Chapter 26.2 | Ink East

Book 4: The Golden Road

Chapter 26.2: National Treasure, Cauldron's Trembling Shake

“Yes.” Wang Yan stepped to the side, as he didn’t dare to say anything else.

After the lot-drawing ended, the round of 16 formally began.

The area used for each individual match was widened once again, and eight massive arenas all simultaneously began their matches. This time around, Huo Yuhao’s team was facing a rather strange team. In contrast to yesterday’s match—when they’d fought against three girls—they were now fighting against three boys.

Once their opponents entered the arena, they stood in a horizontal line. The person who stood in the center was a fat boy. According to the enrollment rules of Shrek Academy, he was twelve at most. However, his body really didn’t seem like that of a twelve-year-old’s!

He was at least 1.7 meters tall, which meant that he was at least a head taller than anyone on Huo Yuhao’s team. More importantly, the length of his waist seemed to approach 1.7 meters as well...

As he stood there, he looked like a miniature mountain of meat.

On the other hand, the two people standing next to him seemed like sprouts in comparison to him. Not only were they shorter than him by a head, they were even slightly emaciated. The two of them seemed somewhat similar, as if they were brothers. However, they weren’t twins. Something that was notable was that their arms were particularly slender.

If one were to look at these three students from a distance, the two skinny students would probably be overlooked.

“Both sides, introduce yourselves. Prepare for the match to begin.” The proctor said in a deep voice.

The mountain-sized boy slapped his chest fiercely, causing the fat on his body to jiggle. “I’m Xie Huanyue from Class 2.”

“Class 2, Luo Tianlong.”¹

“Class 2, Luo Tianba.”²

The two skinny students had names that sounded extremely domineering.

Huo Yuhao’s team then introduced themselves one by one. When the proctor announced the start of the match, the round of 16 formally started.

However, Huo Yuhao’s team were already twitching their faces before the two sides had even clashed….

The reason behind this was very simple; they’d met another three-ringed expert….

Xiao Xiao couldn’t help but comment, “Are we just this unlucky, or is the school deliberately playing with us?”

Three soul rings rose up from the student known as Xie Huanyue. Furthermore, his three soul rings were all optimal ones. As they moved rhythmically around his fat body, they became increasingly clear. In the instant that he’d released his soul rings, his body had unexpectedly expanded once again, causing his height to jump from 1.7 meters to 1.9 meters. Moreover, the color of his skin had instantly darkened. He forcefully thumped his chest using his fists, causing muffled thumps to ring out. Immediately afterwards, he charged towards Huo Yuhao’s team with large strides.

Luo Tianlong and Luo Tianba didn’t release their martial souls straightaway. Instead, their bodies flashed as they began to run behind Xie Huanyue; they were using his enormous body to hide themselves.

This was their usual style of fighting, and it had allowed them the advantage of making the first move on many occasions in the past. Unfortunately, this was the first time they’d met a prodigy like Huo Yuhao.

Hiding? What was the use of that!? Could they hide from his Spiritual Detection? Following the appearance of a faint golden light in Huo Yuhao’s eyes, a three-dimensional image instantly appeared in both Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao’s minds.

This time, Xiao Xiao didn’t even bother to bring out her Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron. Instead, she instantly released her Ninephoenix Worshipping Flute. At this point, the fact that she was a twin-souled soul master had already been revealed. Thus, she naturally chose the best option for the situation.

As her speed-inhibiting song rang out, Xie Huanyue and the two students who were hiding behind him were instantly slowed down.

However, Wang Dong didn’t impatiently charge forwards. Instead, after releasing his Radiant Butterfly Goddess, his dazzlingly massive pair of wings unfurled, hiding Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao from his opponents view. At this moment, he and Xie Huanyue could only see each other.

Xie Huanyue didn’t seem to care about the fact that he’d slowed down; he heavily stamped his left leg into the ground, but this time around, there were no more thumping sounds. At that moment, his first soul ring immediately lit up.

The three of them were able to predicted that he was about to jump due to Huo Yuhao’s spiritual detection. However, how high could that enormous body of his jump?

In the instant that Huo Yuhao’s team felt puzzled, they quickly realised their mistake.

Unexpectedly, Xie Huanyue’s body shot straight into the air; it was almost as if he’d been shot from a Soul Cannon. He actually managed to jump ten meters into the air. Immediately afterwards, he curled his body up, making him look like an enormous meatball that smashed towards Huo Yuhao’s team.

Luo Tianlong and Luo Tianba—who were clearly siblings—simultaneously made their moves. Although their speed had been reduced as a result of Xiao Xiao’s soul skill, they were still relatively quick. There were two hundred year soul rings surrounding them; in addition to that, their forearms were silver, and an enormous Mantis Blade had sprouted from both of their arms. Not only were they quick, but their bodies seemed extremely dexterous as well.

At that moment, Wang Dong charged forwards. He didn’t rely on his powers of flight to meet the midair Xie Huanyue, but charged toward the Luo brothers instead, simultaneously releasing his Guillotine Wing in an attempt to defeat their agility with his power. The Luo brothers were slowed down by Xiao Xiao, so they weren’t able to completely dominate him in terms of speed. As a result of this, he had the confidence to block them even though it was a 1v2.

As for Xie Huanyue, who was currently falling from the sky, the only thing that awaited him was naturally Xiao Xiao’s Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron.

As her Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron had already split into three, Xiao Xiao activated her second soul skill, Cauldron Sweep. She didn’t have any hope of completely stopping him, she simply didn’t want to completely fail.

Xiao Xiao didn’t dare to look down on her opponent in the least, as he was a genuine Soul Elder-ranked expert. Thus, she used her most powerful soul skill in the instant she made a move.

Unexpectedly, Xie Huanyue didn’t dodge or use a soul skill as he faced Xiao Xiao’s attack. Instead, she allowed the three large cauldrons to strike him.

In the instant that he collided with the three cauldrons, Xie Huanyue’s body whirled around in midair, his first soul ring finally lit up, allowing him to activate his first soul skill.

His originally humongous body once again expanded, and this time around, he looked like a balloon that was being filled with air, causing his body to become perfectly round.

Just as Xiao Xiao’s Cauldron Sweep was about to activate its special effect for striking his body, the enormous ‘balloon’ suddenly shrunk, neutralising a large chunk of its power. After that, it immediately shot straight towards Xiao Xiao.

How strong! In that instant, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao knew that they wouldn’t be able to block his charge. This Xie Huanyue had an extremely mysterious martial soul, one which seemed unique amongst Beast Souls. However, they didn’t know what it was.

On the other side of the battlefield, Wang Dong hadn’t been put at a disadvantage; even though his opponents were strong, he’d still been able to rely on his Spiritual Detection combined with the durability and sharpness of his Guillotine Wing to fight on an even footing against the two people. However, the Luo brothers weren’t just quick; they were crafty as well. They avoided directly clashing with Wang Dong entirely, putting them in a stalemate for the time being.

“Bang—” Xie Huanyue’s enormous body was akin to a huge ball as he descended, but he was still sent flying by the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron in the end. This was more or less because he’d been simultaneously struck by Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock and Xiao Xiao’s Cauldron Sweep.

^{1. Means 'Gathering the Heavenly Dragon/Allheaven Dragon'.↩}

^{2. Gathering the Heavenly Tyrant/Allheaven Tyrant.↩}

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