Douluo Continent: The Eternal Dawn

Chapter 135 Princess Tang's Voluntary Withdrawal!
The golden lightning domain covering Ye Xixuan was vast and powerful, filled with fine golden arcs of electricity, where the magnificent aura of light and the violent thunder were perfectly intertwined and blended.

Before the amplification effect of his third soul skill, Holy Wrath, wore off, Bei Bei unleashed the Overlord Thunder Domain based on his fourth soul skill, Holy Thunder Dragon Head. This was arguably his strongest attack in the true sense. Its destructive power even reached the level of a Soul Emperor.

However, under Ye Xixuan's palm strike, the countless golden lightning bolts raging in the Overlord Thunder Domain instantly solidified and shattered like a mirror image, then transformed into countless golden light spots that slowly rose up and gradually dissolved into nothingness.

Beibei herself was filled with shock, staring blankly as Ye Xixuan's hand, which contained endless dark energy, magnified in her vision.

Unlike the mysterious black glass armor covering his entire body, Ye Xixuan's right palm did not seem to possess any powerful aura, but Bei Bei knew very well that she had been completely defeated.

Ye Xixuan's right hand finally stopped at Bei Bei's chest; this time, the attack did not actually land.

Even so, a trickle of blood still escaped from the corner of Bei Bei's mouth. His short, dark blue hair moved without wind, and he stared at Ye Xixuan with a bitter expression, letting out a dejected sigh.

"So it's the Dragon Emperor's Evil-Breaking Rift of the Mystic Ancestor? I've lost."

"You flatter me, Senior Brother Bei." Ye Xixuan withdrew his right hand and nodded slightly to Bei Bei with neither humility nor arrogance.

Beibei, however, shook her head with a smile, maintaining her usual carefree and easygoing demeanor.

“Xi Xuan, I also followed Xuan Zu to cultivate since childhood, and I am a few years older than you. However, I have not even fully mastered Xuan Zu’s Sovereign Rule, let alone the two great battle techniques based on it, Dragon Emperor’s Evil-Slaying Rift and Dragon Emperor’s Domain-Shaking Rift. This time, I am convinced of my defeat. Facts have proved that you are indeed the academy’s best choice.”

"You stinky Beibei, you were the one who told me to go all out before, and now you're the one saying you're convinced of your defeat. So you've said both the nice and the mean!" Xu Sanshi's frustrated voice came from not far away. He was already kneeling on the ground with his knees limp, his face pale.

"Did you even consider how I feel?! Huh?!"

At this moment, Xu Sanshi looked like a resentful woman, gazing at Beibei with a resentful expression.

Having used his bloodline talent from the Soul Ring combination twice in a row, and suffering a backlash from being broken through the Xuanwu Devour by Ye Xixuan, Xu Sanshi's physical condition is now severely depleted. He will need at least ten days to half a month to barely recover.

Beibei shrugged innocently and said, "I've already given up. If you're not convinced, you can continue. Nobody's stopping you."

"You?!" Xu Sanshi hesitated, unable to utter a word for a long time. In the end, he could only accept his bad luck, using the Xuanwu Shield in his hand to barely support himself as he stood up, glaring fiercely at Bei Bei.

"You deserve to die!"

"Don't be ungrateful. I'm just letting you experience firsthand what it means to be outmatched." As he passed by, the cunning Bei Bei deliberately patted Xu Sanshi's shoulder hard, almost causing the extremely weak Xu Sanshi to kneel down on the spot.

"Since your second awakening of your martial soul, don't you think you've become a bit arrogant? It's time for you to settle down and reflect."

"Go and calm down yourself! Stop making sarcastic remarks. So you think you're the one who got hurt?" Xu Sanshi snorted irritably, then casually put his arm around Bei Bei's shoulder and, with her help, staggered off the Soul Arena.

As Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi walked to Elder Xuan's side, all the inner court disciples' eyes immediately fell on the two of them.

Although the two were defeated, their demonstrated strength earned them the respect and recognition of the inner court disciples.

With the final outburst from Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi, apart from Ma Xiaotao, none of the remaining five inner court disciples were absolutely certain they could escape unscathed. It's no exaggeration to say they possessed the strength of regular team members, and weren't even among the weakest.

Just then, Ma Xiaotao looked back at Ye Xixuan in the arena and Tang Wutong floating high in the sky, and couldn't help but ask Elder Xuan, "Elder Xuan, is there any need to continue this match? That brat Ye Xixuan's strength is clearly no longer at this level. Although that little girl has twin martial souls and her martial soul and soul ring configurations are top-notch, the gap is still there."

"We should always give young people a chance, shouldn't we?" Old Master Xuan took a swig of wine with a satisfied smile. In his good mood, his appetite also increased considerably.

