Seeing Tang San rushing toward him, Yun Ming twirled his spear, gathered strength in his feet, and met him head-on.
After the initial probing, the two officially engaged in a fierce battle.
A green shadow and a white shadow collided in the center of the arena.
"Clang!"
The tip of the Atlas Spear clashed directly with the head of the Blue Silver Tyrant Hammer, emitting a sharp, buzzing sound.
Yun Ming was slightly surprised by the strength of Tang San's soul skill, seeing that the spear tip had only pierced an inch into the hammer. Tang San, meanwhile, breathed a sigh of relief that the Blue Silver Tyrant Hammer had managed to block the strike.
Tang San had analyzed the experience of his previous defeat, concluding that the main reason he had lost so miserably was the frailty of his Blue Silver Grass. Although the Atlas Divine Spear could still pierce his hammer, suggesting that a normal Blue Silver Emperor would likely not withstand the sharpness of the Atlas Spear, at least this time he had a hammer to block it.
Seeing that a direct frontal assault failed to overwhelm his opponent and resulted in a stalemate, Yun Ming felt a long-lost sense of excitement for battle.
Yun Ming retracted his spear like lightning. As the Atlas Divine Spear was pulled back, golden soul light surged along the shaft, manifesting a spear light, followed immediately by a five-fold thrust as fast as a gale.
The cold stars at the spear tip struck toward Tang San's limbs and head in an instant.
Tang San activated his Purple Demon Eyes to track the trajectory of the five strikes, hurriedly injecting soul power into the giant hammer in his hands to enlarge it further, using the hammer head as a shield to attempt to block the sharpness of the Atlas Spear.
At the same time, he activated his fourth soul ring.
"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!"
Yun Ming's spear tip, imbued with spear light, struck the giant Blue Silver Tyrant Hammer head. This time, the armor-piercing effect was more significant; two strikes nearly pierced through the hammer, and another directly sheared off a corner of the hammer head.
However, before Yun Ming could continue his assault, a dozen blades of Blue Silver Sword Bamboo, shimmering with jade luster and looking exceptionally sharp, erupted from the ground around him, thrusting directly at his vital joints.
This was Tang San's fourth soul skill, Blue Silver Thrusting Array, derived from a 60,000-year-old plant-type soul beast, the Jade Sword Bamboo.
Because he had previously accepted some of Yun Ming's philosophies, Tang San now clearly recognized the fact that the Blue Silver Emperor was better suited for plant-type soul rings compared to animal-type ones. Therefore, all his newly added soul rings were from plant-type beasts.
Yet, having been taught by Grandmaster Yu for many years, combined with his own almost paranoid blind confidence in his hidden weapons, his choice of soul skills still leaned toward the path of his original timeline. For this reason, the skills of his second, third, and fourth soul rings remained similar to the original three.
Yun Ming watched the attack trajectory of these bamboo blades with an unchanging expression, rotating his Atlas Spear to point the tip toward the ground and thrusting it down rapidly.
A moment later, countless golden spear lights surged from the arena, shrouding the half-meter radius around Yun Ming, shattering Tang San's Blue Silver Thrusting Array instantly.
Although the counterattack did not succeed, Tang San had achieved his goal. The Blue Silver Thrusting Array had created a rhythmic gap in Yun Ming's attacks, buying Tang San precious time to adjust and a chance to catch his breath.
Tang San glanced at the corner of the giant hammer that had fallen onto the arena, as well as the severely damaged hammer in his hand, and pondered.
It seems I must compress the Blue Silver Tyrant Hammer as much as possible to increase its density.
Having made his judgment and finished his adjustments, Tang San stomped hard on the arena floor and lunged toward Yun Ming, whose Atlas Spear had not yet been fully retracted. At the same time, under the supply of Tang San's soul power, the Blue Silver Tyrant Hammer began to repair its damage and compress its volume, until the hammer head was reduced to the size of a large forging hammer.
The distance between the two was extremely short, and Tang San arrived in an instant. Without a moment's hesitation, he swung the Blue Silver Tyrant Hammer, now compressed to a deep ink color, with all his might toward Yun Ming's chest.
Seeing the heavy hammer, now smaller in volume but undiminished in pressure, strike again, Yun Ming twisted his hand, rotating the blade of the Atlas Divine Spear before lifting it forcefully. The arena floor was split in two like thin paper as the Atlas Divine Spear caught the center of the hammer head.
"Skree—"
The Atlas Spear lifted the heavy hammer, creating a shower of sparks from the friction.
Seeing this, Tang San's eyes lit up. A perfect opportunity!
Using his free hand, he employed Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon to draw the previously shattered shards of Blue Silver Sword Bamboo into his palm. Utilizing the Tang Sect's method of throwing hidden weapons, he backhanded the sharp bamboo shards toward Yun Ming, who was within arm's reach.
