Chapter 1686
As her cultivation rank improved, she attained her suit of two-word battle armor, and up to that point, everything was still normal in that her battle armor had been designed to enhance her martial soul.
However, once she became a Soul Sage, she discovered a problem: among all poison type martial souls, her Nine Heart Begonia stood at the very pinnacle, and there was a law of diminishing returns when it came to enhancing poison through battle armor.
After careful calculations, she discovered that once she reached the Titled Douluo level, the poison of her Nine Heart Begonia would reach a point of saturation in this world. This meant that at the very most, her battle armor would only be able to increase the scope that her poison acted upon, but would be unable to improve her poison's potency.
Thus, the benefit would be far from pronounced.
Shi Mengshan was extremely dejected by this. If her battle armor couldn't significantly enhance her powers, then she would never be able to rise to the very top of the Soul Master world. As such, even though she was held in very high regard in the Battle God Hall as a control system Soul Master, she was constantly unhappy, all the way until she discovered this suit of Battle God Hall while inspecting the warehouse of the Battle God Hall.
At the time, she was hesitating about whether she should upgrade her battle armor to the three-word level, and contemplating how much difference it would even make.
As soon as she found this suit of battle armor, she immediately hatched a bold plan that would take her down a unique path.
Thus, she reported her plan to her superiors, and this was very risky as she had to abandon her suit of two-word battle armor for a chance to inherit another suit of battle armor.
However, Shi Mengshan had always been very determined and resilient.
In the end, Chen Xinjie and Guan Yue had no choice but to support her idea. After all, they couldn't dissuade her, and there were many suits of battle armor left behind by the forefathers of the Battle God Hall, and if this proved to be a success, then it would be immensely beneficial to the recycling and reuse of these suits of battle armor.
Thus, Shi Mengshan began her experiment, and it ended in a half-success.
She did manage to inherit this suit of battle armor and was able to make use of its full power to unleash devastating attacks, but this suit of battle armor hadn't been tailor-made for her, so it conflicted with her martial soul and resulted in major issues.
As a result, using her battle armor and using her martial soul became two mutually exclusive facets of her arsenal, and that was being displayed here.
The most fearsome aspect of this suit of battle armor was those first three consecutive strikes. The explosive power of those three strikes could perhaps overwhelm a Limit Douluo if they were to try and face those attacks head-on. During its construction, this suit of three-word battle armor had been geared toward maximizing strength, and it had actually been constructed by the Tang Sect.
As such, after failing to defeat her opponent or gain a decisive advantage after those first three strikes, Shi Mengshan was already in a difficult predicament.
Her speed was decent, but it was lacking compared to Yue Zhengyu, who excelled in flight, and it was very difficult for her to fly with this heavy suit of battle armor. Thus, Yue Zhengyu was able to open up some distance between them, and she was constantly being held at arm's length.
Even though some of the poison had entered Yue Zhengyu's body, the effects were quite mild, and he was still able to outrun his opponent.
Gradually, Yue Zhengyu began to realize the predicament that his opponent was in. She simply couldn't catch him!
Her offensive prowess was incredible, but that didn't do her any good unless she could actually strike her opponent with her attacks.
Having made that realization, Yue Zhengyu was feeling a lot more confident.
A faint smile appeared on his face, and his attitude began to shift.
Shi Mengshan couldn't catch him, so he could just constantly bombard her with long-range attacks from afar, forcing her into a battle of attrition. As long as he remained patient and vigilant, the victory was his for the taking!
Just as this thought began to form in Yue Zhengyu's mind, Shi Mengshan suddenly drew to a halt.
"That's enough, I concede.
"
She couldn't catch up to her opponent and was constantly being bombarded by holy light, so the final outcome was nothing more than a foregone conclusion.
She wasn't inferior to her opponent in power, but his strengths made him a natural bane to her. If her opponent had inferior poison resistance or possessed less speed than her, then she would've already won.
Up to this point, Shrek Academy had chalked up three wins and one tie!
Even as Yue Zhengyu descended onto the ground, his gaze constantly remained on Shi Mengshan, and he patted his own chest as he heaved a sigh of relief.
Even though he had won the battle, he had done so in rather unconvincing fashion. In contrast with Xie Xie's victory, his was quite embarrassing, and he hadn't been able to display his true power at all.
Sure enough, as soon as he returned to the Shrek Academy camp, Xie Xie immediately made his way over to him.
"Shut your mouth! I'm warning you!
" Yue Zhengyu said as he put on a menacing expression.
Xie Xie splayed his hands open in a resigned manner, and said,
"Why do you have to be so cold? I came here to console you.
"
"Console me?
" Yue Zhengyu snapped,
"What a load of nonsense! You must be dying to tell me that I was buzzing around like a headless fly during that battle, right?
"
Xie Xie gave him a huge thumbs-up.
"You said it yourself. I must say, your self-awareness has improved.
"
Yue Zhengyu flared up with rage upon hearing this, and he really wanted to fight Xie Xie if not for his injuries. Then again, he wasn't sure if he could even defeat Xie Xie at this point.
Tang Wulin didn't spare any attention to their quarrel; he was already used to their constant bickering.
Meanwhile, the Battle God Hall camp was deathly silent. Shi Mengshan made her way back to her colleagues, and of course, no one said anything to criticize her, but the Battle God Hall really was being thoroughly embarrassed here.
Right at this moment, A'Ruheng suddenly emerged from the Shrek Academy camp with an eager expression.
He was rubbing his own bald head as he strode forward, and he immediately said,
"I want to challenge the first Battle God.
"
Everyone immediately focused their attention on him upon hearing this.
The Battle God Hall had thought that Shrek Academy would make strategic sacrifices on this level. For example, they could get one of their weaker members to challenge Guan Yue, then forfeit the match right away. This meant that it was possible for Tang Wulin to challenge the first or second Battle God.
However, someone else from the Shrek Academy camp was challenging the first Battle God, which meant that there was a very good chance that Tang Wulin would be challenging Guan Yue!
There was not much strategy involved in their approach; they were merely clashing with the Battle God Hall head-on.
Tang Wulin was also quite surprised that A'Ruheng had stepped forward so early. According to their plan, Shrek's Six Monsters and Ling Zichen were supposed to go ahead of him, followed by Sima Jinchi and Tang Wulin.
However, it was clear that he couldn't hold himself back any longer.
The first Battle God made his way into the battle area. This was a stern-looking man who appeared to be in his forties.
"Body Douluo A'Ruheng of Shrek Academy, please enlighten me!
" A'Ruheng declared.
A clear stir ran through the Battle God Hall camp upon hearing this Douluo Title.
Everyone knew what this title entailed; it was the inheritance of what was once one of the most powerful sects in the world.