Peerless: Gu Master Transforms Douluo.

Shrek Academy versus Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy.

Although the people of the Sun Moon Empire all looked triumphant, as if they had finally turned the tables and won.

But the person involved was not so optimistic.

Xiao Hongchen knew perfectly well that compared to Shrek Academy's star-studded lineup, their biggest advantage was the Red Dust Affection Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

The question is whether this advantage can be successfully utilized in team fights.

Even someone as proud as him lacked that confidence.

If it were the Xiao Hongchen of the past, he would have been able to say something like, "No one can lead the Sun Moon Empire in the field of soul tool research."

But now he has overcome his arrogance and impetuosity.

Just as Huo Yuhao once said, a true master always has the heart of a student.

After studying as an exchange student at Shrek Academy, Xiao Hongchen, who had broadened his horizons, knew that Shrek Academy was not a wasteland in the field of soul tool research.

In particular, the Spirit Pagoda, which has a background with ferocious beasts, has developed a groundbreaking technology called Spirit Forging based on Soul Tools. It has even applied thousand-forged or spirit-forged metals to the production of Soul Tools.

Its name is Battle Armor!

Imagine a soul tool that can amplify a soul master's talents and enhance their soul power, attack, defense, speed, and other abilities.

This is the foundation for Soul Masters to fight beyond their level!
This allows the top-tier soul bone to function effectively.

It's not that Xiao Hongchen is engaging in mental exhaustion here, scaring himself.

This is an evaluation from Jing Hongchen, a ninth-level Soul Master.

The Spirit Pagoda's battle armor technology and spirit-forging techniques are a game-changer for the current soul tool system.

In particular, spirit-forging can transform ordinary metals into higher-quality metals through human effort, and can even imbue metals with spirituality through forging.

This is nothing short of a miracle, a way to turn the rotten into the magical. Once it can be popularized, it will surely bring about a groundbreaking leap forward in the field of soul tools!

This is why the Hongchen family, and even the entire Mingde Hall, sided with the Spirit Transmission Tower.

Even level nine soul masters are extremely envious of spirit forging, which is the path to becoming a level ten soul master that they have been pursuing all their lives!
In fact, the idea of ​​combining humanoid soul tools with the martial soul of a soul master was not unheard of in Mingde Hall, where genius soul masters gathered.

Being half a step ahead is genius, being a full step ahead is madness!

Even in the Sun and Moon Empire, which has the largest reserves of rare metals, this level of metal is a strategic resource.

Naturally formed spiritual metals are extremely rare and hard to come by. Mingdetang has accumulated only a few kilograms of them over thousands of years.

Even if a level nine soul master intervenes, it is very difficult to obtain a quota of spiritual metals.

Even the thousand-refined metals that have just begun to develop spirituality are very limited in the Sun and Moon Empire.

Naturally formed, highly refined metals are generally only found in top-tier metal veins such as Sun Essence Gold.

Using them to manufacture low-level soul tools is like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

A violent thing!
Mingde Hall certainly knows that using high-quality metal to make soul tools is definitely better and stronger.

But even a skilled cook can't cook without rice.

In fact, the most cutting-edge soul guidance technology of Mingde Hall includes humanoid soul guidance devices.

However, after thousands of years of research, they still did not have a mature result, and finally concluded that they had to focus their research on giant mechs.

The humanoid soul tools that Soul Masters use are currently limited to exoskeleton soul tools, and their development prospects are predictable.

Unexpectedly, in the very area that Mingde Hall was so proud of, they were directly annihilated by the Spirit Pagoda.

This technology also alarmed Kong Deming.

He was still in seclusion, considering how to complete the fusion of his own martial soul and soul tool, and researching the future of a level 10 soul master. For this, he did not hesitate to use his most treasured spiritual metal resources.

As a result, the Spirit Pagoda shockingly unleashed its Battle Armor Technology.

That's incredibly powerful, it's absolutely astonishing!

Not to mention the spirit forging technology that can mass-produce spirit metals.

The value of this technology is no less than that of the Ultimate Douluo discovering the path to godhood!

Thus, Kong Deming, the strongest soul master of the Sun Moon Empire and the head of the Sun Moon Empire's Hall of Worship, who possessed one-quarter royal blood and was loyal to the royal family, directly severed ties with Xu Tianran, the current emperor of the Sun Moon Empire.

As a conservative, he said that Jing Hongchen, as a radical, was too conservative.

With such an opportunity before us, we must seize it!

Eager to make progress, Kong Deming contacted Huo Yuhao directly through Jing Hongchen, revealing all the information he knew about Xu Tianran's crazy plans.

For the greater good!

Kong Deming will pursue this hope and future of the soul tool at all costs, even if the road is full of thorns.

Moreover, Kong Deming had long been unhappy with Xu Tianran's cooperation with the Holy Spirit Cult, seeing it as a recipe for disaster.

