Ma Shan was also quite taken aback. Tang Wulin's body wasn't very large compared to his, so he should've been able to evade that attack! Even if he were trying to fight fire with fire, this wasn't the way to do it. What was going on?

Tang Wulin crashed down onto the ground, and he was feeling quite speechless as stars danced before his eyes. This was the downside of not being familiar enough with his body. However, he also discovered that his physical resistance had increased.

Even after taking such a heavy fall, his body hadn't been struck by much discomfort, and he was able to immediately spring to his feet.

"Again!"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

One clash took place after another, and Tang Wulin attempted to control his dragon wings, as well as his new body, but he certainly wasn't as adept in this as he was when controlling his former body.

Thus, he was sent flying by Ma Shan over and over again, but he managed to get up every single time. After just a short while, his body was already riddled with injuries.

However, every time Ma Shan sent him flying or threw him to the ground, he would think that the sparring match was over, but Tang Wulin was always able to get up and dust himself off in a short time. After that, he would charge at Ma Shan again, and his combat prowess wasn't affected in the slightest by the heavy blows he was taking.

Following his evolution, his body had indeed become very difficult to control. In particular, the blood essence power being pumped by his heart-like dragon core was far too powerful and it was often the case that the vast surges of energy from his dragon core would make him lose balance. As such, his attacks were very direct and predictable, and he wasn't able to inject any variation into his movements. In short, he had too much strength for him to control.

Ma Shan may have been a pure strength-type Soul Master, but he possessed a vast wealth of battle experience, and had countless battle techniques up his sleeve. Furthermore, Tang Wulin discovered that he was also a Tang Sect disciple. His Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon had been cultivated to an extremely high degree of mastery, and it was especially effective in this battle, given that Tang Wulin was unable to control his body very well.

Tang Wulin rushed directly toward Ma Shan again, and the latter merely hunched over and sidestepped while encircling his arms together. A burst of suction force immediately erupted from the side, and Tang Wulin instantly lost balance once again. Ma Shan reached out with his right hand and grabbed onto Tang Wulin's ankle, then slammed him viciously into the ground.

"Boom!"

A massive crater was smashed into the platform, and Ma Shan raised a leg before stomping down upon Tang Wulin. However, Tang Wulin managed to roll over in a timely manner before defending himself with both of his arms, then pushing Ma Shan aside.

Similar scenarios like this one had already taken place countless times. Ma Shan felt like he was already exerting a lot of effort with each and every one of his attacks, and even if he were fighting a piece of alloy, it should've been shattered into pieces long ago. However, Tang Wulin simply refused to stay down. He was always able to clamber to his feet, and he looked a little wobbly, but he could always continue fighting.

Ma Shan was feeling rather speechless. Tang Wulin came off second-best in the vast majority of their clashes, and only very occasionally would he actually be able to strike his opponent.

Ma Shan discovered that even though Tang Wulin couldn't even control his own body properly, he possessed the greatest strength among the two by far. Even in his martial soul true body state, his strength couldn't compare with Tang Wulin's.

What the hell is this kid doing?

Ma Shan was feeling quite bemused, and Tang Wulin was constantly adjusting himself. Even though getting hit hurt a lot, his dragon core heart was always able to quickly pump his bloodline power to his injuries and heal them very quickly. Furthermore, his bones and muscles were all extremely resolute, allowing him to brush off these heavy blows with relative ease.

If things were to continue like this, Ma Shan was going to run out of soul power before he could defeat Tang Wulin!

Even as a Soul Douluo, his soul power was limited, and on top of that, he was maintaining his martial soul true body this entire time, so he was definitely expending energy at a faster rate than Tang Wulin.

With that in mind, Ma Shan decided that he couldn't allow this to drag on any longer.

His eighth soul ring finally lit up for the first time, and after he grabbed onto Tang Wulin's ankle again, he abruptly sprang up into the air with him. His aura abruptly changed, and Tang Wulin was struck by a burst of power that was surging toward him like a volcanic eruption.

