Douluo's ice devil Yuhao

Chapter 594 Battle Spirit Competition
The capital of the Douling Empire is Lingdou City.

The streets were bustling with activity, while even more people were on their way into the city.

The Soul Master Tournament, held every five years, has finally been hosted by the Douling Empire. This grand event, which takes place only once every twenty years, is of extraordinary significance to the people of Lingdou City.

As the weakest of the four major powers, hosting matches on home soil has undoubtedly become an important opportunity for the Douling Empire to strengthen its national confidence.

Along the main road that runs through Lingdou City, convoys of vehicles headed one after another towards the vicinity of the royal palace in the city center. Each of these large convoys came from a different academy, attracting crowds of Lingdou City residents who gathered to watch and discuss.

The first teams to arrive in Lingdou City were from academies across the Tianling Empire. Competing in their own country was especially important to them. For these academies, their most direct competitors were not prestigious foreign schools like Shrek Academy or Sun Moon Royal Academy, but rather other mid-tier academies in the Douling Empire. The results and performances of each academy in the competition would soon spread throughout the country, earning them either praise or ridicule.

For the sake of reputation and enrollment in the following years, each Douling Academy has to send its top team to compete for the best possible ranking in this competition.

At that moment, a sizable convoy attracted the attention of people on the street.

The convoy consisted of more than ten carriages, each magnificent carriage being pulled by a tall horse-shaped soul beast. Several young soul masters did not drive carriages but rode on horseback, smiling and waving to the people on the street.

The leader was not an elderly person or a team leader, but a handsome young man under twenty years old. He was confident, tall, and full of vigor.

The team's behavior was very high-profile, unlike what one would expect from a team simply participating in a competition. However, the citizens on both sides of the city did not find anything amiss and instead cheered wave after wave.

A resident on the outside, unable to see the street clearly, asked the people in front, "What's that procession up there? Why is it so lively?"

Someone explained to him, "This is the Douling Royal Academy. I heard that Princess Xuelan and others led a team to the Star Dou Great Forest for special training in preparation for this competition, and they just returned today after finishing their training."

Douling Royal Academy is the premier academy of the Douling Empire, consistently achieving top-four finishes in major competitions. The young man leading the group is Xue Lan, the eldest son of the current Douling royal family. His amiable demeanor and handsome appearance have earned him a warm welcome.

Besides the prince, the other young Soul Masters on horseback were also outstanding members of the younger generation of the Douling Nobles, and were quite well-known in the capital.

The group of people, leading a group of people, rode side by side in the street, which caused a stir among the onlookers.

Besides the Douling Royal Academy, there were several other academy teams not far from the wide street, but the public's attention was almost entirely drawn to the Douling Royal Academy.

Xue Lan smiled and waved to the side of the street. An old man beside her rode up and said with a smile, "Your Highness, you are still so popular with the people."

"During this special training, you not only successfully broke through to the Soul Emperor level, but also deepened your cooperation with them. You will definitely achieve good results in this competition."

Xue Lan humbly replied, "This is all thanks to the guidance of Elder Qin and all the other teachers."

He put away his smile and, as he walked forward, spoke with the old man known as Elder Qin: "But the pressure of this competition is really considerable for us."

Old Qin frowned slightly and nodded: "Securing fourth place and striving for second is not a simple task set by His Majesty."

The Douling Royal Academy is the face of the Douling Empire, and this competition is of great significance to the Douling royal family.

The other three kingdoms have formed a de facto alliance, and it is imperative to boost the morale within the Douling Kingdom and show the world that the Douling Empire is still a force to be reckoned with.

This year, Princess Xuelan's age is just within the limit, her cultivation has broken through to the Soul Emperor realm, and her teammates are all young and promising noble youths. Compared with the configuration of previous competitions, she even has the potential to compete for first place.

But it's easy to talk about things on paper, but much easier to do them in practice.

Surrounded by formidable rivals, not to mention the consistently top-ranked Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Academy, the royal academies of the Heavenly Soul and Star Luo kingdoms are not easy opponents to defeat. And the newly established Ming Dou Academy is an even more formidable force.

For two consecutive tournaments, a full ten years have passed, and no team from the Douling Empire has successfully reached the top four in the major competition.

The previous competition introduced sect teams, and due to Xu Tianran's conspiracy, it could be considered a fig leaf for the Douling Empire. This year, with the return to tradition, we can see who is swimming naked.

Xue Lan gripped the reins even tighter.

This competition is no longer just a simple academic exchange for the Douling Empire; it has been given strong political significance and may be linked to the future national destiny of the Douling Empire to some extent.

The faith of the people is a mysterious thing; it is invisible and intangible, but it can really influence the future direction of the Douling Empire.

But Xue Lan quickly turned this pressure into motivation, vowing in her heart to make the world dare not underestimate the Douling Empire.

Just as he was pondering to himself, a young nobleman who was on good terms with him suddenly said to him, "Xue Lan, look what that is?"

