But in that very instant, Tang San's charging body came to an abrupt halt. He raised both hands as well, without releasing Blue Silver Grass, and met Huo Wushuang's fists with his palms. His wrists trembled slightly, and each arm traced a wondrous arc.
Huo Wushuang immediately sensed something wrong. The force he was channeling seemed to strike a soft, yielding barrier. His twin punches, packed with power, found nowhere to land. What shocked him even more was that when the scales on his fists made contact with Tang San's force, no explosion was triggered. Instead, his energy was deflected to the side—as if someone had simply pulled him. Following the momentum of his own swing, Huo Wushuang's body lurched forward off-balance.
Tang San vanished. The moment Huo Wushuang lost his footing, he was gone.
The next instant, Huo Wushuang felt a tremendous force surge into his back. Before he could react, his entire body was launched away, a series of explosions erupting midair as the fire element concealed within his scales detonated.
Unfortunately, his reaction had come a beat too late. Though the explosive force was formidable, it occurred in empty air and never touched Tang San.
This was the effect produced by Ghost Shadow Phantom Trail in combination with Crane Control Dragon Catch.
Over these past days, Tang San had reflected on a great many things. He had suddenly realized that ever since gaining his soul skills, he had neglected many abilities that were already immensely powerful in their own right. Soul skills were indeed useful—direct and simple. But were his Tang Sect's ultimate techniques truly inferior to those abilities?
Understood in the terms of this world, the techniques he had cultivated from the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record were themselves skills! Purple Extreme Demon Eye was one. Ghost Shadow Phantom Trail, Crane Control Dragon Catch, Mysterious Jade Hand—weren't all of these as well? Even if he couldn't use the Hidden Weapons that the Tang Sect was most renowned for, could he not still employ these?
If you slowed the process down, you could see the full sequence of Tang San's attack. Using the force of Crane Control to neutralize his opponent's strike, Ghost Shadow Phantom Trail carried him behind Huo Wushuang, and Mysterious Jade Hand delivered the Dragon Catching push.
A trace of explosive force had splashed onto him, but how could Mysterious Jade Hand possibly be harmed by such a thing? Huo Wushuang's body, meanwhile, had already been sent hurtling away at tremendous speed.
Seven strands of Blue Silver Grass glinted with a purple-crimson sheen under the sunlight, descending from the sky like seven great rainbows.
At that moment, Huo Wushuang was completely turned away from Tang San. He could only sense the pressure bearing down from above, with no way of knowing what form the attack would take. And the timing Tang San had chosen for this Blue Silver Grass assault was precisely the awkward instant after the scales on Huo Wushuang's body had detonated—while his soul power was still coalescing and he could not yet unleash the next soul skill.
Control. This was still control, only now it controlled the details and the precision. Details determined success or failure, and in this moment, Tang San had leveraged that principle to maximize his advantage in the blink of an eye.
The Blue Silver Grass struck Huo Wushuang's back without any suspense. Seven strands, all targeting the same spot. The very first blow drove him out of the air and slammed him into the ground. From the second strike onward, an unbearable agony surged through his entire body, accompanied by numbness and spasms. All he could do was flip over and spring upward. But his back was already a mass of torn, bleeding flesh.
Do not forget—the Blue Silver Grass carried lethal poison. The venom of the Man-Faced Demon Spider, and the thorns of Ghost Vine. Stripped of his scale armor's protection, Huo Wushuang was now being invaded by toxins on all fronts. The searing pain also severely hampered the gathering of his soul power and his mental focus.
Tang San's expression remained as calm as ever. But he would not give his opponent a chance to catch his breath. The instant Huo Wushuang's body bounced up, preparing to face Tang San, his foot was suddenly seized. Without any warning whatsoever, a single ordinary strand of Blue Silver Grass coiled around his ankle, robbing him of his balance once again.
In order to defend and counterattack, nearly all of the soul power Huo Wushuang had just gathered was concentrated in his upper body. To hit the ground again and use explosive force to break free from the entanglement at his ankle would take time.
But his entire body had already been flung into the air by that strand of Blue Silver Grass.
This time, Huo Wushuang's body was hurled a considerable distance away. On the ground below, Tang San advanced as if phasing through space. Twelve strands of Blue Silver Grass materialized as his right arm swept forward, again targeting the same spot.
Explosions rang out in near-continuous succession, each detonation erupting in midair. This time, Huo Wushuang's body had defensive cover. Amid the chain of blasts, all twelve strands of Blue Silver Grass shattered one after another. Yet the bone-piercing agony of the strikes and the shockwaves from his own fire element's explosions still left Huo Wushuang writhing in torment. He had been holding back a mouthful of reversed blood, and it finally sprayed from his mouth in midair.
At last he blocked the final strand. Huo Wushuang poured every ounce of his remaining strength into controlling his body so that his feet touched the ground, sparing himself further humiliation. At the same time, he frantically unleashed a barrage of attacks into empty air, terrified that those terrifyingly serpentine Blue Silver Grass strands might coil around him once more.
"You've lost." No further attack from Tang San came. Only his calm voice drifted over.
Only then did Huo Wushuang come back to his senses. When he focused his gaze, his face drained of color. He realized that he had already left the arena—landing precisely one meter beyond its edge.
Only now did he understand. When Tang San had flung him upward and then lashed him with twelve strands of Blue Silver Grass, the goal had never been to inflict damage. It was to use the combined force of the strikes and his own explosive recoil to push him out of the ring.
Out of the arena meant defeat, no matter the circumstances.