Douluo Jueshi: Who let him join Shrek!

Chapter 657 Horrifying, one kick cripples the opponent!
After seeing that Mingjiang had completed the creation of the armor's soul tool, everyone's attention was focused on this magnificent suit of armor.

However, as a top-tier level nine soul master, Ye Yulin had seen and experienced many things. Although he was also very excited, while everyone else was still in shock, he had already begun the next steps.

"Next, we will conduct a skills test. In the creation of soul tools, especially the creation of the core magic array, specialized skills are extremely important. Only by possessing these skills can a soul tool master reach the pinnacle in soul tool creation."

Next, you will need to complete some skills within a set time. The last person to finish will be eliminated.

Ye Yulin barely suppressed her excitement and spoke according to the competition rules.

Soon, a tray was presented to each Soul Master.

The tray is square with nine compartments. In each compartment is a square piece of rare metal.

The nine rare metals were all different colors, and the participating Soul Masters naturally recognized what these metals were.

Mingjiang glanced at the rare metals but paid them no further attention.

Faced with absolute strength, these fancy competition rules are actually useless.

"To ensure the fairness of the skills assessment, none of you can use your own carving knives; you must use the one on the side of the tray."

What you need to do is to complete the creation techniques of nine core magic arrays on these nine pieces of metal in front of you. The first piece: drill thirty holes; the second piece: create fifty evenly spaced, winding arcs; the third piece: a windmill pattern; the fourth piece…

As Ye Yulin made her request, the expressions of all the participating Soul Masters began to turn somewhat unpleasant.

Nine techniques, from easy to difficult, but everyone should at least know some of them. However, when they looked at the rare metal in front of them, their expressions turned grim.

Different rare metals are suited for different tasks. The rare metals in front of them, however, are precisely the ones unsuitable for performing these skills.

For example, the first piece of extremely hard rare metal required drilling thirty holes. That was incredibly difficult!
They couldn't use their own carving knives yet, only that ordinary carving knife made of common steel. How much soul power would it take to complete this?

And that goes without saying. They're going to use the softest, rarest metal to complete the most intricate carving techniques!
No wonder the head referee warned them from the beginning that the skills assessment wouldn't be easy. It really is incredibly difficult!
Ye Yulin didn't care what they thought. After announcing the rules of the competition, she didn't even repeat them, but shouted:
"Skills assessment, begin. You have fifteen minutes to complete the entire assessment. If no one completes all the skills at the end, the ranking will be based on the number of skills completed. Begin."

When the word "begin" was uttered, Ye Yulin glanced at Mingjiang, thinking he would reveal his identity at that moment.

After all, during the process of making the soul tool just now, any high-level soul master present noticed something was wrong. His identity could be said to be semi-public, and he was only wearing that mask to fool the audience.

However, to Ye Yulin's surprise, Mingjiang was still wearing a mask and did not reveal his identity at all.

Even after he shouted "start," Mingjiang immediately began the assessment.

The skills assessment is very difficult, but that's relative to the other contestants.

For Mingjiang, even without the Divine Blade of Light, his current cultivation level and understanding of rare metals would make completing the skill test for these nine metals a piece of cake.

Watching Mingjiang earnestly complete the assessment with the ordinary carving knife provided by the competition organizers, the seven judges sitting on the judges' table could only follow along with his antics.

Since Mingjiang doesn't want to make it public, then so be it.

In any case, Mingjiang fully complied with the rules of this competition, and there was no cheating involved.

Moreover, since Mingjiang is the youngest level nine soul master in the Sun Moon Empire, he did not announce it himself. If these people were to expose it, wouldn't that offend people?
Having lived for so many years, these high-level soul masters aren't fools; naturally, they wouldn't do something so thankless and exhausting.

On Xishui Alliance's side, Nangong Wan wanted to interrupt the match.

After all, their goal in this competition is to win the championship and thus obtain the smuggling rights for rare metals.

With Mingjiang doing this, the championship will undoubtedly go to the Aodu Chamber of Commerce.

The Aodu Chamber of Commerce represents the military of the Sun Moon Empire. Even if they are evil soul masters, they cannot turn against the military.

After all, the military is an absolutely indispensable force for Xu Tianran's goal of unifying the continent!
However, interrupting the match at this time would be risky, as the other two underground forces were not to be trifled with, especially since there were seven level eight and nine Soul Masters on the stage, and even the Starry Sky Douluo Ye Yulin was present.