Ma Xiaotao immediately pouted in dissatisfaction and said, "What opportunity are we giving her? Are we giving her the chance to continue to pester Ye Xixuan? I don't know what our grandmaster is thinking. Why does he always try to matchmake outsiders? Are our outstanding female students in the inner courtyard really that bad?"

Ling Luochen glanced sideways. She, who usually didn't get along with Ma Xiaotao, found Ma Xiaotao surprisingly pleasing to the eye today.

She felt that this violent woman wasn't so unpleasant after all.

Beibei and Xu Sanshi stared at each other, as if they had discovered some earth-shattering secret, deeply shocked.

Xu Sanshi chuckled and began to tease Ma Xiaotao in a very casual manner.

"Sister Xiaotao, you wouldn't happen to have your eye on Xixuan too, would you?"

"So what if I've fallen for that brat? He's way better than all of you men!" Ma Xiaotao suddenly turned around, her thoughts exposed by Xu Sanshi in public, so she simply stopped pretending.

"What, you have a problem with that?!"

"No objection, no objection..." Noticing Ma Xiaotao's murderous glare, Xu Sanshi immediately backed down, which made Bei Bei next to him gloat again.

Looking at Ma Xiaotao's charmingly flushed cheeks, Ling Luochen's already cold expression seemed to stiffen even more. He silently retracted his previous statement in his heart, and his hostility towards Ma Xiaotao intensified.

"You're not suitable for him."

"Hmm?" Upon hearing Ling Luochen's cold, emotionless voice, Ma Xiaotao turned around with a burning gaze, meeting Ling Luochen's eyes defiantly and displaying extreme assertiveness.

"If he and I aren't a good match, does that mean you are? In the end, it all comes down to his own choice. Even if you two had that past relationship, he still hasn't chosen you, has he?"

Seeing this, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi's eyes lit up. If Ma Xiaotao and Ling Luochen, the two senior students of the inner academy, really started fighting over Xi Xuan, then there would be a good show to watch.

From Ma Xiaotao and Ling Luochen's conversation, they also keenly gleaned a lot of information, suggesting there might be quite a few inside stories.

Ling Luochen lowered her eyes and ignored Ma Xiaotao, but her indifference only made Ma Xiaotao angrier.

"With your talent, do you think you can keep up with him?"

Ling Luochen raised his head again, his gaze turning cold as he met Ma Xiaotao's eyes. Ma Xiaotao's words were like a knife to the heart, directly striking Ling Luochen's most sensitive spot.

Ma Xiaotao loosened her arms, deliberately puffed out her exaggerated breasts, and gave a haughty snort.

"What, is there a problem with what I said?" Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei's expressions turned strange. This was really relentless; Sister Xiao Tao was going too far.

Chen Zifeng and Xixi, these inner court disciples, could only feel helpless.

They haven't even gone to Star Luo City to participate in the competition yet, and the strongest member of the team and the main control Soul Master have already started tearing each other apart.

"Alright, all of you, behave yourselves." This was the kind of situation that Elder Xuan was least good at dealing with, and he tapped the ground with the chicken bone in his hand with a headache.

"You little girls are such a handful. Can't you just get along peacefully? Why do you have to fight like this? If you really like that boy Xi Xuan, why don't you all marry him together? As Old Mu would say, as long as you're all fed, it's no big deal."

Upon hearing Elder Xuan's words, the three female students, Ma Xiaotao, Ling Luochen, and Xixi, instantly blushed.

Ma Xiaotao, even more embarrassed, retorted, "Elder Xuan, what are you saying? How could our Grandmaster possibly say such a thing?!"

"Why would I lie to you? That's how Elder Mu taught Xi Xuan anyway. If you don't believe me, you can go and ask Xi Xuan directly." Elder Xuan picked at his ear in a disheveled manner, but no one believed what he said.

Master Mu has always presented himself as a kind and gentle elder, so it is really hard to associate what Master Xuan said with Master Mu.

At the same time, the situation on the Soul Arena also changed.

After Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi jumped off the Soul Arena, Ye Xixuan turned to look at Tang Wutong in the air. He didn't rush to launch an attack, but continued to maintain his state of oneness with heaven and man, recovering his own condition.

Tang Wutong also did not move. Being intimidated by Ye Xixuan's previous aura was only one reason, but more so because of the complex emotions in her heart.

She knew that with her current strength, there was absolutely no chance of defeating Ye Xixuan. Just as Ma Xiaotao had said before, she and Ye Xixuan were no longer on the same level.

Tang Wutong was pleased with her own judgment, but her heart was also filled with trepidation.

She knew very well that if she wanted to ascertain Ye Xixuan's attitude towards her, then this confrontation would be inevitable.

