Me? Just a passing soul master! [Seeking Follow-up Reads]

A dull gunshot pierced through the clamor, echoing across the heavens and earth.

Time seemed to slow down abruptly at this moment. The bullet spun at high speed as it left the chamber, wreathed in blinding sparks, and tore through the air.

The air was forcibly ripped apart by the warhead, leaving behind a fleeting trail of heat; even space itself seemed to tremble uncontrollably.

Down below, the hair on Guang Biao's body stood on end as an extreme sense of mortal crisis instantly pierced his mind.

In that split second of imminent peril, he had no time to think, instinctively driving his entire body's soul power.

Dazzling soul rings rose instantly, his martial soul avatar manifested in a rush, and thick layers of soul power defense covered his skin.

The next second, the warhead slammed fiercely into the defensive layer protecting his head.

A loud explosion erupted; the soul power shield vibrated violently, and dense, spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread across the entire defensive surface.

Although he had barely managed to catch this fatal blow and block the headshot, the terrifying impact did not dissipate.

His massive, burly frame was like a target struck by a giant hammer; his center of gravity shifted completely, and his two-meter-tall body stumbled backward uncontrollably, crashing heavily to the ground.

The entire scene fell into sudden silence, the previously noisy crowd instantly hushed.

Amidst the crowd, Wu Zhangkong had long since seen the movement on the rooftop.

From the moment Xiao Mu set up his sniper rifle, he had noticed the youth looking down from above.

He sighed inwardly. This child was truly too bold; he held a genuine restricted soul guidance weapon, and his target was the captain of the East Sea City Mecha Brigade.

He really had no fear of the Federation military.

Others might not understand the weight of this, but he knew it clearly. The East Sea City Mecha Brigade belonged to a division-level establishment with an extremely high status, only one rank lower than the city's chief administrator. The two were independent of each other, held real power, and were certainly not people an ordinary person could provoke.

Clearly, Xiao Mu's identity in East Sea City was absolutely extraordinary.

As the aftermath of the loud noise faded, the fury of the stabilized Guang Biao erupted completely. He looked up and stared fixedly at the teaching building's rooftop, his roar rough and sharp, drowning out the noise of the crowd.

"You rat hiding your head and showing your tail! How dare you ambush me? Get down here!"

On the rooftop, Xiao Mu's expression remained unchanged, devoid of any fear. His wrists moved slightly as he nimbly pulled the bolt to chamber a round; the entire sequence of movements was fluid and smooth, without a hint of hesitation.

Two dull gunshots rang out in succession, and two bullets, wreathed in scorching heat waves, broke through the air one after another toward the ground below.

Guang Biao's soul rings shone, his defensive soul skills lit up, and the defensive layers on his body tightened, forcing him to take the two bullets head-on.

The continuous impact left his arms numb and his chest heaving; even with the support of his martial soul defense, he could not withstand the crushing force.

Knowing his defense would be broken sooner or later, he reacted immediately.

In the open space, a pitch-black humanoid mecha landed with a thud. Its heavy metal body had sharp, rigid lines—a typical power-type mecha—and a heavy aura surged toward them.

Guang Biao leaped into the mecha's cockpit, and the hatch locked shut. A cold mechanical hum sounded as the entire mecha slowly rose, its heavy footsteps causing the ground to tremble slightly as it aimed from afar at the rooftop high above.

"Kid, you're the one who hurt my brother, aren't you? Surrender obediently, and I'll spare your life!"

The students in the school looked at the intimidating mecha, their hearts sinking in unison.

Tang Wulin asked Xie Xie beside him, "Xie Xie, can we still fight this?"

"I don't know, but you have to understand, a six-ring Soul Emperor operating a Black-Grade Mecha is comparable to a Soul Saint," Xie Xie explained to Tang Wulin.

On the rooftop, Xiao Mu looked at the mecha below with its full aura unleashed, not panicked in the slightest. It was just some scrap metal; he had plenty of ways to deal with it.

Two deep yellow soul rings rose slowly from beneath his feet, floating steadily in mid-air. His second soul ring suddenly lit up, his finger pulled the trigger, and another sniper bullet left the chamber, racing through the air.

Guang Biao, inside the mecha, caught sight of the incoming warhead and sneered on the spot, "Mere bullets, and you dare to show off? This is a Black-Grade Mecha; ordinary weapons can't break my armor at all!"