This was a contingency Tang San had laid out when he first used the Blue Silver Thrusting Array; it would be best if the array hit Yun Ming, but if it were broken, the shards could serve as hidden weapons to deliver a fatal blow at the right moment.
It must be said that the timing of Tang San's "openly thrown hidden weapon" was excellent. Currently, Yun Ming's Atlas Spear was locked in a struggle with Tang San's hammer and could not be retracted without Yun Ming potentially suffering a heavy blow. Meanwhile, the bamboo shards were fast, sudden, and the proximity made them difficult to dodge.
But this difficulty was only relative. Given the sheer brilliance of Yun Ming's combat talent, how could such a minor trouble stump him?
If Tang San's moves followed a path of trickery, then Yun Ming's method of response was the Grand Orthodox Path.
Yun Ming ignored the bamboo shards, instead intensifying the spear light on the Atlas Divine Spear. Boundless golden light began to condense at the tip. As the spear pointed directly at Tang San, Yun Ming suddenly changed his move, shifting from a lift to a thrust.
A beam of Atlas Spear light, half a meter in diameter, detached from the spear and shot straight toward Tang San.
The Atlas Spear could indeed not be retracted, so Yun Ming chose to increase his offensive. As long as his attack was a step faster than Tang San's, the roles of attacker and defender would immediately reverse, and Tang San's hidden weapons—and Tang San himself—would face his fierce assault. If he didn't want to be severely injured, the smartest choice would be to retract the hammer to block Yun Ming's attack.
The moment the bamboo shards touched the spear light, they were like melting snow under a scorching sun, instantly dissolved and scattered back into soul power.
Looking at the spear light inches away and feeling the Atlas aura radiating from it, Tang San thought of the harm and grief his master had brought him, and a flash of madness crossed his eyes. He stopped blocking; he chose a mutually destructive tactic. He had the recovery ability of the Blue Silver Emperor Leg Bone to rely on, and this time, he gambled that Yun Ming would be injured more severely.
Not only did Tang San choose not to retract the Tyrant Hammer, but he also channeled all his strength, adding a final burst of power to hurl the Blue Silver Tyrant Hammer toward Yun Ming's chest, intending to severely wound or even kill him in one strike.
At the same time, Tang San's fifth and second soul rings lit up in succession.
Tang San's fifth soul ring had an age of 85,000 years, taken from a plant-type soul beast that was extremely suitable for him—a beast called the Blue Silver King, his half-savior.
When Tang San had first awakened and learned the truth from Tang Xiao and the Blue Silver King, he had nearly fallen into a demonic state.
Because of Yun Ming, he had lost a loved one for the third time, following his father and aunt. Although Tang San had not truly acknowledged his soul beast mother, Ah Yin, and had even felt some repulsion due to her identity as a soul beast, when his biological mother truly died to save him, Tang San still felt a grief that pierced to his marrow.
Although he had been comforted by Tang Xiao at the time, hatred had completely stained Tang San, causing his already low moral baseline to plummet to the depths of the earth. As he hunted for soul rings later, when he reached his fifth ring, his tolerance limit had reached 80,000 years, and his greed made him think of the Blue Silver King immediately.
He recalled what the Blue Silver King had said: his mother had used the Blue Silver energy that should have been used to restore herself to awaken the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline within him, a move the Blue Silver King had even tried to dissuade.
Hatred, greed, and Tang San's instinct to shift blame led him to transfer all the gratitude he owed the Blue Silver King onto his mother. To him, the Blue Silver King became a sinner who had nearly caused his death. Furthermore, after his mother died, it was the king of the Blue Silver Grass clan—and after all, how could a human like Tang San be the king of soul beasts? The logic was sound. Suddenly, Tang San's thoughts cleared: the Blue Silver King deserved to die!
Afterward, he embellished these thoughts as facts and told them to Tang Xiao.
The result, naturally, was that Tang Xiao flew into a rage and killed the Blue Silver King to provide Tang San with a soul ring.
Thus came Tang San's perfect fifth soul ring, Blue Silver Tyrant Transformation, a weapon spirit amplification skill. Combined with his second soul skill, Parasitism.
Before the Atlas Spear Light of Yun Ming could strike him, countless golden Blue Silver Emperor vines surged from Tang San's body, wrapping him layer upon layer into a massive cocoon to withstand the attack.
The audience on the stands had yet to react to the lightning-fast exchange between the two, yet in the blink of an eye, their lethal attacks were about to land on one another. Tang San was one thing; the vines on his body clearly looked incredibly tough, but Yun Ming had to face Tang San's heavy hammer completely defenseless.
The attacks were too close, and it was already too late for outsiders to intervene; now, Yun Ming could only rely on himself.
Yun Ming simply watched as the Flying Hammer, which compressed the air until it emitted a Bao sound, rapidly approached him.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: DaoistReader