The Star Luo Emperor nodded and said, “You’re right. Our Xu Family is very powerful. But why did we only making our move when the empire was in trouble? It’s not just because a wise man looks after his own hide. We did it more for the acc.u.mulation of strength. However, our Xu Family has been getting smaller over the past few thousand years. In our generation, it’s only you and I that have inherited the Starcrown. Now, think about Shrek Academy’s foundation. Shrek Academy has been growing over the past 10,000 years, and they have also secretly done a lot of for the continent. Many huge empires are afraid of them too. However, who do you think is truly aware of Shrek Academy’s depth? And would such an established academy make such a stupid error? Furthermore, Shrek Academy can send another group of official team members if they wanted to. Shrek Academy is never devoid of talents.”
Princess Jiu Jiu asked doubtfully, “Brother, are you saying that Shrek Academy does not value the tournament?”
The Star Luo Emperor, Xu Jiawei, shook his head and replied, “No. Shrek Academy might not care about the tournament, but I’m sure that they value this batch of young students a lot. Many people miss out on a few things because of their low cultivations, but those who are keen-eyed can tell their talents. Shrek Academy might have forsaken the chance to become the tournament champion in order to train them up. Losing the tournament isn’t scary. The scary thing is if there are no successors. I have watched Shrek Academy competing in every round. I can fairly say that every one of their students has their own special trait. If they can progress rapidly, given 5 to 10 years, Shrek Academy will have a bright future, and that’ll be even more frightening.”
When he reached this point, Xu Jiawei stopped and turned his attention to the distance, “Younger sister, you must remember this. With the strength of their academy, they once led the 3 empires on the continent to retaliate against the invading Sun Moon Empire. They even resisted the wave of beasts from Star Dou Forest. Without them as a stabilizing force at the border between our empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Sun Moon Empire would have made their move already. Alright, let’s watch the compet.i.tion.”
At this point, the compet.i.tion had already started.
One might wonder whether the Imperial Profound Academy had become angry from embarra.s.sment. The first member to compete was their team leader, who was a soul emperor. He was also the one who drawn the lots for them yesterday.
The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy sent a tall and thin youth up.
Inside the resting area, w.a.n.g Yan introduced the both of them to Huo Yuhao and the others with great familiarity.
“Imperial Profound Academy team leader. His name is Jiang Peng, and he’s a soul emperor. His soul power is between Rank 61 and Rank 62, and he is the first in the Imperial Profound Academy history to become a soul emperor before reaching twenty. Because of this, he’s also very arrogant. His martial soul is a Heavenquake Axe, which is very powerful. Amongst all the a.s.sault-type martial souls, I only know w.a.n.g Dong’s Clear Sky Hammer that can suppress his martial soul.”
“The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy has sent one of their official team members up. His name is Michael, and he is a Cla.s.s 5 soul engineer. He has many strategies, and I have no way of appraising him. In the previous rounds, he would fight almost every time. He is a very stable person, and has never once made a mistake when competing.”
w.a.n.g Yan’s claim that he had never made any mistakes so far was already a positive appraisal on its own. As he was introducing them, the battle had already commenced on stage.
Michael had already let out a series of metallic clangs just as the referee shouted to signal the start of the compet.i.tion.
A bright blue slab of metal rapidly appeared from his back and covered his entire body. It was as if he was wearing a suit of armor over his body. Slabs of metal also appeared from his waist and legs.
After all the bright blue slabs of metal covered his entire body, Jiang Peng had already rushed beyond the halfway line.
Michael was wearing a suit of heavy armor. After donning the armor, his body seemed to have expanded by about 3 circles. The bright blue metal flashed, and a ball of white light shone from both his chest and belly. It was very obvious that these were the core formations of this soul tool of his.
A soul tool that covered his entire body?
Huo Yuhao opened his eyes wide and observed seriously. He had never seen this soul tool before. But Fan Yu had once mentioned that the highest cla.s.s close-combat soul tool was the most primitive armor in the Sun Moon Empire. However, this type of soul tool couldn’t be appraised using simple armors. Its presence greatly increased the user’s offensive and defensive abilities. It could even amplify the user’s cultivation.
Soul engineers’ martial souls were usually defective. But a soul engineer could unleash the powers of a.s.sault-type soul masters with this type of full body armor. Thus, it was a pity that the Shrek Academy’s Soul Engineering Department had experienced some issues with their current research. They had no experience in producing this kind of full body armor. They didn’t expect to see it in this tournament.
