Ultimate Metal Feels So Good! The Three of Us Croak Our Way to Victory, and Brother Xiao Emerges from His Maggot Cocoon (4K)

"Brothers, let's take on the Stars Divine Needles!"

Ye Yulin's reprimand produced immediate results. The three students who had begun to falter regained their courage.

The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy had spared no expense cultivating the Hongchen Class, earnestly hoping these students would bring glory to their nation. How could they stop moving forward? Even if the Sun Moon Divine Needle stood ahead, they had to lower their heads and charge!

"I will defend the empire's glory!"

"Your Excellency Starry Sky, we're no longer afraid!"

Shouting about passion and bonds, three figures plunged resolutely into the high-altitude web of fire, bravely charging the Stars Divine Needles.

"Do the three of us have a strategy?"

Ju Zi glanced left at Xiao Hongchen's frost-bound expression, then right at Lin Qing, who was admiring their classmates' lonely courage. Crestfallen, she said, "Sorry, all I can do is throw oranges. I'm dragging you two down-"

The Hongchen Class glittered with stars, gathering the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's finest students. All her skill points had gone into research and manufacturing. Her actual combat strength sat firmly in the bottom five, and in battle, she could only contribute to appearances. She depended entirely on the two mighty experts, Qing and Xiao, to carry her.

"No big deal. Leave everything to us. The Stars Divine Needles are Level-Five Soul Tools, nothing worthy of the grand stage," Xiao Hongchen said calmly. "Once we deal with the two level-seven Eyes of Fear, the Stars Divine Needles won't be a concern. Lin Qing, I'll cover you from the ground. Pass through the Stars Array. Controlling the Eyes of Fear with your machine element shouldn't be difficult."

This was very unlike Xiao Hongchen.

Lin Qing silently glanced at him. Brother Xiao had voluntarily placed himself in a tactical position roughly equivalent to Keke's. Dejection seeped from every inch of him, and he was prepared to spend the entire fight shouting encouragement.

There was no helping it. Xiao Hongchen was no longer Brother Xiao, invincible among his peers. He was just a maggot that occasionally wriggled-

Still, Lin Qing had promised Little Meng that he would help Xiao Hongchen regain his invincible spirit. A gentleman's word could not be overtaken even by a team of four horses. Besides, speaking from the heart, he preferred the towering Brother Xiao to this drooping Little Brother Xiao.

"Ju Zi," Lin Qing said softly.

"Hm?"

"I'll give you a signal in a moment. Sorry for the trouble, but please play along."

"Okay!"

Nobody wanted to be a freeloader carried to victory. Ju Zi was delighted to contribute something to the team.

"Group ten, step forward!"

Ye Yulin rescued the three bedraggled students and called the final team in the practical combat class onto the stage for their beating.

In the Starry Sky Douluo's eyes, the Hongchen Class's combat proficiency was sorely lacking. Twenty-seven students had taken the field in succession, and only team one had successfully inflicted meaningful damage on the Stars Divine Needles, thanks to Ye Guyi's extraordinary Aerial Combat Techniques.

The Starry Sky Douluo had put considerable thought into using high-altitude Soul Tools to train aerial combat. After all, once their cultivation reached Seven-Ring Soul Sage, their battlefield would move from the earth to the sky. The earlier they became accustomed to fighting in the air, the greater their advantage would be then.

At dusk, in Test Zone Zero of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, Lin Qing, Xiao Hongchen, and Ju Zi stepped onto the battlefield fully prepared, facing the great high-altitude Soul Tool array laid out by Starry Sky Douluo Ye Yulin.

Bathed in the sunset's golden-red radiance, the high-altitude Soul Tools resembled a boundless starry sky, shimmering with celestial light. The Stars Divine Needles were arranged in a measured pattern of dense and sparse clusters, while the Eyes of Fear slowly rotated, like demons coldly watching their prey.

A hundred level-five Stars Divine Needles paired with two level-seven Eyes of Fear brought the overwhelming pressure of a high-altitude Soul Engineer down upon them. Every concentrated volley would be a devastating strike. Prey on the ground were like wildebeests fleeing in panic across the grasslands. The foremost Level 9 Soul Engineer of the skies possessed absolutely genuine, hard-hitting skill.

