The Peerless Tang Sect: Heavenly Heart Douluo

Chapter 77 Battle Thousand Spirits Academy and Zheng Tian Academy (5000 words)

"Captain, it's another one-on-one battle. What should we do? This is very disadvantageous for us." In the rest area of ​​the Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy, the red-haired girl Fei Yuyan frowned slightly. They had all watched Shrek Academy's first round-robin match before. The three Soul Masters from Yunluo Academy fell to the ground without even lasting a single move against them.

Even though they were confident that they could fight better than the soul masters of Yunluo Academy in single combat, they were also aware that they were not much stronger than Yunluo Academy.

Moreover, they had previously inquired about the injuries of the three people from Yunluo Academy, and basically, they wouldn't be able to fight before the end of the round-robin tournament.

Now, Yunluo Academy only has Soul Masters left, which can almost be considered the bottom of the round-robin tournament.

Shen Ce shook his head and said, "We can only blame our bad luck. We were drawn into single-elimination matches for two consecutive rounds, so we had no room to implement the tactics we had prepared."

"Since the Soul Sect poses no threat to them, we won't send the Soul Sect into battle. I will personally lead the first battle."

"Furthermore, we also bought a soul tool at the auction that is designed to defend against mental attacks. Although it is not of high quality, it has a unique effect and hopefully it will be of some use."

"If I also lose," Shen Ce paused and said, "Leng Ye, you will represent our academy and concede defeat directly, after all, our opponent is that Shrek Academy."

"Next, let's welcome the representatives from Shrek Academy and Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy to the stage!" the referee announced.

As expected, when Shen Ce went on stage, he saw Huo Yuhao already standing on the sidelines.

After routinely reading out the rules, the referee announced, "Now, both teams, please take your positions on the field. The match officially begins!"

Shen Ce did not possess a martial spirit. Instead, he immediately put on a large and heavy metal helmet with a blue crystal embedded in the center. The helmet was so large that it looked somewhat comical.

However, this is a level four soul tool that their academy acquired at yesterday's auction, called the Mental Barrier Helmet.

Normally, these are used by certain forces to control powerful Soul Masters and prevent them from projecting their spiritual energy outwards; they are not proper combat Soul Guidance Devices.

However, the advantage is that even external spiritual energy is difficult to transmit to the wearer's spiritual sea through this helmet.

As a Soul King with five rings, although his fifth soul ring was not at the ten-thousand-year level, Shen Ce's spiritual power had barely reached the Spirit Sea Realm. At this moment, everyone below the stage couldn't help but burst into laughter when they saw Shen Ce's appearance.

On the contrary, the teams that had some knowledge of soul tools watched more carefully.

Inside the rest area of ​​the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy.

Xiao Hongchen laughed heartily: "This thing must have been specially pulled out by the Star Luo Empire and put in the auction. They must have better ones. I just don't know if this thing can withstand the mental impact of that person from Shrek Academy."

Ma Rulong watched the competition on stage with a serious expression. Although the shape of the mental blocking helmet was somewhat comical, its effectiveness was undeniable.

Generally speaking, the mental power of Soul Masters below the Title Douluo level, including Soul Douluo, will be restricted and blocked after wearing this helmet, and its effect of blocking external mental power is about the same as that of Soul Saint.

"But if that guy from Shrek Academy isn't afraid, then we're in trouble. That means that most low-level soul tools that protect against mental influence will likely be ineffective against him. Given the range and speed of his mental attacks, he could eliminate at least one of us in a team battle."

The crowd below the stage was buzzing with discussion. Huo Yuhao only activated his own martial soul after seeing Shen Ce put on the helmet and summon his own martial soul, the Thousand Machine Spear. His eyes remained calm and composed.

Then, accompanied by the will of the heart, an invisible mental shock was unleashed. This mental barrier helmet did have some effect, but it was futile against the mental power of the Spirit Abyss Realm level.

The Mind's Will allows Huo Yuhao to forcefully compete with the opponent's mental power without triggering the opponent's instinctive soul power protection. However, he cannot directly bypass this kind of soul tool that is specifically designed to defend against mental power, since his current Mind Martial Soul has only been unlocked to the Soul Master level.

