Douluo: The Op-Op Fruit, skilled at researching them

Chapter 42: The Thousand-Year Kill

Hearing Luo's question, the referee steeled himself and walked to his side, whispering, "I forgot to tell you, Mr. Yixiao, that the Soul Fight you agreed to was a 'death match.' But since you agreed to Mr. Huyan's request for a Soul Fight and even took 10,000 gold soul coins from our Great Soul Arena..."

The referee didn't finish his sentence, but Luo understood what he was trying to say.

You've already accepted their 100,000-year-old whale glue and 10,000 gold soul coins, so there's no going back now. You can only continue this soul-fighting competition.

Otherwise...

Do you really think the Soto City Grand Arena is a charity? Do you think you can earn 10,000 gold soul coins so easily?

At this point, Luo realized that he had been tricked by the Soto City Great Soul Arena and Hu Yanping, and he also understood why Hu Yanping had so readily handed over the 100,000-year-old whale glue to him!

After all, given his current identity as "Yi Xiao," he has no relatives in Soto City, and even if he dies on the arena, no one will collect his body.

No matter how much he has, in the end it will all return to the Soto City Great Soul Arena and Hu Yanping's hands.

"What a brilliant scheme! No wonder it's a Grand Soul Arena jointly organized by the seven major Martial Soul Sects! It seems the Elephant Armor Sect is one of the shareholders behind the Soto City Grand Soul Arena, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to collude so easily!"

Luo's gaze sharpened slightly, and he thought to himself with resentment, "Since you've all joined forces to plot against me, I certainly won't let you get away with this!"

Then, Luo took a deep breath, placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword, steadied himself in a horse stance, and silently summoned two spirit rings, Huang and Huang.

The two skills of the Ope Ope no Mi – "Ligation Surgery" and "Erectile Surgery" – allow him to freely adjust the color of his spirit rings, but he cannot exceed the maximum age limit of that spirit ring.

For the past month, the spirit rings that Luo has displayed at the Soto City Grand Arena have been yellow, without showing any new or unusual spirit rings of higher age.

Seeing this, the referee secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that "Yi Xiao" would back out on the spot and affect this unprecedented spirit battle competition!

As the saying goes, "Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back."

As soon as the Soul Battle match started, the Soto City Grand Soul Arena saw a huge turnover of nearly 300,000 to 400,000 gold soul coins. They certainly weren't willing to let it go to waste so easily!

Seeing Luo's "sensible" behavior, the referee secretly gave him a thumbs up and immediately announced the start of the match!

"A smile, a staff-sword martial soul, a level 27 powerful attack-type weapon martial soul Grand Soul Master!"

"Hu Yanping, Martial Soul Diamond Mammoth, Level 32 Defensive Beast Martial Soul Soul Master!"

As the two introduced themselves, the atmosphere at the scene was instantly ignited, and the cheers from the audience rose and fell like thunder, deafeningly loud.

Amidst the deafening cheers, a heavy, chilling atmosphere permeated the air.

"Kill him, Huyanping! Show him your strength, let this Yixiao see what true power is!"

The audience cheered and shouted, creating wave after wave of applause that brought the atmosphere on the stage to a climax.

"We want to see rivers of blood! Huyan Ping of the Elephant Armor Sect! Give that Yi Xiao a sound thrashing, let him know the consequences of challenging you!"

"Yes, that's right! You absolutely mustn't let us down, Huyanping! We all bet on you to win; if you lose, our money will be wasted!"

"You absolutely must win, Huyan Ping of the Elephant Armor Sect! I've staked five thousand gold soul coins on you; that's my entire fortune! If you lose, I'll have nothing left!"

Other viewers, filled with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation, were gambling addicts who had placed heavy bets on Hu Yanping.

…………

Looking around, the audience was almost unanimously in support of Hu Yanping. Even the few people who supported Luo were drowned out by the huge voices supporting Hu Yanping!

After all, in the eyes of the audience, between Yi Xiao, a powerful commoner who was only a Great Soul Master, and Hu Yanping, who came from the Elephant Armor Sect and was also a Soul Venerable, even a fool would bet on Hu Yanping, who was a Soul Venerable, to win!

A level 32 Soul Master fighting a level 27 Great Soul Master is a whole major realm higher. Isn't that something anyone could win with their hands?

