novelCompete! Crossing the Boundaries! (2)
| ← Ch.0840 | Ch.0842 → |
Ye Yulin was so astonished because he saw that Huo Yuhao was using his spiritual power to control his human-shaped soul tool. As he couldn't move his legs, that must mean that he could directly use his spiritual power to exert control over his soul tool, since it could take a step forward. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao had only used eighteen formation arrays, a very small number!
Huo Yuhao controlled his soul tool to take a step back. He was also very emotional. ?It's great to be able to move! I can finally stand up again!
He had left his previous human-shaped soul tool with Xuan Ziwen to research and continue improving on.
He hadn't brought it with him this time. Even if he had, he couldn't possibly use it in this tournament, it would expose him too easily. If things didn't go well, he might even be kidnapped by the Illustrious Virtue Hall, and have all his research findings stolen.
However, it was different now. He didn't use his identity as Huo Yuhao, but called himself Tang Wu. After this tournament was over, he was going to vanish completely. He created this human-shaped soul tool to help himself in that goal. He eliminated the problem of his immobility, and thus his fighting strength soared. In addition, it was much easier for him to move now.
Huo Yuhao looked at the passionate Ye Yulin through the crystal steel and asked with a smile, "Revered chief judge, do I pass?"
"Oh, yes, yes." Ye Yulin was delighted. The rest of the six judges were also fascinated. The way they looked at Huo Yuhao made it seemed like they wanted to eat him.
—
They weren't the only soul engineers around. There were also the other competitors, and many of the spectators!
"It's actually a human-shaped soul tool." The Third Elder was already very unsettled, and couldn't remain seated. He stood in front of the resting area with a very shocked expression on his face.
"Second brother, my dear second brother. You forced me to give this kid to you. Are you seeing this? He's actually made a human-shaped soul tool! He can even use his spiritual power to control it. While his actions were simple, he only used eighteen formation arrays! Even if I made something like this, I'd still need at least forty formation arrays to complete the simple actions that he's performed with eighteen! This kid is a genius, an absolute genius! Such a genius is too important to my future development of soul tools."
Nangong Wan was also stunned by what Huo Yuhao had created. However, he had to remain insistent. He smiled and said, "In my opinion, he should be stronger as a soul master! Did you forget the soul skill he demonstrated earlier? In addition, I won't stop him from learning how to create soul tools. You can continue to interact with him."
Seeing that Nangong Wan was unwilling to budge, the Third Elder immediately turned to the vice-leader."Vice-leader, you've seen it too. He knows about soul tools. What do you think?"
The vice-leader replied, "Let's discuss this when the tournament is over. Let's watch the tournament first. I just received news that there might be people from Shrek Academy nearby. They won't ambush us now, but that doesn't mean they won't target us. Everyone be prepared to fight. The only thing that we have to avoid now is internal conflict."
After hearing her words, Nangong Wan and the Third Elder were afraid, and hurriedly nodded.
—
On the stage, Huo Yuhao's human-shaped soul tool made the rest of the competitors apart from He Caitou grim.
He actually made a human-shaped soul tool. However, can his soul tool really fight? Is it really strong and flexible enough? How can it fight without any offensive weapons?
Huang Zheng suddenly thought of something. ?Surely this fellow isn't going to use his evil soul master methods to fight again? However, the other two underground organizations should already know about his abilities. Is there really no way they can target him? The soul tools made by the rest aren't easy to deal with, either...
—
"We'll carry out the technical test now. Some special techniques used to create soul tools and formation arrays are very pertinent. It's only by using these techniques that one can achieve greater heights. We'll need all of you to complete some techniques within a set time in this technical test. The last to complete them will be eliminated." Ye Yulin tried to suppress his excitement while recounting the rules to the competitors.
Very soon, every soul engineer was presented with a tray.
This tray was squarish, and there were nine grids on it. On each grid was a squarish piece of rare metal. Each of the nine pieces of rare metal on each tray was a different color. Given the abilities of the competing soul engineers, they could naturally recognize what these rare metals were.
Huo Yuhao could also tell, of course. He didn't leave his human-shaped soul tool. To him, the feeling of standing was too comfortable. He only put his wheelchair away in his own storage-type soul tool.
