Chapter 53

Zhu Lu began frantically defending as she was slowly pushed back. However suddenly, Wang Dong froze in his tracks.

During this time, as Yuhao was focused on Dai Huabin, Cui Yajie had managed to move around the arena, close to Zhu Lu and position herself in the direct line of sight to Wang Dong. In that instant, just as Wang Dong began gaining his advantage, he unintentionally glimpsed into her eyes and became charmed. With him charmed, before Yuhao was even aware of it, Zhu Lu had used her Hell Hundred Claws skill and attacked Wang Dong one hundred times in quick succession.

With this attack, on top of the accumulated injuries gained during the rest of the battle, Wang Dong was heavily injured. This was by far the largest amount of injuries either of the Wang Dong and Yuhao duo had received during the freshman assessment. With Wang Dong's complete trust in Yuhao, especially considering the moderate injuries Zhu Lu has, he instantly decided to use a final attack while he can.

He forcefully surged his spiritual energy in his mind, breaking free from his charmed state and used a large portion of his spirit power to convert it into speed. With this speed, he almost instantly appeared in between Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie before using his remaining spirit power reserves to activate his second skill ring. When he released this skill, the light blasts shot out from his body, in various directions impacting both Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie.

Cui Yajie, with her not having a full assault focus, was unable to dodge any of the light blasts. Due to this, she was hit a few times before the referee used his spirit power to forcefully pull her out of the arena to prevent further injury. In Zhu Lu's case, she was hit twice, escalating her injuries, however, not hurting her enough to disqualify her from the battle. When the referee interfered, a golden glow due to his spirit power spread out, pulling Cui Yajie and Wang Dong from the arena, while also inadvertently temporarily hiding Zhu Lu from Yuhao's vision.

Twenty metres away, where Yuhao and Dai Huabin were fighting, Yuhao had seen the look Wang Dong shot him before he used his last skill. He instantly knew that Wang Dong understood his injuries and would only be a hindrance if he wanted Yuhao to protect him for the rest of the match. Understanding this, Yuhao focused fully back on Dai Huabin, with the belief that the referee would be pulling Zhu Lu out at the same time.

With Yuhao having his back to Dai Huabin when they were fighting, he wasn't able to see that Zhu Lu was not pulled out of the match. However, Dai Huabin himself, could. This was why Yuhao found it strange when in their next clash, Huabin dodged him and ran full speed past him. He had rolled forward, believing his opponent was going for a grapple from behind or a punch to the ribs or back, so by the time he had spun around, Dai Huabin had already closed the distance and was holding Zhu Lu in his arms. There two spirits and their energies were blending.

'Are they actually going to do a Spirit Fusion?!' Yuhao thought.

Instantly after that thought, Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu's bodies both vanished, leaving behind an enormous Hell White Tiger in their place. The Hell White Tiger's body was transparent, it had red, hell-like flames floating up off of it, white fur with black stripes and double purple pupils.

Knowing that to break a spirit fusion, you either have to take a supercharged attack or launch your own attack to disrupt the flow of energy between the two spirit masters, Yuhao decided to go with the latter. Therefore, for the first time in the public's eye, he released his 'second' martial spirit, FrostFire. As he did, all of the spectators immediately stood up out of their seats in incomprehensible shock. Huo Yuhao not only had an unparalleled Steel Dragon Spirit, but a second unknown before spirit as well.

As the Hell White Tiger looked at him and roared proudly, Yuhao began running towards it as he used his one and only 'purple' spirit ring on his FrostFire spirit to increase his strength by 30% and the sharpness of the entire scythe blade by almost double. As he arrived within striking distance, the Hell White Tiger arrogantly raised its right claw, and slowly swatted down. Yuhao in turn, swung his FrostFire spirit, using his entire strength and body, back up at the descending claw.

'THOOM,' echoed across the arena as an insane amount of air pressure exploded across the entire arena at the massive clash of forces. Yuhao, in the clash, was sent flying back ten metres. Likewise, the Hell White Tiger was also forced back at least five metres. It roared defiantly before disappearing in a flash, leaving Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu in its place.

With her previous injuries and the insane consumption of spirit power to release a spirit fusion, Zhu Lu was completely knocked out from both energy and physical exhaustion. Dai Huabin himself, as he was the largest contributor of energy in the fusion, was not feeling much better. His energy reserves were below twenty per cent and he had several massive gashes on his right hand, exactly where Yuhao swung his scythe at the Hell White Tiger. Zhu Lu was instantly removed from the arena, however seeing as Huabin had spirit power remaining and had managed to stand up on his feet, the referee didn't forcefully remove him in the same manner.

Yuhao pushed himself up and looked back towards where the clash had occurred. When the golden aura faded, he couldn't help but slightly grin seeing Dai Huabin remaining in the arena. While it did feel good to destroy their spirit fusion solo, there was much more to do. When Huabin was on his feet, he stared intensely at Yuhao. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was noticeably shaking from his anger. Not only was he losing, but to him, Yuhao had disgraced his martial spirit and his ancestors with the same spirit by destroying the spirit fusion.

Yuhao chuckled internally at the anger which will only contribute to his loss. He knew that he would only get a few solid hits in before Huabin was forcefully removed, so he attacked wisely. He finally used his portal skill to instantly close the distance between them and swung the hammer side of his FrostFire tool spirit out at his opponent's legs.

With his legs being swept up from under him, he had no defence against the hammer that ran parallel to the ground and hit him directly between his legs and into his groin. At this contact, Huabin's bloodshot eyes bulged out in pain followed by a painful groan and blood coming out of his mouth simultaneously.

With Yuhao feeling spirit power beginning to be released by the referee behind him, he made one final attack, swinging his hammer down into the still mid-air body of Huabin. Despite it looking like he aimed at his chest, Yuhao made direct contact with the front of Huabin's skull, sending him crashing down into the arena floor. He cracked some of the hardened, dry dirt at the extremely intense landing and spat even more blood out.

Not even a second later he was removed from the arena by the referee, leaving Huo Yuhao standing in the middle of the assessment arena by himself. He nonchalantly twirled the FrostFire spirit in his hands before letting it disappear away.

Du Weilun up on the spectators' podium suddenly spoke up, breaking all of the spectators out of their shock.

"HAHA, what a great finish!" he said boisterously. "It is with great pleasure, I can announce that the final champions of the freshman assessment's knock-out tournament are Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong from Class One!"