Immediately, a look of astonishment appeared on the girl's face.
She felt a warmth spreading through her body.
Is this the effect of the opponent's domain enhancement? Although it couldn't directly help her recover soul power, it significantly reduced the consumption and power of soul skills.
But why would he do this?
At this moment, Feng Xiaotian, flying high in the sky, began to move.
The shadow of the double-headed wolf behind him gradually merged with his body. This was his second soul skill, the Dual Wolf Fusion. With this enhancement, his strength and agility would be greatly increased.
Combined with his third soul skill, Swift Double Wings, his state had already reached its peak.
Relying on the assistance of these two soul skills, his self-created soul skill could be fully unleashed.
With a long roar, Feng Xiaotian moved. His body descended from the sky like a shooting star, without making a sound throughout the process. The emanating cyan light completely converged, and his body and wings fused at the perfect angle.
With the enhancement of the wind attribute, he had found the most perfect descent path at this moment.
The sharp edges of the wings shimmered with a faint cyan light under the sunlight. The so-called Gale Demon Wolf's Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes originated from the edges of these wings.
In the blink of an eye, the light wings slashed, completing the first clash with Su Cheng's long sword.
"Clang!"
In the reverberation of the metallic clash, Feng Xiaotian propelled himself upward again, his body spinning in the air, and his right wing once again descended.
Su Cheng still held his sword horizontally, as he promised earlier, not using any soul skills to interrupt, and controlling the force very well.
Feng Xiaotian bounced back again, with a mysterious way of leveraging force, impressing Su Cheng.
This soul skill didn't seem as simple as it appeared on the surface. At least in terms of conception, it surpassed the vast majority of soul masters.
Su Cheng himself was proficient in this aspect and had the right to speak.
His earliest self-created soul skill evolved from basic sword moves into sword stance and power accumulation strikes, which he used to defeat Qian Renxue, who was stronger than him in soul power, martial soul, and domain.
Feng Xiaotian's attack speed was fast, and he had already completed five attacks in no time, with the force of the light wings' strikes gradually increasing.
During this process, he kept adjusting his trajectory with the changing wind.
This self-created soul skill wasn't very strong. Its main feature was continuously enhancing its attack power using speed and gravity, but it was too easily interrupted. It was far inferior to the Wind Hammer Technique of Haotian Sect.
However, Feng Xiaotian was still quite talented, considering his youth, to achieve this level.
Su Cheng glanced at Feng Xiaotian, who kept attacking in mid-air, then looked at the auxiliary soul master opposite, who was surprised by the domain enhancement.
"Use all your available auxiliary skills on him, otherwise, he won't last until the end," he said.
As his words fell, it immediately caused a commotion among the spectators in the audience.
The other spectators from various teams looked at each other, feeling complex emotions.
The girl finally understood the purpose of the enhancement the other party had been providing for her, rolling her eyes involuntarily.
But she didn't refuse. Three soul rings lit up in succession, fully enhancing Feng Xiaotian's physical state.
Actually, Su Cheng was a bit speechless at this point.
When Feng Xiaotian landed the first blow, he already had a good idea.
With the opponent's current physical fitness and soul power foundation, relying solely on himself would absolutely not last until the completion of the soul skill.
He secretly thought that Feng Xiaotian was really peculiar, wasting his talent without realizing it.
Clearly, he had the potential to achieve the title of Douluo, but he didn't focus on it and instead pursued his own self-created soul skill. Moreover, the result was a soul skill that could only be used in team battles, unable to be fully exerted by himself.
The collision between the two continued.
After the twenty-third strike, Feng Xiaotian's body was surrounded by extremely terrifying sharp soul power.
Streams of cyan light burst out, and even the surrounding wind pressure was as sharp as blades. The impact of the aftermath was comparable to that of a Soul Ancestor, and the frontal power was close to that of a Soul King.
However, under this fierce and violent attack, Su Cheng remained like a rock, not moving an inch.
In contrast, Feng Xiaotian's wings, which were connected to his arms, were almost completely numb from the shock.
In his heart, he was even more horrified, secretly acknowledging Su Cheng's terror. If it weren't for the little girl, Qingyu, who had been constantly enhancing him with soul skills, he wouldn't have been able to hold on any longer.
"Twenty-three... Twenty-four..."
The audience in the stands was also watching Feng Xiaotian's subsequent changes attentively.
"Twenty-eight... Twenty-nine..."
The other members of the Godwind Academy's team, who had been knocked down from the stage, secretly cheered for their captain.
"...Thirty-six!"
Finally, with Feng Xiaotian's sharp roar, the final transformative strike descended.
At this point, Su Cheng keenly sensed that the opponent's aura had changed.
The power of this strike had even slightly surpassed the peak of a Soul king, approaching that of a Soul Emperor.
Su Cheng felt somewhat disappointed.
After all the effort and risk-taking, and enduring such a long period of accumulation, even suffering significant injuries to his body, all for this final strike, and the result was this?
