Douluo, my clone Groudon

Chapter 421 The Dilemma of Sun Moon Academy

The Soul Master Competition is progressing rapidly, and Gula's main body needs to be stationed at the main arena to ensure the smooth running of Shrek Academy's matches, as well as to be vigilant against any possible accidents and protect himself and his various avatars.

However, he also attached great importance to another event—the Mingdu Underground Soul Master Competition. Therefore, he created a clone with about a quarter of the strength of his original body and quietly left the main arena.

This is because, for some unknown reason, Regent Xu Tianran has an extreme aversion to gambling and has strictly prohibited anyone from setting up gambling games under the guise of the official Soul Master Tournament.

However, driven by huge profits, the three major underground forces in Mingdu—Xishui Alliance, Aodu Chamber of Commerce, and Pingfan Alliance—organized their own underground Soul Master Competition, attracting many Soul Masters and speculators. With rare metals as stakes and rewards, a massive amount of rare metals were gathered, creating a lively and bustling scene.

Gula's clone's target was not the rare metals or the gambling money; what he valued was the level nine soul master invited by the three organizations to serve as referees and judges in order to improve the level and fairness of the competition!
If he could get close to or even obtain some of the core information or design ideas of a level nine soul tool, it would be invaluable to him.

The clone's intelligence capabilities are not as good as the original body's, but it has a more direct method—to peek into the short-term future.

Through this almost cheating method, he easily found the venue for the underground competition: the Qingse Hotel, owned by the Xishui Alliance. Such a semi-public event was not difficult for someone with a keen eye to find out.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the Qingse Hotel, a middle-aged man in a yellow shirt stopped him: "Sorry, the hotel is currently closed for renovations and is not accepting guests."

Gula's clone was using the appearance of "Du'an" at this moment, but still wore a mask and exuded a faint Soul Saint level aura. He said coldly, "I'm here to participate in the competition."

The middle-aged man instantly felt immense pressure, and cold sweat poured down his back. As an outsider of the Xi Shui Alliance, he knew all too well that those who participated in this competition were no pushovers, especially someone with such unfathomable aura.

He dared not ask any more questions and quickly bowed his head respectfully, saying, "Please forgive me, sir. The competition has already begun. Please follow me."

He led Gula hurriedly into the hotel. A man dressed as a manager approached, frowning at the middle-aged man: "What happened? And who is this?"

The middle-aged man quickly winked and said, "This gentleman is here to participate in the competition."

The supervisor, being astute, sensed the subtle yet powerful aura emanating from Gula and immediately put on a smiling face.
"I see. Please come in, sir. However, the competition has been going on for a while now, so time may be a bit tight."

Just then, three more people entered the hotel—Wang Dong'er pushing Huo Yuhao in a wheelchair, with He Caitou following closely behind. They had clearly come for the same reason.

Gura's clone didn't even bother to glance at them, and followed the guide straight into the underground competition area.

He found an empty soul tool crafting station and directly inquired about the rules.

An elderly man supervising the scene lazily pointed to a huge hourglass next to him:

"If you can make a soul tool that meets the requirements using the materials on site before the hourglass runs out, you can pass the first round."

Gula glanced at the gleaming tabletop: "Where's the metal for the competition?"

The old man didn't even lift his eyelids: "Solve it yourself. You're too late. Go ask someone for it."

Gula was too lazy to ask anyone for help, and naturally wouldn't pay out of his own pocket. He imitated Huo Yuhao's method from his memory, using his fingers like a knife, gathering his soul power, and easily slicing off a corner of the table. The table was made of fine steel of uniform texture.

The old man's eyelids twitched suddenly, and he cried out with heartache, "Standard soul tool platform, damage compensation, five thousand gold soul coins!"

Gula nodded slightly to indicate that he had made a note of it, and then began to process the piece of refined steel.

His fingers were like the most precise carving knife. Without any auxiliary tools, relying solely on his soul power and powerful mental strength, he "molded" the irregular piece of refined steel into a small, complex soul tool—a soul tool fragment grenade—right before the old man's astonished eyes.

Although it is the core array of a level three soul tool, its unique structure and explosive charge allow it to generate area-of-effect damage comparable to that of a level four soul tool after detonation.

After handing the finished product to the verifier, Cooler passed the first round smoothly. However, the verifier accidentally triggered a mechanism during the test and was cut by the flying sharp fragments, but this was obviously unrelated to Cooler.

In his eyes, most of the members of the Xishui Alliance were not worth dying for.

After passing the first round, the Xishui Alliance immediately sent people to probe Gula's background, trying to find out his strength and origins.

