Chapter 26.4 | Ink East

Book 4: The Golden Road

Chapter 26.4: National Treasure, Cauldron's Trembling Shake

However, he couldn’t help but feel stunned when he looked up into the air. Xiao Xiao, who’d been flung into the air, had been caught by Wang Dong just in time. Wang Dong unfurled his wings while he held onto Xiao Xiao, allowing the two of them to remain floating in the air. At that moment, both of their eyes had turned slightly red, which caused even Xie Huanyue, with his strength, to unexpectedly feel somewhat pressured by them.

“Wang Dong, let me down.” Xiao Xiao’s voice sounded somewhat chilly. At this moment, the girl who’d always been gentle in the past was truly enraged; Huo Yuhao had taken that blow for her! Furthermore, they hadn’t been sure that the proctor would be able to make it in time to save Huo Yuhao. If he hadn’t been able to make it, Huo Yuhao would’ve been severely injured, if not killed! How could Xiao Xiao not be moved by his actions?

Furthermore, she felt that it was her mistake that had allowed Xie Huanyue to get close to them. Currently, her will to fight had been entirely aroused.

Wang Dong retracted his wings and carried Xiao Xiao back down to the ground. He was just as angry as Xiao Xiao. As he fiercely glared at Xie Huanyue, he only had one thought in his mind. This bastard dared to injure Yuhao—I want to kill him.

Xie Huanyue didn’t make any impatient moves. As his enormous body moved slowly towards Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, his first soul ring remained lit, allowing his body to remain as fat as it previously was. This was a special characteristic that belonged to his martial soul. As someone who owned a top-ranked defensive Beast Soul, he didn’t only cultivate his defense—his goals weren’t that simple. He wanted to become an all-rounded defense and control system soul master. Moreover, his cultivation up to this point had been extremely successful; so much so, that he, as well as another freshman who’d reached the Soul Elder Rank, had already become core disciples of the outer courtyard before the freshmen assessment had even started.

“Xiao Xiao, I need fifteen seconds.” Wang Dong growled. With that, he closed his eyes, simultaneously causing both of his soul rings to light up. Golden halos immediately started to appear from his dazzling blue wings. While this occurred, he raised his arms and folded his front wings.

Xiao Xiao nodded heavily, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she walked straight towards Xie Huanyue with large strides. The sounds coming from the Ninephoenix Worshipping Flute became extraordinarily passionate, and jade-coloured halos spread rapidly from her jade flute.

The Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron suddenly returned to her, and its three cauldrons surrounded her in a three-pronged formation.

With a snort, Xie Huanyue suddenly squatted down, then bounced himself back up into the air. This time around, he shot himself directly towards Xiao Xiao. His body was the most powerful weapon he had at his disposal, and even though his speed had been reduced, he was still extremely confident in himself.

At the same time, his second soul ring lit up as he looked for an opportunity to use his extensible arm to attack Xiao Xiao’s Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron.

However, just before he reached five metres away from Xiao Xiao, the three large cauldrons surrounding her simultaneously released a black light and shot towards him. However, instead of colliding with Xie Huanyue, they collided with one another above her head. At the same time, Xiao Xiao’s other two soul rings simultaneously lit up.

Practically all soul skills that belonged to a soul master could be used together with their other soul skills, but their level of synergy depended on both the strength of the soul master’s martial soul, as well as the compatibility between the soul skills that were being used together.

Xiao Xiao finally revealed her strongest move as she faced such a powerful enemy.

National Treasure, Cauldron’s Trembling Quake.

When the three cauldrons fused together, a violent bang rang out. An enormous cauldron that was double the size of her previous cauldron appeared, covering the sky as it did so. Mysterious runes emerged from the enormous cauldron, causing an indescribable sense of awe to burst forth.

Xie Huanyue’s arm was forcefully deflected off the cauldron when he struck it, and when his fat body collided with it, he was actually glued to it, causing him to remain motionless in the air. Halos of black light that were being released from the enormous cauldron unceasingly invaded his body, causing Xie Huanyue to discover that the soul power in his body was unexpectedly rapidly evaporating.

Shocked, he hurriedly roused his soul power, wanting to utilize his powerful thousand year soul skill. However, to his astonishment, he discovered that he wasn’t able to. His body seemed to be in a fixed state; he wasn’t able to cancel any soul skills that he’d already activated, while at the same time he was also unable to release any more soul skills than the ones he had active. The only thing that occurred was the rapid evaporation of his soul power. On the other hand, the towering cauldron that was akin to a mountain continued to stand upright, as if it wasn’t fazed by his attacks in the slightest.

The Ninephoenix Worshipping Flute instantly disappeared from Xiao Xiao’s hand when the enormous cauldron appeared. Furthermore, one could clearly see black halos of light rising from her body as well. However, her expression was turning paler by the second.

The soul power consumed when fusing two soul skills using a special method like this neared the consumption of a fusion skill! When this was added onto the soul power she’d used up during the battle itself, Xiao Xiao definitely wouldn’t last for a long period of time. However, Wang Dong’s words were the only thing that was in her mind now. Fifteen seconds. No matter how I achieve it, I have to last fifteen seconds.

