Huo Yuhao's brows were slightly furrowed, as if still worrying about unfinished tasks. His long eyelashes trembled slightly, seemingly imitating his heartbeat unconsciously. His breathing became deep and regular, indicating that he had fallen into a deep sleep.
"What's wrong with Yuhao?" Zhongli Yu's breathing quickly became unstable. Seeing her beloved like this, her heart was cut like a knife for a moment.
"It should be excessive consumption of spiritual power." Bibi Dong gently applied a wet towel to him and sighed faintly.
"Doesn't he have the legendary God King realm spiritual power?" Zhang Lexuan's face was strange. Logically speaking, this spiritual realm she had never heard of should be enough to deal with all matters on the Douluo Continent under normal circumstances.
Now Huo Yuhao was completely unconscious. They couldn't even pull Ning Tian or Ye Linlin out of the Dragon Realm to help him recover.
"These days, he has been using soul skills, Spiritual Link and Spiritual Barrier." Bibi Dong knew what Huo Yuhao had done. Although she also felt pain in her heart seeing this, Huo Yuhao had no choice.
"Just two soul skills?" Xiao Hongchen was somewhat puzzled. With Huo Yuhao's spiritual power, it shouldn't be like this, right?
"He should have started when you guys just arrived in Mingdu." Bibi Dong sighed, "He has been constantly using these two soul skills on a large scale in secret. Now the entire Mingdu, including surrounding cities, should be covered."
Zhang Lexuan seemed to think of something, and her heartbeat instantly skipped half a beat: "Wait, what exactly did he do with these two soul skills? How many people did he forcibly link?"
Bibi Dong raised her eyelids slightly and said: "Including those tourists who came to watch the competition, it should currently reach tens of millions."
Hiss—
Hearing this, everyone present couldn't help gasping.
"Then, what exactly... is he doing?" Zhongli Yu's voice became somewhat trembling, her chest heaving.
"He should have added some things about Sea God Tang San into everyone's memory and cognition. He probably used the means of concretizing thoughts to guide the direction of everyone's consciousness judgment." Bibi Dong answered.
"Oh my god!" Meng Hongchen couldn't help opening her mouth wide, almost able to stuff an egg directly.
"But didn't he take the two mermaid princesses to the Ice Sea yesterday? He was fine then..." Zhang Lexuan remembered Huo Yuhao's whereabouts, and the shock in her beautiful eyes became even stronger.
"He should have also taken action against a large number of sea soul beasts. You should have heard that deities constantly absorb the faith of living beings from the lower plane to transform into their own divine thoughts and strengthen themselves." Bibi Dong's eyes became cold and fierce, "And the sea is the Sea God's strongest backing."
"Then how many sea soul beasts did Master influence..." Nana subconsciously covered her mouth. Soul beasts were far more difficult to control than human soul masters.
Bibi Dong shook her head. She didn't follow him at that time. Presumably, Huo Yuhao should have consumed most of his spiritual power in the Ice Sea.
When Sea God Tang San's projection left, he issued a kill order to the mermaid clan against the sea. If Huo Yuhao let the mermaid princess sisters return to the sea rashly, they would definitely suffer endless pursuit.
So Huo Yuhao had to take action and use spiritual power to impose Spiritual Barrier on the sea soul beasts of half the Ice Sea, making them forget.
In this way, when the mermaid princess sisters returned to the sea, they could at least organize certain strength and conduct anti-Sea God activities in secret.
Nan Qiuqiu looked at the sleeping Huo Yuhao, not knowing what to say for a moment. It was the first time she felt like worshipping this guy. Nan Shuishui stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders.
The world only saw his lawless behavior and unrestrained indulgence, but ignored the price he had been paying to get rid of the shadow of deities.
"We also have things we can do." Die Qiu suddenly said, her tone exceptionally firm.
The Lan sisters clenched their fists and nodded silently. They wanted to successfully complete the task Huo Yuhao gave them. Without Huo Yuhao, there would be no today for them!
"There's still a competition tomorrow. Let's go prepare." Zhang Lexuan took a deep look at Huo Yuhao lying on the bed, turned around abruptly, and left.
Nan Qiuqiu and Die Qiu responded and followed quickly.
"I'll go contact the Holy Spirit Cult branch over there." Zhongli Yu also left quickly without a word.
The Hongchen siblings looked at each other, seeing the determination in each other's eyes, and also left the room.
Watching everyone leave one by one, a gratified smile appeared on Bibi Dong's face.
Yuhao, your partners have all grown up completely...
—
Next morning.
