This Class 6 soul tool that Ma Rulong had just used was strong in the sense that, once Ma Xiaotao touched it, she would be stuck to it like a housefly in a spider's web. Immediately afterwards, the lightning energy contained within would envelop her entire body. When that happened, Ma Xiaotao would have to deal with the might of their attack. Although it couldn't truly harm her, it would be able to buy sufficient time for her to be subjected to their immense firepower while she was trapped.
However, they didn't expect Ma Xiaotao to stop the moment the lightning screen appeared. She stopped extremely quickly, and her sixth soul ring lit up.
"Damn it, the Phoenix Meteor Shower." Ma Rulong cursed to himself, his expression changing drastically.
Was Ma Xiaotao's sixth soul skill so easily resisted? That lightning trap had become her defensive barrier instead.
The golden barrel that had given Team Shrek a lot of trouble appeared once again at this moment. Ma Rulong squinted his eyes as he aimed the golden barrel towards Ma Xiaotao.
Whenever Ma Xiaotao unleashed the Phoenix Meteor Shower, any movement she made would greatly affect its power. Ma Rulong had Xiao Xiafeng to defend him, thus he wouldn't suffer too much if he were struck by the Phoenix Meteor Shower a few times. On the contrary, Ma Xiaotao would be the one in deep trouble if she was struck by his attack. Ma Rulong's reaction was both quick and appropriate.
However, the Phoenix Meteor Shower didn't strike when he expected it to. When the golden barrel appeared in Ma Rulong's hand, Ma Xiaotao suddenly stepped backwards and punched out with her right fist. A ball of fire was sent towards the lightning barrier in front of her.
The lightning immediately engulfed the ball of fire, then blew apart. Ma Xiaotao's figure turned illusory when this happened.
On closer inspection, her flaming wings were flapping rapidly behind her back. It was due to this flapping motion that she managed to rapidly change her position in the air. She even left a series of shadows behind her that shimmered as she continued to advance forward. Ma Rulong realized, to his horror, that he couldn't lock onto her exact position.
What ability was she using? It was obvious that she wasn't using a soul skill, as her body wasn't shining with any soul rings. This was obviously a secret technique suitable for soul masters.
Even though both parties had yet to truly clash with one another, they'd already displayed what they were capable of.
It was also at this point that superiority in numbers began to show its worth: Xiao Xiafeng's soul tool fort was finally completed.
Waves and waves of light were rapidly unleashed. Light balls, light rays, and even metal balls that rose into the air and drew parabolas were unleashed.
The immense firepower of his soul tool fort was instantly unleashed.
Ma Rulong had been waiting for this opportunity. He clasped both of his hands in front of him, and a ball of intense, golden light shone as one of his soul rings started to flash repeatedly. His aura ballooned, while the golden barrel disappeared and was replaced with a huge, golden-red sword.
Was it a close-combat soul tool? Had Ma Rulong given up his long-range offensive capabilities for a close-combat soul tool?
This was the first time the sword had appeared in the tournament. Ma Rulong had also concealed his trump card, and was only using it now.
The offensive might of a soul engineer when they unleashed everything they had was extremely formidable. Ma Xiaotao tried her best to dodge, but Xiao Xiafeng depleted his soul power in order to increase the offensiveness of his various soul tools, which left her frantic.
Team Sun Moon was much stronger in terms of applying soul tool forts compared to other ordinary soul engineering academies.
Xiao Xiafeng's attack was holistic. There were automatic explosions, intense rays… even trapping-type soul tools involved.
The entire competition stage seemed to light up with dazzling lights. It was impossible for Ma Xiaotao to dodge all of his attacks, thus she could only face them head-on.
Ma Xiaotao was more powerful than Dai Yueheng, but her body wasn't as tough as his.
She used her wings as her shield, and exerted all of her soul power to resist the wave after wave of Xiao Xiafeng's relentless attack.
Even though Ma Xiaotao wasn't a soul engineer, she was rather familiar with the strategies that they used. Xiao Xiafeng's soul power was bound be depleted extremely quickly if he kept this up, as he was only a Class 5 soul engineer, yet he was trying to suppress a soul emperor. His attacks couldn't last long at this rate. Xiao Xiafeng would become less and less useful to Ma Rulong as his intensity dipped, .
Ma Xiaotao was the calmest at the most critical moments. She carefully observed Ma Rulong actions while she was resisting Xiao Xiafeng's attacks. Xiao Xiafeng was, without a doubt, aiding Ma Rulong. Ma Rulong's attacks were much more threatening towards Ma Xiaotao because of this.
