A dreamy purple light burst forth from the eerie eyes that materialized at the center of Hu Liena's forehead, instantly piercing into Shui Yue'er's sea of consciousness.
In terms of soul power level, Shui Yue'er was higher than Hu Liena, but when it came to spiritual power alone, she was no match for Hu Liena, who was a spiritual-type Soul Master and possessed an eye-type external soul bone.
After all, because Shui Yue'er was merely a sister-in-law, Mu Yang had not given her the complete Lunar Refining Spirit technique—only the first two layers. The cultivation effects of this technique were capped at the level of an ordinary Rank 60 Soul Master.
Once surpassing this limit, the first two layers of Lunar Refining Spirit would cease to be effective, and Shui Yue'er's spiritual power could only improve along with her soul power level, leaving her far inferior to Hu Liena.
The moment she was struck by the purple light, Shui Yue'er's body froze, and after a brief mental confrontation, her consciousness was dragged into an illusion, instantly interrupting the activation of her ten-thousand-year fourth soul skill.
However, while Shui Yue'er's main body had its fourth soul skill interrupted, the fourth soul skills cast by her five clones remained unaffected.
Because the soul skill had only barely reached the ten-thousand-year level, the clones created by the Glimmering Jade Clone ability could use all soul skills except the fifth but were not subject to Shui Yue'er's fine control. They only operated on combat instincts and had no direct connection with the main body.
Yet, precisely because the clones had no direct connection to the main body and could fight without her control, Shui Yue'er's five clones remained unaffected despite her being trapped in an illusion.
On the battlefield, five whirlpools of deep blue water blades, each over ten meters in diameter, appeared in a front-two-back-three formation, sweeping toward the Spirit Hall battle team like a flood breaking through a dam.
Seeing the five incoming water blade whirlpools, Zhang Ping, Sun Chuantao, and Li Kai—who had been blocking focused attacks for Hu Liena—felt a chill run down their spines.
Though Shui Yue'er's clones were weaker than her main body, they were still at the five-ring Soul King level. Not only were their soul skills at the ten-thousand-year level, but there were also five of them!
Five ten-thousand-year attack soul skills from five-ring Soul Kings—even if slightly weakened—were not something three four-ring Soul Ancestors could withstand.
"Boom—"
At this moment, a faint cracking sound echoed as the thick ice enveloping Yan's body shattered into a cloud of ice dust. He freed himself from the freezing control even faster than Hu Liena and Xie Yue.
It wasn't that Yan was stronger than Xie Yue or Hu Liena, but rather that his Flame Lord martial soul had both fire and earth attributes. In his martial soul-possessed state, the control effects of ice-based soul skills were naturally weakened against him.
"Second Soul Skill—Granite Rock! Fourth Soul Skill—Boiling Magma!"
The moment he broke free from the ice,Yan acted without hesitation. His soul rings flashed in succession as he unleashed both his second and fourth soul skills.
Instantly,Yan transformed into a lava golem, while the ground beneath him churned with magma, attempting to block the five incoming water blade whirlpools.
At the same time, Zhang Ping and the others did not just stand by. Lining up alongside Yan, they activated their soul skills to attack the whirlpools, hoping to weaken their power. Even the support-type Soul Master Xu Yu in the back continuously activated his soul rings, casting buffs on the four of them.
The next moment, the five whirlpools crashed forward, swallowing Yan and the three others.
However, despite being engulfed, none of them panicked, nor did they show any fear of being shredded to pieces by the dense water blades within the whirlpools.
Just as the defensive soul skills they had cast and the protective shields Xu Yu had granted them were about to shatter under the relentless slicing of the water blades, four streams of light shot in from outside the arena, precisely landing on them.
Immediately, an earth-yellow, transparent barrier enveloped each of the four.
This barrier appeared thin but was seemingly unbreakable, completely withstanding the slicing force of the water blades without a single crack.
Upon witnessing this, Shui Bing'er, who was at the rear of the Sky Water Battle Team and had already ignited an blue flame in preparation for launching the Martial Soul Fusion Skill Snow Dance in the Ice Sky with Xue Wu, frowned and turned toward the source of the four streams of light.
Looking over, Shui Bing'er saw the referee standing outside the arena with a large earth-yellow flag martial soul manifested in hand. Seven soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black—shone brilliantly around him.
It was obvious that the referee was the one who had acted.
'Blatant cheating?'
The thought crossed Shui Bing'er's mind.
At that moment, the referee declared, "I rule that Shui Yue'er's soul skill is excessively powerful, posing a life-threatening danger to Spirit Hall's Yan, Zhang Ping, Li Kai, and Sun Chuantao. The aforementioned four are eliminated and must immediately leave the arena."
Hmm, not cheating—though Shui Bing'er still felt disgruntled.
It wasn't because the referee had saved them, but because his intervention had significantly impacted the match.
Though she hadn't clearly seen which of the referee's soul skills had been used to shield the four, a seven-ring Support-Type Soul Sage's protective shield was naturally beyond the breaking point of Shui Yue'er's five-ring clones.
If no one had interfered, after the five whirlpools swallowed the four Spirit Hall members, the immobilized Hu Liena and Xie Yue behind them would have had no way to escape either.
But with the referee's intervention, the four, now protected by a powerful shield and standing in a line, became an impenetrable flood barrier that blocked the incoming torrents, resolving the crisis for Hu Liena and Xie Yue.
Still, while Shui Bing'er felt frustrated, she had no choice but to accept it.
After all, the Soul Master Tournament was not a battle to the death. If a contestant faced irreversible serious injury or life-threatening danger, the referee had the authority to intervene.
Of course, the moment a referee intervened, the contestants who received assistance were automatically considered eliminated.
Just like now—having been shielded by the referee, the four Spirit Hall members were directly eliminated.
If they hadn't stood in formation at the forefront of the attack range and had been able to escape in time, the referee's shield would have gone to Hu Liena and Xie Yue instead.
By making a calculated sacrifice, the Spirit Hall team strategically used the competition rules rather than outright cheating—losing four members to ensure Hu Liena and Xie Yue remained in the fight.
As for the idea of sacrificing fewer teammates to keep Hu Liena and Xie Yue?
That was impossible. Even with four of them standing side by side, they had only barely managed to hold off the five weakened whirlpools with the referee's shield.
If there had been just three of them instead of four, the barrier wouldn't have been enough to contain the attack. A single gap would have led to a catastrophic breach, like a dam breaking under a torrential flood.
For additional chapters
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