On the arena, Huo Yuhao raised his head, gazing calmly at the dark golden figure in mid-air.
Long Yue's eyes, which had been burning with Battle Intent, were now dim and dazed, and the imposing aura that had been pressing down like a Titled Douluo was withering at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Saint Dragon Douluo Enci was truly worthy of being a Limit Douluo; merely by observing the abnormality in Long Yue's Spirit Power consumption, he had determined that he was using a type of Spirit Domain.
In fact, Huo Yuhao had only recently researched this Spirit Domain, and this was his first time using it in combat, but the effect was far better than he had anticipated.
Huo Yuhao named this Domain the "Space-Time Phantasm Domain".
The two characters for "Space-Time" came from Huo Yuhao's profound realization from his own Transmigration through time and space over the years, containing not only the concept of space but also touching upon the supreme Law of time.
And the two characters for "Phantasm" came from his Spirit Eyes Martial Soul, an extension of his mental force.
Simply put, the effect of the Space-Time Phantasm Domain was to forcibly pull the opponent's mental force into an independent conscious space constructed by Huo Yuhao himself.
In this space, the flow of time was controlled by Huo Yuhao; a single instant in the outside world could be infinitely elongated here.
Of course, the greater the difference in time flow between the two, the greater the consumption of Huo Yuhao's mental force.
In this space, although Huo Yuhao had no attack power that directly acted upon the opponent's physical body, he could create realistic illusions that were indistinguishable from reality at will.
At this moment, to outsiders, Long Yue appeared to be hovering motionlessly above the arena with a dull gaze, but his consciousness had long been pulled into the independent space of the Space-Time Phantasm Domain.
There, he was engaged in a fierce battle with "Huo Yuhao", the two fighting from mid-air to the ground, and from the ground back to the high sky.
Trading Spirit Abilities, exchanging blows, every move and style was so realistic that Long Yue was completely unaware that he had fallen deep into an illusion.
Although only a few breaths of time had passed in the outside world, in Long Yue's subjective perception, he and Huo Yuhao had already exchanged hundreds of blows.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Long Yue's chest heaved violently, ragged breaths escaping him, and his gaze as he looked at Huo Yuhao was filled with disbelief.
When they first started, he felt that although Huo Yuhao's cultivation was equal to his own, his offensive moves and Spirit Abilities did not seem as sharp and domineering as he had imagined, appearing not very strong.
However, the longer they fought, the more alarmed he became, because no matter how he attacked or what Spirit Ability he used, he could not seem to do anything to his opponent.
What made him feel even more desperate was that the opponent's Spirit Power and stamina seemed inexhaustible.
He himself was drenched in sweat, panting like an ox, and his movements were significantly slower than when the fight began.
Yet, the Huo Yuhao opposite him still had clear eyes, not a single bead of sweat on his forehead, as if he had maintained his Peak state from beginning to end.
Long Yue was unwilling to accept defeat like this; he could not lose, especially not on the arena where he had personally initiated the challenge.
A violent and crazy impulse from the depths of his Bloodline exploded in his chest like ignited gunpowder, and his originally dark golden eyes suddenly turned blood-red.
The Bloodline Power belonging to the Mountain Dragon King completely overwhelmed his reason at this moment, replacing it with a more powerful, more violent, and near-uncontrollable destructive force.
In his frenzied state, Long Yue was like an ancient Vicious Beast that had broken free from its shackles, every punch he threw causing the entire arena to shake violently.
However, even so, he was still unable to knock down the opponent in front of him, still unable to leave even a single substantial wound on "Huo Yuhao".
Finally, at the very moment when Long Yue's Spirit Power was about to be completely exhausted and his body could no longer support this crazy power, "Huo Yuhao" suddenly moved.
With a simple thrust, his figure seemed to transform into a silver bolt of lightning, instantly crossing the tens of meters between them, the cold tip of the sword tearing through the air directly toward Long Yue's face.
Long Yue wanted to dodge, but his body had long since exceeded its load limit; he couldn't even muster the strength to raise his arm to block, and could only watch as that point of cold light rapidly magnified before his eyes.
Finally, a single sword strike hit Long Yue right between the eyebrows.
Outside, it had only been one minute since the host passionately announced the official start of the exhibition match.
The more than three hundred thousand expectant Star Luo spectators in the audience were already restless, the buzzing of their discussions rising and falling like the tide in the stands.
