area51novel Chapter 279 The Deal is Made
Chapter 279 The Deal is Made
Half an hour later, the ringtone of Long You's cell phone and the wind chimes at the entrance of the soul tool shop rang almost simultaneously. After greeting the familiar-looking boy who was dozing off in the shop, Long You answered the phone and walked towards the inner part of the shop, weaving among the many shelves.
"Don't worry, I already have the qualification certificate for the next round of the competition."
"That's right, I haven't gone back yet; I'm visiting relatives and friends."
"The lottery ceremony went wrong? Because someone tampered with the lottery box, and it had to be interrupted and redrawn? Okay, so what was the final result?"
"Okay, I understand. We'll talk about it when we get back."
After hanging up the phone, which had already ended, Long You faced his grandfather, who was lecturing his older cousin, and suddenly regretted his impulsive decision to enter the room.
Fortunately, the younger grandson was more popular than the older grandson, and the usually stern and authoritative old man, Mr. Long, did not drag the younger grandson into the scolding.
"Why did it take so long?"
"The round-robin tournament is about to start. Even if our Long family's team wants to experiment with new formations and combat capabilities, we need to choose our opponents carefully now. Otherwise, we might not only suffer a defeat, but also lose some members."
Speaking of which, since the entire Long family (those controlled spies were long gone by the Star Luo Empire) moved to the vicinity of the far north to live in seclusion many years ago, the entire family has embarked on a different path of developing soul tools. In Long You's understanding, he believes this is the path of an array master.
By combining magic arrays with soul tool inscription arrays and core arrays, and leveraging their family's tradition of using books and pens (their martial souls are either books or pens), they successfully transformed the currently popular soul masters into weapon refiners, while the members of the Long family became ethereal array masters.
So, if this happens, will the art style of Douluo Continent change?
"It is indeed something we need to be careful about. The previous elimination rounds were to weed out the weak. The young people sent by our Long family are all Soul Kings, and their combat methods are quite unique, so we haven't encountered too much trouble."
However, now that we've reached the round-robin stage, the strength of the various academies and sects is vastly different, and the methods of formation warfare have certainly lost their mystique. Perhaps there will still be some advantages in team battles, but in individual battles, the disadvantages will likely be even greater.
This continent is becoming increasingly fraught with danger. If we want the path of formations to truly become the core method of our Long family, our combat methods still need further optimization.
Are formation masters strong? Definitely very strong. Given time, a formation master who has set up a formation can still win even when surrounded by a large number of enemies of the same or even higher level.
However, all of this is based on the premise that the array master has completed the array. If the array is not fully set up and the array master's protective methods are not strong enough, then the situation that the array master will face will not be much better than that of a soul master who is suddenly attacked and does not even have time to activate his martial soul.
"This is a problem, but the direction for optimization is actually quite simple. One is the puppet, and the other is the array plate."
The array plate is easy to understand; I've mentioned this method before when I contacted the family. Given the current situation of the Long family, there shouldn't be anyone who goes out without a triggered defensive soul tool. Therefore, the chances of being killed in one encounter are slim (excluding cases of absolute overwhelming strength; if that happens, no amount of preparation will help). As long as there's a little space, activating the array plate with pre-drawn array patterns is still possible.
As for the puppets! The terror of a puppeteer lies in the fact that while you might see me as one person, I could actually be a platoon. Even if the puppets' combat power is insufficient to assist the formation master in battle, it doesn't matter. As long as the puppets are fast enough, they can immediately travel to various formation nodes at the very start of the battle, allowing the formation master to utilize the soul power within these puppets to connect them and form a formation.
Long You had never witnessed how a real formation master fought, but not having seen a real-life formation master didn't mean he hadn't seen a fantasy version. Even if the fantasy formation master's fighting methods still had various problems, it was better to bring it up as a direction than to be clueless.
"Hmm, Xiao You's two ideas are both good. However, the family hasn't studied the array plate thoroughly enough, and the family isn't aiming for a high ranking in this competition, so there's no need to bring it out."
