Chapter 50: The Brutally Slaughtered Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King

The First God of War of the God of War Hall acted with considerable decisiveness.

The moment he finished speaking, Ao Rui had already suppressed his own soul power down to the thirty-third rank, matching Xu Zhao.

A scorching sun emerged behind him, accompanied by three purple soul rings that had been suppressed to the thousand-year limit.

The Blazing Sun martial soul, possessing the attribute of light, was a variant of the sun martial soul.

However, because it had lost the yang attribute of the sun itself, it dropped a small tier among top-tier martial souls, falling from the second rank of top-tier martial souls down to the third tier.

"Keep your eyes open and watch," Ao Rui said, his back turned to Xu Zhao.

The next instant, the light-attributed Blazing Sun martial soul hung high in the air.

Simultaneously, behind Ao Rui, three thousand-year soul rings lit up all at once.

In that exact moment, the Blazing Sun martial soul hovering above his head erupted like a genuine star undergoing a solar storm—brilliant, dazzling, and striking.

The intense light made it impossible to keep one's eyes open.

When this blinding radiance finally faded, the semi-circular river valley showed that the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King had already been purified into nothingness by the blazing light burst forth from the sun martial soul.

Having slain the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, a surge of attribute enhancement power manifested upon Ao Rui's body.

With this accomplished, he turned to face Xu Zhao and said:

"Different soul masters require mastery over different types of practical combat techniques."

"Close-quarters combat is a specialized practical skill necessary for weapon-type martial souls and close-combat beast-type martial souls, but we are different."

"My martial soul is the Blazing Sun, and your martial soul comprises eyes that contain the power of the sun and moon. Close-quarters combat is not the forte of soul masters like us. Rather than expending the majority of our energy to make up for this shortcoming, it is far better to push the strengths of our own martial souls to their absolute limits."

Xu Zhao listened in silence, nodding occasionally.

These words made complete sense, but he possessed more than just one martial soul.

Furthermore, even without the Primordial Ancestral Dragon martial soul, the cultivation of the Body Sect's innate secret techniques alone was enough for him to forge an unbreakable physique.

Yet, with the Body Sect Master Mu Ye as his teacher, he hardly needed outsiders to instruct him in close-quarters combat.

Seeing that Xu Zhao was listening attentively, Ao Rui continued:

"My Blazing Sun martial soul excels in long-range bombardment and sustained bursts, making me a power-attack soul master, while your eye martial soul—according to your file—designates you as a control-type soul master."

"Even so, there are still commonalities between us: how to position oneself in battle, how to maneuver, learning to kite and pull enemies, seizing the optimal timing for releasing soul skills and launching attacks, and so on."

"All of the above are shared traits for soul masters of our caliber."

"In the upcoming special training, I will focus heavily on training you in these exact aspects."

"Before the special training officially begins, try fighting the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King once. Let me observe your capabilities and see to what extent you can perform."

With that, he manipulated the permissions of the God of War Arena, clearing the resurrection cooldown of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King that had just been slain.

Accompanied by a dragon roar, a black vortex appeared within the semi-circular river valley, out of which the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, Di Tian, flew with its dragon wings unfurled.

Because it was a virtual entity, this particular Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King appeared somewhat lacking in intelligence, especially its golden dragon pupils, which looked rather dull and sluggish.

Do not underestimate this foolish-looking Di Tian; its virtually generated combat power was entirely genuine, fully capable of rivaling a peak third-ring soul master with a top-tier martial soul.

Ao Rui intended to evaluate Xu Zhao's combat performance against the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King to determine whether he was truly a peerless genius or merely a false talent who possessed abundant soul power but performed poorly in actual combat.

Yet, even if he turned out to be a false talent with nothing more than soul power, the formidable talent he had displayed in blacksmithing alone was more than enough for the First God of War to treat him with utmost courtesy.

Xu Zhao stepped forward a few paces, gazing at the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King a dozen meters away with an expression of intense scrutiny and appraisal, thinking to himself:

"By now, the real Di Tian should have already found the Silver Dragon King who had recovered her memories, or perhaps the Silver Dragon King has even completed the split into Gu Yue and Na'er."

"As I am right now, I certainly cannot defeat the real Di Tian, so I can only wrong this virtual Di Tian here by making it serve as a complimentary sparring partner."

Behind Xu Zhao, three black ten-thousand-year soul rings materialized.

The second soul ring flashed, causing ripples to stir in the air as a mirror appeared before him.

Reflected within this mirror was the massive black dragon body of Di Tian, standing a dozen meters away.

In the next moment, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King from within the reflection actually stepped right out of the mirror, howling back and forth across the river channel at the real Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King in the valley.

"A mirror projection?" Ao Rui watched the scene unfold, deep in thought:

"Is his soul beast companion a Mirror Shadow Beast? And these three ten-thousand-year soul rings—they weren't mentioned in the documents provided either."

"Wait, is he still not done?"

Just as he thought this, after a single mirrored Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King stepped out of the floating mirror, another mirrored Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King emerged, followed immediately by yet another mirrored Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King.

Ao Rui couldn't help but sigh with genuine emotion: "To actually replicate the exact same target multiple times—he truly lives up to having a martial soul with an innate domain."

Before the river channel, beneath Xu Zhao's calm expression, the soul power within his body was rapidly depleting.

"Mirror replication is useful enough, but if you want to achieve truly satisfactory results, the consumption is indeed a bit steep."

Wasting no time, he used his mental intent to issue an order to the three mirrored Golden-Eyed Black Dragon Kings to encircle and attack the virtual Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King.

The strength of the mirrored Golden-Eyed Black Dragon Kings was identical to that of the virtual one.

Three against one, backed by an all-out, reckless assault—the fate of the virtual Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King could well be imagined.

Within moments, another surge of attribute enhancement power settled upon Xu Zhao.

"___What a straightforward and brutal combat style!" Ao Rui considered himself well-traveled and knowledgeable, yet this was his first time witnessing such a method of fighting.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat and snapped his fingers.

Under the authority of the arena, the virtual Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King that had just been slain had its resurrection cooldown cleared once more, reappearing in the river valley a dozen meters away.

"Aren't you a control-type soul master? Bring out your control methods and fight this Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King once more," Ao Rui said, taking care to emphasize:

"Remember, this time you are not allowed to use your second soul skill."

Forbidden from using the second soul skill? Control methods?

Xu Zhao narrowed his eyes, then snapped them open.

With a flash of light, a gigantic eyeball suspended in mid-air, furnished with transparent silver-white tentacles, appeared by his side.

Ten-thousand-year soul beast companion: Evil Eye Tyrant.

One of the six innate abilities: Mental Force Field!

A massive wave of mental pressure centered around the Evil Eye Tyrant transformed into a spreading mental force field, enveloping the virtual Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King a dozen meters away in the blink of an eye.

Instantly, a series of negative statuses—dizziness, sluggishness, and weakness—afflicted the virtual Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King.

Following that, silver-white mental fluctuations surged once more within the gigantic pupil of the Evil Eye Tyrant.

One of the six innate abilities: Mental Shock!

As dozens of tentacles thrashed about wildly, layers of ripples stirred through the air, instantly spreading outward to strike the virtual Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King standing a dozen meters away.