"You go. I'll provide covering fire."

"Mm."

Following their predetermined strategy, Lin Qing unfolded his thin, folding metal wings. Two jets of blazing flame erupted from his Flying Soul Tool, sending a streak of silvery-white light soaring against the heavens.

Xiao Hongchen looked up for two seconds. The metal balls he tossed out grew into sixty-four Soul Cannons, their muzzles pointing skyward in unison.

Soul power surged violently. Sixty-four Soul Tool beams wove an impenetrable web of fire, spreading along both sides of Lin Qing's flight path to intercept the Stars Rays for him.

"Amazing-"

Qing and Xiao's seamless cooperation left Ju Zi awestruck. With the Three-Legged Golden Toad's combat talent, covering a teammate was like using an ox-cleaving blade to slaughter a chicken. The power of Xiao Hongchen's casual attack was already the pinnacle of firepower her good friend Keke dreamed of!

High amid the clouds, the Starry Sky Douluo noticed that brilliant streak of silver. Lin Qing might not possess the angel lady's exquisite Aerial Combat Techniques, but Ye Guyi could not match the sheer toughness of his machine element either. Ye Yulin twitched his fingers, and the Eyes of Fear turned, unleashing two surging Fear Rays!

At that moment, everyone, including the Starry Sky Douluo, instinctively assumed Lin Qing would use Machine Combustion to ignite a Soul Tool such as the Dragon Devourer Cannon and clash head-on with the Eyes of Fear.

Yet the Azure Heavenly Emperor refused to play into anyone else's expectations. His third Soul Ring flashed and vanished. Then, like a kite with its string severed, he spun and drifted down!

"Splat!"

Lin Qing slowly stood up and brushed the dust from his school uniform. His uniform was slightly disheveled, but his expression remained perfectly normal. Clearing his throat, he said sincerely in a strong, resonant voice, "I got careless. I've suffered internal injuries and can't fight. Xiao, our team is depending on you to lead us forward."

"At least put some effort into your acting!"

Xiao Hongchen's mouth twitched as he practically forced the words through clenched molars. Ju Zi's wide, dewy eyes were likewise filled with shock.

Where was that innate domain that overwhelmed the entire field? Where were all those bizarre Soul Tools? Pull out the big cannon you just made this morning!

Such blatant, slapdash acting was an insult to both their intelligence!

"I'll try harder next time."

His commitment to finishing the scene in one take kept Lin Qing from breaking character. He said earnestly, "Xiao, you're the academy's hottest super-genius, carrying on the dean's wish to revitalize the Hongchen Family.

"Are you really going to muddle through even a practical training session? Now that I've regrettably fallen, it's your turn to defend our three-person team's glory, and our delicate classmate Ju Zi!"

Her cue for their two-person scene arrived. Assigned the role of the fragile beauty, Ju Zi instantly slipped into character. Her long lashes trembled, and mist welled in her lovely eyes. "I believe you can do it, Xiao Hongchen!"

"Fine. I don't know what you're playing at, but surrendering without a fight isn't my style." Facing the Stars Divine Needles alone, he seemed possessed by the remnant spirit of his peerless former self. His sixty-four Soul Cannons continued gathering power. Ju Zi's combat strength was meager, and Lin Qing was unfathomable. Then let Xiao turn the whole situation around!

"Xiao, I'm entrusting my last strength to you. Make sure you win in style!"

Thunder erupted from flat ground. An Elemental Storm surged like the tides, with Xiao Hongchen at its eye. The machine element summoned the vast, boundless metallic energy between heaven and earth, which rushed into Xiao Hongchen's body and coated his sixty-four Soul Cannons!

"This-this is-"

The machine element flooded his entire body, merging with the Three-Legged Golden Toad's metal-attribute soul power and elevating it.

Xiao Hongchen's pupils abruptly contracted. An indescribable shock gripped him. He had never felt metal-attribute energy this pure!