As for the puppet, according to Xiao You's description, we also need to try it multiple times; there's no rush.
Xiaoyou, you just mentioned that there was a problem with the draw ceremony for the competition? What exactly happened?
According to the statement released at the scene, it was a minor issue. Someone tried to do something to the lottery box, but was caught red-handed.
To be on the safe side, the tournament organizers had a Soul Master from Mingde Hall inspect the lottery box. Although it turned out that the lottery box and all the drawn numbers were fine, the entire lottery ceremony had been interrupted. To ensure fairness, the Sun Moon Empire simply organized a re-draw.
"The draw ceremony went wrong. Is someone trying to slap the Sun Moon Empire in the face? No, that's not right. Strictly speaking, there was no problem with the entire draw process. This is not slapping the Sun Moon Empire in the face. It's someone trying to sabotage the people or forces responsible for the draw."
Who could it be? This is absolutely unwise!
When Long You received this news, he was quite surprised. According to the original timeline, the draw ceremony had never had any problems. After all, just as Old Master Long was now lamenting, this kind of thing was thankless and arduous, and seemed unnecessary from any perspective. As for success? It was just a round-robin group stage; even if they succeeded, what benefits would they gain? He didn't understand.
However, Long You had a feeling that the reason the lottery ceremony was repeated was probably related to the deal he made with the Hongchen siblings half an hour earlier.
[If my intuition is correct, then this swift reaction—could the scenario of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy clashing with the Tang Sect again—really be pre-arranged? Otherwise, this hasty disruption and restart just doesn't make sense.]
With a slight shift in his thoughts, Long You began to anticipate receiving good news about the successful transaction upon returning to the hotel. However, now was not the time to dwell on such matters. Long You had come here for two reasons, one of which was to provide the Long family with some intelligence.
As for the other matter, it concerns whether Long You can silently advance to the Soul Saint realm and, incidentally, allow Di Tian to see concrete evidence of the auspicious beast's soul problem.
The former is easy to solve. With the help of Bern and Xiao Yan, Long You had already listed all the situations that needed attention in this competition on the way here, and now he just needs to send them to his older cousin. As for the latter, Long You needs to check it out himself. If everything is normal, then Long You only needs to add a few more newly comprehended law inscriptions.
After a brief exchange, the older cousin was impatiently kicked out of the shop by Grandpa Long, while Long You was taken to the shop's basement by Grandpa Long.
To ascend to the God Realm without relying on a divine position, Long You needs assistance. Shrek Academy could be an aid, Zhang Lexuan could be an aid, the Long family, and Old Master Long could all be aids, but these aids are not enough. Given that Elder Mu is unlikely to fully assist him (and Long You is unlikely to unconditionally help Shrek Academy), the exploration of some extremely dangerous places on Douluo Planet (which may contain divine miracles) requires the help of extremely powerful individuals.
Di Tian, the King of Soul Beasts, is undoubtedly an excellent choice, but relying solely on his soul spirit is insufficient to secure his assistance. Only by placing the fate of the entire soul beast race before Di Tian will this King of Soul Beasts be willing to wholeheartedly help Long You. And what could be more effective in influencing the destiny of the entire soul beast race than helping the auspicious beast?
Long You's intense desire for the inheritance of Ilex's magic array stems from several factors. While the soul is a factor, Long You's true ambition lies in using the power of arrays and laws to create a safe haven that can shield him from the gaze of the divine realm. Only a truly safe haven can allow Long You to confidently pursue his "blasphemous" actions and thoughts.
Because he hadn't truly mastered the spatial laws of inscriptions before, Long You, when designing this isolation array, primarily used the limited collision of the laws of water and wood to create irregular fluctuations in the laws of law to block sight. As long as the water is murky enough, even a big fish can hide.
With this line of thinking, coupled with the numerous Void Stone Mothers (natural treasures containing spatial laws), as long as one is careful, they should go unnoticed. However, now that Long You has truly crossed the threshold of spatial laws and comprehended the unique spatial law inscriptions, he obviously has a better option: to maximize the power of the Void Stone Mothers and make the formation's effect even closer to the subordinate small world where Liu Jun lives.
