The Soul-Guided Train rolled violently through the air before crashing into the ground. Yet, the entire train was wrapped in a silver radiance as it fell, cushioning the impact.
The earlier explosions had mostly struck the train's surface — the body itself was badly damaged, but not obliterated into pieces as the attackers had intended.
Then, a dazzling pillar of silver light suddenly burst upward, shooting straight toward the crimson mecha descending from the sky.
The red mecha was incredibly fast — it seemed like a phantom, flickering several hundred meters away in an instant to dodge the silver blast.
The train's roof burst open as figures leapt out one after another.
For a moment, beams of Soul-Guided energy of every color illuminated the sky. One after another, mechas rushed from the train — the escort unit of the Xingluo Empire assigned to protect this diplomatic mission.
Most of the mechas were purple-ranked, with four black-ranked ones among them — over thirty in total. They soared into the air, unleashing dense Soul-Guided barrages to intercept the incoming enemy.
Every enemy mecha bore a skull emblem on its chest — eerie, with ghostly green flames flickering in the eye sockets.
Cai Yue'er rose into the air, silver moonlight radiating from her as she locked onto the divine-ranked red mecha. It was under her protection that the Soul-Guided Train had avoided complete annihilation.
Even so, during the train's tumbling earlier, many members of the envoy had been injured.
"Rescue the wounded first. I'll go meet those people with Elder Cai," said Gu You, his gaze sharpening. Purple-golden light enveloped him, and with blinding speed, he shot forward.
Wu Zhangkong instinctively raised a hand to stop him, but then let it fall helplessly.
From afar, more Soul-Guided shells continued to rain down.
"Ah! Soul-Guided shells!" a female student from Xingluo Royal Academy screamed.
She had only just crawled out of the wrecked carriage, disheveled and trembling. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for death — but the explosion never came.
When she dared to open them, she saw only a flash of violet light.
Gu You had unleashed his Martial Soul True Body, his full Battle Armor, and even activated his Life Domain.
He'd planned this well — together with Cai Yue'er, he would cut off the red mecha's advance.
The terrifying pressure from his aura even made Cai Yue'er and the red mecha both falter mid-air for a moment.
"What is he thinking?" Cai Yue'er frowned — but recalling Gu You's overwhelming power, she refocused on her own battle.
Besides the red mecha, there were eight black mechas, over thirty purple ones, and more than a hundred yellow-ranked ones scattered throughout the city.
They formed a coordinated attack formation, launching a fierce assault.
The Xingluo escort unit was forced into full combat. Though formidable, they were badly outnumbered and outgunned — they could only contain a portion of the enemy and delay their advance.
Hundreds of mechas filled the sky with devastating barrages — the surrounding airspace was engulfed by violent energy waves.
"BOOM——"
Noticing Gu You's presence, countless cannons turned toward him and fired in unison.
"Mere winged fools," Gu You said coldly.
He raised his right hand and clenched it toward a lone mecha.
A stream of green energy erupted, piercing the machine's shell and surging into the pilot's body.
Inside, the pilot froze — then, finding no pain, laughed mockingly.
"A Soul Saint's attack? That's it? All that aura, and it's weaker than a Soul King's blow—"
His words stopped mid-sentence. He looked down in horror at his trembling, rapidly aging hands.
His life was being drained away.
No… no!
He died in despair, his vitality completely devoured.
Gu You had slain him effortlessly — and with the same life-draining technique, he killed every other pilot of the yellow and purple mechas, sparing only three black ones.
Then, with a casual motion, he stored away the empty mechas he'd harvested.
The battle shifted again — the three black mechas, sensing the danger, surged forward together, drawing their melee weapons.
Gu You's expression remained calm. "Good — saves me the trouble of chasing you."
Three black mechas — that alone was a fortune. And if he could destroy all three, then join Cai Yue'er in slaying that divine-ranked red mecha...
Then Gu You could proclaim to the world that he was the next God-ranked Mecha Master — the youngest in history!
The three black mechas were all distinct: one shaped like a giant bear, one like a lizard, and one like an ape.
The ape-type mecha was only five meters tall but extremely agile, with two pairs of folded wings on its back — each with jet nozzles for precise flight control.
The lizard-type mecha was smaller, around three meters tall, bristling with missile ports and fin-like stabilizers that marked it as a top-tier Soul-Guided assault model.
The bear-type mecha was the largest — twelve meters tall, towering and muscular, enveloped in a dark violet shield, and wielding a twenty-meter-long battle axe.
One strength-type, one support-type, and one agility-type — a balanced trio.
The bear-type mecha led the charge, swinging its colossal axe. Despite its bulk, the weapon cut through the air with incredible speed, leaving streaks of darkness and sending a shadowed slash spanning a hundred meters straight toward Gu You.
But by then, Gu You's body was already transforming — his form elongating and expanding into that of a dragon.
In front of him, the massive mecha was like an ant biting feebly at a mountain.
"You… want to challenge a dragon too?"
Gu You lightly tapped the ground with his foot — and the bear mecha was blasted backward, its violet barrier shattering on impact.
"I'll give you one chance. If you want to live, get out of your mechas."
His draconic eyes gleamed coldly as they fixed on the three pilots.
They hesitated. This being's strength was beyond comprehension — fighting him was suicide.
After a tense moment, all three chose to eject from their mechas.If they couldn't win, they'd rather live to fight another day.
"Oh, you actually ran," Gu You chuckled softly.
Three translucent beams of green light shot from around him.
"What—?! You treacherous—!"
Before they could finish, the beams struck them mid-air —
—and their screams were swallowed by the wind.
(End of Chapter)