"Cheng, I can't wait any longer."
Xiao Hongchen stretched his shoulders excitedly.
"If you're a man, let's have a real showdown! These past two months, I've been dying to find out how strong you really are..."
"Heh."
Xu Cheng smiled.
The mutual appreciation between strong opponents was always fascinating.
"The final round of the assessment begins now!"
As Lin Jiayi's words fell,
Xiao Hongchen sprang into action.
Golden light enveloped his body, and the phantom of a Three-Legged Golden Toad appeared behind him.
Three Soul Rings-two yellow and one purple-shone brightly.
At the same time, his first and third Soul Rings lit up together, and nearly a hundred metal spheres burst from his Storage Soul Tool.
What was uncanny, however,
was that metal cannon barrels formed seamlessly around those spheres.
In an instant, a metal fortress materialized.
Xu Cheng's eyes narrowed slightly.
Those nearly one hundred cannon barrels were all at least Level 3 Soul Tools.
Their coverage and concentrated firepower far surpassed those of Soul Engineers at the same rank.
The spectators below the stage gasped.
"Holy shit..."
That many Soul Tools could bring about a complete qualitative transformation. Calling it the equivalent of a small Soul Engineer squad would be no exaggeration.
Moreover, he had never shown this move in any of his earlier matches...
Yet against Xu Cheng, he had brought out this trump card right from the start. It showed just how seriously he took Xu Cheng, and countless spectators grew even more eager for the match to unfold.
Some, however, had their doubts. More Soul Tools were not necessarily better; first, one needed the ability to control them.
Otherwise, no matter how many one operated at once, they would be mere ornaments.
Only Xu Cheng, standing in the arena, understood.
Of the three Soul Skills Xiao Hongchen had unleashed,
not one was merely for show. Each served its own purpose.
His first and third Soul Skills, Metal Control and Gold Condensation, combined to "build cannons on-site," while his second Soul Skill, Gold Boiling, brought those Soul Tools to life...
Just as he had expected,
points of reddish-gold light slowly gathered around Xiao Hongchen and attached themselves to the metal cannon barrels. The destructive aura within them made the pressure surrounding Xu Cheng increasingly tangible.
The metal seemed to boil, gradually revealing its annihilating power.
More terrifying still, nearly a hundred metal barrels could adjust their aim automatically, offering a glimpse of just how frightening Xiao Hongchen's control over metal was...
Moreover, he could control metal of any kind. He could even absorb energy from certain rare metals to aid his cultivation.
For someone already living in the Sun Moon Empire, with the master of Mingde Hall as his grandfather, this gave him practically perfect opportunities and resources for growth.
Gold Boiling, in particular, could greatly increase the activity of metal, making his control soar for a short time while drawing in vast quantities of metallic elements from the air for his temporary use.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The thunder of ranged soul cannons echoed through the trial grounds.
Countless spectators covered their ears, staring into the arena in shock.
To think... Xiao Hongchen really could control a hundred cannon barrels with ease. Xu Cheng was probably in danger now!
"..."
Thick smoke rose.
Xiao Hongchen's barrage blanketed the entire combat platform.
It also concealed what was happening on Xu Cheng's side.
One teacher, worried, prepared to rush forward and rescue him.
But a colleague beside him caught his arm and gestured toward the stage, astonishment in his eyes.
When the worried teacher looked up,
he saw the smoke disperse.
Xu Cheng was still standing unharmed in the arena, with enough leisure to remark,
"You really went straight for your ultimate move, huh?"
"Then next..."
Xu Cheng's expression slowly grew serious as well.
"It's my turn to begin!"
The next instant,
as the thick smoke overhead cleared completely,
and sunlight spilled down,
everyone abruptly discovered that nearly a hundred Drones had quietly spread out in a fan formation across the sky above the assessment grounds.
More astonishing still, these Drones were by no means ordinary reconnaissance Drones.
The Soul Tool beneath each Drone, originally intended for reconnaissance, had been converted into a Level 3 High-Explosive Soul Cannon!
As its name suggested, a High-Explosive Soul Cannon excelled in terrifying explosive power. At any Soul Tool level, its power was unquestionably among the best.
Its burst damage was second only to Fixed-Installation Soul Guidance weapons, though its drawbacks were its bulk and slow firing speed.
And these nearly one hundred High-Explosive Soul Cannons slowly adjusted their aim as the Unmanned Probes moved.
The corner of Xiao Hongchen's mouth twitched violently.
Suddenly, the Ranged Soul Guidance Tools in his hands no longer seemed so appealing...
The entire venue fell speechless.
If Xiao Hongchen's hundred ranged soul cannons had been enough to shock them, then Xu Cheng's hundred Drones carrying fixed-installation soul cannons filled them with dread.
Everyone present was a Soul Engineer, and more than a few were Soul Engineering prodigies.
Precisely because of that, they understood all the more clearly how terrifying this was.
Controlling a hundred Soul Tools simultaneously and arranging them in the sky with extreme precision required an immense amount of spiritual power.
Even more outrageous, those hundred Drones carried Soul Tools underneath them that required precise aiming and guidance.
Since artificial intelligence did not exist in this world, every operation had to be performed manually by a Soul Engineer.
It was equivalent to multiplying the first step all over again...
Jing Hongchen's pupils contracted instantly.
He slammed the table and sprang to his feet, paying no attention even as splinters flew everywhere.
A move this absurd
was not something no one had thought of. Rather, no one had imagined it could actually be accomplished!
It placed a crushing, almost insane strain on one's spiritual power!
An ordinary person could have their spiritual power drained in an instant, then be driven mad by the backlash!
Yet Xu Cheng had actually done it!
And he had done it so perfectly that he hardly seemed human...
"Whew..."
Elder Cheng let out a deep breath.
But wild delight surged into his eyes!
He had never expected this disciple to give him such a tremendous gift!
In the arena,
Xu Cheng still stood where he was.
As he watched the varied expressions of awe and wonder around the arena,
a smile curled his lips.
Did you really think I spent a whole month working overtime just to repair that Level 7 Soul Tool?
In his spare time, he had also verified his own hypothesis.
Programming!
By writing certain runes into a soul tool core formation, he could make it operate more efficiently. Like individual small programs, these could replace some manual operations and eliminate an enormous expenditure of spiritual power.
By using his own spiritual power to set these core formations in motion, he could achieve the effect of performing a "divine feat" all by himself.
Of course, even after greatly reducing the consumption, the spiritual power required was still immense.
This method was useful only to Xu Cheng.
Even Xiao Hongchen could not accomplish it...
The arena fell utterly silent.
Then frenzied cheers erupted.
Clearly, even though he had yet to fire a single shot, this exchange between two experts had already given the spectators a thoroughly satisfying show. By now, winning or losing no longer mattered.
Watching the masters show off their skills was the real attraction!
"Xiao..."
Xu Cheng shaped his right hand into a gun and lightly pointed it toward Xiao Hongchen.
A smile curled his lips.
"Pew."
The next instant, thunderous blasts shook heaven and earth!
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