"I should have reminded these guys earlier," Xuan Ziwen, "They're taking this so seriously now." He was starting to get a headache.
That's really unfair to the teacher!
" Shadow Evasion!" Immediately afterwards, Cao Yu's First Soul Ring shone brightly, and he dodged Wang Shaojie's heavy hammer with incredible speed.
However, in everyone's eyes, he was hit by Wang Shaojie.
Even Wang Shaojie himself was no exception; seeing this, he couldn't help but feel secretly pleased. "Haha, I thought you were so great? You're nothing special!"
Wang Shaojie, who had been arrogant for a while, was dumbfounded the next moment, because the target he had hit was beginning to dissipate at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Everyone was taken aback. Wang Shaojie exclaimed, "Afterimage? What kind of Soul Skill is that?"
Seeing this, Xuan Ziwen breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he had underestimated Cao Yu's strength.
On the viewing platform, Ju Zi and Ke Ke watched the changes on the field with bright, focused eyes.
They didn't even see when Cao Yu appeared behind Zi Mu and Wang Shaojie; clearly, Cao Yu was fast enough to deceive them.
Even Xuan Ziwen could only discern a slight dodge trajectory.
"Okay, it's my turn." Cao Yu quickly stepped forward, grabbed Wang Shaojie's shoulder, and then, before he could react, forcefully thrust his knee into him.
With a whoosh, Wang Shaojie was sent flying into the air, looking like a cooked lobster, half-bent over with a distorted expression. The heavy hammer in his hand had slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Seeing that Cao Yu was about to attack him again, Zi Mu quickly reacted, drew his sword and stabbed it towards Cao Yu's brow.
"Good timing!"
He dodged the incoming sword light, pretended to grab the hand that was drawing the sword, and then twisted it hard. Losing control, Zi Mu was thrown away and slammed hard towards Wang Shaojie.
"Boom!"
Then, with a thud, both of them were thrown to the ground, with Zi Mu landing on top of Wang Shaojie, which seemed to worsen Wang Shaojie's injuries.
"It seems that in battles where the levels are roughly equal, it's still very difficult for Soul Engineer to defeat Martial Soul Master!"
" Martial Soul Master have more practical combat experience. Whether it's dodging or attacking techniques, Zi Mu and Wang Shaojie are far inferior."
Xuan Ziwen carefully observed the battle and saw the weaknesses of Soul Engineer in combat. At this stage, Soul Engineer can only have an advantage in large-scale wars, and their disadvantages are fully exposed in individual battles.
"Passed the first test!"
Seeing that Wang Shaojie and his team were no longer able to fight, Xuan Ziwen announced the final result.
In the second match, the time it took for Ju Zi and Ke Ke, who were using ranged attack-type Soul Tool, to leave the field was even more absurdly fast.
Before they could even activate the Soul Tool Turret, Cao Yu darted in front of them at incredible speed and then dismantled the Soul Tool right in front of them.
The pile of Soul Tool parts scattered on the ground is the psychological trauma that Ju Zi and Ke Ke are currently experiencing.
"This is no fun at all, hmph!" Ke Ke, feeling completely uninvolved, glared sadly at Cao Yu.
Cao Yu could only smile helplessly and said, "I messed up. I'll just let you win next round."
Ju Zi, who was standing next to her, couldn't help but comfort her, Ke Ke stopped making a fuss.
It seems that ranged attack-type Soul Engineer are at a greater disadvantage in individual battles. In the end, Xuan Ziwen could only shake his head and announce that Cao Yu had passed the second test.
In the final match, Zi Mu and Wang Shaojie, who had just taken a short break, returned to the competition stage.
In this assessment, Cao Yu kept his promise and did not attack Ju Zi and Ke Ke behind Zi Mu and the other two beforehand.
This allowed the two girls to fully experience the competition, although, faced with Cao Yu's speed, all the Soul Cannon and light orbs they fired just missed, with almost none hitting their targets.
"Fifth Soul Skill, Hammer of Judgment!" Wang Shaojie coordinated with Zi Mu's offensive rhythm, and with the interference from Ju Zi and Ke Ke, the pressure on them when dealing with Cao Yu was also reduced.
It won't be so busy that you'll be in a complete mess.
With a loud clang, the heavy hammer and the sharp sword clashed together, but Cao Yu, who was caught in the middle, vanished without a trace.
By the time they realized what was happening, Cao Yu was already above them.
However, with the help of Ju Zi and Ke Ke, Cao Yu missed a golden opportunity to attack.
Xuan Ziwen watched them play a close match from the sidelines with great interest. It seemed that Cao Yu was still holding back most of his strength, but even in this state, it was only a matter of time before he defeated Zi Mu and his team.
As Xuan Ziwen expected, after more than ten minutes, Zi Mu and his team were defeated.
" Cao Yu, awesome!" Ke Ke couldn't help but give him a thumbs up. Having fully experienced the sense of participation, she was now very satisfied. Clearly, she was just treating this competition as a game.
She had a great time, and naturally, she was happy too.
Xuan Ziwen instructed the group, "Alright, you can all go back now. Cao Yu, please stay behind."
"Come on, I'll take you to the Mingde Hall." Led by Xuan Ziwen, after several tens of minutes, they appeared in an ordinary building with an area of less than 500 square meters.
This is Mingde Hall.
The area was surrounded by Soul Tool Turret, indicating that the defenses here were extremely tight. After passing through one checkpoint after another, the two of them took an elevator and spent four or five minutes to reach the underground space that was hundreds of meters deep.
"It seems this is the true core area of the Mingde Hall. I didn't expect it to be hidden underground; it's quite well concealed!"
After surveying the surrounding facilities, Xuan Ziwen introduced, "This is Mingde Hall's main Soul Tool manufacturing base. I don't know its exact size, but it's at least half the size of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy above. There are a total of five thousand experimental tables."
Once Cao Yu entered, he discovered that He Caitou had already arrived.
Everyone greeted each other with smiles and nods, but didn't say much more.
After leading Cao Yu to his lab table and arranging everything, Xuan Ziwen left.
After watching for a while, he quickly lost interest, since for Cao Yu, it was just a change of training location.
He then sat down in his chair, closed his eyes, and prepared to cultivate, when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
Turning around, he realized it was Jing Hongchen, the head of the Mingde Hall. He smiled, his fat face jiggling slightly, and slowly said, " Cao Yu, this won't do. You need to learn something, you can't put all your eggs in one basket, can you?"
Before Cao Yu could say anything, Jing Hongchen waved behind him, and then Meng Hongchen came out.
Meng Hongchen greeted him with a smile, "Hello, Cao Yu."
Seeing Cao Yu's confusion, Jing Hongchen explained, "From now on, Meng will be your assistant. You can ask her if you don't understand anything. It's always good to learn more about Soul Tool."
"I'll also provide you with all the materials you need for your experiments, as many as you want. You can also take away the finished products for free. This is a privilege that others can't enjoy. Keep up the good work, and feel free to let me know if you have any requests in the future."
What are the thoughts behind this Jing Hongchen?
He even specially arranged for Meng Hongchen to be by his side, and provided her with excellent conditions. It's obvious to everyone that Sima Zhao had ulterior motives!
Trying to tempt me with these things? I, Cao Yu, have plenty of self-control!
(End of this chapter)