They were completely bewildered, unable to understand what the two people below were doing; they hadn't seen the spectacular duel the host had spoken of at all!
And just then, the dark golden figure in mid-air suddenly swayed violently without warning, and the huge dragon wings on his back hung down powerlessly as if they had lost all strength.
Long Yue's whole body tilted, and he fell straight down from mid-air.
With a dull "thud", his burly and sturdy body crashed heavily onto the arena, and he lay there motionless, his life or death unknown.
The noisy discussions in the audience ceased instantly, as if an invisible giant hand had simultaneously choked the throats of three hundred thousand people.
The entire Star Luo Stadium became extremely quiet for a moment; no one understood what had happened, and no one knew how Long Yue had fallen.
But one thing everyone understood: there was a result to this duel.
The host was also staring blankly at this scene with his mouth agape, a rare look of dullness and astonishment appearing on his face, which was usually so composed from seeing big scenes.
However, he was ultimately a veteran of the Jianghu who had hosted countless large-scale events, and after a brief moment of distraction, he quickly collected himself.
He cleared his throat and announced in his still impassioned, booming voice: "How spectacular! How shocking! Both contestants are Geniuses rarely seen in Ten Thousand Years. Clearly, they just engaged in a profound and unfathomable clash of Spirit Domains that our naked eyes could not see."
"Unfortunately, in the end, contestant Long Yue was just one move short, and ultimately lost to Huo Yuhao."
"The Federation's number one Genius, truly lives up to his reputation..."
Huo Yuhao stood on the arena, glancing indifferently at the host who was spitting as he spoke in mid-air.
The other party's rhetoric was clearly to smooth things over, both to maintain the face of the Star Luo Empire's number one Genius and to give the three hundred thousand spectators a reasonable explanation.
The stronger Huo Yuhao was made out to be, the more acceptable Long Yue's failure would be to the people.
However, the direction of his guess wasn't entirely wrong; he and Long Yue had indeed engaged in a duel of Spirit Domains.
It was just that Long Yue hadn't lost by a narrow margin; rather, he had been played in the palm of his hand from beginning to end, completely crushed.
Huo Yuhao walked slowly off the arena, and just as he reached the entrance of the contestant passage, several familiar figures came into his view.
Xie Xie rushed to the front, Tang Wulin followed closely behind, Xu Xiaoyan trotted behind, and even Long Chen, Xue Liushuang, and Weng Daimin from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy had come over.
Clearly, they had all rushed over to congratulate Huo Yuhao on defeating Long Yue; after all, this battle could be considered a display of the Federation's prestige. At such a time of unity against outsiders, the usual sectarian prejudices and academy barriers could be temporarily set aside.
Xie Xie rushed forward first, and as soon as he ran to Huo Yuhao, he grinned impatiently and said: "I knew that guy Long Yue definitely wouldn't be your match. But Yuhao, how exactly did you defeat him? We watched from the private box for a long time, and we only saw you two staring at each other without even moving a hand. How did he suddenly fall?"
Huo Yuhao glanced behind Xie Xie; the others also had faces full of curiosity.
Huo Yuhao smiled and simply said four words: "We'll talk later."
On the other side of the arena, the other Seven Great Heavenly Kings of the Monster Academy had already rushed onto the arena at the first moment, seven figures surrounding the unconscious Long Yue tightly.
After a flurry of panicked checks, they confirmed that Long Yue was only unconscious due to Spirit Power exhaustion and mental force overdraft, and there were no serious injuries on his body, so they all breathed a sigh of relief.
After a while, Long Yue slowly came to, gradually opening his bloodshot dark golden eyes. His vision turned from blurry to clear, and what came into view were seven familiar faces filled with worry and concern.
He was stunned for a long time, then opened his mouth and said the first sentence after waking up: "I'm not dead?"
Dai Yuner squatted beside him, reached out and patted his forehead, and replied with a mix of annoyance and amusement: "Of course you're not dead, but you scared us to death just now. We thought you had been seriously injured by that guy."
Long Yue blinked blankly, his last memory still lingering on the image of that silver figure piercing his brow with a sword.
He clearly remembered the bone-chilling cold and stabbing pain when the tip of the sword pierced his brow; that feeling was so real it didn't feel like a dream at all.
He subconsciously raised his hand to touch his brow; it felt smooth and flat, without even a trace of blood.
The people around looked at each other, stunned, for they, like the three hundred thousand spectators, had not understood at all how Long Yue had lost.
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A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.