Gula, too lazy to argue, directly released a wisp of the ultimate death aura belonging to the Death Scythe Martial Soul.

The probing Chen An felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his soul trembling. He immediately knelt down, no longer daring to have any more questions, and respectfully saw Gula off.

The moment Gula released his death aura, Huo Yuhao, who had just entered the competition area, was jolted and exclaimed in a low voice:

"Such a pure aura of death!"

This aura was not the filthy, resentful kind of that of an evil spirit master, but rather a purity and coldness closer to the very essence of death.

He subconsciously activated his mental detection, scanning towards the source of the aura, and "saw" an unfamiliar face.

However, as soon as his mental probe touched the other party, it seemed as if Du'an (Gula's clone) was reacting on its own, and an invisible "blade intent" containing the rules of death traveled back up along the mental connection!

"Ugh!" Huo Yuhao groaned, feeling as if his sea of ​​consciousness had been slashed by a sharp blade, a sharp pain shooting through him. Although he recovered instantly, he clearly sensed that he had permanently lost a wisp of his spiritual power.

His face turned pale, and he leaned back in his wheelchair.

Wang Dong'er worriedly supported him: "Yuhao, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Huo Yuhao suppressed his shock and waved his hand.

His heart was in turmoil. He was not only shocked by the sharpness and strangeness of the other party's mental counterattack, but also extremely puzzled: why had his mental detection been repeatedly thwarted recently, and why was he always discovered and counterattacked?
Within the sea of ​​consciousness, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm was furious, jumping up and down: "The soul skill my brother bestowed upon me is absolutely fine! The problem lies with those guys! A huge problem! They might all be in cahoots!"

What was said without intention was taken to heart by the listener. Huo Yuhao's gaze sharpened slightly; Tianmeng's words made sense.

This mysterious man with a pure aura of death, and those from the Natural Gate who could sense his probes... perhaps there really is some kind of connection between them?

Gula was unaware that Du'an's martial soul, which possessed the divine position of death, would spontaneously retaliate, and that Huo Yuhao had guessed their connection. If he had known, he would have understood that Gula's recent focus on Huo Yuhao had exposed his weakness.

However, no matter how vigilant Huo Yuhao was, he would never know that the people of the Natural Gate were all Soul Masters from other dimensions.

The Underground Soul Master Competition posed no challenge for Gula's clone; he simply had to follow the steps and wait for the competition to proceed round by round.

Let's turn our attention back to the main arena of the Soul Master Competition.

The second round of competition has concluded, with forty-two teams advancing to the next round-robin group stage to determine the final thirty-two teams that will advance to the finals. The Tang Sect had extremely bad luck, drawing the powerful Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy in the group draw.

After careful consideration, Huo Yuhao and his teammates decided to conserve their strength, strategically concede defeat, and forfeit the first round of the tournament.

However, whether it was due to the Sun Moon Empire's secret manipulation or not, in the next round of crucial matchups, the Tang Sect once again drew the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy!
Furthermore, they were placed in the same "group of death" as Shrek Academy, which means that only the top two teams in the group can advance to the quarterfinals. The third-place team still has a chance to be revived, but they must win every game, which is very difficult to achieve.

The Tang Clan cannot afford to give up twice in a row; that would be a loss and a betrayal of their dignity and honor. They must fight with their backs against the wall and give it their all!

Thus, the feud between the Tang Sect and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy officially began.

Wang Dong'er was the first to go on stage.

Unlike her original destiny, Wang Dong'er has now absorbed the three 100,000-year-old soul bone origins from Huo Yuhao's bone-changing transfer, and her cultivation has skyrocketed to the Soul Saint realm.

On the contrary, Huo Yuhao lost some opportunities due to Gula's intervention, and his strength is slightly weaker than that of his peers.

However, Wang Dong'er concealed her strength, only revealing six spirit rings to confuse her opponent.

The referees sent by the Sun Moon Empire were clearly biased towards their own team. However, despite the absolute difference in strength and the level-six shock bombs made by the Tang Sect, Wang Dong'er still managed to seize the opportunity and "mistakenly" killed Shi Xing, who played in the first match of the Sun Moon team, and Zhou Xinghao, who launched a sneak attack in a fit of rage after losing the second match.

In the third match against Xiao Ping, whose attributes somewhat countered hers, Wang Dong'er no longer held back. Her cultivation as a Seven-Ring Soul Saint erupted instantly, and she won easily.

