Chapter 96: Spar

In the heart of a dense, eerie swamp lies a villa shrouded in mist, its existence known only to a certain small group.

The mist, thick and swirling, seems to have a life of its own, weaving between gnarled cypress trees and murky waters like ghostly tendrils. Many dangerous traps guard the path to the villa, deterring unwanted visitors and adding to its mystique.

All was quiet in this mysterious swamp as the sun cast an eerie glow through the mist, illuminating the twisted branches and murky waters below. The only sounds were the occasional croak of a frog and the distant hoot of an owl.

The villa itself stood as a silent sentinel amidst the wilderness, its dark silhouette barely visible through the fog.

"HAAAAAA!"

But that silence was soon broken by a loud female yell.

"Get bent!" Ma Xiaotao, dressed in a skin-tight sports outfit that clung to her lithe frame and voluptuous assets, lashed out a kick at Huo Yuhao who easily blocked it with his left arm and causing the ground under his feet to shatter with cracks from the force of the impact.

Huo Yuhao, with his black and white hair cascading down his back and his piercing blue eyes, veins bulging on his forehead, calmly countered Ma Xiaotao's attack with a swift strike of his own, aiming for her side and catching her off guard.

Ma Xiaotao was kicked away and Huo Yuhao followed up with a series of rapid strikes of fists, each one aimed with deadly accuracy at her vital spots; kidney, eyes, etc. But Ma Xiaotao's body poofed and a wooden log fell in place of her, revealing the substitution jutsu she used.

"Now!" Ma Xiaotao exclaimed, sprinting to his side with her right arm cocked back. She would've opted to use her flames but it was no use against Huo Yuhao, instead she relied on her Soul Emperor strength.

Huo Yuhao turned his head towards her but then he felt a familiar presence appear on his other side, behind and above him. He looked around and wasn't surprised to find Tang Ya, Bei Bei and Ye Guyi joining the fray. Each of them exuded a unique aura, their martial souls and soul rings in full display as they were about to land their attacks on him.

"Sorry, junior brother." Bei Bei said, his draconion blue arm emanating with intense electricity and his third and fourth soul rings, both more than a thousand years old, shone with brilliance. Thunder rumbled as a gigantic dragon head appeared over his arm, a suction force enveloped Huo Yuhao. A grin on his handsome face. "But it's our victory."

"Don't underestimate Yuhao! Attack with the intention to kill!" Tang Ya yelled, multiple thorny vines sprouted out of the ground and quickly bounded his limbs, she especially tightly wrapped around his wrists to keep him from using any jutsus.

"...Hm." Ye Guyi reluctantly nodded with gritted teeth, her eyes slightly blank as her angel wings flapped and holy light element burst out from her body. With a swift motion, she summoned a barrage of holy light arrows and aimed them at Huo Yuhao. "HAA!"

Huo Yuhao, trapped by Bei Bei's thunderous assault and entangled by Tang Ya's vines, remained steadfast against such deadly attacks.

He closed his eyes, the veins on his forehead bulged further, and he let out a breath.

"Gate of Healing, Open!"

As Huo Yuhao uttered those words, a surge of energy rippled through his body, re-energizing his body and increasing his physical strength. With blood dripping from his mouth, he forcibly pushed through the constraints of the thunder and vines with pure physical strength.

With lightning-fast reflexes, Huo Yuhao evaded Tang Ya's thorny vines and Ye Guyi's holy light arrows. The ground beneath him trembled as blue lightning, thorny vines and holy light bursts clashed and exploded, creating a chaotic display of elemental energy as they hit his body and causing him to be severely injured; blood dripping from his wounds and electricity crackling around him.

But despite the onslaught, Huo Yuhao remained undeterred, his eyes burning with determination.

With a swift motion, he attacked the closest one to him, Bei Bei. Pulling back his left arm, Huo Yuhao sent a powerful punch at him that crashed into Bei Bei's chest, sending him flying backward with a grunt of pain and spat out a mouthful of blood. But before Huo Yuhao could capitalize on his attack, Ma Xiaotao was already upon him, veins bulging around her arms as she punched with all her physical strength.

With a quick sidestep, Huo Yuhao narrowly avoided Ma Xiaotao's domineering assault, feeling the intense force of her punch as he dodged; a split appeared across his face cheek. He then spun around, unleashing a flurry of kicks aimed at Ma Xiaotao's midsection, each strike infused with his soul power.

Ma Xiaotao countered with her own swift strikes, her eyes turned a brighter crimson color as flames burst forth from her fists, enhancing the power of her attacks. Flames licking at Huo Yuhao's heels as they danced around each other in a deadly dance of combat.

Despite her ferocity, Huo Yuhao remained focused, his movements fluid and precise as he effortlessly took on her attacks and launched his own in return.

Punch match punch, Huo Yuhao's fists started bleeding from the force of his strikes against Ma Xiaotao's fiery onslaught. Each blow exchanged between them resonated with power, sending shockwaves rippling through the air. Even with opening the second gate, his physical strength still couldn't match up against a Soul Emperor, exhaustion was catching up to him.

