Chapter 257: Chapter 257: Shocking Everyone

Before the crowd’s murmurs had even died down.

SHOO!

The second Soul Crystal in front of Luan Hong also bloomed with a cyan light, emitting clear fluctuations of Soul Power.

This...

Everyone was utterly shocked. Luan Hong’s activation speed was simply terrifying.

Activating a Soul Crystal wasn’t just a simple matter of using Soul Power. One had to analyze its internal structure, synchronize their own Soul Power with the Soul Power within the crystal, and then gradually activate it.

But Luan Hong had activated several Soul Crystals in a row in just a few seconds. Such speed shattered everyone’s expectations.

Even the top Soul Refiners from the various nations on the judging platform were inwardly shocked. If it were them up there, they couldn’t guarantee they would be any faster than Luan Hong.

"A technique like this is impossible for an ordinary Soul Refiner."

"Chairman Tai Xin, this Luan Hong is a Soul Refiner from your Wushang Kingdom. But if it were you, I’m afraid even you might not be as fast as him, right?"

"In the first round, that Luan Hong held on until the Soul Power Storm broke through to the Fourth Grade. Could he be a Fourth Grade Soul Refiner?"

"Are you kidding? A Fourth Grade Soul Refiner? Wouldn’t that put his skill on par with the Chairmen of the Soul Master Towers from the five great powers? This Luan Hong looks to be only twenty-four or twenty-five. How could our Thirteen Nations Alliance produce such a heaven-defying talent?"

"That makes sense. Perhaps he’s using some sort of special activation method."

For a moment, the crowd buzzed with discussion. Almost everyone’s attention shifted to Luan Hong, their faces filled with amazement.

Compared to the other contestants, Luan Hong’s lead was just too great.

In just two short minutes, he had already activated thirteen Soul Crystals. The next best, Ye Fanxing of the Dongsheng Kingdom, had activated ten. After him, Xia Qixi, Zhou Liang, and the others had nine each.

At this rate, Luan Hong might actually have a chance to activate all forty-nine Soul Crystals within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Chairman Zhu Tianlan’s attention had been entirely focused on Luan Hong since the beginning of the match. Watching him, he was profoundly shaken. ’What a terrifying technique. There must be a heaven-defying master Soul Refiner behind this boy, one whose strength surpasses even my own.’ Luan Hong’s method for activating the Soul Crystals was incredibly ingenious. His Soul Power moved like a vortex, activating the crystals with minimal power and maximum speed.

He had never seen such a technique before; it was completely beyond the scope of any skill known within the Thirteen Nations Alliance.

This left him deeply shocked.

At this moment, after being stunned by Luan Hong’s technique, some people’s gazes couldn’t help but drift toward Ye Xuan, the one who had contended with Luan Hong until the very end in the previous round.

One look was all it took for their already shocked eyes to nearly pop out of their sockets. Their expressions turned slack-jawed.

Before Ye Xuan’s square table, not a single Soul Crystal had been activated. Yet Ye Xuan himself seemed completely oblivious, occasionally picking up one crystal to look at, then glancing at another, as if he had no intention of making a move at all.

"This kid... he can’t even activate a single Soul Crystal, can he?"

Someone muttered speechlessly to themselves.

On the field, even the weakest of the three hundred contestants had activated at least one Soul Crystal. Only Ye Xuan’s table remained dark, without a single one activated. And he showed no intention of even trying, which stunned everyone.

And to top it off, Ye Xuan had been the winner of the last trial. The stark contrast was almost too much for people to bear.

"See? I told you that kid definitely cheated in the last match! If he hadn’t cheated, how could he have not activated a single Soul Crystal by now?"

"This contestant sent by the Liuyun Kingdom is a real weirdo."

"And yet he still got first place in the last trial. I have no idea how he managed to hold on."

"Could it be that his skill with Arrays is astonishing, but he’s just a beginner when it comes to Soul Refining?"

The crowd was in an uproar, buzzing with discussion.

"Hahaha, Chairman Dongfang Yanyu, is this the level of your Liuyun Kingdom’s handpicked contestant? It’s been almost three minutes, nearly a third of the incense stick has burned, and that Ye Xuan still hasn’t activated a single Soul Crystal. He’s truly one of a kind."

"Hmph, the only reason that kid got first place in the last trial was because he happened to be familiar with that Array. His actual Soul Refining skills are absolutely atrocious. I said it before, and I’ll say it again: his result from the last match should be nullified. Letting him take first place isn’t just a disgrace to himself; if word gets out, it’s a disgrace to our entire Thirteen Nations Alliance."

Chairman Xuu Xin Hua of the Fire Crow Kingdom and the Chairman of the Zuo Yi Alliance from the Dongsheng Kingdom kept up their taunts and jeers, their words harsh.

Chairman Dongfang Yanyu ignored their words, but his brows were furrowed deeply. He stared at Ye Xuan, completely bewildered. He also had no idea why Ye Xuan was just fiddling with the positions of the Soul Crystals.

But he believed Ye Xuan definitely had a reason for doing so.

