The weather wasn’t great, being gloomy and somewhat oppressive, but the clouds in the sky weren’t dark. However, the sun wasn’t out but fortunately, the air was still fresh and clean, and there was no rain either.

The start of the round-robin tournament signified the opening of the partic.i.p.ants’ rest area. The round-robin tournament today was only the first part of the tournament and four of the eight groups would make an appearance today. However, all sixty-seven teams who qualified from the knockout round were sitting within the rest area with no exceptions.

They were here to spectate the tournament. More accurately, they wanted to once again experience the shock that occurred on the first day of the tournament. They wanted to see the youth who came from Shrek and the Tang Sect and see whether he really had six hundred thousand year soul rings.

Shrek was Shrek, the Shrek that had ten thousand years of glory. Practically every single academy had unconsciously set it as their target, yet deeply revered it. Even the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy wasn’t an exception to this.

When the dark-green clad team from Shrek appeared in the partic.i.p.ants’ entrance tunnel, the atmosphere of the entire Star Luo Plaza started boiling. Loud cheers for Shrek began ringing out from the areas closest to the entrance tunnel.

Huo Yuhao walked expressionlessly at the very front of the team. Since they wanted to a.s.sume an air of power to terrify their opponents, they would naturally have to go all-out. Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, and Ling Luochen simply didn’t bother turning up; they chose to stay in the hotel to recuperate and make their recovery as fast as possible.

Shrek Academy’s resting area was located the furthest north, making it nearest to the city walls. Furthermore, their resting area was clearly larger than that of the other academies. The entire area had a total of twenty sofas and was staffed by an attendant. A table beside the sofas was filled with food, fruits, and drinks in order to cater to any needs the partic.i.p.ants might have. Just how was this a tournament? It was practically a VIP spectator area.

In reality, the other academies weren’t treated much differently than them. However, they didn’t have any attendants. But more importantly, their areas were much smaller than Shrek’s. Every resting area only had seven seats meant for the official team; the preparatory team or subst.i.tutes could only stand behind the others.

At this moment, the host was already building up the tension in the arena. He first announced the names of the academies that had already pa.s.sed through the first round of the tournament and then proceeded to introduce each team in more detail.

It was just as w.a.n.g Yan had predicted, the group that Shrek belonged to only had a total of eight partic.i.p.ating teams. Shrek Academy was naturally the most popular team in the entire tournament, overshadowing any and all other teams in the same group. After all, n.o.body had ever seen Shrek Academy put into an awkward situation where they had to put on a false strong front.

Other than the partic.i.p.ants’ resting area, there were also waiting areas located by either side of the enormous tournament stage that were used by the delegations of the various academies who would be fighting on stage.

After spouting a load of bulls.h.i.+t that stirred the emotions of the crowd, the announcer used his most impa.s.sioned voice to cry out, “Now, let us have the continent’s number one academy, the representative team from Shrek Academy, in addition to their opponents, the representative team from the Star Luo Empire’s Cloud Luo Soul Engineering Academy, enter the waiting area. May the leaders from both teams please step onto the stage to confirm the mode of battle.”

The difference between the two academies could be seen from their introductions. When the announcer introduced Shrek Academy, he didn’t mention the country it was located in. However, he would do this for the other academies. This was because no country would dare to claim that Shrek Academy belonged to it. Even the Heavenly Soul Empire, which Shrek technically belonged to, wasn’t an exception to this.

Shrek Academy had its own Shrek City, the status of which was so incredibly high that every country had to give it an extremely high amount of respect.

When compared to Shrek Academy, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy was also comparably powerful. However, it had a much weaker foundation. Because of that, they could only compare themselves against Shrek during the Continental Advanced Soul Academy Tournament, and use that to stimulate the explosive growth of their students.

Bei Bei stood up and walked towards the stage after w.a.n.g Yan motioned for him to do so. The leader of the Cloud Luo Advanced Soul Engineering Academy’s team was a buff Adonis who was practically no different from He Caitou. He had a head full of short, golden hair, and the outlines of his thick muscles could be seen below his white school uniform.

The two walked up to the stage together. The lot-drawing process was very simple; the referee took a cylindrical lot-drawing tube and allowed the leaders of both teams to inspect it.

The lot-drawing tube was transparent to prevent any possible cheating. One of the tube’s sides had a small, round hole in it. The referee took three small b.a.l.l.s that represented the three modes of combat and shoved them into the small hole, then turned the entire thing upside down. After that, he allowed each one of them to hold a side of the large sphere.

The referee shouted, “Three, two, one!”

Bei Bei and the opposing team leader simultaneously exerted force, throwing the large sphere into the air. If no small b.a.l.l.s dropped out from the larger ball during this process, the referee would turn it over after catching it. The ball which dropped out then would be their mode of combat. If a small ball dropped out while the larger ball was in the air, that would represent their mode of combat.

This was the round-robin tournament’s first lot-drawing, and it was extremely successful. When the two leaders threw the large ball twenty meters into the air, a small ball dropped out.

There were three small b.a.l.l.s, each with their own distinctive color. They were red, yellow, and blue respectively.

Red represented the team fight, yellow represented the 1v1 fight, and blue represented the 2-2-3 fight. This time around, a small yellow ball dropped out of the large ball.

