Book 8: Advancing to the Second Year
Chapter 51.2: The Butterfly Goddess Slash and the Berserk White Tiger
The Bloodthirsty Demon Bear roared in both pain and anger as it rose up on its hind legs. Its pale-red eyes flashed with a bloody light as its immense frame swelled with power and began to emit a savage aura. This was the beast’s innate skill, Bloodthirst.
The reason it was called the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear was due to the existence of this innate skill. On top of that, its earth attribute and bloodline skill further boosted its strength.
Even the fur on it's body was stained with a red layer once it activated Bloodthirst. An intense stench of blood began to emanate from its body and it pounced towards Wang Dong, its front claws releasing an intense yellow light.
Wang Dong unfurled his wings and forcefully waved them forward, which caused his own body to slide backwards. It seemed like he was trying to increase the distance between himself and the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear.
However, the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear's speed had explosively increased after activating Bloodthirst. Moreover, Wang Dong's retreat was half a second too slow. Although its front claws didn't strike him, they dealt a heavy blow to the ground in front of him. Immediately, an intense yellow light blossomed from the point of impact.
This was the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear's earth-type skill, Seismic Wave.
There was a notable difference between the abilities of thousand year soul beasts and hundred year soul beasts. While there was only a possibility for hundred year soul beasts to possess long-range attacking abilities, thousand year soul beasts would undoubtedly possess long-range or area of effect-type soul skills.
Seismic Wave was the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear's specialty. The skill would not only cause its opponent lose their balance due to the strong vibrations, but would also cause them to feel dizzy to a certain extent. As long as the effects of its Seismic Wave remained active, the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear would savagely devastate its opponents soon after.
Because of that, the two referees quickly approached Wang Dong as soon as the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear released the Seismic Wave. They were ready to interrupt the match the moment they felt that Wang Dong was trapped within its Seismic Wave.
Oftentimes during a battle between a soul master and a soul beast, the outcome of the match would hinge on a single soul skill. The situation in which a single soul skill was able to change the situation of the entire match after landing was incredibly common.
Wang Dong's rear wings rose up the instant the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear's paws struck the ground and released the Seismic Wave. Simultaneously, he tilted his front wings downwards as his second soul ring lit up.
He'd flapped his wings forward previously, which had created a backwards stream of air. However, he now only adjusted his actions by a hair's breadth, which immediately caused his retreating body to fly up into the air by borrowing the stream of air, resulting in him instantly rising three meters into the air. Furthermore, his body remained parallel to the ground and was thus able to dodge the rumbling Seismic Wave just in time. As if that wasn't enough, the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear who'd struck the ground was currently right below Wang Dong, its sturdy back completely exposed.
All of the golden patterns on the dazzling blue wings of his Radiant Butterfly Goddess martial soul instantly lit up. A series of terrifying explosions immediately rang out amidst the flickering golden lights.
This was Wang Dong's second soul skill, his thousand year soul skill – the Light of the Butterfly Goddess.
The tyrannical yellow light from the Light of the Butterfly Goddess mercilessly rained down without pause onto the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear's back. Even the sounds that rang out due to the violent explosions were painful! The Bloodthirsty Demon Bear had just released its attack which had left its body slightly sluggish for a brief period. Thus, it wasn't able to dodge Wang Dong's attack. From the moment it was struck by the first ball of golden light, it could only try its best to curl up and use its thick back to endure the bombardment from the Light of the Butterfly Goddess.
The violent explosions lasted for a full three seconds before they finally ended. Wang Dong slowly floated upwards as his dazzling blue wings suddenly turned an intense golden color. He moved his hands back to his chest and his palms touched his chest. Following which, his third soul ring released a large amount of light.
A ball of pure golden light appeared between Wang Dong's palms and then started to expand at an astonishing rate amidst the light surrounding him. In the blink of an eye, the ball was already a foot wide. The ball of golden light was surrounded by golden electricity that illuminated Wang Dong's entire body.
The golden wings on Wang Dong's back unceasingly flickered as they released curved golden shadows that fused with the pure gold ball of light, causing its volume to further increase.
Under the series of explosions caused by Wang Dong's Light of the Butterfly Goddess, the Bloodthirsty Devil Bear was already sprawled on the ground. Although it had gone put everything into its defense, how could a thousand year soul skill be so easily defended against? The flesh on its back had been lacerated and its entire back was stained with fresh blood. The damage has been so severe that even its Bloodthirst had been interrupted.
As an earth-type thousand year soul beast, however, the Bloodthirsty Devil Bear's defensive abilities were extremely powerful. Despite the violent bouts of pain coming from its back due to the Light of the Butterfly Goddess, it hadn't yet lost all of its combat strength. But since two of Wang Dong's blows had struck one of its rear legs, its speed had dropped a large margin which had greatly reduced its ability to move.
