Douluo: One Man Returns, Heaven-Defying Seal Smashes Tang San to Death—Part 22

Everyone had secrets. Since she did not want to talk about them, there was no need for him to pry.

Half an hour later, Lu Yu slowly rose to his feet, dusted off his backside, and said, "I'm heading out! See you around!"

With that, he turned and left.

The girl tilted her head slightly, staring at Lu Yu's retreating back in a daze.

Then she turned back toward the lake. On its surface, only her own reflection remained.

She liked this sense of quiet, yet she also feared loneliness. It was rather contradictory.

Although she had a few classmates at the academy who could barely be called friends, none of them could sit with her and enjoy the silence.

A trace of loneliness flashed through the girl's eyes as she rose and left.

The next day, the entire Heaven Dou Royal Academy became lively.

The annual Academy Grand Competition had arrived as scheduled!

Every student who had not yet graduated was eligible to participate, but not everyone chose to register.

Some older students thought highly of themselves and disdained to take part in such matches.

After all, most Heaven Dou Royal Academy students came from noble families and did not care about that little bit of prize money.

The freshmen, meanwhile, knew their own strength was lacking and did not want to embarrass themselves in the arena.

But this year was different!

This year's champion prize had been doubled compared to previous years!

There was also the additional reward of temporary VIP status at the Heavenly Dou Auction!

That made every student's eyes burn with desire. After all, only the empire's true big shots possessed VIP status at the Heavenly Dou Auction.

Though they could only obtain temporary status, it was still an honor!

It was laughable, really. What these students valued was not the worth of the champion's prize, but the vanity it could bring them...

The mountaintop was already packed with people.

A large area had been cleared in the center and divided into six arenas.

Seats surrounded the arenas.

Not far away, a temporary platform had been erected outside the Dean's Office, with only a few seats atop it.

Those qualified to sit there were all high-ranking members of the Dean's Office, along with some nobles who had come to watch.

There were seven seats in total. Six were currently occupied: five senior members of the Dean's Office led by Meng Shenji, and an elderly man in luxurious robes with small eyes.

The old man's Soul Power fluctuations were weak, yet he sat in the seat of honor with an arrogant expression.

Lu Yu was seated among the spectators, studying the old man in luxurious robes.

If his guess was correct...

This man should be Prince Xue Xing, the younger brother of the Heavenly Dou Empire's emperor, Xue Ye!

This old fox appeared to look down on everyone, but he was actually Xue Beng's "teacher." The two were cut from the same cloth, both skilled actors.

At that moment, Lu Yu's gaze sharpened slightly as he spotted a familiar figure.

A tall, thin old man stepped onto the platform. He wore dark green robes, and both his hair and eyes were dark green as well.

It was none other than Dugu Bo!

On the platform, Prince Xue Xing restrained some of his arrogance and said with a courteous smile, "Poison Title, I didn't expect you to be interested in these little scuffles between students as well!"

Though he did his best to play the role of a spoiled prince who regarded no one as worthy of notice, he still did not dare disregard a Title Douluo.

Prince Xue Xing had once saved Dugu Bo's life, so Dugu Bo replied politely, "My granddaughter is participating in this competition as well, so I came to watch."

As the two exchanged pleasantries, Meng Shenji rose to his feet and announced the start of the competition.

Immediately afterward, more than a dozen academy instructors stepped onto one of the arenas and began drawing lots in public.

The Academy Grand Competition's format and rules were simple...

The academy instructors would conduct an open draw. The selected students would face off in pairs, with losers eliminated and winners advancing until the final champion was determined.

Only the champion could receive a reward. Second and third place would get nothing at all.

The big shots on the platform did not pay much attention to the first few rounds of elimination.

Those unlucky students who possessed strength but were eliminated in the early rounds would not draw much attention either. At most, people would sigh in regret for them.

Although no one except the champion would receive a prize, those who ranked near the top would still receive the imperial family's attention. Over the next year, they would obtain more cultivation resources than others.