Incomparable power filled his body. His eyes seemed capable of seeing the intangible metal-attribute particles. The Three-Legged Golden Toad's metal attribute had ascended to an entirely different level, powerful and wondrous!

An enormous phantom of the Three-Legged Golden Toad rose from the ground. Planting its three feet, it raised its head and unleashed an impassioned roar that shook heaven and earth. The Three-Legged Golden Toad was likewise too excited to contain itself. Its divine beast bloodline nearly boiled, and its roar of released emotion drowned out the whistling Stars Divine Needles, echoing above Test Zone Zero!

Ultimate Conversion, attribute amplification!

An ability unique to ultimate Martial Souls, it helped Martial Souls of the same origin temporarily enter the ultimate realm.

Of course, the prerequisite was that the Martial Soul had to be top-tier at the very least. An ultimate Martial Soul provided the final boost, rather than sprinting the entire way under a heavy burden. As a bearer of a divine beast bloodline, the Three-Legged Golden Toad naturally met that standard.

Now, receiving the machine element's ultimate amplification, the Three-Legged Golden Toad ascended to heaven in a single step, entering the realm of ultimate metal!

"So this is an ultimate Martial Soul-"

Xiao Hongchen was overwhelmed with emotion. He had once believed that only a hair's breadth separated the Three-Legged Golden Toad from ultimate metal, and that a little effort would carry him over that mountain. That was why his crushing defeat in the finals had left him unable to recover. He apparently wasn't as much of a genius as he had imagined.

Now, experiencing the strength of ultimate metal firsthand, able to draw upon the gold element between heaven and earth with every breath, Xiao Hongchen finally understood!

So ultimate Martial Souls were this outrageously overpowered! It wasn't that he hadn't worked hard enough or possessed mediocre talent. The blame clearly lay with the gulf between ultimate and non-ultimate attributes. The machine element was a wheelchair carrying its user along, its Martial Soul strength crushing the Three-Legged Golden Toad!

Four Soul Rings-yellow, yellow, purple, purple-shone together. Metal Control, Gold Boiling, Gold Condensation, and Gold Sacrifice, his four great Soul Skills, amplified him in succession.

With the machine element's ultimate enhancement, Xiao Hongchen was no longer satisfied with sixty-four Soul Cannons. He tossed out another batch of metal balls.

A hundred and twenty-eight Soul Cannons pointed skyward in a dark mass, their number surpassing the Stars Divine Needles in one stroke. The ground formation faced the silver sea of stars above, like two earthly arsenals declaring war across the distance.

"Little fellow-your fighting style was cast from the same mold as that old toad's."

Ye Yulin couldn't help laughing. Jing Hongchen had been the same in his youth. The Hongchen Family's heirs invariably loved crushing their enemies with brutally overwhelming artillery. Each one rivaled an army of ten thousand, their bombardments unceasing!

Heaven and earth unleashed their fire at the same instant. The two Eyes of Fear fired their Fear Rays, and the Stars Divine Needles blazed like a multitude of stars. Yet Xiao Hongchen remained utterly fearless. Ultimate metal plus the Three-Legged Golden Toad-he lacked nothing now!

A hundred and twenty-eight Soul Cannons roared, their flames joining into a furiously burning curtain of light. Countless Soul Tool beams surged skyward, colliding with the high-altitude Soul Tools in a fight to the death. The air cracked sharply, and rings of shock waves spread through the sky, shredding the clouds.

"Boom, boom, boom-"

Over two hundred Soul Tools bombarded one another, leaving the Hongchen Class students dumbstruck. Thick smoke rolled between heaven and earth as stars fell from the sky one after another. The Stars Divine Needle array began to scatter, patches of starlight dimming in succession.

Meanwhile, the ground fire only grew fiercer. Gold Sacrifice devoured metal-attribute energy from every direction. The Soul Cannons were like a hundred and twenty-eight tireless behemoths, tearing the sky into a ravaged landscape. The Stars Divine Needles were blasted apart, their fragments scattering showers of sparks.

"Ultimate metal! This feels so, so, so good!"