Vice-Chairman Kuchen, however, wasn’t as good-tempered. He gave a cold, disdainful smile. "What’s the rush? The emperor isn’t worried, but the eunuchs are. The competition isn’t over yet. Isn’t it a bit too early for you two to be drawing conclusions? Are you so sure Ye Xuan won’t stage a dramatic comeback in the end?"

Kuchen’s words nearly made Xuu Xin Hua and the Chairman of the Zuo Yi Alliance choke. To think that Kuchen was still this stubborn at a time like this.

Their faces cold, they sneered. "Fine, fine, old man Kuchen. We’ll just wait and see. I’d love to watch how that kid, who hasn’t activated a single Soul Crystal with almost half the time gone, is going to stage a ’dramatic comeback’..."

With that, the two of them ignored Kuchen. The large crowd focused their attention back on Luan Hong, their brows furrowed in deep thought.

Time ticked by. In the blink of an eye, three-quarters of the time had passed. With only two minutes left, the competition was about to end.

At this moment, Luan Hong had activated thirty-eight Soul Crystals, with only eleven remaining out of the forty-nine. As for the other contestants, the best among them had only activated thirty-four, a significant gap compared to Luan Hong.

With two minutes left... ’Could this kid really activate all the Soul Crystals?’

In an instant, everyone’s hearts were in their throats. They stared intently at the stage, their faces flushed with excitement.

In the hundred-year history of the Floating Light Assembly, not a single contestant had ever managed to activate all forty-nine Soul Crystals. If Luan Hong could do it, he would absolutely shatter the Assembly’s record.

By now, no one was paying attention to Ye Xuan anymore. Compared to Luan Hong, Ye Xuan—the one who had fought him to the very end in the last round—seemed like a clown, completely unworthy of their time.

The only exceptions were Chairman Dongfang Yanyu and Kuchen.

From start to finish, their attention had never completely left Ye Xuan.

Whether it was Luan Hong, Ye Fanxing, or Xia Qixi, while they observed them all, their primary focus remained on Ye Xuan.

They refused to believe that Ye Xuan was truly incapable of activating even a single Soul Crystal. There had to be a deeper meaning to his earlier actions.

After their long period of contact with Ye Xuan, their occasional, casual conversations had already led them to trust him completely and wholeheartedly.

Sure enough, with only two minutes remaining in the competition, Ye Xuan finally made his move.

His hands formed a series of strange techniques as he tapped one by one across the Soul Crystals he had rearranged on the table.

SHOO! SHOO! SHOO!

Like a magic trick, each Soul Crystal that Ye Xuan tapped was instantly activated the moment his finger brushed past, bursting forth in a dazzling, multicolored radiance.

In just a few short seconds, Ye Xuan had instantly activated nearly ten Soul Crystals.

"Such a fast technique!"

Ye Xuan’s actions made it impossible for Chairman Dongfang Yanyu and Vice-Chairman Kuchen to look away. They were both stunned, their mouths agape and their expressions dumbfounded.

"Old Kuchen, Luan Hong has activated forty crystals now. You still think your Liuyun Kingdom’s Ye Xuan can stage a comeback... Hmm? What are you two looking at?"

At this moment, Chairman Xuu Xin Hua of the Fire Crow Kingdom couldn’t resist turning to taunt Kuchen. However, what he saw were their stunned faces. He paused, then turned to look where they were staring.

Their strange reaction also drew the attention of the other master Soul Refiners on the judging platform, who all turned to look.

One look, and every master Soul Refiner on the judging platform was instantly frozen stiff, as if petrified.

Meanwhile, Ye Xuan’s actions had finally caught the attention of a small portion of the audience. Gasps of astonishment suddenly erupted from the crowd below.

"Look! Look at that kid!"

"My heavens, it looked like he hadn’t even activated one a second ago. How did he suddenly activate so many?"

"Those movements, that technique..."

A series of shocked exclamations rang out. The crowd’s eyes were now completely glued to Ye Xuan.

His outstanding technique was dazzling. Once unleashed, it was like a heavenly shower of flowers, a hundred blossoms blooming at once.

This scene was something everyone present would remember for the rest of their lives.

The brilliantly glowing Soul Crystals illuminated the entire square table in a dazzling light, leaving everyone stunned and speechless.

Ye Xuan’s method of activating Soul Crystals was a perfect example of "lie low until you can shock the world with a single feat."

In almost thirty seconds, the number of activated Soul Crystals had instantly reached nearly thirty. That was basically one per second.

"This is incredible! How can such a technique for activating Soul Crystals exist in this world?"

"Tapping crystals into souls... this is true Soul-Tapping! Our techniques are just crap in comparison." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"If your technique is crap, then isn’t mine worse than crap?"

The crowd exploded like a wok of hot oil, instantly boiling over with excitement.

But Ye Xuan, the focus of everyone’s attention, remained calm, his technique steady as he continued to activate one Soul Crystal after another.

As an Eighth Grade Soul Venerable in his past life, Ye Xuan had far too much experience with the art of Tapping Crystals into Souls. That was why he hadn’t rushed to act at the start of the competition, but had instead taken his time to observe carefully.