thefictionvixens Chapter 280 Zhang Lexuan's Preparations
Chapter 280 Zhang Lexuan's Preparations
On the other side, Jing Hongchen's gaze darkened for a moment, but before Long You could react, the old man had already adjusted his mindset.
As a rational controller of his power, Jing Hongchen knew very well that it was wishful thinking to exchange a rare metal reserve of the Holy Spirit Cult for Shrek Academy's inner courtyard secret techniques if he had no intention of using force. Even if he included the other part of the deal—holding back when fighting the Tang Sect—his side still didn't have enough leverage.
Taking action? Forcibly obtaining the secret technique from Long You through force was certainly an option, but Jing Hongchen didn't believe that Long You, who had left a deep impression on him, would meet him unprepared. The probability of success through force was far too low. Moreover, just as Long You had thought, it was merely a supply warehouse, and a supply warehouse belonging to the Holy Spirit Cult at that; Jing Hongchen didn't care at all.
At Long You's prompting, Jing Hongchen placed the jade pendant between his eyebrows and gently activated the power of his martial soul. Although the martial soul possession process was not yet complete, Jing Hongchen still felt a deep-seated yearning and a rather peculiar fluctuation. Despite it being his first encounter, at that moment, Jing Hongchen was certain that this jade pendant indeed contained the power to help his martial soul awaken its consciousness.
How do I break the seal?
"I can only tell you after I confirm that the coordinates you provided do indeed contain what I want. Tomorrow, during the competition, I will explain the method to break the seal in the team members' rest area."
After a brief silence, Jing Hongchen didn't ask the foolish question of how to confirm that Long You's method was truly effective. Instead, she readily rattled off a series of coordinates.
The moment Jing Hongchen revealed the coordinates, a small red dot appeared on a small hill north of Mingdu City in front of Long You, who was far away in the south of Mingdu City.
"North of the city? Bourne, have a portion of the encirclement exploration team thoroughly explore this coordinate point. Explore it on the ground, underground, in the air, and even from any location where you can directly aim at this hill."
We have plenty of time, so our exploration must be thorough. However, I hope to obtain information about the supplies stored in that warehouse before the competition begins tomorrow.
"Your will."
The exchange in the south of the city came to an end, and the transaction at the Mingyue Hotel was also successfully completed. Backup Long You returned to the Tang Clan team's residential area with a relaxed and cheerful expression.
However, this relaxed expression only lasted until the moment Backup Longyou entered the small suite where the Tang Sect team was staying. There was no other reason than that it was once again surrounded by the Tang Sect members.
Looking at the backup Long You, who had frozen in place with his hands raised above his head, Bei Bei, who was "sitting in the main seat," spoke softly, "Hmm, it seems that this time the backup's deployment was not affected by any factors beyond his control. So, Byrne, can you explain why your master is acting alone again?"
"It seems like your master's trip to Mingdu to participate in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament is just a pretext; he actually wants to do something in Mingdu. Can you tell us about it? And also, what kind of deal did he make with the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy?"
Despite being an intelligent life form, Byrne was still somewhat at a loss when suddenly faced with this situation. Because Longyou had now officially entered the magic array inscription stage, Byrne could not contact Longyou and therefore could not know whether he should reveal Longyou's plan, or to what extent he should reveal it.
After a brief hesitation, Bourne only mentioned the deal between Long You and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. As for Long You's bigger plan, that plan couldn't be revealed in such an open setting.
"Participating in the competition was indeed just a side goal of our master. This competition has completely become a tool of conspiracy. I don't know if the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire have contacted you, but I am certain that the two great empires are aware of the danger outside Mingdu City."
There might not be any problems in the round-robin stage, but once the competition enters the final knockout stage, unexpected events can happen at any time.
This competition will bring neither honor nor profit. Therefore, from the beginning, the master never intended to invest too much energy in the competition; everything he did was aimed at seizing profits in Mingdu.
