Chapter 246: Crushing Defeat and Hope (Part 8)

On the competition stage, Wu Feng collapsed in a pool of blood; from the wounds on her back, shoulders, and body, blood was slowly seeping out.

As for Leiqier, he still stood in the center of the competition stage with a calm expression.

After a brief silence, Leiqier slowly opened his mouth and said, "I think it is time to announce the result of the match."

Feigning weakness to then launch a thunderous strike—even though he knew this tactic carried risks, and even the risk of suffering heavy injuries himself, Leiqier still did it; Leiqier's ruthlessness was not only toward his enemies, but also toward himself.

Bathing in the gazes of the crowd, Leiqier looked at Wang Qiu Er opposite him and said, "Wang Qiu Er, as the captain, if you don't make a move now, Shrek will lose."

"This guy!" Seeing this scene, Dai Huabin was so angry that his eyes were about to split. "Damn it..."

"Captain, we have no one left who can defeat Leiqier. If Zhu Lu gets injured again, then the Nether White Tiger will..." Ning Tian looked at Wang Qiu Er with worry.

Wang Qiu Er nodded and said, "I know."

The fifth person to appear for Shrek, Wang Qiu Er!

Both being Six-Ring Soul Emperors, there was too great a gap between Wang Qiu Er and Leiqier; this was a completely one-sided crushing situation. If not for Leiqier conceding so quickly, it is estimated that Leiqier would have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Looking at Wang Qiu Er on the stage, Huo Yuhao had a complex expression. He had to admit that in the battle between Tang Sect and Shrek, Wang Qiu Er, who was fully buffed by Ning Tian, was stronger than him; even if he used the soul skill awakened by the Body Sect, he could not suppress Wang Qiu Er.

With Wang Qiu Er taking the stage, this battle had basically reached its end. In all previous individual elimination rounds, once Wang Qiu Er took the stage, subsequent opponents would attempt to weaken Wang Qiu Er's strength through a wheel battle, but without exception, they were swept away by Wang Qiu Er, pushed all the way through.

Leiqier was defeated...

His Soul Guidance Protective Barrier was shattered by the Golden Dragon Spear; he was defeated extremely thoroughly.

Just as Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen were about to stand up, Luo Yu waved his hand and slowly said, "Leave it to me. If I also lose, then the team battle that follows will see us fall into the same plight as Shrek. This battle is a battle concerning the outcome."

A battle concerning the outcome...

Everyone looked at Luo Yu; at this moment, a sense of powerlessness grew in their hearts.

Perhaps they once thought that Luo Yu would sweep through everything, but at this moment, they hesitated.

The difficulty was too great, and Wang Qiu Er's strength was exceptionally powerful. From the start of the competition until now, Wang Qiu Er had broken into the finals with an undefeated record.

Under her leadership, Shrek had become an absolute dark horse!

Two dark horses had met; who would win and who would lose depended on these two people who could influence the outcome of the battle right now.

If Luo Yu won, then in the team battle that followed, Shrek would suffer a total collapse, because there would be no one who could withstand Luo Yu's attacks.

If Luo Yu lost, then no one would be left to block Wang Qiu Er's offensive. If they used the Red Dust Attachment Martial Soul Fusion Skill on Wang Qiu Er, then they would find it very difficult to withstand a fully buffed Nether White Tiger!

This was the cruel reality!

Whether they win or lose, it all depends on this battle!

Looking at the young man who slowly walked onto the competition stage, a trace of gravity suddenly flashed in Wang Qiu Er's eyes.

"Both sides, state your names!" The referee looked at the two and slowly said.

"Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, Luo Yu." Luo Yu looked calmly at Wang Qiu Er; her changes were all seen by Luo Yu.

"Shrek Academy, Wang Qiu Er." Wang Qiu Er was still wearing her veil; even the previous battle had failed to remove her veil.

Looking at Wang Qiu Er opposite him, Luo Yu slowly said, "You made a wrong decision."

Wang Qiu Er's cold voice rang out, "You also made a wrong decision."

"Is that so? It doesn't necessarily mean my decision is wrong, because I trust my teammates." Luo Yu looked at the hopeful crowd behind him and slowly replied.

…………

This scene made Su Yu, who was watching from under the stage, feel a lot of pressure. Before the fight even started, his clone and Wang Qiu Er had already begun a moment of mutual mental strikes.

As the main body, Su Yu was not very clear about the outcome of this battle either, because if he remembered correctly, Luo Yu had inherited at least half of his physical fitness, and his strength was strong enough; Luo Yu's greatest advantage lay in his Soul Guidance Devices.

