Douluo Continent: The Book of Witness and Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 197 An Invitation for Exchange from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy

The ice and snow on the competition stage quickly melted away completely. In the end, Ling Luochen was just a Soul King. Although he used the physics knowledge that Long You showed off to create a seemingly impressive move, it was only impressive in appearance.

Aside from its wider range due to the long preparation time required, its power isn't significantly higher than a soul skill. In other words, unless facing a specific opponent and having ample preparation time (for cooling down), this pseudo-permafrost domain is actually quite useless.

Among the many academy students watching the battle, there were countless discerning individuals. While some were amazed by Ling Luochen's methods, the vast majority focused their attention on Long You.

What Longyou displayed in this battle has aroused the curiosity of many academies, including the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. However, the academy with the strongest curiosity is Zhengtian Academy. After watching the entire competition, Zhengtian Academy has a lot of questions.

As mentioned earlier, the pseudo-permafrost domain created by Ling Luochen was actually not that powerful, so after Shangguan Can was carried away from the competition stage by the people from Zhengtian Academy, he quickly regained his senses and consciousness.

Ye Wuqing had suffered the aftershocks of the Super Energy Soul Guidance Cannon attack and was still unconscious, receiving medical treatment from the tournament organizers. Therefore, Zheng Tian Academy could only ask Shangguan Can about the specifics of the questions raised during the competition.

"Shangguan, tell me the truth, what's going on with those two from Shrek Academy? Can they really ignore the effects of your soul skills?"

As a traditional Soul Master academy, Shrek Academy's display of Soul Guidance Powered Armor was certainly eye-catching, but Zheng Tian Academy was clearly more concerned with the abilities of Soul Masters. Zheng Tian Academy witnessed Shangguan Can's Soul Rings flashing incessantly on the competition stage.

However! Zheng Tian Academy also noticed that Shrek Academy was basically not affected by Shangguan Can's soul skills from beginning to end. Otherwise, Ye Wuqing would never have been forced into such a sorry state by Long You. At least, the final attack from the Super Energy Soul Guidance Cannon wouldn't have left them unable to dodge.

"I do not know."

Faced with the question from the team leader, Shangguan Can, who was in a very low mood and even somewhat doubted himself, replied listlessly, "I can confirm that my soul skill landed in the correct position. This is the feedback after the soul skill took effect, so there is no way there could be a problem."

But I really don't know why the effects of the soul skill are not obvious at all, or even completely ineffective.

Shangguan Can has no time to worry about whether the academy suspects him of throwing the game. As a traditional Soul Master, the effectiveness of his Soul Skills is everything to Shangguan Can. Once his Soul Skills fail, Shangguan Can will have lost all his power.

If the opponent is a spirit-type soul master, or if he suffers a backlash while releasing his soul skill, Shangguan Can's mood will be better. Spirit-type soul masters have stronger resistance to spirit-attribute soul skills, no doubt about it. Suffering a backlash while releasing a soul skill proves that the opponent used corresponding resistance methods. The solution to both is very clear: become stronger. As long as the power of his soul skills is further improved, these problems will be insignificant.

However, Shangguan Can is now facing a more complex situation. His soul skill has failed, disappearing completely without a trace after being released.

The reason why Shangguan Can encountered such a disheartening situation is actually due to Long You, or rather, the soul tool.

Do you have those kinds of spirit-guarding soul tools that combine offense and defense? Yes! But Long You can't make them right now, and even a Soul King-level spirit can't control them.

Soul tools, especially low- to mid-tier ones, are essentially machines. Their operating mechanisms differ from those of living beings. Purely defensive soul tools are truly only for defense, lacking any ability to retaliate. Only integrated offensive and defensive spirit-guarding soul tools can, like a soul master's sea of ​​consciousness spontaneously defending itself, launch a backlash when subjected to attacks that do not exceed their limits.