It was an unspoken rule.

Of course, Heaven Dou Royal Academy had many students. If they competed match by match, it would take several days to finish.

Thus, the academy granted certain privileges to students with higher cultivation...

The first elimination round was only for One-Ring students. Two-Ring students advanced automatically.

The second elimination round was between the advancing One-Ring students and the Two-Ring students. Three-Ring students advanced automatically.

The third elimination round would pit those who advanced from the first two rounds against the Three-Ring students.

Four-Ring students received direct entry into the top sixteen!

However, in the entire Heaven Dou Royal Academy, there were only a handful of Four-Ring students, and all of them were already over twenty-five years old.

Most of these students were commoners. They had long since met the graduation requirements, but they lingered at the academy to leech resources, planning to stay until they were forcibly made to graduate.

As for Five-Ring students?

There were none!

The tournament progressed swiftly. By the afternoon, the second elimination round had already ended.

Of the more than six thousand students, nearly three thousand had One-Ring cultivation and had been almost entirely eliminated.

Nearly three thousand more had Two-Ring cultivation, and half of them had been eliminated.

There were only a little over a hundred students with Three-Ring cultivation.

This showed just how underwhelming the quality of Heaven Dou Royal Academy's students truly was.

It was precisely because of this that the Heaven Dou Imperial Family placed such importance on Lu Yu, an eleven-year-old Three-Ring Soul Master!

Of course, the main reason was that after awakening his martial soul, Lu Yu had never gone to Spirit Hall for certification.

Therefore, Spirit Hall did not know his true cultivation. Otherwise, they would have sent people to recruit him long ago.

As the sacred ground of Soul Masters, the conditions Spirit Hall could offer would definitely far surpass those of Heaven Dou Royal Academy!

But Lu Yu knew that Spirit Hall was far from peaceful internally, and its grudges with the two great empires ran deep.

Before he had fully grown, he had no intention of wading into Spirit Hall's muddy waters.

In the third elimination round, Lu Yu's opponent was a One-Ring student. The only reason this fellow had reached the third round was through good luck. Lu Yu sent him flying off the arena with a single punch.

In the fourth round, he faced a Two-Ring Soul Master and won with another punch.

In the fifth round, he again faced a Two-Ring Soul Master. Lu Yu still did not use his martial soul and defeated his opponent in one strike.

And so...

Lu Yu charged all the way into the top thirty-two. Even when he encountered a Three-Ring Soul Master along the way, he never used his martial soul!

This scene drew everyone's attention, making him one of the centerpieces of the event.

Reaching the top thirty-two without using his martial soul—and even defeating a Three-Ring Soul Master—left every student dumbfounded.

Yet no one knew this dark horse who had suddenly risen to prominence. It was as though he had appeared out of nowhere within the academy.

Several big shots on the platform were also watching Lu Yu.

Dugu Bo naturally recognized him and was rather surprised.

He clearly had not expected that, after three years, they would meet again under such circumstances.

Dugu Yan was equally surprised. She had also reached the top thirty-two with great ease, never using her third soul skill from start to finish.

The first day of matches ended there. It was already late at night, and everyone dispersed. The finals would begin early the next morning.

The students also began discussing the favorites to win, while some secretly opened betting pools.

The most eye-catching contenders were two older Four-Ring students, Yu Tianheng, heir to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, Dugu Yan, one of Heaven Dou Royal Academy's two great beauties, and...

Lu Yu—the mysterious dark horse of unknown origin who had reached the top thirty-two without using his martial soul!

While the students discussed things heatedly in secret, Lu Yu arrived beside the lake at the foot of the mountain.

To him, this was all just minor squabbling, without the slightest challenge.

The only people who interested him were the two older Four-Ring students.

Lu Yu set himself a goal: to win the championship using only his physical strength and martial soul, without using the Golden Light Spell, Thunder Arts, External Soul Bone, or Heavenly Talisman!