Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 58 The Round Robin Ends

After Shen Ce was mentally devoured and controlled by Huo Yuhao, Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan, two Soul Masters, immediately returned to his aid and launched a brutal siege against him.

As a powerful offensive weapon spirit king, Shen Ce wore a soul tool inner armor, but unlike beast spirit spirit masters, he could not enhance his physical strength through spirit possession.

Moreover, after being controlled by Huo Yuhao, the sealing techniques engraved on the inner armor of her soul tool could not be activated on their own. Furthermore, Jiang Nannan's fighting style was mainly based on grappling techniques, so the defensive strength of the inner armor itself could not be utilized.

However, due to the difference in soul power between the two sides, Jiang Nannan and Bei Bei did not entangle with him too much. Instead, taking advantage of the unknown effect of the mental devouring, they directly knocked Shen Ce off the competition stage.

Shen Ce and the others only came to their senses in a daze after falling off the competition stage, and it took them a long time to accept the reality that they had been inexplicably eliminated.

After Shen Ce, the strongest among them, fell, the rest of the Thousand Spirits Academy members naturally had no other means of resistance against Shrek Academy's group.

Because Shen Ce is the only offensive-type Soul Master in the team, all the Martial Soul configurations are designed to maximize Shen Ce's output.

Their own offensive capabilities were insufficient, so even when the rest of the Thousand Spirits Academy teamed up, they were unable to break through Xu Sanshi's defenses until their defeat.

With the referee announcing Shrek Academy's victory in this team battle, the first match of the second round of the round-robin tournament finally came to an end.

Although Qianling Academy was defeated, their losses were not serious. If nothing unexpected happens, they still have a chance to fight for a spot in the next group stage.

In the following matches, apart from the Qianling Academy with its unique lineup and extreme six-protect-one strategy, there were other teams that participated.

The most threatening team in the round-robin tournament is Zheng Tian Academy, a veteran academy from the Heavenly Soul Empire, which boasts a lineup of three Soul Kings.

However, things are different now. This match is different from the previous battles where only the reserve team members were responsible for the difficult fight.

Due to time constraints, Ling Luochen and Xixi, two members of the main team, had almost recovered their strength. Faced with a strong opponent, these two Shrek Academy main team members were responsible for the battle.

In the 2-2-3 match schedule, Xixi and Ling Luochen were in one group, and Beibei and Xu Sanshi were in another group, working together.

Zhengtian Academy had no chance to last until the third three-on-three battle; they were defeated in the first two battles.

Moreover, thanks to the cooperation between Xixi and Ling Luochen, the two strongest Soul Kings on the opposing team were seriously injured. If nothing unexpected happens, it will probably be difficult for them to make a move in this competition.

This is also Shrek Academy's ancestral dark tactics. After all, Zheng Tian Academy is not weak. Compared to Qian Ling Academy and other academies, which are easier to deal with, taking them out first is more in line with Shrek Academy's current tactical arrangement of being short of troops.

Of the round-robin groups that Shrek Academy participated in, apart from Zheng Tian Academy, the remaining matches are all in the same group.

The other academies are of varying strengths and none of them can be considered powerful; they are not even as strong as Thousand Spirits Academy from the first round.

Furthermore, because he was not selected for a team battle by lottery, Huo Yuhao did not get a chance to participate in the following battles.

They were directly taken down by Ling Luochen and Xixi, who had almost recovered from their injuries, as a warm-up for rehabilitation, along with Beibei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan, three Soul Masters.

However, because the schedule was relatively easy, the situation in the original work, where Wang Yan recounted the miserable state of the main team and used the tactic of playing the victim to gain empathy and respect from the audience, thus improving and maintaining Shrek Academy's reputation, did not occur.

Huo Yuhao was naturally happy to have some peace and quiet. Now that he had obtained the Gold of Life and achieved his most important goal in coming to Star Luo City, he was ready to relax.

Now that his soul power cultivation has also hit the bottleneck of level 30, Huo Yuhao spends most of his time in the viewing area gathering information from the matches of various forces.

