Book 14: The Finals!
Chapter 121.1: The Tang Sect"s Secret Techniques
"Will the fourth contestant from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, Meng Hongchen, please step forth."
Meng Hongchen sauntered onto the compet.i.tion stage. Her looks couldn"t compare to Jiang Nannan"s, but she was still a charming and good-looking young girl, and was about Jiang Nannan"s age as well. Her flowing locks were a rare wine-red color. It was a deeper hue than Ma Xiaotao"s, and resembled mellow wine flecked with pale hues. However, her eyes weren"t red, but were blue. This characteristic was different from her brother, Xiao Hongchen.
She was the fourth contestant from the Sun Moon Empire"s team to partic.i.p.ate in the single-elimination round. The Sun Moon Empire"s team only had four individuals left who could still partic.i.p.ate, including her and her severely injured elder brother.
The Sun Moon Empire"s team had won the group battle, but everything was still going according to w.a.n.g Yan"s plan and arrangement. Shrek Academy"s team could be said to have obtained an overwhelming victory in terms of battle strategy and tactics; all their patience in terms of battle strategy in the compet.i.tion before this had been worth it at this moment.
Who else did Shrek Academy have to send out in this single-elimination round? Other than Bei Bei, Shrek was able to send out the control-type Soul King, Ling Luochen. After that, there was still the White Tiger Soul Emperor, Dai Yueheng, as well as the Evil Phoenix Soul Emperor, Ma Xiaotao. As for the Sun Moon?
Besides Meng Hongchen, they only had a food-type Cla.s.s 5 soul engineer, Xiao Xiafeng, their team leader, Ma Rulong, and the heavily wounded Xiao Hongchen.
Soul engineers should generally have an advantage over soul masters of the same level. However, which of the contestants from Shrek Academy wasn"t a monster?
Why had Michael lost? Because he hadn"t expect Bei Bei"s battle tactics. According to their research, Bei Bei"s greatest strength was his martial soul mutation on the battlefield—a cross between the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and the Golden Holy Dragon. He"d been on guard against this the whole time, which was why he hadn"t used his strongest offensive move. He"d unwittingly lost the battle due to that single Cl.u.s.tered Soulchasing Ball without even getting to unleash his full potential.
The battlefield could have a myriad of changes in an instant, but every single one of Shrek"s team members were pervertedly strong.
Two Soul Ancestors had stepped onto the battlefield and defeated three Soul Kings that were also Cla.s.s 5 soul engineers! How powerful would their Soul Kings and Soul Emperors be?
Even if one didn"t mention Dai Yueheng, the dominance that Ma Xiaotao had displayed in the compet.i.tion thus far meant that she would be Shrek"s cornerstone and pillar of strength in the subsequent battles.
How would the Sun Moon Empire"s team stand a chance in the single-elimination rounds? How would they stand a chance in the following 2-2-3 battle?
The finals" situation was quickly unfurling after this abrupt turn, with the scales of victory slanting in Shrek Academy"s favor. This was Shrek, the monster academy with over than ten thousand years of history.
Meng Hongchen stepped onto the compet.i.tion stage under such circ.u.mstances, and faced her opponent: The Soul Ancestor with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Bei Bei.
"Begin!" The round that the Sun Moon Empire"s team couldn"t lose began following the Heavenfiend Douluo"s bellow.
Bei Bei growled as his feet slid forward, and his entire body rocketed towards his opponent at the fastest speed possible. He"d already completed his original task once he"d achieved victory against Michael. He knew that he couldn"t use the same tactic to attain victory a second time. But despite this, and even if he lost, he wanted to whittle down Meng Hongchen"s power as much as possible in order to lay down a solid foundation for Ling Luochen, who would be the next to come on stage.
w.a.n.g Yan"s current emotions weren"t relaxed at all as he stood below the stage, despite their recent victory. His eyes were fixed upon Meng Hongchen, who"d just stepped on stage, but he couldn"t explain the sudden ominous feeling that had surfaced in his heart.
A profuse number of talents and prodigies had come from Shrek Academy. Xu Sans.h.i.+ and Bei Bei had already sufficiently proven their status as the current outer courtyard"s stars, as well as the future inner courtyard"s pillars with their background and prowess. But what about their opponents? The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy wouldn"t have become Shrek Academy"s nemesis over the past few thousand years if they were that easy to deal with.
Xiao Hongchen"s abilities were enough to attract w.a.n.g Yan"s attention. Xiao Hongchen would"ve probably caused great trouble and danger for the Shrek Academy team if not for Jiang Nannan"s sudden outburst of strength—which had stopped her opponent in his tracks—followed by Dai Yueheng"s all-out strike, who wasn"t even fifteen years of age.
Then, what about Meng Hongchen?
Xiao Hongchen was the Sun Moon Empire"s trump card, and his ability had been to control metal. What was Meng Hongchen"s ability? This befuddling question mark had been in w.a.n.g Yan"s mind this whole time, and still remained unanswered.
Meng Hongchen"s expression remained as calm as ever as Bei Bei lunged towards her. She wasn"t like her comrades, who"d released their soul tools or engaged in long-range combat right from the start. Her feet s.h.i.+fted from beneath her body and she traipsed forward—right towards Bei Bei. At the same time, conspicuous changes began to occur all over her body.
Her flowing wine-red hair turned snowy white, while her icy blue eyes instantly turned bright red—the kind of color that made it seem like her eyes were dripping with blood.
Whoever witnessed the sudden change in her eyes would definitely be shaken by the sight; some would even feel terror.