Ma Rulong suddenly grabbed the golden sword's hilt with both of his hands and slowly lifted it, intense golden light shining from the sword's body as he did so. Nine core formations could be seen extending from the sword tip down to the hilt. Streaks and streaks of light shot into the air as the intense golden light shone. Ma Rulong lifted the sword far above his head, his pupils slowly starting to turn golden.
"Awaken, Judgement Sword!" Ma Rulong shouted, injecting his soul power into the huge sword at a frightening speed. A white halo could be seen rising from his feet because he was injecting his soul power into the sword so intensely. As the halo moved round his entire body, it eventually reached his hands, then entered the sword.
The sword also started to experience changes: The golden light on the hilt retracted, while the sword gradually turned two different colors. One side of the sword turned white, while the other side turned black. The two contrasting colors exuded an odd sense amidst the golden light that flashed.
"Ordained as darkness, guilty of heresy." Ma Rulong grabbed the huge sword with both his hands, then pointed the black side of the blade in Ma Xiaotao's direction.
A streak of black radiance flashed through the air, then suddenly disappeared.
Ma Xiaotao's entire body raged with flames. However, when the black radiance reached her, all of her defenses failed. The black radiance simply flashed as it entered her body.
Ma Xiaotao immediately felt her body turning abnormal. Her crimson-red phoenix flames instantly turned black and dark and chilly sense filled her entire body. The evil energy that had been suppressed immediately rampaged through her body and combined with the black phoenix flames. She was about to lose control.
What soul tool is this? Ma Xiaotao was appalled. It was her first time experiencing something as strange as this. This soul tool attack couldn't be defended against?
It was also at this point that Ma Rulong flipped the huge sword over. The white side then emitted an intense white color and shone with an extremely bright white radiance. The surging aura of light instantly filled the entire venue.
Ma Xiaotao groaned in pain as the black phoenix flames on her body turned into a haze; she felt as if she was going to be decomposed by the light. The phoenix flames in her body started to flood out of her.
Ma Rulong appeared very pleased. The scheme that he'd plotted had finally succeeded.
He'd once mentioned in his competition against Jiang Peng that a soul engineer was the most familiar with his own self. That was why all of his soul tools were self-developed. He hadn't said it for Jiang Peng, however. He'd said it for Shrek Academy.
In reality, the Judgement Sword couldn't have been created by him, as it was a Class 8 close-combat soul tool. In fact, it was one of the best Class 8 soul tools.
The Judgement Sword combined both light and darkness. It could infuse the power of darkness into the enemy's soul and cause the enemy to turn dark uncontrollably. At the same time, it could use the immense power of light to then judge the enemy. If the enemy was weaker, his soul power would be instantly degraded. It could even be completely destroyed under the aura of light.
Ma Rulong was still only a Class 6 soul engineer however. He'd had to pay a huge price in order to use this Class 8 soul tool. What Ma Xiaotao couldn't see was that a blood-red core formation was currently shining behind Ma Rulong's back, intense blood-red flames burning from it.
That was the power of a Class 7 soul tool, which was known as the Sacrificial Seal. Ma Rulong had sacrificed his own life energy and potential to instantly increase his physical and soul power. This was needed to support the Judgement Sword. Of course, he still couldn't last long. But he only needed to defeat Ma Xiaotao.
Ma Rulong knew that even if he and Xiao Xiafeng lost to Ma Xiaotao, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen would still be able to emerge victorious. But he was just like Dai Yueheng: He wanted to be the one to decide victory. Furthermore, he was their team leader.
That was why he'd paid the price necessary to unleash the Judgement Sword from the Illustrious Virtue Hall.
This Judgement Sword was useless against only an opponent with a light-type or darkness-type martial soul. However, Ma Xiaotao didn't have either of these. Her martial soul was a fire-type.
Ma Rulong felt that the price he'd paid was worth it when he heard Ma Xiaotao groaning in pain. An indescribable satisfaction filled his entire body; he was about to take revenge for his team members that had perished at her hands.
His determination to win reached its peak. Ma Rulong suddenly stepped forward and lifted his Judgement Sword, then swung it towards Ma Xiaotao yet again.
Ma Xiaotao was also experiencing weird changes as well as several emotional changes.
Her phoenix flames turned entirely black as her Evil Phoenix Fire surged out from her body, guided by the dark power. The Evil Phoenix Fire that had been suppressed by the Ultimate Ice had instantly been unleashed and turned into dark flames, which were raging and surging throughout her body.
