Chapter 86: Feeling like I

"I feel like I've been set up by Shi Laike..."

The Tang Men security captain looked at this group of young people who were like newborn calves unafraid of tigers, and for a moment, he could only suck his teeth in frustration.

As a veteran of Tang Men, the security captain remembered that his good brothers at Shi Laike Academy did indeed have their final exams during this period.

The six people before him were all dashing and full of vigor; one look and it was clear they were the cream of the crop among their peers. Moreover, daring to openly hang a banner and challenge them in the name of Shi Laike Academy, there was a high probability they were Shi Laike students.

The banner snapped in the wind, attracting more and more passersby to the entrance of the Xuanshitang Sect Technology Group. The security captain knew this matter had already exceeded his authority, so he took out his soul guidance communicator to report to his superiors.

The six were not in the slightest hurry. They only needed to blow the matter up; the one caught in a dilemma would be Tang Men.

"Understood, I see."

A soul guidance call came through. The person on the other end seemed to be of quite high rank. The security captain stood with his legs together, chest out and head held high. After hanging up, he gave Zhao Xuanzhen a deep look.

Through the images fed back by the surveillance cameras, Tang Men had checked the information of the six on the Soul Net. Zhao Xuanzhen, Gu Yue, and Youming Wu Siduo had ascended the Youth Genius Ranking, and Zhao Xuanzhen was even the head of the continent's geniuses.

Ye Xinglan and Xu Xiaoyan's information came from the Tianhailian Alliance Grand Competition, with Xu Xiaoyan even being a Tang Men disciple. Yang Nianxia was a strong contender for the next batch of geniuses to make the list. All six were outstanding talents with well-known reputations.

"Everyone, please come in."

The main gate swung open, and the security captain invited the six to enter the Tang Men Yangcheng branch.

Gu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan had entered the Haicheng branch before; the scale of the Yangcheng branch was about the same as Haicheng, but the other four were visiting Tang Men for the first time.

Zhao Xuanzhen looked around at everything with great interest. In recent years, Tang Men had been dedicated to researching soul guidance technology, and everything in his field of vision was a high-end, sophisticated soul guidance product.

However, those top-tier soul guidance works were hidden by Tang Men at their Tiandingcheng headquarters, including super-god-tier mechas capable of allowing ordinary people to rival Limit Douluo.

The security captain led the group to the group's second-floor soul-fighting arena. A middle-aged man with a scholarly appearance saw them, a trace of a smile appearing on his face: "Greetings, Shi Laike students. I am Tang En, the Sect Master of the Tang Men Yangcheng branch."

"Sect Master Tang, a pleasure." Zhao Xuanzhen stepped forward to exchange pleasantries. "We are currently conducting Shi Laike Academy's final exam, which is to challenge six soul master powerhouses."

"Tang Men and Shi Laike Academy are of one mind and one branch, life-and-death brothers who have never held anything back from each other. I believe Tang Men will certainly cooperate with us to complete the exam."

"... That is only natural."

Tang En's mouth twitched. Ever since the day they led the Haicheng Academy to defeat Shi Laike Academy, rumors about Zhao Xuanzhen had been flying all over the internet, until the Youth Genius Ranking confirmed he was a descendant of the Spirit Tower's upper echelons.

At this moment, Zhao Xuanzhen was able to openly wear the skin of Shi Laike Academy, using soft knives in every sentence, forcing the Yangcheng branch to send people to fight. He was clearly not a kind soul.

In his memory, this seemed to be the first time Shi Laike students had challenged Tang Men disciples. Hindered by the close relationship between the two super powers, Tang En had a massive headache.

Losing would naturally be a loss of face, and winning couldn't be a crushing victory. A narrow win would be best, ensuring face was not lost while sending away this hot potato.

"Zhou Sheng, bring Mecha Team Three to the soul-fighting arena."

A moment later, a violent roar resounded, and mechas strode into the soul-fighting arena. There were six mechas in total, standing over eight meters tall, their movements uniform. Five were painted in a gorgeous purple, and the mecha in the center was shockingly a Black-Rank mecha!

