Zuo Qiu Lun felt the pressure of Soul Saint-level Soul Power surging toward him from Lie Hongchen like a tidal wave. Each wave of pressure struck his body like a heavy hammer. Yet there was not a trace of fear in his eyes; instead, a blazing fighting spirit ignited within them.
As soon as he finished speaking, a burly figure with an appearance extremely similar to his emerged behind him. At the same time, four Soul Rings rose beneath Zuo Qiu Lun's feet.
"Black! Black! Black! Black!"
Floating around him were four ancient-looking black Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings!
"That's..." Mu Ye, who had been watching the match, seemed to sense something and abruptly rose to his feet.
Black Soul Rings were certainly rare and powerful, but they were not enough to make the master of the Body Sect lose his composure. What truly shocked him was the terrifying Blood Qi that erupted afterward!
Suddenly, Zuo Qiu Lun let out a furious roar. His voice seemed capable of piercing the clouds and breaking through the heavens. The Blood Qi within his body instantly boiled, like a blazing fire being ignited as it surged wildly around him.
Then, a faint red glow began to emanate from the surface of his body. It was the manifestation of highly condensed Bloodline Power.
As his Blood Qi continued to churn, an immense force burst from his body. This force transformed into a Bloodline Smoke Beacon that shot into the sky. It was a vivid blood-red, dazzling beneath the sunlight. It rolled and twisted through the air, and wherever it passed, the air itself seemed to ignite with a sizzling sound.
At the center of the arena, it withstood Lie Hongchen's Soul Power pressure and bore down on him with an overwhelming force, forcibly crushing the Soul Power aura brought forth by his Battle Armor!
"His Blood Qi is so vast that it has formed the shape of smoke! I wasn't mistaken! That's a Bloodline Smoke Beacon!"
Mu Ye took several steps forward, as if he had discovered some priceless treasure, and could not contain his wild delight.
"A self-awakened Body Martial Soul, and a Bloodline Smoke Beacon! I'm taking this kid as my disciple no matter what!"
Seeing Mu Ye's sudden change of attitude, Li Ziming could not help but smile.
[Who was it that wanted to keep putting on airs just now? And now he's completely won over?]
Of course, he could not say that aloud, or he would be asking for a beating.
Seeing Lie Hongchen's aura shatter, Zuo Qiu Lun drew the Blood Qi back around himself. Then he took off his jacket, revealing the weighted vest he wore underneath. One after another, he pulled two clearly refined square steel rods from the vest, removed them, and tossed them to the ground.
Lie Hongchen had not thought much of it at first, until he heard the solid thud that rang out when the weighted vest hit the ground—THOOM!!!
Even the floor of the arena trembled, making Lie Hongchen unable to resist taking another look.
"!!!"
However, he quickly realized that he was still in the middle of a match. Lie Hongchen hurriedly shifted his gaze, intending to focus it on Zuo Qiu Lun.
Just as expected, Zuo Qiu Lun had already vanished from where he had been standing.
The next second, the Soul Guidance Cannons that had been hovering in the arena began exploding one after another. Lie Hongchen immediately realized that Zuo Qiu Lun was behind it, but he could not find him at all. All he could hear was a rush of wind, followed by several Soul Guidance Cannons detonating.
Unable to sit still and wait for defeat, he could only order the Soul Guidance Cannons to launch indiscriminate attacks. In an instant, artillery fire filled the arena.
Yet it seemed to have no effect. After activating his Battle Armor, Lie Hongchen's control over metal had risen sharply.
If not for the restrictions of the tournament rules, he could have used Level Six Soul Guidance Cannons. Even so, empowered by his Battle Armor, the firing rate and power of the Soul Guidance Cannons on the field already rivaled Level Six Soul Tools. Yet they still could not even graze Zuo Qiu Lun.
In less than twenty seconds, more than a hundred Soul Guidance Cannons had been reduced to just over forty. Even some of the cannons he had kept at his side had been destroyed.
Looking at the pitiful number remaining, Lie Hongchen realized that he could no longer spread out his strength. To guard against Zuo Qiu Lun's attack, which could come at any moment, he could only hastily gather all the remaining Soul Guidance Cannons around himself and deploy a Soul Guidance Shield.
Sure enough, the next instant, shattering sounds came from all three layers of Soul Guidance Shields Lie Hongchen had deployed. The final instant-cast protective shield he carried also swiftly unfolded, blocking the incoming strike of a rod.
As a Soul Engineer who dealt with Rare Metals year-round, Lie Hongchen recognized the steel rod in Zuo Qiu Lun's hand in an instant.
"Fuck! Nethersea Steel!!!" Even Lie Hongchen, a scion of a great family who usually had to maintain his public image, could not help but swear.
