novelraw Chapter 224 Ji Juechen
Chapter 224 Ji Juechen
Chapter 224 Ji Juechen
Arriving at the training department's teaching building, unlike other Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy's teaching buildings which consist of classrooms and laboratories, this place is more like a Soul Battle Zone. Apart from the area used for experimenting with soul tools, most of the buildings are arenas used for actual combat.
That does fit the role of a Soul Master with actual control.
Huo Yuhao arrived at a good time; today was the day the Department of Real Control was conducting its practical assessment. After swiping his card to enter the spectator area, he could directly watch the students from the Department of Real Control compete.
With a quick mental scan, Huo Yuhao easily spotted Ji Juechen in the vast crowd.
There's no other reason than that he always carries a jet-black meteorite iron greatsword on his back, and is accompanied by a girl; this combination is too conspicuous.
Pushing through the crowd, Huo Yuhao slowly squeezed towards where Ji Juechen was.
Seemingly sensing something, Ji Juechen suddenly turned his head to look in Huo Yuhao's direction.
"Hi."
Huo Yuhao, who had been keeping a close eye on Ji Juechen, naturally noticed Ji Juechen's actions and greeted him in a friendly manner.
Noticing Ji Juechen's movement, the girl beside him turned around warily, looking at the crowd in the direction Ji Juechen was looking, trying to see who had caught his attention.
The girl's wariness only faded when she saw Huo Yuhao squeezing through the crowd toward them, but she was still somewhat puzzled.
Who is this person?
It's no wonder the girl looked puzzled. Ji Juechen's reputation as a sword fanatic was quite well-known in the Control Department and even the entire Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. Because of this reputation, few outsiders would take the initiative to seek out Ji Juechen.
"Hi, my name is Huo Yuhao. May I ask how you two should address me?"
"Ji Juechen".
"Jing Ziyan,"
The girl sized Huo Yuhao up and asked, "What do you want with us?"
"I was just curious about the so-called actual control soul guidance department of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. There happened to be some trouble at Mingde Hall, so there was no need to attend classes, and I came to take a look."
Huo Yuhao shrugged and said, "The reason I came to you guys is because this brother gave me the most dangerous feeling, so I just came over to say hello."
"Mingde Hall?"
The sealing off of Mingde Hall did cause quite a stir, but the other departments didn't know exactly what had happened. They never expected it to have reached the point where even students inside Mingde Hall couldn't get in.
Jing Ziyan glanced curiously at the Level 3 Soul Master badge on Huo Yuhao's chest. "Isn't the most basic requirement for joining Mingde Hall a Level 5 Soul Master?"
"Ahem, yes, I am a Level 3 Soul Master, but there are always exceptions..."
Huo Yuhao coughed awkwardly, took out the Mingde Hall Level 5 Soul Master Badge given to him by Xuan Ziwen, and waved it in front of the two of them. "I am an exchange student from Shrek Academy, so I naturally qualify for this exception."
"Are you from Shrek Academy?"
Ji Juechen's eyes lit up.
Whether Huo Yuhao is a level 3 or level 5 Soul Master is irrelevant to Ji Juechen, but Ji Juechen is very interested in his status as a Shrek Academy student.
"Of course it's true. There's no benefit in impersonating someone from Shrek Academy in the Sun Moon Empire."
Ji Juechen said with great interest, "How about we have a little sparring match?"
Huo Yuhao looked at Ji Juechen, whose combat power was considered above average among the Shrek Academy Soul Emperors, and hesitated for a moment.
It's not that I can't fight, but if I want to abduct Ji Juechen, I'll have to show some real skill. But if I do that, I'll most likely be entangled with this Ji Juechen in the future...
Just as Huo Yuhao hesitated, the match on stage had already ended, and the referee had begun announcing the participants for the next match.
"Next match, Nana versus... Please welcome our two students to the stage."
"what?"
Huo Yuhao looked at the girl on the dueling platform with some curiosity.
The female student wasn't particularly beautiful, but her tanned skin gave her a healthy look. She was slender and tall, easily over 1.8 meters.
As she went on stage, the girl pulled up her long, dark red hair and combed it into a ponytail, making her look even more neat and tidy. Paired with her yellow school uniform, it gave her a rather dashing and heroic air.
What a coincidence?
When they had nothing to do, they happened to be taking an exam at the Department of Real Control. The whole department gathered together, and just as they found Ji Juechen, another famous supporting character from the original work appeared.
Huo Yuhao looked up at the sky, wondering if this luck came from the Lord of the Plane, or...
Huo Yuhao shook his head sharply, putting aside the thoughts he shouldn't have and focusing on watching the game.
Seeing that Huo Yuhao did not agree to spar, Ji Juechen frowned slightly.
"Do the people of Shrek Academy also fear battle?"
