thefictionvixens Chapter 271 The Tournament Begins
Chapter 271 The Tournament Begins
Rewind a little, to seven in the morning. At this time, Long You's soul was still immersed in the mysterious space of laws, while most of the contestants in the Mingyue Hotel had already eaten breakfast provided by the competition organizing committee.
Although the official start time of the competition is 9:00 AM, this Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament, held in Mingdu, will be held in the outskirts of Mingdu. Considering the city's size, participants will need to leave early to participate on time.
After finishing breakfast, the Tang Clan members gathered once again in Bei Bei's room. To their disappointment, only Bei Bei and Tang Ya were in the room. This meant that Long You had not yet awakened from his deep meditation (although his soul was in the Law Space, his body was indeed in a state of enlightenment), and they needed to bring Long You's backup soul-guided intelligent robot along to the competition, just in case.
"Do we really need to bring it with us? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"
"Danger is definitely present. Today is the opening ceremony of the competition, and there will be no shortage of experts from the Sun Moon Empire. However, we are just unknown contestants from the Tang Sect, not the Shrek Academy contestants who are the focus of everyone's attention. Those experts will not focus their attention on us, and the soul-guided intelligent robot that Xiao You made is realistic enough. As long as we are not directly scanned by someone with mental power, the probability of encountering danger is less than the probability of us being hit on the head by a flowerpot when we go out."
Conversely, if there are fewer people at the opening ceremony of the competition, the top players might not care, but the 'ticket checkers' maintaining security at the opening ceremony will definitely notice that we're missing someone. However, no matter how they speculate about where our missing person went, it's inevitable that they'll come to the room to check.
Although they might not discover the Luxury Sphere, the Sun Moon Empire already has information about it, and we cannot take that risk.
"However, if the soul-guided intelligent robot is exposed, we will lose even more money."
Despite having discussed it the night before, when the time came, everyone still hesitated and disagreed about whether to bring Longyou's backup soul-guided intelligent robot. Beibei's point was valid, but Xu Sanshi raised a fatal question.
"No, it won't be exposed." Just as everyone was hesitant about the question raised by Xu Sanshi, Huo Yuhao spoke up. "I can cover Senior Brother Long You's backup soul-guided intelligent robot with my mental power. Even a Limit Douluo wouldn't be able to break through my mental power protection layer when he casually scans it."
As for forced inspections, a Limit Douluo wouldn't be that bored; I'm not afraid of inspections by others.
In a definitive way, although Huo Yuhao's growth path differed from that of the original world, the fact that Elder Yi, who had not completely perished, provided Huo Yuhao with sufficient inspiration, allowing Huo Yuhao's growth curve to be as extraordinary as that in the original story.
Leaving the Mingyue Hotel, the various signs on the streets of Mingdu indicated that this "modern" metropolis was ready for the upcoming competition. Soldiers clad entirely in silver armor stood in two rows, stretching outwards from the entrance of the Mingyue Hotel. In the visible distance, these two silver walls showed no sign of ending.
As you can see, the Sun Moon Empire has implemented martial law measures wherever the human wall passes. Mingdu citizens who are coming to join the fun, regardless of whether they are Soul Masters or not, are not allowed to approach within 30 meters of the human wall.
Under the protection of the silver-armored soldiers, the 167 participating teams, totaling nearly 2,000 participants, set off swiftly towards the outskirts of Mingdu.
Leaving behind the tall, numerous buildings of Mingdu, the competition venue, located on the eastern outskirts of Mingdu, comes into view. Unsurprisingly, the once empty suburban area is now packed with people. Soldiers in standard uniforms are maintaining order throughout the competition area. The crowd is divided into small sections by the soldiers; though large, it is orderly, and physical separation between the spectators and the competition venue has been achieved.
Although this competition was actually a conspiracy orchestrated by Xu Tianran, the Sun Moon Empire did not back down while showcasing its national strength and productivity. The entire arena was over ten meters high, roughly three stories tall, and its overall shape was basically circular, with an estimated diameter of about 120 meters. As a competition venue for mid-to-low-level Soul Masters or Soul Instructors, this size of arena was already astonishing enough, but there was something even more astonishing.
