"Next."
Xiao Hongchen's calm voice reached the Douling Team's preparation area.
He had learned this particular way of showing off from somewhere, maintaining a calm expression, appearing very nonchalant, and uttering the three words naturally.
The Douling Team's three remaining Spirit Kings exchanged glances for a moment before a thin, short young man ascended the stage.
His name was Xiao Feng, a rare mental-type Spirit Master. His Martial Spirit was the Mysterious Pearl, capable of altering the environment and employing illusory abilities in combat. He was also a Spirit Engineer, not lacking in means for violent output.
"Come on, let me see what gives you the right to act like this."
After speaking, five Spirit Rings rose from Xiao Feng's feet, and a white pearl emitting purple mist appeared in his hand.
His fourth Spirit Ring flashed, the pearl in his hand radiating a dense purple light that completely enveloped him. Within the area illuminated by the purple light, everything became illusory, with Spirit Power fluctuations everywhere, causing the purple light to distort slightly.
Xiao Hongchen didn't speak, merely displaying all one hundred and eight of his Level 5 Spirit Cannons.
Boom!
Countless roars echoed in everyone's ears.
Within the protective shield formed by the one hundred and eight metal pillars, there was nothing but firelight; the details on the stage were completely indiscernible.
"Ahem..."
Xiao Hongchen's weak cough sounded.
He walked off the stage without even glancing at his opponent's condition.
One hundred and eight Level 5 Spirit Cannons were still too heavy a burden for him.
Of course, he hadn't used a Milk Bottle or absorbed Spirit Power from one to recover.
If it were a real, committed battle, he could last longer.
On the other side, the Douling Team captain Gu Zhujian's expression was extremely grim.
Vice-captain Qian Yuan ascended the stage with a dark face and found Xiao Feng amidst the still-dissipating smoke and dust.
Xiao Feng was now exhausted, with multiple marks from the Spirit Cannon bombardment on his body.
A look of fear still lingered in his eyes.
It was too terrifying.
Couldn't find his position, so he just saturated the area with Spirit Cannon fire?
Xiao Feng expressed that he had never seen such an extravagant Spirit Engineer.
Their academy had Spirit Engineers too, but producing a single Level 5 Spirit Tool took immense effort. Successfully making ten Level 5 Spirit Tools within a month would drain them completely.
Yet, a reserve team member from the opposing side could actually produce one hundred and eight Level 5 Spirit Cannons!
And he was definitely no older than fifteen.
A Spirit King.
These elements combined relentlessly assaulted his worldview.
It wasn't just Xiao Feng; all the Spirit Engineers from the three Douluo nations fell silent.
Even if he relied on medicine to reach Spirit King level, Xiao Hongchen's cultivation speed was too exaggerated, and he could still manage to produce one hundred and eight Level 5 Spirit Cannons on top of that.
Where did he find the time?
"Each of his Spirit Cannons is a masterpiece. Even though they are only Level 5, if any were to circulate externally, even the Level 6 Spirit Engineers in our academy would need to study and imitate them," He Caitou said.
He Caitou's words hammered into the hearts of the Shrek Academy team members.
Wang Yan fell silent.
His view on Spirit Tools had always been supportive, and he was very pleased with the academy's current development.
Shrek was rapidly improving its Spirit Tool Department.
But the methods displayed by Xiao Hongchen silenced him.
Any single one was enough for a Level 6 Spirit Engineer in their academy's Spirit Tool Department to learn from?
And Xiao Hongchen had a full one hundred and eight of such Level 5 Spirit Cannons!
"Mi Jia, you go up."
After careful consideration, Elder Ma decided to send Mi Jia onto the stage.
In his view, for this tournament, the true main force for winning the championship wasn't the seven regular team members.
Among the regular members, apart from Ma Rulong's indispensable strength, the remaining six Level 5 Spirit Engineers were all replaceable. Those who could replace them included Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, Su Ming, and Zhang Wei.
After three months of training, Zhang Wei had become more familiar with that set of Spirit Tools, and his combat experience had quickly caught up. His strength was no different from a Level 5 Spirit Engineer.
Because there were so many options, Elder Ma didn't need to worry at all about their team members' abilities being probed.
Probe?
Go ahead.
How many can you actually figure out?
Even if these regular members like Mi Jia exhaust themselves and reveal all their trump cards, do you think that's the full extent of our Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy team?
Probe all you want; just one instance of 'Hongchen's Protection' will make you reconsider.
Mi Jia fought against Qian Yuan and was soundly defeated.
"Claw Bear Martial Spirit, a branch of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. Mi Jia's loss isn't unjustified," Su Ming said.
He observed this Qian Yuan carefully, sighing inwardly in regret.
Claw Bear, missing the 'Dark Gold' prefix, inherited the powerful strength of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear but lost the innate affinity for the metal element. Otherwise, Su Ming would have considered having the Blacksmith Association branch in the Douling Empire recruit this Qian Yuan.
After Mi Jia, it was Chen Fei's turn. He exerted all his abilities before finally eliminating Qian Yuan.
At this point, the Douling Team only had one person left: their captain, Gu Zhujian.
Gu Zhujian, Martial Spirit: Purple Brilliance Bamboo, a fifty-seventh level Power Attack System Battle Spirit King!
His strength was undoubtedly very powerful. After taking the stage, even facing Chen Fei who tried to stall time using his flight abilities, he responded calmly and eliminated Chen Fei with a single sword strike.
"Six for four. The gap is actually this obvious."
Gu Zhujian calculated the current situation in his mind.
"However, we've taken down Ma Rulong, their only six-ring Spirit Emperor. Next, it's all Level 5 Spirit Engineers. With my strength, I should be able to exchange for at least two more of theirs."
This way, the gap would still be acceptable.
"Zhang Wei, I leave it to you."
Elder Ma made his choice between Su Ming and Zhang Wei.
"Alright."
Zhang Wei took a deep breath and slowly ascended the stage.
Shrek Academy team.
"Zhang Wei?"
Dai Yueheng hesitantly called out the name.
Back in the corridor back then, he hadn't paid much attention to Zhang Wei. There was no helping it; Zhang Wei had a common, average face with nothing particularly striking about him, resulting in very low presence.
Now that Zhang Wei was on the stage, he looked carefully and vaguely retrieved this classmate from a corner of his memory.
Not entirely sure, Dai Yueheng turned to look at his other teammates.
Ling Luochen seemed thoughtful.
"It seems like it's Zhang Wei."
There were many named Zhang Wei, and many with common faces, but a common-faced Zhang Wei like this probably shouldn't be mistaken for someone else.
"What do you mean? You know him?"
Wang Yan was puzzled.
"He was our classmate. He enrolled in the first grade. For the three months before the freshman competition, we were in the same class. After the class division, he and I weren't in the same class anymore," Ling Luochen said.
"He was in the Power Attack System, but he wasn't in my class. I think he was taught by Zhou Yi and was expelled from the academy," Dai Yueheng said.
How was Teacher Zhou Yi involved?
Huo Yuhao, who originally wasn't paying much attention, also pricked up his ears to listen.
"Expelled?" Wang Yan frowned.
He was currently a colleague of Zhou Yi and understood her character.
So he didn't question the fact stated by Dai Yueheng that Zhang Wei was expelled.
His focus was on Zhang Wei having once been a Shrek student.
"Was he originally a Spirit Master from the Sun Moon Empire?"
"No, he's from the Star Luo Empire."
***
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(Chapter end)