"If I had known this earlier, why bother going through all that trouble in the first place."
Yuhao shook his head lightly, then raised his hand and signaled Di Tian to restrain his aura completely before continuing calmly:
"But the conditions I mentioned earlier still stand. As long as you can defeat me, you won't need to use any of the Tang Sect's secret techniques."
When Yuhao came to the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest, his original intention had been very simple—he merely wanted to find an opponent of comparable strength to test his current combat ability.
What he did not expect was to encounter Tang Ya and Beibei here.
After hearing Yuhao's words, neither Beibei nor Tang Ya spoke. Instead, they silently stood up.
At this moment, the two of them no longer cared about whether Yuhao would keep his agreement or not. Their only thought was how to survive this encounter.
...
Seeing that Beibei's pale complexion had finally returned to normal, Yuhao asked in a calm tone, "Have you recovered?"
Although Yuhao himself had not taken action earlier, merely enduring Di Tian's oppressive aura head-on was already an enormous burden for Beibei.
That was precisely why Yuhao had deliberately given him time to recuperate.
"No problem. Let's begin."
Beibei walked forward until he was roughly ten meters away from Yuhao. His arms hung naturally at his sides, but his eyes burned with intense fighting intent, clearly entering a battle-ready state.
"Then let's start."
Yuhao spoke as his eyes suddenly bloomed with a deep blue halo.
At the same time, a white-gold soul ring quietly rose from beneath his feet and slowly revolved around his body.
"Ten-year soul ring?"
Seeing Yuhao's extremely deceptive first soul ring, Tang Ya subconsciously revealed a trace of disdain on her face.
"Hmph. I thought he was that strong, but it turns out he's just a soul master with a ten-year soul ring."
Unlike Tang Ya, although Beibei was also momentarily startled, he did not relax in the slightest.
After a brief pause, he reacted immediately.
However, Beibei did not directly activate his martial soul. Instead, he flicked his wrists subtly, and several strands of golden light shot out silently from between his fingers.
The moment Yuhao opened his Spiritual Eyes and activated Mental Detection, Beibei's extremely subtle movements were completely exposed in his perception.
Looking at the golden, hair-thin needles flying toward him, Yuhao's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Tang Sect hidden weapon—Dragon Beard Needle."
The Dragon Beard Needle was extremely fast, capable of covering a distance of ten meters in the blink of an eye.
However, what happened next caused both Beibei and Tang Ya to freeze in shock.
The Dragon Beard Needle was deflected!
It grazed past Yuhao's clothes and embedded itself deeply into the thick tree trunk behind him.
"How is that possible?!"
Tang Ya exclaimed in disbelief. She knew Beibei's control extremely well—within ten meters, even with his eyes closed, missing was virtually impossible.
Under normal circumstances, Beibei indeed would not miss.
Unfortunately, the opponent he was facing was Yuhao, who possessed spiritual attributes and the rare Spiritual Eye martial soul.
At the instant Beibei attacked, Yuhao had already activated the second soul skill attached to his first soul ring—Mental Interference.
The power of Mental Interference was comparable to a three-thousand-year soul skill and could affect soul masters up to the Soul Grandmaster realm. Although Beibei's cultivation level was higher than Yuhao's, he was still within the effective range.
Immediately after, Yuhao's gaze sharpened as he unleashed another ability—Soul Shock.
Mental attacks were invisible and formless, completely ignoring external defenses as they instantly pierced into Beibei's spiritual sea.
Beibei let out a suppressed groan as intense pain exploded in his mind. However, what followed was the true killing move—
Heart Soul Demonic Flame.
Boom!
A terrifying flame erupted within Beibei's spiritual world, burning violently. The pain penetrated directly into his soul, something Beibei had never experienced before.
"AHHH—!"
Beibei roared in agony, clutching his head as he dropped to his knees. Blood began to seep from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
"Beibei!"
Tang Ya screamed in panic, her eyes turning red, but she did not dare rush forward. Di Tian stood beside Yuhao like an immovable ancient mountain.