Looking at strength alone, Huo Yuhao, after losing Xue Di, actually still could not compare to Luo Yu in strength.

"Who do you think will win?" Wang Dong'er asked, looking at the two on the competition stage.

Su Yu looked at the two, smiled without a word, and did not answer Wang Dong'er's question.

"Perhaps, Wang Qiu Er will win." Bei Bei looked at Wang Qiu Er, and faint golden light surged in his eyes.

He Cai Tou looked at Luo Yu and smiled bitterly: "This year's Sun Moon Empire is too strong. The newly appeared team members are completely different from the previous preliminary team members; they don't even have many legendary experiences in the academy, and it's more like they were secretly trained."

Huo Yuhao also had a bitter face and said: "Rather than saying they were secretly trained, I am more inclined to believe they were brought out by Leiqier. Leiqier has always appeared as the vice-captain, and even Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen obey Leiqier's arrangements. As for Luo Yu, he rarely shows his face. Logically speaking, as the captain, he should be responsible for the team's command, but he is more like someone clearing obstacles for Leiqier."

Listening to Huo Yuhao's words, Bei Bei asked back: "You mean, Luo Yu is actually not the captain on the surface, and Leiqier is? Luo Yu's role is just to help Leiqier clear obstacles, or perhaps, to provide powerful combat strength for the Sun Moon Battle Team as the final trump card?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out, because as captain, Luo Yu rarely shows his face; Yu Hao's analysis is correct on this point." Xu Sanshi also expressed support for Huo Yuhao's view.

"However, my intuition tells me that things are far from as simple as I thought."

As a spirit-type Soul Master, and also the host of Tian Meng, Huo Yuhao had an almost perverted accuracy in terms of intuition.

"If it were really that simple, then the question arises: why do these people have enough respect for Luo Yu? If Luo Yu were only strong, it would be impossible for them to have such tacit cooperation even when Luo Yu takes the stage. But the appearance of this person, Luo Yu, is too abnormal. He and the team members led by Leiqier are also abnormal; their fighting style runs counter to the traditions of the Sun Moon Empire. They are more like they have walked ahead of us. They have already begun to integrate martial souls with Soul Guidance. However, this fighting style does not look like something the Sun Moon Empire could actively change."

Where exactly the problem lay—what Huo Yuhao was worried about was not Luo Yu, but how this batch of team members was cultivated.

If the Sun Moon Empire had really completely walked ahead of the Three Great Empires and Shrek in terms of integrating martial souls and Soul Guidance, then the Three Great Empires would truly be swept away by the Sun Moon Empire's brand-new Soul Engineer Legion in a few decades.

Therefore, Huo Yuhao hoped even more that this batch of starting team members was a product of accidental circumstances, rather than a planned product!

"Yu Hao, do you mean that they are more like the fighting style of martial soul and Soul Guidance integration that our academy is currently researching?" Bei Bei looked at Huo Yuhao and asked.

In terms of Soul Guidance, the Sun Moon Empire led the Three Great Empires by hundreds, or even thousands of years; the Number One Experimental Subject alone proved that the Sun Moon Empire led the Three Great Empires by nearly a thousand years in cutting-edge Soul Guidance Technology!

It was just that Huo Yuhao and the others did not know this news.

"Although I agree with Yu Hao's idea, have you ever thought about a question: if you make an analogy between me and Luo Yu, then does Luo Yu's existence become more reasonable?"

Su Yu knew that if they continued to think in the wrong direction like this, then the next step would be for them to request the academy to have him go back to teach.

Because in terms of the integration of Soul Guidance and martial souls, currently only Su Yu in Shrek had achieved the ultimate, and he also mastered many technologies that the academy had not yet mastered.

The Three Great Empires and Shrek all knew the value that Su Yu contained; this was a huge treasure that could change the development of a country.

Bei Bei was stunned, and only after a long time did he slowly say: "You are right..."

"If this is the case, then it explains it reasonably. However, I want to know more about how they managed to make this batch of starting team members all surpass the subjects that our Shrek is currently researching." He Cai Tou slapped his head and asked the core question.

Su Yu indicated that he did not want to answer this question: "I don't know."

