Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 18 can certainly be used next time.

Both Wang Dong and Huang Chutian, being offensive-type Soul Masters, immediately charged towards each other after their Martial Souls were activated.

Huo Yuhao, however, completely ignored Huang Chutian, whose martial soul was the Great Ape, and instead used his Eye of Truth to observe Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo at the back of their group.

"Xiao Xiao, use the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron to support Wang Dong. Don't let Wang Dong get entangled by the martial souls of the two sisters. I'll look for an opportunity to break through."

The long blue hair of Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo fluttered and quickly blossomed, growing into blue strands over ten meters long. With the stimulation of their soul power, these strands of hair danced in the air under the control of Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo.

"That's interesting. It seems that aside from the activation of their martial souls, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo had some kind of subtle connection before their martial souls were possessed—a telepathic connection between twins?"

Telepathy, though it sounds mystical, is actually not difficult to explain in this unscientific world. It's just that twins intertwine before birth, and their spiritual energy at birth originates from the same source.

Even though they are divided into two entities, they still have an unbreakable connection, and their thoughts and ideas can be shared to a certain extent.

However, if they are not specifically nurtured or stimulated, as time goes by and they grow up, the spiritual energy that originated from the same source will gradually drift apart until they no longer have any connection.

However, because they both possessed hair-based martial souls and had cultivated a martial soul fusion skill, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's telepathic connection did not disappear with age; instead, it became even stronger.

'The composition of this spiritual power is quite interesting, but it seems to be a prerequisite for a Martial Soul Fusion Technique?'

"First, they synchronize their minds, then fuse their soul power, ultimately linking their martial souls into one?"

"Well, let's observe once the Martial Soul Fusion Skill is truly unleashed. First, let's help Wang Dong and the others deal with Huang Chutian, which will also force out the sisters' Martial Soul Fusion Skill."

Meanwhile, when Wang Dong and Huang Chutian clashed, Huang Chutian was immediately at a disadvantage.

Although the Hercules Ape Martial Soul is also a pretty good Beast Martial Soul, its inherent qualities are still much inferior to Wang Dong's.

Huang Chutian slammed his fists down together, but Wang Dong blocked the attack by placing his wings in front of him. He even used the force of the blow to retreat, suffering minimal damage.

However, the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron that followed closely behind caused Huang Chutian to suffer a silent loss. After his fight with Wang Dong, the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron had already surrounded him.

First Soul Skill: The Tremor of the Cauldron!

Three loud booms rang out, accompanied by the vibrations of sound waves. The combined power of the three cauldrons resonated, leaving Huang Chutian, who was caught in the tremor, completely disoriented.

At this moment, Huang Chutian's legs went weak, and before he could recover from the dizziness, he felt his body fall uncontrollably to the ground.

After a long while, he felt a tingling sensation in his feet. It was a hidden weapon, Huo Yuhao's hidden weapon.

After confirming Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's martial souls with the Eye of Truth, Huo Yuhao threw out several flying needles, aiming at Huang Chutian's vulnerable ankle.

With the insight of the Eye of Truth and the power of mental detection, these flying needles accurately pierced the acupoints in the tendons of Huang Chutian's feet. With the acupoints sealed, Huang Chutian's legs temporarily lost their ability to move.

Although Huang Chutian has the innate copper skin and iron bones of the Hercules Ape Martial Soul, he is not truly made of iron. It's just that Huang Chutian, a Great Soul Master, does not yet have the ability to be immune to the attacks of hidden weapons, especially flying needles that break through the surface with a single point.

Although it was just a matter of his acupoints being sealed by a hidden weapon, which was not a big deal and would not affect Huang Chutian's future cultivation, it undoubtedly caused Huang Chutian to lose a large part of his combat power in battle.

"Ah! My legs! Why can't I move my legs!" Huang Chutian said in a panic.

Seeing this, Wang Yan, who was watching from the sidelines, was also shocked, but he quickly assessed the situation on the field and did not intervene, because he could tell that Huang Chutian should not have suffered any serious injuries.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao directly said, "Admit defeat. If you admit defeat now, you'll be fine. I can't guarantee anything if the battle drags on."

