Up in the air, Qian Lingyi's Holy Sword clashed with Meng Hongchen's twin blades. In an instant, radiant light and frigid gleam erupted into a violent energy storm, with intense air currents rippling outward from the two girls, disrupting the space throughout the entire dueling arena.
The two of them were sent flying in opposite directions—one upward, one downward. Qian Lingyi flipped back several times before stabilizing midair, her expression grave and surprised as she stared at her opponent below. Meng Hongchen landed hard on the ground, retreating over ten paces to offset the immense impact force on her body.
"You're good. I quite like you," Qian Lingyi said. "So, you'll have the honor of being the first to experience my sixth soul skill!"
As she spoke, her sixth soul ring floated out from behind her, radiating a brilliant light. A beautiful and holy silhouette appeared behind Qian Lingyi. It was immense and, from the contours, clearly that of a stunningly graceful woman. Six pristine angel wings spread from the figure's back. At that moment, a warm ray of sunlight descended from the sky, and the six-winged angel illusion began to sway gently along with the light.
Sixth soul skill — Angel's Divine Dance!
As the angelic phantom danced, Qian Lingyi herself began to change. Her two wings instantly morphed into six, and her whole body radiated a tremendous fighting spirit. Golden flames enveloped her, making her aura instantly suppress Meng Hongchen's completely.
"So this is… the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul? So strong!" Qian Lingyi murmured, then clenched her fist, her face beaming with exhilaration.
She abruptly looked up, eyes sharp like lightning as she locked onto Meng Hongchen. The six angelic wings behind her flapped, and the sword of light in her hand transformed into a true Holy Sword, as she shot toward Meng Hongchen with dazzling speed.
Meng Hongchen had already heightened her focus to its peak when Qian Lingyi released her sixth soul ring. As Qian Lingyi charged, she didn't flinch or avoid the confrontation—this girl's nature was clearly bold and fierce.
Her icy-blue long swords clashed with the Holy Sword once more—but this time, the icy-blue blade snapped from the force of the impact!
The moment her weapon broke, Meng Hongchen was stunned. Qian Lingyi didn't hesitate for a moment. She retracted her sword, lifted her leg, and landed a clean kick to Meng Hongchen's stomach, sending her flying.
Immediately, Qian Lingyi closed the gap again. With her sword hand now clenched into a fist, she swung the blade sideways toward Meng Hongchen's chest. Meng Hongchen, regaining clarity from the shock, crossed her arms in front of her to block the blow.
But from the moment her sword shattered, the duel was already decided. Qian Lingyi held the absolute upper hand. Unless Meng Hongchen had some trump card that could reverse the situation, defeat was just a matter of time.
Did Meng Hongchen have such a trump card? Clearly, she did. But was it necessary to reveal it in a simple sparring match? She hesitated. Offstage, Xiao Hongchen shook his head frantically, signaling her not to act impulsively.
In the end, the girl decided not to use it. Though strong-willed, she wasn't reckless.
Thus, Qian Lingyi emerged as the undisputed victor of the spar. However, the match itself gave the inner courtyard's teachers and students plenty to study and reflect upon. Aside from Qian Lingyi's Angel Martial Soul and her sixth soul ring's six-winged angel illusion, even Meng Hongchen's flying, offensive, and defensive soul tool armor was more than worthy of deep analysis from Shrek Academy.
"Sigh…" Tang Ya watched with a face full of worry and let out a long sigh. "We're all sixteen or seventeen years old. How can the gap be so wide?"
"Exactly!" Xue Weiwei echoed with deep empathy.
Both were currently around Rank 47 or 48. Though they were some distance from reaching Soul King, they still had a fair chance of achieving that before twenty.
"Actually, Meng Hongchen's not too bad," Beibei offered. "Much of her strength comes from that Grade-6 soul tool armor. Her actual strength is just so-so. But Qian Lingyi is different. She's innately strong—and especially after activating her sixth soul ring, she was even able to temporarily evolve her Martial Soul into the Six-Winged Angel. She's definitely a formidable opponent!"
