Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 474 - 70: Pre-Race Intelligence Analysis
Chapter 474: Chapter 70: Pre-Race Intelligence Analysis
As the date of the competition drew nearer, the public buzz around this match also began to escalate.
In the Cultivator Athletic League, there were usually 1-2 live duels broadcast every week, but they were mostly between Grade C teams pecking at each other. Occasionally, there would be a Grade B duel, which would attract significantly more viewers than the regular matches.
Currently, there are only eight Grade A teams: they mainly tackle foreign forces, thus rarely combating each other—this time, without even needing any promotion, many had already rushed to the designated streaming rooms to reserve a viewing spot. In just a few days, the reservation count had already exceeded eighty million.
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The discussion threads across major forums were endless, filled with predictions and power hyping. Overall, more people favored the Zhenhai Team, but everyone agreed that the Huofeng Team was only slightly weaker and not to the extent that they would be overwhelmed, which meant the contest still held plenty of suspense and excitement.
More than the public’s interest in “who is stronger”, cultivators were more concerned about the new competition format. The team size had increased from five to six, introducing the concepts of front and rear formations, thereby greatly expanding tactical possibilities. Everyone was eager for Zhenhai and Huofeng to pave the way, especially since Chen Lingyun and Zhang Huaide were known for their tactical prowess, possibly setting a textbook example of classic tactics.
This time the Mysterious Realm was located in the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon within Gongbu Prefecture, which had been tightly sealed off and guarded by the Pingxi Army, barring any tourists or media from entry.
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Two days before the competition began, Yan Yu and others boarded a charter plane from Jinling Prefecture, flying to Milin Airport within Gongbu Prefecture.
The team would rest overnight in the city area of Gongbu Prefecture, then attend tomorrow’s press conference, with the official day of the competition being the morning after, all facilitated by the Pingxi Army.
Inside the aircraft, the assistant captain Chen Lingyun began, as usual, briefing on the opponent’s intelligence and the tactics to be used.
“This match bans two techniques,” she said with a smile, “Ruoxi’s Thunder Method and Zhou Hongyu’s Crimson Feather Nine Phoenix Fire.” because being hit by them would most likely result in death, with no recovery possible, thus their use on competing teams is prohibited by the authorities.”
“Not letting Ruoxi use the Thunder Method, isn’t that like tying her hands and feet?” Zhao Yuanzhen protested.
“Rules are rules,” Yan Yu said. “There are no restrictions on using them against goalkeepers and other creatures inside the Mysterious Realm, just not against people. Besides, we still have the Heavenly Origin Sword, right?”
Xie Ruoxi gave an awkward laugh. Her Sword Control Technique was even worse than Yunjin’s, mainly because of poor accuracy. While not completely off-target, it was so lamentably bad that even Yan Yu couldn’t bear to watch.
Although she had been training hard to improve her accuracy, she dared not claim any significant improvement, just hoping not to hold the team back.
“Zhou Hongyu’s Great Bright Fire currently consists of four techniques: the Flame Spear, Starfall, Phoenix Sword, and Scorched Earth.” Chen Lingyun continued.
“That name…” Su Yunjin hesitated.
“Sounds familiar, right?” Chen Lingyun grinned, “It’s about breaking down a complete set of Taoism Methods into multiple techniques that consume less True Yuan, each needing a separate name. I’ve asked Yang Linhui and Li Zhaojiang; the Taoism books they’ve acquired were not presented in this manner, so either the designers of ‘Great Bright Fire’ and ‘Southern Dipper Galaxy Secret Art’ are the same person or they are closely acquainted, such as martial sisters.”
She then switched on the projector, cast Zhou Hongyu’s past live videos onto the screen, and adjusted to specific timelines for everyone to watch:
“Flame Spear, emits a spear-shaped flame from the mouth that explodes upon hitting the target.”
“Starfall, spits a large mass of flame into the air which also explodes upon impact. It’s slower than the Flame Spear, moving in a parabola, but its power and range are significantly larger, and the resulting flames linger for about one to two minutes,”
“Phoenix Sword, emits flames sweeping across three meters in front of the user. What’s important is that it triggers very quickly, without the flight trajectory of Flame Spear or Starfall, leaving very little time for opponents to react.”
The group watched the video intently. The Flame Spear took about more than a second to hit its target, Starfall took two to three seconds, while the execution of the Phoenix Sword took less than half a second. On the screen, just a shake of Zhou Hongyu’s head immediately sent flames bursting towards a fan-shaped area directly in front, instantly igniting a Tianzhu Transcendent who was attempting to close in.
