Douluo Continent: I, an evil soul master, work nine-to-five in the Tang Sect.

Chapter 108 Devouring!

"What? Senior, do you have a problem with me?"

Seeing Xu Sanshi's incredulous expression, Luo Chen couldn't help but smile and said.

It was only because Elder Mu told him to keep a low profile that he didn't steal Ma Xiaotao's position in the inner courtyard. Otherwise, given Ma Xiaotao's current state of suppressing the Evil Fire Phoenix, it would have been a pipe dream for her to defeat Luo Chen.

Ma Xiaotao was well aware of this after sparring with Luo Chen. Even after releasing her sixth soul skill, she was still unable to defeat Luo Chen and almost triggered the suppressed evil fire within her body, although it eventually did erupt.

However, this also proves that Luo Chen's current strength is enough to easily deal with powerful experts like Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, who are at the level of six-ring Soul Emperors. Although he is not yet able to fight against a seven-ring Soul Saint who possesses a Martial Soul True Body, Luo Chen is not afraid of anyone below the seventh ring.

Not to mention that when Luo Chen sparred with Ma Xiaotao, he didn't even use his own soul skills much. The only skill he used throughout the entire sparring session was the "Reign of the World" skill taught by Elder Mu. This was also the first time Luo Chen used this artistic concept skill in battle.

The effect of Elder Mu's self-created "Reign Over the World" was astonishing. It not only suppressed Ma Xiaotao's aura in an instant, but also affected her sixth soul skill, allowing Luo Chen to withstand the attack effortlessly.

This is why Ma Xiaotao believes that Luo Chen's current strength and talent are even greater than hers. He was able to fight her to a draw without using his spirit rings, and finally, when Ma Xiaotao was almost unable to hold on, he took the initiative to admit defeat on the grounds of insufficient spirit power.

He was able to force Ma Xiaotao to use her sixth soul skill, and he easily withstood it. In Ma Xiaotao's mind, she already regarded Luo Chen as an inner court student of the same level as herself, not just an outer court student.

Moreover, Luo Chen is not even older than Yao Haoxuan yet. However, he was able to break through to the fourth-ring Soul Master level in his first year of the outer academy and possesses an astonishing four ten-thousand-year Soul Rings. This has completely exceeded Shrek Academy's standards for measuring geniuses.

It was because of this that Ma Xiaotao voluntarily relinquished her title as the academy's number one genius. Although she had already reached the level of a six-ring Soul Emperor, she was already twenty years old. However, Luo Chen in front of her was only twelve years old at most.

It's hard to imagine what kind of strength Luo Chen will possess when he reaches her age, or rather, how long it will take him to reach her current level of a six-ring Soul Emperor...

At the age of eleven, this four-ring Soul Master possessed combat power at the Soul Emperor level, making him virtually invincible among Soul Kings. Such talent had completely won over Ma Xiaotao.

Not to mention Ma Xiaotao, even Zhang Lexuan, who was called the senior sister by the inner court students, felt a lot of pressure because of this. After all, Luo Chen only spent less than three months to break through from a second-ring Great Soul Master to a fourth-ring Soul Master!

If Luo Chen were to truly advance from the outer court of Shrek Academy to the inner court, what level of strength would he possess?

This is unimaginable!

"How could I have a problem with that? I was just marveling at your talent, Junior Luo. I thought your previous strength was already amazing enough, but I didn't expect that even Sister Xiao Tao almost lost to you..."

At this moment, Xu Sanshi was undoubtedly shocked. After all, he could accept that Luo Chen was able to defeat him as a first-year student from the outer academy, since he had lost before because he had underestimated his opponent.

However, to Xu Sanshi's surprise, Luo Chen had only been cultivating on Seagod Island for two months when he suddenly became the number one genius of Shrek Academy, even leading the inner courtyard of Shrek Academy.

This made Xu Sanshi feel as if he were in a dream, after all, this was an impossible situation in the history of Shrek Academy. To be able to defeat an inner court student of Shrek Academy as a first-year student of the outer court was already shocking enough.

