Unlike ordinary soul engineers, Xiao Hongchen's martial soul and soul skills were extremely powerful. He was not a traditional soul engineer but rather a dual cultivator of both the soul master and the soul engineer.
With the quality of his Three-Legged Golden Toad martial soul, even if he didn't cultivate soul engineering abilities at all, just relying on his martial soul and soul skills alone would be enough to support him becoming a top-tier powerhouse.
In the previous All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Competition, Xiao Hongchen had suffered a blow from Xu Zihuang, but he did not sink into despair because of it. Instead, through five years of bitter cultivation, he had completely solidified his foundation.
Although his soul power cultivation was only at rank 65 now, in terms of soul power foundation, it was comparable to the elite disciples of Shrek Academy's inner court.
However, what had grown the most in these years was his state of mind. His signature abilities had been repeatedly suppressed by Xu Zihuang, which indeed gave birth to a sense of frustration in his heart, but the fighting spirit in his eyes burned even higher.
Moreover, although his sixth soul skill, Metal Storm, was extremely powerful, it was not his final trump card.
Under the state of Three-Legged Golden Toad martial soul possession, Xiao Hongchen slowly straightened his body and raised his left hand high.
The metal powder that had been scattered in the air suddenly converged, condensing into a gigantic metal sphere, its entire surface a brilliant golden color, as if forged from molten gold. The diameter of the metal sphere exceeded fifty meters, suspended above the already collapsed competition stage. Under the illumination of the morning sun, it scattered dazzling golden light.
Being in the shadow beneath the metal sphere brought an overwhelming sense of oppression.
A faint arc appeared at the corner of Xiao Hongchen's mouth. Everything he had done earlier was actually preparation for this very attack.
He knew the chances of defeating Yu Tianhuang were slim, but at the very least, he wanted to give it his all and leave no regrets.
Strange soul power fluctuations lingered around Xiao Hongchen's left arm, completely rendering it a dark golden color.
As he raised his left hand above his head in a grasping motion, the metal sphere exploded.
Countless sharp spikes formed from metal particles extended outward from the center where the metal sphere had been, resembling a gigantic metallic sea urchin. On top of these main sharp spikes, smaller versions branched off like thorns.
In the blink of an eye, the entire competition stage was filled with densely packed metallic thorns.
Sand Gold Battle Method – Forest of Thorns.
This was a combat style that Xiao Hongchen had created by perfectly combining his martial soul's ability to control metal. In a sense, it was already equivalent to a self-created soul skill. Moreover, when this Forest of Thorns was combined with the skill from his Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear's left arm bone, both its attack range and power actually surpassed his sixth soul skill, Metal Storm.
On the surface of these countless metallic thorns that were difficult to count with the naked eye, dark golden light flowed. An extremely sharp aura was contained within them, as if even the air at the tip of each spike had been sliced apart.
The upper layer of the metal competition stage had already collapsed, while the lower layer was made of even harder titanium alloy. With Xiao Hongchen's current cultivation, using his sixth soul skill, Metal Storm, to strip out the metal elements from it would still require some effort. Yet now, these metallic spikes covered in dark golden light had deeply pierced through it.
Even when these metallic spikes touched the white protective shield formed by Zheng Zhan's Indestructible Divine Shield, they erupted with even stronger light halos.
That layer of dark golden light was precisely the skill from Xiao Hongchen's Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear left arm bone, Darkgolden Edge.
Normally, the most complete Darkgolden Terrorclaw soul skills only appeared on external soul bones attached to both hands. Even the Darkgolden Terrorclaw soul skills recorded in the left and right arm bones would be somewhat lacking in power.
Xiao Hongchen's Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear left arm bone skill Darkgolden Edge was a typical example. While Darkgolden Edge inherited the sharpness of the Darkgolden Terrorclaw soul skill, it lacked the terrifying, destructive power of the actual Darkgolden Terrorclaw.
However, Darkgolden Edge also had one advantage: it could be attached to the user's left arm and left hand according to their will, or transmitted to objects, making them even sharper.
These objects could be ordinary weapons or soul tools made of rare metals.
For soul masters with spear or sword-type tool martial souls, this soul bone skill was simply a perfect match. Because Darkgolden Edge could also be transmitted to the tool's martial soul itself.
The Sand Gold Battle Method, Forest of Thorns, was actually a self-created soul skill that Xiao Hongchen had begun conceptualizing specifically to work with the Darkgolden Edge soul bone skill, and later perfected step by step to its current form.
