"In the end, we still made the first move." Zhang Lexuan came to Die Qiu helplessly, similarly activated her martial soul, and nine rings emerged.
Another Titled Douluo!
"There are more experts?" Xu Tianhe was scared almost to pee at this time. Could a Titled Douluo following Huo Yuhao be treated as an ordinary Titled Douluo? How did the arrogant Mu-Ye Alliance collapse back then?
"Protect Your Majesty!" Veins popped up on Ye Yulin's forehead. His heart was full of regret now. Originally, they thought the opponent only had a newly promoted Titled Douluo leading the team. Unexpectedly, the opponent not only had multiple Titled Douluos but even a Super Douluo level Evil Soul Master.
He had seen Zhongli Wu's Grim Reaper Demon Puppet. Zhongli Yu's Pluto Demon Puppet was obviously superior in quality, so Zhongli Yu could completely be regarded as an Ultimate Douluo.
A generation of Grandmaster once said, there are no trash martial souls, only trash soul masters. This sentence might work on people like Ji Juechen, but the actual situation in the soul tool era is that there are no trash soul masters, only trash martial souls.
Low-level martial souls might be forcibly improved in cultivation by drugs and enhance personal combat power by using soul tools, but the upper limit is not high after all.
The strength of the martial soul directly determines the upper limit of a soul master under the same resources. Why is there a saying about god-level martial souls? Because as long as soul masters with such martial souls go through the same cultivation, under the circumstance of god position changes in the Divine Realm, they will definitely become deities.
Among the partners around Huo Yuhao now, members with god-level martial souls include Zhongli Yu, the current First Holy Maiden of the Holy Spirit Cult.
Nan Shuishui also put on the Ice Extreme War God Armor at this time. Under the blessing of this battle armor, she, a newly promoted Titled Douluo, could also be comparable to a Level 95 Super Douluo.
Ye Yulin's struggle was futile after all. Those attendants responsible for Xu Tianhe's safety and many high-level soul engineers launched attacks together, but were intercepted by the Pluto Demon Puppet one by one, then turned into pools of pus. Zhongli Yu wished they would launch an attack on her, so she could legitimately torture the opponents into slag.
The attack means of the Pluto Demon Puppet were not only reflected on the physical level but more on the soul, such as endowing the enemy with the appearance of death and forcibly extracting the enemy's life force.
Nan Shuishui was directly scared by Zhongli Yu's thunderous means. This woman with somewhat morbid behavior was actually so strong?
"No, no! You can't do this. I am the Sun Moon Emperor. You can't commit regicide!" Xu Tianhe, with Gungnir pressed against his neck by Die Qiu, sat paralyzed on the ground in a sorry state, even forgetting to activate the Invincible Barrier, constantly moving backwards.
Zhang Lexuan joined forces with Nan Shuishui to quickly take down Ye Yulin. This famous Starry Sky Douluo of the empire was best at high-altitude long-range combat. Close-range combat like this was not his strength. Before this, he would never have thought that there were so many experts hidden in the Earth Dragon Gate team.
The most terrifying thing was that the Golden Dragon Girl Die Qiu, who was majestic on the competition field, was actually also an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo powerhouse.
What did this mean? Demon King Huo Yuhao still sent people to participate!
Although they did a serious screening when the participating teams registered, they couldn't identify those members who joined Huo Yuhao's team later. The Lan sisters were like this, and this Die Qiu was also like this.
That pair of Seven-Ring Lan sisters were probably considered weak among Huo Yuhao's partners.
"Young people, no martial ethics."
Ye Yulin, with a bruised nose and swollen face, was dragged by Zhang Lexuan to Xu Tianhe. This old man still muttered angrily in a low voice.
"If you keep jabbering, I'll twist your head off and stuff it into the public toilet outside." Die Qiu imitated Huo Yuhao's appearance and threatened viciously.
Ye Yulin shut up immediately. He wasn't afraid of death, but the extreme humiliation in Die Qiu's mouth was unacceptable to him.
"You, what do you want? Treasures, or high-level soul tools... I, I can give you all!" Xu Tianhe crawled in front of the Earth Dragon Gate crowd in a sorry state, looking nothing like the majestic image a quarter of an hour ago.
"Look at your cowardly appearance, really boring." Nan Qiuqiu curled her lips. Xu Tianhe was far worse than Xu Tianran. In the original timeline, when Xu Tianran ascended the throne, he had officially become a Titled Douluo. But the current Xu Tianhe, under the accumulation of so many resources, only reached a mere seven rings.