"The two great empires have approached us and even made contact with Elder Xuan through us. We can't get involved in this kind of thing with our current strength. But does your master have any suggestions in this regard? I always feel that his familiarity with Mingdu is even greater than Nana's."
"Firstly, it's impossible for us to save all the participating teams right now. Fortunately, the Sun Moon Empire won't kill these participants at the beginning. To rescue them as quickly as possible after the competition ends, we first need to determine their location. This location can be investigated later, but there might be ways to prepare in advance."
Secondly, Mingdu is teeming with experts; Elder Xuan's strength likely doesn't rank among the top three. Furthermore, Elder Xuan isn't skilled in reconnaissance, so don't place too much trust in his findings. Even less should you believe seemingly reliable plans devised by those whose strength doesn't even match Elder Xuan's.
"It seems Xiao You has indeed gathered a lot of information. We may need to have a talk. Get some rest. Although our opponent tomorrow is no longer the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, there are no weak teams left in the round-robin stage. Don't let your guard down and lose a crucial point."
Bourne's answer didn't offer any specifics, but the expressions of the Tang Clan members present remained much more somber. However, as Bei Bei had said before, now was not the time to dwell on such matters. Although this competition was destined to have no good outcome, the Tang Clan members still needed to do what they were supposed to do before the final result was revealed.
The next day at dawn, the competition was held at the outskirts of Mingdu City.
As soon as the Tang Clan members entered the competition team rest area, Backup Longyou noticed the gazes fixed on him. His built-in scanning eyes revealed, unsurprisingly, Meng Hongchen staring intently at him, and Xiao Hongchen beside her, who seemed unconcerned.
Returning a smile to Meng Hongchen's gaze, Long You gestured for the Poisonous Woman of Destiny to look down at her communicator. Around 4 AM, the reconnaissance team dispatched by Bourne had finally completed its investigation of the target warehouse.
Besides the vast quantity of rare metals, including a significant number of rare metals unique to the Sun Moon Empire, Long You was quite satisfied to find a large number of fixed-position soul-guided cannon shells in the warehouse. Although there were only five level-nine fixed-position soul-guided cannon shells, looking at the total number of over a hundred level-seven and level-eight fixed-position soul-guided cannon shells, Long You, who had completed the magic array modification work in the south of Mingdu City, still showed a satisfied smile before falling into a deep sleep from exhaustion.
Compared to Xiao Hongchen's naivety, Jing Hongchen's methods were far more shrewd. Since it was a contest of high-end combat power, Mingde Hall was definitely no match for the Holy Spirit Sect, so they would simply force the Holy Spirit Sect to rely on their own produced soul tools.
Now that the other side was satisfied, the transaction could proceed as planned. The pre-edited information, under Byrne's control, appeared directly on Xiao Hongchen's phone.
The method to break the seal is simple: use the soul power generated by the martial soul whose consciousness you want to awaken to nurture it for more than 24 hours, so that the power sealed in the jade pendant can establish a sufficiently stable connection with the martial soul.
At that time, all you need to do is find a quiet place with abundant elemental energy to fully activate the jade pendant's power. —Long You
The crisp notification sound made Xiao Hongchen subconsciously look at his phone. The moment he saw that the sender was Long You, a head that whistled through the air was already resting on Xiao Hongchen's shoulder.
"It's been sent over, and it looks pretty promising. Brother, give it a try. If this method doesn't work, that kid can forget about leaving Mingdu."
"Don't rush, there are still some questions that need to be clarified."
What does continuous warming mean? Can't there be any intervals? What are the consequences if there's an interval? Will all the previous warming effects be wiped out? —Laughing at the World
He could remain calm before things happened, but with the opportunity to restore his talent right in front of him, Xiao Hongchen couldn't stay calm at all.
