Chapter 97: Liu Yuan and Long Aotian Strike Together! The Twin Stars of the Body Sect!
The referee's arm slashed downward, a sharp, forceful motion that cleaved the tense silence. In that split second, the atmosphere across Star Luo Plaza ignited. The dormant combatants on both sides erupted, unleashing their Martial Souls in a blinding, simultaneous surge of soul power.
On the left side of the arena, the Star Luo Team's formation snapped into a predatory wedge. At the vanguard stood Vice-Captain Huang Heyun. He threw his head back, tearing a deafening tiger roar from his throat. Thick, suffocating black mist billowed from beneath his boots. His muscles swelled, tearing at the seams of his uniform as deep, pitch-black tiger stripes etched themselves across his expanding skin. His pupils contracted into blood-red slits.
This was the Dark Demon Tiger, a top-tier assault-system Martial Soul.
There would be no probing strikes. No cautious testing of the waters. The third soul ring beneath his feet flared with a blinding purple luster.
"Demon Tiger Shakes the Heavens!"
Huang Heyun launched himself forward like a plummeting black meteor. A violent gale trailed in his wake, the sheer velocity of his charge producing a sharp, ear-piercing whistle that tore through the arena. He intended to use the absolute crushing force of a Soul King to shatter the Heavenly Soul Team's uneven defensive line in a single, brutal collision.
Behind his destructive wake, Princess Xu Jiujiu observed the battlefield with chilling composure. Pale golden light began to coalesce above her head, weaving into a magnificent, dazzling Star Crown. Her first and third soul rings flashed in rapid alternation, casting a regal glow across the stone tiles.
Rippling circles of starlight expanded outward, precisely enveloping every member of the Star Luo Team. Under the absolute amplification of the Star Crown, the team's collective aura spiked. Their already oppressive soul power fluctuations grew denser, heavier, pressing down on the arena like a physical weight.
Facing this overwhelming, unified offensive, the Heavenly Soul Team remained anchored by a single voice. Liu Yuan's gaze swept the incoming tide. He was ruthlessly pragmatic about their situation; aside from himself and Long Aotian, their side suffered a severe deficit in raw soul power. If they engaged in a chaotic, head-on melee, Vina and the lower-ranked members would be instantly swallowed by Star Luo's five Soul Ancestors.
"Maintain the formation. Kite and strike," Liu Yuan commanded, his voice a low, steady anchor amidst the roaring wind. "Do not let the gaps widen."
Guided by his precise mental coordination, Vina and the auxiliary members held their ground. They did not panic or waste their high-consumption soul skills. Instead, they shifted into a staggered, overlapping formation, ensuring every member remained within a protective umbrella of crossfire. It was a conservative tactic, but one that drastically minimized fatal errors. As long as their lines held, Star Luo could not snowball a single-point breakthrough into a total collapse.
Watching Huang Heyun's violent, tiger-clad form barrel toward them, Liu Yuan's eyes narrowed. A brute-force vanguard required a brute-force wall to break its momentum.
"Senior Brother!" Liu Yuan barked.
Standing at his flank, Long Aotian understood immediately. His frame, forged like tempered steel, shuddered as a dark golden luster erupted from his pores. There were no flashy techniques, no complex footwork. Facing the roaring Dark Demon Tiger, Long Aotian simply planted his foot, drew back his right fist, and let the muscles along his arm coil like a waking dragon.
"Come!" Long Aotian roared, launching himself directly into the beast's path.
Boom!
A sickeningly dull shockwave of impact blasted across the plaza.
Huang Heyun's blood-red eyes widened, his absolute confidence shattering the exact moment their fists met. The sensation traveling up his arm did not feel like striking flesh and bone; it felt like he had just rammed headfirst into a mountain cast from solid iron.
Both men were Soul Kings, but Long Aotian was a monster who had already achieved a Silver-level Secondary Awakening of his Body Martial Soul. Tempered by the Body Sect's brutal secret arts, his physical vessel had long since transcended the fragile limits of ordinary Soul Masters.
