Chapter 194 - Hei Enters the Stage

"What's happened?" the four supporting martial artists of Hei's group exclaimed in chorus. They, too, were witnessing the clash but couldn't understand how the Condor had been so badly injured from one moment to the next.

"Curses," replied Lian, who recognized Hyong Yong-Sook's attack method, "They are particular formations with special activation requirements. From what I've seen, the curse is activated in two stages; the first is the destruction of the puppet corpse, while the second is to cause a severe injury to the user. Do you see the black marks? They are formation symbols. When the puppet corpse struck itself, the damage was passed on to the Condor through the cursed symbols. "Lian pointed to black symbols suddenly appearing all over the Condor's body.

"I understand, so it is a double-edged sword. According to your reasoning, however, then that small corpse still has two types of formations. It means it still has two aces up its sleeve." Lang commented while she was following the fight with particular interest. As a beast tamer, she was particularly interested in how Pablo Cortés would handle the situation.

"The white ones should be a healing formation while I'm not sure about the red ones. But certainly, the red color formation should be more terrifying than the black one," answered Lian.

Meanwhile, on stage, Pablo Cortés had run toward his spirit beast, "Pasa! Answer me, are you okay?"

The Condor made a small cry as if to tell him it was fine. Fortunately, the defensive layer of spirit power and the strong intrinsic constitution of the spirit beasts had prevented the bird from dying on the blow. But it was seriously injured, and it was uncertain whether it would be able to resist another blow.

Kekekekekeke!

The Shaman Little Soldier didn't stop laughing. It seemed amused as never before in front of such a view. Hyong Yong-Sook as well had a crazy expression; he was heedless of the pain in his stomach; no, it was as if he was enjoying himself while his blood continued to flow.

"Shaman Little Soldier, let's get it over with. It's time to end the fight." Hyong Yong-Sook said to his puppet corpse.

The Shaman Little Soldier nodded. It was a rather funny scene, but the spectators experienced everything but humor. The Shaman Little Soldier prepared to stab himself again when suddenly-

Stab!

A dagger of flames came upon him. Following the flight path of the dagger, on the other end, was Pablo Cortés with his arm still outstretched. Small red flames were dwelling around his hand.

Hyong Yong-Sook then gave an even wider gruesome smile as the Shaman Little Soldier went up in flames. Suddenly, the black marks on the Condor dissolved like ash. Shortly after that, however, they appeared on the body of Pablo Cortés while the Shaman Little Soldier regenerated his burnt flesh.

"You stupid! Anyone who hits my Shaman Little Soldier is cursed. Unfortunately, I am not able to manage more than one curse at a time, but who cares. Once you are settled down, the victory will be mine." Hyong Yong-Sook said with excitement.

"You are wrong. You are the stupid one if you think you can only defeat me with this. Lampry, it's your turn!" shouted Pablo Cortés.

Unbeknownst to Hyong Yong-Sook, the Sea Lamprey had approached its master. When Pablo Cortés ordered the Sea Lamprey, Lampry, to act, the creature wrapped itself around Pablo's body and bit his neck. Drops of blood began to flow down Pablo's body, but he didn't care. His eyes were still fixed on Hyong Yong-Sook and the Shaman Little Soldier.

"What are you going to do? You can't escape my curse once it is impressed." Hyong Yong-Sook said to his opponent.

"Really? Are you sure?" Pablo Cortés smiled as he gritted his teeth in pain as his Sea Lamprey continued to tear his flesh. Gradually, the black marks on his body began to become more opaque until they disappeared.

KEEEEEHHHHH!

The Shaman Little Soldier screeched as a black liquid sprouted from his body. He seemed in pain, unlike the times he received the attacks without batting an eyelid. His terrifying smile was gone.

"Shaman Little Soldier!" Hyong Yong-Sook cried in surprise. Incredibly the Sea Lamprey had managed to destroy the marks on Pablo Cortés' body, although it should have been impossible.

"Lampy has a particular ability. It is a parasitic species; therefore, it can absorb the energies of the species to which it attaches, including spirit power. All I did was tell her to eat the spirit power contained in those symbols. The cancellation of the technique caused a backlash on the user, meaning your corpse. But your Shaman Little Soldier is nothing more than a corpse. The real user is none other than you, Hyong Yong-Sook. "

When Pablo Cortés said this, Hyong Yong-Sook felt severe pain running through his body. As the beast tamer said, he was the real user. He was simply performing the technique using his Shaman Little Soldier as an intermediary. For this reason, he didn't immediately suffer the backlash. But now the delay was over, and he was experiencing the pain resulting from the breakdown of his technique.

"Lucy, Pangu, hold on his remaining corpses. Lampry, attack him. "

At the command of their master, the Luciferase Tree let out a hoarse roar and moved its mighty branches as it imprisoned two of Hyong Yong-Sook's three 'still-alive' corpses. The Giant Pangolin instead attacked the third body; the spirit beast used its size to keep the corpse that was moving with mad movements nailed to the ground.

The Sea Lamprey instead broke away from Pablo Cortés and attached itself to Hyong Yong-Sook's body. The young corpse manipulator felt his spirit power being sucked from his body. Since he was still resisting the pain of the backlash, he was unable to react against the assault of the Sea Lamprey.

