"Shrek Academy only brought four official team members?"
The members of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy looked at one another in bewilderment. Then a subdued murmur of discussion broke out.
The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy's leader sat in the center of the meeting room. His hair and beard were completely white, and he was tall and imposing, but his eyes were as sharp as a hawk's. He raised a hand and pressed it down slightly. The meeting room fell silent at once.
"This is confirmed information from the Star Luo Empire's official registration office." Elder Ma's voice turned more serious. "Shrek Academy registered only eleven competitors this time. Seven of them are under fifteen, which means they brought only four official team members. The rest are all reserve members."
"Only eleven people? Who does Shrek think they're looking down on?"
"They dare compete with just four official team members? Do they think their reserve team alone can win?"
"Even if they've been champions for ten thousand years, this is far too arrogant."
Elder Ma didn't stop the team members from discussing it. Instead, he gave a cold laugh. "You're right. Shrek Academy clearly doesn't take our Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy seriously. In their eyes, they don't even need to give it their all to defeat us."
His voice suddenly rose. "Tell me, can you stand for that?"
"No!" several team members cried indignantly.
"Then use your strength to shut them up. Make Shrek Academy understand that looking down on the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy comes at a price."
"Elder Ma is right." A young man seated at the head of the reserve team suddenly spoke in a lazy drawl. "But, well, I don't think Shrek is looking down on us this time."
The speaker looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. His short, silver-white hair gleamed with a metallic sheen beneath the lights. He had delicate features, and the corner of his mouth curved in a faint, knowing smile.
The speaker was Xiao Hongchen, captain of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy's reserve team.
Elder Ma frowned. "Xiao Hongchen, what do you mean?"
"Elder Ma, think about it." Xiao Hongchen leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs carelessly. "Shrek Academy may be arrogant, but they've never been fools. They've kept us down for ten thousand years, and it wasn't by being conceited. This time, they've suddenly brought only eleven competitors, with just four official team members. That doesn't look like contempt. It looks more like something unexpected happened."
The meeting room fell silent for a moment. The team members found Xiao Hongchen's explanation more convincing than the idea that Shrek was looking down on them.
He continued, "Either something happened to their people, or they ran into trouble on the way. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't that they look down on us. As arrogant as Shrek is, they wouldn't joke around with the honor of a ten-thousand-year winning streak. After all—they're Shrek. They may be arrogant, but they have the strength to back it up."
Elder Ma's face reddened slightly. He thought so too; he'd only been trying to rally the team. "You make a good point. But that doesn't matter. Whatever the reason Shrek has only eleven people left, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us. They have only four official team members. This is a rare chance for us, after being held down for a thousand years."
"Now, I'll lay out our lineup."
The next morning, as the sunlight had only just begun to spill over the walls of Star Luo City, the entire city was already in an uproar.
The great Soul Fighting Plaza in front of the Star Luo Empire's imperial palace sprawled across a vast area, large enough to hold more than two hundred thousand spectators.
Every surrounding street had been sealed off by soldiers in gleaming armor. Only academy teams carrying proof of entry and spectators with tickets could pass through.
At that moment, the Star Luo Emperor was watching the competition from atop the imperial palace walls with his ministers.
Early that morning, the teachers leading each academy team had come to the imperial palace for the draw.
By the time spectators entered, the Shrek Academy team had already arrived in the competitors' area.
After the Star Luo Emperor announced the start of the competition, as he did every year, the echoes of the ceremonial cannons had barely faded from the sky above the plaza when the roar of two hundred thousand spectators surged in wave after wave against the walls of the Soul Fighting Platform.
"This year, a total of one hundred and thirty-three advanced Soul Master and Soul Engineer academies have registered. After the draw, one academy received a bye in the first round. The first match will begin shortly. The two teams facing off are the Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy from the Dou Ling Empire and the representative team from the greatest academy on the continent, Shrek Academy."
As soon as the host made the announcement, the entire plaza erupted in a deafening roar of cheers.
"Shrek—Shrek—!"
The roar grew louder with every wave. From the highest tiers of the stands to the very front, countless spectators waved their flags and shouted the name etched into their bones. The glory of a ten-thousand-year winning streak had long since branded the name Shrek into the hearts of everyone who followed the tournament.
However, not everyone was caught up in the cheering.
In Shrek Academy's competitors' rest area, the atmosphere was completely at odds with the fervor outside.
The reserve team members had never faced anything like this before, and every one of them looked a little pale. Even though they knew Lin Shuo, Ling Luochеn, and Gongyang Mo had their backs, they were still somewhat nervous.
Wang Yan was about to announce the lineup when a calm voice suddenly interrupted him.
"Teacher Wang."
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice.
Lin Shuo looked around at each member of the reserve team, then spoke. "I'll go out alone for this match."
The rest area fell silent for a moment.
"Lin Shuo, what did you say?" Wang Yan thought he'd misheard.
"I said I'll go out alone for this match." Lin Shuo's tone was as casual as if he were saying something completely ordinary. "The Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy isn't strong enough to make us use too many people. Rather than have everyone go out there just for show, I might as well take care of them by myself. The faster, the better. You can just watch from the side of the platform."
"Let me show you they're nothing special."
The rest area fell silent for a moment. If anyone else had said that, it would have sounded like empty boasting. But coming from Lin Shuo, it carried an air of matter-of-fact certainty, as if the outcome had already been decided before the match began.
"But—" Wang Yan tried to say more. After all, if they lost this match, Shrek Academy would be eliminated outright!
"Teacher Wang." Ma Xiaotao stood nearby, the corner of her mouth lifted in an amused smile. "Let him go."
Wang Yan fell silent for a moment, then finally nodded. "All right. Go ahead."
Lin Shuo nodded, turned around, and walked toward the competition platform.
The moment Lin Shuo stepped onto the platform, the cheers across the plaza reached their peak. The spectators waved their flags and shouted Shrek's name in unison, the roar sweeping over the whole plaza like a tsunami.
However, before long, more and more confusion and discussion began to mingle with the cheering.
"What's going on? Why did only one person from Shrek come out?"
"Where's everyone else? Are they really sending just one person?"
"Are you kidding? This is an elimination match, a one-match-decides-it elimination match!"
Under the gaze of more than two hundred thousand people, Lin Shuo walked alone onto the Soul Fighting Platform. Sunlight poured down from overhead, gilding his silver-white robe with a pale golden edge. He walked to the very center of the platform and stopped, his hands resting naturally at his sides, his expression as calm as if he were taking a stroll in his own backyard.