It's not that he looked down on the power of a Soul Emperor level.
It had nothing to do with his own strength.
It was just that the cost-effectiveness of this self-created soul skill was too low.
Originally, he thought that by accumulating power to this extent, there might be some qualitative changes, even resonating with the laws and harnessing the elemental forces in the surrounding environment, equalizing with the heavens and the earth.
But there was none of that.
There was indeed a qualitative change, but it was too minimal.
He sighed silently in his heart.
Su Cheng swung his sword diagonally.
The cyan blade, condensed to its limit, shattered instantly.
Then, Feng Xiaotian fell to the ground, his face pale.
This strike didn't harm him at all; it was his own exhaustion of soul power after using this soul skill that left him completely drained.
With the referee announcing the end of the battle, enthusiastic applause instantly swept the entire venue, with spectators cheering and marveling at the brilliance of this battle.
However, the VIP seats were silent.
Chen Xin, Salas, Ning Fengzhi, and others looked solemn.
Two attacks completely canceled each other out! How was that possible?
Su Cheng being able to unleash this sword strike didn't surprise them.
The power of his first sword strike was much stronger than this.
However, the complete annulment of two attacks shocked them.
The terrifying thing was this astonishing control, held with perfect precision, indicating that Su Cheng had almost no consumption in this battle.
"Battle power at the level of a Soul Saint..." Several people simultaneously muttered in their hearts.
"Do you know how old I am?" Su Cheng looked at Feng Xiaotian, who was sitting on the ground panting heavily, and said lightly.
"I'm not yet fifteen years old."
Feng Xiaotian's heavy panting paused abruptly, and he looked up in astonishment.
"I won against you today without using any soul skills, just because my level is ten levels higher than yours, that's all."
"What stage you're at determines what you should do. Just to prove your talent, why bother with creating your own soul skills? It's purely gambling with your own future."
"Because your talent doesn't lie here."
"Having high innate soul power can only prove that you are a genius in cultivation. Pursuing self-created soul skills at the expense of the basics is somewhat foolish."
Feng Xiaotian fell silent at Su Cheng's words, not knowing how to refute them for a while.
Although he was exceptionally talented, he was not arrogant.
Feng Xiaotian came from an ordinary background, and the Wind Demon Wolf was only a moderately strong martial soul. It was because of the mutation of his martial soul that he possessed innate full soul power.
But in his eyes, this kind of aptitude could only be considered as a gift from nature, and couldn't prove anything.
Similar words had been said to him before, but his talent was too outstanding. Even if he spent a lot of time on creating his own soul skills, he could still crush his peers in level, completely unaware that this was a half-hearted approach.
Being able to create his own soul skills was originally something he was extremely proud of.
Seeing him ponder for a moment, Su Cheng continued, "Your talent is good. There's a spot for you on my team. If you can't make it to the finals, or if you make it to the finals and want to compete for the championship, you can come find me anytime."
Hearing this, Feng Xiaotian's eyes widened slightly, and he couldn't think about those thoughts he had just now. He said in astonishment, "You—"
"Don't rush to answer. Wait until you've adjusted your state and thought it through," Su Cheng said, then ignored Feng Xiaotian and turned to the auxiliary soul master from the Godwind Academy team, who was also exhausted.
"What's your name?"
"Feng Qingyu."
The girl's eyes were clear, with a slight curiosity, but she didn't seem to feel any sense of loss after losing the match.
Her talent was extremely good, and she was young. The next tournament would be her time to shine.
"I'm guessing your martial soul is shadow?" Although Su Cheng phrased it as a question, his tone was very certain.
Feng Qingyu was even more surprised when she heard this.
Wind itself was invisible and intangible, and shadow martial souls were extremely rare and not easily detectable by others. She didn't expect Su Cheng to see through it so easily.
She didn't deny it, just nodded gently.
"Yes."
"If I remember correctly, there's also a shadow martial soul owner from the Blaze Academy, but it's a fire attribute, and they develop in the direction of control-type soul masters," Su Cheng thought to himself, "Different attributes of the original martial soul, this is interesting. However, the person from Blaze Academy has slightly inferior talent, but the current Feng Qingyu..."
Thinking of this, he nodded gently towards Feng Qingyu and said, "You can also join our team for the finals."
After saying that, he prepared to leave the stage.
"Okay."
"What?" A crisp and pleasant voice came, making Su Cheng slightly stunned.
"I said okay. Didn't you say I can join your team?" Feng Qingyu blinked innocently, looking at him.
Su Cheng suddenly became suspicious.
What's the situation with this girl, just agreeing like that?
He turned his head and looked at Feng Xiaotian again.
Seeing this, Feng Xiaotian smiled bitterly and glanced at the girl, explaining to Su Cheng, "She's the granddaughter of our academy's principal. Whatever she wants to do, she can do."
"...Alright." Su Cheng naturally agreed, "But even if you decide, if you want to compete, you'll have to wait until the finals."