Bei Bei had a sensation similar to when he"d faced off against the evil soul master, the Envoy of the Death G.o.d, when he saw her, and an inexplicable chill instantly ran up his spine.
It was just at this moment that the sky rang out with the crackling sounds of a lightning strike, and a thin drizzle flitted down from the sky.
Meng Hongchen raised both of her hands into the air and suddenly pushed forwards. Every part of her skin that was visible became a snowy-white color, and appeared sparkling and translucent. However, her eyes still seemed extremely out of place. They were incredibly breathtaking and electrifying.
Her palms seemed to faintly flicker with a pale green l.u.s.ter as well.
Meng Hongchen didn"t look like a soul engineer at all. Instead, she appeared much more like a soul master.
However, not a single person from Shrek could tell what her martial soul was; not even the Taotie Douluo Elder Xuan or w.a.n.g Yan.
Elder Xuan"s eyes narrowed into a squint, and his eyes sparkled with astonishment. Even though he still couldn"t tell what Meng Hongchen"s martial soul was, he postulated that her martial soul couldn"t be as weak as a typical soul master"s, and even if she couldn"t compare to Xiao Hongchen, they wouldn"t be too far apart.
Xiao Hongchen"s metal-type martial soul was compatible with his status as a soul engineer. His potential in the future was boundless, and he was already a Soul King even though he was still so young; one could only imagine what kind of power he would possess when he grew up.
It was apparent that Meng Hongchen had chosen a different path from her elder brother.
While everyone was flabbergasted by Meng Hongchen"s martial soul, both parties were headed straight at each other with dazzling speed. The distance between them was quickly reduced to less than thirty meters.
The first one to attack was Meng Hongchen. She raised her hands and drew two semicircles outwards, then pushed them in Bei Bei"s direction.
Her soul rings began to sparkle brilliantly on her body—two yellow, two purple and one black. This was the standard and most optimal soul ring combination. At the same time, a light projection gradually drifted into view behind her.
It was a toad, spotlessly white like a piece of jade, and with eyes the same blood-red color as hers. However, the martial soul beast transformation that had appeared on Xiao Hongchen"s body didn"t appear on Meng Hongchen.
"This is…" w.a.n.g Yan"s eyes instantly widened. He"d perused and scrutinized all sorts of encyclopedias and archives from the academy about martial souls from the moment he"d joined Shrek. He had a strangely familiar feeling about the white jade-like toad before him, and knew that he"d seen this in some ancient record before.
A beam of white energy that was a foot long in diameter surged towards Bei Bei from Meng Hongchen"s palms when she pushed them out, and her first soul ring lit up along with it.
The reason why she"d released a beam of energy and not radiance was the fact that this beam didn"t seem quick at all. There were tinges of green throughout the whiteness, and the whole thing seemed like a luminous patch of mist.
What was even more sinister was that the tiny raindrops drifting down from the sky naturally infused themselves naturally into the beam of energy, which made it look like a whirlpool.
Bei Bei naturally wouldn"t underestimate an unknown martial soul. His personality was a lot calmer and more stable than Xu Sans.h.i.+"s, thus he abruptly halted in his tracks. His third soul ring, the Thunderous Fury, lit up first, followed immediately by his fourth soul ring. He"d actually used his most powerful offensive move, the Thunderous Dragon Head, at the very beginning of the battle.
Bei Bei knew just by looking at Meng Hongchen"s appearance that it would be extremely difficult for him to emerge victorious. Meng Hongchen seemed to exude an air of mystery in whatever she did. Thus he"d a.s.signed himself a simple target: he would grind his opponent down as much as he could.
An uncountable number of streaks of lightning accompanied the Thunderous Fury and crackled all around him. Their radiant light reflected off of the dragon scales on the right half of Bei Bei"s body, causing them to gleamed with a bluish-purple brilliance. At the same time, his fearsome draconic aura was completely unleashed amidst the drizzle around him, and a crisp draconic roar could be heard as the colossal Thunderous Dragon Head ferociously boomed out. Under the Thunderous Fury"s amplification, the force of this strike wasn"t one whit inferior to the strike of a powerful Soul King.
Lightning and thunder were rolling in the skies, causing the Thunderous Dragon Head tp appear even more ruthless than before. The enormous dragon head had a diameter of over one meter, and pierced through the miniscule raindrops falling from the sky as it slammed into the dense white whirlpool coming towards him.
Right at this moment, Meng Hongchen made a decision that was completely beyond everyone"s expectations. She didn"t intend to fight fire with fire, and neither did she push forward—instead, she stood up on her tiptoes, and her body sprung into the sky like a bolt of lightning as she flew backwards with bedazzling speed.
The Thunderous Dragon Head barreled forward and blew the white mist energy that she"d unleashed into smithereens, then proceeded to chase after her with the sounds of thunderous howls and dragon-like roars.
Meng Hongchen displayed astonis.h.i.+ng agility as she arrived on the compet.i.tion stage"s edge with two flips before she abruptly leapt to the side.
The Thunderous Dragon Head was able to lock onto its target. However, instead of chasing after her, it proceeded to crash into the protective barrier surrounding the compet.i.tion stage with a loud boom.
Innumerable streaks of lightning erupted when it struck the protective barrier, causing a sphere of lightning that was over three meters in diameter to appear. Several seconds pa.s.sed before it gradually dissipated.
Meng Hongchen didn"t move an inch as she dropped back onto the ground. She didn"t take the initiative to launch another attack, nor did she do anything else; she just watched Bei Bei on the other end of the stage.
Bei Bei just stood there, his gaze a little lackadaisical. There was a trace of disbelief in his eyes, but the twinkling glow in his eyes was dwindling with tremendous speed.