Volume 27, Chapter 278.3: First Battle

“It’s very targeted!” Huo Yuhao was stunned as he commented. Feng Shen was using speed to curb Meng Hongchen’s venom. Undoubtedly, he had to be very explosive in terms of his offensive power.

Meng Hongchen’s live experience was rather rich. Seeing that her opponent had burst into the sky, she was also shocked. However, she didn’t panic. Her six soul rings lit up. Her Icevenom Ring and Ice Reflection specialty skills were unleashed concurrently.

In mid-air, Feng Shen’s wings flapped open to both sides. His dim purplish glow started to turn darker, and his first and third soul rings shone concurrently. When his first soul ring lit up, his wings also increased one foot in size. The dim purplish glow became increasingly darker.

When his third soul ring lit up, the glow from his body became even more intense. Everything within a ten-meter radius turned purple.

Following this, his fifth soul ring lit up, too. The pitch-black soul ring expanded out before converting into rings of light that revolved around his body. His body started to distort, and became a little unclear.

Xu Sanshi, who was sitting beside Huo Yuhao, squinted and said, “He wants to end this battle in one strike!”

Huo Yuhao smiled and asked, “Third senior, what’s your take on this guy’s attack?”

Xu Sanshi replied without any hesitation, “Very strong! From the looks of it, his martial soul should be the Lightning Falcon. The Lightning Falcon has always been recognized as a predator of eagles. It’s an extremely quick martial soul. It’s a third the size of other falcons, but is extremely vicious. It feeds on the internal organs of other falcons. Even an eagle ten times its size is scared of it. It’s not just quick; it’s able to alter its direction at high speed in the air. Among agility-type martial souls, it’s one of the best. Of course, its strengths and weaknesses are evident. I don’t think I need to explain what it’s weakness is with high speed and a quick offense, right?

Xiao Xiao and Jiang Nannan said at almost the same time, “Defense!”

Xu Sanshi chuckled and said, “If I were his opponent, he’d collide with my shield and die.”

Jiang Nannan glared at him and snapped, “Would it kill you not to boast?”

Xu Sanshi’s expression turned from arrogant to deep. He was filled with passion as he looked at Jiang Nannan and said, “I won’t die from not boasting. However, I’ll die without you.” As he spoke, he held onto Jiang Nannan’s hand and caressed it.

Jiang Nannan’s face turned red. She made a spitting sound before turning her attention back to the stage. However, she didn’t pull her hand back.

A dim light flashed. Huo Yuhao revealed a pensive look on his face. He was also observing how Meng Hongchen was going to resist the Lightning Falcon’s quick offensive strike.

Just like Feng Shen, Meng Hongchen’s weaknesses and strengths were also very evident. Without a doubt, her strength lay in her venom. Even opponents with a greater cultivation than her might find it difficult to win against her. This was the case with Dai Yueheng back then. However, her offensive and defensive strengths weren’t very impressive even though she was poisonous.

Back when she only had five rings, her only true offensive soul skill was her fifth soul skill, Icefire Venomdragon’s Corkscrew, and she had relied on her Ice Reflection as her defensive soul skill. When she faced a domain-type, long-range attack, it was difficult for her to counter.

However, the difference Meng Hongchen had with her opponents was that she wasn’t just a soul master, she was also a soul engineer! Huo Yuhao and the few of them could discern her weaknesses, so she naturally knew what her weaknesses were too, and she relied on soul tools to make up for her weakness. As for what she could do, it wasn’t something that they knew yet. They could only learn by observation.

Feng Shen took quite a long time to prepare his fifth soul skill. As the glow around his body distorted, it slowly disappeared. The dim purplish glow in mid-air slowly turned dark purple. A purple eagle with three-meter-long wings slowly took form.

This resembled a Martial Soul True Body! Meng Hongchen could sense that she was being locked on to. She had no way of differentiating whether her opponent’s attack was domain-type or omnidirectional. Under such an unfavorable circumstance, Meng Hongchen still managed to keep herself poised, and appeared very calm. There were no emotions on her face, and no one knew what she was thinking.

At this point, the purplish figure up in the air finally moved. It formed an arc in the air that came straight towards Meng Hongchen.

