Chapter 323.1: Xuanwu's Domain
Right now, those who were sharp could tell some clues. While Xu Sanshi was retreating, he wasn’t completely at a disadvantage. Every step that he took was timed at the perfect instant when the impact force from his opponent was the strongest. His defensive control against an opponent’s attack had reached a flawless level. When he retreated, his shield also changed continuously. Every layer that was crushed weakened the attack of his opponent.
Long Aotian knew it best. Even with his control, he couldn’t stop Xu Sanshi from weakening his attack. It seemed like his opponent was an old turtle who would never perish even in the face of the most brutal thunderstorms. He would only hide within his own shell.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…”
Xu Sanshi kept on retreating. Long Aotian’s attack was unceasing, while he was struggling to stay alive.
His second and third soul rings shone at the same time. He used the Mysterious Underworld Shield as a series of defensive layers. It worked very similarly to the Mysterious Underworld Quake, especially because he had to control every layer properly to resist Long Aotian’s attack.
The Eternal Defense, Xu Sanshi. He was living up to his name now.
“Boom——” A loud explosion resonated, and Xu Sanshi was flung back along with his shield. He retreated more than twenty meters this time before he crashed to the ground. He staggered a few steps again before he neutralized the impact force that had struck him.
On the other side, Long Aotian also stopped, and the look in his eyes became sharper.
What a troublesome fellow to deal with. Long Aotian cursed in his heart. Huo Yuhao’s judgment was right. The strength of Yama’s Invitation was beyond what Long Aotian had expected. Although he had forced the Yama’s Invitation out from his body, his passageways were still damaged. He was also greatly depleted because he had gathered too much of his soul power earlier.
While the realm of the Unity of Heaven and Man was very strong, its depletion of Long Aotian’s soul power was also very great. After the series of attacks, his passageways were hurting. To prevent his injury from worsening, he took it down a notch. Xu Sanshi seems to have been flung away, but Long Aotian knew that he was exploiting the momentum of his attack to spring back. However, Long Aotian didn’t stop him either. He also needed this time to catch his breath.
Is everyone from the Tang Sect so difficult to deal with? Long Aotian breathed in deeply and tried to repress his internal pain. He retracted the burning white glow around his body. Finally, one of his seven soul rings lit up.
He’s not using his abilities in the realm of the Unity of Heaven and Man anymore? Beneath the stage, Huo Yuhao brightened as he monitored the fight.
Long Aotian’s transformations verified his guesses. Even though Long Aotian wasn’t any weaker as he unleashed his soul skills, his injuries should be quite bad, since he was no longer in the realm of the Unity of Heaven and Man. He was tapping into his soul skills to increase his fighting strength.
Of course, Huo Yuhao also knew that Long Aotian was scariest when he fused his realm of the Unity of Heaven and Man and his soul skills with the second awakening of his body soul.
Second senior, hang in there!
His first soul ring shone, and Long Aotian’s body made some weird changes. He started to bulge, and was now much bigger than before.
Following this, his third soul ring also shone. There was now another layer of dark-golden glow on his skin.
Unleashing these two soul skills caused his aura to become stronger and stronger.
Everyone could tell that his first soul skill was used to enhance his strength, speed and other traits. His third soul skill was used to increase his body’s tenacity, as if he were making his body metallic. Of course, it was more advanced than that.
Right now, Long Aotian seemed as if he had an extra layer of dark-golden armor on his body. As he unleashed these two soul skills at the same time, he was already charging towards Xu Sanshi.
Xu Sanshi didn’t retreat this time. His fifth soul ring lit up. Suddenly, a pair of crimson-red eyes opened on his shield. Turtle God’s Strike.
“Boom——” Two figures clashed in the air. Xu Sanshi seemed to have become stronger. As they clashed, his entire body was dyed completely black.
However, Xu Sanshi couldn’t compare to Long Aotian in terms of absolute cultivation. He was still the one who was sent flying back.
“Enjoyable!” Xu Sanshi shouted, though there was already a streak of blood on the side of his lips. However, the look in his eyes became even more incisive.
Long Aotian, who was slightly delayed by the collision, charged forward again. He came in front of Xu Sanshi and smashed his left fist down. At the same time, he raised his right hand up high.
A weird scene occurred. As his second soul ring shone, his right arm was distorted and turned into a long, golden blade.
