Jiang Zhanheng's expression remained unchanged, but he was feeling quite frustrated. He had undoubtedly been forced onto the back foot, and even his clothes had been torn. Furthermore, he had definitely expended far more soul power than Xie Xie during that sequence of clashes, so he had fallen to a severe disadvantage.

Since when did it become so difficult for Titled Douluos to face Soul Douluos? At the same time, neither his spiritual power nor his soul skills could detect his opponent's exact location, and that was extremely troublesome.

Should he release his battle armor to enhance his offensive, defensive, and sensory capabilities? Under the protection of his battle armor, it would be far more difficult for his opponent to break through his defenses.

However, he was the ninth Battle God of the Battle God Hall, while his opponent was only a Soul Douluo; he didn't want to be the one to release his battle armor first. There were so many of his colleagues and even the vice-hall master present; he would be embarrassing himself if he were to release his battle armor first.

In a battle between Soul Masters, the one who released their battle armor first was essentially making a concession of inferiority, and that was unacceptable to Jiang Zhanheng.

All of a sudden, the light around him abruptly dimmed slightly. Jiang Zhanheng hurriedly focused his attention and thrust both of his spears forward. Lightningflames erupted in all directions around him, and he was confident that regardless of where Xie Xie was, he would be forced to appear in the face of this attack.

Unleashing such an attack would expend a lot of his power, but as a Titled Douluo, he could afford to do this against an opponent of an inferior cultivation rank.

Right at this moment, Jiang Zhanheng was struck by the feeling that his lightningflames were being stirred up, and a series of extremely sharp auras swept toward him from all directions like a flurry of sharp blades.

He hurriedly increased the output of his lightningflames, but it was still being torn to shreds.

Jiang Zhanheng didn't dare to take any chances, and he immediately released his sixth soul skill, upon which a ball of lightningflames instantly erupted out of his body like a blooming flower.

This was his sixth soul skill, Lightningflame Blossom, another wide-range attack!

Jiang Zhanheng stood within the blooming flower of lightningflames, looking as if he were a godly figure.

However, right at this moment, he was suddenly struck by a sense of disorientation, following which a streak of light reached him in a flash.

Even his almighty Lightningflame Blossom was completely unable to stop the streak of light.

Jiang Zhanheng was naturally very alarmed by this, and he instinctively tried to release his battle armor in this dire situation.

However, a burst of pain suddenly erupted within his body. The sharp aura that had previously infiltrated his body had been cleared out by his lightningflames, but it had suddenly reappeared, throwing him off and preventing him from releasing his battle armor.

Thus, the streak of light instantly branded itself onto his head, and his mind immediately congealed.

He could still sense everything happening around him, but he was completely immobilized, and even the lightningflames around him had dissipated.

An illusionary figure then instantly materialized before him; it was none other than Xie Xie. Xie Xie was holding a pair of daggers, which he placed against Jiang Zhanheng's neck.

At this moment, his right arm and torso was entirely encased in battle armor. This wasn't a full suit of battle armor, and it had an illusionary appearance, making it impossible for one to see the armor clearly, but it definitely existed.

"That's four-word battle armor!" Guan Yue exclaimed.

The other Battle Gods couldn't identify this, but as a Limit Douluo and four-word battle armor master himself, Guan Yue was naturally able to.

Suits of four-word battle armor were essentially intelligent life forms, and they all had unique auras. In critical situations, they could even battle in the place of the wearer.

Furthermore, pieces of four-word battle armor would resonate with one another, and that was what had alerted Guan Yue.

"Thank you for the battle!" Xie Xie withdrew his daggers, and only then did Jiang Zhanheng recover from his paralysis.

At this moment, Jiang Zhanheng realized that he had made a fatal and unforgivable mistake. He had refrained from releasing his battle armor as he wanted to save face, but his opponent was constantly lurking in the shadows, and he didn't even know if Xie Xie had released his battle armor or not!

That streak of light that had ended the battle seemed to be very ordinary, but that was far from the case. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to easily pierce through his sixth soul skill and leave him completely powerless.

The protective barrier in the Battle God Hall wasn't soundproof, so he had heard Guan Yue as well.

Xie Xie's suit of battle armor was incomplete, but it was four-word battle armor! With the enhancements provided by those pieces of four-word battle armor, Xie Xie had already bridged the gap between their cultivation ranks.

Regardless of how reluctant Jiang Zhanheng was to accept defeat, he had no choice but to do so. Furthermore, this was a crushing and humiliating defeat.

What was that streak of light? It was Xie Xie's eighth soul skill, which he had barely ever displayed even in front of his friends. The soul skill's name was Phasing Spike, and it was capable of phasing through space and time, making it virtually impossible to ward off.

If Jiang Zhanheng had donned his suit of three-word battle armor, he would've been able to nullify a part of the soul skill's power, but Xie Xie had correctly predicted that he would be too proud to release his battle armor. In contrast, Xie Xie had no such qualms, and he had unleashed his most powerful attack, while Jiang Zhanheng was still testing out Xie Xie's abilities.

This wasn't his only eighth soul skill, but it was his most powerful control soul skill. Furthermore, it was imbued with immense destructive power as well. If he hadn't withdrawn the second stage of that attack, Jiang Zhanheng's mind would've been directly impacted, and that was very likely to cause permanent injury.

Even if Jiang Zhanheng had been prepared and donned his suit of battle armor, Xie Xie's Phasing Spike, which was enhanced by his pieces of four-word battle armor, would still most likely have been too much for Jiang Zhanheng to withstand.

All of the Battle Gods had fallen completely silent, as had Tang Wulin and everyone else.

Even they were stunned by how quickly Xie Xie had won, let alone their opponents.

As Xie Xie made his way back to the group, Tang Wulin suddenly recalled something that Yali had said not long ago. At the time, she had told Tang Wulin that Xie Xie had improved significantly of late, and that if he were to keep this up, there was a very good chance he would become the number one agility attack system Soul Master on the continent.

Tang Wulin had thought that Yali was trying to encourage Xie Xie, but it seemed that her words weren't all that far-fetched.

Xie Xie wasn't even a Titled Douluo yet, but he could already defeat the ninth Battle God. Even more importantly, Tang Wulin discovered that Xie Xie was currently different from his past self.

In his past battles, there were still some discernible patterns, but now, he was completely unpredictable, and his attacks were ridiculously diverse, to the point that even Tang Wulin couldn't predict them anymore.

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