Soul Master Tournament, One Against Seven

Wang Yan pushed up his glasses, covered in cold sweat:

"Chi Hong, how can the glory of Shrek be measured by money? This isn't something that can be traded. As a student of the academy, do you have no sense of belonging to the school at all?"

Chi Hong was entirely at ease:

"Sense of belonging, just how much is that worth? You better think this through, Teacher Wang Yan. Old Xuan himself caused a huge disaster, and now he's handed this team over to you. Even if you fail to win the championship, the academy won't blame you for much."

"But how will outsiders view this? How will the students looking forward to it within the academy view it? Shrek has practically swept the championships of every tournament in history. Now it's going to be lost in your hands?"

"How do you think outsiders will view Shrek? Unlucky? Unfortunate? Wrong, it's incompetent! In the eyes of the world, only the results matter! They don't care about the process, and a loss is a loss!"

Chi Hong's words bit away at Wang Yan's psychological defense line bit by bit.

Wang Yan grabbed his hair with both hands, exceptionally distressed.

This was precisely what he worried about.

Although the main person in charge this time was Xuan Zi, he was the team-leading teacher!

If he failed to win back the glory of Shrek, he wouldn't even be worthy of being a teacher at Shrek.

Moreover, Chi Hong's current approach had no problem either.

Back at the academy, how Zhou Yi and Xuan Zi had blamed him was still fresh in his mind.

Yet Chi Hong's battle prowess was something he absolutely could not give up.

Wang Yan glanced at the selections for the Reserve Team.

Put together, these seven people couldn't even beat Chi Hong alone; wanting to win the championship relying on these utterly useless students was impossible.

"The glory of Shrek cannot be lost." Wang Yan gritted his teeth and raised his head firmly. "Spit it out, what reward do you want? A Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone? Or a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring? If the championship can be won, the school can give you these."

Chi Hong stretched out his index finger and shook it:

"My Martial Soul is summoning soul beasts, so these things are completely useless to me. I'm going to buy three things at the Star Luo Empire's auction shortly. Previously, the limit Old Xuan gave was an upper limit of one hundred million Gold Soul Coins. Now, regardless of what the limit is, the academy must buy them for me."

Wang Yan was stunned:

"A quota of one hundred million? No upper limit! This..."

He weighed things in his heart.

At past auctions, the highest-value items sold barely reached the tens of millions level, and ones in the hundreds of millions practically didn't exist.

Since Xuan Zi had previously given such a high quota, it seemed he understood in his heart that Chi Hong probably wouldn't be able to spend that much, and he might even know what was inside the auction.

After all, he was the Deputy Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion, so he definitely knew what he was doing!

Wang Yan went through a storm of thoughts:

"No problem, as long as the glory of Shrek is preserved, spend however much is needed!"

The corner of Chi Hong's mouth hooked up:

"Then it's a deal. Teacher, I believe you certainly won't go back on your word."

Wang Yan nodded firmly, a flash of wisdom sweeping across his lenses.

Star Luo City.

The group checked into the Royal Grand Hotel.

Wang Yan gathered the seven members of the Reserve Team, along with Chi Hong and Huo Yuhao, into the conference room.

Wang Yan wore a gentle smile, looking very confident:

"Why is everyone so down in the dumps? Aside from our Shrek Official Team, all the other teams are very weak. Everyone doesn't need to worry too much."

"Besides, we still have Chi Hong leading the team. Everyone has personally experienced his strength."

The seven looked at each other in dismay, their expressions all somewhat awkward.

Xu Sanshi and Dai Huabin both snorted, clearly extremely dissatisfied with Chi Hong.

After all, the way they had experienced it was by getting severely beaten up to a pulp, and now having to join forces with the enemy, naturally they wouldn't have favorable expressions.

After a moment, Beibei took the initiative to put on a smiling face:

"Chi Hong, and Yuhao, from here on we'll be fighting side by side, please take care of us."

Huo Yuhao politely replied.

Chi Hong raised his head and said indifferently:

"Old Xuan said I'm not suited for group combat. When there are many people, my soul beasts won't cooperate well with you. Therefore, as long as it's a team battle, none of you need to go up; having me go up alone is enough."

Chi Hong truly didn't want these few people to go up; with many people, he was afraid these few would split his experience points away.

Experience could only be enjoyed exclusively by him alone.

Beibei's expression stiffened slightly.

Dai Huabin grew angry on the spot:

"You mean the group stage doesn't need us, is that an insinuation that we're all dead weight and trash?"

Chi Hong glanced at him without replying.

Yet the look in his eyes was extremely obvious: you guessed right.

Xu Sanshi said coldly:

"Just what I wanted, I won't cooperate with a guy who hurt Nannan!"

Jiang Nannan asked, "Captain, if the seven-person team battles of the Knockout Stage are all handled by you, how will the three-two-two of the round-robin tournament later be distributed?"

Xu Sanshi wore a look of disbelief:

"Nannan, how could you take the initiative to talk to him!"

Chi Hong was unconcerned:

"Draw lots, whoever wants to go on goes on."

"Ahem." Wang Yan coughed twice to smooth things over. "Alright, everyone stop arguing. Let Chi Hong handle the team battle alone. I'll arrange the rest, how about that?"

With that said, no one had any objections.

Dai Huabin and Xu Sanshi also didn't actively provoke Chi Hong anymore.

After all, the two of them couldn't beat this guy, and Chi Hong could still order Ma Xiaotao, that terrifyingly violent woman, around.

If Ma Xiaotao, that female lunatic who killed and set fires at will in the academy, was let loose to mess with them, it would be the end.

The next day.

"Shrek! Shrek! Shrek..."

Before they had even taken the stage, the audience in the arena had already stirred up deafening cheers, shouting out Shrek's reputation.

Hearing the frantic cheers from the outside world, the seven members of the Reserve Team sitting behind the stage felt the blood in their hearts grow somewhat scorching for a moment.

To be able to display one's strength and radiance on a grand stage drawing the eyes of ten thousand, enjoying the cheers of the crowd—what an impassioning thing that was.

Yet today, they couldn't take the stage and could only sit on the bench here.

Dai Huabin clenched his fists tightly, his eyes filled with unwillingness. As the son of the White Tiger Duke, he was the one who most wanted to take the stage and accept the cheers of the crowd.

Yet all of this had been snatched away by that man.

Beside him, Huo Yuhao glanced at him indifferently, the corner of his mouth hooking up.

He seemed to understand that what this person cherished most, it turned out, was this.

Welcoming the cheers of the audience.

Chi Hong pressed down the brim of his hat, walked onto the soul dueling platform alone, stood in the center, and gazed at his opponents with a calm expression.

The cheers of the crowd gradually turned into noisy discussions.

"Eh, why did Shrek only send one person up? Have they forgotten that the Knockout Stage is a team battle?"

"No way, is Shrek actually going to do a one-versus-seven? Completely not taking the opponents seriously, truly living up to Shrek."

"Wait, this person doesn't seem to be a member of Shrek's Official Team yet. So young, definitely not over fifteen! Could he be from the Reserve Team?"

The captain of Tianling Academy was extremely angry:

"Arrogant fellow, don't think that just because you're Shrek you can look down on us. If it's just one person, we still have the advantage and a winning chance in a seven-on-one!"