Chapter 90.3: The Desperate Super Fusion Cannon
Furthermore, the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron flew right into the path of the Destruction Arrow. Xiao Xiao was not only temporarily blocking Xue Lang with the greatest amount of power she could muster, but she was also stopping Tang Xiaolei’s fatal blow.
“Boom—”
A violent boom rang out, shaking the entire tournament stage.
Since Tang Xiaolei’s first arrow was able to puncture a small hole into the protective barrier, how could his second arrow–which focused on destruction–be any weaker?
A terrifying explosive force practically instantly shattered Xiao Xiao’s Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron. After using Cauldron’s Quaking Tremble, the Cauldron simply had no energy left to block the destructive power of the Destruction Arrow. However, it acted as a detonator that caused the Destruction Arrow to explode prematurely.
The remnants of the explosion directly spread towards Xue Lang, who was in a temporarily paused state.
The instant that terrifying explosive force descended upon Xue Lang, he unusually didn’t feel any anger at all. While using all of his soul power to defend himself, he only felt admiration towards the courageous girl in front of him.
Right, she had already done her best. A young girl, whose cultivation hadn’t even reached that of a three-ringed Soul Elder, had forcefully blocked a Soul Ancestor and hurt him using the strength of his own companion by relying on her own strength. Moreover, she had simultaneously blocked the attack of a Soul King. Who could ask her for more?
A martial soul was the foundation of every single soul master. Xiao Xiao’s entire body seemed to be struck by an enormous hammer in the instant the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron shattered. She wildly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, and her advancing body fell straight to the ground with blood seeping from her seven apertures. She had fallen completely into a deep coma.
“Ah–” He Caitou’s eyes went red as he let out a mad roar. In an instant, a cloud of bloody mist erupted from his body. The charging process, which had originally needed five to ten more seconds to complete, was actually completed instantly.
The super energy-charging soul cannon instantly turned into a white blaze, and an indescribable, yet terrifying feeling pervaded the entire tournament stage.
The hundred and eight soul masters in charge of maintaining the protective barrier subconsciously poured their soul power into the golden pillars in front of them, turning the protective barrier dark yellow.
After the Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron shattered, Xiao Xiao fell straight to the ground with no signs of waking up. Tang Xiaolei’s soul was stirred by the scene, but he was still a Soul King-ranked expert, and this match was just that important to Justsky Academy. He adjusted his mental state in an instant, then raised the Purpleflower Bow in his hands.
Time no longer permitted him to hold back anymore. The danger he felt from He Caitou’s super energy-gathering soul cannon was simply too great.
Three beams of purple light were pulled back into a single line, a gradual change occurring to them. The first arrow was the lightest shade of purple, while the last was the deepest. When the last arrow left his bow, the Purpleflower Bow in Tang Xiaolei’s hands turned it into a purple flare that rose into the air. Immediately, a purple blaze started to rise from the three arrows, twisting the air in front of them. By the time the three arrows crossed half of the tournament stage, He Caitou unleashed his super energy-gathering soul cannon.
At this moment, every member of the audience–including the various representative teams and the party surrounding the Star Luo Emperor–held their breaths. They had completely forgotten that the match they were spectating had Shrek Academy participating in it. Every single person present had been infected by the desperation felt by Xiao Xiao as she resolutely used her strength as a two-ringed Soul Grandmaster to stop two opponents who vastly outclassed her.
Everyone felt as though they were being choked; that feeling was completely indescribable. In their eyes, the young girl who fell down spitting blood was just that steadfast and brave, yet so stubborn and cute. Even if she had already fallen while spitting blood, she was still an unconcealable being of light who drew the attention of everyone present.
A vast ray of white light appeared on the tournament stage. This wasn’t a pillar of light, but a ball of light. The instant it was released, He Caitou was marked with a cross-shaped symbol. No matter how he moved, this symbol would follow him.
When the white ball of light left the super energy-gathering soul cannon, the entire tournament stage mysteriously started to distort. From the perspective of the audiences, the situation on the tournament stage seemed to have instantaneously turned blurry, making them unable to discern anything. However, Xue Lang, Tang Xiaolei, and the seven-ringed Soul Sage who was the referee felt space shattering instantly. Moreover, they felt their bodies shattering along with the space, making them nearly vomit blood.
Tang Xiaolei’s gaze changed in the next moment, and he was instantly terrified. He was originally absolutely confident in his own attack, but he now discovered that the target he had placed on He Caitou had vanished following the distortion of space. In other words, the three strongest arrows he had released had lost their mark.
Right, the three rays of purple light had suddenly split into three as they flew through the distorted space. As a result, they simultaneously split up and flew towards three directions, akin to that of a triangle. Moreover, He Caitou was right in the middle of that triangle.
After that, Tang Xiaolei saw the white blaze grow bigger and bigger as it approached him. The ball of light was only a foot or so wide, but he felt as though he couldn’t breathe.