This was determined by the competition rules.
Before the preliminary round began, the list of participants from each academy had already been submitted. When the final spots were confirmed and the teams from each academy went to the Royal Academy for the finals, they could submit the list of participating students again.
And at that time, Feng Qingyu would also have to temporarily transfer to the Royal Academy.
"It's okay." Feng Qingyu said casually, "Can I go to your team first?"
"Up to you," Su Cheng shrugged indifferently.
It would be convenient for him if she came earlier, so he could start researching her martial soul situation sooner.
"Captain, then I'll go first. Take care of yourself."
Feng Qingyu said insincerely to Feng Xiaotian.
Then she followed Su Cheng down from the stage.
Feng Xiaotian, who was sitting on the ground recovering some of his stamina, sighed helplessly and waved his hand.
His mood at this moment became even more depressed.
"Damn it! This is the first time I've used my self-created soul skill in public and lost so miserably. It's so embarrassing. I don't know how Huo Wu will look at me in the future."
If Feng Xiaotian's inner thoughts were heard by Su Cheng, he might have ended up receiving a reprimand.
...
In the VIP stands.
After hearing Su Cheng's words of recruiting opponents, Ning Fengzhi was initially surprised, but then felt somewhat helpless.
Although there was nothing wrong with what Su Cheng said, and it was true that he had authority over the second team, it wasn't necessary to say it in public like that. It could lead to misunderstandings.
Glancing at Emperor Xue Yi beside him with a smile, Ning Fengzhi said, "Your Majesty, Su Cheng is still young and sometimes speaks without considering the consequences. Don't take it to heart."
But Emper Xue Yi waved his hand, "Master Ning, this is a good thing. To be honest, we all know the strength of the Martial Soul Hall. Let him arrange the second team as he wishes."
Although he said that, he had another thought in his mind.
That was about the Godwind Academy.
Especially after learning about Feng Qingyu's identity just now, Emperor Xue Yi was even more delighted.
Although the Five Elements Academy was affiliated with the Tian Dou Empire, the relationship was still somewhat distant, and it was not under the control of the empire, enjoying a high degree of autonomy.
The imperial family had been eyeing these academies for a long time, but it was only wishful thinking.
After today, perhaps he could take this opportunity to get closer to those powerful elemental academies. He was certainly pleased with this development.
On the other hand, in the spectator area of the participating academies, the discussion was much louder.
Especially Su Cheng's public recruitment of members from the Godwind Academy team, which made people feel uncomfortable.
They didn't think too much, mainly feeling envy and jealousy.
"...Damn, this Su Cheng from the Royal Academy is really trying to show off."
Someone suddenly muttered to themselves, immediately resonating with others.
"That's right, I had that feeling just now."
"Why is he talking about taking the championship so lightly, as if winning it is easy?"
"Um, what he said doesn't seem to be a problem, it's better than us..."
"..."
At the direction of the Tian Shui Academy team.
Different from other teams, it seemed livelier here.
And because this academy only recruited beautiful girls, they often attracted attention from many people.
"Wow, so cool..."
Speaking was a petite girl with an egg-shaped face standing at the forefront of the crowd. She had a petite figure and a childish face, but her short emerald green hair made her look very spirited.
As she spoke, she turned to look at another girl with long aquamarine hair behind her, "Sister, do you think he will invite me to join their team too? Should I accept it when the time comes?"
After speaking, she began to ponder by herself, her pretty face turning slightly red, not knowing what she was thinking about, causing others to feel helpless.
Here we go again.
"Seven, stop daydreaming. Even if he does invite someone, it will be the captain, not you."
At this moment, a red-haired girl standing beside them teased.
"Alright, stop messing around, you two."
"..."
For a while, there were constant sounds of laughter and chatter, both inside and outside the team, filled with a lively atmosphere, making other students around them envious.
...
In the Tian Dou City, in the Hall of the Pope.
Bibi Dong was flipping through the latest intelligence obtained from Salas, her expression complex.
"A Soul King under fifteen years old, with two thousand-year soul rings and two ten-thousand-year soul rings.
"Self-created soul skill, with an attack power comparable to that of a Soul Emperor without the support of soul ring skills.
"Xiao Xue even specifically went to see him.
"Su Cheng, it's really you..."
At this moment, someone came to report.
"Elder token, cultivation level of a Great Soul Master?"
Bibi Dong was stunned at the news.
Then, she sensed it and instantly perceived the figure sitting quietly in the council chamber at this moment.
Her gaze trembled slightly, "Xiao Gang?!"
Her slender and fair fingers tightened suddenly, crumpling the paper in her hand into wrinkles.
Then she lowered her head to look at the stack of documents.
The scene from the dream years ago, instead of fading away with time, became even more profound.
Perhaps because of the mental torment of the Rakshasa God Exam, her heart was often in turmoil, and her emotions became more extreme.
Those harsh words seemed to echo in her ears all the time.
...
patreon.com/Firesight323