However, Ye Yulin didn’t know that Huo Yuhao didn’t leave his human-shaped soul tool just because he was afraid of trouble. His Soul Power Amplifier was taking effect, which greatly helped to conserve his soul power.

Those who were competing today were at least Class 6 soul engineers. While Huo Yuhao had twin martial souls, he also only had five rings. It was better for him to conserve his soul power right now, as there were other things he had to do later on.

He Caitou used a lot of soul power to complete the technical test. He seemed to gain the upper hand, however, as he was the first to complete it. At this point, more than three-quarters of the fifteen minutes had passed.

Huo Yuhao had been monitoring He Caitou’s movements. Seeing that he had completed the test, he also increased his speed, and was second to finish. The third was a young lady in yellow from the Common Alliance. The fourth was Huang Zheng.

From this technical test, it was clear that the three from the Duskwater Alliance were slightly stronger. An Litong and Shangguan Wei’er looked a little grim at this point. This was especially so for An Litong, as the three representatives from the Alto Chamber of Commerce were obviously slower.

“Time’s up!” This time, Ye Yulin had no intention of delaying. He immediately ended the test when the last grain of sand in the hourglass fell.

Five of the nine completed the test, while the other four failed to do so. After the judges made their decision, they eliminated one representative from the Alto Chamber of Commerce, as he had the lowest completion rate. It wasn’t much of a surprise.

The two others from the Alto Chamber of Commerce that had qualified were ranked first and third from the bottom. The first from the bottom had to face the first from the top, which was He Caitou, whereas the third from the bottom had to face the third from the top, which was the lady in yellow from the Common Alliance.

----

At this point, Nangong Wan revealed a satisfied smile on his face in the resting area. Huo Yuhao and the other two were three of the top four in the technical test. This was a delightful surprise! He hadn’t expected He Caitou to be the fastest. He only realized at this point that this tall and burly young man who wore a mask all the time actually had a pretty strong soul power cultivation. No wonder he was a Class 7 soul engineer!

Huo Yuhao, He Caitou, and Huang Zheng were all in the top four, which meant that they wouldn’t face one another in the following elimination round. If the three of them could all reach the semifinals, the Duskwater Alliance was very likely to become the champion.

Nangong Wan was very confident in Huo Yuhao and Huang Zheng. The others didn’t understand why Huo Yuhao would produce a human-shaped soul tool, but he could roughly guess. Wasn’t his intention very simple? He was trying to increase his mobility and flexibility! He was an evil soul master, and no ordinary soul engineer either. Even without any offensive weapons, was it really impossible for him to curb his opponents?

Nangong Wan was also very confident in Huang Zheng. After all, Huang Zheng was the Third Elder’s most outstanding disciple. He possessed roughly the abilities of a Class 7 soul engineer, and also had a six-ringed cultivation. Although his evil soul master abilities weren’t that strong, he was very talented in creating soul tools. He even had a ranked carving knife with him! He Caitou’s surprising ranking meant that he was most likely facing the weakest of the remaining eight in this tournament! At this point, the Duskwater Alliance was in a very favorable situation.

---

“All of you are to be given a five minute rest. After five minutes, the elimination round will begin.” Ye Yulin said.

Immediately, several staff members rushed up to the stage and carried the carving tables and leftover materials away. The competitors descended the stage and returned to the resting area for a short rest.

Huo Yuhao was ranked second. His opponent was going to be a young lady in a blue dress from the Common Alliance. He was going to compete in the second match.

There wasn’t too much planning behind the order in which they competed. The highest-ranked competitor would compete in the first match, followed by the second-ranked, third-ranked and fourth-ranked competitors. Thus, one could have more rest later on if they competed earlier. There wasn’t anything unfair about this arrangement. In addition, they still had these additional five minutes of rest.

Nangong Wan went forward personally to receive Huo Yuhao and the other two competitors. Huo Yuhao had proved with his actions that his human-shaped soul tool was working. His soul tool closed up and he descended from the stage. Even though his human-shaped soul tool was much smaller than the one the Illustrious Virtue Hall came up with initially, it was still a human-shaped soul tool!

Ye Yulin’s gaze never left him. Seeing that Huo Yuhao had left the stage leisurely, naturally, and without any awkwardness, his gaze turned even more passionate.

“Great. All of you did well. Now rest. You just need to remember that I’ll fulfill my promise the second after the tournament is over. It’s right here. If you achieve good results, you can claim it.” Nangong Wan didn’t give out too many instructions. He only emphasized the prize they could claim if they won. He knew that the three of them needed rest right now.