It was enough to shake the entire continent, after all, in the world of soul masters on the continent, Shrek Academy's inner courtyard was undoubtedly quite famous, and almost every soul master was familiar with this place known as the holy land of soul masters.

However, everyone knows that the students who can enter the inner court of Shrek Academy are undoubtedly geniuses among geniuses and elites among elites. It can be said that almost all those who can be listed as inner court students by Shrek Academy are monster students with rare talents in martial soul cultivation.

At the very least, they all possessed the talent to cultivate to the level of a seven-ring Soul Saint. Yet, these Soul Master geniuses were defeated one after another by Luo Chen, who was only eleven years old. Even Ma Xiaotao, who was the number one genius in the Inner Academy at the time, almost lost to him.

This made Xu Sanshi feel a little suffocated. What normal soul master could do such a thing? Even the elite students at the level of three-ring soul masters in the first year of the outer academy could not do such a thing. Compared with Luo Chen, it was like a firefly compared to the bright moon!

Even if Xu Sanshi didn't want to face it, he had to admit Luo Chen's talent. After all, even Ma Xiaotao admitted that she was not as good as Luo Chen, so there was no need to say more about his strength.

However, thinking about this made Xu Sanshi feel much better. After all, even a group of inner court students had been defeated by Luo Chen, this monster. So it wasn't surprising that he, the top defender of the outer court, had lost to him.

There is no harm without comparison.

With Luo Chen's current strength, it's hard to regard him as an ordinary outer court student anymore. Not only the inner court students, but also the academy's higher-ups and the elders who are cultivating and recuperating in the Sea God Pavilion are all amazed by Luo Chen's talent and the speed of his progress.

Perhaps before Luo Chen, nothing so outrageous had ever happened. To be able to gain a foothold in the inner academy as a freshman from the outer academy, and even become the number one genius of Shrek Academy, was something that even the Dragon God Douluo Mu En, who taught Luo Chen, could not compare to.

After all, although Mu En had cultivated to the level of a six-ring Soul Emperor at the age of fifteen, his strength was unparalleled. He won the final victory in the All-Continent Elite Soul Master Competition with an overwhelming force.

However, in terms of sheer audacity, it still falls far short of Luo Chen's. At least at Luo Chen's age, Mu En himself couldn't possess four ten-thousand-year soul rings. Having four ten-thousand-year-level soul rings would have been enough for Luo Chen to clash with a seven-ring Soul Saint.

It's safe to say that it's only a matter of time before Luo Chen surpasses all previous Dragon God Douluos. According to Luo Chen's estimation, he might only need another two years to break through to the level of a six-ring Soul Emperor, which means he will break through to the level of a six-ring Soul Emperor before the age of fourteen!

However, this is the most conservative estimate for Luo Chen. If things progress quickly, he is even confident that he can break through to the sixth ring within a year. After all, he is no longer the same person he was before. In just two months, he advanced from a second-ring Great Soul Master to a fourth-ring Soul Grandmaster.

If Luo Chen wanted to, he was confident that he could break through to the seventh-ring Soul Saint realm in two years. However, for now, Luo Chen still needed to improve his combat skills and the few unique techniques taught by Mu En.

"I really don't know how you cultivate. Bottlenecks that usually take you a long time to break through seem to be non-existent for you. Even my evil fire has no effect on you..."

"I say, you wouldn't actually be a soul beast in human form, would you? Otherwise, how could my evil fire be ineffective against you? You should know that even soul masters with pure fire attribute martial souls would only end up being burned to ashes when facing my evil fire."

"But not only can you ignore my evil fire, you can even absorb its energy to fight back against me. Isn't that a bit too much? Even if you're a genius, you can't be this monstrous!"

Seeing Luo Chen's completely unmoved expression, Ma Xiaotao couldn't help but feel a little tired. She used to think that her talent was the best in the world and that she could surpass her teacher Yan Shaozhe. But after meeting Luo Chen, she finally understood what the word "genius" really meant.

In the inner courtyard, she had seen many talented soul masters, such as Zhang Lexuan, Dai Yueheng, and even the rising star Yao Haoxuan. However, the talent gap between them was not large and had not reached the point of being insurmountable.