While explaining his current plans in detail to Grandpa Long Guozhang, Long You had Xiao Yan deduce the most suitable locations to add the spatial law inscriptions. Incidentally, realizing he might not be able to participate in tomorrow's round-robin tournament, Long You simply sent a backup Long You back to the Mingyue Hotel.
Not long ago, Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan, who represented the Tang Sect in the draw, sent back news that the Tang Sect team had successfully avoided the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. Although they still couldn't avoid Shrek Academy, and there were other strong opponents in the group, all these signs proved that Long You's deal should have been successful.
It seems that the Hongchen siblings, who have already shown their sincerity at the Mingyue Hotel, are now probably waiting for Longyou to show his sincerity as well! Since the main body cannot return, sending a backup back is better than not returning at all.
As Long You had expected, almost the instant he returned to his room, a message came through the contact number he had specifically left for Hong Chen and his sister.
My grandfather is here, let's meet him. —Dream of the Red Dust
Upon learning that the lottery ceremony could change within half an hour, Long You knew that the Hongchen siblings must have informed Jing Hongchen about the deal. However, Long You hadn't expected that the Hongchen family head would care so much about his grandson, unwilling to wait even a whole night.
Since that's the case, there's not much more to say. The sooner the transaction is completed, the sooner Longyou can make arrangements and better secure his gains.
You're on the top floor, right next to Shrek Academy. Elder Xuan is probably nearby; I don't have the confidence to bypass his senses. You can probably guess what I'm offering. This time, it's best to bypass Shrek Academy for the transaction. I'll be waiting for you at the small bar on the second floor. —Long You
After sending the message, Long You got up again and left the chair he had barely sat down in.
The lounge area on the second floor of Mingyue Hotel.
As Long You stepped into this deserted leisure area, a bright idea suddenly flashed before his eyes as he pondered which location would be most suitable for a transaction.
This saves us some trouble; Jing Hongchen arrived so quickly.
Perhaps because Long You was currently just a backup soul-guided intelligent robot, he was completely uninhibited and walked without hesitation towards the direction from which the light he had just received, which seemed to have only flashed on his retina, came from. Rounding the back of the booth sofa, the faces of the three members of the Hongchen family appeared before Long You.
"Greetings, Master Hongchen. I am Long You, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Sit down. I agree to the deal. As long as you tell me the method for the second awakening of your martial soul, I will immediately tell you about the rare metal reserve warehouse of the Holy Spirit Cult near Mingdu."
"I swear on my martial spirit, this location is absolutely secure, and no one will leak this information to the Holy Spirit Cult. However, if you wish to take any action against this warehouse, you'll need to address the warehouse's security yourself."
In Long You's memory, there didn't seem to be any gods of fairness and justice in the Douluo God Realm. Therefore, he wasn't entirely sure whether a contract or an oath could effectively bind them. However, that wasn't important. Oaths made with one's martial soul were already very serious, and Jing Hongchen had no reason to break such an oath for the sake of a resource warehouse belonging to a rival with whom he wasn't on good terms.
Of course, it doesn't matter if Jing Hongchen goes against his wishes. Once he gets the address, Long You will definitely explore it from multiple angles. Although a direct confrontation may be unavoidable, ensuring he isn't ambushed isn't really that difficult.
“No problem. This jade pendant contains power that can help awaken a martial spirit’s consciousness. Of course, this power is currently sealed, so you can only sense it slightly to make sure I’m not lying.”
The method for the second awakening of a martial soul is a secret technique that can be passed down through generations. Although it was indeed invented by Long You, since Long You has already offered this method to Shrek Academy in exchange for the academy's help for Old Master Long, he cannot give this method away casually.
Fortunately, Xiao Yan was quite capable, and Long You's skills were becoming increasingly comprehensive. So, he actually managed to figure out this method, which was similar to the power-transferring talismans in the cultivation world. Giving a man a fish but not teaching him how to fish, it wasn't exactly a case of Long You selling one method to multiple people.