"Old Ma, oh Old Ma!"
The members of Yunluo Academy were all taken aback when they saw Ma Yingjun collapse. They thought that Huo Yuhao might actually carry out the threat he made during the elimination rounds to mercilessly attack his opponents.
However, when they reached Ma Yingjun's side, they found him sleeping soundly, without a single sign of injury.
Although Huo Yuhao had been an assassin in his previous life, killing was merely his job, not a hobby. He was far from being a homicidal maniac.
Moreover, Ma Yingjun had been quite polite to him earlier, so Huo Yuhao naturally wouldn't go overboard. He simply delivered a light blow to the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.
The referee, seeing that Ma Yingjun was unharmed, let out a sigh of relief. Even though he was a powerful Soul Douluo, he still felt insignificant before Huo Yuhao, this "Soul Saint with all hundred-thousand-year spirit rings."
In other words, if Huo Yuhao really wanted to go on a killing spree on stage, there was no way he could stop him.
"Individual elimination match, first round, Shrek Academy, victory."
Naturally, Huo Yuhao had no intention of stepping off the stage. His gaze turned once more to the captain of Yunluo Academy, his eyes clearly conveying a single message.
Next!
"Shang Yue, it's your turn this time," Yunluo Academy's captain said after a moment of silence. "Remember to be polite when you get on stage, don't make Huo Yuhao angry. He probably won't harm you. Also, try to hold out for a few more moves."
"Yes."
A female member of Yunluo Academy's team leapt into the air and swiftly landed on the competition stage.
The name "Shang Yue" was quite elegant, and her appearance was rather pleasing as well. She stood around 1.7 meters tall and looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old. Although her looks couldn't compare to the absolute beauties like Ning Tian and Jiang Nannan, her figure was exceptionally well-proportioned, particularly her long, shapely legs that highlighted her superb physique.
However, Huo Yuhao's eyes remained as calm as ever, showing no trace of emotion or interest. He didn't even spare Shang Yue a single extra glance. Accustomed to the lustful gazes of men, Shang Yue was immediately on guard, thinking to herself that this Shrek Academy captain was indeed extraordinary.
"Begin!" the referee announced, once again retreating to the back.
"Shang Yue of Yunluo Academy, please go easy on me!"
Shang Yue cupped her fists slightly, then her body shot forward abruptly. She reached behind her back with both hands and drew out two long blades.
Her arms spread apart, and the two four-foot-long blades emitted a dazzling white light, each with a three-foot-long blade glow extending from them, slashing directly at Huo Yuhao.
"With such long blades, you might as well use a Green Dragon Crescent Blade instead. It would look less awkward," Huo Yuhao shrugged helplessly, thinking to himself.
By this time, Shang Yue had already completed her martial soul possession. Like Ma Yingjun earlier, she was also a Soul Elder, with a spirit ring configuration of three yellow and one purple, which was not the optimal configuration.
Her martial soul was rather peculiar. It seemed that her transformation was mainly in her hair. Shang Yue's originally beautiful blonde hair had turned iron-gray, and her body had grown a few inches taller, with even her muscles bulging slightly.
Her eyes had become crystalline yellow, and her lips protruded slightly, revealing faintly visible canine teeth. Judging by her appearance, this should be a powerful canine-type martial soul.
"With your martial soul, you should use weapons like two-handed greatswords or long-handled blades, not wield a blade in each hand. This way, your legs and waist can't generate enough force, and your power is actually diminished," Huo Yuhao said calmly. "Dual blades are meant for agility, specializing in swift and fluid combat. The way you're using them is wasting their advantage."
Shang Yue frowned, wanting to retort. These dual blades were her favorite close-combat soul tools, having accompanied her through many battles and helped her defeat numerous formidable opponents.
But now, hearing Huo Yuhao's words, it seemed as if her dual blades had become a burden. How could she possibly accept that?
The spirit rings on her body shone simultaneously, and her already incredible speed doubled. The incandescent light radiating from her dual blades had now acquired a faint greenish hue, and the intense soul power fluctuations distorted the surrounding air.
Although it didn't seem like she used any soul skills, this was precisely the characteristic of a Soul Engineer.
When choosing spirit rings, Shang Yue had selected those that enhanced her strength and speed to compensate for her martial soul's shortcomings.
As a result, when combined with close-combat soul tools, her combat prowess far exceeded what she could achieve using her martial soul alone.
In fact, this choice was not necessarily wrong.
Many Soul Masters, due to limitations of their martial souls or family circumstances, are unable to attach optimal spirit rings and thus may never reach the levels of a Titled Douluo or even Soul Douluo. In such cases, soul tools provide them with significant support.
Although their martial souls might not be able to attach particularly powerful soul skills, they could provide soul power to soul tools, allowing the soul tools to unleash powerful attacks in place of their own soul skills.
Whether it is soul skills or soul tools, they are ultimately just tools for Soul Masters. In this era before the advent of Battle Armor, using soul tools to compensate for the lack of powerful soul skills is already a good choice.
Below the stage, Wang Yan frowned and blurted out, "Close-combat soul tools! Take note, all Soul Engineers who use close-combat soul tools have extremely strong melee capabilities. Their soul skills might be weak, but their melee abilities are formidable. The best way to deal with them is to keep them at a distance; otherwise, it will be very troublesome."
Shang Yue's figure rushed towards Huo Yuhao like a whirlwind. But suddenly, she found her vision blacked out, as if a large black door had appeared in front of her.
"Boom!"
Unable to stop her momentum, Shang Yue slammed into this "black door" with her entire body, plastering herself against it as if glued.
"Psst!" Xu Sanshi gasped, shaking his head with regret. "What a pity."
Bei Bei's mouth twitched, feeling that Xu Sanshi seemed about to say something indecent.
As expected, Xu Sanshi gestured with his hands, sighing as he said, "Such a fine steamed bun, and now it's been turned into a pancake."
Ling Luochen, Jiang Nannan, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao all had their facial muscles twitching uncontrollably. They each gave Xu Sanshi a swift kick, sending him flying.
"Get lost!"
On the stage, Shang Yue struggled to regain her balance, her hands trembling like leaves in the wind as her palms bled profusely. In front of her, Huo Yuhao's Mysterious Heavy Ruler stood upright. She had slammed into it with full force.
She had used all her strength in that attack, but upon contact with the Xuan Heavy Ruler, all her power had vanished like mud sinking into the sea. Even her originally surging soul power flow had been severely disrupted.
With a flash, Huo Yuhao appeared in front of Shang Yue. With a single palm strike, he sent a wave of air that pushed her off the stage.
Yunluo Academy's captain caught the falling Shang Yue, then looked at the massive black ruler in Huo Yuhao's hand with a perplexed expression.
"What... is that?"
In the first match of the elimination round, Huo Yuhao had also used the Mysterious Heavy Ruler. However, due to the overwhelming shock caused by Sea God's Light, no one had paid much attention to this giant sword-like black ruler.
"You mean this?" Huo Yuhao pointed to the Mysterious Heavy Ruler in his hand. "This is a magical tool that will be used later."