"Everyone, step back!"
The referee gave the order, and Shen Ce coldly glanced at Lu Cheng, leading the other six people to turn and walk towards the edge of the arena.
The strength difference between five Soul Ancestors and two Soul Elders versus one Soul King and six Soul Ancestors is worlds apart, not to mention that the Qianling Team's lineup is not to be underestimated; they have developed a unique combat method for their team.
This lineup is fully qualified to sprint for the top three in the group stage.
Even making it into the top sixteen is just a matter of luck.
"The match… begin!"
Following the referee's command, the Qianling Team stood ready.
Soul rings with the best combinations rose from beneath their feet: six Soul Ancestors and one Soul King.
Although the latter only had two yellow and three purple rings, lacking a black ten-thousand-year soul ring to guard, they lost a bit of majesty, but even so, a formidable sense of oppression descended.
Even the hundreds of thousands of spectators in the entire arena fell silent in an instant.
"Form up!" Shen Ce roared.
Four sturdy figures instantly blocked the front, displaying their martial soul, the Lingxi Shield; these four were clearly from the same sect, with identical martial souls, and with the rock-solid Lingxi Shields blocking the front, the three behind were not idle either.
A sharp, silvery-white long spear appeared in Shen Ce's hands, about twelve feet long, with patterns faintly visible on the handle; this was his martial soul, named the Thousand-Strike Spear, skilled in both long-range and close-quarters combat, but facing Lu Cheng, their strategy was to fight from a distance.
The further, the better.
They would win by keeping distance and not giving the opponent a chance to use illusions.
That guy's martial soul was most likely those eyes, and as long as they didn't look into his eyes, they would likely not fall for it.
Therefore, those four giant shields didn't just block the distance between the two sides but also their line of sight…
"Lengye, Yuyan, enchant me!"
At his soft shout, the two female "mages" in the team also unleashed their martial souls; An Lengye released a giant frost bear, while Fei Yuyan released a black-spotted red tiger.
One ice, one fire, simultaneously enchanted the spear.
"Dare to underestimate Qianling Academy, you will pay the price for this…" Shen Ce gritted his teeth, a flash of anger crossing his face, along with the pleasure of being about to slap Shrek Academy in the face.
In their eyes, that guy's ability was indeed strange, but as long as he was a soul master, he had flaws; he couldn't be invincible.
And what does a mental-type soul master rely on?
It must have been a surprise mental control attack, and once they couldn't control the enemy in a short time…
What they would face was their powerful counterattack.
And mental-attribute soul masters were notoriously fragile.
"Get down for me!!!"
Following Shen Ce's angry shout, his waist arched, and the spear in his hand pulled back violently, setting his posture.
"Shrek Academy has probably miscalculated this time…"
Sun Moon Empire.
Xiao Hongchen and the others stood with their arms crossed over their chests, looking at this scene quite proudly.
In the analysis results that most academies had worked on day and night, the illusion Lu Cheng used that day was won by "taking advantage," such as using the enemy's lack of intelligence and using "eyes" to make eye contact to forcibly drag the enemy into an illusion… this was the conclusion reached by countless members of the Sun Moon Team after repeatedly analyzing the battle footage of that day.
A very fragile mental-type soul master, if placed in the Sun Moon Empire, supplemented by powerful spirit tools, would be a terrifying weapon of war, but placed on the Douluo Continent, especially in a place like Shrek Academy…
That was probably just a soul master who could only serve as a support or control system; it wasn't that he wasn't strong enough, but that his strength was built upon his teammates.
Just like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul, taken alone, it's trash, but if it's used to assist other soul masters in battle, it's off the charts.
And this kind of illusion was even less impressive.
After blocking the line of sight, or deliberately avoiding the opponent's eyes, Lu Cheng's illusion was basically half-useless.
Now, wanting to easily bluff the Tianling Team and everyone else like on the first day, it would probably be very difficult.
"Too arrogant…" Xiao Hongchen shook his head, a trace of regret appearing in his eyes.
"Although I admit his talent is excellent, this kind of arrogance is really inappropriate; after all, this is the Continental Spirit Master Tournament, not child's play."
"Indeed." Ma Rulong also nodded slightly.
"If only they had sent the other cannon fodder from Shrek Academy to the field in this match, with his support, they would never have ended up in such an embarrassing situation."
Following Shrek Academy's inadequate performance in the first two group matches, with none of the main players appearing, everyone had their suspicions.