However, Luo Chen has truly shattered Ma Xiaotao's perception. Almost every soul master who has been affected by her evil fire during a sparring match will be defeated immediately. After all, the terrifying temperature of the evil fire is something that normal people cannot withstand.

If one were to resist rashly, the temperature of Ma Xiaotao's evil fire would be enough to turn any flesh and blood into ashes in an instant, leaving no trace behind!

This domineering and invincible evil fire seemed to wilted in front of Luo Chen, completely ineffective. This made Ma Xiaotao question her own evil fire for the first time.

It should be understood that with this evil fire at the level of a six-ring Soul Emperor, even a so-called seven-ring Soul Saint would only face certain death if they were caught in it without any resistance; there would be no other outcome.

However, Luo Chen was able to completely isolate himself from the evil fire, and even absorb its energy to fight back against himself, which was what puzzled Ma Xiaotao.

She was well aware of how strange Luo Chen's martial soul was. A scythe imbued with an unusually strong aura of death could easily break through the defensive soul skills of a five-ring Soul King level Soul Master. Even a level five defensive soul tool was rendered useless under Luo Chen's scythe.

But in the end, Luo Chen was still a weapon spirit master. No matter how terrifying or amazing his strength was, he could not withstand the incredibly powerful evil fire.

In Ma Xiaotao's mind, only so-called ultimate attribute soul masters, such as those with ultimate fire or ice martial souls, could resist her evil fire with exceptional ease.

As for Soul Masters with weapon-type martial souls, when faced with her terrifying evil fire, they usually only have the option of being burned and fleeing in all directions, let alone someone like Luo Chen who can withstand the evil fire so easily.

However, Luo Chen also provided an explanation in response to Ma Xiaotao's doubts:

"Senior, your knowledge of basic martial spirit knowledge is really lacking. Have you ever seen any records of soul beasts transforming into human form that have weapon-type martial spirits? Besides, I'm always wandering around Seagod Island. If I were really a soul beast in human form, wouldn't I have been captured by Elder Xuan and all the other elders long ago?"

"As for why I can ignore your evil fire, it's actually quite simple. My own martial soul possesses the ability to devour, and even absorb. Let alone your evil fire, even the most powerful fire would be nothing more than a puppet in my hands!"

After Luo Chen successfully broke through to the fourth-ring Soul Master level, his Martial Soul evolved once again. Not only did his Death Scythe become even sharper, but the abilities attached to his Martial Soul and the level of his Soul Rings also improved.

Now, Luo Chen's Life Absorption skill with the Death Scythe Martial Soul is no longer limited to so-called life. Any matter composed of energy can be absorbed and devoured by Luo Chen!

Therefore, the evil fire released by Ma Xiaotao's so-called Evil Fire Phoenix could only be mercilessly devoured by Luo Chen. However, devouring this fire attribute energy would not have any effect on Luo Chen himself. Without the absorption of life force, the Death Scythe Martial Soul could not evolve.

Therefore, even if Luo Chen devoured all of Ma Xiaotao's evil fire, he could only use it to counter her. Moreover, Luo Chen's devouring ability has a limit. Currently, the evil fire released by Ma Xiaotao, who is at the sixth-ring Soul Emperor level, is still within his devouring range.

Once it breaks through to the seventh-ring Soul Saint, even if Luo Chen uses all his strength, he will not be able to devour it at all. This is the upper limit that a Martial Soul can bear. If he tries to devour it, the devoured evil fire will only backfire on Luo Chen himself.

Therefore, when facing a powerful expert at the level of a seventh-ring Soul Saint, Luo Chen's devouring ability is of little use. After all, this devouring ability not only has an upper limit to absorption, but also consumes a great deal of Luo Chen's own soul power and mental power.

Trying to defeat the opponent using this devoured energy is even more difficult, since Ma Xiaotao has a strong resistance to the evil fire she releases. Apart from energy attacks, the terrifying temperature of the evil fire has no effect on her at all.

(End of this chapter)