Chapter 1023: Extreme Speed

This was the first time that the federation was trying out this piece of technology. Generally speaking, soul broadcasts differed from region to region, and it was the first time that they were going to attempt to broadcast an event across the entire federation. This was partially due to the fact that the federation had just successfully launched its first signal satellite into space a year ago, and also because the federation was making a great effort to make the Star Battle Net more prevalent.

The Star Battle Net had cost an astronomical sum to be researched and developed, and without sufficient financial support, even the federation wouldn't be able to keep it running for long. Only with sufficient widespread attention would the federal parliament receive more financial support, and that was why this competition was held.

As things turned out, it had garnered even more attention than they'd expected!

Even though soul technology had already become a part of everyday life, the people of the Douluo Continent still revered individual heroic figures.

20,000 years ago, the founder of the Tang Sect, Tang San, had ascended to the Divine Realm. Prior to his ascension, he had defeated the ambitious Spirit Hall to grant freedom to all of the Soul Masters on the entire continent.

10,000 years ago, the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, was able to destroy the entire Holy Spirit Cult on his own and also defeated Beast God Di Tian. He had stopped the dominant Sun Moon Empire by himself, thereby giving the Star Luo Empire a chance to recuperate, and only then did it go on to become the current Star Luo Continent.

Now, there were more Limit Douluos than ever, but where did the peak of Soul Masters truly lie? In particular, what were the powerful beings of the younger generation capable of?

These were all things that were unknown to the general public, and it was undoubtedly the case that the Star Battle Net Inter-federation Competition had given them a lens through which they could peek into the world of Soul Masters. Furthermore, the event was going to be broadcasted for free all over the entire federation, making it possible for everyone to spectate the event even without having to set foot outside their doors; how could the competition not receive widespread attention?

Even the trauma caused by the destruction of Shrek City had been significantly dampened by this competition.

There were countless screens across the entire federation broadcasting the competition, and as this was the first round, there were as many as 128 matches taking place on the same day. Due to the fact that these were live broadcasts, the matches weren't all taking place at the same time. Instead, they were split up into 10 different time slots, and over 10 matches would be held per time slot. There were going to be professional commentators and workers interchanging between the live broadcasts to ensure that as much of the competition was shown as possible, and Tang Wulin's match was one of the matches taking place in the first time slot.

Furthermore, it was the first one to appear on the live broadcasts, so there were countless spectators all over the entire federation currently watching this battle.

"Five, four, three, two, one, begin!"

As the electronic countdown concluded, a massive light projection appeared on everyone's screens, following which the two participants sprang into action in unison.

Tang Wulin's initial movement could only be described as earth-shattering. He stomped his left foot into the ground, and his body was propelled forward amid a resounding boom. The ground beneath his feet was cracked and caved in in a diameter of 10 meters around him, and he instantly broke through the sound barrier, covering 300 meters in the blink of an eye.

"My God! What is this level of speed and explosive power? Can the human body really handle something like this? He isn't even wearing his battle armor!" the commentator instantly exclaimed.

They were supposed to constantly interchange between the 10 matches currently being held, doing their best to show the most spectacular snippets of every single match, but Tang Wulin's stomp was far too astonishing, and it rendered the commentators almost unable to switch to any other matches!

Tang Wulin had used his Mountain Dragon King torso bone to make himself lighter, then exerted enormous power into the ground to instantly raise his speed to more than twice the speed of sound. This explosive acceleration took him to his opponent in an instant. He wasn't using any weapons or techniques; he was simply throwing a punch at his opponent.

If someone could slow down the image currently being broadcasted, then they'd notice that as Tang Wulin unleashed that punch, his skin took on a reddish-golden hue, following which a series of reddish-golden blood vessels began to bulge beneath his skin. Immediately thereafter, layers of fine golden dragon scales appeared all over his arm, and his golden dragon claws hurtled directly toward his opponent's chest.

All of the finalists had progressed from their respective regional competitions, so there were no weaklings among them. Tang Wulin's opponent was also quite stunned by his explosive acceleration, but he still reacted very quickly.

He sucked in his stomach, and a speck of light appeared on his chest. There wasn't enough time for him to release his full suit of battle armor, but he managed to release his cuirass. 

He didn't try to use his arms to block the oncoming attack as Tang Wulin was simply far too fast for him to do that. Instead, he swung both of his fists toward Tang Wulin's temples, and as he did so, a sharp spike emerged from each of his hands.

His attack was extremely precise and accurate, and if his spikes were going to strike Tang Wulin's temples at around the same time that Tang Wulin's attack struck his chest.

He had his cuirass to protect his chest, so he could survive the attack, but being impaled in the temples spelled certain death. He had instantly reacted and made the correct decision to attack an area that his opponent had to protect, and just that reaction alone indicated that he did indeed deserve a berth in the finals.

He was also very pleased with his own reaction. At Tang Wulin's current speed, there was no way that he'd be able to change directions as his body wouldn't be able to handle the impact. The drawback of having extreme speed was that the excessive momentum made it difficult for one to control their body.

Even if Tang Wulin were to just barely control himself and evade that lethal attack, his attack would still be completely nullified.

An agility attack system Soul Master shouldn't have very powerful defenses, and he just so happened to possess a wide-range attack that could take out his opponent in an instant.

That's right, he had reflexively drawn to the conclusion that Tang Wulin was an agility attack system Soul Master.

By the time the commentator finished his first sentence, the two of them were already extremely close to one another. 

In the next instant, everyone's screens were completely dominated by a burst of golden color. It was a pair of golden featherless wings that were covered in rhomboid dragon scales. Compared to the scales on his body, those on his wings were slightly larger, but also a little thinner. As the wings were fully spread open the wingspan reached over five meters, and Tang Wulin's insane momentum drew to an abrupt halt. His drastic deceleration began right as his opponent swung those sharp spikes toward him.

The triumphant expression that had just appeared on his face instantly stiffened, but unfortunately, Tang Wulin didn't get to catch a glimpse of this. His opponent’s sharp spikes had clashed with one another as he'd misjudged Tang Wulin's speed, thereby obscuring Tang Wulin's vision of his face.

Immediately thereafter, Tang Wulin's fist arrived, and they struck the pair of sharp spikes first before bulldozing onward, crashing directly into his opponent's cuirass.

"Boom!" The golden dragon claw's crushing special effect was unleashed, and the immense power of the Golden Dragon King erupted forth!

Number 118's body flew backward while rotating like a windmill in a completely uncontrollable manner.

After that, Tang Wulin flapped his dragon wings vigorously once again, thereby allowing him to instantly catch up to his opponent, and he unleashed another simple punch without any additional tricks or embellishments.

Right as the smug look had stiffened on Number 118's face, he heard the sound of his cuirass being shattered, and he had been trying to release his suit of battle armor this entire time, but he felt as if he'd just been run over by a high-speed soul train. His body was sent flying in an uncontrollable manner, his soul power had been completely scattered, and he wasn't even able to release his full suit of battle armor.

How was this possible?!

He was then greeted by the sight of a pair of golden eyes, as well as the golden fist that was rapidly expanding in his field of view.