The main force… perhaps something went wrong.
Nowadays, all of Shrek Academy's cards are concentrated on the reserve team.
That explained why they had to send Lu Cheng to establish prestige.
Why…
"Maybe he is also proficient in spirit tools?" Meng Hongchen's cyan-blue eyes flashed with a hint of worry, and she frowned slightly as she spoke.
"Hahahaha, how is that possible?" Xiao Hongchen laughed loudly.
"Little sister, it's not that Big Brother is making fun of him, but this kid is clearly a staunch member of Shrek Academy's Martial Soul Department; you can tell from his martial soul's strength and combat power that his attainments in the Martial Soul Department are extremely deep. A person's energy is limited; being able to reach this Realm is already very good; how could he also be proficient in the Soul Tool Department…"
"…"
"A soul engineer genius like your big brother is rare in a hundred years." Xiao Hongchen pointed at himself proudly, his expression carrying a hint of arrogance.
The surrounding Sun Moon Empire crowd laughed but did not show any contempt.
After all, what Xiao Hongchen said was the truth.
A fourteen- or fifteen-year-old Soul King, a Level 5 Soul Engineer, with the martial soul Three-Legged Golden Toad, manipulating metal, capable of hand-crafting over a hundred Level 5 spirit tool cannons at any time; saying it's rare in a hundred years is an understatement; it's actually rare in a thousand years…
"It's just the group stage; it's not over yet." Xiao Hongchen sighed and shook his head.
"But I hope he can learn from his mistakes and not be so arrogant; I still hope to fight him."
"Hah!" With an angry shout, the row of Lingxi Shields in front opened a gap in the middle, and Shen Ce's spear completed its charge, with the last deep purple soul ring slowly rising.
The ice and fire enchantment also gave this Thousand-Strike Spear a trace of the powerful attribute of offense.
This scene was quite abrupt and rapid.
It was completed in just a few seconds, giving Lu Cheng no time to react.
Because of the heavy coverage of the four Lingxi Shields, Lu Cheng couldn't see the attack from the opposite side and could only roughly judge it by the sharp aura of the Thousand-Strike Spear.
Thus, this move was always effective; even teams with powerhouses at the Soul King Realm would find it hard to win against this move.
"Hum…" The sharp spear let out a roar like it was tearing the air.
It projected straight toward Lu Cheng.
"Not good!"
The referee's pupils constricted violently, his combat power from the Soul Douluo Realm rising, and he was about to step forward to rescue him.
But the moment he stepped onto the stage, his body suddenly froze in place.
Only to see the young man's face remain calm, mixed with a warm smile, and five soul rings slowly rise from beneath his feet.
"Purple, Purple, Black, Red, Red…"
(Author Notes: Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's origin power nourishes the soul ring age; the same applies to Snow Empress and Xiao Huo, so the protagonist's current soul ring age is much higher than before.)
This extremely bizarre soul ring configuration made everyone present dumbfounded.
Xu Jiawei stood up abruptly, looking at this scene in shock.
Princess Xu Jiujiu's face was also blank.
Especially the last hundred-thousand-year spirit ring, emitting an exotic crimson color, yet appearing noble and arrogant and unparalleled.
The enchanted Thousand-Strike Spear seemed to freeze in mid-air.
As Lu Cheng's Heavy Pupil power was activated, its originally terrifying speed gradually slowed down in his eyes, as if it were in slow motion.
In Lu Cheng's left hand, a crimson longbow slowly emerged; Sun-Refining Fire, an existence even stronger than Extreme Fire, surged out from his body, raging wantonly throughout the entire arena.
In the eyes of countless people, his body seemed to be swallowed by flames.
His right hand pulled the string, two fingers pinching a crimson arrow.
Aiming at the Thousand-Strike Spear.
Shot out with a boom.
Boom!!!
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the sharpest part of that crimson arrow collided with the tip of the Thousand-Strike Spear.
Terrifying sound waves dissipated in layers.
And what was even more terrifying was that the crimson arrow only paused for a moment before tearing through the sharp blade of the Thousand-Strike Spear, piercing through it from the inside; the latter shattered into pieces, being split in two.
"Help, help!!!"
Shen Ce was stunned at first; with the shattering of his martial soul, blood sprayed from his mouth.
Seeing the young figure still standing proudly, calmly looking down at them, and the crimson arrow arriving in an instant, he roared out his last cry.
Then, a continuous wave of fire completely engulfed them.
Notes:
ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
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