Douluo: Peerles Moon God [ 17 ]

After finishing lunch and resting for a while, the afternoon arrived.

Full of spirit, Xu Tianxi and Xu Sanshi—whose calves couldn't help trembling—once again ascended the Douhun Platform under the eager gazes of Xu Xiaoyun and the others.

Xu Sanshi's expression was full of misery; his eyes cast a deeply resentful glance at Xu Fu, who had personally helped restore his soul power after the meal, and his mouth couldn't stop trembling.

He knew his father wasn't that kind-hearted—restoring his power was only to make him a live target for Tianxi!

Xu Tianxi waved kindly at Xu Sanshi and gave a friendly reminder:

"Sanshi, my third brother, my first soul technique is derived from the strongest innate ability of the Evil Eye clan—Evil Eye Gaze. You must be extremely careful."

Evil Eye Gaze is one of the most powerful innate offensive soul techniques of the Evil Eye clan. It is a purely spirit-attribute ability and one of the most terrifying skills of the Evil Eye, with extremely strong attack and destructive power.

In the soul master world, it's said that the first strongest of the Evil Eye clan, the Evil Emperor, used this move to hit Emperor Tian—the Beast God Emperor of the Star Dou Great Forest—and even the Beast God was forced into a five-second stalemate, showing how terrifying its power truly is!

Xu Sanshi, well-informed, felt his heart sink upon hearing this. But he refused to show any weakness, slapped his chest loudly, and with a very relaxed expression, waved his hand and laughed:

"No worries, no worries. Don't underestimate my strength. I am a level 24 great soul master, with two century-old soul rings. You're only level twelve. Come on, attack with all you've got. I can handle it!"

"Let me tell you, I stayed in Shrek for a year and never once encountered a formidable spirit-type soul master. None of the first-year fierce attack soul masters could break through my defense. I've been eager to experience new attacks and pressure!"

"Come on! Give it your all! If you don't go all out, you're just disrespecting me!"

While speaking boldly and spiritedly, Xu Sanshi simultaneously prepared his defense with full effort. He activated the Xuanming Turtle Shell Shield, the glow of his second soul ring flashing, assuming his strongest defense.

Countless deep black shadows radiated from the Xuanming Turtle Shell Shield. In an instant, the shield seemed to multiply into hundreds of faces, stacking and combining in front of Xu Sanshi, firmly forming a shield wall that protected him behind it. The formation surface was filled with dense black water that was both soft and resilient.

This was the second soul skill of the Xuanming Turtle Shell Shield — the Xuanming Shield Formation.

Prepared for defense, Xu Sanshi's body hidden behind the shield formation was completely tense. His usually carefree peach blossom eyes were now filled with solemnity, showing the demeanor of a strong defensive-type soul master.

As the direct heir of the Xuanming Sect and having spent a school year in the Shrek Outer Academy, a place full of geniuses, Xu Sanshi held a sense of pride in his heart. The slogan "Eternal Defense" was not just empty talk.

Although he hadn't expected that a trip home would see his position as the top young genius of the Xuanming Sect stolen by an up-and-comer, at least for now, he had confidence that he could still hold Xu Tianxi down for a few more years.

No matter what, this fight was a level 24 versus level 12, the advantage was clearly his!

Moreover, spirit-type soul masters have always been rare, and defensive soul masters often get caught off guard by sudden spirit-type soul master attacks. Being able to experience such a powerful spirit-type attack now was beneficial for his cultivation.

Xu Tianxi looked at Xu Sanshi in surprise, thinking he had never encountered such a demand before. He nodded and softly shouted, "Then be careful, Cold Moon Gaze!"

The first soul ring of over six hundred years suddenly lit up. The clear, lonely moon deep in Xu Tianxi's pupils rapidly emitted rippling halos of light, which then spread into soft, icy points of light, filling his bright eyes.

The crescent moon mark on his forehead also shimmered with flowing light, but whether it was because the energy stored was depleted after dealing with the remnants of the Evil Eye soul or some other reason, Xu Tianxi did not feel the presence of spiritual power.

The next moment, the moonlight in his pupils suddenly concentrated into a point and burst forth two faint but real beams of cold silver light. The spiritual power and soul power were extremely condensed, moving so fast that they were almost invisible to the naked eye, shooting straight toward Xu Sanshi's tightly prepared Xuanming Shield Formation.

To the onlookers outside the arena, Xu Tianxi's attack had almost no prelude; as soon as the soul ring lit up, the attack came the very next moment, with a speed so fast there was no room to retreat—truly chasing stars and catching the moon!

"Clang—"

"Oww~!"

A crisp collision sound rang out, and almost the instant the Cold Moon Gaze beams made contact with the Xuanming Shield Formation, Xu Sanshi let out a miserable cry. It felt as if an ice pick had pierced his brain—his vision flashed with golden stars, and his sturdy body couldn't help but stagger backward, his feet stumbling as he retreated several steps.