After scanning the nine pieces of rare metal in front of him, he had already developed a spectrum in his mind. The nine pieces of rare metal were arranged from hard to soft. The first piece was extremely hard, and the last piece was extremely soft. In short, they were all of varying degrees of hardness.
"To ensure fairness, none of you can use your own carving knife. You must use the blade on the tray. What you have to do is to use specific techniques on the nine pieces of rare metal to create nine different formation arrays. For the first piece, you need to drill thirty holes. For the second piece, you need to carve fifty tortuous curves that are proportionately separated. For the third piece, you'll need to carve an image of a windmill. For the fourth piece......"
As Ye Yulin read out the requirements, all the soul engineers started to turn a little dismal.
Nine different techniques, from the easiest to the most difficult. However, they all roughly knew how to do them. However, they turned grim once again as they saw the rare metals in front of them.
Different rare metals were suitable for carrying out different tasks. The rare metals in front of them were the most unsuitable for performing the techniques required of them!
For example, they had to drill thirty holes in the first piece of rare metal, which was the toughest. It was too difficult, and they couldn't use their own carving knives. They could only use the one on the tray, which was made of ordinary fine steel. How much soul power would they need to expend to complete this technical test?
In the end, they still had to carve the most complicated image on the softest piece of rare metal. No wonder Ye Yulin warned them that the technical test wasn't going to be easy. Not easy was an understatement!
Ye Yulin didn't care what they thought. After he announced the rules, he didn't even bother explaining again. He immediately shouted, "The technical test begins! All of you have fifteen minutes to complete this test. If no one can complete all nine techniques, we'll rank you based on the number that you've completed."
At this point, night had already fallen after the six hours allotted to the competitors to create their soul tools. However, the nine competitors weren't tired at all. They all started at the same time.
Their martial souls were different, and thus they each had their own ideas.
He Caitou's idea was the simplest and crudest. He bit on a cigar that helped to restore his soul power, and directly used his soul power to strengthen the carving knife before he started to carve forcefully.
Compared to him, Huo Yuhao seemed to be more technical. For the first piece of rare metal, he used a special method that only he could perform.
After all, there weren't any rules that forbade damaging the rare metals. ?Aren't you very tough? I'll make you stronger then. ?He pressed the metal with his left hand and poured in his soul power from his Ultimate Ice. The temperature of the metal fell to negative two hundred degrees Celsius. This extreme temperature was very damaging to the rare metal.
After this, Huo Yuhao lifted the carving knife with his right hand. He couldn't just drill the holes forcefully. The sizes of the holes had to be the same, and they had to be circular, and flawless. This was the definition of success.
After he placed his carving knife in position, his eyes turned slightly grey. Following this, a streak of green light shone on his hand.
He was in his human-shaped soul tool now, and only opened the hand compartments so he could start carving. No one could see his eyes.
A small green spot slowly formed on the metal. After this, Huo Yuhao retracted the low temperature of his Ultimate Ice, and the metal started to fume with smoke.
This was known as a Corrosive Light, from the necromantic arts. It was extremely corrosive and destructive to all matter. Huo Yuhao was able to use this technique with his current spiritual power, but he couldn't lock onto his target with this Corrosive Light, and it only covered a small area. However, it was pretty effective when used on metals.
The rare metal that had been frozen earlier was corroded now. The structure of the metal broke down further. At this point, Huo Yuhao used more of his soul power and pushed his carving knife through the metal, which was much easier now. His control of this Corrosive Light was very good, it didn't spread elsewhere. He first drilled a hole before using this light to expand it slightly. In this way, he conserved more soul power than the others.
—
The rest of the technical test was basically a proficiency test of his techniques. While he had yet to fully restore his spiritual power, he was still very familiar with these techniques, even without the help of his Spiritual Detection. He wasn't any slower than the rest of them.
Moreover, his spiritual power recovered rather quickly. The sense of weakness he had felt had already disappeared. His condition was even improving!
The seven judges were impressed as they saw how the competitors were progressing. They had to admit that these soul engineers had very strong foundations. No one made any obvious mistakes.
Huo Yuhao wasn't the fastest, but he was among the top three. Ye Yulin understood why Yuhao wasn't the fastest; he was tired!
Considering how tense Huo Yuhao was when he made his soul tool earlier, it was quite commendable that he could maintain a top three position in this technical test!
| ← Ch. 0840 | Ch. 0842 → |