill: White Tiger Vajra Transformation, Second Soul Skill: White Tiger Blazing Light Wave!"
As Dai Mubai unleashed his second Soul Skill to attack the earth elephant, whose Soul Power was only level 35, Lu Tianyu also suddenly kicked out with his right foot.
"Storm Kick: Decapitating Axe!"
A three-meter-long blade of air, radiating a bright cyan light, followed closely behind Dai Mubai's White Tiger Blazing Light Wave, striking the earth elephant head-on with a piercing whistling sound.
"Boom boom..."
The earth elephant's Soul Power was only level 35, even though its defense reached the level of a typical defensive Soul Master at level 38.
However, the attacks unleashed by Lu Tianyu and Dai Mubai were both at the level of a typical Soul Master at level 38.
Dai Mubai's White Tiger Blazing Light Wave nearly shattered the Earth Elephant's defenses, and the following Tempest Kick landed squarely on its body.
The Earth Elephant's tall, bulky figure was suddenly sent flying backward. Seeing this, Lu Tianyu nodded to Dai Mubai.
"Shave."
Lu Tianyu's figure suddenly swept past the Mountain Elephant, appearing in a flash above the Earth Elephant's head.
"Tempest Kick - Lotus..."
Lu Tianyu's feet kicked rapidly in the air, forming a lotus flower composed of pale blue light blades the size of a bathtub, which struck the Earth Elephant.
"Boom..."
The huge impact only made the Earth Elephant take a step back. The Earth Elephant raised its head, looked at Lu Tianyu, and roared with a red light in its eyes, "It hurts so much, you bastard! What kind of weird move hurts so much?"
On the other side, Dai Mubai was also engaged in a fierce battle with the Mountain Elephant, and the Mountain Elephant and Dai Mubai seemed to know each other, exchanging verbal attacks as they fought.
Lu Tianyu, relying on his speed advantage, relentlessly unleashed his Tempest Kick around the Earth Elephant. However, the energy blades from the Tempest Kicks only caused the Earth Elephant to cry out in pain, without inflicting any real damage. In short, the damage was minimal, but it was incredibly hurtful to its pride.
"Damn agility-type bastard, don't let me catch you! Third Soul Skill - Savage Elephant Chain Palm!"
The Earth Elephant, repeatedly struck by Lu Tianyu's Tempest Kicks, was enraged by its inability to do anything to Lu Tianyu and unleashed its fastest attack, its third soul skill.
A purple soul ring flashed beneath the Earth Elephant's feet, and its palms, resembling fans, were instantly covered with a layer of earthen-yellow soul power.
Then, it unleashed a barrage of palm strikes at Lu Tianyu, each strike sending out a basin-sized earthen-yellow palm energy that slammed into the fighting arena.
The palm energy exploded, creating a series of cracks on the arena. Lu Tianyu was certain that if he had been hit by even one, he would have coughed up blood.
It really was true that the opponent could make many mistakes, while he could only make one.
This way, he wouldn't dare get close enough to use his Soft Fist on the Earth Elemental, and would have to continue using Shave to dodge the Earth Elemental's continuous palm strikes while simultaneously launching a counterattack with Storm Kick, which severely impacted the power of Storm Kick.
After much deliberation, Lu Tianyu whispered, "Second Soul Skill: Tiger Soul Eyebrow Staff."
Actually, Lu Tianyu's soul rings didn't change when he used physical techniques; he did this intentionally to conceal the fact that the Tiger Soul Eyebrow Staff was an external soul bone.
Summoning the Tiger Soul Eyebrow Staff, Lu Tianyu caught it and habitually performed a flourish, then swung the staff in his hand using the Storm Kick technique.
"Storm Staff: Flying Swallow."
A five-meter-long blade of energy, radiating a bright cyan light, slammed into the earth elephant's soul power palm print with a sharp whooshing sound.
"Boom!"
The blade sliced through the soul power palm print and landed on the earth elephant. Due to the leverage principle and centrifugal force, the blade of energy wielded with the Tiger Soul Staff was three times more powerful than one kicked out with a leg.
Lu Tianyu even had a chance to launch a sneak attack on the mountain tiger, which was entangled by Dai Mubai. Many people on the viewing platform were wondering if Lu Tianyu was using a soul skill.
Because the blade of energy released by Lu Tianyu did not emit any soul power fluctuations from beginning to end. Not only that, Lu Tianyu could launch blades of energy with his feet and also with the Tiger Soul Staff.
Usually, the way soul skills are used is fixed. Even if there are some variations, it is impossible to completely change the medium of use like Lu Tianyu did.
After about a minute of testing, Lu Tianyu found that without using his third soul skill, Eight Gates Formation, he could not defeat the earth elephant by simply using Tempest Kick and its derivative moves.
He could either use the Soft Fist technique at close range, but given Lu Tianyu's current condition, getting close to the Earth Elephant would be extremely dangerous.
As mentioned before, a single hit from the Earth Elephant would immediately render him incapacitated. However,
Lu Tianyu genuinely didn't want to use the Eight Gates Formation unless absolutely necessary. While this soul skill could significantly enhance the attributes of his martial soul
, the backlash would leave him feeling weak and unable to eat or sleep properly.
