One white and three black soul rings gradually rose from beneath his feet and circled around his body rhythmically. This was a combination that shouldn’t happen on soul masters, but it existed now, and was just so miraculous.

However, the soul rings immediately changed the second they appeared, becoming one red and four orange soul rings that sparkled and glowed.

These two combinations alternated while the colors intertwined, which gave everyone a strange and peculiar feeling.

“He has twin martial souls – he’s switching his martial souls around.” Ling Luochen’s icy-cold voice carried a tinge of surprise, but there was more caution.

She had fought beside Huo Yuhao before, so she understood how powerful Huo Yuhao was. Back then, this youth hadn’t even had his third soul ring, yet he had displayed exceptional ability during a top-tier competition, the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, and his contribution had been imperative to the team’s claim on the championship, while today he was a Soul King after five years. She had chosen Huo Yuhao today, which had seemed a little impulsive, but it was a cathartic release of all the feelings that had been accumulating at the bottom of her heart.

When the big competition ended back in the day, Ling Luochen had actually felt a little despondent because she had found someone who was also ice-type, but was far more talented than she was – and that was Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice gave her an overly strong impression. She knew that in the near future, there would be nobody in the academy, and perhaps the entire Continent, that could challenge him in terms of ice-type abilities.

There was a yearning in her heart, and she desired to be on the same competition stage or battlefield as him once more. Her own powers would be greatly boosted with his presence – the sensation of controlling Ultimate Ice was just too magical. Ling Luochen deeply believed that if she could cultivate together with Huo Yuhao, her cultivation speed would be much faster than it was now.

There was an obvious distinction between a soul master and a normal person’s reasoning, and that was in romantic relationships. Why did Shrek Academy want to host the Sea God’s Fate? The reason was because the academy’s students were too arrogant, and if others wanted to win them over, these people had to be on the same level of cultivation at the very least. The students’ targets were people who would eventually become Titled Douluo, with both parties complementing each other to reach this goal was what they desired most. Furthermore, only soul masters who had abilities that could impress them had a chance of winning their heart.

Ling Luochen was no different, and her starting point was similar to Ning Tian in this regard. However, Ning Tian’s mind for utility was purer, while Ling Luochen’s heart had contained complex feelings towards Huo Yuhao for five years.

Today, her heart was finally moved when she saw the seventeen-year-old Huo Yuhao. She could feel as if there were an aura inside his body that was calling out to her, and subconsciously attracting her soul power. That attraction was just too alluring to her, and even though Huo Yuhao was seven years younger than she was, Ling Luochen still walked out. It was a pity that all she got was a tactful rejection.

Ling Luochen didn’t have revenge or vengeance in mind when she proposed this challenge. She wanted to see the level of ice abilities that this youth, the one who was just so alluring to her, had reached five years after they first met.

Dai Huabin hammered his chest heavily. His extremely muscular body grew explosively in size again, and he charged towards Huo Yuhao as he roared furiously. His feet made deep grooves in the tough ice beneath his feet in that explosive moment, and his body carried intense whitish-golden light as he surged towards Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes sparkled, and there was no anxiety at all before Dai Huabin. Dai Huabin was seventeen years old, and he had broken through Rank 50, and was even nearing Rank 60. But so what? Even without that hatred in his heart, Dai Huabin was second to Dai Yueheng in Huo Yuhao’s heart.

Dai Huabin was perhaps more talented, but his obstinate and egotistical personality would eventually become the greatest hurdle in his future path.

Huo Yuhao acted like he didn’t even see Dai Huabin’s lunge, and his soul rings switched back to one white and three black soul rings. The black soul ring in the third position suddenly erupted with light, and Huo Yuhao’s eyes turned white. Two pale-white beams of light burst from his eyes, but their target wasn’t Dai Huabin – they went for the people behind him.

The white light didn’t hit anyone, instead halting in midair. Its position was in the middle of Dai Huabin, Wu Feng, Xie Huanyue and Ling Luochen and Ning Tian behind them.

The white radiance instantly transformed into a glowing white sphere, and a circle of white light expanded outwards from that position, accurately and steadily enveloping all five of them inside.

Mass Enfeeblement!

An elder on the ferry couldn’t help but comment in admiration. “Such formidable control of his spirit.” 

“If I remember correctly, Elder Xuan, spiritual control soul skills should be released from the user. How is he able to use his soul skill from a fixed location so far away?”

