Yuhao, I Adore You, Argh!

Hearing this, Jing Hongchen said, "Fine. Once Ma Rulong has chosen his teammates, you can begin the match. Yuhao, this Hongchen Blessing is for you."

As he spoke, he handed over a metal disc.

The metal disc was round and extremely thin, radiating a soft golden glow. Its surface was adorned with exquisitely detailed relief carvings.

"Hongchen Blessing?" Xiao Hongchen looked surprised. "Grandpa, that's a Level 9 Trigger-Type Defensive Soul Tool. It's incredibly valuable. You're just giving it to Huo Yuhao?"

He was starting to wonder whether he was the real grandson, or Huo Yuhao was.

Ma Rulong, who was selecting his teammates nearby, was stunned as well. The value of a Rank 9 Soul Tool went without saying, and Hongchen Blessing was even more precious than ordinary Rank 9 Soul Tools. After all, its greatest feature was that it placed no restriction on the user's Soul Power Level.

In other words, even a one-ring soul master could use it.

At that moment, everyone present looked at Jing Hongchen strangely. In their eyes, Jing Hongchen was treating Huo Yuhao far too well.

Jing Hongchen's expression turned solemn. "Yuhao is only a Soul Grandmaster, not yet a Soul King. What if he gets hurt during your fight later? As the Dean and the Hall Master of Mingde Hall, I naturally cannot stand by and ignore Yuhao's safety!"

Even in the history of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duel Tournament, there had been cases where Titled Douluo failed to rescue contestants in time, resulting in their deaths.

Although Jing Hongchen had confidence in his own strength, he did not want to take that risk.

Therefore, for Huo Yuhao's safety, Jing Hongchen had no choice but to part with Hongchen Blessing despite his reluctance. Otherwise, if Huo Yuhao were seriously injured or killed, he would have no way to answer to Kong Deming.

As for the Invincible Barrier, it was not that he did not want to give one to Huo Yuhao. The main issue was that even the lowest-grade Invincible Barrier was a Level 5 Soul Tool and required at least the cultivation of a Soul King to use. Thus, whether it was Xiao, Meng, or the other main team members, they could all use Invincible Barriers to protect themselves.

Huo Yuhao accepted Hongchen Blessing and placed it against his body. Before long, it adhered tightly to him.

Jing Hongchen said cheerfully, "Yuhao, its function is simple. Once a soul master comes under attack, it will sense it in advance and defend automatically. It can also be activated or deactivated through thought.

"The defensive effect of Hongchen Blessing is equivalent to the user gathering all their soul power and unleashing their strongest attack without using a soul skill. Yet it only consumes one-fifth of the soul power required for that strongest attack.

"It is suitable for soul masters of any level. In the hands of a Titled Douluo, it can provide defensive power at the level of a Super Douluo!"

Jing Hongchen did not expect Hongchen Blessing to withstand an attack from a Soul Emperor. All he wanted was a brief window of time. As long as he had that buffer, he had a one hundred percent chance of saving Huo Yuhao, truly ensuring nothing could go wrong.

"Thank you, Dean," Huo Yuhao said.

After going in circles, Hongchen Blessing has still ended up in my hands. In the original story, Mu En had forced Jing Hongchen to hand over Hongchen Blessing after he infiltrated the Sea God Pavilion. But now, Jing Hongchen had given it to him willingly.

"There's no need to thank me over something so minor." Jing Hongchen waved his hand, then looked toward Ma Rulong in the distance. "Ma Rulong, have you chosen your teammates?"

"I have, Hall Master. I choose Chen Fei and Li Yan," Ma Rulong said in a deep voice.

As soon as he finished speaking, two men stepped out from behind Ma Rulong.

Chen Fei? Li Yan?

The moment Huo Yuhao heard those two names, he recalled their stories from the original work. He remembered that Chen Fei had been burned to death by Ma Xiaotao, while Li Yan had been defeated by Xu Sanshi in the Soul Arena.

Neither of them had much presence in the original story. They were the sort of minor side characters who only appeared once.

"Good. Everyone else, leave the field and leave the Soul Arena to the six of them!"

Jing Hongchen spoke.

The other team members then left the lower arena, leaving an open space in the center of the Soul Arena. The two competing teams slowly retreated to opposite edges of the arena, waiting for the match to begin.

Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and Huo Yuhao walked to one side.

Ma Rulong, Chen Fei, and Li Yan walked to the other.

"Senior Xiao, Senior Meng, don't resist. I'm about to use my soul skill!" Huo Yuhao's eyes gradually glowed gold as two soul rings emerged around his body.

First Soul Skill, Mental Detection, Mental Sharing!

Meng Hongchen was not particularly surprised, since this was not her first time experiencing Huo Yuhao's soul skill.

Xiao Hongchen, on the other hand, had initially been rather dismissive. In his view, how powerful could the First Soul Skill of a mere Soul Grandmaster possibly be?

But when he relaxed his mind and accepted Huo Yuhao's soul skill, shock immediately appeared on his face. He murmured, "This clear, omnidirectional sensation... It feels like the entire world is within my sight. Even Ma Rulong's smallest movements are perfectly clear to me!

"This is simply too significant for a Soul Engineer! No wonder Grandpa wanted you in the reserve team! Huo Yuhao, you're incredible!"

After saying that, the way Xiao Hongchen looked at Huo Yuhao changed. "Yuhao, my house is quite big and has lots of good things. You're welcome to come over and play anytime."

"Senior Xiao, Senior Meng, with my current strength, I can't confront Senior Ma and the others head-on. So I'll support you from the side," Huo Yuhao said. He had a clear understanding of his current capabilities and planned to use Ultimate Ice to enhance Meng Hongchen later.

After all, Meng Hongchen's martial soul, the Vermillion-Eyed Ice Toad, was also an ice-attributed martial soul, the same attribute as Ling Luochen's martial soul. Since Huo Gua could enhance Ling Luochen in the original story, he could definitely enhance Meng Hongchen as well.

However, once he temporarily enhanced Meng Hongchen's ice attribute, it meant that Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen would be unable to use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill during that period.

After all, there was a setting in Douluo: if two people who could originally perform a Martial Soul Fusion had one person's martial soul quality greatly improved, their martial soul qualities would no longer match, and their Martial Soul Fusion Skill would have a high chance of failing.

The most typical example was probably Wang Jinxi from Douluo III. His martial soul was the Bone Dragon King, and because of Tang San's son, Tang Wulin, his martial soul mutated and its quality improved. As a result, Wang Jinxi could no longer perform a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with his companion.

Of course, being unable to use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill was not much of a problem. Ma Rulong and the others knew Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen's Martial Soul Fusion Skill inside out and would definitely do everything they could to prevent them from using it.

Under those circumstances, whether Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen could even use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill was a huge question mark.

"Alright!" Xiao Hongchen nodded in agreement.

A smile appeared on Meng Hongchen's face. "Junior Yuhao, just stand behind us later."

At that moment, Jing Hongchen, who had already flown into the air, said, "Alright, both sides have retreated to the edges of the field. Begin."