Xiao Hongchen laughed heartily. He swore he had never vented so freely and thoroughly as he did today. Power flowed without end, and the free-floating gold element frantically repaired his Soul Tools' shells. As long as the Core Arrays remained intact, the Three-Legged Golden Toad would not fall!

"Clack, clack, clack-"

Accompanied by the ringing clang of rotating metal, the hundred and twenty-eight Soul Cannons moved.

Their barrels interlocked and merged, transforming into two enormous shoulder cannons. Empowered by the machine element's ultimate metal, the Three-Legged Golden Toad realized its imagined fighting style, transforming freely!

Ultimate metal plus a divine beast bloodline-the ultimate winning formula!

His gaze pierced the rolling smoke. The pitch-black muzzles locked onto the Eyes of Fear still stubbornly resisting in the distance. Xiao Hongchen flashed an unrestrained smile. Shining silver beams as thick as buckets thundered out, sweeping away the Stars Divine Needles and swallowing the Eyes of Fear!

Flames danced across the sky. Xiao Hongchen once again made his signature one-handed gesture toward the heavens, superbly and "casually" displaying a jawline as sharp as if carved by blade and axe. Several Xiao-loving girls in the class clutched their hearts and screamed.

He was back. Brother Xiao was back!

Gazing up at the beautiful sky awash with sunset clouds, Xiao Hongchen felt his mind become utterly clear. Moved by the moment, he declared, "The three of us croaked our way to victory!"

"Why croaked?"

At that, Qing and Ju Zi looked at each other for two and a half seconds, then both cast him questioning glances.

"Because that's the sound the Three-Legged Golden Toad makes!"

Xiao Hongchen spoke with perfect conviction. He had been the main damage dealer this round. Who dared object?

"Ultimate Conversion really works. Your brother's aura is completely different from when we went to the library yesterday. Every strand of his hair is brimming with confidence."

In the test zone's spectator stands, Ye Guyi lightly brushed back her long golden hair and spoke sincerely to Meng Hongchen.

Hearing this, Little Meng spared no effort in roasting her idiot older brother. "He's even more full of himself than before. Ultimate metal amplifying a divine beast bloodline-he really got his fill of fun today.

"If I'd known he was this easy to coax back, I wouldn't have rushed to ask Lin Qing to save his genius spirit. It would've been fine to encourage him a few weeks later. Great, now things at home are going to be chickens flying and dogs jumping again."

According to the law of conservation of smiles between twins, Meng Hongchen pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed, silently cursing her brother for being a single-celled organism. Xiao Hongchen, meanwhile, swept away all his gloom. Like a triumphant youth riding briskly on the spring breeze, he felt his peak level-forty-nine soul power suddenly rise as the knot in his heart came completely undone.

His soul power broke through-level fifty!

"Hahaha!"

Regaining his confidence and standing on the verge of becoming a Five-Ring Soul King meant two blessings had arrived in a single day. All this good news came from Lin Qing's generous Ultimate Conversion. Xiao Hongchen's laughter rang out wild and unrestrained.

Lin Qing was a good man. From this moment onward, Xiao Hongchen acknowledged this handsome, distinguished fellow as his lifelong best friend!

Underline that on the blackboard: it had nothing to do with getting ultimate metal for free!

His heart bursting with excitement and delight, Xiao Hongchen threw an arm tightly around Lin Qing's shoulders, displaying their deep brotherly bond to everyone. Strutting with his feet turned outward, Brother Xiao dragged Lin Qing on a full circuit of Test Zone Zero. His other hand held an Amplifying Soul Tool aloft, his voice booming like thunder. "Everyone in the Hongchen Class, eyes on me! I have an announcement!

"Recently, a rumor has spread through the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy that Lin Qing and Xiao Hongchen became as incompatible as fire and water because of the final battle in the Hongchen Class selection tournament. Today, I, Xiao Hongchen, solemnly refute that rumor! When have Qing and Xiao ever had a rift?

"We hit it off at first sight! We are dearest friends, brothers as close as hands and feet!

"Two metals united, invincible under heaven!"

On the Hongchen Class's very first day, Brother Xiao emerged from his maggot cocoon as a butterfly!