Zheng Zhan swung his right arm down to announce that the match had officially begun!
Both teams" formations immediately changed.
Long Aotian stood at the Snowdemon Sect"s vanguard, while w.a.n.g Yanfeng and Gu Tong stood to either side of him. Jiang Yixi and Chen Yu stood behind them at their sides, the five of them forming a sharp triangle formation. This was an offensive formation, and since Princess Wei Na was their auxiliary-type soul master, so she was positioned behind this triangle. Long Aotian was in front of her, and this meant her defense was practically impregnable.
The Tang Sect"s formation immediately transformed as well. Xu Sans.h.i.+ and Bei Bei charged forward side by side, and Jiang Nannan disappeared behind Xu Sans.h.i.+ in a flash. At least, her opponents couldn"t see her from the front. Xiao Xiao and He Caitou followed behind Xu Sans.h.i.+ and Bei Bei.
w.a.n.g Dong"er extended her wings. She actually left Huo Yuhao behind as she soared into the air, and flew forward about two meters above everyone else, maintaining reach with both the sky and the ground.
Huo Yuhao was the one who surprised their adversaries the most.
Huo Yuhao didn"t make a move immediately. Instead, he raised his right hand in the air, and the large Starlight Sapphire ring on his finger sparkled as an enormous metal sphere appeared in front of him.
The metal sphere looked like a giant porcupine. There were a large number of cannon barrels on its surface, and it had eight thick metal legs. These metal legs were arranged around the metal sphere and stuck close to it as they moved stably along the ground.
Huo Yuhao tapped lightly on its surface with his right hand, and a bright light ray flew out from his forehead as he seized the opportunity to rise into the air.
The little Snow Lady flew out behind him and pushed him along. They entered the enormous metal sphere.
---
Several people"s expressions changed on the rostrum. The ones with the blackest faces were Xu Tianran and the Hallmaster of the Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall, Jing Hongchen.
"What"s this about, Hallmaster Hongchen?" Xu Tianran uttered these words through the gaps between his gritted teeth.
The All-Terrain Self-Driving Fortress wasn"t one of the Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall"s top-secret technologies, but ever since the Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall came up with the design, both the design and the Hall had been personally approved by Xu Tianran as part of the Sun Moon Empire"s future main military forces. They had already begun producing the Fortresses in bulk!
But at this moment, this military equipment that was still being treated as a secret had appeared in the Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament. How could Xu Tianran not be upset?
Jing Hongchen was also dumbfounded. "That… that"s not possible! Huo Yuhao was on exchange at our academy for a while, but I was always guarded against him. It"s impossible for him to have obtained our core technologies and knowledge. Calm down, Your Highness. We will investigate this matter after this. It is likely to have something to do with Xuan Ziwen, our chief researcher who has deserted us. Only he could possibly have known all the data regarding the All-Terrain Self-Driving Fortress."
"Hmph!" Xu Tianran grunted angrily and shot a dark, cold glare at Jing Hongchen. If not for the fact that the Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall"s Hallmaster was highly reputable, and he still had uses for him, Xu Tianran would have ended his life right away with his temper.
---
The Snowdemon Sect"s team members were also greatly astonished as they watched Huo Yuhao enter his All-Terrain Self-Driving Fortress.
Everyone was filled with awe and astonishment, but Princess Wei Na"s eyes sparkled.
What was this toy about? It was so large and ma.s.sive, and it looked like every single cannon barrel could fire something different. It wasn"t hard to imagine how powerful and domineering something like this would be on the battlefield. The Heavenly Soul Empire was already one of the Tang Sect"s biggest customers...
Huo Yuhao was a beat slower than his companions. Once he entered his fortress, the enormous sphere that was over three meters in diameter began to move.
Eight lengthy metal legs stretched out at the same time and raised the self-driving fortress from the ground. The metal clanging sounds were clean and crisp, and not a single grinding or rubbing sound could be heard.
Huo Yuhao had personally refined his All-Terrain Self-Driving Fortress with Xuan Ziwen, and it was a lot more powerful than the ones that the Sun Moon Empire were ma.s.s producing.
This was also the main reason why Huo Yuhao had dared to expend his soul power before this, and the main reason why he still had the confidence to continue in the group battle. There were six sealed Milk Bottles that Xuan Ziwen had personally crafted inside this fortress, all of them Cla.s.s 7. Every single one contained ample soul power, and together, they had enough soul power that Huo Yuhao could take part in a small battle without expending any of his own soul power!
Xuan Ziwen was the one who had come up with sealed Milk Bottles. Cla.s.s 7 sealed Milk Bottles were at the highest possible cla.s.s with his current research progress. Even the Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall only had data and materials for crafting Cla.s.s 6 sealed Milk Bottles!
Even though Huo Yuhao couldn"t raise his fortress" offensive abilities to that of a Cla.s.s 7 soul engineer with his six Cla.s.s 7 sealed Milk Bottles, he had no problem unleas.h.i.+ng and maintaining a Cla.s.s 6 soul engineer"s offensive prowess for a prolonged period of time. Right now, his role in his team was no longer as simple as just a control-type soul master. He was now part of his team"s offensive front!
