N-A-A Chapter 195 Ye Wuqing, Shangguan Can
Chapter 195 Ye Wuqing, Shangguan Can
However, the two rounds of intense clashes had, in a sense, almost exhausted the soul power of both Bei Bei and Yu Mengdi. The reason they were now in a "calm" standoff was not only due to the soul power vacuum, but also because their soul power reserves were already insufficient.
In this state of near-exhaustion of soul power, even with Little Light, it wouldn't be something Bei Bei could accomplish in a short time (within two minutes). The reason Bei Bei was able to attack first was entirely because, after realizing that releasing a soul skill in a short time was unrealistic, he decisively pulled out his Soul Guiding Ray.
Yes, it's the most basic version of the Soul Guidance Ray, and also the Soul Guidance Device that Bei Bei is most skilled at making. It's a level three Soul Guidance Device with no special additional abilities; its only advantage is that it consumes relatively little Soul Power.
Using this soul tool that required relatively little soul power to activate, Bei Bei launched another attack before Yu Mengdi could catch her breath. Unable to unleash her soul skill, Yu Mengdi suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of a level-three soul-guided ray attack.
The carefully designed tactics failed to achieve the desired effect, and now the pressure is on Zhengtian Academy.
Zhengtian Academy's previous plan was actually similar to Shrek Academy's worst-case scenario. They wanted to fight hard to win the first two-on-two match, then strategically give up the second two-on-two match, directly replacing Shrek Academy's apparent Soul King strength with a lower-tier hero, and using their strongest hero, Ye Wuqing, to guarantee victory in the third three-on-three battle.
However, Shrek Academy thwarted Zheng Tian Academy's plan right from the start. Two Soul Kings against one Soul King and one Soul Master should indeed give the two Soul Kings a slight advantage. But setting aside the fact that Shrek Academy's Soul Masters inherently possess the ability to challenge Soul Kings of higher levels, just consider Xu Sanshi—he's a possessor of divine beast bloodline! The kind who can unleash his power at any time. How could he possibly allow Zheng Tian Academy's scheme to succeed?
Before the match began, Wang Yan looked grave. This was understandable, as he hadn't anticipated Zheng Tian Academy's possible actions when devising tactics, which had put Shrek Academy in a passive position.
The other trainees also looked grave, as they didn't have a deep understanding of Xu Sanshi's strength and didn't believe Shrek Academy had a sure chance of winning. However, after frowning, Long You quickly calmed down, because he was certain that Shrek Academy would win.
Beibei and Xu Sanshi returned, wearing victorious smiles but also bearing a trace of post-battle fatigue. The battle, to be honest, wasn't particularly intense. Beibei could be said to have used ninety percent of her strength, while Xu Sanshi had practically been slacking off.
Why do I say that? Because a battle employing a full range of tactics couldn't be so simple and brutal. How did these two win? Basically, they won through sheer brute force.
In terms of soul power and soul skills, they certainly didn't hold back much. But when it comes to controlling the rhythm of battle and strategic planning, Long You can only say that they have some, but not much. What these two planned most was how to get the two from Zheng Tian Academy to follow their rhythm and start a head-on clash. That was all.
In short, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi fought a reckless battle. Relying on Xu Sanshi, who had a bloodline advantage, Bei Bei directly chose the simplest and most questionable path to victory.
Indeed, from Long You's current perspective, he could clearly see the solemn expressions on the faces of those from Zheng Tian Academy, as well as the resentment on Yu Mengdi's face.
"Ruthless, it's up to you. If we can drag this out to the third game, we might still have a chance."
Despite their solemn expressions and unwillingness, the progress of the competition would not be interrupted. After the head referee on the competition stage waved to signal both academies to send out their students for the second two-on-two match as soon as possible, the team leader of Zhengtian Academy temporarily adjusted the competition lineup, replacing the original cannon fodder duo with captain Ye Wuqing and a support-type soul master from Zhengtian Academy's lineup—Shangguan Can.
Even with this lineup, the Zheng Tian Academy's expression remained grim. They knew very well that Shrek Academy would be fielding a double Soul King lineup. Unfortunately, while Shangguan Can's support abilities were strong, and he wasn't without offensive capabilities, he wasn't Xu Sanshi. He alone couldn't challenge a Soul King of a higher level.
