Underground Soul Engineer Tournament

Before setting out for the tournament, the Shrek Academy team and the Tang Sect team had held a friendly exchange match at Yan Shaozhe's request.

After facing Tang Wutong, Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and He Caitou, Dai Huabin and the others gained a profound understanding of the gap in strength between the two sides.

During this exchange match, they learned different methods of combat. Under the guidance of their team leader, Zhang Lexuan, the senior disciple of the inner court, they also summarized and accumulated some practical combat experience and fighting techniques.

Thus, Dai Huabin, a five-ringed Soul King, easily won four individual matches, defeating two Soul Kings and two Soul Ancestor opponents.

After Dai Huabin voluntarily conceded, Zhu Lu, also a five-ringed Soul King, smoothly won three individual matches, effortlessly defeating three Soul Ancestor-level opponents.

Heavenly Armor Sect only gained one point in the individual elimination matches, from Dai Huabin's voluntary concession, while Shrek Academy earned seven points. Even with the five points from winning the team battle, Heavenly Armor Sect only had six points in total, still less than Shrek Academy's seven.

Without question, the referee immediately declared Shrek Academy the final winner of the match, directly skipping the team battle.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin had not gone to watch the match that day. Instead, they had sent the evil Soul Engineer whom Huo Yuhao had purified and persuaded in the Undead Demi-Plane out of Ming Capital.

After regaining his clarity of mind, that evil Soul Engineer, whose martial soul was a strange insect, ultimately arrived at Spirit Pagoda Headquarters with Huo Yuhao's token and was taken in by Beast God Di Tian.

The next day.

Today was still the second round of the elimination matches. The Holy Spirit Sect's match that morning unfolded just like the first round. After Huo Yuhao once again forcibly took away an evil Soul Engineer, the team facing the Holy Spirit Sect immediately chose to forfeit.

Zhongli Wu could no longer sit still. He slammed his palm against the armrest and roared, "Who the hell is causing trouble?!"

Long Xiaoyao frowned slightly. "This person's spiritual power is absolutely no weaker than mine. He can actually isolate and block my perception."

Zhongli Wu's face filled with shock. "How is that possible?! Even you..."

That afternoon, after lunch, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin once again sat in the spectator stands to watch Tang Sect's second-round elimination match against Iron Sword Sect.

With the cooperation of his Soul Spirit, Sky Dragon Horse, Bei Bei, as a six-ringed Soul Emperor, easily defeated opponents whose strongest member was only a Soul King, successfully sweeping all seven opponents.

Xu Tianran raised an eyebrow slightly. "Another Soul Emperor. It seems Shrek Academy is willing to sacrifice even its own honor this time just to make Tang Sect famous."

In the waiting area, Xiao Hongchen sneered disdainfully. "The strongest person Shrek Academy has this time is only a Soul King. At last, we can crush them beneath our feet with ease."

Meng Hongchen nodded in agreement. "Although Tang Sect has a Soul Emperor, they still won't be a match for the Holy Spirit Sect. So this time, we win."

The following day.

It was not until that evening that the second round of preliminary elimination matches officially ended, leaving forty-two teams victorious.

The advancement rules for the third round of preliminary elimination matches were different. Not only would the twenty-one winning teams advance directly, but the twenty-one defeated teams would also have their total scores from the first two rounds compared. Higher scores meant higher rankings, and the top eleven teams would advance to the round robin.

In other words, a total of thirty-two teams would successfully advance to the round robin.

After successfully purifying the evil Soul Engineer who had competed in the second round, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin secretly sent him out of Ming Capital as well.

Likewise, that evil Soul Engineer carried Huo Yuhao's token and was ultimately accepted by Beast God Di Tian at Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.

At night, at the Xi Shui Alliance within the Youthful Hotel.

With Nangong Wan, the Xi Shui Alliance's leader, guiding Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin, the two naturally passed through without obstruction and successfully joined the qualification matches for the Underground Soul Engineer Tournament midway through. Today happened to be the final day of registration and qualification matches.

Tang Wulin did not participate in the competition, but he had the privilege of accompanying Huo Yuhao wherever he went. Though others had objections, after seeing Nangong Wan, they only dared to be angry without daring to speak.

Before long, Huo Yuhao used his Dark Gold Dreadclaw to carve Adamantine and create a simple Class 4 Soul Tool—the Simplified Energy-Gathering Soul Cannon—successfully passing the qualification match.

As for the betting money and obtaining rare metals mentioned in the original story, Huo Yuhao had no interest in such matters. Nangong Wan would naturally handle them.

Moreover, after helping the Holy Spirit Cult win the Underground Soul Engineer Tournament, the Holy Spirit Cult would reward Huo Yuhao with rare metals of his own. Huo Yuhao planned to send all the rare metals he obtained to Spirit Pagoda Headquarters and let Xuan Ziwen arrange matters on that front.