"Heh, Beibei, don't be too quick to judge," Zhu Ziyang interjected with a smile. "Meng Hongchen's Martial Soul isn't as simple as it looks."
"Oh? What do you mean?" Beibei showed no annoyance at being corrected. On the contrary, he asked curiously.
"Her Martial Soul is called the Red Eyed Ice Toad. Besides having an ice attribute, it also possesses a very potent toxicity," Zhu Ziyang explained. "Did you notice her eyes? Bright red. That's a unique trait of the Red Eyed Ice Toad—those are fire-attributed eyes."
"Fire-attributed… eyes?" The group looked shocked.
"Yes. The Red Eyed Ice Toad's poison comes from the fusion of fire and ice within those eyes," Zhu Ziyang said. "This bizarre duality allows the Martial Soul to harbor both chilling ice poison and searing fire poison. Without special countermeasures, it's incredibly difficult to resist. Among all of us here, only Tang Ya and Sanshi might barely withstand such a toxin."
"Wow… to think there's such a Martial Soul out there. This is truly eye-opening!" Everyone murmured in amazement—then grew serious again. "If we encounter her in the future, how should we deal with it?"
"Keep your distance," Zhu Ziyang advised. "Unless you have the power to counter poison, don't engage in close combat. And if the weather's rainy or snowy, just run. The Red Eyed Ice Toad's poison can seep into rain and snow. Even in the Extreme North, this soul beast would be considered a hegemon."
"Got it!" Everyone nodded.
"Ah! That girl Qian Lingyi is coming over!" Xiao Xiao suddenly shouted. The others looked up and indeed saw Qian Lingyi approaching.
"Zhu Ziyang, what were you all talking about?" Qian Lingyi walked up and, with a radiant smile, stood beside Zhu Ziyang, asking sweetly.
"We were discussing Meng Hongchen's Martial Soul," Zhu Ziyang replied with a grin. Glancing toward the arena, he noticed Meng Hongchen had already left with her fellow students from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. He then turned to introduce his friends. "These are my close friends and juniors."
"I know Beibei and Xu Sanshi." Qian Lingyi beamed as she greeted the two with a sunny smile.
"Er, congratulations! Just a few days and you're already a Soul Emperor," Beibei and Xu Sanshi responded with forced smiles.
"Hehe, I suppose I'm doing alright." Qian Lingyi replied with a proud smirk.
"Hello, I'm Tang Ya." Tang Ya's eyes flickered as she looked at Qian Lingyi, clearly up to something. After her self-introduction, she remarked, "You seem quite close with Zhu Ziyang. Are you unaware he already has a girlfriend? And they've been childhood sweethearts."
"I know—Jiang Nannan, right?" Qian Lingyi replied with a carefree smile, completely unfazed by Tang Ya's clear jabs. "But so what if they're childhood sweethearts? I personally believe in the heaven-sent path."
"Uh…" Tang Ya was momentarily speechless. Qian Lingyi had made her intent perfectly clear: she was going after Zhu Ziyang. And if anyone should confront her, it should be Jiang Nannan, not her. So she stepped aside. "Zhu Ziyang, you handle this yourself."
"Heh…" Zhu Ziyang just chuckled without answering.
—
Three or four days later, Zhu Ziyang and Qian Lingyi once again left the academy. This time, Zhu Ziyang had received intel on three Evil Spirit Masters—targets for completing his Death God Fourth Trial.
The two moved swiftly, easily locating the first of the three. Fortunately, this one was indeed guilty, meeting the requirements of the Death God Trial. Thus, Zhu Ziyang successfully completed the Death God Fourth Trial.
In great spirits, he and Qian Lingyi traveled to a nearby town, settled into an inn, and prepared to receive the reward from the Fourth Trial—and initiate the Fifth.
(End of Chapter)
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