Blue light flashed in Michael’s hands, and a huge sword that was the same color as the armor on his body appeared in his palm. The sword’s radiance was even brighter than that of his armor, and the core formation at the edge of the sword released halos of blue light.
As Michael completed all this, his opponent was already in front of him.
Jiang Peng deserved to be called the most outstanding student in the Imperial Profound Academy’s history. He did not unleash his martial soul when he burst towards his opponent. That was because his martial soul would cause his speed to decrease. It was only when he reached his opponent that he unleashed his martial soul.
6 soul rings – 2 yellow, 2 purple and 2 black – rose from beneath his feet instantaneously. A reverberating boom that sounded like lightning resonated in the sky. Following Jiang Peng’s leaping movement, a streak of huge, ferocious radiance had already descended from the sky.
It was a huge axe. The axe was roughly 5 feet in length. But the scary thing was that the axe blade was over 5 feet in width as well. The axe blade was pitch-black, and exuded a cold aura. Its immense destructive strength could be sensed just by looking at it.
Grabbing the axe with both his hands, Jiang Peng slashed it without using any soul skills. The Heavenquake Axe reverberated with a menacing roar. It was slashed towards Michael’s head, aided by its falling momentum.
Michael did not panic, and he slid his feet slightly so that he moved back by a meter. At the same time, his full body armor flashed with an intense blue radiance, which connected with the sword in his hand. As he held the sword’s hilt with both hands, he made an upwards slas.h.i.+ng motion.
It was clear that he had practiced this action countless times. There was no fanciness involved. It was simple, direct and accurate. He was not targeting the axe blade, but instead used his sword’s 7 foot length to sweep towards his opponent’s axe handle.
Jiang Peng snorted, and his downwards slas.h.i.+ng motion stopped in mid-air. He instead swept his axe across horizontally, causing it to collide strongly against the sword.
Michael staggered backwards as a booming roar sounded. Jiang Peng’s momentum was stopped also stopped, and his body even shone with a series of electrical lights.
Huo Yuhao immediately understood that Michael’s armor and sword should carry the effect of lightning.
It was not rare for close-combat soul tools to carry elemental effects. He was, however, shocked by Michael’s powers. This was evidently due to the enhancement by the soul tool. With the soul tool enhancing his powers, he was not much inferior to a strength-type soul emperor as a soul king. This showed the great enhancement effect of this soul tool on him.
w.a.n.g Yan’s description also left Huo Yuhao even more shocked. w.a.n.g Yan said, “In the earlier rounds, Michael also displayed his long-range offensive abilities. This is his first time using a close-combat soul tool.”
w.a.n.g Yan’s explanation caused Huo Yuhao to be stunned. The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy’s abilities had reached such a tremendous standard?
However, Michael also did not feel good after being struck by the axe. He did not manage to chase after Jiang Peng, who was suffering from numbness all over his body. Both of them stopped on the compet.i.tion stage for a while. Following that, Michael did not continue to fight forcefully. The bright blue radiance behind him shone even brighter, and his body picked up speed. He burst out a few meters before his toes touched the ground. Then, he switched directions at a 90 degree angle, but his speed did not decline. He burst towards the center of the compet.i.tion stage.
Jiang Peng’s arrogance had dipped a little by now. He naturally knew the importance of this round to the Imperial Profound Academy. He did not compete first because he was reckless. He had pondered his decision carefully before making it. Only if he managed to get rid of a few opponents could they have a chance of winning today’s individual compet.i.tion. This was also why he did not use his soul skill when he came up. He needed to conserve his soul power and abilities so that he could last longer!
However, Michael was much stronger than he had expected. He was a soul king, and it was obvious that his cultivation wasn’t increased solely through his own training. His foundation was not as deep as an orthodox soul master’s. But it was precisely this soul king that was not at a disadvantage after he met his strike as he wore the armor.
Total body numbness was not a good feeling. Jiang Peng knew that he could no longer hold back anymore. Otherwise, he would be at a disadvantage the longer his opponent remained standing.
As he thought till this point, his 3rd soul ring lit up as he turned. The purple thousand year soul ring emitted an elegant glow while the Heavenquake Axe had already moved amidst a series of booming air blasts.
This Heavenquake Axe was deservedly termed a powerful attack-type soul tool by w.a.n.g Yan. After it struck, the huge axe revolved in the air like a huge light disc that emitted a cold radiance.
A dark, full moon descended from the sky. It managed to catch up to Michael’s sprinting figure in the blink of an eye.