Chapter 1183: Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Deep Blue Gaze

Song Junhou and Luo Shuiyun—where could one find such worthy opponents?

Song Junhou and Luo Shuiyun were still striking with thunderous vigor, completely unaware that what they were actually doing for their opponents was tantamount to a bridal robe divine art.

Moreover, fighting atop the Rising Dragon Platform, saturated with dragon energy, they were also absorbing that very dragon energy, which made the thunderous bombardment last all the longer. In the blink of an eye, this battle had already dragged on for over half an hour. The roaring thunder was nearly unbearable to the ears of the other contestants, forming an extremely stark contrast with Qi Tianlong’s instant-kill match earlier.

Just then, the referee’s voice rang out, “Five minutes remaining. If no victor is decided, the winner will be determined by overall performance in the match.”

The voice reached the four combatants on the field clearly. Lan Xuanyu’s mouth twitched; his body was indeed somewhat numb by now. Being struck for so long without taking any damage was impossible. However, thanks to the tempering of his body, his recovery ability was simply too strong. These minor injuries meant nothing to him.

He understood that this reminder from the referee must have come from the Dragon Knights. They clearly saw what he was doing and were telling him to stop dragging it out, finish the match, and not waste any more time.

Bai Xiuxiu naturally sensed it as well. Lifting her head to the sky, she let out a dragon roar, and in the next instant, she charged straight toward Lan Xuanyu.

Golden light surged skyward. To keep up the act, Lan Xuanyu manifested his Golden Dragon King true body amid the dazzling golden radiance, forcefully deflecting the falling bolts of lightning.

The next moment, Bai Xiuxiu was already upon him. Their figures overlapped, and in an instant, a bizarre transformation took place.

A shroud of darkness enveloped them, completely concealing their bodies within. From that darkness, a pair of enormous deep-blue eyes gazed upward into the sky.

Thunderbolts struck into the darkness and vanished, while the clouds above dispersed in the next instant—dissipated entirely beneath that Deep Blue Gaze, revealing two figures plummeting from the sky, already turned into ice sculptures.

Having unleashed lightning for so long, Song Junhou and Luo Shuiyun were already nearly spent. How could they possibly withstand the combined soul skill version of Deep Blue Gaze from Lan Xuanyu and Bai Xiuxiu?

The mist and clouds were all water; once water condensed into ice, the attack naturally dissolved. Even the surfaces of their bodies were frozen over.

“Boom—” The ice layer detonated, blasting scales off Song Junhou and Luo Shuiyun as they tumbled far toward the ground.

The darkness faded, revealing Bai Xiuxiu and Lan Xuanyu once more. Still holding hands, they gazed at their two opponents descending to the earth.

The ground below was already blanketed by the heavy snow of Ice Demon Snow. The moment the pair landed, strands of black light threads coiled around them, leaving them utterly immobilized.

Bai Xiuxiu’s eighth soul skill, Abyssal Devour.

While Lan Xuanyu had been tanking the lightning, Abyssal Devour had long since been laid across the ground, silently awaiting the final moment.

A tingling numbness ran through Lan Xuanyu’s palms, and Bai Xiuxiu unhesitatingly channeled the dragon energy within her into his body, replenishing the vast consumption from his earlier cultivation.

“Song Junhou and Luo Shuiyun are incapacitated. Lan and Huang Xiuxiu are victorious,” the referee announced.

By now, every dragon in the audience naturally understood what had really been going on during that earlier suppression. To turn the tables with a single counterattack—if that wasn’t acting, what was?

Lan Xuanyu and Bai Xiuxiu thus successfully advanced to the top fifteen.

Huang Daoqi had been extremely worried while watching them being suppressed earlier, but as time went on, even he had begun to see through it. Now that they had entered the top fifteen, he was greatly relieved, his face brimming with smiles.

Every step forward in the Rising Dragon Competition marked an entirely new level!