In the instant that Huo Yuhao had fearlessly thrown her into the air, her simple heart had been completely moved. In that instant, she’d been completely assimilated into Huo Yuhao’s team. Although she was a girl, hot blood still surged through her heart. For our team’s honor, and for my companions, I can sacrifice something as well.

Normally, fifteen seconds was a relatively brief period of time. However, it felt agonizingly slow now.

At that moment, a feeling of panic began to appear in the heart of the Rank 32 Xie Huanyue. When he looked into Xiao Xiao’s eyes, he saw that they were filled with a resolute stubbornness; they clearly showed that she was willing to sacrifice herself to take him down with her! Is she crazy? This is only a match in the freshmen assessment! Although he wasn’t sure what Xiao Xiao was doing to keep him from moving, he clearly understood that even twin-souled soul masters couldn’t break one of the laws that governed all martial souls; the stronger its ability, the greater its drain.

One second passed. Another second passed. Yet another second passed.

The proctor began to get worried; he didn’t know whether he should stop a match like this or not. Furthermore, even if he did stop the match, how would he decide the victor of the match? Huo Yuhao, who’d awakened from the intense feeling of dizziness the purple light had caused, clenched his fists tightly. Due to his Spirit Eyes, he was able to clearly see what was going on; Xiao Xiao was clearly overdrawing her soul power!

“Xiao Xiao, give up!” Huo Yuhao yelled. He wasn’t willing to let his teammates get hurt, even if it meant losing the match!

Xiao Xiao’s reply to Huo Yuhao was in the form of her tightly pursed lips. However, the black halo around her body seemed to intensify even further.

In that instant, Huo Yuhao was deeply touched by the stubborn look in Xiao Xiao’s eyes. It wasn’t just him; even the chicken wing-eating Xuan Lao stopped chewing his food and slowly nodded at Xiao Xiao.

Five, four, three, two, one...

When the last second finally arrived, a golden pillar suddenly appeared behind Xiao Xiao. Wang Dong’s Radiant Butterfly Goddess had completely turned a brilliant gold, and following the appearance of the golden pillar of light, he rose into the air like a butterfly bathed in fire. As his body rose into the air, the golden pillar unexpectedly curved, transforming into a terrifying, enormous, crescent-shaped blade of light.

In that instant, the air itself seemed to have been rent apart as the entire arena was filled with a domineering undulation of soul power that was hard to describe.

As he looked at the enormous blade of light coming towards, Xie Huanyue was scared to the point that his soul nearly left his body. Even if he was extremely confident in his defense, he didn’t think that he’d be able to block Wang Dong’s attack.

The proctor didn’t dare to hesitate any longer; he charged into the arena with a flash. However, he discovered, to his astonishment, that he wasn’t able to separate Xie Huanyue from Xiao Xiao’s Cauldron’s Trembling Quake. As the enormous golden blade of light whistled over, the strong pressure emanated from it made the proctor feel as if he was suffocating—even with his Soul Emperor level of cultivation.

No way, is this something a Soul Grandmaster student can even use? Even though the proctor wanted to release his martial soul, it was already too late. Helpless, he could only use his body to forcefully block Wang Dong’s attack.

At that exact moment, an enormous absorption force suddenly descended from the sky, causing the golden blade of light to turn towards the sky just before it hit the proctor.

A huge, fiery hand had suddenly appeared in the sky. It grabbed the golden blade of light and seemed to crush it within its grip. After that, the golden blade of light directly shattered with a “pu”.

As he chewed on his chicken leg, Xuan Lao muttered, “This Orleanian chicken leg is a bit too salty today.” With that, he stood up and slowly walked off the tall stage.

After the National Treasure cauldron quietly vanished, Xiao Xiao collapsed and fainted.

The brilliance of the Radiant Butterfly Goddess vanished as well, but Wang Dong forced himself to remain standing. He looked at the somewhat blank proctor with an unyielding gaze. “We’ve... won…” After forcing out these two words, he was unable to continue persevering, and collapsed.

“Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao.” Huo Yuhao wildly rushed into the arena with all of his strength and hugged his two companions.

At that moment, Xie Huanyue’s body had already returned to its original size, but his school uniform was soaked with cold sweat. In that instant, he truly felt that Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong had wanted to kill him, but there was nothing he’d been able to do about it. As the fat on his body trembled, he discovered that Xiao Xiao’s gaze had been deeply carved into his heart.

The teachers in the Spectator’s Stand were all completely silent. At this point in time, they’d were completely ignoring the other matches that were occurring or had already ended.

The individual strength of each student that made up the two teams weren’t much to them. After all, one would have to be a six-ringed, Soul Emperor-ranked expert at the very least to become a teacher at Shrek Academy. However, they were astonished by Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao’s stubborn conviction. Wang Dong’s situation was still acceptable to them, as it seemed like he’d only used up all of his strength. However, Xiao Xiao had clearly overdrawn her soul power; this wasn’t something that she could recover from in a short period of time.

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