The weather in Mingdu today was somewhat gloomy. Clouds were low, and the air seemed filled with a solemn atmosphere. Fine rain began to drift in the air early in the morning, bringing waves of chilly coldness.
Leaving Mingyue Hotel, everyone walked towards the competition venue together. Today, the second round of the round-robin tournament would unfold.
Today, the Earth Dragon Gate would face a sect called Bright Jade Sect. Judging from the currently collected information, this sect was very distinctive and also quite powerful.
The Tang Sect would face another sect with two Soul Emperor powerhouses. Generally speaking, the threat was not small either. After all, currently, the Tang Sect could only rely on Tang Wutong to pierce seven in the individual competition.
This Bright Jade Sect gave everyone no less mystery than the Earth Dragon Gate. Since the start of the Continental Youth Advanced Soul Master Elite Competition, they could be said to have smooth sailing in the previous elimination stage and the first round of the round-robin tournament.
Not only were there no casualties in this team, but the captain of the Bright Jade Sect, wearing a conical hat and veil hanging low, had never played, only directing the match in the waiting area.
Through Huo Yuhao's memory, Die Qiu knew the general abilities of these people and quickly made appearance arrangements with Zhang Lexuan.
The Bright Jade Sect was a soul engineer sect, naturally originating from the Sun Moon Empire. It was located in Mingdu itself and had extremely high prestige.
The cultivation direction of Bright Jade Sect disciples was the same—melee soul engineers, improving their own strength through powerful melee soul tools.
And in some melee skills, even students of the Sun Moon Team might not be better than them. Only in terms of soul tools, the Bright Jade Sect still couldn't compare with the Sun Moon Team backed by Mingde Hall.
Earth Dragon Gate versus Bright Jade Sect, this would be another very watchable match.
Due to the strong performance of the Earth Dragon Gate in the match against the Sun Moon Team in the last round, early this morning, the spectator area not far from the competition stage was already crowded with spectators.
Various discussions rose one after another. As one of the dark horses attracting attention in this competition so far, the Earth Dragon Gate was naturally a frequent subject in their discussions.
Of course, the biggest dark horse was still the Tang Sect with two Soul Douluos. Although currently basically only one person appeared, their limelight suppressed all participating teams.
Everyone entered the VIP rest area. The pergola blocked the rain falling from the sky. inside the rest area, there were even several heating soul tools for warmth. Upon entering, a warm feeling came, making people feel very comfortable.
However, the comfort didn't last too long. The Earth Dragon Gate crowd felt the extreme heat from not far away.
The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy battle team, led by Ma Ruhu, was looking at them. Those eyes seemed to burn with raging fire, as if to burn them to ashes.
Although they won the match, they also paid a painful price. In contrast, the Earth Dragon Gate side was unharmed.
Die Qiu couldn't be bothered with them. Anyway, Xu Tianhe's heart was cursed by Zhongli Yu using her martial soul. Even if the Sun Moon Empire intended to harm them, they didn't dare to act blatantly.
"Wait a moment, Qiuqiu goes first for the first match." Zhang Lexuan arranged.
Everyone looked at her thoughtfully. Zhang Lexuan just smiled slightly and said: "Then Die Qiu, Lan Susu, and Lan Luoluo. If you can defeat the opponents, each of you fights two matches, and then we directly request a team battle. Since participating this time, we have played too few team battles. Finally, we might face those people from the Tang Sect. Let's practice today first."
Hearing Zhang Lexuan's words, everyone couldn't help laughing. This clearly didn't take the Bright Jade Sect seriously, just treating the opponent as an object for practice.
Of course, confidence stemmed from strength. Even if Huo Yuhao wasn't there, they forcibly suppressed the Sun Moon Team to consume combat power in the last round. As Huo Yuhao's people, each of them was the most excellent soul master among peers. They should have such confidence.
At this time, people from the Bright Jade Sect also came to the rest area. Walking at the very front was a man wearing a long robe and a conical hat, or rather, even the gender was hard to judge. This person's clothes were very loose, concealing the figure very well, appearing very mysterious.
Behind him followed more than a dozen people. Walking in front were regular members, and behind were substitute members. Their team uniforms were pale yellow, looking very eye-catching.
Perhaps sensing the attention from the Earth Dragon Gate side, the person walking at the very front of the Bright Jade Sect paused slightly, turned towards Zhang Lexuan's side. A grim chill forced towards Huo Yuhao's side without warning.
That tyrannical pressure was full of sharp aura. Even slight "hissing" sounds appeared in the air, as if being cut.