Crackle!
The sound of crackling lightning rang out. Even in this state, Beibei forcibly activated his martial soul, circulating soul power toward his mind.
Although this could not extinguish the Heart Soul Demonic Flame, it slightly alleviated the unbearable pain.
Seeing this, Yuhao raised an eyebrow faintly and commented, "As expected of one of Shrek Academy's outer court twin stars. Even in this condition, you can still activate your martial soul—but that's as far as it goes."
Even with martial soul possession, Beibei was completely incapable of fighting.
Yuhao did not waste time.
With a sharp swish, the Golden Dragon Wings burst open behind his back, and his body transformed into a streak of golden light.
Tang Ya, who was watching from the side, had no time to react before Beibei was sent flying.
At the original spot stood Yuhao, still maintaining the posture of throwing a punch.
Golden Dragon Wing's second soul skill—Golden Dragon Flash.
Even though Yuhao used only his physical strength in that strike, Beibei—despite being in martial soul possession—was blasted more than ten meters away and only stopped after crashing heavily into a tree.
Bang!
Beibei slammed onto the ground. He struggled to stand, but a sweetness surged in his throat, and with a puff, he spat out a large mouthful of blood.
The outcome of the battle was already decided.
It was almost impossible to imagine that a level thirteen soul master could defeat a soul master from Shrek Academy so decisively.
Even Yuhao himself had not expected the fight to end so quickly. After all, Beibei was no ordinary soul master—he was a top student of Shrek Academy.
Yet in Yuhao's hands, he had no power to resist.
Of course, this was partly because Beibei had no understanding of Yuhao's Spiritual Eye martial soul.
Mental-type attacks ignored physical defense entirely and were extremely difficult to guard against without preparation.
Now that Yuhao had awakened the Heart Soul Demonic Flame, anyone struck by it would almost certainly lose combat capability instantly.
Even so, Yuhao was confident that even in a head-on confrontation, he could still defeat Beibei.
On the surface, the difference in soul power between them exceeded twenty levels. However, in reality, Yuhao surpassed Beibei in physical strength, endurance, and soul skill quality.
Although his total soul power was still inferior, Yuhao was confident that he could end the battle before exhausting his reserves.
Moreover, he had yet to use his greatest trump card—the Golden Dragon King bloodline martial soul. Even without considering the natural suppression of the Golden Dragon King over the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, activating it would allow him to defeat Beibei effortlessly.
"It seems I finally have some real strength now."
Yuhao murmured to himself as he walked toward the severely injured and unconscious Beibei.
"What are you trying to do?! This is the Tang Sect's Xuan Tian Bao Lu, which records the Tang Sect's six great secret techniques. I'll give it to you—just don't hurt him!"
Tang Ya stepped in front of Beibei, shielding him protectively.
Although Tang Ya was impulsive and might even turn extreme in the future, her feelings for Beibei were unquestionably genuine.
Yuhao did not even glance at the Xuan Tian Bao Lu. Instead, he took out a small wooden bottle from his robe, inside which shimmered a liquid filled with starlight.
"This is Star Water Dew. It can heal mental injuries. Let him drink it."
"Star Water Dew?!"
Tang Ya naturally recognized this treasure. Even a small bottle like this would fetch hundreds of thousands of gold soul coins outside.
Moreover, the bottle in Yuhao's hand glowed with intense starlight, clearly indicating top-grade quality.
If Beibei consumed it, not only would his mental trauma recover rapidly, but his spiritual power would also improve slightly.
"Why… why are you doing this?"
Tang Ya asked in confusion. She could not understand why this person—whom she viewed as an enemy—would produce such a priceless treasure.
Yuhao merely smiled faintly and replied, "Star Water Dew may be rare and precious in your eyes, but here, it's nothing special."
Such words sounded extremely arrogant, yet when spoken by Yuhao, Tang Ya found them strangely convincing.
Brothers, please support me. I'm testing the waters.