In other words, in the upcoming matches, the Academy's offensive capabilities will still rely on Ye Wuqing, as Shangguan Can's martial soul dictates that he can only play a support role at most.
Stepping onto the competition stage, Long You took a closer look at Ye Wuqing, the captain of Zheng Tian Academy, who remained expressionless until now. With Xiao Yan present, Long You knew very well that Ye Wuqing wasn't feigning composure; he was genuinely calm, showing little emotional fluctuation.
The current situation was tricky for Ye Wuqing, but he himself felt no pressure. Long You didn't know if Ye Wuqing was indifferent to the honor of the academy, or if he simply believed in his own strength, or if he was just an emotionally detached person. In any case, Long You wanted to take advantage of the opportunity before the match started to observe this well-proportioned, unremarkable, and unusually cold-eyed captain of Zheng Tian Academy.
"Senior Sister Ling, this Ye Wuqing is an atypical ranged attack-type Soul Master. His abilities are mainly concentrated on the Golden Leaf blades, and his attack method is generally to throw the blades like throwing knives. Of course, he has five Soul Skills after all, so his attack method can't be that simple."
The fourth soul skill, Golden Left Hand, is a very powerful melee soul skill. After applying this soul skill, Ye Wuqing's left hand will become extremely hard. I personally believe that I have no way to break through his Golden Left Hand defense with melee attacks.
The fifth soul skill, Dance of Golden Leaves, is a wide-range, meat-grinding attack. Given our combined physical strength, if we were caught in it, we'd probably be turned into mincemeat. Of course, I'm talking about being caught off guard; using two layers of level 5 soul shields, or an upgraded version of a soul shield with defensive capabilities, would be enough to withstand it.
The rest is pretty straightforward. It's just a difference between one golden leaf throwing knife and a dozen. The only thing to be careful of is that its trajectory is quite unpredictable, and its explosive power is considerable. It's best to intercept and freeze it mid-air. In short, just keep it out of our sight.
"That's not difficult. What about Shangguan Can?"
"Well, this guy is a bit tricky. His abilities are not friendly to either of us. Shangguan Can's martial soul is the Soul-Capturing Bell, and his soul skills include a series of abilities targeting the spirit and soul, such as Soul Sweeping, Soul Capturing, and Soul Piercing. Soul Sweeping and Soul Piercing are a bit easier to deal with; they are basically equivalent to Yuhao's mental impact and mental interference. After equipping a soul tool that amplifies mental power, the impact is not significant."
However, this soul-capturing skill is really troublesome. It can directly control soul masters with insufficient mental strength, and even those with sufficient mental strength will inevitably face a stalemate. I'm not entirely sure if my mental defense-type soul tool will be effective against this skill.
"After hearing your description, I think perhaps I should replace you with Yuhao."
"Uh, don't be so heartless. My tactical helmet, which integrates the effects of multiple soul tools, is still very useful."
"Okay, I'll wear it. What about you? Are you planning to use your soul-guided power mech?"
"No, it's not that time yet. I only need to use the soul-guided power armor."
Throughout the pre-battle ceremony, Long You and Ling Luochen were constantly exchanging information, and the ceremony was completed rather perfunctorily. As a result, for the first time, the etiquette staff saw another emotion in Ye Wuqing's cold eyes—an emotion called "anger."
As Ye Wuqing turned to leave, he unhesitatingly extended his little finger, a malicious smile crept onto Long You's lips. He began to understand why this captain of Zheng Tian Academy always wore such a cold expression.
"If nothing unexpected happens, this Captain Ye Wuqing is probably a cultivation fanatic who doesn't understand much about human relationships. If you want to get revenge for his actions just now, you should keep an eye on that."
"Can I take that to mean I should be less subtle in my mockery, so he won't misunderstand?"
"Uh... I didn't say that."
The match began with the usual Martial Soul Release segment. Ye Wuqing produced a leaf that looked like it was made of pure gold, which he held between his index and middle fingers, making his fingers appear long, slender, and fair.
"The martial spirit looks good."
It's unclear whether Ye Wuqing's previous actions angered Ling Luochen, or if girls simply prefer pretty and delicate things. In any case, Ling Luochen, who already had five spirit rings fluctuating around her, spoke a few extra words before putting on her tactical helmet.
