Opening Match

Opening Match

"Teacher Wang Yan?" Huo Yuhao muttered, quickly averting his gaze.

He certainly had an impression of Wang Yan. It could be said that among everyone he knew at Shrek Academy, Wang Yan was the only one he was truly willing to call a teacher. Facing the Shrek team led by Wang Yan on the competition field left him with a complex mix of emotions. He wondered if Teacher Wang Yan still remembered him.

Wang Yan certainly remembered. He had spotted Huo Yuhao, and seeing the two familiar faces beside him, his own mood became incredibly complicated. He never expected that after these children left, they would head to the Sun Moon Empire, and now, they were set to become opponents.

"Yuhao?" Chi Qiu noticed Huo Yuhao's subtle reaction. None of the Sun Moon representative teams were listening to the Star Emperor's opening speech; they treated it as mere background noise.

"Saw an acquaintance, it's nothing." Huo Yuhao turned his head slightly to look at Chi Qiu. Her golden hair draped over her pure white academy uniform, dazzling under the sunlight.

"How is Shrek looking?" Wang Dong spoke up as well. She was bored, so she naturally wanted to focus her attention on something else.

"Excluding the teacher, there are only ten of them," Huo Yuhao whispered. "It looks like they only have three main team members capable of competing, and one of them is even in a wheelchair."

"Sigh, winning against Shrek like this is so boring. I want to defeat their strongest lineup, not a bunch of wounded soldiers," Xiao Hongchen's mournful voice came from behind Huo Yuhao.

"Next time!" Huo Yuhao smiled. "Next time, Brother Xiao will be the captain of the main team, and you can crush them then."

Before Xiao Hongchen could complain any further, the Star Emperor's deep, resonant voice echoed from the front of the plaza—

"I announce, the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament, officially begins!"

With that, this year's All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament raised its curtain. One hundred and eight ceremonial cannons roared in unison before falling silent, and the cheers of the crowd were incessant.

Although Huo Yuhao had held many complicated feelings toward Star Luo City previously, having never seen such a grand spectacle before, his emotions were stirred significantly.

At this moment, the previous booming voice rang out once more:

"According to the rules of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament, the first round will be a knockout stage."

"For this tournament, a total of one hundred and thirty-three advanced soul master and soul engineer academies have registered. After the drawing of lots, one academy has received a bye in the first round. There will be a total of sixty-six matches. The first round is a single-elimination format. The losers will immediately end their journey in this tournament. Now, the first match will begin immediately."

"The two sides of the match are the Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy representative team from the Heaven Spirit Empire, and the continent's number one academy, possessing countless honors and having swept almost every tournament championship for the past thousand years—the Shrek Academy representative team!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire arena erupted!

"Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!"

"It's coming, it's coming." Wang Dong looked toward the stage area with a grin. "Oh my, why does Dai Huabin look so sickly?"

She had no intention of mocking the battered Shrek, but she couldn't help but mock Dai Huabin. However, just as she finished speaking, Chi Qiu pinched her.

Sure enough, Xiao Hongchen was sharp: "You know the members of their reserve team?"

"Cough, cough," Wang Dong said vaguely. "Private grudge, private grudge."

Huo Yuhao saved the situation in time by changing the subject: "Why aren't the spectators sitting down? Could it be that there are no seats in the viewing area?"

He had only meant to pick a random topic, but he had actually hit the mark; there were no seats in the Star Luo viewing area.

The Star Luo Empire adopted a policy of treating all spectators equally. If you had money, the most you could get was a spot closer to the front, but the treatment was the same—you had to stand to watch. They believed that this was the only way to accommodate more people... which meant collecting more Gold Soul Coins.

It was said that the revenue from a single tournament could cover the Star Luo Empire's tax revenue for an entire year.

"That's just how they are," Elder Ma said.

"Standing and packed like sardines... if an accident happened, wouldn't there be a stampede?" Huo Yuhao frowned.

"They had an incident twenty years ago," Elder Ma's tone carried a hint of sarcasm. "But looking at this year, all they did was add a few more soldiers to maintain order."

Huo Yuhao shifted his gaze back to the center of the arena, where Shrek's opening match was about to begin.

At this moment, the entire arena was stunned. The six members of Shrek's reserve team were huddled tightly around the girl in the wheelchair in the center; their objective was obvious, but they had no other choice.

As one hundred and eight soul masters from the Star Luo Empire simultaneously pressed the metal pillars in front of them, an equal number of white beams shot into the sky, converging twenty meters above the arena to form a dome that enveloped the entire competition field.

