Chapter 108.3: The Princess

Book 13: Life Gold

Ma Xiaotao was lightning fast, and shot to the front of her opponents’ formation in the blink of an eye. Blazing phoenix flames surged into the sky as she extended her enormous phoenix wings and blasted her Phoenix Fireline towards the Soul King right in front of her.

This Soul King’s name was Huang Heyun. The fact that he was standing in front naturally meant that he was an assault-type soul master. Before Princess Jiu Jiu’s appearance, he had been the Star Luo National Academy’s team leader.

Huang Heyun’s martial soul was also extremely fearsome. Following the release of his martial soul, dense black energy started swirling around his body, and his body suddenly erupted in size. His muscles grew and became more defined, while a “King” character appeared on his head, similar to Dai Yueheng. The difference between the two of them was that the hair all over Huang Heyun’s body wasn’t white or a yellow-chalk color. Instead, it was black, just pure black.

His martial soul was the Darkdemon Tiger. It was a rare darkness-type martial soul, but he wasn’t an evil soul master. The fearsome power of darkness imbued him with natural prowess that was not much inferior to Dai Yueheng’s White Tiger.

At this moment, a mist of golden light diffused from behind his back, fusing together with his black soul power. The light didn’t clash with the darkness – instead, it painted his soul power a dull golden hue that flickered with specs of starlight, causing his body to no longer be just pure black. It was peculiar.

Huang Heyun howled into the sky as he faced Ma Xiaotao’s Phoenix Fireline. He rushed forward without hesitation and punched out with his fist. His first soul ring radiated with yellow light, and a dull-golden arc of light with a diameter of over one meter instantly burst out into the sky.

Sparks crackled and flew, but the Phoenix Fireline was surprisingly not able to pierce even a single inch through that arc of light before it was stopped in its tracks. It was the Darkdemon Tiger’s first soul skill – Aphotic Darkwave.

Ma Xiaotao was still a little bewildered by what had just taken place before the Aphotic Darkwave, which now flared with a fiery red color due to the Phoenix Fireline, arrived before her.

Even though the Phoenix Fireline under the Soaring Phoenix’s amplification was only Ma Xiaotao’s first soul skill, she was a powerful Soul Emperor with extremely solid foundations. How could her opponent even compare to her? Nonetheless, her opponent still managed to fend off her Phoenix Fireline with just his own first soul skill.

However, the Aphotic Darkwave was right before her eyes, and she no longer had time to contemplate. Ma Xiaotao held out her right palm out against the Aphotic Darkwave, and it shattered into pieces in an instant with a “puff” sound. Ma Xiaotao’s right hand flared with raging flames once more as abundant phoenix flames poured out and surged towards her opponent – this was her second soul skill, the Phoenix Baptism.

Faced with Ma Xiaotao’s ferocious onslaught, Huang Heyun made a retreating motion as his body appeared to sit down. His third soul ring lit up, and his soul power, which sparkled with dull-golden starlight, accompanied a bright tiger roar as it surged out as well and transformed into the form of a tiger while it crashed towards Ma Xiaotao’s phoenix flames.

This was the thousand-year soul skill of his third soul ring– the Demontiger’s Heavenshock.

Ma Xiaotao’s sensations were much more acute as they clashed once more at close quarters. She discovered that when her opponent’s soul skills collided with her phoenix flames, the golden starlight in her opponent’s soul skills would break out first. Those tiny specks of starlight were like miniature bombs that continuously detonated inside her phoenix flames, and these unassuming explosiveness actually grinded down Ma Xiaotao’s offensive power. The full force of Huang Heyun’s soul skills clashed with Ma Xiaotao’s phoenix flames only after the dampening of the golden starlight.

This shocking realization caused Ma Xiaotao to cast an astonished look at Princess Jiu Jiu behind her opponent. What kind of martial soul was that? She could actually provide such powerful group auxiliary support for her entire team. This rivalled the effects of even the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, which was widely claimed to be the most powerful auxiliary-type martial soul.

Ma Xiaotao concentrated as she searched her mind for a suitable answer to the Starcrown. As a student from Shrek Academy, Ma Xiaotao’s knowledge was especially abundant, and she finally recalled what the Starcrown martial soul was.

This martial soul was simply too rare in the continent, even though it had existed for a long time. The number of times it had appeared in the past thousand years was just too few, and thus it was forgotten. Still, one of the lessons she had once taken in Shrek Academy had introduced the Starcrown before. Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao had spent too little time in the academy, and had yet to reach that level.

The Starcrown martial soul used to be held in high regard within the Douluo Continent. It had been around since more than ten thousand years ago, and could be considered the most ancient amongst the top-ranked martial souls.

Over ten thousand years ago, the entity that handled soul masters was an organization called the Soul Hall. Back then, the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire, the only two most powerful empires at that time, had to pander to them. The Soul Hall once possessed six especially powerful martial souls, and each one of them respectively represented the most powerful entities in the world at that time. One of them was the Starcrown.

The Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire had three seats each back then, and the Star Luo Empire’s royal family was still the White Tiger Duke’s bloodline. However, the White Tiger martial soul wasn’t one of the six great martial souls. Instead, the Starcrown martial soul was the strongest of the three seats that belonged to the Star Luo Empire.