He used the Eye of Truth to record and collect the composition models of various martial souls and the composition methods of soul skills of the participants.

The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament is a grand event that attracts worldwide attention. Although the rules state that only advanced soul master academies and advanced soul master instructor academies are allowed to participate, the tournament is a highly anticipated event across the continent.

However, in reality, many reclusive sects and families also send their younger generation of disciples, disguised as students, to participate in the competition.

Some so-called "academies" are actually subordinate institutions of reclusive sects or families, used to screen out fresh blood from the outside world, thus serving as a breeding ground for talent to be provided by the sects and families.

Among these academies, only the most promising disciples from hidden sects or families can stand out; the other outsiders are just substitutes.

The purpose of doing this is quite simple. After all, those who can appear in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament are all young geniuses, the chosen ones of their respective forces.

Participating in this grand event of the Soul Master world is excellent for the younger generation to expand their social circles and broaden their horizons.

Moreover, this can serve as a training ground for disciples who live in seclusion and do not communicate with the outside world.

After all, there is always someone better. One can stand out among the crowd in the sect, but only after showing one's face in front of one's peers can one truly recognize one's own worth, calm down, shed one's pride, and become a pillar of the sect and family.

It is against this backdrop that high-level martial souls and special soul skill configurations, which are rarely seen in the outside world under normal circumstances, are revealed.

After all, apart from some special mutations, most powerful martial souls can only be cultivated by systematic sects and families.

The choice of each spirit ring is the result of countless trials and errors by predecessors. How to match them to be more suitable and how to combine them to unleash the strongest effect.

These systematic martial soul configurations also greatly broadened Huo Yuhao's knowledge base, saving him a lot of time that would otherwise have to rely on him to combine and experiment on his own.

Because all academies have to participate in the round-robin tournament, even the strongest students from some academies did not use their trump cards in preparation for the subsequent elimination rounds.

However, Huo Yuhao, who possesses the Eye of Truth, has already seen through the structure of their soul skills hidden within their soul rings.

With the evolution of the Eye of Truth, even without activating the Eye of Truth in its Golden Awakening form, the Eye of Truth can now penetrate deeper into the hidden structures within another person's martial soul and body.

Through mental deduction and calculation, although it took some extra time, Huo Yuhao finally deduced the effects that the hidden soul skills of those soul masters could form, as well as how they were composed and operated.

The gains Huo Yuhao made in these few days were far greater than what he would have made in a year at Shrek Academy.

Although this was partly due to the fact that Huo Yuhao had previously only been able to stay in the outer courtyard and that his own strength was not strong enough.

However, during the short break after the round-robin tournament, the next round of intense and exciting elimination matches, the round of 16 to 8, is about to begin.

On the eve of the knockout stage, in addition to the originally scheduled rest time, a top-level auction was held in Xingluo City.

However, in the original work, a piece of Ice Jade Scorpion Soul Bone that is compatible with the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul and comes with the Ice Explosion Technique appeared at this top auction.

Furthermore, the God Sealing Platform, a level-nine soul tool that seals the Snow Emperor, also appeared at the same time.

However, this time Huo Yuhao did not go to the far north to subdue the Ice Emperor as his martial soul during his previous vacation.

In this situation, Ice Emperor should also go to protect Snow Emperor. With Ice Emperor protecting her, Snow Emperor would naturally not be captured by a human soul master when she is in a vulnerable state of transformation.

Furthermore, there are many doubts about why the Snow Empress was captured by humans during her transformation in the original work, since the Snow Empress was in the heart of the far north when she transformed.

Although there is only one Snow Empress in the entire far north, and there are generally no other soul beast clans living in the Snow Empress's territory.

However, beyond the snowfield lies the habitat of two ferocious beasts, the Ice Emperor and the Titan Snow Demon King, as well as another unknown, hidden beast, the Ice Bear King.

It would be difficult to bypass the territory of these three entities without provoking them.

Unless it's from the original story, this level nine soul master entered the core of the far north from the territory of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion clan, which had lost its leader.

This also explains why a soul bone from the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan in the far north appeared in this top-tier auction.