For a moment, the battle on the field was deadlocked. Although Huang Chutian was brave, he could not understand what was happening to him and looked at Wang Yan below the stage with some helplessness.

Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo behind them dared not move rashly, but their hair had already formed a hair net through the combined interweaving of their first soul skills, leaving them in a dilemma of whether to advance or retreat.

Wang Yan said, "Since Huang Chutian, you have lost your fighting ability, then come down first. The battle is temporarily suspended."

The battle was temporarily suspended. After Wang Yan took Huang Chutian off the field, Huo Yuhao removed the flying needles from Huang Chutian's feet. When the needles were removed, Huang Chutian was stunned for a moment, and then he found that he could move his feet again.

Only then did he realize that he had been tricked by Huo Yuhao, but he didn't dare to gamble that Huo Yuhao's methods might cripple his legs.

"You...you..." For a moment, Huang Chutian didn't know what to say.

Wang Yan waved his hand, signaling Huo Yuhao to return to the stage, before announcing, "The battle begins again!"

At this moment, Huo Yuhao was carefully observing the martial soul combination skill between Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo.

"Having telepathy is indeed convenient. In addition, since they share the same first soul skill, their proficiency in using the combined martial soul technique is much higher than Wang Dong's own proficiency in combining his first and second soul skills."

"Of course, it's also possible that this is because it's only the first soul skill, and both are ordinary hundred-year soul skill combinations, which don't consume much soul power. In addition, the control of the main body's martial soul is easier to handle."

"However, the same combination of soul skills is similar to the stacking of soul power circuits. The effect of combining the two is very close to 1+1=2. The reason why it cannot reach that is because the two are ultimately not one."

"There will be some loss of soul power during the combination process, but if I were to construct a soul power circulation loop using the same soul skill myself, it would be worth learning from."

With his mind racing, Huo Yuhao repeatedly reminded and directed Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao's actions.

With their combined efforts, the originally dense and flawless hairnet was repeatedly breached, allowing Wang Dong to gradually get closer to Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo.

Just as Wang Dong approached Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo, she no longer concealed her strength and suddenly launched an attack. She used her first soul skill, Winged Guillotine, to clear a path, directly shattering the hair net in the way, and approached the two sisters.

Seeing this, the two sisters were shocked, because this distance was no longer suitable for them to use their second soul skill. Wang Dong was about to rush forward and be attacked by a powerful soul master. The result was self-evident.

Without hesitation, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo embraced each other. Then, their soul rings disappeared simultaneously, accompanied by a powerful surge of soul power.

A deep blue halo covered their long hair, making it appear crystal clear. At the same time, Huo Yuhao observed through his Eye of Truth that the composition of their martial soul hair was far more complex than that of their individual martial souls.

"Is this the Martial Soul Fusion Skill? Interesting. It fundamentally changes the arrangement and combination of the internal structure of the Martial Souls, but it's still ultimately a change based on the original structures of the two Martial Souls."

"In that case, could I try to construct my own martial soul and then combine and layer them? No, that doesn't seem necessary, but the process of martial soul fusion is indeed similar to what I envisioned."

"This seems to explain why Huo Yuhao in the original story was able to fuse four completely unrelated martial souls with Wang Dong."

"After all, although their spirits might be incompatible, the rune in Wang Dong's spiritual sea should be the backup plan left by Tang Buddha."

"Use the divine consciousness of a deity to suppress them. If their spirits are not in harmony, simply suppress them completely until they are in harmony, and then make adjustments."

"After all, gods can directly control both soul power and soul rings, so attacking a martial soul shouldn't be too difficult."

"Even so, perhaps our estimation of Tang Buddha's strength should be raised a bit more. At least it indirectly proves that while his methods of decomposition and reassembly aren't perfect, they are indeed quite unorthodox."

However, Wang Dong's expression was not very good at this moment, as he was facing the Martial Soul Fusion Skill head-on, because the two little white rabbits that were originally waiting to be slaughtered had transformed into hunters.

Wang Dong himself became prey captured by the spider, which suddenly engulfed him completely.

The Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Heavenly Net, continued its relentless advance after engulfing Wang Dong, heading straight for Xiao Xiao.