The referee caught the small ball as he retrieved the larger ball, which was falling back to the ground. After allowing both leaders to take a look at the smaller ball, he looked towards the Star Luo Emperor, who was seated at the top of the city walls. The latter gave a signal, and the announcer used the soul loudspeaker to make an announcement.

“Shrek Academy’s fight against Cloud Luo Academy will be conducted via the 1v1 knockout mode. May both parties please send out a single member to take part in the compet.i.tion.”

1v1? After hearing that the compet.i.tion was to be conducted in such a manner, the audience’s eyes lit up. Every single member of the audience who could see him, in addition to the students from the various academies who had Huo Yuhao in their line of sight, cast their gazes towards him. They all hoped that Huo Yuhao would be the first person to come out and would complete a 1v7. Wouldn’t that be the most satisfying outcome they could watch!? Who wouldn’t want to feel the excitement and thrill that came from the appearance of six hundred thousand year soul rings again?

Both leaders glanced at each other, then stepped down from the stage. Bei Bei had already received instructions from w.a.n.g Yan before the lot-drawing. w.a.n.g Yan had told him to come back down after the lot-drawing, regardless of the format of the compet.i.tion.

Bei Bei hurriedly returned to the waiting area, then cast an inquisitive gaze towards w.a.n.g Yan. “Teacher w.a.n.g, I’ll go.”

However, w.a.n.g Yan shook his head and spoke in a premeditated manner. “We should have a certain amount of a.s.surance in this match. Out of the four empires, the empire that has the strongest soul engineering academy is the Sun Moon Empire. However, the soul engineering academies of the other three empires don’t lag behind by much. Although our academy’s Soul Tool Department isn’t the strongest, we’re definitely better than those from the Heavenly Soul, Dou Ling, and Star Luo Empires. This Cloud Luo Advanced Soul Engineering Academy comes from the Star Luo Empire, not the Sun Moon Empire. As a whole, I’m certain they won’t be too strong. Furthermore, since they’re soul engineers, I guarantee that they won’t have any Soul King-ranked students. I’m suspecting that they won’t even have too many Soul Ancestors. a.s.sault-type soul masters will be put at a disadvantage against soul engineers, and we don’t have any subst.i.tutes. Thus, we need to guarantee that none of you suffer any injuries. Otherwise, we run the risk of you not being able to recover during the one day of rest that we have. Taking all this into consideration, Xu Sans.h.i.+, you’re up for the first round.”

As he spoke, w.a.n.g Yan pointed at Xu Sans.h.i.+ and whispered, “A defense-type soul master is most suited to restrain a soul engineer, especially a low-ranked one. Remember, do your best to control the consumption of your soul power. Last a few rounds on the stage. The longer you endure and the later we reveal our students, the better. Go.”

The moment Xu Sans.h.i.+ heard that he was going to go out first, he immediately stood up excitedly. Bending his right arm, he flexed his muscles and said proudly, “Just watch me.” With that, he took large strides towards the stage.

Bei Bei turned towards He Caitou and asked, “Don’t you think he’s a bit thick?”

He Caitou laughed naughtily. “A bit.”

Jiang Nannan snorted, “Extremely thick.”

Xu Sans.h.i.+, who hadn’t walked far, stumbled and nearly fell down, but he clenched his teeth and walked up to the stage.

The first student sent out by the Cloud Luo Academy wasn’t tall, but his shoulders were very wide; he was even somewhat fat. His nervousness was visible on his face as he faced the tall Xu Sans.h.i.+, beads of sweat could already be seen on his forehead.

Any academy would be nervous while facing Shrek Academy, this was to be expected.

At such a young age, Huo Yuhao had revealed such a prodigal amount of strength. Wouldn’t the somewhat older person in front of him be stronger than his junior? This seemed especially true when he looked at Xu Sans.h.i.+’s fierce appearance. He began to feel weak inside! He subconsciously wiped his sweat with his sleeve, causing the spectators to burst into laughter.

Huo Yuhao not coming up to the stage had disappointed a large number of people. But this was still one of Shrek Academy’s matches and they quickly got excited again, prepared and curious to see how strong Xu Sans.h.i.+, who was decent-looking in terms of power, was.

The referee called the two of them to him and said in a low voice, “The rules of the 1v1 knockout round state that the loser has to immediately step down from the stage, while the winner can choose to either continue fighting or switch out. Each party has seven people, and the compet.i.tion will go on until all seven people from one side are defeated. Understand?”

“Understood.” Xu Sans.h.i.+ replied in a very straightforward manner. However, his opponent was stammering. “Un-understood.”

The referee said, “Okay. Both parties, return to your sides. The match will begin with my call. You’re not allowed to use stationary soul tools or any soul tools that have a high degree of killing power.”

As he spoke, the referee began to step back. However, the student from the Cloud Luo Academy squeezed out a smile and said to Xu Sans.h.i.+, “I-I’m called Ma Yingjun. Senior, please go easy on me.”

The corner of Xu Sans.h.i.+’s mouth twitched as he said proudly, “Are you as handsome as me?”

Ma Yingjun hurriedly shook his head to the point where his brain shook like a drum. “No, no.”

Satisfied, Xu Sans.h.i.+ nodded. “Fine. I’ll go a little easy on you.”