Elder Xuan chuckled and said, “Didn’t you just say it? Spiritual control. This is perhaps because his spiritual power has reached an impressive level, and he has an incredible ability to control it, so he’s able to use the soul skill like that. This fellow has improved once more, his spiritual power…”

Elder Xuan’s eyes sparkled continuously. Everything that Huo Yuhao had done for the Soul Tool Department over the past two years had fallen into his eyes, and while he was pleased, he was also a little worried. He was worried that Huo Yuhao had placed too much focus on soul tools that he ended up delaying or overlooking his cultivation. However, it seemed like he didn’t need to worry at all…

Dai Huabin and the others immediately felt an intense weakness spreading over their bodies as Mass Enfeeblement worked its magic. Ling Luochen and Ning Tian were slightly better, as they were engaged in battle solely through releasing their soul power to use soul skills. However, Xie Huanyue, Dai Huabin, and Wu Feng were close-combat soul masters, and thus the weakness felt a lot more acute to them.

The sudden weakness that Ning Tian felt greatly reduced the amplification provided by the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, and it even swayed their will to fight to a certain extent. Dai Huabin was pouncing forward, but his movement speed was reduced by at least thirty percent. 

Huo Yuhao made his move at this moment. He grabbed Wang Dong, and the two of them shone brilliantly as they flashed out. They gained a lot of speed, and an intense golden light fell on Wang Dong’s body at the same time. Faced with their converging attack, Huo Yuhao made an extremely calm judgment. 

His eyes were suddenly tainted with a strange golden color, and one could see upon closer inspection that there was a golden whirlpool deep within each of his Spirit Eyes.

Two golden beams of light shot out, targeting Dai Huabin.

The speed of light was unimaginably quick, and it was impossible for Dai Huabin to evade this attack even if he wanted to, unless he had a skill like Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection to predict the attack.

Did he? Of course not. Therefore, he could only face it head-on.

Dai Huabin roared into the sky as his second soul ring lit up. At this moment, a surprising four of his five soul rings were operating at the same time.

A dense white beam exploded from his mouth straight towards the two golden beams.

He wanted to intercept them in midair – this was his second soul skill, White Tiger’s Fierce Light Wave.

When the white and golden lights clashed in the sky, Dai Huabin was momentarily stunned, as he couldn’t feel any force or impact at all. His White Tiger’s Fierce Light Wave blasted far into the distance, while the two golden beams from Huo Yuhao’s eyes struck his body.

Spiritual power was different from soul power. He had made an erroneous judgment, and so he took a direct hit from Huo Yuhao’s fourth soul skill, Spiritual Confusion.

A golden whirlpool that was half a foot high suddenly appeared above Dai Huabin’s head. Dai Huabin immediately felt an acute dizziness fill up his entire head, as if it were about to wreak havoc in his mind. Everything before him became blurry, and he felt as if he were starting to lose control of his own body.

Huo Yuhao didn’t typically use Spiritual Confusion. This wasn’t because this soul skill wasn’t very good – that was because this soul skill’s single-target controlling effects were too powerful, and it was too easy for others to remember. At least, he never used this soul skill whenever he had his practice battles with Ji Juechen. But he was outnumbered in this battle, and so Dai Huabin finally became his “lab rat”.

From everyone else’s perspective, Dai Huabin seemed to stop involuntarily in his tracks, as if he couldn’t control himself anymore after he was struck by the golden light from Huo Yuhao’s eyes, and he appeared to be spinning in circles on the spot.

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’er’s were still flying forward, and they seemed to brush past his shoulders as they went straight for Wu Feng.

Xie Huanyue’s reactions were quick. He had rushed in horizontally from the side when Dai Huabin first displayed a loss of control. When he saw that Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were going for Wu Feng, the soul rings on his body lit up. His pudgy body suddenly plopped onto the ground, and a tremendous bouncing force propelled his body in Wu Feng’s direction immediately afterwards.

It was five versus two, and Ling Luochen’s soul skill had also found its target at this moment. She had discerned Huo Yuhao’s location, and she launched multiple soul skills at the same time.

A layer of icy armor descended on Dai Huabin’s body and boosted his defensive abilities. An Ice Prison was activated with accurate prejudgment, but it didn’t go for Huo Yuhao or Wang Dong’er – instead, it went for Wu Feng.

This Ice Prison was more than ten meters in diameter, and it was formed from twenty-four thick ice pillars. The ice pillars tunneled from the surface and immediately provided powerful protection and control.

Ling Luochen was exceptionally level-headed. She knew that Huo Yuhao’s control-type soul skill against Dai Huabin couldn’t be maintained for a prolonged period of time. She was a control-type soul master, and she had to first ensure that they weren’t a man down under such situations. Furthermore, she had a deep-seated fear of Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice, and she knew that she couldn’t possibly restrain Huo Yuhao.