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However, during the brief interval when Mi Jia's soul-guided ray attack was launched, a shocking burst of speed erupted from Huo Yu'er's feet. In an instant, she vanished from her original position.
Mi Jia recognized this as the movement-type self-created soul skill "Shave" passed down by Tianxing Academy—a technique capable of instantly amplifying one's speed by several or even dozens of times.
Any attack that failed to hit its target was utterly worthless.
Having thoroughly gathered intelligence on Tianxing Academy beforehand, Mi Jia was well aware of how troublesome Huo Yu'er's speed could be. If a soul engineer couldn't keep up with such speed, they would be unilaterally overwhelmed. Defeat would only be a matter of time.
But knowing their opponent's capabilities, how could the Sun Moon team not prepare in advance?
Originally, Mi Jia's Level 5 soul-guided armor lacked the ability to track Huo Yu'er's movements. However, one mustn't forget—the leader of the Sun Moon team was a Level 9 soul engineer.
With Jing Hongchen's assistance, Mi Jia's soul-guided armor had long since transcended its original limits. Though it still wasn't a Level 6 soul tool, it had reached the pinnacle of Level 5 and was now equipped with tracking and identification modules.
Such advanced soul tools were rarely seen outside the top-tier factions like the Sun Moon Imperial Academy or Mingde Hall, let alone among ordinary soul engineers.
"There you are—don't think about running!"
With a flicker of intent, Mi Jia instantly locked onto the spot where Huo Yu'er paused.
While Shave allowed the user to unleash bursts of speed several or even dozens of times greater than normal, its flaw was equally obvious: after accelerating, there was a noticeable pause. Once this pause was detected by the enemy, it became easy to focus fire and defeat the user.
However, the six techniques Ye Wen had taught were designed to compensate for this weakness. Far from ignoring it, the six techniques complemented each other as a cohesive combat system.
Logically speaking, Huo Yu'er should have used the "Iron Body" to protect herself in this situation.
But times had changed. Soul-guided rays weren't just physical attacks—they carried intense heat and a degree of paralyzing effects. Taking them head-on would be far from wise.
At this moment, three soul-guided rays shot toward Huo Yu'er in rapid succession.
Huo Yu'er, who was no stranger to battling soul engineers, naturally didn't intend to meet these three rays head-on. With a casual wave of her hand, a thick wall of ice several meters deep materialized before her.
The collision between the soul-guided rays and the ice wall emitted a blinding glow.
Though Huo Yu'er hadn't poured her full strength into creating the ice wall, the overwhelming dominance of her extreme ice attribute was unmistakable.
The ice wall, capable of disintegrating even Soul King-level opponents, melted nearly a meter before the energy faltered and dissipated.
At this moment, Mi Jia's soul-guided armor erupted with a powerful surge of energy, instantly propelling him to the side of Huo Yu'er at a significantly increased speed.
Earlier, Mi Jia had only fired three of his six soul-guided cannons precisely because he intended to exploit this gap to critically wound Huo Yu'er with the remaining three. As for outright eliminating her, Mi Jia wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could achieve that just yet.
But Huo Yu'er's reaction was far more terrifying than Mi Jia had anticipated.
Determined not to use the ultimate trump card Ye Wen had mentioned, Huo Yu'er currently had only four soul rings circling her body:
- Red-gold, white, yellow-purple, purple.
Seeing this, Mi Jia was momentarily surprised, but the intensity of the battle left no room for further contemplation.
There were differences between dual martial souls.
The disparity lay in the type of martial soul.
The ideal dual martial soul configuration was one like Huo Yu'er's, capable of using both simultaneously.
The worst-case scenario was akin to Bibi Dong's two bestial martial souls, which could only be used one at a time. To switch to the other martial soul required abandoning the current one, effectively leaving the user with just one martial soul. The advantage of having two martial souls manifested only after reaching the Title Douluo stage, where absorbing high-age soul rings could rapidly increase one's soul power.
Of course, this method also risked the soul master being unable to withstand the overwhelming energy of multiple soul rings, potentially leading to their death.
This was why, ten thousand years ago, dual martial soul users dared not haphazardly attach soul rings to their second martial soul.
At this moment, Huo Yu'er activated the first soul ring of her Spirit Eye martial soul, unleashing the soul skill "Spirit Detection."
This skill granted Huo Yu'er unparalleled battlefield awareness.
Believing himself clever for trying to wound her, Huo Yu'er inwardly scoffed at Mi Jia's tactics. With a subtle shift of her body, she effortlessly evaded the attack.
Though Mi Jia had prepared for the worst, seeing Huo Yu'er evade so casually still sent a chill down his spine. But this wasn't reason enough for him to give up the fight.
Once again, Mi Jia's soul-guided armor erupted with a powerful surge of energy. In the midst of this rapid advance, the right arm of his armor flashed with blue light as a massive blue sword materialized in his hand.
This sword was exquisitely crafted, and the fluctuations emanating from it were intense—it was a superlative Level 5 soul tool, bordering on Level 6.
As Huo Yu'er entered the sword's range, the surging energy around Mi Jia abruptly vanished, replaced by the armor's dazzling blue glow.
"For the glory of the Sun Moon Empire!"
Mi Jia cried out internally, swinging the sword with tremendous force amplified by the soul-guided armor.
Facing this close-range attack, Huo Yu'er's gaze remained eerily calm.
In a normal battle, Huo Yu'er would have directly activated the second soul skill of her first soul ring—"Emperor Sword"—and defeated her opponent with her astonishing combat prowess.
However, doing so would deplete her soul power too quickly, forcing her to leave the stage early and make way for her sisters to shine.
But Ye Wen had given strict orders for this match: either Huo Yu'er would fight her way through on her own, or she would rely on the trump card he had provided.
Though Huo Yu'er had developed a certain resistance to social embarrassment, she wanted to test whether she could break through her opponent's defenses by herself.
"Mother, I will make you so proud when you return."
With resolute determination, Huo Yu'er pushed off forcefully with her legs, dodging the sword strike.
The arena was specially constructed, so Mi Jia's powerful slash caused no significant damage to the platform. Instead, his hands trembled slightly from the impact.
But the failure of this strike made Mi Jia realize he had missed his best opportunity. He needed to quickly create distance between himself and Huo Yu'er—or else—
Before Mi Jia could activate the acceleration function of his soul-guided armor, Huo Yu'er was already upon him.
Huo Yu'er's appearance could only be described as delicate, but her youthful vitality made her quite endearing at her age.
Yet, in her Snow Empress form, Huo Yu'er transcended into an ethereal goddess, leaving Mi Jia momentarily stunned.
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