Compared to the stone arena used by the Star Luo Empire, the arena built by the Sun Moon Empire this time is made entirely of metal. Even if it is just a single metal plate, the amount of metal consumed by such an area of arena is astronomical. Moreover, the sheer scale of the project is enough to make the three kingdoms of the original Douluo Continent uneasy.
Although Long You himself was not present, Bern, who had been by Long You's side for a long time, was very clear about Long You's amusing nature. He immediately activated the miniature reconnaissance soul tool to capture the expressions of Princess Xu Jiujiu of the Star Luo Empire and Princess Vina of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
The entire operation was swift and covert, leaving the parties involved and their protectors completely unaware. However, this did not mean that Bourne's actions were undetectable. On the contrary, the moment Bourne activated the miniature reconnaissance soul tool, Huo Yuhao's gaze was already fixed on the backup machine controlled by Bourne, and his powerful mental energy had already followed the direction in which the miniature reconnaissance soul tool had departed.
However, when Huo Yuhao realized that the two miniature reconnaissance soul tools had traveled "thousands of miles" just to film a meme, he felt deeply isolated. He often felt unable to join in Long You's conversations because he wasn't funny enough, which caused him uncontrollable feelings of isolation and shame.
Up close, the details of the entire arena became much clearer. A ring of grooves surrounded the arena; upon closer inspection, inscriptions resembling soul-guiding arrays could be seen within these grooves. However, these grooves were not yet activated, leading to speculation that they might be a protective measure set up by the Sun Moon Empire for the arena.
However, a closer look reveals that this groove is located on the outermost edge of the circular arena, forming a seamless unit. It's conceivable that if this is indeed a protective measure prepared by the Sun Moon Empire for the arena, then this competition can absolutely avoid the situation from the previous one where simply luring someone off the arena was considered a victory.
About twenty minutes later, all the participating teams had arrived at the competition venue in the suburbs. At this moment, Huo Yuhao keenly noticed that the competition platform not far from him trembled slightly, and then a pale yellow energy membrane shot straight into the sky from the groove in the platform. Subconsciously looking up, the many participants present realized in the next moment that the height covered by this defensive light barrier was far beyond their current visual range.
Bourne once again manipulated the miniature reconnaissance soul tool, and before anyone except Huo Yuhao could react, he captured the expressions of Princess Xu Jiujiu and Princess Vina.
Noticing that Bourne's actions caused no ripples, Huo Yuhao stopped silently watching Bourne and putting pressure on him as he had done before. Huo Yuhao now understood that while intelligent life forms are indeed life forms, due to the limitations of their creation and upbringing, their actions are all for the benefit of their masters. They cannot be truly treated as humans, and the usual methods of applying pressure used by humans have no effect on them.
"Caitou, Yuhao, do you think the Sun Moon Empire is just showing off its military might regardless of cost, or do they really have a convenient way to generate large-scale defensive energy barriers?"
Although Beibei didn't see the unpleasant expressions on Princess Xu Jiujiu and Princess Vina's faces, this Beibei from the original timeline was not the same as the Beibei from the original story. The current Beibei's understanding of soul tools far exceeded that of his counterpart in the original timeline. He knew very well how much energy reserves and how complex the energy generation structure would be needed to supply a defensive energy barrier of this size.
"I don't know." He Caitou was the first to speak. Although he had figured out the path he wanted to take with soul tools, He Caitou didn't have much expertise in mental perception; he was only passable. The protective energy barrier of the competition arena created by the Sun Moon Empire was difficult to determine its true operation by visual observation alone.
After He Caitou finished answering, all the Tang Clan members present turned their attention to Huo Yuhao. Although there was still a gap in their skill level in crafting soul tools, Huo Yuhao's ability to observe soul tools was exponentially superior to He Caitou's.
