The Shrek Academy group was taken aback as well.
"Canghui Academy?" Dai Mubai raised a brow, a sharp glint flashing through his evil eyes.
Ma Hongjun's chubby face twitched, and he subconsciously rubbed his arm, as though recalling some unpleasant experience.
Canghui Academy.
The others also looked up. They had not expected to encounter that academy.
After all, they had an old grudge against it.
More precisely, Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun had a conflict with one of Canghui Academy's students.
Several years ago, while traveling to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for Soul Rings, they had stayed at an inn on the forest's outskirts.
Because of a verbal dispute, Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun had clashed with a female student from Canghui Academy.
In the end, the two had been soundly taught a lesson by a red-haired girl named Melida and suffered quite a loss.
The two had always regarded that incident as a humiliation.
They had not expected to run into them in the very first round of the preliminaries.
"Melida..." Dai Mubai murmured her name, battle intent churning in his eyes before a trace of gravity crossed them.
That girl's strength had already been extraordinary back then. Several years had passed since then, so she had surely improved even further.
Moreover, for her to possess such strength in a school like Canghui Academy, which was not among the elite, her talent and opportunities could not have been simple.
Ma Hongjun also put away his usual cheeky grin. His small eyes gleamed with both eagerness and a hint of wariness.
Yu Xiaogang frowned as well.
His original plan had been to conceal their strength in the first round and send out only three main members alongside four substitutes.
But now their opponent was Canghui Academy, and