Xiao tried his best to control the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron to block the attack, but even with the Cauldron's Tremor and Sway repeatedly unleashed, he could not stop the arrival of the Heavenly Net.

Although the damage was somewhat reduced and the hair net became tangled, it immediately reformed. It was too late for Xiao Xiao to escape. Looking at the hair that was about to engulf her, Xiao Xiao gave a wry smile: "Is this the Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"

But in the blink of an eye, the originally highly aggressive net suddenly stopped without warning, and then fell apart and scattered all over the ground.

As the net disintegrated, the two sisters, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo, appeared lying unconscious on the ground.

Wang Dong, on the other hand, was pale-faced and struggling to stay upright, panting heavily. Although she had tried to break through the net earlier.

However, even her Winged Guillotine was powerless against the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, and in the end, her soul power was almost completely depleted.

"What happened?" Xiao Xiao asked in disbelief.

She couldn't understand why the seemingly invincible Heavenly Net had suddenly disintegrated. Was it because Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's soul power was insufficient? It didn't seem like it.

Huo Yuhao frowned, his face also turning pale. The reason the Heavenly Net was broken was naturally because he was the one who did it.

After all, Huo Yuhao in the original work was able to interrupt Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's martial soul fusion skill through a soul impact, so there's no reason why he couldn't do it.

At this moment, however, he was dissatisfied with the depletion of his mental energy.

Unlike the all-out attack in the original story where Huo Yuhao gambled everything and exhausted a large amount of his mental energy, this was different.

The mental energy Huo Yuhao consumed this time was only 30% of his current total mental energy, and this 30% was the result of Huo Yuhao's consumption after performing several soul attacks.

In reality, Huo Yuhao only used 15% of his mental energy to truly dismantle the Heavenly Net.

After all, the development of mental power by spirit attribute soul masters is simply on a different level compared to other soul masters.

Moreover, Huo Yuhao also has the spiritual power of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm constantly helping him expand and stabilize his spiritual sea, strengthening his brain.

However, Huo Yuhao was still not satisfied, because the reason he was able to interrupt Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's spirit fusion skill with just this much mental energy was mainly because he had used the Eye of Truth to perceive the weak point in the overlap of their spirit fusion skills.

By using a soul impact to pry open and disintegrate them, the fusion skill of the two martial souls became unbalanced, ultimately causing them to suffer a backlash and fall down.

However, the martial soul fusion skill, which was originally estimated to require only half a percent of mental energy to break, actually required Huo Yuhao to use soul impact three times in actual attempts.

The first time it was half a percent of mental power, the second time it was one percent, and the third time it was one and a half percent.

"Is it because my understanding of the Martial Soul Fusion Technique isn't thorough enough? Or is the composition of the Martial Soul Fusion Technique not as simple as I initially thought?"

"However, consider this a lesson learned; learn from it and apply it next time."

Wang Yan stepped forward to check on Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's condition, then breathed a sigh of relief, as the two had only fainted and were not seriously injured.

So he announced, "Wang Dong's team wins."

However, Wang Yan was thinking about the previous battle.

"That's strange. Did the Spirit Fusion Skill dissipate on its own? I initially thought Wang Dong and the others lost here because Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's Spirit Fusion Skill wasn't yet at a high enough level."

"No, if that were the case, they wouldn't be able to participate as a seeded team."

"Did something happen on the battlefield that I didn't see clearly? Neither Wang Dong nor Xiao Xiao seem to fit the description. Could it be that kid Huo Yuhao?"

Looking at Huo Yuhao following behind Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, Wang Yan's doubts deepened. "Besides hidden weapons and your original martial soul, Huo Yuhao, what else are you hiding?"

"Get some rest. The next match won't be long. Wang Dong, don't do anything. Leave it to me and Xiao Xiao."

In the rest area, Huo Yuhao did not meditate to recover his soul power like the others, since his soul power was almost completely depleted. Instead, he lay on the chair, closed his eyes, and rested to recover his mental energy.

"Okay, sure." Wang Dong nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. She had been full of confidence, but she almost failed because of Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's spirit fusion skill.

"Was it you who made the final move? Did you foresee this beforehand?" Wang Dong pondered in his mind as he meditated.

(End of this chapter)