After about ten seconds, Huo Yuhao, who had been slightly closing his eyes, opened them, his expression somewhat complicated. "It's the latter. The Sun Moon Empire has completely, or at least basically, mastered the method of generating this kind of large-scale defensive energy barrier. The protective membrane we see now is a whole, not a 'decorative' device that integrates small defensive barriers and is activated by a large amount of soul power."
"What does this mean? You all look so serious."
Compared to Bei Bei, who shoulders the heavy responsibility of reviving the Tang Sect, Xu Sanshi, who still hasn't won over the girl he wants, is rather lazy in his daily life. He's diligently cultivated his soul power and is now a powerful Soul Emperor, but his understanding of soul tools is truly nonchalant. He can use them, but he doesn't understand them.
Faced with Xu Sanshi's question, this time it was Little Fatty Songhe who spoke up to explain.
"If it's the former, then it means that the Sun Moon Empire still faces a bottleneck in the research of large-scale clustered soul tools. Although its overall soul tool strength still far surpasses that of the three original Douluo Continent kingdoms, the academy is not at a disadvantage in this regard."
But now that it's the latter, it means that the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool technology has even created a generational gap with the academy. It's no longer just a difference in basic soul tool technology and concepts, as we previously thought, but a visible gap in advanced, sophisticated technology as well.
As soon as Song He finished speaking, He Caitou chimed in, "It's not accurate to say that the advanced soul tool technology is high-precision. The academy's soul tool department was basically developed because of Xiao You alone, so the academy's direction in the development of soul tools has been strongly influenced by her."
This influence has made the academy unparalleled in the development of soul-guided intelligence and humanoid soul-guided devices; however, this extraordinary speed of development inevitably leads to deficiencies in fundamental aspects. In research areas where Xiao You hasn't invested, it's not unacceptable that the academy's technological level lags behind the Sun Moon Empire.
Compared to Song He's "major crisis" explanation, He Caitou's explanation was more rational and somewhat comforting. However, this slightly reassuring comfort did not make the Tang Clan members feel relaxed at the moment.
"Senior Brother, you mentioned last night that the Sun Moon Empire had set up some unusual military camps around Mingdu, and now they've demonstrated this overwhelming soul-guided technology. Does this mean the Sun Moon Empire is ready to make some big moves?"
Wang Dong'er, who asked this question, is, in terms of talent alone, a monster with MAX-level talent as a second-generation god. While the certain god-king is indeed somewhat inhuman, Wang Dong'er is innocent. Although there isn't any "earth-shattering" story between Wang Dong'er and Huo Yuhao in this current timeline, she has already gained the approval of the Tang Sect members through their time together.
Faced with Wang Dong'er's speculation, everyone's expressions grew increasingly somber.
"Sigh! Although I'm reluctant to admit it, Dong'er's words make a lot of sense. We need to report the situation here to the academy, and if possible, also remind the princesses of the Tianhun and Xingluo Empires."
They might not need it, but just by mentioning it, we can gain a favor.
The opening ceremony of the competition has officially begun. With all participating factions standing quietly to listen to the speeches, it's no longer appropriate for the Tang Sect to continue whispering. Whatever the issues, there's still time; there's no need to rush.
The entrance ceremony of Xu Tianran, the regent of the Sun Moon Empire and the de facto emperor, continued the awe-inspiring display of soul tool technology, while the Dragon Emperor Douluo Long Xiaoyao's shout of "Silence!" was a blatant display of cutting-edge military power.
After Xu Tianran's brief opening remarks, someone from the Sun Moon Empire quickly came out to read out the competition rules and announced that the first match of this competition would be between the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy and the Dragon Slayer Sect.
Overall, the Sun Moon Empire maintained a semblance of fairness in the competition rules. At most, they resorted to a little trick, giving Shrek Academy a bye in the first round and handing over the opening match of the tournament to their own Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy.
A harmless little incident, a predictable result – the first match of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament was utterly uninspired.