Chapter 351: Soul Mastery
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Karl had been hoping to watch a heated battle, but the fight had ended much faster than he thought.
"Balls! Is that it? What kind of an attack is that?" Karl was dumbfounded by what he had seen. Wang Tong and Hu Yangxuan threw each other a knowing glance, as they had both registered Michaux's incredible power.
"Hey, you! Say something. How come it ended so suddenly?"
"Karl, this is the so-called direct soul energy attack. The divine sect believed that the soul energy was the source of human 's power, and despised the usage of GN force. Saru was not prepared for such an attack, and therefore was caught off guard. "
"Ah, Soga! So, if one were prepared for his soul energy attack, would he be easy to defeat? Michaux didn't look that tough." Lumi announced.
"Hehe, you are not entirely wrong, Lumi. However, no one knows exactly how good his defense is." Hu Yangxuan nodded.
Wang Tong shook his head and disagreed. "I can feel that Michaux's soul energy is one of the strongest among all the contestants. I don't think his defense would be weak."
"...Is he really that powerful? Would he become the champion?"
"Hehe. If he wanted to, then yes. But I don't think he is here for the title of the champion." Wang Tong said expectantly. His soul energy was at par with Michaux, and he looked forward to fighting against him.
All the heirs of the great houses had defeated their opponents without any suspense. As Li Ruoer walked on to the stage, she garnered even more attention than her brother Li Shiming, partly because of the charm of the enchantress. The tickets of her match were sold out in minutes by male audiences.
Although Wang Tong didn't want to attend the enchantress' match, all of his male friends were excited about the fight, and had persuaded him to join them. Wang Tong noticed that Li Ruoer had changed a lot ever since the last time he saw her. She had transformed from a capricious teenage girl into a cold and distant beauty who lacked any cardinal desires. Her lack of interest somehow made Wang Tong feel relieved.
Li Ruoer's indifference didn't dull the admiration of the audience. Her opponent, an Ivantian, was unnerved by the fame of the daughter of an Einherjar.
But, Li Ruoer finished the match in under a minute, without even using her legendary sword "Rosy." After the match, Li Ruoer scanned the crazed audiences, and then fixed her gaze at the camera.
Although Wang Tong was sitting miles away from the arena, he was caught off guard by the searing glare. The stare was so intentional as if it were meant for him. Li Ruoer then looked away and walked into the resting room quietly without leaving a word to her fans.
On the other side of the arena, Heidi also defeated her opponent with ease. So quick were her phantom-like moves that the opponent didn't land a single blow on her before he was defeated.
In two days, all of the eight seeded players had won their first round of the match, and none of the matches lasted more than five minutes.
Thus it was, as the power of the great houses lied in the combat strength of the family members, especially the heirs who were going to succeed the power.
Although Lie Xin from the Thunder Blade and Zhang Buyu from the Templar's court were not from the five major houses, they were no less powerful than their great house counterparts.
Although no one knew exactly how powerful Zhang Buyu was, the fact that he was the seeded player from the Templar's court —the birthplace of all Tactics—spoke loudly about his strength.
Although the Thunder Sword Sect from the Moon was not a part of the fiver houses, the current house lord, Lee Moshan was an Einherjar. Rumors had it that Lee Moshan had even defeated Patroclus's father, since the old Dower wasn't able to finish the Tactics of the Deva King. Lee Moshan's fame was at par with that of Li Zhedao, since both of them used swords. They were regarded as the top two sword masters of the world. Although they both had entertained the idea of fighting with each other, the fight between the two sword masters never materialized for one reason or another.
Even on the Moon, Lee Xin was considered the only person in the Confederation who would be able to stand up against Patroclus. Many years of dormancy had somewhat eroded the influence of House of Dower on the moon and given rise to the House of Lee. House of Lee had enjoyed the unbridled expansion power on the Moon until lately, when Patroclus had announced that he had mastered the Tactics of the Deva King.
Lee Xin had since challenged Patroclus to a duel, but the latter had refused the challenge.
All Ivantians was hopeful to see the two houses put the matter to rest in a duel. Be it the Deva Lance or the Thunder Blade, only one of them could dominate the moon!
In addition to Patroclus, Lee Xin was also looking forward to the fight with Li Shiming, since that would be the fight between the heirs of the top two sword masters. However powerful his opponents were, Lee Xin was convinced that he would be the unmatched champion of this Tournament, and Thunder Blade would prevail.
Three days later, Wang Tong was about to partake in his second fight. His second opponent was an Ivantian. As the third disciple of the Lunar Soul-Mastery, the second opponent was much stronger than his first opponent.
The Soul-Mastery was an emerging new technique in using one's soul energy. It started as off-shoot branch of the prominent tactics that focused on using soul energy. However, it quickly grew into a category of its own. There were, by now, hundreds of different soul mastery sects across the three factions.
In simpler terms, a soul-mastery was a way of channeling one's soul energy to achieve the seemingly supernatural effect.
The soul-mastery was generally useless against Zergs. However, it was particularity effective against humans. Although most of the soul-mastery fighters were physically weaker than their normal counterparts, they always had the element of surprise by their side. Due to its ineffectiveness against the Zergs, The Confederation had tried to ban the soul-mastery many times. But, the sect members of the soul-mastery were able to talk their way out of extinction each time. Eventually, the confederation had given up on the matter entirely and let the soul-mastery influence grow stronger by the day.
Cultivators following the way of soul-mastery saw it as a part of a greater evolution in human history. They despised the usage of brute force as well as GN force, and believed that the soul energy was a much more elegant solution to resolving the conflicts between human. This year's tournament would provide the soul-mastery cultivators a perfect opportunity to state their case to the world and display their power.
"Boss! Crush him! Crush!" Karl waved a fist in the air excitedly. Karl was not alone. On the earth, pubs and virtual clubs were filled with people watching the fight, all of them cheering for Wang Tong.
In the Dream Cafe, the plump owner was pleasantly surprised to see Wang Tong's face on the screen.