Just as Lu Tianyu was debating whether to use the Eight Gates Formation, Dai Mubai, facing the Mountain Elephant, was blasted backward more than thirty meters by the Mountain Elephant's second skill, nearly falling off the fighting platform.
After blasting Dai Mubai away, the Mountain Elephant turned and charged towards Lu Tianyu, shouting, "Second brother, I'm here to save you! Third Soul Skill: Trample!"
The purple soul rings beneath the running Mountain Elephant's feet suddenly lit up, and then the Mountain Elephant's feet slammed heavily onto the fighting platform.
The audience members felt their seats shake, and Lu Tianyu was thrown off balance by the shockwave from the Mountain Elephant's third soul skill.
In the instant his rapidly moving figure halted, the Earth Elephant's palm, wreathed in earth-yellow soul power, struck towards Lu Tianyu's face.
"Eight Gates Formation - Third Gate: Open the Gate of Life!"
A purple soul ring appeared before Lu Tianyu, flashing briefly before unleashing a terrifying aura from him that was nearly that of a Soul King.
"Gentle Fist Technique - Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!"
When the Earth Elephant's palm was still three feet away, Lu Tianyu suddenly raised his right hand and unleashed a palm strike from a distance.
"Boom!"
The Earth Elephant felt an incomparably powerful force strike his right hand, instantly shattering the soul power within it, while some of the force seeped into the meridians and tendons of his palm.
However, to the others, Lu Tianyu merely pushed out his right hand lightly, and the soul power in the Earth Elephant's palm dissipated.
Even the massive, earth-elephant-like body involuntarily took a step back, staring at Lu Tianyu in utter shock.
It simply couldn't comprehend why Lu Tianyu had used such immense power to shatter its soul skill, while simultaneously inflicting damage on its right palm.
After repelling the earth-elephant, Lu Tianyu adopted a stance for the Soft Fist technique. Thirty meters away, Dai Mubai stood up, and upon seeing Lu Tianyu's strange stance, a smirk appeared on his face.
"Soft Fist Technique - Eight Trigrams One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms..."
At this moment, the mountain-elephant also arrived beside Lu Tianyu, forming an encirclement with the earth-elephant, blocking Lu Tianyu's retreat.
But before the mountain-elephant could react, Lu Tianyu's body began spinning like a top.
"Eight Trigrams Four Palms..."
Two illusory arm afterimages suddenly appeared in front of the mountain-elephant and earth-elephant's abdomens, and the two felt their soul power suddenly dissipate.
The cessation of their circulating soul power caused them to exit their Martial Soul Possession state, and their burly, obese physiques shrank slightly.
"Eight palms... sixteen palms... thirty-two palms... sixty-four palms... one hundred and twenty-eight palms!"
In less than a minute, Lu Tianyu unleashed one hundred and twenty-eight full-power Soft Fist strikes.
When Lu Tianyu's rapidly spinning body stopped, a circular crater three meters in diameter appeared between the Mountain Elephant and Earth Elephant.
"Thump..."
Lu Tianyu had just breathed a sigh of relief when his Martial Soul Possession state dissipated, and he collapsed limply into the crater, utterly exhausted.
The host, seeing this, hurriedly said, "Lu Tianyu of the White Feather Duo has collapsed due to exhaustion of his soul power. Now, only Dai Mubai remains to face the Double Elephant Duo. What will Dai Mubai do?"
In the distance, Dai Mubai had already dissipated his Martial Soul Possession state and slowly walked towards the area where the Mountain Elephant and Earth Elephant were.
The Mountain Elephant and Earth Elephant felt utterly powerless, and even the slightest deep breath caused unbearable sharp pain in their lower abdomen.
The difficulty breathing caused oxygen deprivation in the brain, and the two of them staggered and fell to the ground.
At this moment, Dai Mubai arrived beside Lu Tianyu, helping him up and saying, "You're really terrifying! You actually defeated two defensive Soul Masters whose soul power was higher than yours all by yourself."
Lu Tianyu was barely maintaining consciousness; using the Eight Gates Formation and the excessive use of Soft Fist had exhausted all his soul power.
After all, Lu Tianyu had only mastered the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, and to fully master all one hundred and twenty-eight palms, he would need to cultivate to at least the Fiftyth Soul King level.
Lu Tianyu was so exhausted that even walking was difficult, so Dai Mubai handled all the follow-up matters.
As Dai Mubai helped Lu Tianyu out of the Soto Grand Arena, Flander's voice came from behind them: "Mubai, leave Xiaoyu to me." "
A level 33 Soul Power and he's already defeated Soul Masters of levels 35, 36, and 38 in succession—truly a monster!"
Dai Mubai knew Flander was worried about Lu Tianyu's health and wanted to take him back to Shrek Academy to see Shao Xin for treatment as soon as possible.
Of course, Dai Mubai also didn't want to miss this rare opportunity for relaxation because of Lu Tianyu.
Watching Flander summon his Martial Soul and fly towards Shrek Academy with Lu Tianyu,
Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun exchanged a glance and each headed towards the place they had been longing for.
(End of Chapter)