The mental defense soul tool currently used by the Shrek Academy team is essentially like a pile of cotton. External mental attacks are like punches hitting a pile of cotton. As long as the damage absorption limit of the cotton pile is not exceeded, the damage simply disappears, and there is no possibility of counterattack.

Shangguan Can was ultimately just a Soul Master. Even if the mental defense soul tool integrated into the Soul Guidance Tactical Helmet by Shrek Academy didn't reach the fifth rank, it was at least the fourth rank.

A fourth-tier defensive soul tool, if it cannot weaken the power of a four-ring Soul Master's soul skill to nothing or negligible when defending against an attack, is definitely not a qualified product.

That's exactly the case. On the competition stage, Ling Luochen, wearing the Soul Guidance Tactical Helmet, felt absolutely no effect from Shangguan Can's first and second Soul Skills. He could feel the third Soul Skill slightly, but the effect was barely noticeable, like someone calling his name from afar. Anyone who was mentally prepared would be completely unaffected.

In other words, Shangguan Can's fourth soul skill was somewhat effective. In Ling Luochen's words, it was like someone had punched him on the head. It was impossible to be completely unaffected, but if he was prepared and concentrated his mental energy to resist, there wouldn't be too much interference. At least, if it was just one punch, Ling Luochen wouldn't be greatly affected.

All these factors combined resulted in Shangguan Can appearing completely lost on the competition stage. Apart from helping Ye Wuqing alleviate some of the pressure at the very beginning, he did nothing to help and failed to achieve the turnaround effect that Zheng Tian Academy had envisioned.

If they had known earlier that Shangguan Can's soul skills would become completely ineffective, Zheng Tian Academy would definitely have sent a speed-attack or power-attack type Soul Master to cooperate with Ye Wuqing.

"That helmet, that helmet is a soul tool that can resist attacks from mental-type soul skills."

After all, they were students of their own academy. Seeing Shangguan Can's disappointed and helpless expression, the team leader of Zhengtian Academy suppressed his suspicion that his student had "defected" during the competition and began to analyze the competition in a more rational way.

This revealed the Soul Guidance Tactical Helmet, whose style was clearly out of place with Ling Luochen's previous fighting style.

"Shangguan, you should get some rest for the next match."

Once it was determined that the cause of Shangguan Can's soul skill failure was the soul tool, the leader of Zhengtian Academy made the decision almost immediately to bench Shangguan Can in the subsequent matches.

Zhengtian Academy is a traditional Soul Master academy, so they pay almost no attention to the development of Soul Tools on the continent. Perhaps the Mental Defense Soul Tool was indeed exclusively developed by Shrek Academy, but Zhengtian Academy dares not gamble. If, at a crucial moment in the competition, Shangguan Can steps onto the field and makes his move, only to find that his opponent possesses a similar Soul Tool that renders his Soul Skill ineffective, it would be a disaster.

Seeing that the atmosphere at Zhengtian Academy was rather somber and serious, Shrek Academy students, who were originally going to go and complete the competition etiquette, hesitated again and again, and finally turned around and walked towards the academy's rest area.

Although it wasn't clear what exactly the leader from Zhengtian Academy said, Shrek Academy noticed that many of the Zhengtian Academy members cast wary and hostile glances at Shrek Academy after hearing what the leader said.

We're already being feared and hated by them, so what's the point of trying to get close to them? Shrek Academy doesn't have the habit of fawning over those who don't reciprocate. It's been a long time since we updated our tactical database; it's time to carefully observe the combat data of our future opponents.

As they entered the rest area, the Shrek Academy students could feel the even more pronounced and overt apprehension in the eyes of the surrounding students. Just then, an unexpected person, smiling, blocked their path.

"Friends from Shrek Academy, it's been five years. Your academy seems to have made considerable progress in the development of soul tools. I wonder if your academy would be interested in exchanging ideas with my Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Academy on the subject of soul tools?"

Yes, the newcomer was Elder Ma, the leader of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. Elder Ma, who always maintained a cold demeanor, was surprisingly smiling warmly and approachably at this moment.

Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy is not a traditional Soul Master Academy like Zheng Tian Academy. They are currently the strongest Soul Master Academy and the strongest Soul Tool Research Base on the continent.

For thousands of years, all new soul tools on the entire Douluo Continent have originated from and flowed out of here. Any innovation in soul tools has become taken for granted by the Sun Moon Empire and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. But now, today, Shrek Academy has shattered this millennia-old convention.

The moment Long You released the Soul Guidance Power Armor from his storage Soul Guidance Device, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Guidance Master Academy was puzzled and confused; when Long You entered the interior of the Soul Guidance Power Armor, the people of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Guidance Master Academy were unwilling to believe it; and when Long You controlled the Soul Guidance Power Armor to walk forward and displayed powerful offensive firepower, the emotions of the people of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Guidance Master Academy were complicated.

They were unwilling to believe that Shrek Academy had taken such a big leap in the research of soul tools, but the facts before them forced them to believe it.

Although the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy did not believe that a set of soul-guided power armor could shake its advantage in the field of soul tools, the content conveyed by this set of soul-guided power armor did make the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy somewhat uneasy.

The Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy doesn't expect to obtain the manufacturing technology or detailed blueprints for soul-guided power armor, but they do want to understand "why"—why Shrek Academy's research and manufacturing capabilities for soul-guided devices have achieved such a significant breakthrough in such a short period of time.

Was it because Shrek Academy discovered some ancient ruins? Or did Shrek Academy acquire a genius in the field of soul tools?

If it's a ruin, where is it located? What's inside the ruin?

If we suddenly acquired some genius in the field of soul tools, where did this genius come from? Why did they come? Is there some problem with our Sun Moon Empire?

Yes, the people at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy didn't believe that such an unimaginable genius in soul tools could be cultivated in the original Douluo Continent's Three Kingdoms period. After all, cultivating geniuses requires a specialized environment, and the original Douluo Continent's Three Kingdoms period simply didn't have the conditions to properly nurture a soul tool genius.

Therefore, if it truly is a genius who brought about the current changes in soul tools at Shrek Academy, then Elder Ma feels it is necessary to suggest to the Sun Moon Empire that it improve the mechanisms for cultivating and evaluating geniuses, as well as the management mechanisms for them. The loss of any genius is tantamount to aiding the enemy, especially when the empire has its own agenda.

Faced with the unprecedented enthusiasm of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, Wang Yan, the team leader, was momentarily at a loss. He was merely a martial soul theory teacher from the outer academy, not even proficient in tactical theory; how could he possibly decide on such an exchange between the two schools?

However, precisely because Wang Yan knew he couldn't make the decision, he wasn't intimidated at all when answering Elder Ma's question. "You can communicate, but please send a letter directly to Shrek Academy. Only when the academy agrees will it be considered true agreement."

"Haha, I was being presumptuous. Let's not delay the teachers and students of Shrek Academy any longer. The next match is about to begin, so let's enjoy the game instead."

Clearly, Mr. Ma knew beforehand that his sudden invitation wouldn't be immediately accepted, so he didn't hesitate to laugh and say some nice things before pressing the matter further.

Back in the Shrek Academy seating area, after the same anti-spy barrier was erected, Shrek immediately set up various camera soul tools. The rest area was slightly different from the waiting area; everyone's video recording angles were fixed to one point, and high-powered cameras were required, otherwise the footage would be unclear and the image too small.

"Teacher Wang, why don't we take a few camera soul guides to the audience seats to film? This angle is too limited, and we will miss a lot of details of the competition."

Looking at the viewfinder, no matter how she adjusted it, she couldn't frame any more content. Beibei scratched her head in frustration and suggested something.

"Don't worry, your senior sister Zhang Lexuan is in the audience right now, and even Teacher Fanyu might be there. We will have video content from the audience's perspective."

Moreover, video content is only a final reference; to truly see the opponent's strength, you still need to experience it firsthand in person.