A layer of bleak white flames abruptly appeared over Ma Shan's body. This was a type of flame with no heat, but Tang Wulin could clearly sense that his opponent's strength had suddenly tripled.

Were these... the legendary Flames of Strength? This was a manifestation of ultimate strength!

A shocked expression appeared on Tang Wulin's face, and at the same time, his fifth golden soul ring lit up for the very first time. He didn't even know what ability this fifth golden soul ring would bestow upon him, but he reflexively sensed that if he wanted to avert this crisis, then his only choice was to use this fifth golden soul ring's power.

This was the bloodline soul skill bestowed upon him by his 10th seal, so it should be far more powerful than that of his previous four soul skills. He wondered what kind of effect it would have.

Ma Shan could clearly sense a burst of strange power emanating from Tang Wulin's body, and he seemed to have suddenly begun trembling violently. Wait, it wasn't him that was trembling; it was Ma Shan himself!

Ma Shan's Flames of Strength had significantly boosted his strength, and he'd grabbed onto Tang Wulin's ankles, one in each hand, preparing to tear his body apart to end this battle.

However, he discovered that after Tang Wulin's fifth golden soul ring lit up, his arms suddenly began to tremble in an involuntary and uncontrollable manner. Immediately thereafter, Ma Shan's entire body shuddered violently, following which a burst of reddish-golden light abruptly exploded right before him amid a resounding boom.

Even with his powers as a Soul Douluo, Ma Shan was still sent flying by the ferocious explosion. Tang Wulin was also quite astonished. He only sensed the blood essence power within his body abruptly becoming a lot more active, producing a type of high-frequency vibrational force that was released outward. The reddish-golden light was released to cover an area with a diameter of over 50 meters, and after Ma Shan was sent flying, the reddish-golden light caught up to him before exploding on his body over and over again. The explosions forced him all the way to the edge of the competition platform, where he crashed into the protective barrier, then rebounded off it before thumping heavily onto the ground.

The fifth bloodline soul ring had had an unprecedented devastating effect, but Tang Wulin wore a wry smile on his face. This was because all of his blood essence power and soul power had been completely exhausted following that attack.

What the hell was this thing? It was indeed extremely powerful, but it rendered him completely powerless!

Tang Wulin fell from the sky, completely devoid of all soul power and blood essence power. The system adjudged that he no longer possessed the power to continue fighting, and he was teleported out of the competition venue.

This was his first defeat in the Star Battle Net, and it had taken place under some very perplexing circumstances.

It was undoubtedly the case that this battle had been very beneficial to his quest to control his own body, and the effect of his fifth bloodline soul ring was also extremely powerful, but just what was that thing? Did he have to release all of his power just to unleash it once? No matter how powerful the soul skill was, it was like a kamikaze attack!

Tang Wulin was quite bemused, as was Ma Shan, even though he had just won. [Does this mean Ma Shan is Blood Nine now? LOL]

In the instant that Tang Wulin was teleported out of the venue, he was also evicted, and he turned to Tang Wulin in a flabbergasted manner. "Wh, what was that soul skill of yours? I felt like I couldn't exert any of my strength on you; it was a very strange feeling!"

Tang Wulin wore a wry smile as he said, "I only just attained this ability, and I still don't even know its effect. Let's end things here for today, Corps Commander Ma; I have to figure some things out for myself, and we can spar another time."

After bidding farewell to Ma Shan, Tang Wulin hurriedly logged out of the Star Battle Net before returning to his room to meditate. That battle had been very beneficial to him for assessing his own condition.

It was undoubtedly the case that his drastic overall enhancements had lowered the degree of control he had over his own body, but that wasn't a bad thing. As long as he could learn to control his powers properly, his combat prowess would undoubtedly enjoy a significant increase. But what was that fifth soul bloodline soul skill? What was going on there?