Indestructible Douluo Zheng Zhan had somehow already left the range of the light shield formed by his Indestructible Divine Shield. Inside the protective shield covering the competition stage foundation, there was no longer any space to stand. The dense Forest of Metallic Thorns blocked out the sky and covered the earth, completely isolating everyone's line of sight.
The noisy clamor of the entire arena suddenly stopped; everyone was focused on the situation inside the competition stage.
The members of both the Shrek Academy representative team and the Tang Sect battle team's rest area were surprised by the formidable power Xiao Hongchen had displayed, but all remained very calm. From beginning to end, none of them believed that this level of attack could harm Yu Tianhuang.
Are the young people nowadays all this fierce?
As the referee of this match, Zheng Zhan couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
In just a few decades, so many geniuses had emerged among the younger generation of the soul master world. First it was Tang Wutong, then Yu Tianlong and Yu Tianhuang, and now Xiao Hongchen.
Having long been detached from worldly affairs, he wasn't very familiar with Xiao Hongchen, but he knew that he was the grandson that Mingde Hall Master Jing Hongchen was extremely proud of.
No matter what the outcome of this match would be, for Xiao Hongchen to possess such talent and strength was undoubtedly a blessing for the Sun Moon Empire.
On the rostrum, seeing this scene on the competition stage, Xu Tianran's gloomy expression eased considerably, and a smile reappeared on his face.
"Hall Master Hongchen, your grandson has truly been hiding his strength quite deeply. Although this cannot be considered a true self-created soul skill, it is already extremely close. While the empire holds an absolute advantage in soul guidance technology, we have never produced such a genius on the pure soul master side. In the future, he will surely become a pillar of the nation."
To receive such praise from Xu Tianran, the round, chubby face of Jing Hongchen flushed with pride.
He did not expect his grandson to defeat Yu Tianhuang; he only hoped that he could display his ability and value in front of Xu Tianran. He understood the current crown prince's personality better than anyone.
Zhongli Wu spoke in a neither warm nor cold tone:
"Ten-thousand-year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear soul bone. Hall Master Hongchen really went all out. I imagine you paid quite a heavy price for this soul bone."
With his experience, he could tell at a glance the origin of the soul bone Xiao Hongchen was using. A soul bone of this level is naturally qualified to enter his eyes. However, the purpose behind his latter words was quite intriguing.
Jing Hongchen's expression immediately stiffened.
This ten-thousand-year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear's left arm bone had originally been obtained by a hidden sect on the original Douluo Continent side. To exchange for this soul bone, he had painfully given up several high-grade soul tools.
Among them was even a ninth-grade soul tool. And ninth-grade soul tools were strictly prohibited from being sold to the original Douluo Continent side according to imperial law.
With Xu Tianran's intelligence network, he most likely already knew about this matter. The purpose of Zhongli Wu saying this was self-evident.
Xu Tianran gave a faint smile, seemingly completely unconcerned about these matters.
As a superior, one of the most basic abilities was knowing how to balance one's subordinates. The overt and covert friction between Zhongli Wu and Jing Hongchen was exactly what he liked to see.
Sensing Xu Tianran's attitude, Jing Hongchen felt greatly relieved, though his expression did not improve much.
Xu Tianran appeared not to pursue the matter, but from another perspective, in the future, Xu Tianran could use this as leverage against him at any time. It was equivalent to giving Xu Tianran an invisible handle.
And all of this was thanks to Zhongli Wu bringing the matter into the open.
At this moment, this usually smiling and seemingly kind Mingde Hall Master had deep coldness in the depths of his eyes.
Just then, the three men, each with their own thoughts, simultaneously looked sharply toward the competition stage.
Black-purple lightning raged within the Forest of Metallic Thorns. Wherever the lightning touched the metallic spikes, electric light surged across their surfaces.
Under the influence of the lightning, those incredibly hard metallic spikes formed from condensed metal particles instantly melted, sliding down like fine sand.
Golden powder scattered. In the very center of the lightning, Xu Zihuang stood proudly unscathed. Under such a fierce attack from Xiao Hongchen earlier, he remained completely unharmed, not even a single tear on his clothes.
Xiao Hongchen was very strong among peers of the same level, but unfortunately, his opponent was him.
Moreover, Xiao Hongchen's Sand Gold Battle Method was similarly countered by his lightning-attribute control ability.
In the rest area of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, except for Meng Hongchen, everyone's faces became extremely ugly. How could they not see that Yu Tianhuang's abilities completely countered their captain in every aspect?
