The First Round of the Knockout Tournament

Time always passed quickly. Just as Gongyang Mo was lost in thought, Yue Ling returned, washed clean, in no time at all.

As soon as he entered the room, he brought with him a faint, grassy scent from his bath.

Gongyang Mo looked up, meeting those gentle eyes just right.

Yue Ling walked over to his spot and arranged his pink toiletries.

"Let's go, time to eat. We need to cultivate after dinner to prepare for the upcoming knockout tournament."

"Don't forget, there are still three spirit bones up for grabs!"

"Right!" He straightened his clothes and stood up. "Let's go, eat, and then, cultivate!"

"Right!"

They had a fierce meal at the cafeteria and returned to their dormitory.

Yue Ling quickly sat on his small pink bed, entered a meditative state, and began to cultivate.

Gongyang Mo glanced at him, went to take a shower by himself, changed into his pajamas, and also began to cultivate.

At this moment.

Yue Ling's second martial soul underwent a subtle change.

It became more bewitching, a bright red like blood. Unfortunately, Yue Ling could not see this.

At the same time, the Hundred Flowers Record inside Yue Ling's spirit tool seemed to sense something; it erupted with a dazzling light. However, that radiance carried no fluctuations and could only be discovered by Yue Ling himself.

It flickered for a few seconds, and seeing no one pay it any mind, it could only shrink back in disappointment, as if nothing had happened.

The sky turned from bright to dark, and from dark to bright.

Cultivate for a while, relax for a moment, then continue cultivating.

To ensure they wouldn't be late for the next day's knockout tournament with its generous rewards.

They spent the whole night cultivating just like that.

As the sky was just beginning to brighten, Yue Ling and Gongyang Mo, having cultivated all night, felt their bodies somewhat stiff.

The two simply moved their bodies, stretched, finished washing up, ate breakfast, and headed toward the Assessment Area.

Outside the Assessment Area, a row of academy teachers was already standing, nearly thirty in total. Their homeroom teacher, Wu Ya, was also among the crowd.

Ma Xiaotao had arrived long ago; it seemed she was also afraid of being late and had waited here in advance.

Seeing Yue Ling and Gongyang Mo arrive on time, the heart she had been holding in finally settled.

Once the assembly time arrived, Du Weilun stepped forward to begin roll call.

On such an important occasion as the knockout tournament, almost no one dared to be late, or rather, it was very rare—a highly unusual occurrence at Shrek Academy.

Not only were a large number of intermediate and high-level teachers present to watch, but even the dean had come, seemingly to observe the seedlings of this generation.

Even if someone had already passed the freshman assessment, failing to appear at the knockout tournament would definitely be seen as contempt for the academy and leave a bad impression on all the teachers.

Soon, the Martial Soul Department's director of the outer courtyard, Du Weilun, finished the roll call, and the next step was the drawing of lots.

It was just a knockout tournament; there were no extra, cumbersome ceremonies.

Yue Ling stepped forward to draw the lot on behalf of his team.

A total of sixty-four teams were participating. They would face off in pairs, with thirty-two matches starting simultaneously.

The students had rested for a full day yesterday, and the academy had also renovated the Assessment Area, simply moving the partitions that separated the fields to divide them into sixteen combat zones.

Each area was several times larger than before, leaving more space for the participating students to unleash their spirit skills.

The rules for the knockout tournament were very simple: one round every morning and one every afternoon. Teams that lost were sent directly back to their classes, while the winning teams stayed to continue competing.

It would last three days in total to determine the final top three.

The draw concluded, and the battle of the sixty-four into thirty-two began immediately.

Thirty-two battles were conducted simultaneously to compress the overall duration of the competition, giving the winning teams sufficient time to rest and prepare for the afternoon's matches.

Yue Ling and his team were assigned to the ninth zone.

The teacher in charge of invigilating this match had changed; he was a man in his forties with black-rimmed glasses and a very kind appearance, named Wang Yan.

Seeing Yue Ling's team walk to the edge of the field, he specifically waved at them gently to greet them. Yue Ling and the others politely returned the gesture.

During the draw, there were only numbers, so no one knew what kind of opponents they would encounter. Once they walked to their respective combat zones, the other teams from Class One secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, they hadn't drawn their own classmates; after all, no one wanted to face that powerful team composed of three spirit masters from their own class in the first round.

The first round of combat officially began.

Yue Ling's team's opponents were three second-ring great spirit masters who had decent coordination.

But under the fierce suppression of the three spirit masters, they didn't last long before being defeated. Yue Ling's team successfully secured the victory and advanced to the top thirty-two.

Watching from the side, Wang Yan saw the three of them end the battle cleanly and efficiently, and he secretly sighed in his heart. They were worthy of being the seed team of Class One, with a full three spirit masters.

One had to know that in a single freshman year, it was already very rare for each class to produce one spirit master, yet Class One had produced four.

Although one had cultivated up to that point before the freshman assessment, four was still four.

What's more, the foundations of the three's martial souls were all extremely formidable.

Ma Xiaotao, martial soul Evil Fire Phoenix, shared the same origin as the Phoenix God from ten thousand years ago. It looked like she had consumed something to briefly suppress the evil fire within her body.

Gongyang Mo, martial soul Rainbow Dragon, a top-tier auxiliary beast martial soul. Its shortcoming was the same as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda—it could only attach seven spirit rings at most—but the amplification it provided was extremely overbearing.

If not for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's secret manual on distraction control, the gap between the two would be almost non-existent.

The captain, Yue Ling, had the Wonder-Silk Heavenly Chrysanthemum as his martial soul—a large, golden-purple chrysanthemum with fine velvet on the surface of its petals and a faint golden light emanating from its stamen.

Based on observations of his spirit skills, it was certain that he followed the power-attack route. When fighting, the petals were hard and sharp, his attack power was extremely high, and his close-quarters combat even carried the effect of Indestructible Diamond. His comprehensive combat strength was extremely fierce.

Ten thousand years ago, the War God Dai Mubai had once consumed a Wonder-Silk Heavenly Chrysanthemum and gained the ability of Indestructible Diamond.

It wasn't as if there hadn't been spirit masters with the Wonder-Silk Heavenly Chrysanthemum in history; historical records stated that there was once a titled Douluo with the title "Chrysanthemum" whose martial soul was exactly that.

Wang Yan pushed up his glasses, constantly calculating the martial souls and their origins in his mind, and quickly reached a conclusion.

It could only be said that he was worthy of being a premier high-level teacher in Shrek's outer courtyard; his theoretical foundation was solid, and his eye for people and martial souls was sharp.

After watching just one battle, he had analyzed the foundations of all three of them quite thoroughly.

Wang Yan watched the backs of the three as they walked off the field.

He still wanted to see more in his heart, waiting for Yue Ling to unleash his third spirit skill before making contact.

Whether it was the precise control of his martial soul or the timing of his spirit skill release, this young man handled everything perfectly.

What puzzled him most was that when Yue Ling engaged in close-quarters combat, a faint golden light would appear on his skin, looking extremely similar to Indestructible Diamond.

However, according to the records in the library, Indestructible Diamond could only be fully mastered after the seventh ring, or by consuming the Wonder-Silk Heavenly Chrysanthemum immortal herb in advance.

Such immortal herbs were something that even Shrek Academy hadn't seen for a very, very long time...

Wang Yan was filled with doubts, becoming increasingly curious about the secrets hidden within this young man.