Before Zhang Lexuan could act, Zhongli Yu's figure blocked in front of him. She just stood there, and instantly there was a feeling like the end of the world. With a frozen gaze, she had completely offset the aura released by the Bright Jade Sect captain. Killing aura soared into the sky, instantly filling the entire rest area with肅killing aura.
"What's going on? Take back your soul power, all of you. Do you want to be disqualified from the competition?"
A loud voice sounded. Immediately after, Unbroken Douluo Zheng Zhan, who once served as a referee for the Earth Dragon Gate and the Sun Moon Team that day, walked in.
A powerful aura released from him, forcibly suppressing the restlessness of everyone present, contending with Zhongli Yu's aura.
Zhongli Yu naturally wouldn't release all her aura. After all, a martial soul like the Pluto Demon Puppet was too evil.
Huo Yuhao enduring humiliation for the overall situation also made this fearless Holy Maiden restrain her temperament a lot.
Leading teachers generally wouldn't enter the competition rest area directly, but the Earth Dragon Gate group wouldn't care about these. Therefore, facing a powerful Titled Douluo or even Super Douluo, the eyes of everyone in the Bright Jade Sect instantly became much clearer.
The Bright Jade Sect participating members withdrew their martial souls one after another. Zhongli Yu just glanced at Zheng Zhan coldly and sat down with Zhang Lexuan.
Zheng Zhan's face was terrifyingly gloomy at this moment. His eyes narrowed slightly. His livid face could completely reflect his extremely angry mood now.
That captain of the Bright Jade Sect also sat down, as if nothing had happened before, appearing extremely eccentric.
Zheng Zhan's warning gaze swept across the audience before walking out of the rest area. Today he actually went directly onto the competition stage, surprisingly being the law enforcement referee again.
Time was up. On the competition stage, Zheng Zhan's loud voice resounded throughout the venue: "Round-robin tournament, second round, first match. Earth Dragon Gate versus Bright Jade Sect. Participating members of both sides enter the waiting area to prepare. Participating members of the first individual elimination match can go directly on stage."
On the Earth Dragon Gate side, everyone stood up one after another. Nan Qiuqiu led the large group towards the waiting area.
On the Bright Jade Sect side, seven people also stood up. That mysterious captain, escorted by the other six people, walked towards the waiting area at the other end. When both sides walked out of the rest area, the atmosphere instantly became肅killing.
Zhang Lexuan opened an umbrella, shielding herself and Zhongli Yu from the fine rain. Nan Qiuqiu turned her head to glance at the direction of the Bright Jade Sect. The captain of the Bright Jade Sect seemed to be looking at her too.
Due to the obstruction of the conical hat and veil, the gazes of both sides couldn't touch directly. But Die Qiu's heart moved slightly, vaguely sensing something.
Soon, both sides entered the waiting area respectively. There was no rain shelter in the waiting area, so everyone could only hold umbrellas. As the first Earth Dragon Gate member to fight, Nan Qiuqiu tapped her toes on the ground and floated lightly onto the competition stage.
Seeing her go on stage, a burst of noise instantly rang out from the distant spectators, some booing, some jeering.
Obviously, they were extremely unwelcome to this Earth Dragon Gate powerhouse who almost defeated the Sun Moon Team in the last match. Even though Nan Qiuqiu's appearance was so beautiful, it couldn't offset the disgust in their hearts.
On the Bright Jade Sect side, a short and capable young man came up. Neither fat nor thin, but his height was only about 1.6 meters. His movements were very agile, but also appeared somewhat wretched.
Both sides soon met in the center of the completely repaired competition stage.
Zheng Zhan frowned and looked at them respectively, saying in a deep voice: "Both sides announce names."
Unlike other referees, he seemed to deliberately want to remember these participating members.
"Earth Dragon Gate, Nan Qiuqiu."
"Bright Jade Sect, You Chen."
Zheng Zhan nodded and said: "You know the competition rules better than anyone. This old man won't repeat them. But you must remember, this is a competition, not a life-and-death struggle. Everyone is born by mothers and raised by fathers. Everyone's life is only once. If anyone specifically aims to kill, don't blame this old man for expelling them from the competition. Do you all understand?"
"Understood." Nan Qiuqiu and You Chen agreed respectively.
Die Qiu had been observing since the opponent came on stage. She could clearly feel the hostility in the opponent's eyes. Undoubtedly, this hostility came from the result caused by their previous match.
After all, the Bright Jade Sect also came from Mingdu. No matter what, they would have a better impression of the Sun Moon Team—
...
In a chaos, Huo Yuhao slowly opened his sleepy eyes and found that his consciousness seemed to be guided to a certain place.
"You are too reckless!" A somewhat helpless coquettish voice sounded.
This voice, could it be...