Ma Xiaotao couldn't control her flames anymore, even if she wanted to.
The intense aura of light suppressed her from the outside, causing the dark flames on her body to be extinguished, whereas the Evil Phoenix Fire continued to ravage her body now that it had been combined with the power of darkness.
Ma Xiaotao's body was on the brink of collapse.
The evil aura had become a part of darkness. The Judgement Sword's effect on her was even greater compared than it would be to an ordinary soul master; her eyes that had originally flashed with flames had instantly turned pitch-black.
Was this the end…? Was she going to lose? Was Shrek Academy going to lose? Shrek's glory was at stake here!
Ma Xiaotao became filled with fury. She was extremely indignant.
Jiang Nannan, Xu Sanshi, Bei Bei, and Ling Luochen had all been defeated. Even Dai Yueheng had lost his combat abilities due to fighting against their opponent's poison-type soul master. They'd given their all in order to contribute to the eventual victory of Shrek; they'd even put their lives on the line for Shrek's glory. But as their team leader, was Ma Xiaotao going to collapse just like this?
"Judgement. What bullshit judgement? I'm not convinced. I don't believe that there's anything that can judge me in this world!"
Ma Xiaotao's desire to survive, coupled with her strong resentment, was revealed.
As the inheriting disciple of Shrek Academy's dean, Ma Xiaotao was one of the best in terms of abilities, talent, and competitiveness among all the inner courtyard disciples. Nobody her age could rival her; she was Shrek Academy's future hope.
With her talent, she could've gone even further and become the first in Shrek Academy's history to become a soul sage before she was 21. However, she'd regretfully been delayed because she had to repress the evil fire within her. Thus, this was never fulfilled.
All of this repression disappeared at this moment. Her martial soul began to show signs of changing due to the purification at this instant under the effect of her resilience.
The phoenix was the king of all birds. Even only the strongest and most powerful dragon could be mentioned in the same breath as a phoenix.
Among phoenixes, Fire Phoenixes had the purest bloodline. However, they weren't the only ones with an extremely pure bloodline.
Ma Xiaotao had a part of the fire phoenix's bloodline in her body. However, this bloodline wasn't pure; she'd never be a true Fire Phoenix because of the evil aura that also existed in her body.
But the bloodline in her body suddenly changed. It became that of a dark phoenix—filled with desolation and violence. This phoenix's sole purpose was to destroy and wreak havoc.
This was the evil side of the Fire Phoenix—the Dark Phoenix. It had appeared in the world for the first time as a martial soul.
A clear and crisp phoenix whistle resonated from Ma Xiaotao's mouth. At the same time, a huge, golden light blade had just taken form on the Judgement Sword. It then slashed towards her.
The black flames were quickly extinguished as they met the golden light blade. The competition was also bound to end when the sword slashed down; the Heavenfiend Douluo would definitely stop the sword from striking Ma Xiaotao.
But the black flames on Ma Xiaotao's body that had quickly turned to haze began to gather and compress inside of her. Following that, a huge projection appeared behind her back.
A entirely black phoenix that was much smaller than the original Evil Phoenix appeared. However, a frightening aura was exuded from its pitch-black body, and its deep, purple eyes were filled with an aura of desolation and insanity.
"This isn't good. Xiaotao has changed." Elder Xuan suddenly stood up. His eyes revealed a look of anxiety. Even with his experience, he couldn't determine whether this change that Ma Xiaotao was experiencing was good or bad.
The pitch-black flames reformed into a pair of wings behind Ma Xiaotao's back. Her figure suddenly flashed through the air as she dodged the Judgement Sword.
How was this possible? Ma Rulong eyes widened. He'd already expended his life power! If he didn't finish Ma Xiaotao off quickly, he'd have to stop using the Judgement Sword. Otherwise, the backlash wouldn't just cost him a year's worth of his cultivation.
Ma Xiaotao lifted her head as she moved laterally, her once-bright red hair now black.
"Ah—!" Ma Xiaotao screamed. When she opened her eyes, a purplish light flashed, and a frightening aura emerged alongside her black flames.
A streak of crystallic yellow light instantly emerged and turned into a huge blade of light alongside her maniacal, tiger's roar. It struck the side of the Judgement Sword heavily, and a loud boom resonated.
Ma Rulong's Judgement Sword was stopped in place, while Ma Xiaotao held another huge blade in her hand.