In the span of a single breath, Long Aotian unleashed a barbaric, suffocating suppression. His fists blurred into dark golden shadows. Each strike tore through the air with a heavy, explosive crack, hammering mercilessly against Huang Heyun's tiger claws and armored shoulders.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
With every punch Huang Heyun absorbed, the reinforced stone slabs beneath his boots splintered and caved. The mighty Vice-Captain of Star Luo was beaten into a desperate, staggering retreat, his offensive charge completely broken as he crossed his arms, struggling merely to survive the storm of blows.
From the rear, Princess Xu Jiujiu watched her vanguard get dismantled. Her breath hitched. She had calculated that, bolstered by his Soul King cultivation and her Star Crown's absolute amplification, Huang Heyun would effortlessly cripple at least one Heavenly Soul member. She had grossly underestimated the sheer, terrifying tyranny of the Body Sect's chief disciple.
"We cannot afford a war of attrition here!" Xu Jiujiu's voice cut through the chaos, her tactical mind pivoting instantly. She pointed toward the Heavenly Soul backline. "Bypass Long Aotian! Crush their weaker members first! Shatter their formation, and the remaining two won't be able to salvage the match!"
The five Soul Ancestors of the Star Luo Team moved as one. Like five loosed arrows, they blurred past the cratered battleground where Long Aotian was currently pummeling Huang Heyun, angling their trajectory directly toward Vina and the auxiliary line.
To them, a cluster of support and control-system Soul Elders were nothing but lambs waiting for the butcher's blade.
But just as the five predators prepared to tear into the rear guard, Liu Yuan finally moved.
His Double Pupils snapped wide open. A terrifying, dazzling crimson light flooded the dual irises, bleeding into the whites of his eyes. The first soul ring hovering around him flared to life.
"Laser," Liu Yuan murmured, his voice entirely devoid of inflection.
Two crimson beams, no thicker than a strand of hair yet condensed to a horrifying degree of thermal energy, erupted from his eyes. The attack was instantaneous, moving at a velocity entirely imperceptible to the naked eye. The only evidence of their passage was two faint, scorched distortions rippling through the air.
The assault-system Soul Ancestor leading the charge did not even see the flash. He only registered a sudden, agonizing spike of heat tearing through his thigh.
Puff!
A fine mist of blood sprayed across the arena tiles.
The crimson ray had surgically punched straight through his thigh muscle. It perfectly bypassed the femoral artery, yet cleanly severed the primary force-conducting ligament.
"Gah—!"
The Soul Ancestor's scream tore from his throat. His forward momentum betrayed him. With his leg suddenly rendered useless, his balance collapsed entirely. He smashed face-first into the stone floor, tumbling in a violent, undignified heap as he clutched his bleeding thigh, writhing in agony.
Liu Yuan had not aimed to kill, nor had he sought to cripple the man's cultivation foundation. But a penetrating wound of that exact surgical precision was more than enough to instantly eliminate the combatant's mobility. Even with top-tier healing, the Star Luo student would be confined to a hospital bed for at least two months before he could walk again.
Liu Yuan slowly turned his head. His glowing Double Pupils locked onto the four remaining Star Luo members, who had skidded to an abrupt, horrified halt.
His posture was relaxed, his tone conversational, yet it carried an oppressive, unquestionable weight.
"Do not ignore me." Liu Yuan tilted his head slightly. "If you want to touch my teammates, you have to step over me first."
The expressions on the four Star Luo combatants darkened instantly. They had been careless, yes, but to instantly neutralize a Soul Ancestor in the blink of an eye without even shifting his stance? The sheer lethality of that strike spoke volumes.
They tightened their grips on their weapons, their eyes locking onto Liu Yuan with newfound dread. The realization hit them like cold water: the calm youth standing before them might not possess the overwhelming soul power rank of Long Aotian, but his actual combat lethality was every bit as terrifying.
The air in Star Luo Plaza grew suffocatingly thick, the tension stretching to its absolute breaking point.
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