They are evil spirit masters themselves, and if they cause trouble in the competition, even Xu Tianran might not be able to control them.

Forcibly interrupting the match at this point would be counterproductive. Therefore, Nangong Wan and the Holy Spirit Cult elders around him restrained themselves.

On the field, Mingjiang was the fastest among the nine contestants.

Even though he consumed a lot of his soul power while making the armor set, he is now approaching the cultivation level of a Title Douluo!
With a cultivation level more than 20 levels higher than others, and a Soul Master level two or three levels higher, Mingjiang's speed simply couldn't be slowed down.

Soon, Mingjiang completed the production of the skills assessment.

Next up was the girl in yellow from the Ordinary Alliance, and the third was a boy from the Evening Water Alliance.

In contrast, Xi Shui Meng's best contestant was at the bottom of the entire skills assessment, which made Nan Gong Wan feel extremely frustrated.

If Tang Si and Tang Wu hadn't stood them up, even if Xi Shui Alliance didn't win the championship, they wouldn't have been overshadowed by Ping Fan Alliance!
But now, Tang Si and Tang Wu seem to have vanished into thin air. They have been searching for them with all their might, but they still can't find them.

On the Aodu Chamber of Commerce side, apart from Mingjiang who was far ahead, the other two contestants were at the bottom, but An Litong was still very happy.

One Mingjiang is enough!
For the other two, participation is the most important thing.

"Time's up!"

The moment the last grain of sand rolled down the hourglass, Ye Yulin finished her skills assessment.

Nine people participated in the skills assessment; five completed it, and four did not.

After the judges stepped forward to make their judgments, the person with the lowest completion rate among the four who did not complete the task was eliminated.

Unsurprisingly, it was the representative of the Aodu Chamber of Commerce who was eliminated.

Besides Mingjiang, who came in first place, the other person to qualify was third from the bottom.

This also means that the two players from the Aodu Chamber of Commerce will not face each other in the knockout stage.

Of course, it doesn't matter if we run into each other, this is the Mingjiang River! We can just admit defeat, there's no point in fighting.

"Take a five-minute break. The elimination rounds will begin in five minutes," Ye Yulin said in a deep voice.

A large number of staff rushed onto the competition stage and collected the soul-guiding crafting tables and various scattered materials.

The nine people representing the three major forces also stepped down from the stage one after another and returned to the rest area for a short rest.

Mingjiang is ranked first, and he will be facing the people from the Xishui Alliance. After all, they were temporarily brought in to fill in, so their strength is naturally not that great.

There's no particular order of appearance; the players will simply play in the order of their previous rankings.

Those who go first get to rest first, so there's nothing unfair about it. They also have an additional five-minute break.

When Mingjiang returned to the rest area, An Litong immediately stood up to greet him.

Even if he is an eight-ring Soul Douluo level powerhouse, even if he is the president of the Aodu Chamber of Commerce, in front of Ming Jiang, his status is really nothing.

In terms of cultivation level, Mingjiang is at the same level as him, but in terms of strength and status, Mingjiang is at least two levels above him!
"deep"

An Litong subconsciously wanted to say Mingjiang's name, but she saw a pair of cold eyes behind Mingjiang's mask.

"Uh, you're so unlucky." Only after hearing An Litong change his address did Mingjiang withdraw his cold gaze.

What is this called?
This is what it means: even if you recognize me, I won't admit it! If I don't admit it, I can continue frying fish with a clear conscience!

Well, after all, he is a level nine Soul Master. If he took off his mask, he would feel a little ashamed.

But as long as I don't take off my mask, I'm just a contestant!

"I don't need to say anything else. I just hope that your Aodu Chamber of Commerce can fulfill all the promises you have made. Don't ask any more questions. You will know in the future."

Mingjiang's voice was low and deep, as if he were talking about something secret.

An Litong was startled.

We'll find out later. Could it be that Crown Prince Xu Tianran is trying to win over the Aodu Chamber of Commerce?

Mingjiang didn't care what An Litong thought. He came here only to win the championship, collect money and rare metals, and also to take the Sun and Moon Divine Needles set.

He didn't care what those underground forces thought or what those level nine soul masters thought.

He took out a baby bottle and began to recover his soul power.

It's not that he doesn't have enough soul power right now; his opponents are just some Soul Emperors, and their soul tools are at most level seven, which he can easily defeat with one hand.