Nethersea Steel was a Rare Metal produced only beneath the Abyss of the deep sea. Its defining trait was its extreme hardness—so hard that even Fixed Soul-Guided Artillery Shells might not be able to blast it apart. Logically, it should have been an excellent material for defensive Soul Tools and Battle Armor, yet not a single Soul Master would add it to his Battle Armor.
There was no other reason: it was simply far too heavy. A piece of Nethersea Steel the size of a fist weighed several tons. If it were made into Battle Armor, a Soul Master would struggle just to walk, let alone support it in combat.
Therefore, the Federation generally used it for fortress defenses or as ballast for transport ships.
Yet the two steel rods in Zuo Qiu Lun's hands were far larger than fists. They were clearly refined and smelted Nethersea Steel, which would only be heavier than ordinary Nethersea Steel. But Zuo Qiu Lun swung them as though they were nothing more than ordinary wooden sticks.
Watching Zuo Qiu Lun's next strike about to come down, Lie Hongchen hurriedly activated his fourth Soul Ring.
"Fourth Soul Skill! Golden Sacrifice!"
The Soul Skill activated, directly detonating every Soul Tool around him. Flames erupted across the arena, and the shockwave from the explosions flung the referee off the platform. The Soul Guidance defensive formation set up by the tournament officials activated, rising to cover the entire spectator stands, but it still could not hold. Even the barrier began to show signs of cracking.
The next second, four figures flew out from the VIP section. Seven Soul Rings revolved around each of them—they were unmistakably seven-ring Soul Saints. The four took positions around the arena and released their Soul Power to protect the spectator stands, finally blocking the blast and preventing the audience from being harmed.
When the smoke and dust dispersed, all the spectators saw where the arena had once stood was a massive crater.
Just as the audience began searching for the contestants, they saw a stream of golden liquid rise from the bottom of the crater to its edge, gathering and reforming into a human figure.
It was Lie Hongchen. While detonating the Soul Tools, he had activated the Three-Legged Golden Toad's fifth Soul Skill—Golden Attachment—turning into liquid metal and rapidly fleeing the center of the explosion.
Even so, he had been badly injured and stood there gasping for breath.
[That was my fifth Soul Skill, activated while wearing Battle Armor. Even that monster should have been severely injured by now, right?]
As for killing him with the explosion, Lie Hongchen had never entertained that thought. Given the physical strength and speed Zuo Qiu Lun had shown by treating the Soul Guidance Cannon fire as nothing, killing him with an explosion was simply unrealistic.
"Are you looking for me?"
Suddenly, a teasing voice came from behind Lie Hongchen, causing his body to stiffen. Instinctively, he wanted to react, but when he felt the terrifying force coming from the hand on his shoulder, he had no choice but to abandon the idea.
He also realized that he no longer had any chance of winning.
After a moment of silence, Lie Hongchen raised his right hand and said,
"I concede!"
Seeing this, the head referee immediately came down from the referee's stand and separated the two. Then he turned to Zuo Qiu Lun and announced his victory.
"Contestant Lie Hongchen concedes! Therefore, contestant Zuo Qiu Lun wins and advances to the finals!"
In the first round of the semifinals, Zuo Qiu Lun won!
Against Lie Hongchen, Zuo Qiu Lun had not even used a Soul Skill. He had simply charged in with his body and won...
"Hm... It's finally over."
Zuo Qiu Lun glanced at Lie Hongchen, then turned and prepared to leave.
However, just as he turned to step off the stage, Lie Hongchen's voice came from behind him.
"I want to know—did I make you use your full strength?"
Zuo Qiu Lun ignored him, quickened his pace, walked straight off the stage, and disappeared into the crowd.
Lie Hongchen also returned directly to his waiting room. At its door, he saw a middle-aged man standing there. When the man saw the youth approach,
he looked at him, sighed, and said, "I watched the match. You performed very well already. Don't take it too much to heart."
Thinking of Zuo Qiu Lun's nearly uninjured body as he left, Lie Hongchen could not help recalling something an elder of his clan had once told him.
"Little Lie, you inherited the Three-Legged Golden Toad Martial Soul that our family takes such pride in, and you are also highly gifted with Soul Tools. That is good. You have every right to be proud, but never become complacent.
"You need to go out and see the world, because there will always be monsters beyond your comprehension. I hope you never encounter people like that, because they will crush you until you cannot breathe.
"But I also hope you do encounter them, because when you live in the same era as them, you will never feel that there is no road ahead. You will always have the courage to keep moving forward."
Even now, he remembered the expression on the elder's face when he said those words. It had been an extremely complicated expression, carrying both a trace of loneliness and a hint of pride, leaving an impression he would never forget.
"Father, next, I plan to travel across the continent properly."
The middle-aged man's back stiffened slightly. He turned around and looked at the youth, seeming to want to say something.
But when he saw the same stubbornness in the youth's eyes that he himself had possessed when he was young, he merely replied,
"Hm."
Before you continue