The Gate of Healing, the second of the Eight Gates. A forbidden technique in the taijutsu category for pushing the body's physical capabilities beyond their limits, to the point of death. The Eight Gates exist in a person's body in order to limit the flow of energy within an individual's body.

Normally, individuals can use no more than 20% of their body's full potential, the brain's way of protecting the individual from harming their body through overexertion. With training, individuals can learn to remove these limiters, referred to as "opening" the gates. With each opened gate, individuals are given access to more and more of their body's chakra, thus increasing their physical strength and speed.

During these two months, Huo Yuhao had focused on cultivating both his spiritual power and body. For more than a month after returning to the villa, he underwent a closed-door cultivation in order to refine his spiritual power. And although with Skydream's powers sealed in his body would passively refined and strengthen his spiritual power, it was a slow process and he wouldn't understand how to use more of his spiritual power during it.

Initially he was afraid of refining his spiritual power would cause unforeseen consequences like his body could likely exploding, but it all changed when he got the Eight Gates, specifically the training exercises recorded to strengthen a person's body in order to use the Eight Gates.

He managed to open the first gate, Gate of Opening, in on the first day as he was pretty strong already. Opening this gate removes the user's mental inhibitions(spiritual power) and increase their physical strength.

But this technique could only temporarily increase his abilities as long as he could withstand the strain it placed on his body. The Eight Gates was a double-edged sword, granting him immense power but also threatening to push him to the brink of death if he overextended himself. He could try opening another one but he had barely practiced using the third gate, Gate of Life.

This was supposed to be a simple spar he suggested after two months of training by themselves to learn the shinobi way, to be members of the Akatsuki. This was also to increase their combat experience and their coordination with each other.

Huo Yuhao was the group's youngest person, it should be fine for him to tap out now.

But he refused to give in. He was their leader, the boss of the Akatsuki!

How could he earn their full respect and loyalty if he doesn't show them just how capable he is? Especially Ma Xiaotao and Bei Bei, while Tang Ya has given her full support out of her eternal gratitude towards him and Ye Guyi was... persuaded in the end by Huo Yuhao's sincerity and has thus given her loyalty towards him.

Totally not because he had threatened her with torture if she didn't follow his orders, nope!

Anyways, both Ma Xiaotao and Bei Bei might have some measure of respect towards him, but considering he was younger than them by a few years, they still needed convincing of his leadership abilities.

And what better way than showcasing his strength and talent? In the Soul Master world, respect is always given to the strong and talented.

As Huo Yuhao continued to fight, he could feel the toll it was taking on his body, the strain and fatigue beginning to weigh heavily on him.

'Man, she's really pent-up.' He thought as he dodged her diagonal kick, "Front Lotus!" he quickly retaliated with an upward kick to her chin, sending her high into the air and momentarily dazed. He didn't hesitate to appear behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, spun and let gravity do its thing; sending Ma Xiaotao crashing into the grassy ground with a resounding crash, causing a small pit.

Meanwhile, Bei Bei, Tang Ya and Ye Guyi regrouped, their expressions determined as they prepared to rejoin the fray. Sharing a look with each other, they nodded.

"You know, I initially feel really bad on ganging up junior brother like this." Bei Bei said as he checked Tang Ya for injuries. "Now I feel slightly not, but still."

"Don't be. He's the one who suggested this whole spar to begin with." Ye Guyi replied, grumbling as she began gathering up the holy light energy in her body.

"I hate to admit it as well, Bei Bei. But I've been waiting to do this to Yuhao for a while now. Teaches him to not be so sadistic when he first trained me..." Tang Ya muttered as she prepared to use her soul skill, Bind, once more. "Besides, we're holding back from using any killing moves. It's just a spar after all."

Bei Bei's lips twitched, "Says you, I hit him with one of my strongest skills and he could still move like normal. Except being injured but, you know what I'm saying... It's truly amazing just how powerful having an ultimate attribute does to one's body."

"Great immunity to most elements, especially to fire. Unless it's an also an ultimate attribute, his body would receive minimal damage from elemental attacks."

They let out a shared sigh and sprinted towards the crater, and were just at the edge of the crater when a shadow appeared before them.

They barely managed to get a glimpse of his face to realize it was Huo Yuhao before they were were quickly struck in their stomach with incredible force that it sent them flying backward, crashing into the ground with a loud thud. The impact knocked the wind out of them, leaving them gasping for air as they struggled to recover.

Huo Yuhao stood at the edge of the crater, his breathing ragged and his body battered from the intense battle. Despite his exhaustion, a fierce grin spread across his lips as he looked at them.

"...Give up?" He asked.

There was a moment of silence.

"Yes..."

"Good. You guys better go and freshen up, I've got something important to tell you at lunch." Huo Yuhao turned and headed towards the villa.

He looked down at his fist and clenched it, his face darken.

'So you couldn't hold it any longer, huh, half-brother? Alright, it's about time I go back to the academy.'

.....

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