The quick action was so brief that everyone was unsure if they could react in time.
Luckily, the range of the Phoenix Sword’s attack was only three meters in front of Zhou Hongyu, so as long as they kept their distance, it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.
Su Yunjin, with her meticulous mind, couldn’t help but set her gaze on Yan Yu, while her thoughts flashed back to the last competition between the two teams.
I remember that time when the captain and Zhou Hongyu fought until her True Yuan was exhausted, and they even resorted to close combat. In the end, he used Runescript to seal her Dantian.
Could it be that Captain Zhou… learned this move specifically to avoid being humiliated again?
On second thought, it seemed unlikely. It was probably for self-defense.
“Having mentioned Zhou Hongyu, let’s discuss Qin Meng,” Chen Lingyun continued, “His ‘Dragon Elephant Nirvana Divine Skill’ is said to be hard to breach with ordinary Flying Sword attacks once he’s reached the Marrow Cleansing Stage.”
“Even tougher than the samurais we faced in the Secret Realm of Li Palace?” Su Yunjin asked in surprise.
She still remembered how those samurai, when attacked by herself, Liu Longtao, and Yang Linhui from three sides with flooding, fire dragons, and blizzards, saw Onmyoji obliterated at once, while many samurai managed to flee in disarray under the onslaught of spells, indicating their physical robustness.
However, samurai relied on armor and magical treasures, whereas the heavily-armored Qin Meng in the video could withstand Flying Swords, a defense even surpassing the samurai’s.
“The Flying Sword can’t break his defense?” Lin Ning was also stirred up, “Then how do we fight?”
Aside from Sword Control Technique, I have no other means of attack!
“Don’t worry,” Yan Yu interjected, “to activate his Dragon Elephant Nirvana Divine Skill, consuming True Yuan is necessary. Although hits on him won’t cause injury, his True Yuan consumption will surge dramatically.”
“So, trade mana for health loss, right?” Xie Ruoxi was quick to catch on.
“You could say that,” Chen Lingyun replied, only to hear Zhao Yuanzhen retort,
“Then we shouldn’t have banned Ruoxi’s Thunder Method, or else wouldn’t dealing with Qin Meng be a breeze?”
“Haha, he probably can’t stand the Thunder Method,” Chen Lingyun said casually. “As for Zhang Huaide, I don’t expect much improvement in his swordsmanship, otherwise he wouldn’t have recruited Hou Qing for reinforcement. We should mainly guard against his tactics; he likely isn’t much of a threat himself.”
“Tang Xiaolian, a cultivator who uses Gu Insects. Explaining the various, confusing types of Gu isn’t meaningful; it’s doubtful anyone could remember them all. Just follow my lead during the battle. Her trump card is the Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gu, but it likely won’t come into play this time, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Why won’t it be on the field?” Lin Ning asked.
“It’s because our captain told her…” Chen Lingyun’s voice trailed off as Yan Yu coughed loudly, stopping her mid-gossip, “Let’s discuss Hou Qing and Meng Qingxi.”
“Meng Qingxi is an Assistant Officer, who recently acquired a primary magic treasure called ‘Kongtong Seal’,” Chen Lingyun explained. “Based on the livestream footage, its effect seems to be dropping down to smash people, similar to Zhao’s White Bone Heart-Locking Hammer.”
“Of course, that’s not its only effect,” Yan Yu added.
The White Bone Heart-Locking Hammer has tracking and armor-piercing effects; once launched, it automatically flies towards the enemy’s head, with a striking force so penetrative that even heavily-armored robust samurai can’t withstand it.
Meng Qingxi’s Kongtong Seal probably has special effects beyond just physical attacks, but past confrontations with the Huofeng Team were with foreign Transcendents who all ended up dead, and dead men tell no tales.
“We’ll test it during the fight.” Chen Lingyun breezed by, continuing, “As for Hou Qing, although he hasn’t participated in real battles since joining, I managed to get hold of his swordsmanship practice videos from his school days.”
“How is it?” asked Yan Yu. He hadn’t heard of Hou Qing in his previous life and didn’t know how strong he actually was.
Lin Ning perked up her ears beside him, thinking how many Lin’s worth of strength this Hou Qing might have… Ah, spit spit spit! What kind of combat metric is that! It’s all the captain’s fault for talking nonsense!
“Very floaty,” Chen Lingyun used a rather uncommon term.