In his understanding, the defense of this Black-Grade Mecha was enough to withstand all offensives from any low-level soul guidance device.

But the next second, a scene that overturned his perception occurred.

The high-speed bullet did not collide; instead, like a phantom of nothingness, it passed straight through the thick mecha steel, ignoring all defensive barriers.

The bullet that penetrated the body hit its target precisely, slamming fiercely into Guang Biao's shoulder.

A muffled sound erupted from inside the mecha cabin. A sudden, intense pain exploded from his shoulder, and Guang Biao's body trembled as he said in shock, "How is this possible? How could your attack break through my mecha's protection?"

The bizarre penetrating attack just now was the effect of Xiao Mu's second soul skill—Quantum Tunneling.

The bullet did not need to break armor; it could bypass all macroscopic barriers directly. The alloy steel plates of the heavy mecha and the soul power defensive barriers were as good as non-existent in the face of this ability.

However, this ability was not entirely controllable. Xiao Mu could apply the force to external objects, but once it left his body, how much it could penetrate depended on luck.

Without the ability to precisely control the depth and point of impact, everything was subject to random variables.

Besides this, the soul skill had one other extremely special characteristic.

If he applied Quantum Tunneling to himself, he could maintain a tunneling state for a long time, avoiding the vast majority of physical attacks.

Of course, Xiao Mu had tested it: being submerged in water or burned by fire could still harm him in that state.

One was a matter of suffocation, the other a matter of heat.

Down below, Xie Xie stared at the Black-Grade Mecha again and again. There were no bullet holes, so what was the meaning of that scream just now?

Tang Wulin looked at Xiao Mu high above, puzzled: "What happened? Did that attack just now go inside?"

Wu Zhangkong explained at this moment: "Xiao Mu's attack just now passed directly through the mecha; this should be a soul skill."

"His martial soul must be highly compatible with soul guidance devices. If it were ten thousand years ago, it would definitely be something the Sun Moon Empire would fight over, but in this era, battle armor is more of a melee weapon."

Based on his personal analysis, he felt this should be a martial soul compatible with soul guidance devices, similar to a Three-Legged Golden Toad.

Unfortunately, he was right, yet he was also wrong.

If Xiao Mu's martial soul were to undergo a second awakening, its compatibility would far exceed that of a Three-Legged Golden Toad.

Inside the mecha cockpit, Guang Biao endured the excruciating pain in his shoulder bone, his heart filled with nothing but bone-chilling dread. He dared not remain here any longer and immediately maneuvered his Black-Grade Mecha to soar into the air, desperate to escape the battlefield and seek help.

After all, he had been in the East Sea for several years and still possessed some connections with the higher-ups.

On the rooftop, Xiao Mu saw everything clearly and tossed the heavy sniper rifle in his hand aside.

His first soul ring suddenly lit up beneath his feet, and a strange ripple of soul power spread out, completely breaking free from the shackles of gravity.

With a leap, he stepped through the air, darting rapidly toward the ascending Black-Grade Mecha.

His second soul ring lit up immediately after, and the effect of Quantum Tunneling instantly enveloped his entire body.

In an instant, Xiao Mu closed the distance to the mecha's chassis. Utilizing the momentum of his leap, he delivered a fierce, heavy kick precisely onto the mecha's cockpit door.

The tunneling effect triggered simultaneously, and his foot ignored the thick alloy of the mecha, passing straight through the cockpit structure.

Guang Biao was completely unable to resist and was forcibly kicked out of the cockpit by that strike.

Both of them were surrounded by a faint black halo as they crashed directly onto the ground.

Guang Biao landed hard on his backside and shouted, "You brat, you actually dare to stand before me? Don't you know I am a six-ring Soul Emperor?"

"So what?" Xiao Mu smiled coldly. A coin appeared in his hand, as if he were still hiding a trump card. "In East Sea City, there aren't many people above me left. Don't think that I have no way to deal with you."

Suddenly, he heard a roaring sound from the sky and slowly put the coin away. "It seems there is no need to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

As his voice fell, dozens of Black-Grade Mecha landed, while hundreds of Purple-Grade and Yellow-Grade mecha lined up in the air.

"Who... who exactly are you..."

"Me? Just a passing soul master!"