As his left fist collided with the Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle, Xu Sanshi immediately staggered back. However, the shield was still protecting his body. However, the dark-golden blade slashed like a bolt of lightning at the next moment.
Long Aotian’s actions were extremely swift. He didn’t give Xu Sanshi a chance to avoid him.
As Xu Sanshi tilted his shield, he tried his best to block the direct attack of the dark-golden blade. However, the blade was too sharp. With a clang, the blade stabbed straight into Xu Sanshi’s shield.
Xu Sanshi groaned. When a martial soul was hurt, it was no different from hurting the soul master. At times, the soul master might even be more critically injured.
After the dark-golden blade stabbed into the shield, it expanded in size and seemed to completely mount itself to the shield. Long Aotian pulled the shield, attempting to drag Xu Sanshi towards him. At this point, his left arm had already changed its form. It turned into a dark-golden hammer, and smacked down ferociously.
Xu Sanshi had no other choice now. He squatted down and used his shield to protect his body.
“Boom——”
These two consecutive blows were too strong. As the hammer pounded the shield, Long Aotian’s blade and the shield finally separated. There were many marks on the shield now, and it seemed on the verge of being torn apart. Xu Sanshi also spat out blood as he retreated.
Long Aotian stretched his arms to his sides, and his fourth soul ring lit up. Once he started his all-out attack, he wasn’t going to give Xu Sanshi a chance anymore.
He only decided to use such a ferocious method to defeat Xu Sanshi because he was very difficult to deal with. Not only would this save time, but it would also helped to conserve his soul power.
Something weird happened. Long Aotian grew in size again. But this time, it seemed as if he were noodle that was being stretched out. He reached more than four meters in height. As he extended his arms upward, he was like a piece of dark-golden metal that had been stretched after it melted.
Long Aotian continued to grow, and was soon more than five meters tall. Both his arms then clasped together, and changed into a huge ax.
It was actually possible to use a body soul in this manner? Changing one’s body into different forms?
Long Aotian’s fighting style was very special. At least, no one was like him in this tournament.
Long Aotian pulled his ax back and burst towards Xu Sanshi. This strike was bound to be astonishing. The burning white that had covered his body earlier surfaced once again. This was his fourth soul skill in the realm of the Unity of Heaven and Man, the Berserk Godslash.
Long Aotian wanted to use this strike to end Xu Sanshi and this fight.
Xu Sanshi was stunned. He didn’t even try to dodge. He only stood there, rooted in place.
The ax was about to chop down. Suddenly, Xu Sanshi smiled. A very arrogant and confident smile.
“Chi!”
As the ax slashed down, Xu Sanshi and his shield were split in two. However, they then turned into a patch of black fluid.
When the fluid spread, the stage suddenly darkened, and the ground turned completely black. A huge amount of black water surged, and waves were formed almost instantly. The entire stage had suddenly turned into a black ocean.
Long Aotian had exploited his momentum in the air to unleash his attack. Moreover, he was a seven-ringed Soul Sage, and could fly using his soul power. But no matter how strong an ax was, how useful was it in water?
An astonished look appeared on Long Aotian’s face again. He had been locked onto Xu Sanshi a second ago. However, everything seemed to change when he struck his opponent.
Is this… is this a domain-type soul skill?
Long Aotian took in a deep breath. Just like how the Tang Sect hadn’t expected the Body Sect to have someone as strong as him, he hadn’t expected to meet someone from the Tang Sect who was so difficult to deal with.
As the black waves surged, a figure formed from the black water, rising amidst the waves.
Xu Sanshi’s voice sounded from all directions. “While your attack is strong, you can’t overcome water. Water is the strongest defense. If you want to overcome my defense, show me what you’ve got.”
A huge shield appeared in the sky. The body of the shield was pitch-black, but it exuded an eerie, black wave of gas above it as well. This shield was more than three meters in diameter, and the shell and horn of the turtle on this shield were very obvious. At the centermost area of the shield, there was a black snake on top of the turtle. If not for its ruby-red eyes, its figure would have been concealed by the blackness of the shield.
At this moment, the Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle no longer existed. There was only the Xuanwu Shield!
The black water was Xu Sanshi’s domain. It was also his sixth soul skill, Xuanwu’s Domain.