He was too quick, and caused a piercing sonic boom as he was halfway there. This only happened because he was traveling almost at the speed of sound!

Meng Hongchen instantly understood that his attack would be omnidirectional. However, he was so quick that it was impossible for her to unleash her Ice Reflection. This terrifying speed was beyond her comprehension. She’d never even seen a seven-ringed Soul Sage reach that speed before.

The purplish glow appeared right in front of her as it was unleashed and the sonic boom sounded.

However, a dim pinkish glow was suddenly released from Meng Hongchen’s chest. This glow changed into a barrier that blocked her body.

At the most critical moment, she still relied on a soul tool. It was in her nature.

Boom——!

Meng Hongchen’s entire body was swallowed by the frightening purple glow. The tremendous impact caused the metal floor to cave in. Even the icy surface formed by Meng Hongchen’s Ice Reflection started to crack. The strike was truly powerful!

All the spectators held their breath. This strike was too terrifying! Although they knew soul masters were strong, it was very rare for them to personally witness the supernatural abilities of a soul master. The frightening strength of impact generated balls of cyclones that caused ripples in the defensive light barriers surrounding the stage.

Everyone’s attention was caught by the purplish glow. For a Soul King to unleash such a strike, he was close to the standard of a Soul Emperor! In fact, another soul master wouldn’t have given Feng Shen so much time to prepare. He had used too much time to accumulate his power.

Regarding this, the Dragonslayer Sect must have had judged that Meng Hongchen wouldn’t take the initiative to close the gap, and so Feng Shen was instructed to use his strongest attack immediately. Events proved that that they had been right. At least, Feng Shen managed to successfully unleash his strongest strike.

However, had he actually won?

The purple slowly faded away, and two figures appeared in front of everyone. Meng Hongchen was still standing in her initial position, completely unmoved. Her entire body was engulfed by the dim pinkish light barrier. Feng Shen was ten meters away from her, one of his knees on the floor. His arms that had changed into wings had drooped down, as if they had lost a bone, and he was panting hard.

Meng Hongchen hadn’t unleashed an Invincible Barrier, but it seemed like the protective barrier that she had used was at least Class 7! If it were Class 6, she couldn’t possibly remain in her position after suffering such a violent attack.

Plop! Feng Shen collapsed to the ground and went unconscious. After completing his strongest strike, his arms were fractured, and he had also suffered from the Icetoad Venom’s poison.

However, Meng Hongchen also looked to be in bad shape. She didn’t expect her trump card to be revealed to all her opponents. Feng Shen’s attack had been too strong, such that her soul power was depleted by forty percent. She was only able to tap into the backlash of a Class 7 soul tool to gravely hurt her opponent.

This was extremely targeted. If Meng Hongchen only had five rings and didn’t have such a strong defensive soul tool, she would have lost.

“We concede defeat. He won’t compete later either. Please neutralize his poison,” the team leader of the Dragonslayer Sect’s team decided immediately.

Cheers also exploded out at this moment. Meng Hongchen wasn’t just representing the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, she was also representing the Sun Moon Empire! Here, she didn’t have any lack of fans, and she had won two fights consecutively! They were cheering for her victory!

In the succeeding rounds, the Dragonslayer Sect didn’t have anyone that could curb Meng Hongchen. Four people fell to her poison. However, her own soul power was also being increasingly depleted. After all, this was a fight between two teams. Although her cultivation was greater than Rank 65, her soul power was still limited. If not for the fact that her first two opponents were Soul Kings, she wouldn’t have been able to survive more than four rounds.

To prevent her from suffering any injuries, Meng Hongchen conceded defeat when the Dragonslayer Sect’s team leader stepped up to compete. Eventually, she didn’t manage to defeat the entire Dragonslayer Sect’s team.

Even so, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy demonstrated their worth.

Their second competing member was a Soul King and Class 5 soul engineer. As he fought the team leader of the Dragonslayer Sect’s team, he eventually managed to eke out a victory.

The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy thus became the first side to win the first round of the tournament. They didn’t even compete in the team round, and managed to advance from the first round with six points.