A Soul Sage was certainly a powerhouse dominating a region on the continent, but not worth mentioning in Huo Yuhao's team.
As early as in the Freshman Assessment of Shrek many years ago, Huo Yuhao could unleash an attack comparable to a Soul Sage's full blow.
"Just answer us a few questions, then cooperate with us on some work, and we'll let you go." Zhang Lexuan looked at Die Qiu. They both knew Huo Yuhao's plan. There was no need to take Xu Tianhe's life yet. Better pry some useful intelligence from his mouth.
"As long as you are willing to let me go, I will say whatever you want to know!" Hearing that the other party didn't intend to take his life, Xu Tianhe immediately showed a flattering face and came forward with tears and snot.
"Tsk!" Nan Qiuqiu looked at this useless emperor with contempt and subconsciously took half a step back, seeming unwilling to approach this guy.
"Tell me, what benefits did the Sun Moon Empire give to Star Luo, making such a huge empire choose to become your vassal without bloodshed?" Zhang Lexuan endured the discomfort and also subconsciously took half a step back, asking with a frown.
"This... maybe people in the Star Luo royal family were wiser..." Xu Tianhe rolled his eyes, seeming to plan to fool them, but Die Qiu cut a small opening on his neck with a spear.
Her main body was the Emperor Auspicious Beast with spiritual attributes. Sophistry in front of her was tantamount to asking for trouble.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!" Xu Tianhe screamed in horror, "Actually, I am that Star Luo Emperor Xu Jiawei!"
"What the hell?" This time it was Zhang Lexuan and others' turn to be curious. Why did this Sun Moon Emperor say he was the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire?
"It happened like this..." Xu Tianhe looked like he was about to cry, and had to recount the events of that year in detail—
...
These days, people's topics were not only focused on the Continental Youth Advanced Soul Master Elite Competition but also discussing another competition they could participate in and even profit from—the Mingdu Soul Engineer Elite Competition.
Huo Yuhao also returned from the Sun Moon border at this time.
After the qualification trial and the first round of the main competition, the three major competition areas of the Mingdu Soul Engineer Elite Competition had produced the list for the second round.
And starting from this second round, betting methods became more diversified.
Soul Engineer competitions were different from Soul Master competitions. There was no such intense confrontation. Everyone made soul tools in a fair environment, but the uncertainty was stronger.
But this was a black market competition after all. Most soul engineers coming to participate cherished their reputation, so they participated anonymously. Each of them only had a number belonging to themselves. Civilians could only see their performance in previous competitions from the materials distributed by the three major underground forces.
Tonight, the second round of the Mingdu Soul Engineer Elite Competition was about to begin. One of the most attractive betting methods for civilians was to bet on how much time the first person to complete the competition would take.
This mode had intervals. The shortest was half an hour, then half an hour to an hour, an hour to an hour and a half, and so on. It wasn't that the longer the time, the lower the odds. Instead, the odds for the more central time were the lowest, while the odds at both ends were much higher.
For example, betting that the first person to complete the competition would take less than half an hour had odds as high as five times. While half an hour to an hour, the odds were only three times. The lowest was two and a half hours to three and a half hours, with odds of only one to one point two.
The introduction to the second round of competition also increased. The competition time for the second round was five hours, starting from tonight and ending in the early morning of tomorrow.
Within five hours, all participating soul engineers from the three major forces would make an attack soul tool of Level 4 or above that they were satisfied with.
If a Level 5 soul tool was made, then they would advance directly without power testing. Soul engineers who made Level 4 soul tools would have an additional soul tool comparison link compared to the previous round.
Each soul engineer would launch with their own soul tool in a special test firing area. Data would be recorded for each launch.
The five people with the smallest power would be eliminated. At the same time, those unable to complete the production of a Level 4 soul tool within the specified time would also be eliminated.
The elimination rate in this round was not too high yet, but it had begun to become cruel. No one could be sure that the power of the soul tool they made would be stronger than the soul tool of the same level made by others.
Under this circumstance, naturally, they could only try their best to make soul tools with stronger power.
The pressure of competition would make it more likely for soul engineers to show their true strength.
There were many other ways of gambling. The three major underground forces were extremely experienced in figuring out human nature, almost guaranteeing that every gambler could find the betting method they wanted.
Green unripe Hotel. Huo Yuhao, Bibi Dong, the Hongchen siblings, and Nana arrived quietly. This time, the three major forces forced to cooperate with Huo Yuhao were obviously much more obedient. They sent a capable subordinate to welcome the five people including Huo Yuhao outside and brought them to the VIP area.