Ignoring Ji Juechen's words, Huo Yuhao continued watching the match.
Since it was an assessment organized by the academy, both sides were of similar skill level. Nana's opponent was a red man wielding a large red sword, who chased after Nana and slashed her with the help of a flying soul tool.
Faced with a wide-ranging barrage of fire-attribute slashes, Nana dodged and weaved somewhat awkwardly, narrowly missing the blade several times, much to the astonishment of the group of Soul Masters who were unfamiliar with the situation.
Jing Ziyan suddenly said, "Nana is going to lose."
Just as Ji Juechen was about to speak, he felt Jing Ziyan punch his waist with her elbow. Only then did he realize that Jing Ziyan had said this on purpose, wanting to test Huo Yuhao's judgment for him.
Even without mental sharing activated, Huo Yuhao's keen mental power could detect such a small movement, not to mention that his mental sharing and simulation were always active outside.
There was really no need for them to deliberately trick me.
Huo Yuhao looked at the two of them with some helplessness. "Although that guy wielded his big sword very impressively and his skill level was decent, he clearly didn't have much practical combat awareness. He actually wanted to chase after an agility-based character of similar skill level while carrying a big sword. He'll be exhausted sooner or later."
Of course, if it's a one-sided match, there's nothing wrong with that, but the mistake lies in the fact that when both sides are of similar skill level, the guy with the big sword actually tried to use his weakness to attack the other's strength.
Ji Juechen nodded slightly, acknowledging Huo Yuhao's opinion. Putting aside everything else, Huo Yuhao's insight already surpassed that of over 99% of the students in the Department of Real Control.
After all, wielding that fiery red broadsword was truly frightening.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the swordsman's rhythm began to become a little unstable, his slashing frequency decreased, and even the speed of his flying soul tool slowed down. Nana, who had been dodging, finally revealed her fangs, seized the swordsman's opening, and thrust her short blade fiercely at his vitals.
The man with the big sword intended to defend, but his soul power was insufficient to support a soul-guided shield of sufficient strength. He could only resort to a method of exchanging injury for injury, using his blade to meet Nana's body.
In this case, the referee will most likely intervene and then define the result as a draw, thus avoiding the deduction of points.
However, how could Nana ignore this when she stepped forward at this moment? Just as the blade was about to strike her, Nana's third soul ring flashed, and her body became ethereal, causing the swordsman's blood-exchange strike to miss. At the same time, Nana's short sword grazed the swordsman's shoulder.
"The winner is Nana."
The referee pulled the two apart and then announced the verdict.
Upon seeing Nana's third soul skill, which was called "Illusion," Huo Yuhao was completely certain that this was the Nana associated with the Holy Spirit Cult. He mentally calculated when he could find some time to "check in" with her.
"Nana's match is her last. The arena is now open to all students. How about it, want to go up and give it a shot?"
Faced with Ji Juechen's challenge once again, Huo Yuhao finally nodded.
"Let me make this clear beforehand: I'm a control-type Soul Master, leaning towards support abilities, and at most, I'm skilled in some hand-to-hand combat..."
"It's alright," Ji Juechen said calmly. "I'll control my power and won't hurt you."
Upon arriving at the Soul Battle Zone, Huo Yuhao casually took out a Level 4 melee soul tool that he had crafted in order to embezzle (not really) the rare metals he was supposed to get his weekly quota of.
It is a long sword made primarily of titanium, the toughest rare metal known to date. To be precise, it is the Tang Hengdao. The core magic array mainly increases toughness. It was made by Huo Yuhao in the last hour of that week to use up his quota.
"Zheng—"
With the sound of a long sword being drawn, a jet-black and sharp Tang-style horizontal sword appeared in Huo Yuhao's hand.
"What a fine knife!" Ji Juechen's eyes lit up when he saw the knife in Huo Yuhao's hand.
The reason for choosing to forge a knife rather than a sword is that a knife is easier to use, and for someone like Huo Yuhao who lacks experience, it is much faster to learn than a sword.
After a few simple swings to get a feel for wielding the sword, Huo Yuhao said to Ji Juechen, "Come on!"
At this moment, Huo Yuhao did not conceal his martial soul. His golden eyes shone brightly, and three unusual soul rings—white, yellow, and black—appeared, leaving the onlookers stunned.
"Who is this person? The spirit ring configuration is so strange! One white spirit ring is one thing, but the third spirit ring is black? Is this for real?"
Huo Yuhao: Don't worry, the third spirit ring is really perfect, but the second spirit ring...
"I was wondering how powerful the person Ji Juechen could challenge was, but it turns out he's just a Soul Master, and a Soul Master with a white Soul Ring at that. And this guy's third Soul Ring skipped a thousand years, going straight to tens of thousands of years old. Is that even possible?"
On the dueling platform, Ji Juechen was not distracted by Huo Yuhao's spirit ring; instead, all his attention was focused on Huo Yuhao's blade.