It was only under these circumstances that he obtained the soul bone of the Ice Jade Scorpion, and he also happened to encounter the Snow Empress who was in the process of transformation.

Even more coincidentally, she found that secluded place where, even without seeking the Ice Bear King to protect her, the Snow Empress felt safe enough to undergo her transformation alone.

Of course, it's also possible that it wasn't that the Snow Empress didn't want to find the Ice Bear King, but rather that because of the Ice Empress's disappearance, without the Ice Bear King to maintain balance, the Titan Snow Demon King, who already harbored ulterior motives, might become restless. Therefore, the Ice Bear King was needed to mediate from the outside world.

It was precisely because of the accumulation of various factors that Xue Di was captured, but these circumstances were just too coincidental.

While it's not entirely unreasonable, after all, all of this unknown soul master's gains ultimately ended up in the hands of the original owner, Huo Yuhao.

As the chosen one of destiny selected by Douluo Star, it's not unreasonable for Huo Yuhao to enjoy this treatment.

However, Huo Yuhao is now very curious about this top-level auction.

I wonder what kind of treasures will appear at this top auction after losing the soul bone of the Ice Jade Scorpion and the embryo of the Snow Emperor.

But will the new baby be suitable for him now? After all, the development path he has chosen now is completely different from that of Huo Yuhao in the original story.

Led by Wang Yan, after dinner, the group arrived at the Starlight Auction House.

Unlike before, this time the receptionist was replaced by Qingya, the auctioneer from the last auction.

It is obvious that the special service offered by the Starlight Auction House is due to Shrek Academy, which is behind Wang Yan.

After all, compared to ordinary maids, well-trained auctioneers are far superior in every aspect.

Led by Qingya, the group arrived at Auction Hall No. 1.

Compared to other auction halls I've seen before, the largest auction hall at Starlight Auction House, Hall No. 1, is undoubtedly much more luxurious.

The various precious woods, jade, and ornaments created a sense of luxury. They were said to be items that, while not beneficial to a Soul Master's cultivation, were priceless on the market.

In addition to these, what was used for display was a custom-made soul guide device, a light guide screen.

This is a soul tool produced by the Sun Moon Empire for the benefit of the people. Although it is not of high grade, it does not require soul power to activate, which means it has already reached the forefront of the continent's countries.

However, the energy source it uses is a mineral that naturally contains a small amount of energy, and this soul tool has only adjusted the energy supply route.

Therefore, the overall structure is not particularly valuable for reference. It can only be said that this concept is still too immature. After all, the main research direction of the Sun Moon Empire is still various soul tools used for warfare.

Just as Wang Yan was being manipulated by the auctioneer's elegant and witty remarks, the auction finally began.

As the golden light of the soul-guided light screen emerged, its soft golden glow attracted everyone's attention.

Then, under the introduction of Princess Xu Jiujiu of the Star Luo Empire, who was also the auctioneer of this top auction, one precious item after another was driven up to a high price by the crowd.

The flow of Gold Soul Coins was astounding.

However, for Huo Yuhao, most of the items exhibited at this top-tier auction were of little value to him.

After all, his current strength is too weak. Even if he gets an eighth-level or ninth-level soul tool, what use will it be?

He couldn't use them with his soul power, but he waited until Huo Yuhao's soul power was able to control these advanced soul tools.

With Huo Yuhao's strength, he can naturally find a better replacement if needed.

Most of the items that end up at auctions are probably of good quality, or considered rare treasures by the uninformed.

However, in the eyes of some powerful forces, it's really just that. The truly priceless treasures will not appear in the auction house; at most, they will only circulate among the top levels of various forces.

As for the existence of something of value like the Conferred God Platform that seals the Snow Emperor's embryo, it can only be said that its original purpose was for the Star Luo Emperor to use as bait to deceive the Sun Moon Empire.

Otherwise, something of this value would rot in the national treasury and would never be released.

Soon after a set of fixed-position soul-guided cannon shells was auctioned off, the next item was originally a soul bone from an Ice Jade Scorpion, infused with the Ice Explosion Technique. But this time…

(End of this chapter)