There can be no intervals. Once the nurturing process begins, the jade pendant needs to establish a cycle with the martial soul for at least 24 hours, relying on the power of soul energy. Of course, it's not absolutely impossible to interrupt the process; interruptions won't erase the nurturing effect, but it will make it very difficult to re-establish the connection between the martial soul and the jade pendant. Based on my personal experience, I don't recommend you try it. —Long You
Byrne's ability allowed Backup Longyou to read and send the message without any extra effort. However, the Hongchen siblings on the other side clearly didn't have such a convenient helper. The sight of the two siblings huddled together looking at a mobile phone had already attracted a lot of attention from those around them.
However, so be it. The Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy has its own aura, and there is no participating team right next to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy team in the rest area, so the Hongchen siblings don't have to worry about their voices being heard by others.
"Brother, you've asked everything clearly, so hurry up and give it a try. The sooner you awaken your martial soul consciousness, the sooner your foundation will be repaired."
"No rush, today's competition will start soon. Let's start in a quiet place after the competition ends. Although Long You always has a way of making people unhappy, I'm not going to ignore what he says. If the nurturing cycle is interrupted because the surrounding environment is too noisy, I don't know how long it will take for me to start nurturing again. By then, the competition might be over."
In matters of great importance, Meng Hongchen is decisive and wise, but in minor matters, perhaps because she has someone to rely on, she often seems a bit eccentric. Fortunately, Xiao Hongchen has long been accustomed to her sister's eccentric behavior and can completely ignore Meng Hongchen's nonsensical advice.
After a short break, the round-robin tournament officially began. As is customary, Shrek Academy was the main contender for the first match. Led by the referee, the Shrek Academy team members and their opponents, the Beast Academy team members, all gathered at the edge of the arena, ready to begin their one-on-one round-robin battles.
The outcome of this match was, of course, no surprise. Even though the Shrek Academy team on the field wasn't the main team, their strength was still beyond the reach of a traditional, established Soul Master academy that was merely a 985-level institution.
Although few players were distracted during the competition due to the need to observe Shrek Academy's strength, Backup Longyou was among them. No, Backup Longyou's current state shouldn't be called distracted; it was more like he was AFK.
As an intelligent life form, Bourne's computing power far surpasses mortal imagination. However, all of Bourne's computing power has now been completely depleted.
Rewind the timeline to before the start of the competition, when the Tang Clan members had just returned from the Earth Dragon Gate.
Although Long You was eager to quickly begin upgrading his battle armor and soul-guided power mecha, the distribution of the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow would take some time. In order not to disrupt the continuity of his work, Long You simply enjoyed the night view in the Sea God Lake.
As a result, Long You was caught by Zhang Lexuan: "Soul core, I missed the Soul Saint, the node where I could condense my first soul core. In order to obtain stronger combat power, I delayed my attempt to become a Title Douluo by three years."
Now that I possess the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, coupled with the soul power I've deliberately accumulated in my soul bones over the years, I'm confident I can simultaneously condense two soul cores when I break through the Title Douluo barrier. I'll probably go into seclusion immediately afterward; I likely won't be able to attend the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament held in the Sun Moon Empire this time.
"Whether it's you or any of you, be careful. I have a feeling that the Sun Moon Empire's sudden change of the tournament rules is probably for some ulterior motive."
"Can I take this as my senior sister being concerned about me?"
Long You had always been easygoing about finding a life partner. However, the moment he met Zhang Lexuan, he felt that this senior disciple of the inner court truly met his aesthetic standards in every way.
Although there's a high chance of failure, since he has no other goals, Long You doesn't mind trying. A confession is unnecessary; that's a declaration of victory, not a call to arms. Given Zhang Lexuan's strength and personality, Long You doesn't need to cling to her constantly; he just needs to subtly let her get used to his presence.
Over the years, Long You's gradual approach of slowly boiling a frog has finally paid off. Even though the timing isn't ideal, Long You couldn't help but utter the sarcastic remark.
Fortunately, Zhang Lexuan had indeed accepted Long You. Although she rolled her eyes, she turned and left. On the other side, Long You realized that he had spoken without thinking and immediately tried to salvage the situation: "Actually, you can go together. The Sun Moon Empire has a ninth spirit ring that is very suitable for you."