"Ye Xixuan!" Tang Wutong cried out, finally making up her mind. The blue-gold light on the butterfly wings behind her intensified, and four spirit rings—three purple and one black—rose up one after another, shining brightly simultaneously.

A strong blue-gold light flickered in her right palm, like an irregular, twisting bolt of lightning. Almost instantly, a sharp, blue-gold longsword materialized.

The blade is slender, and the hilt is ornate, both imprinted with bright golden runes. The guard connecting the blade and the hilt is shaped like a miniature version of the butterfly wing of the Goddess of Light, giving the overall appearance an elegant and luxurious look.

This was none other than Tang Wutong's fourth soul skill, the Goddess of Light Sword, a ten-thousand-year-level martial soul of the Goddess of Light Butterfly. It shared a similar essence with Yu Mengdi's first soul skill, the Divine Twin Swords, both being formed from pure, compressed light-attribute elements.

Tang Wutong's gaze suddenly sharpened. He gripped the hilt of the Goddess of Light with both hands, holding the blade upright in front of him. Based on this, each of his first three purple millennium spirit rings, when they shone, would bring a tremendous boost to the Goddess of Light.

First, there's the sharpness of the first soul skill, Winged Guillotine; then, the light attribute amplification of the second soul skill, Butterfly God's Light; and finally, the third soul skill, Butterfly God's Slash, which condenses one hundred and eight slashes of light.

However, this time Tang Wutong did not compress the 108 slashes of light from her third soul skill, Butterfly God Slash, into a single ball of light. Instead, she completely merged them into one and incorporated them into the Goddess of Light sword in her hand.

The light on the blade swirled and transformed into a dazzling gold, like a small sun shining brightly before her.

Tang Wutong pursed her red lips, gazing into Ye Xixuan's ever-deep and calm eyes, yet she felt inexplicably wronged. While Ye Xixuan's past physical reactions had pleased her, how could she not see that he always harbored a certain aversion towards her?

Always arrogant and haughty, all the pent-up emotions she had suppressed over the past year erupted at this moment.

"Ye Xixuan, why can't you like me, even just a little bit! You'd rather miss out than take the initiative to reach out to me?!"

Tang Wutong's eyes were red and swollen as she questioned Ye Xixuan with a hoarse voice. As she questioned him, she also raised the Goddess of Light sword above her head.

Ye Xixuan responded with action, his right hand making a grasping motion, and a dark magic sword with attributes completely opposite to the Goddess of Light sword in Tang Wutong's hand instantly materialized.

Seeing Ye Xixuan's reaction, a crystal tear slid down Tang Wutong's cheek. Despite her sorrowful expression, she stubbornly swung the golden Goddess of Light sword downwards.

A dazzling sword beam, a hundred meters long, shone in the darkness, like the dawn before sunrise, dispelling the endless night sky. It was like the judgment of the God of Light upon this darkness, forcefully piercing through Ye Xixuan's Shadow Sky Domain.

Ye Xixuan held the dark magic sword and pointed it at the sky.

The Dark Sky Domain, which had been pierced by Tang Wutong's sword, instantly dissipated, and the boundless dark aura was absorbed into the dark demonic sword as if swallowed by a whale.

Ye Xixuan's abilities were more advanced than Tang Wutong's fusion of soul skills. He transformed Sumeru into a mustard seed, completely compressing the power of the Shadow Sky Domain into the dark demon sword in his hand.

He could only barely achieve this when he was in a state of harmony with nature.

Ye Xixuan's sword strike did not create any remarkable phenomena. The sky, which had just regained its light, seemed to dim for a moment, while the golden, earth-shattering sword light silently disintegrated, along with the Goddess of Light sword in Tang Wutong's hand.

The entire venue fell into a deathly silence until Tang Wutong floated down from the sky with a blank expression, and only then did everyone come back to their senses.

Ye Xixuan didn't even glance at Tang Wutong before turning around to face Elder Xuan and the others.

Tang Wutong stared intently at Ye Xixuan's retreating figure, tears streaming down her face. Although she hadn't lost her ability to fight, her heart was already filled with despair.

Why won't you even give me a little attention or care?! Why can't I get a single response from you even after I've set aside all my pride?! Why do you single me out?!
Tang Wutong had accumulated too many grievances in her heart. She closed her eyes tightly, wiped away her tears with her sleeve, and cried her heart out.

"Ye Xixuan, I've never thought there was anything wrong with liking you! I'm willing to put aside my pride for you, but that doesn't mean I have to stay humble forever. I also have my own self-respect. Don't worry, I won't bother you anymore, and I'll voluntarily withdraw from the reserve team."

After Tang Wutong left dejectedly, everyone remained silent.

Even Ye Xixuan couldn't help but frown slightly as he looked at Tang Wutong's back as it gradually disappeared from sight.

(End of this chapter)