Clearly, without a Limit Douluo following him, Zhang Peng was still quite confident in his ability to take down Huo Yuhao.
The fact that he was unleashing his Martial Soul True Body at this moment was enough to show that he had a sliver of caution regarding Huo Yuhao's trump card, and he did not underestimate him in the slightest because of his youth.
Caution and decisiveness do not conflict; he had survived in the Holy Spirit Cult until today by relying on this vigilance, never becoming slack because an opponent was weak.
In Zhang Peng's view, Huo Yuhao's silence meant he was weighing the pros and cons.
He was guessing whether this young Tower Master was considering how to negotiate, how to stall for time, or if he was thinking about whether it was possible to escape from his hands.
But Zhang Peng would not have guessed that the real reason for Huo Yuhao's silence had nothing to do with "weighing the pros and cons."
He was merely hesitating, hesitating about what means he should use next to deal with this Super Douluo before him.
Because the means he had in his hands right now to deal with a powerhouse of this level were truly too numerous.
This was not arrogance; rather, the power he held in his hands had indeed long since exceeded the cognitive scope of Spirit Masters of the same rank.
Zhang Peng would never have guessed that the trump card Huo Yuhao spoke of was himself.
The moment he subsequently saw Huo Yuhao raise his head, a sliver of emerald green light flashed through those originally azure blue eyes.
That light flashed by in an instant, so fast it felt like an illusion, yet it inexplicably made Zhang Peng's heart tighten.
Immediately after, pieces of battle armor emerged from Huo Yuhao's body, rapidly covering his entire form.
Breastplate, shoulder guards, arm guards, battle skirt, battle boots... Every piece of battle armor clung to the curves of his figure, with fine light patterns flowing across the dark silver surface, emitting a condensed radiance in the dimness shrouded by dark clouds.
Zhang Peng's tiger eyes sank slightly. Is this set of spirit tool armor his trump card?
Zhang Peng was a pure Spirit Master, but having been active within the Sun Moon Empire for these years, through constant exposure, his understanding of Spirit Tools far exceeded that of most veteran powerhouses from the original Douluo Three Kingdoms.
He could tell that the battle armor on Huo Yuhao was exquisitely crafted and of an extremely high grade, but even if this were a set of level-nine spirit tool armor, it would be impossible to bridge the gap between them.
Zhang Peng thought this in his heart, and was even preparing to open his mouth to mock him with, "So this is your so-called trump card?"
But in the very next instant, the aura on Huo Yuhao's body suddenly surged.
That aura rose without warning, like a sharp blade originally hidden in its sheath suddenly being drawn, exposing its edge.
Zhang Peng's originally relaxed tiger eyes suddenly narrowed, and the muscles all over his body tensed up in an instant.
And when he clearly saw the spirit rings emerging beneath Huo Yuhao's feet, it was as if something had exploded in his mind.
Red, red, red, red, orange-gold, orange-gold, orange-gold!
Although there were only seven spirit rings, the arrangement of these spirit ring colors had completely exceeded Zhang Peng's entire understanding of the Spirit Master system.
Zhang Peng's huge tiger face was now filled with undisguisable shock.
His pupils constricted sharply, and even the poison hook flickering with dark light on the tip of his tail trembled slightly.
What Huo Yuhao had unleashed was naturally the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Spirit.
After successfully completing the Fusion with the Snow Empress Spirit Soul, the number of spirit rings for his second Spirit had also reached seven.
Zhang Peng certainly knew that Huo Yuhao had twin spirits, and he was also clear about the advantages of twin spirits.
Those twin Spirit Spirit Masters recorded in history were generally able to reach a quality of Ten Thousand Years or more when adding spirit rings to their second Spirit.
But Huo Yuhao now had seven spirit rings, seven hundred-thousand-year ones.
The moment this number slid through his mind, Zhang Peng felt that the understanding he had accumulated over more than half his life was tottering.
He kept his huge tiger mouth open, unable to close it for a long time.
Huo Yuhao's movements did not stop because of Zhang Peng's shock; after the Spirit Body Enhancement, the patterns on the silver-white battle armor on his body began to light up one by one.
Ice-blue light patterns spread from the center of the breastplate toward his limbs, flowing along the seams of the armor like winding rivers on the Far North Ice Plains.
