Chương 150: Hunter 150: Truly One Strike
The next day, the match-up board for the eighteen contestants was posted at the entrance of the arena.
Some match-ups remained the same, for example:
Zhang Chulan vs. Tang Wenlong
Zhuge Qing vs. Wang Ye
Feng Shayan vs. Jia Zhengliang
Most of the others had changed slightly, but Zhang Chulan was secure in his spot in the final four.
Apart from his match against Xiao Xiao, Lin Jiu also paid attention to three other contestants' battles:
Zhang Lingyu vs. Longdan
Ye Xiao vs. Soma
Feng Baobao vs. Us
...
Except for the middle one, which featured a female archer contractor, the other two contractors were out of luck. They were up against Zhang Lingyu and Feng Baobao, practically guaranteeing their early exits. Aside from the group changes, there weren't any major developments.
"Contestants whose names have been called, please enter the arena! Zhang Chulan vs. Tang Wenlong, Feng Baobao vs. Us, Liao Fan vs. Zero..."
"What the hell! What am I supposed to do?"
Although Us knew he couldn't win, he still showed up in the arena. He was a frontline shield warrior who had worn down his opponents' energy to win easily in the first two rounds.
But now, standing in front of him was Feng Baobao, known for her relentless barrage of energy attacks. Even if he had faced Zhang Lingyu, he'd have a slim chance of draining his energy. But against the one person he didn't want to face?
Even if Us stood there all day, taking hits, he couldn't deplete Feng Baobao's energy. His damage wasn't enough to fight back either. After taking a few hits from Feng Baobao, Us realized he couldn't even handle getting beaten up and quickly surrendered.
Since his opponent forfeited, Feng Baobao won swiftly. Even so, Zhang Chulan's match ended only slightly later. Although he was a bit impulsive while facing someone from the Tang Sect, Zhang Chulan still maintained good control of the battle's pace.
"Next round, contestants please enter the arena: Red vs. Xiao Xiao; Zhang Lingyu vs. Longdan, Feng Xingtong vs...."
"Brother Red, be careful of Xiao Xiao's breath attack. Don't let it hit you!" Zhang Chulan reminded Lin Jiu before he entered the arena.
Not get hit? Well, let's see how strong my soul is.
Lin Jiu felt that with Xiao Xiao's breath technique, even if he was hit, it wouldn't be a problem. Even if his soul wasn't strong enough, the lingering energy in his body could block the attack.
As he stepped into the arena, Lin Jiu couldn't help but marvel at how this derived world was full of extraordinary skills. Just in terms of rare soul-based abilities, there were already three or four known ones, not to mention the other techniques, each with great potential.
It was a pity that high-level contractors couldn't enter this world, and low-level contractors couldn't gain much from it.
"Begin!"
The nearby Taoist priest signaled for the two to start.
"Hmph!"
Xiao Xiao had seen Lin Jiu's previous fight. Wang Bing wasn't weak, but Lin Jiu didn't even use his energy before beating him down. Knowing he had to be cautious, Xiao Xiao immediately hummed, gathering energy in his mouth.
"Ha!"
A burst of breath shot toward Lin Jiu, but awkwardly, it missed.
Lin Jiu swore that although he could dodge this attack, he hadn't tried to. Because he didn't dodge, he ended up avoiding it.
"What the...! Is this the legendary battle IQ?"
Zhang Chulan, watching from the sidelines, was dumbfounded.
Xiao Xiao was the most embarrassed of all. He figured no one would take his breath attack head-on, so he predicted Lin Jiu's dodge direction and aimed there.
But Lin Jiu didn't move, avoiding the attack. To the audience, it looked like Lin Jiu had predicted Xiao Xiao's prediction—making it look effortlessly cool!
"Hmph!"
"Ha!"
After that, Xiao Xiao stopped trying fancy tactics and launched a direct attack on Lin Jiu.
Lin Jiu didn't dodge again, proving that he hadn't intended to avoid the attack earlier and that everyone had overthought it.
"What!"
Xiao Xiao saw that Lin Jiu didn't dodge, meaning his attack hit. He sighed in relief. But when the breath attack's visual obstruction cleared, Xiao Xiao's relief vanished, replaced by shock.
"What the...! He took the breath attack head-on! While not as outrageous as Baiyun Temple's spirit-taking attack, is this guy's soul that strong too?" Xu Si couldn't help but exclaim.
"...,"
Zhang Chulan thought about dropping out, as every contestant seemed more ridiculous than the last.
Lin Jiu felt the breath attack land on him but without causing damage. It had an unexpected effect. His eyes gleamed silver-gray as the soul energy in his body activated. Normally, this would only happen after killing a target and absorbing external soul energy.
But now, without killing anyone, the breath attack had triggered his soul energy into an active state.
This was his first time being attacked by a soul-based ability. He wasn't sure if it was just the breath attack's peculiarity or if all soul-based attacks would stimulate his spirit energy.
"Seriously…"
Zhang Chulan had no words to describe the subtle yet dangerous changes he observed in Lin Jiu. Even watching from the sidelines, he could sense it. Xiao Xiao, facing Lin Jiu directly, certainly felt it too. Perhaps out of stubbornness or sheer shock, Xiao Xiao didn't surrender.
The consequence of that decision was that Lin Jiu, seeing his opponent hadn't conceded, rushed in without a word and struck Xiao Xiao with his sword. Truly, just one strike!
This let Xiao Xiao know that the pain caused by Zhang Ling's soul attack was nothing compared to this. Zhang Ling's attack merely struck his soul, while Lin Jiu's sword inflicted damage to both body and soul, a double whammy of agony!
As Xiao Xiao collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face, many spectators made a mental note to never let Lin Jiu's sword hit them.
As Lin Jiu left the arena, he shook his head.
"These youngsters need more mental toughness! Look at Lu Ci—he took several strikes from me and still stood strong. One strike and Xiao Xiao's down. You had your chance, and you blew it."
Taking this opportunity, Lin Jiu confirmed several ways to activate his soul energy: first, by killing a target and absorbing soul energy; second, by continuously using soul energy in battle, like when fighting Lu Ci; and third, just discovered—by being attacked by a soul-based ability, triggering a reflexive response.
In his soul-active state, it wasn't that his attack power increased, but his thoughts became clearer, and his dynamic vision and reflexes improved.
Lin Jiu speculated that this soul-active state might be linked to the next stage of his abilities. Based on what he observed with Su Xiao's Azure Steel King, it seemed like a warm-up.
Like Su Xiao's Shadow of Law Destroyer, Lin Jiu had no clear direction. Su Xiao had the guidance of the remnants of Shadow of Law Destroyer, though it was crude. Lin Jiu, however, had no such guidance and had to figure everything out on his own. If it weren't for the fact that each stage of his abilities unlocked automatically from the Reincarnation Disk, he would have focused on a more promising external technique instead.
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