If Hu Yanping can't even beat Yi Xiao, he might as well go home and raise pigs!

Although the atmosphere at the scene was tense and exciting, with most of the audience members excited and shouting for Hu Yanping to freeze his hands and kill Luo immediately, Luo seemed to be in another world and remained completely unmoved.

His face appeared increasingly serene and peaceful. He simply closed his eyes and stood there quietly, exuding a Zen-like tranquility, as if the noise of the outside world had nothing to do with him.

"Pretentious!"

Hu Yanping coldly uttered these words from the side, his words filled with disdain and anger.

Unable to tolerate Luo's nonchalant attitude any longer, he brandished his fist, which was as big as a sandbag, and charged toward Luo with great speed, attempting to use his size advantage to kill Luo with a single punch.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

As Hu Yanping ran, a series of loud footsteps echoed on the arena.

This enormous diamond elephant-man, nearly four meters tall, moved with the force of an earthquake with every step, making the entire arena seem to tremble.

At the same time, Hu Yanping's first spirit ring began to glow, clearly indicating that he had used a spirit skill!

However, despite Hu Yanping's enormous size and incredible strength, his speed was relatively slow.

When he finally reached Luo, Luo suddenly opened his narrow, starry eyes.

Those eyes were as deep as obsidian, as if concealing a lion poised to pounce, exuding a dangerous aura.

At that very moment, Luo drew his sword!

His movements were swift and decisive, almost imperceptible to others.

By the time everyone reacted, he had already slashed Hu Yanping in the chest with his knife.

The powerful strike caused Hu Yanping's expression to change drastically, and the audience below the stage erupted in uproar.

"It's here! Issho's signature move, 'Draw Sword Slash'!"

"Is that kid from the Elephant Armor Sect alright? That sword-drawing slash was incredibly powerful. I wonder if he can withstand it? Damn it, he absolutely can't lose! I've placed a lot of bets on him!"

"It's alright, it's alright, everyone, don't worry. That kid is from the Elephant Armor Sect. Have you all forgotten that the Elephant Armor Sect is best at defense? He can definitely withstand Yi Xiao's sword-drawing slash!"

"That's good! That's good! I was really afraid that my gold soul coins would be wasted! The people of the Elephant Armor Sect truly live up to their reputation; their defensive capabilities are no joke!"

…………

"Your sword-drawing slash is indeed worthy of its reputation. Its speed is so fast that even I, a dignified Soul Master, could not react in time!"

"However, it's a pity... a pity that you've encountered me today—Huyan Ping of the Elephant Armor Sect, an opponent you cannot easily defeat!"

Hu Yanping looked down at Luo with an almost condescending gaze, a ferocious yet triumphant smile on his elephant-like face.

Upon seeing this, Luo couldn't help but show a hint of surprise in his eyes.

He never expected that his invincible sword-drawing strike would fail for the first time today.

So he took a few steps back, his gaze fixed on Hu Yanping, carefully examining the attack he had just received.

His staff-blade had indeed struck Huyan Ping's chest, but the sharp blade only tore through Huyan Ping's clothes, causing no harm to his body whatsoever!

"Let me tell you the truth, kid!" Hu Yanping tilted his head, his tone carrying a hint of disdain and smugness.

"My first soul skill is called 'Chest and Abdomen Enhancement.' As the name suggests, this soul skill greatly enhances the defensive capabilities of my chest and abdomen. Your sword draw slash, no matter how sharp or fast, cannot cause any substantial damage to my body!"

As he spoke, Hu Yanping reached out a hand and forcefully ripped off his upper body clothing, revealing his muscular, muscular physique.

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At this moment, his body was covered with a layer of crystal-clear coating that resembled glass, a characteristic of the Diamond Mammoth Martial Soul after possession!

Seeing this, Luo frowned, thinking to himself, "This is troublesome! This guy's defense is too strong, and I can only use this staff-sword, so I can't reveal Enma! But without using Enma, I can't break through his defense with just this staff-sword!"

To conceal his true identity, Luo spent a thousand gold soul coins to buy this staff-sword.

When he usually fights with his spirit, he uses his spirit power to envelop the blade of his staff, making others think that this is his martial spirit, which he just habitually summons and wears.

