Peering through the blue-white pillar, Shui Bing'er frowned as she looked at the red mist that covered nearly half the battlefield.
Just from the mist alone, she couldn't determine the specifics of the Spirit Hall Battle Team's Martial Soul Fusion Technique, nor could she discern any weaknesses.
After some thought, intending to test the waters, Shui Bing'er shifted her focus, increasing the snowfall from above. The falling snowflakes spread across every corner of the red mist-covered area.
"Found you!"
In the next second, Shui Bing'er's gaze locked onto a corner of the battlefield.
Although the dense red mist obstructed vision and even blocked spiritual detection, once the countless ice flakes formed by Snowfall Drift covered every part of the mist, as the main controller of the Martial Soul Fusion Technique, Shui Bing'er finally sensed something unusual.
"Humanoid?"
Shui Bing'er vaguely noticed that the fusion technique executed by Xie Yue and Hu Liena was similar to her and Mu Yang's second form, Ice Phoenix Flame Shadow—both were humanoid transformation-type Martial Soul Fusion Techniques.
Without hesitation, after confirming the opponents' location, the countless falling snowflakes sharpened into icy blades, forming a Snow Dance Tornado that swept directly toward the target's position.
"Not good!"
Sensing the sharpness contained within each snowflake, Xie Yue immediately realized the danger. Without delay, he dashed at full speed toward the fixed blue-white pillar on the opposite side of the arena.
Xie Yue knew that while a single snowflake's power wasn't immense, with Enchanting Charm newly reaching the seven-ring level, it could certainly withstand a few.
But there were simply too many of them. With only two crescent blades in hand, he couldn't possibly block them all. If they were forced into a passive position,Charm Demon wouldn't last.
Xie Yue understood that their only chance at victory was to break through the opposing Martial Soul Fusion Technique before Charm Demon could no longer endure.
Charm Demon was fast, but Shui Bing'er's Snow Dance Tornado was even faster. After all, if an attack skill's speed was inferior to an opponent's movement speed, it could only mean there was an overwhelming difference in strength.
Within the red mist, as the Snow Dance Tornado closed in, a piercing sound echoed. Charm Demon suffered countless sharp cuts from the swirling ice blades, severely hindering its movement.
A Martial Soul Fusion Technique was formed by merging the martial souls and soul power of two or more soul masters. Unlike a soul master's physical body, it could regenerate damage below its endurance limit by consuming the soul power of its users.
"Hmph—Full Moon!"
With sharp ice blades cutting into his body and his soul power depleting at an alarming rate, Xie Yue didn't hesitate. His blood-colored crescent blades spun, and the next moment, Charm Demon vanished, transforming into a rapidly spinning, massive white disk. Carrying the red mist like a vortex, it charged unstoppably toward the dazzling blue-white pillar at the arena's edge.
"Clang, clang, clang—"
A series of dense collisions rang out as the white disk, engulfed in a red vortex, shredded through all the sharp ice blades in its path, slamming into the radiant blue-white pillar.
"Screeeech—"
The moment of contact produced an intense grinding sound. The white disk seemed to transform into a high-speed spinning grindstone.
At the same time, under Shui Bing'er's control, countless sharp ice flakes descended from the sky, completely enveloping the spinning white disk, slicing into it from the opposite direction.
Both sides had chosen a head-on clash—now, it was a matter of who would last longer.
However, Charm Demon was purely offensive, lacking defense, whereas Snowfall Drift, due to the nature of its fusion technique, excelled in both offense and defense. Given the relatively equal power levels,Charm Demon was at a significant disadvantage.
Xie Yue, leading Charm Demon, was well aware of this fact, but he had no other choice.
With the opponent's attack covering the entire battlefield, avoiding it meant certain defeat. Their only chance of victory was to endure to the end.
For a brief moment, under the relentless cutting of the white disk, ripples spread across the protective blue-white pillar formed by Snowfall Drift. However, no cracks appeared.
Meanwhile, under the counter-cutting of Snow Dance Tornado, the spinning speed of the white disk significantly slowed down, and the silhouette of Charm Demon wielding twin crescent blades became faintly visible.
Faced with Shui Bing'er's relentless offensive, Xie Yue was in deep distress.
Maintaining a Martial Soul Fusion Technique already required considerable soul power. Activating the Full Moon secret technique further accelerated his consumption. On top of that, he had to regenerate Charm Demon's injuries from the cutting ice blades, consuming even more soul power.
At this moment, Xie Yue felt like his soul power was draining as if a high-powered pump was sucking water from a small pond—rapidly decreasing with no end in sight.
Thankfully, Hu Liena was sharing half of the soul power burden; otherwise, in just this short exchange, Xie Yue's soul power would have been drained by more than half.
Even so, despair crept into his heart.
A protective pillar created by a Martial Soul Fusion Technique was practically absolute defense against an opponent of similar strength, aside from the soul power consumption. Even using the Full Moon technique in Charm Demon form, he simply couldn't break through this barrier.
Finally, just as faint cracks began to form on the blue-white pillar protecting Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu, the red mist covering most of the battlefield gradually dissipated. The white spinning disk distorted and reverted, revealing Xie Yue and Hu Liena, who had exhausted their soul power and could no longer sustain their fusion technique or secret skill.
Seeing this, Shui Bing'er immediately dispelled Snow Dance Tornado. The sharp ice blades instantly turned back into harmless snowflakes, preventing any unnecessary harm to the two who were now incapable of resistance.
As the red mist fully dispersed, revealing the entire battlefield, the referee's voice rang out:
"Spirit Hall Battle Team versus Sky Water Academy Battle Team—Sky Water Academy wins! Congratulations to Sky Water Academy for advancing to tomorrow morning's championship match of the Soul Master Tournament!"
Under the watchful eyes of the audience, there was no way the referee could manipulate the outcome—Spirit Hall couldn't afford such disgrace.
And thus, the Spirit Hall Battle Team, which Bibi Dong had placed high hopes on, ended up finishing only in third place, failing even to qualify for the championship match.
In terms of strength, this generation of the Spirit Hall Battle Team, led by the Golden Generation trio, was the strongest in decades.
But in terms of tournament results, this was the worst performance Spirit Hall had seen in recent history.
Of course, this wasn't entirely their fault—after all, they were just unlucky.
Their opponents had a cheat-like advantage.
Even if Shui Bing'er herself wasn't using any external enhancements, she had Mu Yang backing her up with a small cheat.
Mu Yang:A small cheat doesn't count as cheating
For additional chapters
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