However, the spiritual power at the Spirit Abyss Realm level is unstoppable when facing a mere fourth-level soul tool, unless the opponent can produce a soul tool that can defend against the spiritual power of a Title Douluo.

However, this kind of soul tool must be at least level eight, which is not something that soul masters under the age of twenty can use. Suddenly, the gem in the center of the mental barrier helmet made a loud explosion, and then Shen Ce suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and knelt down on the ground.

Bleeding from all seven orifices, his injuries appeared far more severe than those of the three from Yunluo Academy.

Seeing this, the referee quickly sent Shen Ce off the stage. The referee couldn't help but swallow hard, feeling that he had been a referee for so many years, yet he had never had a chance to play his part in Huo Yuhao's battles. He couldn't seize the opportunity to rescue anyone, and all four battles resulted in him instantly killing four people.

"Shrek Academy wins the first match. Please send out new team members from Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy!" the referee announced loudly.

After a moment, a blue-haired girl from Qianling Advanced Soul Master Academy stepped forward, her eyes slightly red, and said, "Qianling Advanced Soul Master Academy concedes defeat in this individual elimination round."

Huo Yuhao's gaze swept over the group of students from Qianling Advanced Soul Master Academy. He saw that they all had evasive eyes, clearly not daring to go on stage and fight Huo Yuhao again. After all, their strongest captain had been instantly killed after carrying a soul tool specifically designed to counter the opponent. If they were to go up, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Huo Yuhao also sensed that their fear of him had formed a new imprint, taking root in their hearts.

Meanwhile, many players outside the competition also felt a sense of fear about this.

In the rest area of ​​the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, Ma Rulong sighed and said, "This is troublesome, Grandpa. Can you discern the abilities of this Shrek Academy student?"

Ma Rulong's grandfather, the chief of Mingde Hall, slowly began to speak.

"In my opinion, this child's mental strength must be extremely strong, even close to that of an ordinary Title Douluo. Although the Mental Barrier Helmet is said to be able to seal the mental strength of Soul Masters below the Title Douluo level, its external defense, even if it is far less effective than its internal restraint, is still extremely strong."

"This child's spiritual power is not to be underestimated. His martial soul should be the spiritual body martial soul that our Sun Moon Empire has been searching for for many years. He is more suitable to become a top-level soul master than your big-headed spirit ape."

"Moreover, his level is extremely high. If he were to receive training from my Sun Moon Empire, it would only be a matter of time before he becomes a level nine Soul Master."

"But unfortunately, he was born in the Douluo Three Kingdoms and is a disciple of Shrek Academy, which also means that he will be our future enemy."

At this moment, Xiao Hongchen also became serious, looking at Huo Yuhao's retreating figure as he walked off the stage, and said, "That's right, only someone like him is worthy of being my opponent. Otherwise, if my peers were all a bunch of chickens and dogs, wouldn't that be too boring?"

Old Ma continued, "We've already investigated his name; it's Huo Yuhao. We didn't find him in our previous investigation of Shrek Academy. It seems he really is a member of the reserve team. No wonder it's Shrek Academy; even a reserve team member has such formidable strength."

Huo Yuhao could sense that with each powerful defeat of his enemies, a faint aura of fear emanated from the spectator stands and the rest areas of other academies, but none of it was enough to solidify into a mark of terror, since his current performance was not terrifying enough.

However, Huo Yuhao already had an idea on how to imprint fear on the other onlookers, so he was in no hurry to use cruel and terrifying methods to influence them during the competition. All he needed to do now was to imprint fear on some of the contestants who were useful to him.

After returning this time, Wang Yan did not ask Huo Yuhao to hold a meeting again. After all, he had already lost face enough after Huo Yuhao rejected his previous "tactics", and based on his previous performance.

He also clearly realized that Huo Yuhao's current strength should not be regarded as that of an ordinary Soul Master. Who has ever seen a Soul Master who can kill a prepared Soul King in one move?