The Third Elder never sat down all that time. His gaze was burning as he looked at Huo Yuhao, scanning the human-shaped soul tool.

The soul tool was around two and a half meters tall. It had a streamlined design, and its silvery-white body exuded slight soul power undulations, its eyes releasing a golden glow. If it were painted properly, it would seem even more magnificent.

Huo Yuhao didn’t sit down, controlling his soul tool to remain standing. He shut his eyes to restore his spiritual power. He had been sitting for too long. The feeling of standing was very magical to him after sitting for so long!

-------

In the underground warehouse...

Boom!...

As the explosion shook everything everything around him, Prince Xu Guozhong’s protective soul barrier flared and blocked the shockwaves coming towards him.

This underground warehouse was too firm and secure. When the lift was constructed, it was reinforced to prevent anyone from trying to force their way out. As a result, Xu Guozhong still needed the help of his subordinates to escape from the elevator through its bottom, even though he was a Class 9 soul engineer!

It wasn’t considered a feat to escape from the elevator. They still had to escape the elevator shaft.

There were eight of them, and they drifted down along the shaft. However, the main elevator door was now a problem for them again. They had already attacked it six times. In such a narrow space, they couldn’t use soul tools that were too powerful. Otherwise, they would be the ones in trouble. As a result, they could only try to force openings using weaker soul tools before using close-combat soul tools to break through. In such a situation, close-combat soul tools became extremely important!

A fifteen centimeter opening was finally made. These eight advanced-level soul engineers exerted their full strength at the same time, but it still took seven to eight minutes before they made an opening that they could escape through.

Xu Guozhong’s face had turned black by this point. His heart ached! He had long since viewed this warehouse as his own. Repairing the elevator and the elevator shaft was bound to cost him an arm and a leg. Right now, he only wanted to tear the thieves to pieces!

After he entered the tunnel, Xu Guozhong saw two of his subordinates on the ground. Their corpses had already long turned cold.

Everyone could sense the fury that Xu Guozhong suppressed. Two people immediately went to search the bodies. Indeed, their keys were no longer there!

They quickly ventured in and came to a huge door that led to the first level of this warehouse.

Xu Guozhong wore a gloomy expression as he retrieved his key. He attempted to open the door. As expected, Huo Yuhao didn’t give him the opportunity to do so. He had already destroyed and altered the mechanism used to open this door. No matter how the key was turned, the door wouldn’t budge.

“Idiot!” Xu Guozhong finally erupted in anger. He punched the door and groaned. This door was designed to be stronger than the doors of the elevator shaft! It was extremely thick, and constructed using alloys which were almost as strong as some rare metals!

“Break the door down!” Xu Guozhong shouted furiously.

“Your Highness, we might activate the defensive soul tools if we attack the door directly. They will fire at us..,” a Class 8 soul engineer beside him immediately warned him.

Xu Guozhong was one of the most highly-respected figures in the Sun Moon Empire. After his rage subsided, he quickly calmed down. He was clearly aware of the strength of the defensive soul tools installed in this tunnel. Even though he was a Class 9 soul engineer, he wouldn’t feel good if he were struck. Class 7 soul engineers might even be killed! The controls for the entire defensive system were inside this warehouse. They couldn’t control it from the outside!

He took a deep breath and tried to suppress his anger. He wore a grim look and shouted, “Let’s slowly destroy the defensive soul tools before we break down this door. Be quick!”

--------

Of course, Huo Yuhao didn’t know that Xu Guozhong currently hated him to the core.

Right now, he was focusing on his energy and sensing the undulations in his spiritual sea. His spiritual and soul power combined and flowed throughout his entire body. It was very soothing. His spiritual power had improved once again, and it seemed as if he were absorbing the origin energy in his body at a quicker rate now. The remaining origin energy was localized in his dantian now!

“Time’s up. The first-ranked and last-ranked competitors from the technical test earlier, please ascend the stage!” the emcee’s voice sounded up on the stage.

Ye Yulin was personally standing at the center of the stage. As the chief judge, he didn’t need to do something like this. However, he wanted to observe how Huo Yuhao controlled his human-shaped soul tool close up later on.

He Caitou stood up and bent his back. He lifted his rapidfire cannon in front of him and walked to the stage. With his well-developed, burly figure, and that huge cannon on his shoulder, he looked rather awe-inspiring.

His opponent from the Alto Chamber of Commerce was also already on the stage. The soul tool that he had created was a long warblade. He had chosen a close-combat path.

The length of his warblade was around the same as He Caitou’s rapidfire cannon. The blade of his warblade was around two meters long, the hilt as thick as an egg. As he stood there, he also looked very imposing.