Imprinting Soul Tools, the Confidence to Win the Championship

"This Shrek Academy team is quite strong. Don't be careless."

Director Chi reminded Su Fan.

"I heard someone cut in line and joined this Shrek Team. That person is even stronger than Dai Yueheng."

The Shrek Team's roster had always been decided five years in advance.

The official competitors participating in this tournament would become the Shrek Seven Devils after winning the championship, remaining so until the next tournament.

The reserve members would then become the official competitors for the next tournament.

And so it passed down from one generation to the next.

During the previous tournament, all seven of Shrek's reserve members had appeared. Anyone determined enough could dig up information about them.

Dai Yueheng was the most talented among them and was said to have already become a Soul Emperor.

However, Shrek had replaced another competitor, bringing in someone who had not participated in the previous tournament and even making that person captain.

In other words, this Shrek Team had at least two Soul Emperors.

As Director Chi laid out his deductions, Su Fan could not help looking at him in surprise.

"Is there a flower on my face?"

"No. It's just that you investigated everything so thoroughly, Director."

Of course, Su Fan knew that Shrek had two Soul Emperors this time around.

It was just that, during the tournament, many teams did not know Shrek's true strength.

He had not expected Director Chi to have analyzed things so methodically on Dou Ling's side.

All of this could be traced.

They had been given clues five years ago. With five years to investigate, gathering this information was not difficult.

As for Ma Xiaotao replacing a Soul Engineer, there was no need to learn that from within Shrek. All they had to do was look into the registration information.

"Two Soul Emperors... We'll have a hard time fighting them."

"Does it help if you're good at fighting?"

"The Dou Ling Team will only hold you back."

Though he knew those words were hurtful, that was simply the truth.

Director Chi had never expected Su Fan to lead the team to victory in this tournament.

It did not matter how well one person could fight.

This was a competition. What mattered was still the team.

Unless an individual's strength was overwhelmingly beyond everyone else's.

Like Su Fan five years from now.

Five years from now, Su Fan would at least possess a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

If he broke through to Soul Emperor by then, his true strength would be that of a Soul Saint!

"Director Chi, I'm serious."

Su Fan had promised the academy's higher-ups that he would win the championship for the academy.

Though everyone believed that would happen in the next tournament.

Su Fan intended to settle this matter in this tournament instead.

The following five years would be very busy. He definitely would not be able to stay at the academy any longer.

But the academy's expectations of him were growing ever greater. If he did not hand in a championship now, he feared that they would keep him under control for the next five years.

"My strength isn't limited to the Soul King level. I can at least fight a Soul Emperor."

"But that still won't help." Director Chi said helplessly, "They have two Soul Emperors, and you—"

"Director Chi, you just need to fully cooperate with me."

Su Fan could not reveal all of his trump cards.

The same formula.

Huo Yuhao stepped onto the stage.

Using his Simulation soul skill, enhanced by the aura of a genuine ferocious beast, he simulated five Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings.

The moment he appeared, he displayed a terrifying pressure.

One Golden Road took care of the enemy.

Throughout the entire match, Su Fan stared fixedly at Huo Yuhao's Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings.

By staring at those Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings, he felt the greatest pressure and could directly face that ferocious beast's might.

"So this is the Ice Empress's aura."

Su Fan took a deep breath, his gaze becoming increasingly resolute.

There were a total of one hundred and thirty-four participating teams. After the first round of elimination matches, sixty-seven teams were selected.

The so-called elimination matches involved random draws, with one of every two teams advancing.

It was an extremely brutal contest.

Still, those with true strength would ultimately stand out.

The Dou Ling Team faced no pressure and advanced directly.

The second round was the round-robin stage.

The teams were divided into eight groups, each with eight or nine teams. They competed in round-robin matches within their groups, with every team fighting all the others, and the top two were determined by points.

Everything developed exactly as it had in the original story.

The Dou Ling Team was not placed in the same group as Shrek or the other strong teams.

If there was anything different, it was that the Dou Ling Team did not advance in second place, but in first.

Absolute strength.

In the original story, the Dou Ling Team had advanced in second place and immediately encountered Shrek in the round of sixteen, where they were eliminated without even making the top eight. It had been truly frustrating.

After the round-robin stage ended, there were two days of rest.

It was then that the auction Su Fan had waited so long for finally began.

This auction was not low in standard, though it was not top-tier either. The items up for auction were Soul Tools, Soul Tools that tournament competitors could use.

Su Fan bid on and purchased the first Soul Paralysis Ray, along with several Milk Bottles that came afterward.

Upon returning to the hotel, he immediately took out those Soul Tools.

"The time to witness a miracle has come."

Su Fan grinned as he stared at the Soul Tools, excitement flashing in his eyes.

First, he looked at the Soul Paralysis Ray.

It was merely a Class 3 Soul Tool, yet it possessed a unique paralysis mechanism. Even a Soul King would be paralyzed for one second after being struck.

A Soul Ancestor would be paralyzed for two seconds, while a Soul Elder would be paralyzed for three to five seconds.

These results had been tested against assault-type Soul Masters of the corresponding cultivation levels.

Without question, the effect was extremely powerful.

Su Fan injected Soul Power into it.

The Soul Tool in his hand fired a ray.

Soul Rings emerged one after another.

His third Soul Ring became boundlessly profound, as though it had swallowed all light and left behind only darkness.

"Third soul skill, Imprint!"

He was imprinting the Soul Tool's skill!

It was not directly imprinted, but transferred through a series of processes involving his Apertures.

But he had indeed succeeded.

He had verified this long ago.

After imprinting the Paralysis Ray, he released it using the power of Imprint.

The sensation was completely different from watching a Soul Tool fire a ray.

By condensing a Paralysis Ray with his own power, Su Fan gained a deeper understanding of this skill.

With the Soul Tool as proof, it was not difficult to reverse-engineer the Core Array and inscribe it into his Apertures.

Su Fan used up his remaining two Imprints as well, deepening his understanding of the Paralysis Ray. By the time he had fully absorbed it, an entire night had passed.

The next day, he had no match and remained at the hotel.

He set the Soul Paralysis Ray aside.

Then he took out the Milk Bottles.

Milk Bottles were a type of charging Soul Tool. Soul Masters could inject Soul Power into them for long-term storage. When their Soul Power ran low, they could directly absorb the stored Soul Power from the Soul Tool to recover quickly.

Su Fan had researched Milk Bottles before.

The reason he was studying them now was that these Milk Bottles were of sufficiently high quality. The highest-ranked one was Class 6, and it had been produced by Mingde Hall of the Sun Moon Empire.

Even the Class 4 Milk Bottles made by Mingde Hall were far superior in quality to the Milk Bottles Su Fan had encountered before.

He further deepened his understanding of the Milk Bottles' function.

This time, he was no longer sensing it from nothing.

Each of his Apertures began to glow.

Inside them, densely packed Core Arrays operated.

"This is the confidence I need to win the championship."

Feeling the Soul Power stored within the Heavenly Circuit Apertures in his body, Su Fan unconsciously revealed a smile.