The only problem was that the Starcrown bloodline’s inheritance was thin, and thus it was rarely seen on the continent. It was similar to a hidden sect. Over four thousand years ago, the Sun Moon Continent collided and merged with the Douluo Continent, eventually instigating the conflict between the Sun Moon Empire and the empires that resided within the Douluo Continent. The Star Luo Empire took the lead and absorbed most of the external pressure, causing the White Tiger Duke bloodline and the royal family to almost be driven to extinction. During this period, the Starcrown sect stepped out of reclusion to unify and lead the Star Luo Empire’s armies in a valiant effort against their enemies. After intense and fearsome battles did they manage to defend the Star Luo Empire and consolidate the Star Luo Empire’s position as the leading sovereignty amongst the three nations within the original Douluo Continent. The White Tiger Duke bloodline waned, and was left with a meager lineage. The position of the royal family was passed on, and the Starcrown bloodline took over as the new leaders of Star Luo Empire. Of course, the new royalty did not choose to employ any underhanded tactics against the White Tiger Duke bloodline. They won over their citizens’ hearts and minds and succeeded the throne via proper means, which caused the empire to flourish for over a thousand years.

Even if the Dou Ling Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire formed a coalition, their combined power would still not be enough to compare with the Star Luo Empire.

The Starcrown bloodline managed to turn the tide all those years ago, and this went to show their extraordinary power. In terms of pure auxiliary capabilities, the Starcrown was probably inferior to the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda. However, the Starcrown wasn’t just about support– it possessed incredible fighting power, and even its auxiliary capabilities leaned entirely towards boosting fighting power. This was vastly different from the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda’s overall capabilities. It could be said that the Starcrown martial soul existed purely for battle.

Ever since the Starcrown sect took over Star Luo Empire, they became low-profile once more. The passage of a few thousand years caused people to forget that the Star Luo Empire’s royal family was one of the more powerful soul master sects in the past, and the Starcrown martial soul was never seen again in the outside world for many years.

Even though Ma Xiaotao was recalling this information regarding the Starcrown martial soul, her movements did not slow down at all. Her opponent’s Demontiger’s Heavenshock that was amplified by Princess Jiu Jiu’s third soul skill, the Starglory Spell, ultimately broke through the Phoenix Baptism’s flames and reached Ma Xiaotao.

Ma Xiaotao grunted coldly. Instead of retreating, she chose to advance, and rushed toward the Darkdemon Tiger’s light shadow. She roared into the sky as she extended her fiery wings. In this moment, Ma Xiaotao’s entire being appeared to transform into a real fire phoenix. The phoenix flames’ searing red colors were raised to a white incandescence, and the instant outburst of heat caused even Dai Yueheng and Bei Bei to distance themselves from Ma Xiaotao. The blistering flames scorched the Darkdemon Tiger’s light shadow in an instant. Ma Xiaotao’s body flashed once more, and she closed in on her opponent while launching another stream of Phoenix Fireline. This time, the phoenix flames had the same white incandescent hue.

Normally, she wouldn’t dare to raise her phoenix flames’ powers to such a level like she did just now. The reason for that was because unleashing the phoenix flames like this made her highly susceptible to a backlash from the evil fire within her body. If she didn’t handle it correctly, she had a high chance of losing her mind again.

Ma Xiaotao wasn’t afraid this time, as she had an Ultimate Ice martial soul master beside her. With Huo Yuhao around, she was no longer fearful of suffering the pain from the evil fire’s backlash. In fact, she hadn’t had any problems at all since the last time she had received help.

The reason why Ma Xiaotao could become a team leader and repress Dai Yueheng was entirely due to her prowess. How could Shrek Academy’s teachers not know that she possessed a very impatient and short-tempered nature? However, she was one of the most powerful ones amongst her age. Dai Yueheng was actually inferior to her by an entire class, and Ma Xiaotao could only be described as terrifying when she was in full eruption mode.

Wang Yan had been riling their fighting spirit over the past few days. Even though she didn’t express it, how could she not be affected? All the energy, vigor, and overflowing belligerence that she had been suppressing were on full display today as she faced off against a powerful opponent.

Huang Heyun was shocked as the sweltering flames blazed before him. He discovered, to his intense fear, that he seemed to be completely unable to defend himself. The white-hot phoenix flames surrounded him, and all the air within a few meters of him was completely distorted. The sky-high temperature of the white circle of fire triggered and detonated the Starglory Spell’s energy in the sky, perfectly blocking off the Starglory Spell’s effects. This meant that the Starglory Spell was no longer able to provide support for him.

Just as Huang Heyun was in an incredibly dangerous situation, he felt the pressure lift from his body as Ma Xiaotao’s white-hot flames started to tilt towards the side before they began to drift up into the sky.

A girl appeared not far behind Huang Heyun. Her looks were average, and she looked like a simple and normal girl. She had long dark-purple hair behind her back, and had freckles on her face. Her most defining feature was her eyes– it seemed as if her eyes were blazing with fire. All five of her soul rings were undulating on her body as her right hand reached out toward Ma Xiaotao’s phoenix flames in the distance. She was the one that had drawn Ma Xiaotao’s Phoenix Fireline away.

Fire control type. An explanation instantly rang out in Ma Xiaotao’s head.

Wang Yan had reminded Shrek Academy’s students of this purple-haired young girl specifically. Before Princess Jiu Jiu appeared in the Star Luo National Academy’s team, the two individuals that Wang Yan was most wary of were two control-type soul masters.

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