Yu Tianhuang was practically Xiao Hongchen's natural enemy.
Although Meng Hongchen was also very worried about her brother, he had not been injured yet. Moreover, Yu Tianhuang's current demeanor deeply touched her.
Xiao Hongchen breathed heavily in disbelief. With his Soul Emperor-level cultivation, continuously using soul skills of this magnitude consumed an enormous amount of energy. Without pause, both his hands swung downward.
The remaining metal particles that had not been eroded by the black-purple lightning condensed into a gigantic cubic metal block and smashed down toward Xu Zihuang from the sky.
"Boom—"
Even the already devastated titanium alloy foundation of the competition stage seemed to tremble, erupting with a violent roar.
But in the next instant, this cubic metal block also shattered with a loud crash. Amid the sky full of metal powder, electric arcs flashed, and all the metal particles were no longer under Xiao Hongchen's control.
Yet Xiao Hongchen had not lost his reason. After launching this attack, his three legs exerted force simultaneously. The terrifying jumping power allowed him to instantly cross nearly a hundred meters.
Immediately afterward, the third leg protruding from behind him transformed into brilliant golden liquid metal that wriggled onto his left hand, turning into a luxurious standard-style golden spear. Enhanced by the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear left arm bone skill, three feet of dark golden edge formed at the spear tip.
Bathed in the sky full of golden powder and electric arcs, Xiao Hongchen thrust forward with the spear in hand, his long white hair fluttering behind him. At the same time, rich purple light flashed on his left leg. In the next moment, he appeared behind Xu Zihuang, the dark golden edge at the spear tip pointing straight at the back of Xu Zihuang's neck.
"Instant Transfer?"
In a flash of thought, Xu Zihuang identified the ability Xiao Hongchen had just used. This soul skill came from Xiao Hongchen's left leg bone.
Moreover, relying on his powerful spiritual power, he could sense that this left leg bone of Xiao Hongchen was of extremely high quality, and it carried three similar yet not entirely identical soul power fluctuations.
This immediately reminded him of the memory from his previous life when Huo Yuhao hunted those three variant wolf-apes and obtained three soul bones.
So that's how it was.
The facts were exactly as Xu Zihuang had guessed. Xiao Hongchen's left leg bone indeed came from those three variant wolf-apes. These three soul bones had also originated from the original Douluo Continent side, and after successfully using a soul bone fusion secret technique, they had been obtained by Jing Hongchen.
And then given to Xiao Hongchen.
As the grandson of the Mingde Hall Master, Xiao Hongchen had never lacked various resources. Even high-quality soul bones could be purchased with sufficient wealth or exchanged using high-grade soul tools.
Brilliant golden light enveloped the entire arena. Strange patterns around the golden pupils of his Golden Eyes flowed with light. Xu Zihuang finally used his third soul skill for the first time in this All-Continent Youth Soul Master Competition.
Time Disorder!
Time on the competition stage seemed to completely freeze, with only Xu Zihuang unaffected. His figure flashed, dodging Xiao Hongchen's attack, then his right leg swept sideways into Xiao Hongchen's waist.
The effect of Time Disorder was lifted. Xiao Hongchen was instantly sent flying, crashing heavily into the white protective shield surrounding the competition stage.
"Pfft—"
A mouthful of blood sprayed from Xiao Hongchen's mouth. He gripped the golden spear tightly again to support himself. The three feet of dark golden edge at the spear tip burst forth, and the spear sank more than half its length into the titanium alloy foundation. This showed just how sharp it was.
Xiao Hongchen's injuries were not serious, but the look in his eyes at this moment was extremely terrifying. He could accept his own defeat, but he could not accept himself in this state.
He of course, knew that Yu Tianhuang had not used his full strength from beginning to end.
"I don't need your pity, and I don't need you to hold back!" Xiao Hongchen roared furiously. Both hands gripped the spear shaft. Under his full urging, a dark golden phantom shot out from the crack where the spear tip had pierced, instantly arriving in front of Xu Zihuang.
The entire foundation of the competition stage was split in two by this dark golden phantom. The cut surface was mirror-smooth.
"You and I both carry our respective glories. Use your full strength. Even if I lose, I want to lose with dignity!"
Xiao Hongchen charged toward Xu Zihuang again. While in mid-air, his right leg burst with dazzling earthy-yellow light. His toes stomped down, and crisscrossing yellow cracks appeared in the space beneath his right foot.
With his body as the center, a diameter of a hundred meters of space began to shake violently.