They're using a knife! Is that Shrek's knife technique? I'd like to try it.
The next instant, Ji Juechen charged towards Huo Yuhao, his heavy sword forged from black iron slashing straight at him.
Faced with this fierce sword strike, Huo Yuhao, as was his usual habit, would have leisurely stood aside, ready to launch a sneak attack. However, if he wanted to subdue Ji Juechen, simply dodging was not enough.
With a slight twist of his right hand, Huo Yuhao swung his blade to meet the giant sword. The moment the blades clashed, sparks flew. The next instant, Ji Juechen felt as if his sword had struck cotton, and he was pulled to the side by Huo Yuhao's blade, unable to land a blow.
"A sword technique that focuses on deflecting force?"
Ji Juechen quickly understood Huo Yuhao's style and didn't find anything wrong with it.
Given the significant difference in cultivation levels between the two sides, Huo Yuhao's choice of the most suitable fighting style was the right one.
But Ji Juechen's sword was not so easy to deal with! With a turn of his body, the sword moved with him, and with force following the direction it had been deflected, a slash even faster than before came straight at Huo Yuhao's face.
With the aid of mental detection, every move of Ji Juechen was rapidly calculated in Huo Yuhao's mind, frame by frame, making up for Huo Yuhao's lack of skill in swordsmanship.
Driven by his waist, Ji Juechen's sword strike was incredibly powerful. Given the difference in their cultivation levels, anyone who tried to take the blow head-on would likely suffer a fatal injury.
Although Huo Yuhao wanted to practice swordsmanship, he wasn't an idiot. His second spirit ring flashed, and he suddenly retreated backward.
Just then, Ji Juechen, who was spinning and slashing down, spun an extra circle in the air in an unreasonable way, caught up with Huo Yuhao's figure, and slashed towards Huo Yuhao.
Seeing that he couldn't dodge in time, Huo Yuhao braced his left hand on the back of his sword and faced the ever-growing meteorite iron sword in front of him.
boom--
The powerful impact instantly created a huge crater in the ground.
"Um?!"
Ji Juechen scanned back and forth, searching for the location of Huo Yuhao's true form.
Before anyone knew it, Huo Yuhao had arrived at Ji Juechen's original spot, and the two faced each other across half of the arena.
"Brother Ji, there's a significant gap between our cultivation levels. Why don't we set aside our soul power and fight using only our physical strength?"
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao deliberately concealed the golden light in his eyes, and the three spirit rings beside him slowly disappeared.
As time passed, Huo Yuhao was no longer completely ignorant of swordsmanship. Even without mental detection, his eyes, being his martial soul, were enough to provide him with sufficient information to deal with Ji Juechen's sword.
Seeing this, Ji Juechen did not hesitate and also abandoned his martial soul, wielding the Heavenly Meteorite Iron Sword to swing at Huo Yuhao.
Without the aid of soul power, Huo Yuhao's physical abilities were evenly matched with Ji Juechen's for a time. The clash of swords and knives occasionally sparked sparks, eliciting gasps of amazement from the audience on stage.
"Is this really the Third Ring? He's actually fighting so fiercely against Ji Juechen, a sword fanatic, using only his physical strength."
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao, who was being praised, was already sweating. The pressure Ji Juechen was putting on him was immense. Ji Juechen's wide and sweeping sword swings, coupled with his impressive skills, made it very difficult for Ji Juechen to deal with. After learning that Huo Yuhao was good at deflecting force, Ji Juechen changed his fighting style, using either powerful and heavy blows or tricky angles, forcing Huo Yuhao to choose to confront Ji Juechen head-on.
Ji Juechen's fighting spirit was constantly rising as he fought Huo Yuhao. Huo Yuhao surprised Ji Juechen quite a bit. From the beginning, when he used a technique of deflecting force and his sword swings were obviously a bit immature and he didn't dare to fight head-on, to now when he could defend against Ji Juechen's attacks so thoroughly that he couldn't find a single opportunity, Ji Juechen was very pleased with this kind of opponent.
With a roar, Ji Juechen mobilized all his qi and blood, and quickened his sword-wielding movements once again.
Damn, how do I still have energy?
Huo Yuhao cursed under his breath, gritted his teeth, and mobilized the qi and blood within his body.
At this moment, the difference in cultivation level became apparent. Even when using only physical strength, Ji Juechen, as a Soul Emperor, had a much greater capacity for blood and qi in his meridians than Huo Yuhao, and could unleash far more power than Huo Yuhao.
Bang—bang—ping—
Even with the best defenses, there's always a slip-up. Due to the difference in strength and speed, even though Huo Yuhao's eyes could provide him with more information, his body couldn't keep up with the reactions, and his defenses gradually became weak.
(End of this chapter)