Xue Lan looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a strange, large, square "box" slowly moving forward in another lane. The box was grayish-brown overall, and the glass window in front reflected light, indicating that it was not moving fast, but it would soon catch up with and overtake the Douling Royal Academy's convoy.

"What is this?" Xue Lan was also taken aback upon seeing it, vaguely noticing that the box, like a carriage, had two pairs of wheels arranged in a row at the bottom. "Is this also a carriage?"

Xue Lan immediately guessed, but more questions flashed through her mind.

What a huge vehicle! But why doesn't it need horses or spirit beasts to pull it? Moreover, the wheels and body are clearly made of materials I'm not familiar with. The exterior is very simple, without too many fancy decorations, yet it exudes a peculiar beauty.

When Xue Lan returned, she did not use her special privileges to block off the streets. There were other participating teams from other academies on the main street, but the attention of the citizens on the street had been drawn to her.

Now that strange vehicle has appeared, the citizens' attention has been completely drawn to it again, including the Douling Royal Academy. They have slowed down the convoy, and several students riding in carriages have also leaned out of the windows to observe.

Qin Lao said with a solemn expression, "Your Highness, this should be the soul-guided vehicle that Sun Moon previously announced, which is a vehicle-type soul-guided device."

Meanwhile, inside the extended soul-guided vehicle, Huo Yuhao, acting as the team leader, was explaining some theoretical knowledge about soul-guided devices to a dozen or so Ming Dou team members.

This is the participating team from Mingdou Academy.

"As you can see, the soul-guided vehicle you are riding in now is one of the results of the rapid development of soul-guided technology."

"Large soul tools are being downgraded, while small soul tools are being upgraded. This large soul tool vehicle, after retaining only its driving and transport functions, only needs to be at level three, which is even less advanced than the soul cannon barrel you made for your final exam, yet it can transport so many of us at the same time."

"With the addition of sealed baby bottles, even ordinary people will be able to use some advanced soul tools in the future."

At this moment, a girl raised her hand and asked, "Team leader, I have a question."

"Just like you said, if everyone can use soul tools without any barriers, wouldn't that reduce the difficulty for evil people to cause destruction?"

"How can we prevent malicious individuals from using soul tools?"

Huo Yuhao smiled helplessly: "I'm sorry, I can't answer that question for you, because I can't guarantee that everyone is a good person and doesn't have evil intentions."

"All we can do is strengthen the punishment and supervision of evildoers, and stop them in time before they do evil, so as to minimize the harm."

He was pleased that Mingdou Academy's moral education was very successful, as these students would raise such concerns with him immediately.

Huo Yuhao's idea was to make technology more convenient for more people, but he also clearly recognized that the word "convenience" was neutral.

Technology can bring convenience to life, but it can also make it easier to do evil. This is a problem that we must always be vigilant about.

The soul-guided vehicle suddenly slowed down, and Huo Yuhao turned to the driver's seat in the front and asked, "Why has the speed slowed down?"

The one driving the soul-guided vehicle is Ning Yuan, a disciple of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School and Ning Tian's cousin.

This time, Huo Yuhao gave him the task of driving the Soul Guidance Vehicle to lead the entire team to the Spirit Competition. Firstly, it was to enhance his control over the Soul Guidance Device, and secondly, because the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School had purchased the relevant technology of the Soul Guidance Vehicle, and he, as a direct disciple, also needed to learn and master it.

Ning Yuan glanced at the convoy ahead and explained, "I slowed down because I saw a lot of vehicles ahead and was afraid of rear-ending someone."

Huo Yuhao glanced casually at the Douling Royal Academy's convoy and activated his mental detection shared with Ning Yuan: "Isn't the street quite spacious? Drive."

Ning Yuan was jolted awake; in an instant, it was as if a three-dimensional image of the entire street appeared in his mind. Through the three-dimensional image, he could clearly see that although there were many vehicles on the other side, there was still plenty of space on the main street to the left for him to pass through, so he didn't have to worry about bumping into them.

So he put aside his concerns and gradually accelerated to overtake the Douling Royal Academy's convoy.

Just as he was accelerating, a worrying thought suddenly flashed through Ning Yuan's mind.

As the girl behind me just mentioned, if everyone could use a soul tool, it would be too easy to do evil.

All it takes is accelerating the vehicle and driving it toward the sidewalk, especially on a busy street like this, and who knows what the consequences would be.

What if there were bombs, guns, or other weapons on the vehicle?
Are soul-guided vehicles allowed in the competition? If he were to drive one directly into the opposing team, who could stop him...?

Ning Yuan quickly put aside the strange associations in his mind and focused his attention on driving.

Xue Lan slowly watched as the soul-guided chariot overtook her, her sense of crisis and unease growing stronger.

After a long silence, he sighed deeply and said, "Elder Qin, the gap between us and the other three kingdoms may be widening."