Taking It High and Setting It Down Lightly, the Opening Match Concludes
Their voices of surrender were clearly heard by everyone through the loudspeakers around the ring.
The room fell silent.
Immediately following was an uproar.
What on earth happened? They were having a great time watching, so why did they suddenly admit defeat, especially since it was Blue Tyrant Academy, who had just eliminated Royal Fight Second Team, who took the initiative to concede?
The venue was noisy, but the referees continued to perform their duties.
He quickly stepped forward, checked Tai Long's condition, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, it did not cause fatal damage. His body was in a terrible state, with two-thirds of his bones broken, but there was still hope for him.
However, even if he recovers, he probably won't have the chance to play in the upcoming qualifiers and round-robin tournaments.
But what does it have to do with him? As long as the person isn't dead, that's all that matters.
Moreover, such a large-scale battle occurred in just the first match of the qualifiers. The referees will probably have to raise the cultivation threshold afterward. It wouldn't be bad if he could just be a spectator.
Ignoring the commotion in the arena, he loudly announced, "Blue Tyrant Academy concedes defeat. In the first match of the first round of the preliminaries, Heaven Dou Royal Academy wins."
Then, he gestured to the Healing System Soul Master waiting below to quickly go up on stage, carry Tai Long off, and begin urging both sides to leave.
On either side of the arena, students from both academies left from different directions, but their performances were quite different.
Despite losing, the students from the Blue Tyrant Academy had smiles on their faces.
Even Huang Yuan, whose face was pale due to excessive blood loss, was being supported by his teammates, chatting and laughing.
On the Royal Fight Second Team side, despite having already won, Tang San and his companions looked rather grim.
They were careless after all. Looking at Tai Long being carried and receiving treatment in front of them, they felt as if they had swallowed a fly.
In their very first match, they were completely outmaneuvered by their opponents. Blue Tyrant Academy wasn't there for the competition at all; they were there to get revenge on Tai Long.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have given up the match immediately after seriously injuring Tai Long.
Most importantly, Blue Tyrant Academy's move set a very bad precedent.
They didn't know if other colleges were having problems, but they knew that they also had conflicts with the Canghui Academy, not to mention the most troublesome Skywater Academy.
If these two colleges do the same thing next, it won't take much more than just imitating today's actions. If they do it again, they won't even need to play the round-robin tournament; they'll simply lose their competitiveness.
Meanwhile, in the stands, Xue Ye and the Three Great Education Committee members also looked quite grim.
Of course, it wasn't because they had considered what would happen next; it was simply because they had lost face.
The second team, in their eyes, was never competitive to begin with, but this kind of competition was still somewhat ugly.
They would rather their second team be completely outmatched in the opening match than see them win only to be thoroughly humiliated.
Most importantly, the opponent isn't strong either.
Look at the situation in the venue; this is the negative impact it has caused.
Even from the high platform, they could faintly hear voices saying things like "Black Curtain" and "***, refund the money."
"Everyone, Blue Tyrant Academy's actions should not be encouraged, but they should not be publicly criticized either. Since it is co-organized by my Spirit Hall, I will step in to quell the public's anger. As for the follow-up matters, you can handle them yourselves."
After glancing at the situation in the stands, Han Li stood up on his own initiative.
As the person in charge of the Spirit Hall in the Heaven Dou Division, he still needs to do some work.
Moreover, he personally selected the opponents for the Imperial Fighting Team, so he naturally took this situation into account.
However, even he didn't expect Blue Tyrant Academy to act this way, not even bothering to make a show of it, clearly targeting one person and immediately admitting defeat after the fight. However, it was quite in line with Liu Erlong's style.
Thinking this, Han Li had already walked to the loudspeaker in front of him.
He gave the staff a look, and the scene in mid-air switched from the arena to Han Li's side.
Under the watchful eyes of the entire audience, Han Li stretched out his right hand and pressed it down in mid-air. Only after the silence subsided did he speak.
"I know everyone is dissatisfied and confused as to why the battle just ended so suddenly, and why Blue Tyrant Academy conceded defeat. But I need to tell you that this is reasonable."
In the footage, Han Li's expression turned serious.
"Although the Soul Master Competition is open to the public and spectators are allowed, don't forget that it is also a battle for the students, or rather, not just a battle, but a series of battles."
"In this process, participants not only need to demonstrate their individual abilities, but also need to assess themselves and their opponents. Of course, this also includes planning the competition schedule."
"The point of confusion for everyone is why Blue Tyrant Academy, who clearly had the upper hand, suddenly conceded defeat, right?"
"But from my perspective, what I see is their overall plan. Although I feel a little sorry for the students of the Blue Tyrant Academy, I must reveal a little about their tactics here in order to explain it to everyone clearly."
Han Li paused briefly to express his apology before continuing, "First of all, they accurately assessed the strength of both sides. Knowing that they were no match for the enemy, they chose a rather special tactic, which, as you can see, involved sending three team members to engage the enemy at the front."