This was what had been concealed within the ring that Dai Yueheng gave to her: It was the Tyrannical Tiger Soulblade, the Class 8 offensive close-combat soul tool that they'd obtained from the top-ranked auction. This soulblade was four and a half feet long, and iwas at least one inch thick. It was curved like a cavalry saber, while its hilt was made of bone, and its pommel was extremely wide. Overall, it was shaped like a tiger's head.
This soulblade wasn't comparable to the Judgement Sword in terms of quality, and to unleash its full might, one needed to be a soul sage at the very least.
However, Ma Xiaotao had understood Dai Yueheng's intention when she'd received the ring. She also believed that she'd be able to at least land a few strikes with this soulblade if she utilized her phoenix flames.
But she hadn't expected to use this soulblade under such circumstances. Now that she turned into the Dark Phoenix, she could sense that everything was different. A boundless aura of brutality and violence raged from her heart, while a frightening aura was instantly unleashed. The Tyrannical Tiger Soulblade's seven-ring restriction couldn't even stop her from using it.
As she held the soulblade, black flames instantly entered it. Ma Xiaotao screamed once again, and the black phoenix behind her slowly drifted in front of her, then fused with the soulblade. As she held onto the soulblade's hilt with both hands, her delicate figure made a half-turn in the air. She then swung the soulblade again.
Ma Rulong couldn't resist her anymore this time. His cultivation was not only beneath hers, but he'd also used the Judgement Sword against his abilities. The soulblade strike that was previously unleashed against him nearly crippled his ability to wield the Judgement Sword further. When Ma Xiaotao struck again, the Judgement Sword flew out of his hand. The huge soulblade landed on his body with a tiger's roar, and a black light flashed.
The Invincible Barrier lit up in time. However, something extremely shocking appeared: The Invincible Barrier was torn apart within the first second, even though it was supposed to last for three seconds. Ma Rulong's body flew backwards and heavily struck the defensive barrier around the competition stage.
Ma Xiaotao then swung the Tyrannical Tiger Soulblade towards Xiao Xiafeng.
Xiao Xiafeng continued to persistently attack Ma Xiaotao after she transformed. However, he was absolutely horrified when he discovered that almost all of his Class 5 soul tools had lost their effect. The attacks unleashed by his soul tool fort were ablated by Ma Xiaotao's black flames, with no traces left behind.
Ma Rulong and Xiao Xiafeng's plan was that Xiao Xiafeng would try to restrain Ma Xiaotao, while Ma Rulong would unleash the Judgement Sword.
The Judgement Sword was an elite Class 8 soul tool, close in might to a Class 9 soul tool. It was also a close-combat soul tool. Even a soul sage or soul douluo would be elementally suppressed by the Judgement Sword. They'd once experimented before; a Rank 69 Soul Emperor couldn't resist even a single strike from the Judgment Sword. This soul tool was thus their most powerful weapon in this tournament. Even though they hadn't used it in the team round, they'd prepared it in the event that they needed to turn the tables.
But who could've known that this powerful soul tool would cause Ma Xiaotao to transform, and enable her to become even more powerful. She'd become nearly invincible.
Ma Xiaotao's soul rings weren't even visible amidst the black flames anymore. An enormous black blade light descended from the sky towards Xiao Xiafeng, but he couldn't even dodge it, much less resist it.
The black flames swallowed every trace of light. Even the competition stage seemed to have been divided in two.
A streak of starlight suddenly appeared in front of Xiao Xiafeng; the Heavenfiend Douluo seemed to have teleported over.
A star-shaped shield with five corners then appeared in front of him and blocked the blade light.
"Boom—" Black flames scattered and instantly covered the entire region. When the black flames landed on the ground, the ground also started to combust and turned into a sea of fire. The regions that were on fire then began to melt and even began to collapse.
Ma Xiaotao's flashing, purple gaze was fixated on Xiao Xiafeng. As she held the blade with both her hands, spots of purplish radiance seemed to spread from her eyes. A frightening aura was released from her body, and she slashed out with her soulblade again amidst a terrifying roar.
"Stop, the match has ended." Huang Jinxu's frantic voice sounded. Ma Xiaotao's Tyrannical Tiger Soulblade stopped mid-strike and didn't slash down.
The black flames around Ma Xiatao weakened a little, and she slowly lowered the huge soulblade. A purplish radiance flashed through her eyes, but she remained steadfast.
Huang Jinxu seemed a little pathetic even though he was a Titled Douluo.
He quickly led Xiao Xiafeng—covered in a globe of starlight—to Ma Rulong. The shield from earlier had already disappeared, and many holes had appeared in his long robe. Even a small segment of his hair seemed to have been charred away.