"Crap, I underestimated him. Xuanming Shock!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Sanshi could no longer afford to care about preserving his dignity as the elder brother. While being pushed back, he immediately activated his first soul ring.

With the launch of the Xuanming Shock soul skill, the black glow on the Xuanming Turtle Shell Shield instantly intensified, and a dark halo spread outward from the shield. With the support of the shield formation, it covered a range of several dozen square meters—like a massive pressure dome pushing outward—emitting a deep, thunderous rumble.

"Da-da—"

Xuanming Shock was an area-of-effect repulsion soul skill, with a built-in stunning effect. As the black halo spread, the beams of Xu Tianxi's gaze clearly met tremendous resistance. Once they hit the Xuanming Shield Formation, they were no longer able to pierce through like before to directly strike Xu Sanshi's body.

Seeing the Xuanming Shock's halo rapidly approaching, the self-aware Xu Tianxi wisely chose to retreat. After fully releasing his spiritual power, he decisively turned and leapt off the stage.

As a spiritual-type soul master with high attack but low health, only a fool would try to take a full-force physical attack from a top-tier battle soul master head-on. The power of Xu Sanshi's Xuanming Shock was no less than the Thunder Dragon Claw of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.

Landing beneath the platform, Xu Tianxi—his face a little pale—carefully observed the black halo of the Xuanming Shock spreading across the arena, his expression quite solemn.

"What a powerful Xuanming Shock… It was actually able to block my Cold Moon Gaze from penetrating through. Impressive."

Seeing his gaze beams deflected, Xu Tianxi earnestly reflected on his shortcomings. If his attack had been just a bit faster earlier, would the outcome have been better?

"Master Ancestor, what do you think of the strength of my strike? Are there areas I need to improve? Master Ancestor?"

After evaluating his own performance, Xu Tianxi proactively turned to Xu Xiaoyun for guidance—only to find that the old man's expression was difficult to read, and he didn't immediately respond.

"Thud—"

A dull thud echoed from the stage, the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Xu Tianxi turned his head to look and saw that the fallen object was none other than Xu Sanshi's Xuanming Turtle Shell Shield.

As for Xu Sanshi himself, at that moment it seemed he had also lost all strength to stay upright. He swayed drunkenly for a few steps before his body leaned backward and he was about to collapse.

"Yuelao!"

Xu Fu shouted and immediately blinked onto the stage, catching the dizzy Xu Sanshi and feeding him a medicinal pill.

Yuelao activated a healing soul device, releasing several streams of green, glowing life energy that enveloped Xu Sanshi.

At this point, Xu Xiaoyun also reacted, his expression turning solemn as he looked at Xu Tianxi:

"Tianxi, the power of your spiritual attack is extremely overwhelming. Even with Sanshi fully prepared and defending in advance, he still got knocked out by your strike. If an ordinary Grand Soul Master were to take your full-force attack, they might end up brain-damaged—or worse, have their brain pierced and die on the spot!"

"You must understand, Sanshi's Xuanming Turtle martial soul is one of the most extreme types of defensive martial souls. Even though he stood there and let you strike, he still couldn't withstand your spiritual assault. If it had been a Grand Soul Master who wasn't of a defensive type—no matter how strong their martial soul—taking such an attack wouldn't have ended any better than this."

"Also, that one strike of yours consumed way too much. It nearly drained both your spiritual power and soul power completely. In the future, unless it's absolutely necessary, don't unleash your full strength lightly!"

Xu Xiaoyun had sensed it clearly just now: after absorbing that top-tier Evil Eye soul ring, Xu Tianxi's spiritual power had already reached a level comparable to that of some non-spiritual-type Soul Elders. With that level of spiritual power combined with one of the Evil Eye Clan's most domineering soul skills—and his own top-tier martial soul—even an ordinary Soul Elder could easily fall victim to a single mistake.

Based on his estimation, even a Soul Emperor caught off guard by this strike could potentially be affected.

Xu Tianxi himself hadn't expected his attack to be so terrifying. After thinking for a moment, he nodded seriously, then asked another question:

"By the way, Grandmaster, do you think there's still room for improvement in the power of that strike? It was my first time using it, so I'm sure there are still some shortcomings."

Xu Xiaoyun: "..."

After thinking carefully, Xu Xiaoyun replied solemnly, "Once you've fully recovered, try it on me. I want to personally experience it for myself."

…

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Shrek City, inside Shrek Academy—

Yan Shaozhe, with a sallow face, walked through the vast academy grounds. When he arrived at a place reeking of alcohol, his eyes revealed a look of pained regret. He respectfully saluted an old man who looked disheveled, holding a wine gourd in one hand and a chicken leg in the other:

"Elder Xuan, the teacher suggests it's time to convene a Sea God Pavilion meeting. I've come to ask you to attend."