Tang En introduced: "Mecha Team Three is the Yangcheng branch's youth guard team; they have achieved a little at a young age. Team leader Zhou Sheng is twenty-five years old this year, a level 61 Power Attack System Soul Emperor, with the martial soul Invisible Blade, and is a Black-Rank mecha master."

The six noticed a pair of long blades hanging behind that Black-Rank mecha, gleaming with cold light and sharp edges. Combined with Tang En's words, Zhou Sheng's Invisible Blade would certainly be able to coordinate with the mecha's dual blades to exert double the power.

"Thank you for Tang Men's cooperation."

Zhao Xuanzhen led his team to leap onto the soul-fighting platform, transmitting his voice: "No need to hold back, just go all out."

Both sides occupied one side, six people vs. six large mechas—a battle where the body sizes were completely disproportionate!

Whether it was intentional by Tang En or not, there was no referee to give orders in this battle, but both sides had perfect tacit understanding. The moment their spiritual power surged, they rushed fiercely toward each other!

With the Black-Rank mecha as the core, the six mechas set up a joint combat formation. The palms, shoulders, and backs of the three long-range mechas lit up with soul guidance rays of strange and varied effects, beams of light arriving in an instant!

Gu Yue's eyes narrowed slightly, and the elemental tide erupted. Thick ice walls formed in the void, and under her exquisite control of spiritual power, they perfectly blocked the incoming soul guidance rays.

Starlight shone brilliantly. Ye Xinglan slashed horizontally with her sword, and the unstoppable sword Qi swept past, causing the soul guidance cannon on the left shoulder of a purple-rank mecha to fall to the ground with a thud.

"Creak, creak!"

The clanging sound of metal deforming spread throughout the arena. Two purple-rank mechas lowered their metal bodies, turning into two fierce beasts before everyone's eyes—a lion and a tiger roaring like thunder, looking exactly like real, ferocious soul beasts.

"Beast-type mechas?"

Xu Xiaoyan was a bit surprised. Her older brother Xu Xiaoyu was a purple-rank mecha master, and through constant exposure, she knew quite a bit about mecha knowledge.

Beast-type mechas were high-end mechas developed by the Sun-Moon Federation. As the name suggests, they could imitate soul beasts in battle, and their combat power was half a grade higher than humanoid mechas of the same rank.

Xu Xiaoyu always lamented that beast-type mechas were expensive, and the entire Haicheng mecha brigade was only equipped with three. Xu Xiaoyan couldn't imagine seeing two in just one small team at the Tang Men Yangcheng branch!

"Whatever mecha it is, just tear it apart!"

Youming Wu Siduo's figure was as light as a swallow. Her first soul skill, Nether Thrust, followed by her third soul skill, Nether Slash, clashed head-on with the tiger mecha, not falling behind in the slightest.

Yang Nianxia activated the Terror Demon Dark Gold Fist, his heavy, powerful swing slamming into the lion mecha. Compared to the ferocity of Youming Wu Siduo, this Dark Gold Bear Soul Venerable was slightly at a disadvantage, but fortunately, Xu Xiaoyan grasped the timing perfectly, her ice staff throwing out circles of ice wheels to control the lion mecha's movements.

The five-on-five was in full swing, but the core of the battlefield remained Zhao Xuanzhen and the Black-Rank mecha master Zhou Sheng. The two soared into the sky, the metal dome reflecting a cold, iron-like gloomy light. Ink-colored mist steamed from the joints of the Black-Rank mecha. It reached behind its back with both hands and took down the dual blades. The large blade, with an edge as wide as a door panel, was dragged diagonally, the dark patterns flowing on the blade edge wriggling like living things.

Two yellow, two purple, two black—the standard best soul ring ratio of the previous era. The Invisible Blade attached to the two large blades, the blade bodies burning with intense incandescent light, bringing up two blade glows three feet long. The soul guidance thrusters behind the Black-Rank mecha spat out flames, and the dual blades slashed!