Long You didn't have time to pay attention to Ling Luochen's rare performance. He had a lot of equipment to wear, and it wasn't something that could be done by simply releasing his martial soul. He was racing against time right now, and apart from taking a moment to pay attention to Shangguan Can's martial soul appearance, Long You didn't dare to have any distracting thoughts.
Because Long You considered the Soul-Guided Powered Armor to be a near-obsolete product, he didn't put much effort into it. At the very least, the light and shadow conversion collection and wearing device that was added to the Soul-Guided Powered Mech was not present on the Soul-Guided Powered Armor.
Therefore, Long You had to crawl into the open back armor of the Soul-Guided Power Armor and then complete the process of closing the armor.
Although Long You was fast enough, he still couldn't activate the soul-guided power armor before the two from Zhengtian Academy launched their attack.
Ye Wuqing and Shangguan Can's first spirit rings flashed simultaneously. The golden leaf between Ye Wuqing's two fingers drifted like a real fallen leaf towards Shrek Academy's half of the field.
However, no matter how fast Ye Wuqing moved, the speed of the Golden Leaf's flight was still limited, and the first thing to arrive was the sound of the Soul-Capturing Bell.
The sound of a bell, which contained the power to distract a Soul Master, drifted on the wind. Even though he had already focused his attention, Long You still unconsciously felt a little dazed at this moment.
On the other hand, Ling Luochen didn't feel this way. After all, he had already activated the Soul Guidance Tactical Helmet that the Soul Guidance Department had specially equipped for the team members before the start of this competition. Shangguan Can was only using his first Soul Skill, so there was no need to worry that the mental defense-type Soul Guidance device in the Soul Guidance Tactical Helmet wouldn't be able to withstand it.
At the very least, Ling Luochen only noticed a yellow triangular exclamation mark on the visor of her soul-guided tactical helmet, reminding her that a mental interference force was attacking her mental defense soul-guided device.
As the golden leaf thrown by Ye Wuqing drew closer and closer to him, and the energy detection and trajectory prediction of the golden leaf appeared on the visor of the Soul Guidance Tactical Helmet, Ling Luochen's first Soul Ring also flashed, and a staff made entirely of ice appeared in Ling Luochen's hand.
With a light wave of the staff, an equally exquisite ice-carved leaf flew out, swiftly following the direction predicted by the Soul Guidance Tactical Helmet. The next moment, the ice-carved leaf, which should have brushed past Ye Wuqing's golden leaf, instead collided head-on with the golden leaf, which suddenly changed direction and increased in speed. The whole scene looked as if the golden leaf was welcoming the ice-carved leaf.
"Boom!"
A massive explosion of flames appeared out of nowhere, generating a considerable shockwave. Under the cover of the shockwave and the explosion, no one noticed that on Shrek Academy's side, Long You and Ling Luochen's internal communication system had been activated.
"A very practical soul tool; it really makes my battles much easier."
After completing a round of sniping operations to probe the opponent, Ling Luochen still had the energy to give feedback to Long You on the experience of using the soul tool.
"My dear Senior Ling, don't be so careless, the other side is probably about to get serious."
Long You was a little unaccustomed to Ling Luochen's sudden mischievousness. Moreover, Long You's prediction was correct. When Ye Wuqing and Shangguan Can of Zhengtian Academy saw that their probing attack had not caused any obstacles for Shrek Academy, they immediately wanted to intensify their offensive.
However, what Long You could think of, Ling Luochen certainly could too. This ice mage was just in a good mood, not that his IQ had dropped; talking wouldn't stop him from doing what he was doing.
The next moment, the four people on the stage moved almost simultaneously. Shangguan Can's second and third spirit rings flashed one after another, and invisible sound waves once again attacked Long You and Ling Luochen.
Faced with Shangguan Can's action, Ling Luochen's steps faltered almost imperceptibly, but Long You's lips curled into a clearly mocking smile.
Without hesitation or pause, the fully operational soul-guided power armor unleashed a barrage of energy projectiles, sweeping towards Ye Wuqing like a storm. This barrage directly intercepted the Golden Leaf Array created by Ye Wuqing using his first and third soul skills, stopping it not far from Ye Wuqing himself.