Gu Yuena's Combat Training

Spirit Pagoda Headquarters, Spirit Pagoda Academy, combat training grounds.

Gu Yuena stood at the center of the training grounds, facing everyone alone. Her cool voice rang clearly in their ears.

"Since you will be competitors in future tournaments, I will not require you to use your martial souls during practical combat classes. I will only teach you some basic combat techniques. How much experience you can gain from them will depend entirely on your own understanding and ability."

In the era of the original Ultimate Douluo, Gu Yuena had served as a practical combat instructor in the Douluo Federation. Thus, the combat techniques she was teaching Xiao Xiao, Tang Wutong, Meng Hongchen, and the others were precisely Gu Yuena's Ancient Martial Arts.

As for everyone's eventual results, they were naturally self-evident.

Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and He Caitou were undeniably at the bottom of the class. After all, they specialized in the Soul Tool department, so Gu Yuena's Ancient Martial Arts were utterly incomprehensible to them.

Next came Xiao Xiao, Su Tong, Ling Luocheng, Xu Sanshi, and Ma Xiaotao. The five of them were fairly diligent, and their combat performance was barely passable.

Then there were Jiang Nannan, Dai Yueheng, and Bei Bei. Each had their own strengths in body cultivation and combat techniques, so their understanding of Ancient Martial Arts was naturally a cut above the rest.

Needless to say, Jin Qiurui and Tang Wutong were the most outstanding. One possessed the Golden Dragon Bloodline, while the other possessed the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul.

Although they could not use their martial souls, the two had clearly trained in combat techniques and physical conditioning. Therefore, their understanding of Ancient Martial Arts was the deepest among everyone present.

Gu Yuena then continued explaining the specific requirements for the next part of the course.

"I believe you now have a general understanding of Ancient Martial Arts. Next, we will continue with practical training in coordination and mutual understanding with your Soul Spirit partners."

Other than Tang Wutong, everyone summoned their Soul Spirit partners and engaged in friendly exchanges and sparring.

Meng Hongchen boldly stepped forward and asked in confusion, "Wutong, why haven't you fused with a Soul Spirit yet?"

Tang Wutong remained calm. "I haven't encountered a Soul Spirit I like yet. Besides, I only came here to study knowledge about Soul Spirits."

Everyone suddenly understood, guessing that Tang Wutong probably needed a little more time to adapt to this new thing.

Tang Wutong silently watched the battle between the Soul Spirits. As expected, the final victor was indeed Jin Qiurui's Soul Spirit—Scarlet King.

Seeing Jin Qiurui beaming with delight, Gu Yuena could not help smiling faintly as she chuckled helplessly to herself:

Scarlet King is a hundred-thousand-year ferocious beast. It would be strange if any of the Soul Spirits here could defeat him.

After nearly a year of exchange and study, the exchange students from Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy had learned much knowledge related to Soul Spirits, as well as many combat techniques, at Spirit Pagoda Academy. Everyone felt they had benefited greatly.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin also concluded their time as exchange students and returned to Spirit Pagoda Headquarters. Likewise, Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, Tang Wutong, and the others each returned safely to their own academies.

When Beast God Di Tian saw Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin return together with Xuan Ziwen, Na Na, Ji Juechen, and Jing Ziyan, he followed Huo Yuhao's wishes and appointed the four of them as vice masters of the Spirit Pagoda under several great ferocious beasts.

Huo Yuhao had successfully purified and rescued Na Na's parents' souls from the Holy Spirit Cult, so Na Na willingly chose to follow him.

As for Xuan Ziwen, he spent every day surrounded by the Soul Tools Huo Yuhao had made, studying Huo Yuhao's blueprints and physical creations. Naturally, he settled down comfortably in the Spirit Pagoda.

The battle-loving Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan, meanwhile, fought Bear Lord every day. Bear Lord naturally enjoyed it immensely as well.

Thus, Huo Yuhao, Tang Wulin, Gu Yuena, and Snow Empress took the six students from Spirit Pagoda Academy to participate in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament.

However, Gu Yuena and Snow Empress would not be competing. They had merely come along to inspect the results of their teaching.

This time, because Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng had been exchange students at Spirit Pagoda Academy, they had not joined the Shrek Inspection Corps' campaign to eliminate the evil Soul Master, Death God Envoy.

As a result, the two had escaped disaster and avoided the clutches of the Holy Spirit Cult's "Supreme Elder"—the negligence of Elder Xuan.

Thus, Mu En and Xuan Zi decided to have the two main team members participate in this tournament alongside the five reserve members: Tang Wutong, Bei Bei, He Caitou, Dai Huabin, and Zhu Lu.

Star Luo City, the capital of the Star Luo Empire—the tournament venue.

The spectator stands, capable of seating hundreds of thousands, were completely full. The entire place overflowed with a lively, jubilant atmosphere.

After Star Luo Empire's emperor, Xu Jiawei, solemnly declared the tournament officially open, the referee immediately announced:

"Let us welcome the representatives of the continent's number one academy—Shrek Academy—and the representatives of Heavenly Spirit Academy from the Dou Ling Empire. They will bring us the first match of the first round of the team battle elimination stage."

All the spectators shouted Shrek Academy's name in unison, their eyes fixed on Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, Tang Wutong, Bei Bei, He Caitou, Dai Huabin, and Zhu Lu. No one paid any attention at all to Shrek Academy's opponent in this match.

Heavenly Spirit Academy only had five Soul Ancestors and two Soul Elders, whereas Shrek Academy had two Soul Emperors, three Soul Ancestors, and two Soul Elders.

It was worth mentioning that Tang Wutong's advancement to the Soul Ancestor level this time was mainly thanks to the teachings of Snow Empress and Gu Yuena.

Gu Yuena's Ancient Martial Arts, cultivation methods, and combat methods, along with the Soul Spirit Dual Cultivation Method described by Snow Empress, had greatly boosted the exchange students' Soul Power. However, none of them had broken through their respective bottlenecks.

As for the students of Spirit Pagoda Academy, who had received Gu Yuena and Snow Empress's direct guidance, they were naturally vastly different from the original work.

Xiao Xiao was now a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, while Jiang Nannan and Xu Sanshi had both advanced to the five-ring Soul King level. Likewise, the young Su Tong was also a Soul King.

Ling Luocheng had even reached the six-ring Soul Emperor level, her Soul Power far ahead of the others. Likewise, Jin Qiurui was no weaker; she too was now a six-ring Soul Emperor.

Clearly, Ma Xiaotao only needed to use her fourth soul skill—Phoenix Sky-Shaking Strike—to unleash an arena-wide attack on her opponents and easily secure victory. She gave Shrek Academy a winning start and successfully defended Shrek's glory.

Spirit Pagoda Academy's luck was exceptionally good. In the first round of the team battle elimination stage, they drew a bye and advanced directly to the second-round round-robin stage.

In Huo Yuhao's view, this drawing result was likely under-the-table manipulation by the Star Luo Empire. He guessed that Xu Jiawei probably wanted to use this opportunity to win over the Spirit Pagoda.

As for Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, their luck was comparatively worse. They encountered stubborn resistance from their opponents and needed a full ten minutes to finally end the battle and win their first-round match.

The three favored teams all completed their intense matches on the first day of the tournament, gaining two days of rest.

On the fourth day of the tournament, the round-robin stage officially began.