Some people even believe that Huo Yuhao's spirit ring is fake, and that it has been concealed through some special means.

After resting for another day, the Shrek Academy team arrived at the arena. On the way, Wang Dong'er quietly told Huo Yuhao about what Wang Yan had mentioned in the meeting earlier: "Yuhao, our opponents today seem particularly strong. They are the eighth-place team from last year, the Zheng Tian Academy team."

"And they have three Soul Kings in total," Wang Dong'er said with some concern. "And they should have been wary of you beforehand."

Huo Yuhao did not reply, but simply sat down in the rest area and entered a meditative state to continue his cultivation.

At this moment, in the rest area of ​​Zhengtian Academy, they looked at the eight people from Shrek Academy.

The crowd was buzzing with discussion about Huo Yuhao.

"This guy really went way too far."

"Yeah. I heard that Shen Ce is still in critical condition, and he might not even make it back to life."

"But if you ask me, I can only say that Shen Ce was unlucky. If Huo Yuhao had used the same strength as before in the previous matches, he might not have been able to penetrate the iron skull that Shen Ce was wearing."

"Moreover, in my opinion, Huo Yuhao must have suffered considerable losses after unleashing that mental attack that shattered Shen Ce's soul tool. If you ask me, it's because the people from Qianling Advanced Soul Master Academy were too cowardly; they could have overwhelmed him with sheer numbers."

Someone else retorted, "Use a human wave? Are you sending the rest of them to their deaths? Even Soul Kings can't withstand a single move. Wouldn't it be easy to instantly kill their highest-ranking Soul Masters? You all saw Shrek Academy's first round-robin tournament. Those three Soul Masters went down as soon as they went up, while the opponents seemed to have no energy at all, like drinking water."

"Alright, stop worrying. Let's proceed according to the original plan," Ye Wuqing interrupted directly.

"If it's a team battle, Tang Xiaolei, you should prioritize taking down Huo Yuhao. In the individual elimination rounds, Yu Mengdi, you go first. You have an advantage in both soul power and martial soul. I will give you the two mental defense soul tools that I bought at the auction. If the soul tools are destroyed, concede immediately."

Although Zheng Tian Academy was reluctant to use soul tools, they dared not underestimate Huo Yuhao after seeing his performance in the first round of the tournament. They also purchased two soul tools of the mental defense type at the previous auction.

It has to be said that this auction was really interesting, with mental defense soul tools accounting for a full third of the items.

The angelic martial spirit girl named Yu Mengdi nodded.

"If it's a 2-2-3 battle, the group that encounters Huo Yuhao should just give up. Don't let him hurt you and affect the rest of the competition."

Everyone replied, "Understood!"

Ye Wuqing looked at the Shrek Academy rest area in the distance. If nothing unexpected happened, this should be the weakest time in Shrek Academy's history. If he could lead the team to defeat it, he would surely go down in history. But would it really be that simple?

With the captains of both teams taking the stage, the format of this competition was revealed: unsurprisingly, it would still be an individual elimination tournament.

After inspection by the referee, it was confirmed that this was a natural result, with no one interfering, and the match proceeded normally.

"Yu Mengdi from Zhengtian Academy!"

"Huo Yuhao from Shrek Academy".

"Both sides have announced their names; the match officially begins." The referee was now on high alert, watching the two players on the stage.

Huo Yuhao glanced at the soul tool devices around Yu Mengdi's neck and on her head, and shook his head slightly, saying, "Do you need me to give you time to activate them?"

Yu Mengdi gritted her teeth, looking at the boy in front of her. To be honest, she was also very unsure of herself. Could these two really withstand Huo Yuhao's mental attack? If he attacked her, would she be beaten to the brink of death like Shen Ce before, or would she be killed outright?

The more Yu Mengdi thought about it, the more terrified she became. If it were a normal encounter, she would never feel this way. However, every battle Huo Yuhao had fought before had triggered fear in the spectators. Anyone who lacked self-confidence would feel fear when facing him.