Upon seeing that Wang Dong'er was actually a Soul Saint, Meng Hongchen dared not be infatuated anymore. Xiao Hongchen glanced at the Tang Sect with a livid face, knowing that with three of his generals lost in the individual competition and the opponent having a Soul Saint, the seven-on-four team competition was hopeless.

He endured the insults and incomprehension from the audience and made the most rational yet humiliating decision—to abandon the team competition, lead the team directly off the field, and conserve their strength for the subsequent matches.

However, it's clear to everyone that Xiao Hongchen's move was wise. The Sun Moon Empire's adoption of a round-robin format was partly intended to probe the players' strengths and then use soul tools to counter them.

Over the next few days, the Soul Master Competition and the Soul Instructor Competition were held simultaneously without much fanfare.

Soon, the highly anticipated battle will take place – Shrek Academy versus Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy!
Xiao Hongchen's expression was more solemn than ever before. Regent Xu Tianran had assured them that the Holy Spirit Sect, also known as the Holy Spirit Cult, would not compete with the Sun Moon Empire for the championship, but would "voluntarily" lose when they met, and would help them eliminate powerful enemies such as the Tang Sect, Shrek Academy, and Body Sect.

But in this match, they must rely on themselves and absolutely cannot lose!

However, facing Gula, who possessed three 100,000-year soul rings and whose strength was unfathomable, Xiao Hongchen had no confidence whatsoever.

He dispatched his first team member, Ye Canshang, who possessed the Skeleton Martial Soul, and equipped her with multiple invincible shields unique to Mingde Hall.

This technology allows Soul Masters to use multiple invincible shields in a short period of time, with a very clear tactical objective—to deplete Gula's soul power at all costs.

Unfortunately, they completely miscalculated.

For Gura, who can "see" the future at will, this tactical arrangement is like an open card.

He was too lazy to even step in personally, preferring to strategize and command from behind the scenes.

In the first match, he sent out Zhou Sichen, a skilled individual competitor, to deal with the opponent.

Although Zhou Sichen's Summoning Codex is restricted by the rules and must be recalled every two rounds, his army of summoned beasts is still powerful, and he no longer needs to conserve his soul power as before, so he can use his soul tools to assist in battle with peace of mind.

When Xiao Hongchen saw Gula sitting calmly in the rest area, showing no intention of playing, he had a bad feeling.

When he saw Zhou Sichen pull out a level-six soul guide ray that exuded a dangerous aura, his face turned completely gloomy.

During the match, Zhou Sichen, under the cover of numerous summoned beasts, continuously pressured Ye Canshang with soul-guided rays and attacks from the summoned beasts.

To save his life, Ye Canshang activated four invincible shields in succession.

It's important to know that a high-quality invincible shield is worth hundreds of thousands of gold soul coins, and the materials are rare, with the price increasing exorbitantly the longer it lasts.

Ye Canshang alone consumed nearly a million gold soul coins worth of life-saving items.

In the end, Zhou Sichen found an opportunity to send Ye Canshang, who had exhausted most of his soul power, off the stage.

After his victory, Zhou Sichen, under Gula's secret instructions, suppressed his fear of the Sun Moon Empire's wrath and, as instructed, amplified his voice through his soul-guided amplifier, proclaiming:

"Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, so nothing special! My mere soul tools, I can learn a little and use them better than you!"

"Insanity!"

"court death!"

These words were like igniting a powder keg!

Countless citizens of the Sun Moon Empire in the audience were enraged. Soul tools were the foundation of their nation and their proudest domain. How could they tolerate such contempt and insult from others!
Xiao Hongchen's face was beyond ugly; it was as black as the bottom of a pot.

He was furious at being publicly provoked and humiliated by Zhou Sichen, a mere Soul King, and even more so because the Sun and Moon Team was now in a precarious position.

In the individual competition, none of them were confident of defeating Gula.

However, if Gula goes on stage second, he still has the ability to achieve a six-game winning streak and skip the team competition to win.

But if they give up the individual competition now, it would be tantamount to admitting that they are afraid of Shrek and Gura, and that they have lost the competition. They would be drowned in the spittle of the domestic public.

Should we continue fighting? In a one-on-one situation, anyone facing Gura would likely be in grave danger.

Look how ruthless Wang Dong'er of the Tang Clan is! And their grudges with Shrek Academy and the Tang Clan could very well lead their opponents to use lethal force within the rules. Who would want to face that monster?

The fighting spirit of the Sun and Moon team members has begun to waver, and fear and hesitation are spreading.

Looking at the demoralized team and then at Gula, who seemed to have everything under control in the opposite rest area, Xiao Hongchen felt unprecedented pressure.

(End of this chapter)