Indecisiveness leads to disaster.

If we continue to stay on the broken ship of the Sun and Moon Royal Family, there will definitely be no ship to carry Mingde Hall in the future new era of soul tools.

This was something Kong Deming, who had dedicated his life to the field of soul tools, could not accept. He could have tolerated the darkness if he had never seen the light.

Therefore, under the call of Jing Hongchen and Kong Deming, Mingdetang is now standing by and watching the actions of the Sun and Moon Royal Family.

They stated that Mingdetang's position has always been objective and neutral.

Xu Tianran not only cooperated with the Holy Spirit Cult, but also murdered the emperor to seize the throne. He is despicable, shameless, and of illegitimate origin, so he will not receive any help from the Mingde Hall.

The words of Mingdetang also subtly encouraged the Spirit Pagoda to join forces with Shrek Academy to assassinate Xu Tianran.

Of course, Xiao Hongchen knows nothing about all of this yet.

All he knew was that his fight against Shrek might result in a plane crash.

Xiao Hongchen has always been a staunch supporter of the multi-turret strategy.

More is better, bigger is more beautiful!
Caliber is justice, range is truth!
If one round of firepower isn't enough, then let's do ten more!

With the Three-Legged Golden Toad Martial Soul, which is extremely well-suited to soul tools, Xiao Hongchen has the resources to achieve this.

He always felt that time was on their side, and that their lineup for the Soul Master Competition was undisputed to be the best among all the teams that had ever participated in the Imperial Tournament.

I will definitely lead my team to eliminate Shrek Academy, overcome this obstacle, win the Soul Master Competition, and become a hero admired by the whole country!

It is our inescapable duty to restore the glory of the sun and moon!
Unfortunately, he encountered Huo Yuhao in the last Soul Master Competition.

When the other party struck with a knife, Xiao Hongchen immediately became obedient.

Five years have passed, and in this year's Soul Master Tournament, Xiao Hongchen knows with a grain of salt that the championship is not something his Sun Moon Team can hope to win.

The package has already been reserved by the Spirit Pagoda.

It can only be said that fate was on his side; destiny was not on his side.

As for today's opponent, Shrek, they are also very troublesome.

If you were to ask Xiao Hongchen which team he least wanted to face in this tournament, the first one would be the mysterious and powerful Spirit Tower team.

Then there's Shrek.

It wouldn't matter if Xiao Hongchen were to fight the Holy Spirit Cult or the Body Sect.

But they were placed in the same half of the bracket as Shrek.

There is a history of grievances between the two sides.

This put immense pressure on Xiao Hongchen, who was the team leader.

Given the close relationship between Shrek Academy and the Spirit Pagoda, Xiao Hongchen simply couldn't believe that any Shrek Academy member wouldn't possess several pieces of battle armor. After all, even his own sister had obtained a level-seven soul-guided sword forged from thousand-refined metal from Huo Yuhao, which she named the Sihao Sword.

Although it cannot be directly integrated into a Soul Master's body like a Battle Armor, it allows for seamless control and intuitive communication, and can even enhance the effects of Meng Hongchen's Ice Toad Toxin, making it far superior to a normal Level 7 Soul Tool.

With the blessing of this battle armor, Meng Hongchen's strength reached the level of Soul Saint even without the assistance of her soul spirit. Her outstanding performance in this Soul Master Competition was inseparable from the help of this sword.

Although Shrek Academy has never used battle armor in previous matches, this is something that cannot be ignored.

The powerful figure behind the Spirit Pagoda...

Capital, you've won.

Xiao Hongchen felt that this thing should be banned like a fixed soul tool.

The power of a fixed-mount soul tool has nothing to do with the user. Once it is permitted to be used, someone might take out a level seven or even level eight fixed-mount soul cannon and use it to achieve equality among all beings.

While battle armor isn't as overpowered as a fixed soul tool, it's undoubtedly far superior to conventional soul tools that are driven by soul power and whose power is limited by the user's own soul power level.

A Soul Emperor with a powerful Martial Soul can reach the strength of a Soul Saint with the amplification of a Battle Armor, and may even briefly use the True Form of the Martial Soul.

If a team of Soul Emperors all did this, wouldn't that be equivalent to seven Soul Saints?
That makes it completely impossible to fight.

If only we could make a gentleman's agreement with Shrek.

Ideally, the outcome should be decided directly through team battles.

Xiao Hongchen assured that he would not rely on the Crimson Gold Lion's soul spirit for help, and would only use soul-guided weapon tactics.

But he couldn't bring himself to discuss it with the Shrek captain.

In Meng Hongchen's words, he's stubborn as a mule.

But since it was my older brother's decision, what could I do but spoil him?

Anyway, she didn't care about winning or losing in the end.

If you don't win the final championship, what's the difference between being in the semifinals and the runner-up?
Even Meng Hongchen harbored a dark thought.