Although this staff-sword is indeed very well-made and can be described as being able to cut iron like mud and sever hair with a breath, it is ultimately no match for his Yama.

"If it were Yama, who had advanced to the top-tier martial soul level, attacking him, she would definitely disembowel him with ease, right?"

Luo's gaze was fixed on Hu Yanping, while he slowly sheathed his sword, preparing for his next strike.

The so-called "drawing sword slash" is actually just a set of three basic axe moves, simply using the momentum generated at the moment of drawing the sword to enhance the power of the slash.

Once you dodge the first strike of the draw sword slash, the subsequent moves are no longer a threat, unless you sheathe your sword again and perform the draw sword slash once more.

Clearly, this Hu Yanping, or rather the Soto City Great Soul Arena, had secretly and meticulously studied his Soul Fighting techniques, which is why he sent this Elephant Armor Sect member to fight him in a Soul Fighting contest, with the aim of restraining the power of his Draw Sword Slash!

In past Soul Battles, if any Soul Master failed to dodge his sword-drawing slash in time, they would almost always end in defeat; very few could defend against his attack.

Even if someone can defend against his first strike, almost no one can withstand his power; they will be blasted off the stage by his brute force.

Judging from Hu Yanping's massive size of nearly four meters, it was clear that Luo wouldn't be able to easily use force to shake his body.

For a moment, Luo was caught in a dilemma.

Just as he was pondering a countermeasure, Hu Yanping suddenly made his move, swinging his fists and slamming them hard at Luo's position.

However, given the exaggerated speed amplified by Luo's first soul skill "Extreme Overload", how could his fist possibly hit Luo?

Then, in the moment when Hu Yanping was stunned by his punch, Luo seized the opportunity to unleash two more sword slashes. This time, Luo struck his back and calf!

However, after Hu Yanping activated his second and third soul skills to further enhance his defense, his sword-drawing slash once again failed.

"Give up, kid! You can't break through my defenses! You might as well just let me kill you and save everyone's time!"

Hu Yanping was extremely annoyed by Luo's roaming attacks, so he began to try to break through Luo's psychological defenses with trash talk, hoping to make him "disarm and surrender with courtesy" so that he could still be buried intact.

However, Luo was a legendary figure known as the "Roaring Heavenly Venerable of Jinling" in his previous life, so how could he possibly be broken by Hu Yanping's mere trash talk?

After dodging Hu Yanping's punch once again, Luo flashed behind him and stood deep in thought.

Suddenly, he remembered something, his eyes lit up, and a wicked smile, resembling that of a crooked-mouthed Shiba Inu, curled up at the corner of his mouth.

The next second, Luo used his Soul Bone Skill "Gravity Blade - Earth Wave" for the first time, silently sending gravity into the area below the arena.

Although he needs to possess Yama to activate his two second soul skills, soul bone skills do not have this restriction and can be used freely anytime, anywhere.

At this moment, the ground of the arena suddenly began to shake violently. The shaking was so strong that it even caused the entire Soto City Great Soul Arena to tremble slightly, as if an irresistible force was raging underground.

This sudden turn of events plunged the audience into extreme fear.

They began to panic, their faces showing expressions of shock. Some even shouted loudly, and even many of the staff present looked alarmed!

"What's going on? What's going on? Why is there an earthquake all of a sudden? Is something terrible about to happen?"

"Shut your mouth! How could an earthquake possibly happen?! Nothing like this has ever happened in Soto City before. There must be some mistake!"

As for Hu Yanping, who was Luo's main focus, he felt the strongest tremors under his feet, and the ground undulated the most!

"How could there be a sudden earthquake?!" Hu Yanping couldn't help but shout, preparing to pounce on Luo who was standing to the side.

However, his size was simply too large. As we all know, the taller a person is, the less stable their center of gravity is, and the easier it is for them to fall.

Therefore, before Hu Yanping could pounce on Luo, he himself was unable to withstand the fall and fell backward!

Just then, Luo made a move.

He suddenly flashed behind Hu Yanping, placed the staff-sword in his hand upright on the ground, and after Hu Yanping sat down on the staff-sword, he instantly left that position!

One-Sword Style - Thousand Years of Death!!

(End of this chapter)