Douluo Continent: Ink Bamboo as a Cauldron to Break Through Ten Thousand Heavens

Chen Cheng tapped the table and continued:

"You don't need to be too anxious. Our Tang Sect may lack other things right now, but the Tang Sect's unique skills we've taught you will give you the basic ability to protect yourself. The mechanical techniques recorded in 'One Hundred Solutions to Hidden Weapons' combined with soul tools will also give you unique abilities, making your soul tool skills stand out. From now on, you can choose your own path. Even if you're not exceptionally talented in soul master cultivation, if you can become a high-level soul master, your future will be limitless. After all, the future belongs to soul masters, and soul tools are bound to be the trend. Actually, to be honest, in my opinion, a great war might break out within the next ten years, and this time, the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool strength will severely shock the three great empires..."

Chu Chen, who was standing to the side, was a little stunned. He originally thought that Chen Cheng was someone who devoted himself to theory and cultivation every day, but he did not expect that he would have his own unique insights into the situation on the continent. He also did not expect that someone who could stand out in Shrek Academy with his talent in martial soul could say something that valued soul tools so much.

In this way, Chu Chen felt even more the effort Chen Cheng had put into him. He glanced back at Huo Yuhao and recalled Chen Cheng's earlier statement that they were all orphans. For a moment, he was so moved that he didn't know what to say...

It wasn't until Huo Yuhao, with a somewhat relaxed tone, said that he had lost track of time while meditating, that the three of them ended their evening in the experimental area. Chen Cheng specifically explained the training arrangements for the next morning to the two of them, and then the three parted ways.

The next day, the new student assessment site.

"There are a lot of people here today, especially in the best seats. I see they've reserved two of the best spots. It seems like someone important from the academy is coming to watch the competition. I think it was Dean Yan in the original story? These people are probably here to find talented students, right? After all, the champion will be decided this afternoon, and as long as they don't behave too outrageously, they'll basically get a spot as a core disciple."

Chen Cheng was lost in thought when a large group of people walked up to the stands. Leading the way was Yan Shaozhe, the dean of the Martial Soul Department at the world's number one Soul Master Academy. He held a position equal to that of a national emperor, representing absolute strength and belonging to the top combat force across the entire continent! Therefore, his appearance was like being surrounded by stars, and many students' eyes lit up after hearing his introduction.

"He's got quite a reputation for being a miser. If I hadn't read the original novel, known his long history of womanizing, and frequently interacted with him, knowing his stingy nature, I might have admired him like the other students. But he's definitely powerful. The original novel mentioned that his Bright Phoenix Martial Soul's attributes were already close to the Ultimate Light level? He should be at the level of a level 95 Super Douluo now. Wait, isn't that white-robed elder next to him the one Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong encountered when Ma Xiaotiao captured them? I remember the original novel didn't describe Huo Yuhao's encounter with that elder in detail; it was setting the stage for Yan Shaozhe. But when we met him, Yan Shaozhe wasn't there. He probably saw me and didn't want me to take advantage of him?"

Chen Cheng shifted his gaze from the stands to the competition field. The students were already excited by Yan Shaozhe's arrival, and seeing him personally come to the field to draw lots for them, the boys and girls were speechless with excitement.

"What's all the excitement about? This means the dean is going to rig the lottery himself! Others may not know his personality, but do you think I don't? He's the kind of person who'd split a copper coin in half to make the most of it. If he says he didn't pull some strings, I absolutely refuse to believe it!"

The draw results showed that Huo Yuhao's team and Dai Huabin's team were not drawn together. This means that if they both win in their respective groups, the champion will be decided in the afternoon's matches.

However, this draw result further solidified Chen Cheng's earlier guess. From the very beginning, after Chen Cheng's reminder, Director Du had been paying close attention to Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's spirit fusion. To this end, he even went so far as to have their team face teams of Soul Masters for two consecutive days, turning all the originally seeded players into stepping stones. After all, given the tactical level Huo Yuhao had been trained to possess, ordinary players would have absolutely no chance of defeating their team. It was very likely that they wouldn't see spirit fusion until the quarterfinals or later. And now, not wanting Huo Yuhao's team to directly face Dai Huabin's team was probably also to let their spirit fusion techniques clash. After all, if the morning's match had the potential to directly pit spirit fusion against each other, regardless of who won, it would be difficult to say whether they could unleash their full potential in the afternoon.

While Chen Cheng was still lost in thought, Yan Shaozhe had already walked up to the stands. After greeting the white-robed old man next to him, the two of them turned their attention to the competition.

This time, Huo Yuhao and his group did not encounter Cao Jinxuan's team again. After exchanging names, Chen Cheng could not find the names of the three boys in the original work.

"So it seems Dai Huabin's group is about to run into them? Theoretically speaking, if Huo Yuhao hadn't directly combined Hao Dong's power to instantly kill Cao Jinxuan in the original story, this Time Martial Soul, whose rarity is comparable to the Goddess of Light Butterfly, could have caused Huo Yuhao and his group considerable trouble. Add to that Zhou Sichen, a summoner, and Long Xiangyue, an agility-based attacker, and they would indeed be a formidable team in a normal fight. It seems Dai Huabin's group will be in quite a bit of trouble. However, he is still a three-ring Soul Master. Considering his ability to tear apart thousand-year-old Soul Beasts later on, he could easily handle Zhou Sichen's two summons by himself. So there's not much to see."