That means losing to Shrek Academy sooner so I can go find Huo Yuhao.

Recently, due to the Soul Master Competition, she hasn't been able to visit Yuhao for a long time.

Jing Hongchen didn't actually have high expectations for his team.

This year's Soul Master Competition is a real battleground.

In particular, Xu Tianran is about to go to war on behalf of the Sun Moon Empire and the Douluo Three Kingdoms. If the Sun Moon Team and Shrek Academy start fighting now, and Xu Tianran becomes the first shot to ignite the war, that is definitely something he doesn't want to see.

Therefore, Jing Hongchen is very Buddhist.

He also specifically instructed his grandchildren that friendship comes first, competition second, and that they must not cause any deaths.

The same applies to Shrek Academy.

Although Shrek Academy used to uphold the idea of ​​eternal honor, this concept has gradually faded after Huo Yuhao became the master of the Sea God Pavilion.

With the addition of the Spirit Pagoda, Shrek Academy and his group no longer felt pressured to win the championship.

Moreover, as the strongest members of the Shrek team, BeiBei and Xu SanShi actually have a pretty good relationship with Xiao HongChen; they became friends after a fight, you know.

During that guy's two and a half years of exchange studies, it was Beibei and Xu Sanshi who often sparred with the Hongchen siblings.

Over time, the relationship improved.

Not to mention that the relationship between Meng Hongchen and Huo Yuhao is clearly unusual.

Everyone knows what I mean.

Therefore, it appears to be a situation of mutual resentment.

In reality, the two teams won't fight to the death.

Yan Shaozhe, the teacher in charge, gave the Shrek Academy group some instructions in advance, mainly to remind those who might be too rough with their attacks.

"The academy has provided each of you with three invincible shields through the Spirit Pagoda. Don't hesitate to use them when needed; they're for saving your lives."

"Although Sun Moon Royal Academy and Shrek Academy are sworn enemies, we have now reached a cooperation agreement with Mingde Hall. This is their home ground, and we are here to exchange skills and knowledge. We must not go out of our way to kill people."

"Of course, we don't cause trouble, but we're not afraid of trouble either. If the other side has murderous intent, we'll just take them back. Don't worry about the referee being biased..."

The Shrek members nodded in understanding.

They instinctively looked at the team leader, Bei Bei. In this year's Soul Master Competition, only Bei Bei had killed someone, but he had killed an evil Soul Master.

He deserves to be killed! He should be killed!

Seeing this, Beibei smiled innocently.

He's not someone who indiscriminately kills innocent people.

Why are you staring at him like that?

……

The first match of the semi-finals began amidst great anticipation.

Will Shrek Academy continue its glory, or will Team Sun and Moon emerge from the clouds?
The audience is very much looking forward to it.

They want to see rivers of blood!
Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen walked side by side, heading straight for the competition area.

Looking at Xiao Hongchen's gloomy expression, Meng Hongchen hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help but say, "How about I go talk to Shrek Academy and we decide to have a team battle to decide the outcome?"

"Hmm?" Xiao Hongchen belatedly came to his senses and shook his head, saying, "There's no need for that. Being cowardly before the battle is not my style."

"This is a tactic, isn't it?"

Meng Hongchen rolled her eyes and said helplessly, "If Shrek Academy doesn't play by the rules and goes all in on the individual competition, we'll definitely suffer."

This is the drawback of this year's Soul Master Competition.

In the later stages of the previous Soul Master Tournament, the three types of matches—2-2-3, team battles, and individual matches—were played consecutively, with each match being a best-of-three series.

However, this year's Soul Master Competition only has individual and team competitions, and the outcome depends more on individual strength.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hongchen's eyes widened in surprise. "Do you really think we can't make it to the team competition? Even if only the two of us are left, we still have the Martial Soul Fusion Skill. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"That's true..."

Meng Hongchen pursed her lips, then whispered, "But didn't Grandpa tell us to be careful and admit defeat if things didn't look right?"

"Admit defeat?"

Xiao Hongchen's face darkened, and he couldn't help but retort, "I think it's clearly you who doesn't want to fight and just wants to finish this quickly so you can go find Huo Yuhao, right?"

"May I?"

Meng Hongchen's eyes lit up, her tone full of surprise.

"It's okay!"

Xiao Hongchen wanted to curse his sister for her lack of fighting spirit, but he held back when he thought of his grandfather's instructions and the importance of spirit forging to Mingde Hall.

"Forget about that. You'll be the last one to go up in the individual elimination rounds. The key is in the subsequent team battles, so remember not to let us down."

"Okay..."

Meng Hongchen sighed softly, indicating that she understood.

Looks like I won't be able to slack off this time.

She still wanted to save her energy for a big fight with Yuhao.

Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to pull ourselves together and work hard. (End of Chapter)