His soul power was completely drained after releasing the five arrows, making it so that he had no strength to resist at all. He was originally hoping for his three arrows to interrupt He Caitou’s attack before defeating him, but who would’ve guessed that the latter’s super energy-gathering soul cannon was able to twist the space around him?
At this moment, the astonished referee finally played his assigned role.
Following a roar, one white, two yellow, three purple, and one black soul ring appeared. The seven-ringed referee then sped up explosively, his seventh soul ring flickering.
Amidst a low roar, a mountain-like figure flew straight out and stood in front of Tang Xiaolei.
This figure was actually an enormous elephant that was shrouded by a thick layer of armor. Soul rings seemed to faintly light up around the body of the enormous elephant as it formed a earthen-yellow screen of light that fiercely collided with the super energy-gathering soul cannon.
“Kaboom—”
A person who had never seen the might of a super energy-gathering soul cannon would definitely not be able to imagine how terrifying it was.
In the first place, a weapon like this should not have appeared on the tournament stage. This was because a super energy-gathering soul cannon simply took too long to charge up, while a tournament held among soul masters had an extremely quick tempo. He Caitou had spared no costs, injured his own body and urged all of his soul power to reduce the charging time of the weapon by a half, but it still took so long to charge up. If this were an ordinary fight, he would’ve lost god-knows how many times already.
Although it had a long charging time, its might was similarly terrifying. It was equivalent to taking the soul power of a soul master within a certain area and unceasingly compressing and condensing it using an enormous and complicated formation array before focusing it in one point and releasing it using the mouth of the cannon.
The army was provided with a few super energy-gathering soul cannons, but it wasn’t given too many. This was due to its limited attack range, which was only around five hundred metres or so at maximum. Thus, a very powerful godly archer could definitely affect its charging. Furthermore, each usage of it would ignite a miniature sun within the army which was using it; it would be strange if their opponent didn’t prioritise taking it down first.
“I’ve done it. Xiao Xiao, did you see it? I’ve done it.” The loud sounds of an explosion didn’t just ring out in front of them; three terrifying explosions similarly rang out behind He Caitou. Only, the sounds of these three explosions were masked by the explosion in front.
He Caitou felt a large force strike his back amidst the violent booms, throwing him forward. He then smashed violently into the tournament stage, and the place he landed was just beside Xiao Xiao.
The current tournament stage was now a patch of beauty if looked at from afar. The dark yellow protective barrier surrounding the tournament stage was now gold, and the hundred and eight soul masters maintaining it now had grave expressions on their faces.
Differently colored lights started exploding on either end of the tournament stage. One of the ends of the stage shone with an intense white blaze, while the other shone with purple.
The tournament stage had suffered a massive amount of destruction due to the release of these two terrifying forces. The ear-deafening noises coming from the stage could even be heard in places very far away from Star Luo Plaza.
However, the current situation was a quiet world to a certain someone. This certain someone was precisely He Caitou.
He Caitou felt as though his entire body had been emptied out as he lay on the ground. The strong taste of a cigar continued to unceasingly slice his throat like tiny knives.
He was already somewhat desensitised to the violent bouts of pain overcoming him. Now, he was trying to look towards Xiao Xiao’s direction from his fallen state.
The incomparably quiet Xiao Xiao definitely couldn’t hear any of the violent explosions that were coming from the outside world at this moment. Her face was very pale, and her thin lips were still tightly pursed together. As she furrowed her brows, faint traces of blood could be seen flowing from her seven apertures. Not only did she look miserable, but she also gave off an indescribable sense of heartache.
The current Xiao Xiao was just that cute in He Caitou’s eyes. The conversation that only the two had heard on the stage earlier was now resounding in his mind.
“Brother He, do you have any especially strong soul tools that aren’t restricted?”
“I have one, but it needs a very long time to charge up.”
“Then, how about we stake it all? I can help you stall for some time. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to give you enough time, but I’ll do my best. We’re also students of Shrek Academy, so for the sake of Shrek’s glory, we can’t just easily forfeit. Our youth isn’t an excuse.”
“Xiao Xiao. But…”
“Don’t ‘but’ me, brother He. If we don’t use all of our strength to stake it all, we’ll definitely regret it for our entire lives. If a girl like me isn’t scared, don’t tell me that you are.”
“I’m naturally not scared, but I’m worried for you.”
“There’s no need to worry about me. I’m a member of Shrek’s representative team, not just a little girl. Let’s just do it this way!”
Right. It was this exact conversation that had sealed their strategy on the tournament stage, and also the path that the match would follow. At this moment, He Caitou didn’t even know whether he was feeling any regret in his heart.
Struggling, he did his best to crawl over to Xiao Xiao. He bent his body, then used his wide back as a support to carry Xiao Xiao’s body while enduring the falling gravel that came from the blown up tournament stage.
“Little girl, I will never let you protect me in the future again. I should be the one who’s protecting you!” He Caitou felt his mind go dizzy. He continuously endured the pain of the falling gravel landing on his back, but even in the instant he fainted, he continued to use his elbows and knees to support his own body to protect the brave little girl under his back from the falling rocks.