New Tang Sect Academy Team

They searched the cave briefly and found some remains that had not been completely blasted apart.

"Looks like Death's Hand really has been wiped out, but I still don't understand how those people came through a battle like this without a scratch."

"Unless they have a top-tier expert backing them."

"A top-tier expert? Teacher Zhou, is that possible?"

Ma Xiaotao, at least, did not quite believe it, while Huo Yuhao said, "Teacher Zhou, should we ask Elder Xuan to come take a look?"

"Yes, in a situation like this, we really should ask Elder Xuan to take a look. Let's go outside first. I'll talk to those people again and see whether I can find out more."

Taking some of the fragments and bones they had collected as evidence, Zhou Yi led Ma Xiaotao, Wang Dong, and Huo Yuhao out of the cave.

As soon as they emerged, they noticed Bei Bei's pained expression.

Huo Yuhao hurried over.

"Eldest senior brother, what's wrong?"

Zhou Yi also looked at the players with a hostile expression.

"What did you do to my student?"

Qian Xixi: "You can eat whatever you like, but you can't say whatever you like. We didn't do anything. Otherwise, wouldn't you people from Shrek Academy have started fighting us already?"

Spirit Hall Eternal: "Do you think we don't know what your Shrek Academy is really like? 'Anyone who doesn't dare stir up trouble is a mediocrity.' Ha. That's all I can say."

Zhou Yi could hear the mockery in those words, but wary of the powerful expert who might be behind these players, he could only rein in his explosive temper.

"Dai Yueheng, tell me what happened."

"Well..."

Bei Bei's emotional collapse was entirely due to his own private romantic affairs, so Dai Yueheng found it difficult to say anything.

"What are you hemming and hawing for? Spit it out!"

"Teacher Zhou, he's only like this because of his own relationship problems. We really aren't in a position to say anything."

"Relationship problems?"

Zhou Yi glanced at Bei Bei and felt a headache coming on. How old are these children, anyway? Already acting out the whole tormented-by-love drama.

Don't they know the Soul Master Tournament is coming up next? Even if they're only reserves, they still need to get themselves into proper shape.

"Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, I'm leaving him to you. Give him some comfort."

Zhou Yi then fired a signal flare, and Xuan Zi hurried over as soon as he saw it.

Meanwhile, the players were chatting merrily in their team voice channel.

Wang Zhongwang: "He cracked that easily? Seriously, leaving aside what happens later, you really can't tell how much Bei Bei likes Tang Ya just from the early parts."

I Am an Angel: "He probably never really understood what Tang Ya was thinking. Besides, this guy even has a child bride. Tang Ya must feel no security at all. That's why I say he bears half the blame for Tang Ya turning dark later."

Ten-Year Veteran: "You're all just running your mouths for the fun of it. What about the quest? Does interacting with Shrek Academy like this meet the quest requirements?"

Spirit Hall Eternal: "At worst, we'll just get slightly smaller quest rewards. What, are we supposed to get on our knees and lick these Shrek people's boots? I certainly can't do it."

Spirit Hall Eternal: "The whole point of playing games is to have fun. If I can't even enjoy myself playing a game, why bother playing? I might as well delete my account and leave."

Agile Dog in the Mountains: "Exactly, exactly. Who cares what they think? We're players. Why should we care what NPCs think? Even the main quest isn't mandatory. At worst, we can just play without touching it."

Qian Xixi: "Personally, I don't think we need to worry about the quest. It only requires us to interact with Shrek Academy. There's no hard rule about how we do it."

Ten-Year Veteran: "I think the amount of time we spend together might be one of the evaluation criteria."

I Am an Angel: "Do you have something in mind?"

Ten-Year Veteran: "Weren't we going to sign up for the Soul Master Tournament? Our levels should be high enough now. Let's see whether we can register directly through the game system."

Wang Zhongwang: "You mean we don't go back to town, and just follow the Shrek Academy people to the Soul Master Tournament?"

Primordial One: "Great idea! If this quest really advances based on time spent, our completion rating will definitely be high when it's settled."

Qian Xixi: "Don't celebrate too soon. Can we actually do that? We have to ask whether the game system supports remote registration first. We also need to finalize the roster."

Behind the scenes, Tang Yi smiled as he read the players' chat. "Players really do have ideas. System, temporarily give them access to remote registration and remote purchases of sect supplies."

Soon, the players received a system announcement.

[At the players' request, remote sect services have now been temporarily enabled. Please check the details yourselves.]

Wang Zhongwang: "It really works. Let me see how to do this."

A sect elder's portrait had appeared on the player interface. Clicking it brought up options for tournament registration, the shop, and reputation quests.

Only the first category of reputation quests remained-eliminating evil soul masters-and it had become a collective quest.

After discussing it, the players decided that Ten-Year Veteran, I Am an Angel, Qian Xixi, Wang Zhongwang, Primordial One, Spirit Hall Eternal, and Agile Dog in the Mountains would be the official team members, with everyone else serving as reserves.

Primordial One's martial soul was a Water Demon, a control type. The first three soul skills were all sound-wave abilities and were rather lackluster, but if the soul rings were rerolled to higher ages, their control effects would improve greatly.

Spirit Hall Eternal's martial soul was a Golden Crocodile, a power-attack type. Spirit Hall Eternal had been running with Ten-Year Veteran from the start.

As for Agile Dog in the Mountains, her martial soul was a dog-a Husky, at that. It was an ice type and could also coordinate with Primordial One's Water Demon martial soul.

After registration was completed, Qian Xixi was appointed captain and also received a Tournament Entry Certificate.

Just then, Xuan Zi arrived.

"What happened?"

Seeing that everyone from Shrek Academy was unharmed, Xuan Zi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who are they?"

Xuan Zi then noticed the group of players as well.

Zhou Yi went over and explained the situation and the choices to him.

"New Tang Sect?"

Xuan Zi knew a little more about the Tang Sect. He knew that its founder was Tang San, one of the original Shrek Seven Devils.

Tang San had already ascended to godhood, so the possibility that this New Tang Sect was the work of that person above could not be ruled out.

With that thought, Xuan Zi walked over and said with a smile, "Hehe, thank you for eliminating Death's Hand, that band of evil soul masters who preyed on the common people."

Qian Xixi: "There's no need for thanks. It was our task to begin with. If I'm not mistaken, you're all heading to the Soul Master Tournament too, aren't you?"

"Hmm? Are you participating in this year's Soul Master Tournament as well?"

Qian Xixi: "Yes. This is our Tournament Entry Certificate."

The participating team field on the Tournament Entry Certificate clearly read "New Tang Sect Academy Team." That this newly emerged academy could directly obtain entry to the Soul Master Tournament made it seem all the more extraordinary.