Subsequently, Huo Yuhao sensed a seed of fear emerging in Yu Mengdi's heart. Huo Yuhao immediately activated the ability of his second spirit ring, using realistic mimicry to conceal the activation of his martial soul and spirit ring, thus imprinting a mark of fear on Yu Mengdi.

"Please have your martial spirits activated so the match can begin." The referee urged them on after they hesitated to activate their martial spirits.

"Wait, wait a minute, I give up!" Under the influence of the fear brand, Yu Mengdi could no longer suppress the fear in her heart and hurriedly said.

Upon hearing this, a chorus of boos erupted from the audience, and the students from Zhengtian Academy were stunned.

Ye Wuqing sighed helplessly and said, "Fine, I'll go myself in the next match. We can't just retreat without a fight; that would be a huge loss of face for the academy."

Yu Mengdi's legs were still trembling slightly after she stepped off the stage, and the fear in her eyes had not dissipated: "Yes, I'm sorry, Captain, but I really..."

Ye Wuqing nodded without saying anything more, and simply took the two soul tools from Yu Mengdi and stepped back onto the arena.

After both sides announced their names, the referee declared, "The match begins!"

As both of their martial souls were activated, Ye Wuqing held a golden leaf between his fingertips. His first and second soul rings lit up, and the leaf flew in a tricky arc directly toward Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao neither dodged nor evaded, but instead unleashed a mental attack that wasn't at full strength, directly destroying a relatively low-level mental defense soul tool on Ye Wuqing's body.

Huo Yuhao could accurately sense that Ye Wuqing's mental power, aided by the soul tool, was far stronger than Shen Ce's before. In that case, he couldn't take him down in one fell swoop, so he chose a less strenuous method to defeat him one by one.

Seeing this, Ye Wuqing was also somewhat shocked, but his hands continued to move, and several more leaves floated towards Huo Yuhao. His third soul ring lit up, and these leaves floating around Huo Yuhao seemed to transform into a golden net that enveloped him.

Huo Yuhao's mental detection revealed that some of these leaves were formed from pure soul power and were extremely sharp, while others were composed of extremely unstable soul power and would explode upon contact.

However, Huo Yuhao did not interfere with the opponent's ability to activate. Instead, he unleashed another mental shock, shattering another mental defense soul tool on Ye Wuqing's body. Then, Huo Yuhao's eyes suddenly shone with golden light.

Ye Wuqing knew something was wrong and quickly activated his fourth and fifth soul skills. A layer of golden light spread across his left hand, as if it were cast from gold.

If Ye Wuqing wanted to use his fifth soul skill, Golden Leaf Dance, he would need a large number of golden leaves on the field to prepare for it before he could use it. Although he had used his third soul skill, it had not yet been fully deployed.

However, it can be used with the help of the Golden Left Hand, but the consumption of soul power will be extremely terrifying.

From Ye Wuqing's center, countless tiny golden dots of light rapidly drifted out and spread around his body, forming a golden light curtain. Then, the golden dots of light quickly grew larger and transformed into thousands of smaller golden leaves.

Just as Ye Wuqing was about to control them and unleash them all on Huo Yuhao, he coughed up blood from his mouth and nose and collapsed to the ground. The golden leaves, being uncontrolled, also fell to the ground and turned into specks of golden light, disappearing into nothingness.

"The second match has been won by Shrek Academy. Zheng Tian Academy, please send your new team members!"

The students from Zhengtian Academy below the stage looked at each other in bewilderment. "Sister Mengdi, who should we send up next? He defeated the captain after breaking through two mental defense soul tools in succession. He must be quite exhausted."

Yu Mengdi gritted her teeth and said, "Tang Xiaolei, you go! Go all out and take him down!"

"Okay!" Tang Xiaolei knew that this was the best opportunity; if they dragged it out any longer, they would have even less hope.

However, what Tang Xiaolei didn't know was that Huo Yuhao's mental strength was at the level of two Seas of Spirit and the Spirit Abyss Realm, and it was constantly replenished by the people branded with fear. When he went on stage with a do-or-die determination and the hope of breaking Shrek Academy's undefeated legend, Huo Yuhao's mental shock cleanly and decisively defeated him.

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(End of this chapter)