The black and white wings suddenly flapped, and Zhao Xuanzhen met the Black-Rank mecha. A fine explosion sounded from the bones under his skin. His right arm skin split inch by inch, snow-white bones piercing through flesh and blood, the water-like flowing flesh wrapping and reorganizing, turning into a giant blade like a crescent moon. When the sharp edge collided with the mecha's long blade, countless crimson electric sparks splashed!

Zhou Sheng inside the mecha cockpit leaned forward, unable to believe the scene he was seeing. Zhao Xuanzhen used the momentum of leaning back to flip in the air, his left leg folding in a strange reverse direction, like a drill bit spinning at high speed, piercing straight into the mecha's right shoulder accompanied by a terrifying sonic boom!

"Boom—"

The hard spirit-forged metal armor on the surface of the Black-Rank mecha bloomed with hideous cracks, which continued to spread to the surroundings.

Sparks flew everywhere, and Zhou Sheng roared as he swung his dual blades to slash, but Zhao Xuanzhen had already recoiled and retreated, his left arm bulging like a shield to take the blade edge head-on.

Body Secret Method, Reconstruction.

Changing the body structure at will; when cultivated to the peak, one can control every single cell in the whole body.

Reconstruction was a transformation-type combat skill created by a skin martial soul possessor, and it was also the body secret technique that Mu Ye believed was most suitable for laying the foundation for the third awakening, strongly demanding that Zhao Xuanzhen master it completely.

Mentioning the skin martial soul, Mu Ye couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. Ten thousand years ago, during the peak of the Benti Sect, the Benti young master who awakened the Silver Body died heroically defending the Heaven Soul Empire, and the Benti Sect's lineage was severed.

Therefore, Benti Sect Master Du Busi had to hand over the secret of the body to Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao before he died, hoping that for the sake of being fellow body soul masters, he would find someone to inherit the Benti Sect's incense.

According to Zhao Xuanzhen's daily combat habits, it was not suitable for practicing the Reconstruction secret technique, but Reconstruction could indeed help him control the tissues in every corner of his body.

Coupled with Mu Ye using an extremely ambiguous tone to imply that Reconstruction was not only used for combat, but could also be used in life. Those precious resources and sensitive nerves were also part of the True Self martial soul, and were also within the effective range of Reconstruction.

Zhao Xuanzhen was greatly shocked. As upright as he was, he started practicing with a critical mindset. If it didn't work well in practice later, he would have to severely condemn Mu Ye for misleading his students!

The power of the body secret technique was no less than any soul skill. Facing Zhao Xuanzhen, who could change his body shape at will and often performed anti-human movements, sweat dripped down Zhou Sheng's temples, and pressure filled his beating heart.

Six soul rings alternated and shone. The Invisible Blade family was a famous mecha family, and the soul rings they chose were all to increase their own strength, attack, and other attributes, amplifying the overall ability of the martial soul and mecha. It was just that as Zhao Xuanzhen's opponent, Zhou Sheng's strength was far behind.

"Crack—"

Five huge cracks shattered on the soul guidance shield. A strong vibration came, and Zhou Sheng in the mecha cockpit was so uncomfortable he almost spat blood, his internal soul power dropping wildly.

Zhou Sheng's strength had been displayed seven or eight-tenths, and Zhao Xuanzhen had also completed the first practical combat of the body secret technique Reconstruction. It was time to end this battle. His arms underwent drastic changes in posture, and two long blades that looked exactly like the Black-Rank mecha's blade edges broke out of his body. The moment the mecha was struggling in its death throes, Zhao Xuanzhen's spine compressed to the limit like a spring, the dual blades crossed, drawing two black crescent moons.

Where the blade light passed, the heavy chest armor of the Black-Rank mecha was cut open like a hot blade through wax, and Zhou Sheng's horrified face was reflected on the cockpit glass. At the last half-inch, Zhao Xuanzhen forcibly deflected the blade edge, and the severed mecha collapsed to the ground, the cross-section retaining the scorching red residual heat of the metal.

