Amidst the ruins of the arena, Shui Bing'er, supported by Xue Wu, struggled to stand. Looking at the black ice phoenix still falling from the sky, her eyes held a glimmer of hope
. However, the ice phoenix vanished instantly above Ye Qiu's head.
Shui Bing'er's face turned deathly pale. Her gaze shifted downwards, looking at Ye Qiu standing calmly on the ground, her eyes glazed over.
She couldn't understand why this had happened.
Why, even with her and Xue Wu's Martial Soul Fusion Technique, plus the power of her own Martial Soul Origin, couldn't defeat Ye Qiu despite his deliberate head-on resistance?
The chilling icy air was enough to slow anyone's movements.
In that instant, the temperature on the arena had dropped to an extremely terrifying level.
Coupled with the control of the cold current, she absolutely refused to believe that a Soul Master below level sixty could break through the lock and escape the attack range.
Yet, that man had done it.
He simply used his self-created Soul Skill, infused with black flames and lightning, and stood unharmed.
Even if her soul skill was broken
, that extreme cold should have definitely damaged Ye Qiu.
But he still walked towards her leisurely, even with a nonchalant smile, completely unchanged from before.
As Ye Qiu approached, his Eternal Kaleidoscope continued to activate, extinguishing the wisps of Amaterasu Black Flame that had attached themselves to Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu.
He dispersed the black flames, creating an open space for them to stand.
The two girls were pale, their soul power depleted, making it difficult for them to even stand.
Looking at Ye Qiu, Shui Bing'er knew that she and Xue Wu could never defeat him.
He was too strong, like an old monster.
At this moment, only the three of them remained within the arena; the outcome was already decided.
"Can you tell me why?"
Shui Bing'er looked at Ye Qiu and said with some difficulty, a red glint flashing in her eyes as she looked at the handsome man before her, a few thoughts arising in her mind.
"Hmm? What why?"
Ye Qiu tilted his head, somewhat puzzled.
"It's just..."
Shui Bing'er's face suddenly turned crimson, and she didn't continue, immediately looking away shyly. She
unconsciously swallowed.
How could she... how could she feel this way?
Shui Bing'er lowered her eyes, not daring to look at Ye Qiu again. This was the first time she had
felt such a flutter in her heart when facing a man. Xue Wu beside her, however, was completely oblivious, lost in Ye Qiu's Sharingan.
She stared at Ye Qiu, her face flushed, her heart pounding, and her already unsteady legs felt weak.
Ye Qiu frowned, immediately extinguishing all the black flames on the arena and closing his Sharingan.
The arena was now half-flattened, much shorter than before.
"Hmm? Xue Wu... what's wrong?"
Shui Bing'er suddenly noticed Xue Wu taking a step forward and looked at her curiously.
Xue Wu snapped out of her daze, her face burning, panting slightly.
"It's nothing."
She responded softly, glancing up at Ye Qiu before her, her face flushing even more as she buried her head in Shui Bing'er's shoulder.
"Ahem."
Ye Qiu coughed awkwardly twice, bringing Shui Bing'er back to her senses as she was about to ask about Xue Wu.
"N-no, I'm sorry, I wanted to ask why you don't get frostbite?"
Ye Qiu wasn't about to tell her that Xue Wu's condition was entirely her fault.
After a moment's hesitation, he explained softly,
"Because I have ice immunity, so I don't get frostbite."
Ye Qiu's body had been tempered by the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass, the Fiery Apricot Vegetable, and the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eye, and had also received a gift from the Ice and Fire Dragon King.
His physique was far superior to that of ordinary people, capable of resisting all cold and fire elemental energies.
Hearing Ye Qiu's words,
both of their beautiful eyes froze on him, a bitter smile appearing on Shui Bing'er's lips.
"Then why were you able to restrain me before?"
Shui Bing'er couldn't help but ask.
Her first soul skill, Ice Seal, was clearly effective against Ye Qiu. But the extreme cold brought by the Ice Phoenix didn't work?
Ye Qiu rolled his eyes.
"It's a simple principle, isn't it? My ice and fire immunity only works on energy forms. Physical forms can naturally bind me, and energy impacts will also harm me."
"And your Ice Seal is a solid form, so of course I'm restrained. I can only break through or become ethereal and leave, but the coldness within won't hurt me."
Shui Bing'er's face flushed slightly, her eyes lowered, and she pursed her red lips, saying with difficulty,
"We lost this match."
At this moment, the referee had already cautiously walked over, even though he possessed a soul power of over fifty levels.
He was also somewhat uneasy.
These young people are really too powerful.
What if they still have some trump cards up their sleeves? He might also be implicated.
"Is it over?" The referee looked at both sides.
Ye Qiu glanced at Shui Bing'er, and the two nodded to each other, saying in unison, "It's over."
Not only was their match over.
The preliminary rounds of the Soul Master Competition concluded perfectly with Ye Qiu and Shui Bing'er joining forces.
The referee nodded and immediately announced loudly to the audience,
"The next match of the Heaven Dou Region preliminary rounds is between Blue Tyrant Academy and Heavenly Water Academy. The winner is Blue Tyrant Academy!"
"Wow!"
The referee's words echoed throughout the entire Great Soul Arena via the soul tool.
The audience, who had been unable to contain themselves any longer, immediately erupted in cheers.
The destructive power of this match was evident to all.
It could definitely be called the strongest clash ever; even the arena was shattered, reduced to more than half its original height.
"Sister, are you alright?"
Shui Yue'er and the others quickly ran onto the arena and helped the two exhausted Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er.
Looking at Shui Bing'er in her arms, Shui Yue'er ultimately didn't abandon her and ran towards Ye Qiu.
Instead, she blushed and looked at Ye Qiu.
"Ye Qiu, thank you for going easy on me."
"You're welcome. It's just a competition; friendship comes first."
Ye Qiu smiled slightly, waving goodbye to Shui Yue'er.
Shui Yue'er looked at the group of women surrounding Ye Qiu and lowered her head dejectedly.
"Alright, Seventh Girl, stop being so infatuated. The preliminary rounds are over."
...
Ning Rongrong pounced on Ye Qiu, checking him over. Seeing he wasn't injured,
she immediately asked,
"Hmph! You stinky guy, you probably didn't fancy any of those women, did you?"
"Rongrong, I'm not that hungry. What's the point of talking about liking someone after just one meeting?"
Ye Qiu rolled his eyes.
"Does brother mean if you look at them a few more times, you'll like them?" Xiao Lan
tilted her head, puzzled.
"Xiao Lan!"
Ye Qiu glared at her, looking at the somewhat resentful gazes of the women beside him, inwardly screaming that he couldn't take it anymore.