Will Shrek Make the Top Eight or Top Sixteen?

Will Shrek Make the Top Eight or Top Sixteen?

After a brief rest, Elder Ma led everyone to the Jingyang Mountain Range to pick up the others.

With another Level 9 Soul Master protecting them, Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen had come to no harm. Both looked to have successfully obtained a fifth Soul Ring suited to them.

The only mishap was that Xiao Hongchen had scratched the back of his hand on a branch while coming down the mountain. The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy's top genius, who had never cried out in pain even when beaten as a child, had actually rushed into the group in a panic, clutching his hand and asking for a bandage. Ma Rulong and Xiao Xiafeng each gave him an eye roll.

Huo Yuhao checked his Storage Soul Tool, but he really hadn't brought any bandages. Chi Qiu shook her head too. Her recovery was exceptionally strong, so she never carried that kind of thing.

Wang Dong couldn't help making a sarcastic remark: "That's a terrible wound. If you wait any longer to put on a bandage, it'll heal by itself."

"Your brother's hand is a treasure. It can't be allowed to scar. What do you know?" Xiao Hongchen straightened up and waved his hand in front of Wang Dong, speaking with complete confidence.

After some fuss, the teachers gathered herbs from the edge of the Jingyang Mountain Range and applied them to Xiao Hongchen's hand. That finally ensured his handsome hand wouldn't be left with a scar. Once they left Mingdu, Elder Ma deployed a massive Level 9 Flight Soul Tool and took everyone swiftly toward Star Luo City.

On the way, Yu Rufeng pulled something from his Storage Soul Tool and handed it to Huo Yuhao.

"The hall master wanted you to take this, but he's been so busy lately that he hasn't had time to come find you himself."

"What's this?" Huo Yuhao recognized at a glance that it was a Soul Tool, and a high-level one at that.

Yu Rufeng leaned close to Huo Yuhao's ear and whispered, "A Level 9 Defensive Soul Tool: Hongchen Protection."

"This..." Huo Yuhao suddenly felt the Soul Tool in his hand grow much heavier. "Why would the hall master give me something so valuable?"

"There's something you don't know," Yu Rufeng said solemnly. "Every year, a few students die in the Soul Fighting Tournament. Shrek is especially heavy-handed. Several of our students from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy have also fallen during the competition."

"So, in recent years, our teams have always carried a certain number of Invincible Barriers. Even so, accidents have still happened."

"Yuhao, after these past two months, you should understand how much you mean to the hall master. You absolutely mustn't get hurt."

Huo Yuhao lowered his head and ran his fingers over the Level 9 Soul Tool, admiring the exquisite workmanship of Hall Master Hongchen's creation. "I never expected people to die in a competition like the Soul Fighting Tournament."

"Deliberately killing someone isn't allowed, but I'm so strong—who can tell whether I killed someone on purpose or accidentally lost control?" Yu Rufeng said with an amused smile. "Everyone keeps something in reserve, and even the referees can't be sure whether someone will die in the next moment. Put simply, rules like that are basically useless when the competitors are too strong."

"That's true." Huo Yuhao nodded. "Do the others have protective Soul Tools too?"

"They do, but we couldn't get our hands on so many Level 9 Soul Tools at once. Xiao and Meng each have a Level 8 one, and everyone else has a plentiful supply of Level 7 Defensive Soul Tools. Besides, Mingde Hall approved quite a bit of funding this time, allowing us to buy Soul Tools whenever we need them during the tournament. You could say the hall master wants us to secure at least second place, with every member of the team returning safe and sound."

"I understand," Huo Yuhao said. "When I compete, I'll do my best to help everyone with Spiritual Detection Sharing and keep them out of danger."

Star Luo City was bustling with activity.

As the capital of the Star Luo Empire, Star Luo City was unquestionably the empire's largest city. It was also the political, cultural, and economic center of the Star Luo Empire, and was known as an imperial capital that would never fall.

Yet even this largest city in the Star Luo Empire had become terribly crowded in recent days. Every inn and hotel was fully booked. People everywhere in the entertainment venues were discussing the tournament, while newspaper boys on every street corner shouted out the latest news. There were also twice as many patrol soldiers on the streets as usual.

The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament, the Soul Master World's greatest event, was held in rotation among the four great empires once every five years. That meant the Star Luo Empire only got its turn once every twenty years. With such a grand occasion approaching, all of Star Luo City had been thoroughly swept up in the excitement.

The underground gambling dens were naturally where the excitement ran highest.

"I'm betting a hundred Gold Soul Coins on Shrek to win the championship."

"Come on, don't you have any ambition? Don't bet on the champion. Bet on something else, like how far the finals' two-two-three format will go. What's the point of just betting on the champion? Everyone knows Shrek will win."

"Oh, everyone knows Shrek will win, huh? I actually think Star Luo has a decent lineup this year. I'm betting twenty Gold Soul Coins on Star Luo."

"Give me a break. Every year Star Luo says its future looks promising, and every year it goes home with a top-eight finish. Oh, it's being held in Star Luo City this year? At least the trip home will be easy."

"Are you even from Star Luo? How can you talk like that? If Shrek ever gets knocked out in the top eight or top sixteen, I'll see if you're still laughing."

"Bullshit. Shrek will get knocked out in the top eight or top sixteen?"

"Hey, why are you arguing? It's simple. In my opinion, it'd be best if Star Luo faced the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy first and managed to make them show some of their strength. Then, when Shrek wins the championship, Star Luo can take a third of the credit. As for Heavenly Soul and Dou Ling, that's up to fate."

"Make way! I'm betting a thousand Gold Soul Coins on Sun Moon!"

"Heh. Looks like someone's just won themselves a VIP seat on the rooftop."

"I don't know what you people who like watching Sun Moon's matches are thinking. Do you enjoy coming in second? They're nothing but Shrek's captives."

Huo Yuhao and the others had just arrived in Star Luo City to get a feel for the place. Hearing that conversation, they didn't know what expression to wear.

"You're not allowed to take part in this kind of activity, understood?" Elder Ma sternly warned the team members outside the door.

"What if we bet on ourselves?" Xiao Hongchen looked a little curious, but Elder Ma's sharp "No!" immediately made him pull his head back inside.

"Still, it's understandable that people are betting on Shrek," Huo Yuhao said, glancing inside again. The men were huddled in a circle, still shouting loudly. It seemed someone had lit a cheap cigarette, and a pungent cloud of gray smoke hung around them.

"This year, we'll make them lose every last coin and teach them about the dangers of gambling," Ma Rulong said. Hearing the official team captain say that lifted everyone's spirits.

"But," Huo Yuhao said, thinking of another question, "has our academy only ever faced Shrek in the finals over the past few thousand years?"

He remembered that when he'd watched Shrek's promotional videos, they'd mostly shown footage of the finals.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I remember that the matchups after the top eight are decided by drawing lots, right?"

"Mm." Chi Qiu was the first to understand what Huo Yuhao was getting at. "With so many matches, drawing different halves of the bracket every year takes some luck too."

She slightly emphasized the word "luck."

"If Shrek had to face us in the top eight, would their tickets for the later rounds even sell?" Ma Rulong said.

"But it's really hard to say whether Shrek will face us early this year, isn't it?" Huo Yuhao said. Everyone knew he was referring to the news that Shrek's main team had been injured. The news had already spread through the Sun Moon Empire.

"Maybe we really will draw them early. That might actually be a good thing for Shrek and the Douluo Three Kingdoms."