Late at night, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin followed Feng Ling and the other evil Soul Engineers as they escorted the eliminated participants into the water prison.

It was not that Huo Yuhao had not considered letting these participants rise up in resistance and jointly attack the Sun Moon Empire. Rather, he had considered the consequences of alerting the enemy: the Sun Moon Empire would seal off the escape routes in advance, or even directly kill the hostages.

Furthermore, as the Holy Spirit Cult's Holy Son, Huo Yuhao had plans of his own. In any case, the final outcome would certainly be much better than in the original story.

The next day.

Today was the third round of preliminary elimination matches.

Facing opponents with only two Soul Kings and five Soul Ancestors, Shrek Academy once again only sent out Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu in succession, easily securing victory in the third-round elimination match.

Tang Sect, however, encountered Shrek Academy's longtime rival—the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy—in this third-round elimination match.

Facing Meng Hongchen, who possessed Soul Emperor-level strength, and Xiao Hongchen, who had barely become a Soul Saint through the use of drugs, Tang Sect did not dare be the slightest bit careless. They therefore sent out Tang Ya, a Soul Saint.

Relying on the endlessly growing Blue Silver Emperor, Tang Ya defeated five Soul Kings in succession. When facing Meng Hongchen's deadly poison, she barely resisted its corrosive effects through the powerful defense of her Bluesilver Avatar, ultimately defeating Meng Hongchen.

Afterward, Tang Ya voluntarily conceded, leaving Tang Wutong to face Xiao Hongchen.

Tang Wutong consecutively unleashed three great soul skills—Light God's Possession, Butterfly Goddess Dance, and Martial Soul Avatar. Dazzling butterfly light suddenly erupted from her entire body, while countless butterflies filled the air and swept across the entire arena in an instant.

Despite activating his Martial Soul Avatar and Soul Tool artillery platform to resist, Xiao Hongchen, with his unstable cultivation, was ultimately unable to withstand Tang Wutong's overwhelming suppression and collapsed amid the blazing radiance.

Huo Yuhao, who was watching from the spectator stands, could not help clicking his tongue in admiration. "As expected of the God King's daughter. No one at the same level can defeat her."

Tang Wulin tilted his head. "Brother Yuhao, you're wrong. Sis definitely couldn't beat you or me at the same level."

Huo Yuhao stroked Tang Wulin's adorable cheek. "Of course. You're the God King's son, so your starting conditions are about the same as your sister's. And your martial soul and bloodline talent are even stronger than hers. Naturally, she isn't your match."

Even if Tang Wutong possessed the Radiant Dragon God Butterfly martial soul, she still would not be Tang Wulin's match. After all, Tang Wulin also had an outrageously powerful combat technique—the Dragon Emperor Forbidden Technique.

Thinking this, Huo Yuhao stroked Tang Wulin's hair again and sincerely praised him. "Wulin is the strongest person in this world."

Tang Wulin immediately beamed with delight, the corners of his lips rising. "Of course. With me here, no one can bully my Brother Yuhao."

Because Tang Sect had scored seven points in the individual elimination matches while the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy had scored one, the referee declared Tang Sect the winner of the third round without the need for a team battle.

However, even though the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy had lost this round, they had not been eliminated. Because their scores in the first two rounds were high, this loss merely placed them lower in the rankings.

In other words, they had also successfully advanced to the round robin, becoming one of the top thirty-two teams.

There would be a day of rest tomorrow, and the round robin would officially begin the day after tomorrow.

The round robin was divided into four groups, with eight teams in each group. Every team would fight every other team in its own group once. This meant there would be seven rounds in the round robin.

The competition format would remain unchanged: individual elimination matches followed by team battles. There would be eight matches each day, and every round would take two days to complete, so the round robin would last fourteen days in total.

The first group would hold four matches on the morning of the first day, the second group would hold four matches on the afternoon of the first day, the third group would hold four matches on the morning of the second day, and the fourth group would hold four matches on the afternoon of the second day.

The round robin would ultimately determine the top eight teams, with two teams advancing from each group into the finals.

The finals would consist of three stages: eight-to-four, semifinals, and finals.

The groupings and each group's specific matchups for the round robin the day after tomorrow would be decided by drawing lots that morning.

The next day.

At the underground world of the Youthful Hotel.

Today was the official opening day of the Ming Capital Soul Engineer Elite Tournament. Naturally, the requirements for this first round were higher than those of the qualification matches.

The participating Soul Engineers had to complete the creation of a Class 3 or higher Milk Bottle within three hours.

Nangong Wan arranged Huo Yuhao at the most conspicuous central round table, where the finest rare metals and auxiliary tools had been placed.

Under Nangong Wan's special arrangements, Tang Wulin sat silently in a soft chair one meter away from Huo Yuhao, quietly keeping him company.