Thirty-two cannon barrels of different shapes and sizes at the top of his fortress were the first to fire. Whistling sounds could be heard as thirty-two orange-red spheres soared into the sky and rained down on his enemies in the distance.
The fortress" eight metal legs began to rotate rhythmically in the next moment, and it ran forward in pursuit of his teammates!
Both forces were about to collide in the center as Huo Yuhao"s thirty-two orange-red cannon sh.e.l.ls rained down on his opponents.
The Tang Sect wasn"t absolutely stronger than their adversaries in terms of personal fighting strength, but the Body Sect would face a great task if they wanted to find someone that understood the usage of soul tools better than Huo Yuhao and He Caitou!
All six of the Tang Sect"s team who were charging forward halted at the same time. With Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Detection shared amongst everyone, they would never misjudge anything at all.
Long Aotian was still in front of his entire team, and he formed a circle with his hands as an incandescent wave rippled out and swept towards the orange-red sh.e.l.ls hammering down on them. He wanted to open a path for his team with his formidable strength.
However, a peculiar scene occurred. The cannon sh.e.l.ls paused in midair, and patches of blinding light erupted the moment the white air wave slammed into them.
Who would have thought that Huo Yuhao"s thirty-two cannon sh.e.l.ls weren"t an attack, but instead were flashbangs? It wasn"t in line with how soul engineers typically fought. But it was this very fact, that it wasn"t in line with how soul engineers typically fought, that made it easier for the results to show!
The Tang Sect"s entire team immediately turned around and defended themselves against the flashbangs. Their opponents were caught off guard, and their entire field of view went white.
This was an explosion caused by thirty-two flashbangs going off at the same time. There were no dead angles from the front, and three of the people from the Body Sect who were struck by this blinding white light exclaimed at the same time.
The flashbangs didn"t last for very long. The Tang Sect"s entire team turned around with their eyes closed in the next moment, and launched an a.s.sault on their opponents as soon as possible... with their eyes still closed!
Did they even need to use their eyes? With Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Detection, they would never pick or recognize the wrong people even if their eyes were shut!
The eight metal legs on Huo Yuhao"s fortress suddenly straightened and pushed the entire fortress up three meters above the ground. Every single cannon barrel was trained on his opponents, and hundreds of different soul rays and cannons poured out and cascaded against them.
Bei Bei and Xu Sans.h.i.+ pounced forward at the same time, going straight for Long Aotian. Jiang Nannan was still hidden behind Xu Sans.h.i.+. Huo Yuhao"s plan was for the three of them to combine their efforts to take down Long Aotian as quickly as possible!
Long Aotian was too powerful, and it would be quite a challenge for the Tang Sect to win this group battle if they didn"t deal with their greatest threat first. Huo Yuhao would team up with He Caitou to suppress the rest of the Snowdemon Sect"s team so that their companions would have that chance.
Xiao Xiao followed closely behind Xu Sans.h.i.+ and Bei Bei. Her tremendous Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron appeared out of nowhere and split into three, the three different cauldrons appearing behind Long Aotian. This was equivalent to isolating him, while all three cauldrons exploded with a deafening tone at the same time. Cauldron Quake!
w.a.n.g Dong"er soared high into the sky. With Huo Yuhao"s forceful suppressing fire as cover, she flew soundlessly and discreetly towards the backs of her opponents. Her target was Wei Na.
The Tang Sect"s explosive movement came without warning, but everybody fell into their roles and positions as quickly as was humanly possible. They made use of Huo Yuhao"s formidable flashbangs and immediately gained the upper hand.
Huo Yuhao"s All-Terrain Self-Driving Fortress" offensive capabilities were comparable to that of a Soul Emperor operating a soul tool fort. Furthermore, he could maintain his fortress for an even longer time. Hundreds of soul rays pressed down like a waterfall, and even the Body Sect"s most powerful individuals had to react with everything they had.
w.a.n.g Yanfeng was following closely behind Long Aotian. His arms instantly swelled up at this moment, resembling two enormous s.h.i.+elds as they blocked the soul rays coming straight for them.
He maintained this stance for three seconds, and greenish-bronze light flickered from behind his back. He was forced to unleash his body soul"s Second Awakening!
He Caitou also released more than ten different soul tools at the same time, and worked together with Huo Yuhao to suppress their opponents. In addition to Xiao Xiao"s isolating efforts, there was no question that Long Aotian had been separated from his teammates.
The audience beneath the compet.i.tion stage were also temporarily blinded by the powerful flashbangs, and their vision was only gradually coming back to them. Meanwhile, a series of collisions could be heard from the compet.i.tion stage.
Boom, boom, boom!
Something that absolutely astounded the Tang Sect"s entire team occurred with three intense impacts. Bei Bei, Xu Sans.h.i.+, and Jiang Nannan flew backwards one after another, while Long Aotian, who they were besieging at the same time, stood in the same spot. He turned around and swung his incandescent arms toward Xiao Xiao.
How was that possible?