Back in the waiting zone, Lan Xuanyu still had wisps of smoke rising from his body, his face looking somewhat pale. She sat down cross-legged in her previous spot, with Bai Xiuxiu sitting before her. Palm to palm, they immediately began absorbing the dense dragon energy in the air.

The nearly viscous dragon energy was drawn into their bodies like a giant whale drinking water, rapidly converted and absorbed.

Qi Tianlong’s mouth twitched. He thought to himself, That’s way too intense, isn’t it? Tempering yourself in the middle of battle? This Lan truly does take an unconventional path!

The competition continued, but for Lan Xuanyu, the remaining matches no longer mattered. The effect of that thunderous barrage just now had been quite substantial. Though its quality differed from the Nirvanic Divine Lightning, this lightning came from outside in, and its intensity was far more violent than the Nirvanic Divine Lightning he controlled. Tempering from the outside in left him with an exhilarating feeling throughout his entire body, fully integrating the Dragon God energy he had absorbed over the past few days into his flesh, merging and digesting it completely.

At this moment, his body was like a sponge that had been wrung dry, desperately in need of massive energy to replenish itself. Without a doubt, the dragon energy brought by the seven Dragon Knights was simply the finest tonic imaginable. So he unceremoniously absorbed it to his heart’s content.

All fourteen matches took nearly another two hours to finally conclude. Lan Xuanyu and Bai Xiuxiu had also absorbed their fill of dragon energy.

After today’s elimination rounds, the total number of contestants had been sharply reduced to fifteen.

Tomorrow someone would get a free win, but that sort of good fortune would not fall to Lan Xuanyu and his companion.

Returning to their lodgings, Lan Xuanyu immediately teleported away, first assisting Tang Yuge and the other five in their cultivation, then visiting Elder Shu, where he converted the extra dragon force liquid he had absorbed that day into energy needed by his companions, aiding them in another round of higher-intensity tempering.

No one had been idle over the past few days either. Though they lacked the energy Lan Xuanyu brought for body tempering, they had been absorbing vast amounts of life force to solidify their previous refinements.

By the time Lan Xuanyu returned, it was already dusk. Without even bothering to eat, he continued cultivating with Bai Xiuxiu, absorbing dragon energy to temper themselves.

Only a few days remained in the final stage. And with Dragon Knights arriving each time, this was their best opportunity to absorb dragon energy—this was not the time to rest. Such training chances were rare. Every day of cultivation was worth an untold amount of ordinary effort. Moreover, this spared them the risk of hunting dragons.

In the second round of the finals, only fifteen contestants remained. Seven matches were scheduled for today.

Apart from Lan Xuanyu, another contestant with a Dragon Mount had also advanced. Only Song Junhou and Luo Shuiyun were unlucky enough to be eliminated yesterday. They had no chance of a bye.

The draw was conducted the same way as the previous day, with the seven Dragon Knights once again in attendance. As soon as the draw ended, Lan Xuanyu knew who had drawn the bye.

Qi Tianlong still came over to sit beside her, shrugging at her with a helpless look.

“You got the free round?” Lan Xuanyu asked.

“Yeah,” Qi Tianlong replied, looking utterly bored.

Lan Xuanyu thought to himself, I wouldn’t mind being in your place! And you act like you’re dissatisfied with it? Though, in truth, it probably didn’t matter who Qi Tianlong faced.

With no opponent to face, he was already guaranteed a spot in the top eight.

As for this draw, Lan Xuanyu and Bai Xiuxiu received number one. That meant they would be the first to take the stage.

“Final round, second round, first match. Contestants numbers one and two, take the stage,” the referee announced loudly.

Lan Xuanyu and Bai Xiuxiu stood up. Not far away, stares of stunned disbelief were fixed on them.

Seeing his opponents, Lan Xuanyu felt quite helpless as well. He even suspected the Dragon Knights had done this on purpose. Their opponents were none other than the sole remaining contestant with a Dragon Mount—another head-to-head matchup.