"The match begins!"

The match on Huo Yuhao's side began, and both sides released their martial souls as usual. However, strangely, the three people on the other side stood shoulder to shoulder and then squatted down.

Then two irregularly shaped shields appeared above them, completely enveloping the three people who were crouching together.

  

"Huh? The tortoise-style fighting method? I admit, I was a bit too loud when I said food-type Soul Masters were useless. If a food-type Soul Master really teams up with two defense-type Soul Masters, and they keep replenishing the Soul Power of the student responsible for defense using this fighting method, they might actually be able to wear down the opponent and achieve some results. However, since they've managed to fight their way this far, it's definitely not that simple!"

On the field, Huo Yuhao fell into a rare silence. Usually, both sides would approach each other immediately at the start, with the roles of the three clearly defined. Then, using their natural advantage of mental detection, they would direct Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao to divide the battlefield, complicating the situation, and then coordinating their efforts to change the course of the battle. But now, the opposing team had simply cowered in place from the very beginning, leaving Huo Yuhao somewhat bewildered.

However, no matter what, Huo Yuhao and his two companions had received special training from Chen Cheng on all sorts of wild ideas. After a brief moment of distraction and reflection, they began to take action.

Huo Yuhao remained standing behind Wang Dong, the two walking side by side, while Xiao Xiao kept a distance from them, lagging behind them on one side, but also ensuring that Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were always within her martial soul's range.

As Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong slowly approached the two shields, the three on the other side could no longer hold back. In an instant, both shields opened simultaneously, the person in the middle sprang up, his two spirit rings shone brightly, and his whole body transformed into a pitch-black figure. A cold light was about to arrive, which was none other than a Soul Breaking Spear!

An ordinary person might have assumed the three of them were simply trying to win by exhausting their soul power, slowly approaching the shields only to be eliminated by the sudden attack. However, Huo Yuhao's team possessed the unsolvable, bug-level cheat of mental detection. While the two shields might have completely blocked their way, could they truly hide from mental detection? Their actions were as clear as if they were running naked under surveillance!

Then, just as the Soul-Breaking Spear was about to strike Wang Dong, Huo Yuhao once again tightly embraced Wang Dong's lower back. Then, Wang Dong flapped his wings and brushed past the Soul-Breaking Spear, seemingly leaping backward and hanging in mid-air.

Seeing that their well-prepared offensive had failed, the three opponents immediately retreated, attempting to revert to their initial formation, returning to the state before the battle even began. Clearly, this was a strategy they had rehearsed countless times.

Then, from an observer's perspective, it looked as if the person holding the Soul Spear suddenly stumbled, paused, and failed to reach the middle of the two defensive Soul Masters in time.

It was Huo Yuhao again, sneakily launching a soul shock that disrupted their incredibly smooth and repeatedly effective tactical coordination. No matter what, the opposing team didn't have a heaven-defying "in-team voice communication system" like shared mental detection. Even if they knew their teammates were in trouble and wanted to rush back to their aid, they were ultimately a step too late.

In that instant, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao attacked one after the other. Amplified by Hao Dong's power, Wang Dong unleashed the Butterfly God's Light. Guided by mental detection, the Butterfly God's Light found an extremely tricky angle, attacking only the weak points of the two defensive Soul Masters, while simultaneously attempting to attack the other Soul-Breaking Spear Soul Master from a blind spot. Xiao Xiao, on the other hand, hurled her powerful cauldron, imbued with her first and second Soul Skills, towards them.

At this moment, the two defensive Soul Masters quickly pulled their teammates, who were inexplicably dazed, behind them. Ignoring the need to conserve their energy, they used every method they could to amplify their defense, trying to block the attacks of the Butterfly God's Light and Xiao Xiao. Then, to their astonishment, their teammate, the Soul-Breaking Spear, whom they had protected behind them and who seemed to have escaped no attack, suddenly collapsed. Their own desperate attempt to block the attacks had also depleted their Soul Power by almost seventy or eighty percent in an instant. Seeing their teammate fall, they lost the will to fight and surrendered.

"Yes, the final killing move is still the Soul Impact amplified by the power of Hao. At the beginning, I deliberately exposed an opening, walked into the opponent's trap, and made them bare their fangs. Then, I used my mental detection to predict and dodge the attack, and then seized the moment when the opponent was in a daze after the attack, and used the Soul Impact to control the opponent. However, this Soul Impact that caused the control was probably not at full strength, probably because I was worried that the two defensive Soul Masters on the other side could resist in an instant? After all, when I fought Xie Huanle before, the Soul Impact amplified by the power of Hao Dong could not kill him instantly."

"This instantaneous control completely disrupted the opponent's prediction. Then, using the Butterfly God's Light and Xiao Xiao's Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, a powerful offensive effect was created, drawing all of the opponent's attention. At this moment, Huo Yuhao unleashed another full-force soul impact, instantly killing the Soul-Breaking Spear user who was completely unprepared! In order to protect this teammate, the other two defensive soul masters used their strongest methods to resist the attacks. Under the guidance of mental detection, these attacks all landed on their weakest points, further aggravating their soul power consumption. This directly led to them not even having the chance to compete in a protracted battle of soul power consumption."

"Huo Yuhao's team wins!"