"Surrender or I will destroy your Shaman Little Soldier." threatened Pablo Cortés with the Shaman Little Soldier in his hand. The dead puppet seemed to have lost his life while remaining inert in the enemy's hand.

'Shit, shit. How did things get this way? If only I had been more careful. No, I don't have time for remorse. I have to act. The white curse allows me to transfer my wounds to the Shaman Little Soldier, but at the moment, it would be useless. The red curse instead... 'Hyong Yong-Sook thought to himself as he turned his gaze to the tribune of honor.

There, sitting amid the big shots of the Southern Region, a man covered entirely in bandages was returning his gaze. It was his father, Hyong Sunghyon. He was saying no with his head towards Hyong Yong-Sook.

"I give up," Hyong Yong-Sook said reluctantly shortly after.

Thus the third fight ended with the victory of Pablo Cortés. The young beast tamer let go of the Shaman Little Soldier as he called back his spirit beasts. However, there was no expression of happiness or victory satisfaction on his face. No, his face was wrinkled with anger. He, too, had seen Hyong Yong-Sook address someone on the skybox. Soon after, Hyong Yong-Sook had declared his defeat. Of course, the two things were connected.

"Why did you give up?" Pablo Cortés finally asked before Hyong Yong-Sook could get off the stage.

Hyong Yong-Sook stopped walking and turned around. In his arms, the Shaman Little Soldier had regained part of its mobility even though it was still severely damaged. "Since you won, I will tell you. I lost because I had no alternative, at least according to the rules of the academy. If it had been a battle of life and death, you and your spirit beasts would have died without a doubt."

That said, Hyong Yong-Sook turned around without explaining further. The red formation on the Shaman Little Soldier was a self-destruction formation strong enough to kill Pablo Cortés and his spirit beasts at once. Furthermore, the three still functioning corpses had the ability to amplify that function to create an even bigger and more powerful explosion.

Pablo Cortés understood that his opponent was serious. He hadn't said it with the intention of bragging; he sincerely believed that such a move could kill Pablo and his spirit beasts with his technique. However, the academy's rules categorically prohibited killings, so surrendering was the only solution for Hyong Yong-Sook.

"Tsk!" Pablo clicked his tongue with frustration as he also got off the stage. He wasn't satisfied at all, but he couldn't help it now. The important thing was that he advanced to the next round.

"It's time to move on to the next challenge. To take the field, it's up to Hei, a promising young martial artist from the Forgotten Ocean." Song Yazhu announced to all spectators.

When the audience heard the words 'Forgotten Ocean,' their ears became attentive. For those unfamiliar with the academy's internal dynamics, they didn't know about the arrival of Hei and Lian. Therefore, hearing someone was from the Forgotten Ocean sounded strange in their ears. It wasn't only because no one had ever had the qualifications to enter the Continent. It was also because this martial artist, who had come from a remote place, had managed both to enroll at a prestigious war academy such as the Southern Royal War Academy, and as well to qualify for the main phase of the tournament.

"Is he the one you told us about?" Feng Qing asked Long Jing.

Headmaster Long Jing nodded. Therefore, the glances of all those present in the skybox became sharp. The person who was about to take the field was a young man feared even by Imperial Prince Long Tian. The Imperial Family was the creme de la creme in the society of human martial artists; the Sun Emperor and the elders of the family were all monsters, or rather dragons among men. As the emperor's son, Long Tian was a dragon cub destined to fly and dominate the skies. Therefore, only a few had the qualifications to challenge him in terms of talent and background, and all of them belonged to the Eight Big Families.

"Good luck Hei."

"Show the audience what you can do."

"Smash everything out there."

His companions wished him good luck for his victory. Hei received their cheering with a slight smile and prepared to go out with his sisters. Since he had registered as a beast tamer, he was allowed to take them with him.

"Be careful, Hei, okay?" Lian recommended. Even though she had full confidence in Hei, she couldn't help but worry.

"Yes, I will be careful. I promised you." Hei replied before exiting the places assigned to the fighters towards the open corridor that separated him from the stage.

When exposed to sunlight, the public was finally able to see who was the young martial artist coming from a remote place like the Forgotten Ocean. And when they were finally able to see Hei, they instead became amazed by the creatures he had with him.

A dark purple spider with silver patterns and a pitch-black snake with golden patterns. The length of the two spirit beasts reached three and a half meters, and, despite their size, they were very agile in their movements. Although they were two second-level spirit beasts, there was something unusual about them. That something was difficult to explain, but they didn't seem ordinary spirit beasts.

Hei motioned for his little sisters to stay on the ringside. He had confidence in their abilities, but he knew that with the ban on using the Elemental Laws, it would be difficult for them to win as they did during the preliminaries. Since it was no longer a matter of getting the most wins, but it was instead knockout matches, Hei decided he would fight alone. Of course, if the opportunity for a group fight like the one before would arise, then he would have no hesitation in bringing them to the field.

"Taking the field is the winner of Group 8, Chong Hai from the Chong Family. The origins of the Chong Family are not inferior to the Eight Big Families or the Imperial Family, being one of the few families from the period of the great war against demons and divine beasts." Song Yazhu announced.

A young man with yellow sand-colored hair entered the ring. Seeing him up close, Hei was surprised because the martial artist before him looked incredibly like the spirit Emperor Chong Zemin, the person who created the recording during the Final War.