Soon, a document was delivered to Huo Yuhao. This document recorded the performance and some evaluations of the soul masters who had qualified in the previous competitions.
After entering the official competition stage, the numbering changed once. This started from the previous round. And in this round, this number also began to have practical significance.
"I won't participate in the subsequent competitions. Is there any problem for you two to take the top two?" Huo Yuhao glanced at the document casually, threw it aside, and said to the Hongchen siblings.
In this document, some people were specially marked by the high-level officials of the Sunset Water Alliance. Some marked that the opponent had a bye in this round, and some suspected hiding strength.
These numbers were quickly memorized by the Hongchen siblings one by one. As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles. Understanding the opponent is very important.
"All small fries..." But they were soon disappointed. The vast majority of them were just Level 4 to Level 5 Soul Engineers, and there were no characters needing special attention.
Moreover, both siblings had a Life Gold Carving Knife given by Huo Yuhao in their hands. Their level of soul tool production had made earth-shaking progress.
Of course, the Life Gold Carving Knife was too domineering. They were not particularly handy with it yet.
The attendant aside heard the Hongchen siblings muttering and couldn't help wiping the sweat beads on his forehead. Many of these people on the document were favorites to win the championship. In the mouths of these people, they actually turned into small fries? If others heard this...
Huo Yuhao was about to leave with Bibi Dong, but at this time, the door of the VIP room opened. A group of people walked in from outside.
There were a total of six people. The two walking in front were dressed as soul engineers. Each had a soul engineer badge on their chest. Only there seemed to be a layer of cloud-like halo fluctuating on the surface of the badge, making it impossible to see clearly the level symbolized by that badge. The other four were obviously the guards of these two.
Entering the VIP room, the faces of the two soul engineers walking in front were very cold and hard, with a trace of pride in their eyes. They just glanced at Huo Yuhao and the others, then walked aside and sat down.
A meaningful smile appeared on the corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth. Although the identity of these people was not stated in the original timeline, he already knew the general plot that followed.
This VIP room was very large. After entering, the two ignored Huo Yuhao and the other four, walking straight to the side to find a place to sit down. The four subordinates stood behind them respectively.
These two people immediately attracted the attention of the Hongchen siblings.
Undoubtedly, the guards behind them were all soul masters, and their strength seemed not weak. It seemed that these two people had quite a background! About twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. Could they be people from Mingde Hall?
Just as they were judging in their hearts, the door of the VIP room opened again.
That steward named Chen An walked in quickly, walked quickly to the two soul engineers who had sat down, and said respectfully: "Hello to you two! Thank you very much for coming to participate in the competition. These are your number plates." While speaking, he handed two number plates to the two soul engineers respectively.
With Huo Yuhao's eyesight, he vaguely saw that the two number plates read Number 96 and Number 98 respectively.
Mmhmm, still these two guys. Here to deliver carving knives.
"Mmm. Call us when the time comes." Soul Engineer Number 96 said lightly, then closed his eyes, resting there with eyes closed.
As for the arrogant Soul Engineer Number 98, he didn't even speak.
After Chen An bowed to the two again, he turned around quickly and walked towards Huo Yuhao and the others. Coming to Huo Yuhao's side, he asked respectfully: "Do you have any other instructions?"
Huo Yuhao said casually: "Arrange a seat for me in the hall later. It doesn't matter if it's a bit off, but let me be able to see the competition."
"Yes, I'll arrange it right away."
Chen An didn't stay any longer and went out immediately. Before long, a staff member came to notify that the competition was about to start, letting the Hongchen siblings enter.
Nana pushed Huo Yuhao and followed the Hongchen siblings towards the door. But just at this time, two subordinates rushed out from behind the two soul engineers who arrived earlier, opening their arms at the same time, blocking Huo Yuhao and the others.
"Wait a moment. Let our masters go first." The two said coldly and hard.
Nana glared and was about to flare up. Huo Yuhao raised his hand with a smile and said: "Okay, let them go first."
A sneer appeared at the corner of the mouth of one of the two guards, "Consider you cripple sensible."
"Shut up." It was Soul Engineer Number 96 who spoke to interrupt the guard.
"Subordinates are ignorant and offended your excellency. I express my deep apologies." Soul Engineer Number 96 glanced at Huo Yuhao. He was of medium build and looked very ordinary, but his eyes looked somewhat gloomy and cold.
He walked over with Soul Engineer Number 98, looking at Huo Yuhao and the others coldly. Where was the look of apology?
Huo Yuhao smiled and said: "It doesn't matter. Since offended anyway, I won't be polite after the competition ends later."