Douluo's ice devil Yuhao

Chapter 604 Humanoid Soul Guidance Device

Zhou Wu used his absolute strength to defeat two members of the Douling Royal Academy in succession, demonstrating the power of the humanoid soul tool to the world.

Even with his face covered by a mask, it wasn't hard to imagine his proud expression. Zhou Wu had now become the focus of the entire arena, with everyone—from the imperial city and the audience seats to the rest areas of the various teams—casting astonished glances at him.

But the surprise was not followed by cheers, but by an unusual silence, which was then followed by a restless excitement that was about to break through the oppression.

This is, after all, the home ground of the Douling Empire. The Douling Royal Academy represents the face of the entire country, and the people of Douling are not happy about Douling's repeated defeats.

Occasionally, some foreign tourists would cheer, but after sensing the different atmosphere around them, they wisely kept quiet.

Some foreign tourists, oblivious to the atmosphere, continued to clap and cheer, which led to clashes with the surrounding crowd fighting spirits. Fortunately, guards maintained order, preventing further chaos.

"Your Highness..."

The defeated Soul Master felt extremely guilty and dared not look Xue Lan in the eye.

He also thought that his opponent had little soul power left after releasing the pulse cannon, so he was inevitably a little careless and ended up losing in the same way as Yan Xiang. Fortunately, the referee intervened to save him, so he did not have to take the huge power of the pulse cannon head-on.

Xue Lan didn't blame him. As she stepped onto the field, she said seriously, "I'll go up next."

The other team members had no objections whatsoever; Xue Lan was the absolute authority on the field.

Xue Lan was well aware that, as a prince of the Douling Empire, he had to stand up and uphold the nation's honor. They had to perform admirably in this match.

The results of the group stage will not affect the subsequent advancement, but the performance of each Douling team is watched by tens of thousands of Douling citizens, which has a great impact on public sentiment.

If they lose, the people won't care about the process, they'll only know the result—the Fighting Spirit Team lost.

It's fine if the opponent is a strong team like Shrek Academy, but if it's Mingdou Academy, it's a bit of a blow to our prestige.

The moment Xue Lan stepped forward, a burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the audience.

"Go, Your Highness!"

The enthusiastic cheers made it seem as if the Fighting Spirit team had already won.

Xue Lan walked onto the field, glanced towards the imperial city, and nodded to the referee: "Dou Ling Royal Academy is ready."

The referee nodded respectfully, becoming even more serious: "Both sides state their names."

"Zhou Wu".

"Xue Lan".

Zhou Wu was extremely cautious, and he had inquired about the prince in front of him over the past few days.

However, Xue Lan did not show much ability in the previous matches, and the Dou Ling team easily defeated their opponents.

On the imperial city wall, Xue Lingzhao asked Yan Shaozhe with some uncertainty, "Dean Yan, what do you think are Xue Lan's chances of winning against Ming Dou's humanoid soul tool?"

Yan Shaozhe gave a very optimistic answer: "Your Majesty need not worry too much. After watching these two matches, it is clear that Mingdou Academy's humanoid soul tool is indeed powerful, capable of continuously releasing such powerful soul skills, which is comparable to a Soul Emperor's attack. However, it is not without weaknesses."

"Although that contestant did not display his spirit rings, based on my observation, his strength should be around the fifth ring. Logically speaking, it would be impossible for him to release his spirit power continuously without any side effects."

"Moreover, this move is quite powerful, but it is only effective when the two sides meet for the first time. After these two battles, Prince Xuelan should have already observed the opponent's strength. Given his caution, he will not be easily hit."

His praise reassured Xue Lingzhao and made her more confident in Xue Lan's performance.

Confidence is an elusive yet crucial thing. The Douling Empire, facing pressure from the other three kingdoms, urgently needs Xue Lan's victory to boost the confidence of its people. At this moment, Elder Xuan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up: "I don't know if you noticed, but after that Ming Dou contestant went on stage, the first thing he did was put a small thing in his mouth."

Following his words, Tianyang Douluo speculated: "Douluo Taotie means... that the Mingdou students forcibly took pills that could increase their soul power in a short period of time in order to continuously use such powerful soul tools?"

Elder Xuan squinted and said, "Most likely. I've never heard of any soul tool that needs to be put in the mouth to be used."

Tianyang Douluo frowned and said, "Taking secret medicine to increase strength in a short period of time is something that has been common in previous competitions, but there has never been a competition where a contestant was disqualified for this reason."

Elder Xuan shook his head, revealing a serious expression: "What I care about is not the outcome of the competition, but that Mingdou Academy is forcibly overdrawing the potential of its students in order to win."

"This is just an insignificant group stage match, yet they forced their students to push their potential. The consequences range from low spirits and physical discomfort to stagnation in cultivation for months."

"How can I not feel regretful to see such a young and talented child suffer such consequences because of a moment of impulsiveness?"

While the group was talking in the imperial city, the match between Xue Lan and Zhou Wu had already been decided.

Xue Lan immediately displayed his six dazzling spirit rings, unfurled a pair of pure white wings from his back, and launched an attack on Zhou Wu.

While the pulse cannon was indeed powerful, Xue Lan had already figured out its capabilities and was prepared. She used a soul skill that increased speed and created illusions to mislead Zhou Wu into misjudging the target.

Zhou Wu's final pulse cannon shot, launched using his own soul power, missed its target, rendering him unable to fight and allowing Xue Lan to defeat him.

He untied the humanoid soul tool and collapsed to the ground, his clothes soaked with sweat. After being taken to the rest area by the referee, he quickly used a baby bottle to recover.

The moment the referee announced the winner, thunderous cheers erupted throughout the stadium, and Xue Lingzhao on the imperial city wall nodded repeatedly with satisfaction.

This is their prince, the pride of the Douling Empire, a young and promising Soul Emperor who can decide the outcome of the competition.

His martial soul is the swan, a symbol passed down through generations of the Douling Empire—sacred, noble, and elegant. No matter what strange or unusual soul tools his opponent uses, they will be no match for his absolute power.

Xue Lan smiled and waved to the audience again, looking confident of victory.

Although the Douling team lost two matches in the individual elimination rounds, they still had a significant advantage. The first two players who were eliminated were in a sorry state, but they used almost no soul power. On the other hand, the Mingdou team needed a long time to recover from their depleted soul power and energy. Even with healing items and support-type soul masters, it would be impossible for them to recover more than 50% of their strength in a short period of time.

Support-type players don't participate in the elimination rounds, and the team battle time is coming up soon. What Xue Lan needs to do now is to find out the abilities of Ming Dou's remaining main players while defeating them and depleting their strength as much as possible.

The next member of Mingdou Academy has entered the arena. He is a tall and strong player, and one of the few players in the Mingdou team who focuses on attacking Soul Masters.

"Both parties share the same name."

"Xue Lan".

"Zhao He".

"Game start."

At the referee's signal, the boy named Zhao He made the same move as Zhou Wu.

He took out a long, stick-like object and put it in his mouth. Then, a metal figure appeared out of thin air next to him. He pressed his body against the metal figure and was encased in metal, like a suit of armor.

Unlike Zhou Wen, Zhao He's humanoid soul tool was a full four meters tall. Its massive limbs and body, combined with the sound of metal colliding, created a heavy sense of oppression.

Xue Lan's eyes widened slightly. He immediately realized that this was completely different from the humanoid soul tool from before, and he absolutely could not use the same tactics as before.

Before he could launch an attack, the metal giant began to accelerate with the help of his soul-guided device, each step leaving a mark on the ground, like a bull charging towards Xue Lan.