"If this person is also Luo Yu, then the future Three Great Empires will basically suffer a devastating blow from the Sun Moon Empire in a few decades, because what he masters is a strategy that can enhance the national power of the Sun Moon Empire. Moreover, judging from the current speed, in ten-plus years, or twenty-plus years, Luo Yu will be the next Title Douluo of the Sun Moon Empire, and it is highly likely he will charge toward being a Super Douluo!" Killing intent surged in Huo Yuhao's eyes.

"If that is the case, then this Luo Yu absolutely cannot be left alive. If he is left alive, he will become the greatest hidden danger to the Three Great Empires!" Xu Sanshi knew Huo Yuhao's intentions, and he was very clear that if it were truly like that, Luo Yu's role would only become even greater.

"If possible, I want to have Shrek join forces with the Body Sect after the tournament ends to kill Luo Yu!"

Huo Yuhao's words gave even Su Yu a shock; oh no, the gossip had reached his own head.

"That wouldn't be very good, would it? If we really do that, the Sun Moon Empire will have an excuse to launch a war. By then, the Three Great Empires will suffer even greater losses."

Su Yu looked at Huo Yuhao, wanting to speak up to stop him.

Whether it was Huo Yuhao, or Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi, the strategists among these three teams all revealed killing intent.

Bei Bei looked at Su Yu and said coldly: "Even if it might cause the Three Great Empires to go to war with the Sun Moon Empire, I must still propose my suggestion to the academy. If the Sun Moon Empire produces such a Super Douluo in a few decades, then none of us will be his match. Once he becomes a Super Douluo, he will also become a Level Ten Soul Engineer. By then, combined with those Soul Guidance Devices of the Sun Moon Empire, once he is placed on the battlefield of the Three Great Empires, it will be an unprecedented disaster!"

Looking at Bei Bei's serious expression, Su Yu knew that his clone had already been targeted, and definitely not just by Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei and the others.

The Three Great Empires knew what the appearance of someone like Luo Yu meant, so as long as today's tournament ended, the entire Mingdu would become a massive battlefield!

And the core of that battlefield would be Luo Yu!

Su Yu had never thought that Luo Yu's appearance would bring about this kind of chain reaction; originally, he had only thought of using Luo Yu's identity to infiltrate the upper echelons of the Sun Moon Empire.

But he had overlooked one point, which was that the appearance of a Soul Guidance genius with exceptional talent, surpassing everyone of the same era, would signal the early start of the war between the Three Great Empires and the Sun Moon Empire!

Or perhaps, it signaled that the scales of war would tilt toward the Sun Moon Empire!

The reason the Sun Moon Empire had long hesitated to launch a war was because the Three Great Empires had too great an advantage in terms of Title Douluo. Moreover, the Sun Moon Empire did not have a single Super Douluo, and they still needed to rely on the cooperation of the Holy Spirit Cult to barely hold their own in terms of Title Douluo.

In other words, this was a dynamic balance.

Once this balance was broken, everything would change, and the change that appeared would be the beginning of war!

"You wouldn't happen to be saying that the Sea God Pavilion has the same plan, would you?" Su Yu asked, looking at Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei.

Bei Bei nodded, "After this tournament began, I reported these things to the academy. Therefore, if there really is any change after the tournament ends, the Three Great Empires will also take Luo Yu as their target."

"What about the Body Sect? They wouldn't have reached an agreement with the Three Great Empires too, would they?"

Su Yu continued to ask Huo Yuhao; he wanted to know the Body Sect's actions. If the Body Sect's decision was also like this, then there was a high probability that the Three Great Empires' target was not the Holy Spirit Cult, but Luo Yu!

"My teacher said that once the tournament ends, they will immediately take action against Mingdu. They will use the fastest speed to make the chaos in Mingdu as large as possible. At that time, they will attempt to sneak into the imperial palace again to assassinate the Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire. Not only that, but Luo Yu and the main team members this time are all their targets!"

Too ruthless; the Body Sect only ever did big things!

Hundreds of years ago, they snuck into the Star Dou Great Forest to kill a 100,000-year Soul Beast, which resulted in a Beast Tide outbreak. Last time they ambushed Mingde Hall, and this time they were actually thinking of assassinating Xu Tianran!

"Wait, the one leading the team this time wouldn't be Du Busi, would it?" Su Yu thought for a moment and asked.

Huo Yuhao nodded and continued: "The one leading the team this time is still the Sect Master, because only he is a Peak Douluo. If it were someone else, the probability of success would not be that high. Once this time succeeds, for at least the next few hundred years, the Sun Moon Empire will be unable to launch a war again."

In a few hundred years?

Just how big of a game of chess was being played in Mingdu this time!