Zhou Sheng crawled out of the intact cockpit, his arms still trembling. Those two blades not only cut through the spirit-forged metal but also precisely avoided all soul guidance pipelines that would cause an explosion. What kind of terrifying control was this?

On the other side, Gu Yue whipped up a blizzard, engulfing the two purple-rank mechas with great momentum. Ye Xinglan slashed seven times with one sword, the Star God Sword shining with starlight, and one purple-rank mecha was shattered to pieces.

Youming Wu Siduo fused with the Nether White Tiger, slapping a mecha into scrap with one claw. Finally, Xu Xiaoyan and Yang Nianxia also successfully cooperated to crush a mecha.

Tang Men Yangcheng Mecha Team Three, wiped out!

"That's it? I haven't had enough fun yet..."

Youming Wu Siduo's meaningless exclamation instantly caused the Tang Men mecha brigade to break their defense.

"Thank you again, Sect Master, for helping us pass the final exam. Tang Men is righteous and liver-and-gall-to-each-other! Shi Laike Academy is Tang Men's brother forever. See you later."

The battle ended, and Zhao Xuanzhen left a polite remark, pulling the five away in a hurry. The Tang Men members of the Yangcheng branch had their brains crashed for a long time before someone finally reacted, pointing tremblingly at the six scrapped mechas, questioning with their souls:

"Our mechas, who is going to compensate for them!?"

"Destroyed!"

Six mechas were not a small number. Tang En hurriedly dialed the soul guidance communicator of the security captain downstairs. This group of little bastards, they wanted to walk away happily after breaking a pile of mechas—where in the world was there such a good thing!

Voices came from all sides on the other end of the soul guidance communicator.

"Couldn't hold back my hand."

"Didn't notice."

"It's not easy for us kids."

"Go tell Shi Laike Academy!"

"We were all doing our final exam with all our might!"

The six immediately turned their faces and refused to recognize anyone, driving their soul guidance cars away, while the security captain behind them stretched out his Er Kang hand in a gesture of pleading.

"Report to headquarters! Must report to headquarters and demand an explanation from Shi Laike Academy!"

Tang En was furious. It was agreed that they would send students out to pit outsiders, so how did they suddenly pit their own brothers!

Half an hour later, Spirit Tower headquarters.

Leng Yaozhu picked up the soul guidance communicator, and a gentle male voice entered her ears.

"Hello, Lady Tianfeng, I am Tang Men's Duqing. I am very sorry to disturb you suddenly. Spirit Tower disciple Zhao Xuanzhen led his classmates to challenge the Tang Men branch. According to the final exam rules, Shi Laike Academy cannot interfere, so I trouble you to handle it."

Leng Yaozhu said lightly: "Duqing, the Spirit Tower, federal city law enforcers, and other major soul master forces have been tormented by Shi Laike's final exams more than once. We haven't had any excessive reactions. Kids don't know any better, they're just playing around."

"Since Shi Laike likes to let disciples challenge soul masters everywhere, then Tang Men shouldn't be unable to afford to lose. Everyone is the same."

After saying that, Leng Yaozhu hung up the phone directly. The Spirit Tower had endured Shi Laike's final exams for so many years, so why couldn't they bear it when it was Tang Men's turn once!

At the Tang Men Tiandoucheng headquarters, a deacon said cautiously: "Your Excellency, how did Lady Tianfeng respond?"

Zang Xin said helplessly: "She's just muddling through it like Saint Spirit Douluo. Forget it, just treat it as a test of the quality of the branch personnel. Tell the major branches in the western region to be on high alert and select elite deacons under the age of twenty-five to welcome the challenge."

"The headquarters will compensate for the mecha losses in Yangcheng. Challenging brother sects, those little guys have become even more unscrupulous, convinced that we can't do anything to them for the sake of Shi Laike Academy."

"I will personally visit the Limit Douluo. It is necessary to change the rules of Shi Laike's final exam. This kind of thing cannot happen a second time..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 87 =====