Sensing the terrifying aura above it, the Bloodthirsty Devil Bear forced itself to turn around. It couldn't help but let out a lament when it saw the terrifying golden ball of light in front of Wang Dong's chest. Raising its front limbs, it managed to barely congeal a ball of yellow light in Wang Dong's direction. The yellow light then turned into a small shield that barely protected its body.
"Alright, the test is over. Wang Dong, withdraw your soul skill." Du Weilun's voice rang out from the tall stage.
However, a soul skill wasn't easy to withdraw. Wang Dong hurriedly moved his hands outwards and the golden ball of light in front of his chest rose into the air. Since the Great Beast Dueling Arena was located outdoors, the golden ball of light shot a hundred meters into the air before numerous golden crescent moon-like shadows blossomed out from it. They looked just like the petals of a flower as they flew into the air and turned into motes of golden light before they finally exploded, instantly creating a spectacular screen of golden light.
The two referees simultaneously made a move and subdued the Bloodthirsty Bear before they declared the end of this round of the advancement test.
There was simply no need for the judges to speak. All the students understood that Wang Dong had passed the test with the highest possible score.
After releasing his third soul skill, Wang Dong's body swayed slightly and his face was clearly pale too. If it weren't for their bet with Dai Huabin, he would have no need to use his third soul skill in this test. However, his aim right now was to do everything in his power to obtain the highest possible score he was capable of.
His third soul skill was called the Butterfly Goddess Slash. It looked like a ball of light, but was actually a slash that contained a hundred and eight blades of light within it. The moment it struck its target, the hundred and eight blades within it would burst outward and rip their target to shreds.
The Light of the Butterfly Goddess was an area of effect attack and though it was very powerful, it lacked explosive power. However, the Butterfly Goddess Slash was different. It sacrificed the lock-on ability and range that a long-distance attack would normally have for unparalleled attack power. The Butterfly Goddess Slash had no way of locking onto a target and the blades of light contained within it would automatically start to leak out once the attack was more than five meters away from the user until it was completely depleted of power. This was also the reason behind the marvelous scene that had occurred earlier.
A major reason why Wang Dong had chosen this skill as his third soul skill was because of Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing. Only when he had the assistance of Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection could he unleash the full might of this skill.
After talking to each other for a bit, Du Weilun and Yan Shaozhe completed their evaluations.
Du Weilun spoke in a solemn voice, "Wang Dong, who chose to face the highest-ranked thousand year soul beast for his test has obtained a hundred marks for his base score. Considering the attack power of his final soul skill, there was a 70% chance that the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear would've been killed instantly. Thus, he has obtained full marks for his foundations. His performance during the battle can be considered perfect and for that he has obtained the full fifty marks for battle technique."
During the advancement test, differently ranked soul beasts would give different base scores. The lowest-ranked hundred year soul beast would only give ten marks, and only by displaying an extraordinary amount of battle technique and defeating it would a student be able to pass the advancement test. However, the thousand year soul beast Wang Dong had chosen gave a hundred marks as its base score. In addition to the fifty marks he had been given for his battle technique, he had obtained a total of a hundred and fifty marks. In comparison, the advancement test for the Year 2 students only required thirty marks for one to pass. In other words, even if he hadn't been able to defeat the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear, he would've been able to easily obtain over thirty marks.
Wang Dong was overjoyed to learn that he had obtained a perfect score. Huo Yuhao didn't even need to intervene for them to win the bet. He had obtained full marks by himself, which meant that Dai Huabin couldn't even put up a fight against them anymore.
However, before he could rejoice, Du Weilun's next words shot him down.
"However, the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear is an earth-type soul beast. Its defensive abilities rank amongst the top within thousand year soul beasts, which meant that it still had a 30% chance of blocking your final attack. Meanwhile, your soul power was almost completely drained after releasing that attack. Under such circumstances, there would have been no way for you to contend against it again. If that had happened, you could've been injured by its last-ditch attack or maybe even have been killed. As a soul master, carelessly staking everything on a single attack is an unwise decision. After talking to Dean Yan, we have decided to deduct fifty marks from your score. This puts your final score for this test at a hundred marks. You pass the advancement test."
"Ah?" Wang Dong was flabbergasted, "That's way too many penalties. After all, I beat a thousand year soul beast!"
Yan Shaozhe replied warmly, "As an outstanding soul master, your first priority in a battle must be your own safety. Only after you have guaranteed your safety should you think of how to beat your opponent. How long have you cultivated for? If you end up exchanging your life for the death of just a single soul beast, what meaning would your cultivation have? The reason
we deducted fifty marks from you is because you're a core disciple of the academy. Core disciples receive better treatment than ordinary students, but at the same time they have to fulfill much more stringent requirements. Do you understand?"