His entire aura surged once more, and a sense of extreme cold radiated from his body.
Zhang Peng's huge tiger body shuddered violently.
This chill made Zhang Peng's huge tiger body shudder violently, and it also snapped him out of the shock he had just been in.
And when he refocused his perception on Huo Yuhao's current aura, his tiger eyes constricted sharply once again.
Super Douluo!
The aura on Huo Yuhao's body had clearly and steadily stepped into the level of a Super Douluo.
Zhang Peng's perception issued a warning to him: Danger! Extremely dangerous!
Only until this moment did Zhang Peng finally understand one thing.
Huo Yuhao's trump card was himself.
There was no accompanying Limit Douluo, no powerhouse protecting him in the shadows.
This youth himself already possessed the capital to contend head-on with a Super Douluo.
Zhang Peng took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
He could not understand all of this and could only comfort himself that Huo Yuhao's current state might not be able to last long.
As long as he dragged out the time and outlasted the moment Huo Yuhao could no longer maintain his current state, even if Huo Yuhao had seven hundred-thousand-year spirit rings, he might not necessarily lack a chance of victory.
Thinking of this, Battle Intent reignited in Zhang Peng's tiger eyes, and he let out another low tiger roar.
Huo Yuhao was never an arrogant person; facing a genuine Super Douluo, he had not harbored any thoughts of testing him or holding back from the very beginning.
Going all out was the greatest responsibility to himself.
He saw his third spirit ring and seventh spirit ring light up in succession; red and gold lights bloomed simultaneously, interweaving into a gorgeous halo in the dim clouds.
Immediately after, a phantom image slowly solidified above his head.
It was a giant scorpion that was emerald green and translucent all over; although its figure was not considered huge, only about two meters in length, it exuded a kind of oppressive feeling so cold that it made one's Soul freeze.
The Ice Empress's original body was not large to begin with; she had cultivated for four hundred-thousand-years, and her cultivation had long since condensed to the extreme. Every inch of her body was the essence left after thousands of refinements.
Therefore, the Ice Empress True Body unleashed at this moment certainly could not compare in size to the Scorpion Tiger opposite him.
The long scorpion tail behind the Ice Empress True Body rose high, and the emerald green eerie light at the tip of the tail suddenly condensed and compressed.
In the next instant, a beam of emerald green light shot directly out from the tip of the scorpion tail.
The speed of that light was astonishingly fast; almost at the same instant it lit up, it had already crossed the not-insignificant distance between the two of them, slamming directly into the massive Scorpion Tiger True Body opposite.
Zhang Peng had just recovered from the shock brought by those spirit rings and had not yet had time to adjust his posture when he collided head-on with this extreme cold ray.
His tiger eyes widened abruptly, and he subconsciously wanted to move his body, but that green light came too fast; no matter which direction he dodged, it was already too late.
He could only grit his teeth and urge the dark clouds beneath his feet, letting out a hurried roar from his mouth.
The clouds churned, and phantom images of black Spirit Beasts struggled to emerge from within.
Those were the beast Souls Zhang Peng had accumulated over many years by absorbing the blood of Spirit Beasts; he called them the "Twelve Beast Envoys," and they were one of his trump card life-saving means.
But those beast Souls had just emerged, and before they had even condensed into their complete forms, they were swept by the aftermath of that extreme cold ray.
The chill of the Ultimate Ice swept over instantly, and those black beast Souls were frozen into ice sculptures of various shapes without even having time to let out a scream.
Immediately after, the green light struck Zhang Peng's original body dead center.
The fifteen-meter-long Scorpion Tiger True Body collapsed and dissipated with a boom the moment it touched that extreme chill, just like a sandcastle submerged by a tidal wave of ice.
Zhang Peng's figure tumbled out from within, restoring the appearance of that thin, withered old man, his eyes wide open, filled with shock that had not yet dissipated.
He did not even have time to say a single word before a layer of ice began to spread from the part of him that had made contact with the ray, covering his entire body at a speed visible to the naked eye.
That layer of ice became thicker and thicker, rapidly thickening from the initial thin layer to a few inches, and even more than a foot, finally freezing him firmly within, like a statue that had been frozen in ice for a thousand years.
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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.