But the main body is about to reach a critical moment. Even if the main body doesn't make specific arrangements for him as an avatar, he must always maintain a good state so as not to be unable to help when the time comes.

"Break time is over. The first and eighth place finishers from the previous skills challenge will now take the stage."

The host's voice rang out on the stage.

Starry Sky Douluo Ye Yulin stood in the center of the arena as the chief referee. He wasn't supposed to be there, but he really wanted to see Mingjiang use the armor set up close, so he took it upon himself to be the referee.

Mingjiang waved his hand and threw the newly completed armor set onto the competition stage!
The next second, his figure disappeared into the rest area.

"Armor fusion!"

A mechanical voice emanated from the magnificent armor, its majestic tone reverberating throughout the entire competition area, leaving Ye Yulin on the competition stage stunned.

This design
To be honest, although the voice was a bit abrupt, it actually sounded quite powerful! It had a strange sense of oppression.

As the mechanical sound began, Mingjiang's figure disappeared into the armor without anyone noticing.

His entire body was covered in armor, and the joints of the armor set were covered by a golden soul power shield, making the entire armor form a whole.

A muffled sound rang out the instant the object landed on the competition platform.

Meanwhile, the contestants from the Xishui Alliance also took to the stage.

Unlike Mingjiang's grand entrance, this guy was very nervous and even resistant after he came on stage.

The soul tool he created was a scythe-shaped soul tool, somewhat resembling the legendary Grim Reaper's scythe.

But at this moment, his hand holding the sickle trembled slightly.

He was already a level six Soul Master, so even if he was blind, he knew he was no match for A-Shuai.

That armor has five soul bones embedded in it!
The value of these five soul bones alone far surpasses that of the scythe in his hand!

But there was nothing he could do; after all, he represented the Xishui Alliance.

Ye Yulin looked at the representatives of Mingjiang and Xishui Alliance and said in a deep voice, "Both sides, state your names and prepare for battle. I want to emphasize that this match is a fight to the death; it continues until one side concedes defeat or is rendered unable to fight. If you feel you cannot defeat your opponent, speak up sooner rather than later to avoid injury."

"Ah Shai."

Mingjiang's voice was very calm.

"Xi Shui Alliance, Zhang Yiming."

"Begin." Ye Yulin suddenly rose into the air, announcing the start of the match.

This is not a friendly competition like the All-Continent Youth Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament, but a real life-or-death struggle.

This is an underground competition, where there aren't as many rules and protective measures.

Zhang Yiming lightly touched the ground with his toes and sped off towards the Mingjiang River.

Six spirit rings—two yellow, three purple, and one black—flashed around his body! He had reached the Soul Emperor level!

Three moves! I'll only fight three moves, then I'll immediately admit defeat!

Zhang Yiming thought to himself.

He knew he was no match for A-Shuai, but he couldn't just give up right away, as that would embarrass the Xi Shui Alliance and ruin his own future.

After striking three times, one can feign serious injury and then stop.

From a rational perspective, this approach is not wrong and can minimize the harm to oneself.

But he overlooked one thing.

He might not even last three moves!

Seeing Zhang Yiming charging towards him, Mingjiang stood there motionless, his pure black scythe, adorned with a skull core magic circle, radiating an incomparably sharp light.

Only when the opponent rushed in front of him did Mingjiang infuse his soul power into the armor.

As soul power was infused, the armor on his right leg flashed with a dazzling light.

Immediately afterwards, a huge phantom of a savage elephant appeared behind Mingjiang.

The Savage Elephant is an extremely powerful soul beast that lives in the northern plains of the Star Luo Empire.

A five-thousand-year-old savage elephant can compete with a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast in terms of strength, and even a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast may not be able to compare!

The soul bone embedded in the right leg of the armor belongs to this kind of soul beast.

"Roar!"

With a roar, the phantom of the savage elephant transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the right leg armor.

Then, Mingjiang quickly raised his foot and kicked out at Zhang Yiming who was rushing towards him!
The terrifying force seemed to act on Zhang Yiming from a distance. The moment Mingjiang raised his foot, Zhang Yiming felt a huge threat, but before he could react, the force had already acted on him.

"puff!"

A mouthful of blood, mixed with chunks that looked like fragments of internal organs, spurted out of Zhang Yiming's mouth. His face quickly turned pale, and his entire being became weak.

With just one kick, a level six Soul Master with the cultivation of a six-ring Soul Emperor was severely injured!
(End of this chapter)