The referee waved his hand, and the students from Tianling Academy moved immediately. All seven released their martial souls simultaneously—a configuration of five four-ringers and two three-ringers.

"Look," Elder Ma said. "This is the main team configuration of most of your opponents."

This was directed more at the reserve team, as the main team members had already seen it once before.

"I feel like Yuhao and I would be enough to take care of them," came Xiao Hongchen's voice.

"Brother Xiao, why don't you say that you alone would be enough!" Huo Yuhao laughed.

"Heh, of course I would be enough on my own, having you there, Yuhao, just makes it safer."

Huo Yuhao recalled Meng Hongchen's words: even if the sky fell, Xiao Hongchen's mouth would hold it up; his mouth was always stubborn.

As they chatted, the situation on the field began to change.

Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi stood at the very front, releasing their martial souls to prepare for the opponent's first wave of attacks; at the same time, an extreme cold aura erupted from Ling Luochen, and five soul rings instantly appeared at her sides. With a wave of her hand, an ice staff materialized in her palm, shimmering like a gemstone under the morning light.

"A Soul King," Xiao Hongchen stroked his chin. "And she's also an ice attribute. Is the continent going to start cooling down this year? Hurry up and cool down, summer is so hot."

Meng Hongchen glanced at her brother, who was spouting nonsense, and was left speechless.

"It seems this is the Soul King they can field for now," Huo Yuhao said. "Her ice martial soul is quite unique. How come I can't tell what it is?"

"That is because her martial soul is a rare elemental martial soul," the Ice Empress's voice echoed in Huo Yuhao's mind.

"Ice Empress!" Huo Yuhao called out in his Sea of Consciousness. He had been so busy lately that he had rarely communicated with the residents of his Sea of Consciousness.

"So you still remember us!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm huffed.

"I was just trying not to disturb Brother Sky Dream's sleep."

"You... forget it. Considering how diligently you've been cultivating, let's just turn the page on this."

"This woman's ice is of great use." The Ice Empress didn't waste any words, getting straight to the point. "Huo Yuhao, if you were to become her opponent, she would likely lose her effectiveness immediately. Although her ice is extremely pure, its rank is far inferior to mine. In fact, you could even control her ice."

"Thank you, Ice Empress. This intelligence is very important," Huo Yuhao said solemnly.

On the competition stage, Ling Luochen waved her staff, and a cold current immediately surged past Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi with unstoppable force, rushing straight toward the seven people on the opposite side. When she activated this ability, no soul rings flickered on her body.

No matter how restricted her physical condition was, Ling Luochen was still a Soul King; her cultivation suppressed the seven opponents, and she was a control-type Soul King at that. Those seven were quickly frozen in ice, and at that moment, Bei Bei and the others swarmed forward, clearing them from the stage.

Ling Luochen decided the outcome with a single strike, and the entire arena erupted in cheers for Shrek once again.

However, the students from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy all breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts. They noticed that Ling Luochen's complexion looked rather poor after that single strike; presumably, her injuries were still limiting her.

"The second match, Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy, versus Yingcheng Advanced Soul Master Academy of the Heaven Dou Empire!"

"It's a mercy they didn't draw us into a civil war," Ma Rulong said. "We'll stick to the strategy we set before we left. Huo Yuhao, you're coming on stage with me and Mi Jia."

Huo Yuhao nodded, adjusted the collar of his white school uniform, and followed closely behind Ma Rulong onto the stage.

Yu Rufeng had made arrangements for them before coming to the arena. Aside from the tactics for the main team, Huo Yuhao was required to be present for every team battle, but he would never participate in individual matches. Wang Dong would only compete in one-on-one duels between soul masters, but could not participate in soul engineer duels. Chi Qiu and the Hongchen siblings were trump cards to be kept off the stage as much as possible.

The fact that the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy had only sent three people to face a seven-man team drew gasps from the audience. Moreover, among these three, there was a young man who looked like a reserve team member!

"Are you two ready?" Ma Rulong stood at the front, Mi Jia stood to Huo Yuhao's front-left, and Huo Yuhao stood at the back, looking rather inconspicuous.

"I have no problem," Huo Yuhao nodded. "We can start at any time."

"I'm ready too, Captain Ma," Mi Jia said, while his body emitted the sound of clashing metal; fighting soul engineers all enjoyed that sound.

"Good," Ma Rulong looked at his ashen-faced opponents. "Then, let's liven up the atmosphere."