"Then, they used the shields of their own defensive-type Soul Master to block the enemy's view. Of course, it must be mentioned that they also made good use of the characteristics of their own control-type Soul Master ' Martial Soul."
"The Hollow Vine Martial Soul is not common among control-type Soul Master. It is characterized by its unpredictable and elusive appearances, and the strength of the Martial Soul itself is not particularly high. But what people don't know is that the reason why the Hollow Vine is known for its unpredictability is because it can conceal the fluctuations of Soul Power to a certain extent."
"Furthermore, if I'm not mistaken, the two students at the back of the Blue Tyrant Academy have a Soul Skill that is characterized by charging up. The longer the charging time, the greater the power. If we're talking about arena battles, we can say that they're not suitable for competitions."
"But it is precisely because of their tactics that the situation we see has come about."
"After they sent their main players to hold off the opponent's attack, they used shields to block their vision and the characteristics of the Hollow Vine Martial Soul to conceal the Soul Power fluctuations of their teammates behind them, successfully completing the charging of their Soul Skill. That's why everyone saw them eliminate one of the opponents with just one strike."
"But unfortunately, their front-line players are still weaker than their opponents. After their tactics worked, they could no longer delay until the next charged attack was completed."
"So even though they had just defeated one person and had one more opponent than them, they still chose to concede. Because the opponent still had four members who hadn't made a move, and their overall strength was still superior to theirs. Now, does everyone understand?"
"So that's how it is."
In the meeting room below, many people suddenly realized that what Han Li said made sense and wasn't some kind of Black Curtain; in fact, it was something they couldn't understand.
Han Li nodded in satisfaction. He had said these words to the general public and low-level Soul Master.
As for the nobles and participating students, you can tell by looking at the expressions on most of their faces.
If they really do believe it, then it doesn't matter.
After all, the tactics Han Li mentioned were indeed true; the difference lay in their understanding of why Blue Tyrant Academy chose such tactics.
However, he was not the other party's student. From an outsider's perspective, he had already quite glorified the other party's behavior. Even others would not be able to say anything wrong with it and would have to praise the saint's benevolence.
Just look at the expressions on the faces of the Blue Tyrant Academy students who have already joined Liu Erlong below, and you'll understand.
If they weren't the ones involved, after hearing Han Li's words, they would all be unsure whether they had thought the same thing before going on stage.
Han Li glanced at the now-directed discussion in the room, cleared his throat, and continued:
"Of course, having discussed Blue Tyrant Academy, we cannot overlook the winner of this match, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Second Team."
"It's clear from the match that they are indeed very strong, worthy of being the team that Sovereign Ning values. With only three people, or at most four if you include the boost they received at the start, they crushed their opponents in just one round of attacks."
"As I said, Blue Tyrant Academy was very well prepared, and the successful implementation of their tactics prevented them from being completely defeated. But as you can see, even so, Royal Fight Second Team only paid the price of one player being injured to win the first match."
"As far as I know, the list of team members submitted by the Royal Fight Second Team includes a total of seven substitute players. Moreover, the captain, Tang San, is a control-type Soul Master who can suppress the opponent's main Agility Attack System Soul Master without using Soul Skill. His strength is unfathomable."
"Today's battle is just a minor stumble on the way to the top for the Royal Fight Second Team. They will still be the victors."
"As spectators, we should also be generous with our applause. It's something that the winners deserve. We look forward to seeing them bring us even more exciting matches in the future."
As Han Li finished speaking, applause and cheers erupted once again throughout the venue. Although a few people were still dissatisfied, they had no choice but to give up.
In the rest area, Tang San's expression did not improve because of Han Li's words; on the contrary, it became even more gloomy.
Tactical awareness, match planning—bullshit.
Blue Tyrant Academy is here for revenge; he doesn't believe Han Li can't see through it.
His public remarks from the stands, while somewhat masking their defeat, were clearly an attempt to protect Blue Tyrant Academy. Indeed, none of the Spirit Hall members are good people.
Meanwhile, in the stands, the expressions of Xue Ye and the Three Great Education Committee finally softened, and they had no objections to Han Li's handling of the situation.
The best approach right now is to appropriately elevate Blue Tyrant Academy's reputation while lightly overlooking the mistakes of Royal Fight Second Team.
"Afterwards, send someone to remind all the colleges that grudges are grudges, but if anyone dares to openly cause trouble in the competition again, they should be severely punished."
Xue Ye glanced at Yu Yuanzhen with some dissatisfaction, then turned to the Three Great Education Committee and spoke.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The Three Great Education Committee could only nod in agreement. They naturally had to take the blame. Even though it was Xue Qinghe who approved Tai Long's entry into the second team, could they say anything? Of course not.
Ning Fengzhi gave Han Li a deep look, somewhat puzzled as to what he was trying to do; his behavior was truly baffling.