Right leg bone skill — Shockwave!
Xiao Hongchen's body twisted in mid-air, the spear in his hand charged up and swept horizontally.
Xu Zihuang looked at Xiao Hongchen with an indifferent expression. The five black and one red soul rings around him slowly pulsed. His first soul ring shone, and a pleasant whale song rang out, clearing the negative effects brought by Xiao Hongchen's right leg bone skill, Shockwave.
Ever since the Silver-scaled White Whale had become his soul spirit, Xu Zihuang could now use the first soul skill, White Whale's Chant, without needing its true body to manifest.
Under Xiao Hongchen's extremely shocked gaze, three more soul rings rose from beneath Xu Zihuang's feet.
Three blood-red soul rings!
At this moment, the number of soul rings around Xu Zihuang was astonishingly nine!
Five black and four red!
The entire arena fell silent. On the rostrum, both Jing Hongchen and Zhongli Wu stood up at the same time.
A purple-golden Thunder God's Spear appeared in Xu Zihuang's grasp. With just a seemingly casual wave, he severed the golden spear that Xiao Hongchen had condensed using his own martial soul ability.
The purple-golden spear glow lingered in the air without dissipating.
By severing this golden spear, Xu Zihuang had effectively severed Xiao Hongchen's third leg. With his martial soul origin damaged, Xiao Hongchen's face instantly turned deathly pale, his aura weakening dramatically. In his fading consciousness, Xu Zihuang's calm voice reached his ears.
"There is no pity, nor did I hold back. It's simply that you are not qualified to be considered my opponent."
As if stating a fact, Xu Zihuang's voice carried no fluctuation whatsoever.
The entire arena remained silent for a long time before erupting into an uproar once again.
"Five black, four red?! Nine soul rings?!"
"Nine-ring Titled Douluo?!"
"How is this possible?!"
"..."
Indestructible Douluo Zheng Zhan was also immersed in this shock and only slowly withdrew his Indestructible Divine Shield after a long while, landing beside Xu Zihuang.
Whether intentional or not, the spear tip of the Thunder God's Spear that Xu Zihuang held slanted precisely pointed toward the center of the rostrum. More accurately, it was pointing at Xu Tianran.
Xu Tianran narrowed his eyes slightly, his face expressionless, making it impossible to discern his thoughts.
At this moment, the Thunder God's Spear in Xu Zihuang's hand and the terrifying nine soul rings around him also dissipated. It seemed the earlier action had merely been unintentional.
Zheng Zhan looked at Xu Zihuang with a complicated expression. His Indestructible Divine Shield did not block sound. Although Yu Tianhuang's voice had not been loud earlier, he had clearly heard those arrogant yet seemingly natural words.
In the current era, Yu Tianhuang was undoubtedly the number one among the younger generation of soul masters!
What followed was another wave of envy and solemnity. Why wasn't such a genius from their Sun Moon Empire?
Once Yu Tianhuang grew up, the Sun Moon Empire would likely have to live under his shadow for the next several hundred years.
Zheng Zhan's emotions were unconsciously stirred. He loudly announced:
"Round-robin match, first battle: Shrek Academy versus Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, victory to Shrek Academy!"
The entire arena boiled over. However, only a very small number of people cheered for Xu Zihuang. The vast majority of the Sun Moon Empire's citizens, like this Indestructible Douluo, felt quite heavy-hearted.
Yet the discussions were endless and varied.
In an inconspicuous corner of the spectator stands.
An old man with white hair and sunken eye sockets glinted with a light flash through them. A trace of a gratified smile appeared in his eyes.
"This little fellow has truly brought us an enormous surprise. Tian'er's judgment was indeed correct. With him protecting me in the future, I can finally rest easy. So, do you regret sending him to Shrek Academy now? He originally should have been the perfect successor for the next generation Sect Master of your Heavenly Dragon Sect."
The last two sentences were directed at another old man with a cold and stern face standing beside him. This man had deep eyes and a vigorous spirit, showing no sign of old age. He only replied meaningfully:
"The Heavenly Dragon Sect is not where he belongs."
"Hmm?"
Among the crowd of spectators, there was another tall old man blended in. The old man wore a bamboo hat, and beneath the hat was an expression full of anger and frustration.
"Back then, this old man should have fought Shrek Academy tooth and nail to bring this little fellow back to the sect! Dragon God Douluo? Hmph!"
A faint green light flashed through the depths of his eyes.
"If it weren't for the current unstable situation on the continent, this Sect Master…"
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