The Exchange Conference Begins

"I hereby announce that the Five Elements Academy Exchange Conference now begins!"

As soon as Feng Qingcang finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted from below the stage.

Feng Qingcang raised his hands, signaling for the crowd below to quiet down.

After the venue fell silent, Feng Qingcang spoke.

"The Five Elements Academy Exchange Conference is held once every three years. It is a stage for the students of our Five Elements Academy to learn from one another. I hope you will not hold back and will show your full brilliance. Do not fear failure. As long as you can improve through failure, this exchange conference will not have been in vain."

As he spoke, Feng Qingcang swept his gaze across the audience. Seeing the fire burning in many students' eyes, he smiled faintly and said, "Very good. I can feel your burning enthusiasm. Those of you who were able to join our Five Elements Academy must all be geniuses outside these walls. So, who is willing to be the first to step forward and begin today's first soul duel?"

"Since Dean Feng has said so, then let me be the first to set the ball rolling!"

With that, a plain-looking young man of seventeen or eighteen, dressed in gold-red clothes, leaped onto the stage. His eyes blazed as he shouted at the crowd below, "Huo Wushuang of Blazing Fire Academy! My Spirit is the Unicorn Blazingsaurus. I am a level thirty-six assault-type Battle Soul Elder. Who is willing to fight me?!"

Though he was the first to take the stage, Huo Wushuang was not worried that some Soul Ancestor would suddenly appear and defeat him. It was not that he thought the Five Elements Academy had no Soul Ancestor-level students, but a match was only meaningful when the contestants were of similar levels. Otherwise, why hold this event at all? Would it not be enough to rank everyone directly by Soul Power?

"Haha, as expected of my son. He's got guts."

Seeing Huo Wushuang take the stage, Huo Yangyan immediately raised his brows at the people beside him. However, they all knew what he was like and ignored him.

"I will fight you!"

After waiting for a moment, an exquisite beauty of around sixteen, with long water-blue hair draped over her shoulders, leaped onto the stage.

After facing Huo Wushuang, the young woman cupped her hands to him and said, "Shui Bing'er of Skywater Academy. My Spirit is the Ice Phoenix. I am a level thirty-six control-type Battle Soul Elder. Please enlighten me!"

"Ice Phoenix?!"

Upon hearing Shui Bing'er's words, Huo Wushuang's pupils contracted sharply, and his vigilance instantly rose to its peak.

At the same time, Huo Yangyan's smile vanished from the elevated platform. He looked at Shui Yueruo beside him in disbelief and asked, "Your academy actually recruited someone with an Ice Phoenix Spirit?"

The other three also changed expression, their gazes toward Shui Yueruo filled with uncertainty and suspicion.

Phoenix Spirits were among the most elite Beast Spirits. No matter what type of phoenix it was, as long as it had any connection to a phoenix, its grade would not be low. The Ice Phoenix was one of the purest phoenix Spirits.

If the Soul Master world had not studied this type of Spirit so little, making it impossible to optimize every stage of its development, then in terms of Spirit strength alone, it would surpass even the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, known as the number one Beast Spirit in the world.

Yet faced with everyone's questioning gazes, Shui Yueruo merely smiled faintly and replied, "I was simply lucky. I happened to encounter an owner of an Ice Phoenix Spirit during one of my trips outside."

At that explanation, the other four could only roll their eyes. If Ice Phoenix Spirits were so easy to come across, their academies would already be overflowing with all sorts of top-tier Spirits.

Still, seeing that Shui Yueruo did not wish to elaborate, they did not press the matter. The Ice Phoenix Spirit was indeed powerful, but they could not obtain it for themselves. They could hardly poach her, and that was not realistic anyway.

Meanwhile, Huo Wushuang and Shui Bing'er had already begun fighting below.

But as soon as the battle began, Huo Wushuang felt incomparably stifled. Although his Unicorn Blazingsaurus was not a top-tier Spirit, it was still among the finest high-grade Spirits.

In ordinary battles, he had never feared Soul Masters with water or ice attributes. Yet when facing Shui Bing'er's Ice Phoenix, it felt as though his Spirit was being suppressed by a higher rank, making the battle extremely difficult.

Simply melting Shui Bing'er's first Soul Skill, Ice Seal, took considerable effort. When he finally managed to close in on her, one Repulsion Ice Ring sent him straight back to where he had started. How was he supposed to fight like this?

Thus, after fighting for around a quarter of an hour, Huo Wushuang helplessly chose to surrender, ending the exchange conference's first battle.

"You let me win."

After Huo Wushuang surrendered, a faint smile appeared on Shui Bing'er's face as she cupped her hands toward him.

Huo Wushuang, on the other hand, wore an ugly expression. After returning her salute, he hurriedly walked off the Soul Duel Platform.

If possible, he never wanted to fight Shui Bing'er again. Controlled to death, worn down to death—this was far too miserable.

After watching the battle, Mo Hui frowned.

Well... how should he put it? Their level was indeed much higher than that of ordinary students, but in Mo Hui's eyes now, it was merely average.

Finding it uninteresting, Mo Hui took a book on Soul Ring mechanism research from his Soul Tool and began reading.

"That brat Mo Hui!"

On the elevated platform, Feng Qingcang felt somewhat helpless when he saw Mo Hui take out a book. Mo Hui was good in every way, but perhaps because he was too outstanding, he could not get along with people his own age.

With Huo Wushuang and Shui Bing'er's battle serving as an example, things became much easier afterward. Outstanding students from every academy took the stage one after another. At the most heated moments, all four Soul Duel Arenas were packed. Dazzling waves of Soul Power surged, and all kinds of Soul Skills appeared in rapid succession, leaving the watching students and teachers full of admiration.

During this time, Feng Xiaotian also took the stage several times and won every match.

It could not be helped. Feng Xiaotian was now close to level forty-three, practically the highest among the students. Moreover, after being defeated by Mo Hui, he had trained hard in combat techniques and learned Air Blade Multi-Merge, greatly improving his control over his Soul Power. Forget students of the same level—even some veteran Soul Ancestors might not be able to defeat him.

Having him fight these students who had only just broken through to Soul Ancestor was truly a crushing advantage.

However, somewhat to Mo Hui's surprise, Feng Xiaotian did not take this opportunity to challenge him. Perhaps he was thinking of keeping Mo Hui's abilities secret and did not want him to reveal them.

After all, if Mo Hui took the stage, he would certainly have to use Air Blade Multi-Merge and the Cutting Wind Wheel. Without those two Self-Created Soul Skills, relying only on his Wind Blades, whose attack power was not particularly strong, his combat strength would drop by at least half.

But how could Mo Hui have known that Feng Xiaotian had not challenged him simply because he was afraid of losing again in front of so many people?

Feng Xiaotian did not care about anyone else, but the Huo Wu he loved most was here today. Would it not be unbearably embarrassing if he lost?

Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, it was already noon. Just as Mo Hui thought he would not be involved, an unexpected event made him pause in surprise.

Over at Blazing Fire Academy, after Huo Wu heard something from a Godwind Academy student, the corner of her lips suddenly curled upward. She then leaped onto the Soul Duel Platform, pointed at Mo Hui, and shouted, "I, Huo Wu of Blazing Fire Academy, challenge Mo Hui of Godwind Academy!"