Special Training Ends, Leading the Team to the Arena

During the special training period, aside from daily drills, there were non-stop sparring matches with restricted abilities.

With Chen An providing sufficient resources, everyone's abilities improved. The growth shown by Meng Yiran and Ning Rongrong was particularly significant.

Taking Ning Rongrong as an example, she had reached semi-mastery of the Tianshan Plum-Plucking Hand, and the defensive aspects of her Golden Light Divine Incantation had also been bolstered.

After all, being used as a living target for breakthroughs every single day, it would be strange if they didn't improve.

Meanwhile, Meng Yiran's various techniques had advanced further, and she was now able to flexibly control puppets.

"Let's go, move out, to the arena."

Today was the day to head to the Suotuo Arena, with Chen An leading the team personally.

Since it was their first time, he had to oversee things himself. Not to mention the possibility of accidents, as their principal and teacher, how could he not accompany his students to their competition?

"Dad, why are you here too?"

Ning Rongrong felt a headache and a great deal of pressure as she looked at the disguised Ning Fengzhi within the ranks.

Just like Meng Yiran, her grandmother would also be attending, leaving the Dragon Duke behind at the academy to keep watch.

"Haha, my good daughter is participating in this kind of competition for the first time, how could I not come and take a look?"

Chen An had sent a letter to Ning Fengzhi the day before. After much deliberation and tossing and turning all night, the Sect Master had replied and come along. As for the soul fighting, he did not object.

Because the arena was an industry under the jurisdiction of the Seven Great Sects Alliance, he had known about the planned overhaul at the time.

In fact, he had even played a part in pushing for those changes behind the scenes.

"Oh."

Ning Rongrong didn't feel very happy; the pressure was immense. She looked toward Meng Yiran, only to find that the other girl was much calmer than she was.

The travel speed of soul masters differed from that of ordinary people, so even with such a complete team, they moved much faster than a lone traveler.

Upon arriving at Suotuo City, the guards at the gate did not block them in the slightest, as they had all received instructions from their superiors.

"Stop right there, what do you think you're doing?"

Seeing how easily Chen An's group had entered, someone else tried to walk straight in as well.

"Why can they go in directly, but I can't? You are neglecting your duty! You are showing favoritism!"

The man shouted as if he had lost his mind, drawing a crowd of onlookers. After the guard captain came over to investigate the details, he had the man taken away immediately.

Afterward, there were rumors of him muttering things like "accidentally trespassing on a heavenly family" or "it's all rigged."

However, these were just trivial matters for idle conversation.

Arriving at the current Suotuo Arena, the children seemed stunned by the scale of the venue.

Among them, there were those who had seen the styles of other soul fighting arenas, but the current situation was something they had never heard of—the magnificent decorations and the style were entirely unprecedented.

After Chen An finished coordinating with Di Ao, he returned to the team.

"Stop staring blankly, hurry up and register, there's a match tonight."

Though he called it registration, Chen An had actually brought the people with him; they only needed to sign in right here in the VIP room.

As his words fell, the students stood back in their original positions. Chen An's prestige at the academy was very high; hearing this, how could they dare not stand at attention?

Then, they obediently followed the instructions.

"What are your names?"

"Zhu Zhuqing, level 33, codename Master of Shadow Flow."

"Meng Yiran, level 32, codename Thousand-Change Puppet."

"Luo Xiaoshi, level 25, codename Heaven-Battling Great Sage."

"Ning Rongrong, level 27, codename Seven Treasures Glazed."

They each reported their levels, titles, and team names.

During this period of special training, they had basically all improved by one level, with some even gaining two.

Their respective two-on-two names were rather tacky; for instance, Little Zhu and Little Meng called themselves the Cat-Snake Duo, while Little Stone and Rongrong's combination was named the Seven-Battle Duo.

When Chen An learned of the titles the children had chosen, his face darkened. How could his students be so incapable of naming things? They were absolute disasters at it.

Unlike him, the names for the seven-person team were chosen by him: the Phantom Star Elite Team and the Phantom Star Team. What excellent names, hehe, hehe.

Simple, unadorned, and stylish—he felt he was a naming genius.

"Principal Chen, this is the list of participating teams for tonight. Would you like to take a look at the first match?"

Di Ao had promised to give the Phantom Star team the right to fair competition, but he hadn't promised fair duels to anyone else; this was called assessing the situation.

Once Chen An confirmed the opponents, he could just use some resources then.

For example, counting one victory as two, or providing extra funds—not to mention he had already discovered the presence of Ning Fengzhi.

To be a regional supervisor, the most basic requirement was knowing which people needed to be handled with care.

"Let me see."

Taking the list from Di Ao, Chen An saw over a dozen teams written on it.

Ever since the competition became formalized and the rewards were increased, the number of participating teams had naturally risen.

"Cat and Mouse Duo? Berserk Team? Not quite right. Hmm, Shrek Five Monsters? Three-Five Duo?"

Chen An's thoughts flowed as he flipped through the pages, scanning the contents.

Finally, his gaze settled on a page detailing some old acquaintances they had tangled with before: Shrek Academy!

Seeing the record of five people participating in a seven-person team event, he was immediately puzzled.

"What is the deal with these Shrek Five Monsters?"

Di Ao had been staying at the arena lately to handle affairs, so asking him about this was sure to yield the right answer.

"They strongly requested to enter the seven-person event with only five members. I thought their strength was decent, so I gave it a try. The audience is also particularly interested in this team, so I kept it," Di Ao explained.

After this explanation, he understood immediately, thinking to himself that such a maneuver was possible—truly, a businessman with a keen commercial sense.

It really proved the saying: the ancients were only ancient, not stupid.

He looked at Zhu Zhuqing and the others, wanting to imitate this move and let his disciples form a team on their own.

But seeing the students who had worked so hard to secure their spots, he couldn't bear to do it. He sighed and let the matter drop.

"Then it will be them. Arrange a match for every single one of them."

As he spoke, Chen An marked the paper, specifying the opponents for the Three-Five Duo and the combination of Dai Mubai and Oscar: Cat and Snake would fight the Three-Five Duo, and Seven Battles would fight Prisoner Dai.

Perhaps because the timeline had been disrupted by him, the Shrek Five Monsters had not yet been assigned a team battle opponent at this time. Moreover, all the matchups were concentrated within these two days.

"Understood, sir. I will go make the arrangements right away."

Di Ao took the match schedule back from Chen An, bowed, and retreated, closing the door behind him as he left.

"Dean, it seems you have already arranged the match order."

Ning Fengzhi walked over with a smile. He had done such things many times himself, so he naturally knew what Chen An had been busy with just now.

He had only come over to ask once the work was finished; after all, this was his child's first time doing something like this, and he was concerned—genuinely concerned.

"Yes, I arranged for them to fight the Shrek team," Chen An told him truthfully.

"What? Shrek? Are they participating as well?"

Ning Fengzhi recalled the matter of sending Ning Rongrong to Shrek earlier, and his old face flushed slightly.

He knew the strength of the Shrek students; they were all young geniuses, and it was precisely because of this that he had agreed to let Ning Rongrong go to Shrek.

"Yes, consider it a trial. In any case, the two largest academies in Suotuo City are us and them."

"That is true." From the perspective of a sect leader, such behavior by disciples to seize momentum was perfectly normal.

"Then I shall wait to watch the show tonight."

Ning Fengzhi smiled, recalling what was said in Chen An's letter—that Ning Rongrong's strength had improved significantly. He was curious: how much could she have improved in such a short time?

He couldn't get an answer out of them; both Ning Rongrong and Chen An had said he would find out tonight.