" The Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament, it's been a long time!"
Wearing the Yu Xiaogang vest, Wang Hao stood atop the Pope's Palace, gazing at the rising sun gradually appearing in the east, his heart filled with agitation.
It's important to know that the Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament was a main storyline in the original Douluo anime, leaving a deep impression on Wang Hao. And now, this grand event is about to begin.
Unlike the original work, which only uses words to describe the event and doesn't take much time even in the anime, the Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament in this real world lasts for a full six months.
The preparations in all aspects are quite complex and tedious, and very time-consuming.
After all, this isn't an esports competition where characters can refresh and immediately start the second round of battle at full strength.
After a fierce battle, a Soul Master needs a long time to recover, and if injured, they need even longer to recuperate.
Although many healing-type Soul Master possess powerful healing abilities, this rapid healing requires consuming the body's potential, and excessive use can even lead to premature aging.
Therefore, aside from during battle, few people use this method to recover after a battle.
Furthermore, the Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament is divided into three stages. The first stage, which is also the most time-consuming, is the preliminary round.
This requires each region to first select seed teams, which will take a full two months.
Then there will be a month to make corrections and to travel to the territories of the Great Emperor for the Second Tier of the qualifying competition.
This First Tier will last for one and a half months, followed by a month of rest, and finally, they will head to Spirit City to participate in the Third Tier finals.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the finals will last for half a month, making the total duration six months.
"Have you decided when you want to confront them? We don't understand that we're not fully prepared at this stage."
Without turning around, Wang Hao asked.
"Although we were not adequately prepared, neither were the Great Emperor and those aristocratic families and sects, giving us an advantage in this regard."
and..."
Bibi Dong affectionately hugged her lover from behind, pressed her head against his straight back, and continued, "They should have already guessed some of our progress plans, and began to obstruct and suppress our plans from all sides as early as three years ago."
The conflicts between the two sides have reached a breaking point, and we need an opportunity to break through this bottleneck.
Despite the Spirit Hall's tight defenses over the years, the powerful clans, sects, and imperial nobles were not to be underestimated, and they still managed to obtain a considerable amount of intelligence.
Based on this intelligence, the other side suppressed the Spirit Hall in every aspect, which affected their development speed.
Meanwhile, the Great Emperor were almost ready. Due to the competition for a large number of commoner Soul Master, the quantity and quality of commoner Soul Master in both physiques had increased dramatically.
This not only greatly increased the economic burden on the Great Emperor, but also seriously threatened the status of the world's sects and imperial nobles.
Those people urgently need a war to deplete these ever-increasing numbers of civilian Soul Master, and waging war against the Spirit Hall would be a good option.
This would not only deplete these civilian Soul Master but also eliminate the Spirit Hall, a major threat, making it a win-win situation.
Bibi Dong was well aware of those people's ulterior motives. Before their Spirit Hall truly rose to power, the Great Emperor were constantly at war, and the dead and wounded were all soldiers conscripted from commoner Soul Master.
This is the thinking of the powerful clans and imperial nobles; they do not want to see the rise of commoner Soul Master, as that would threaten their own status.
After all, there are far too many commoner Soul Master, more than a hundred times more than those from aristocratic families, sects, and imperial nobles.
They all have a red line in their hearts. Once the number and quality of commoner Soul Master approach that red line, they will try every means to weaken the class of commoner Soul Master.
This kind of weakening cannot be achieved directly; it must be indirectly attrited through imperial wars. This was the main reason why the Great Emperor were constantly at war a thousand years ago.
It wasn't until the Spirit Hall truly rose to power a thousand years ago and absorbed a large number of Soul Master from the commoner class that the Great Emperor began to restrain themselves, and the intensity of the war was continuously reduced until the current complete cessation of hostilities.
Unfortunately, this also led the Great Emperor and powerful clans to focus their attention on the Spirit Hall. Over the past thousand years, countless open and covert struggles have been waged against it, which has greatly weakened the Spirit Hall's power and slowed down its development.
Because the Spirit Hall held the moral high ground and enjoyed great prestige among commoner Soul Master, the Great Emperor and aristocratic families did not openly wage a large-scale war in order to avoid forcing commoner Soul Master into complete opposition against them.
But that's the end of it. From now on, Douluo Continent will usher in a new era belonging to Bibi Dong!
Those corrupt and harmful families, sects, empires, and nobles who hinder the development of the Human Clan will inevitably be crushed by the overwhelming tide of history and swept away from the river of time.
"It's good that you have your own ideas. No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you!"
He spoke gently yet firmly, and after the sun had fully risen, Wang Hao withdrew his remote control consciousness. The remote-controlled Soul Tool clone immediately reverted to its spherical form.
Unless absolutely necessary, he has only come to accompany Bibi Dong to farm Fortune Points at night over the years. Once the sun rises, his consciousness returns to his own cultivation.
Do you know that I don't want you to stand behind me, but rather to walk alongside me?
Holding the spherical Soul Tool in her hands, Bibi Dong murmured to herself, her longing for her beloved reaching its peak.
She could clearly sense her lover's rejection of her; he was obviously unwilling to come and be with her in his true form.
In her view, it must be that she herself had hurt him too deeply back then, making it impossible for him to get over that hurdle all these years.
However, she couldn't reveal the truth about what happened back then, fearing that her lover would despise her impure body. So, she dared not cross that hurdle and could only maintain the current relationship.
Bibi Dong didn't know was that this contradictory and conflicted mentality was created by Wang Hao himself, and it was also the main means by which he controlled Bibi Dong, this tool.
Otherwise, once his identity as Yu Xiaogang is exposed, who knows what Bibi Dong will do? It will be difficult to gain any more Fortune Points from her.
Therefore, maintaining this state is the most stable and also the most beneficial for him.
The preliminary rounds in the Great Emperor are progressing smoothly. Each region and province has selected its own seeded teams, who then travel to the capitals of the Great Emperor to compete in the First Tier of the qualifying rounds.
Meanwhile, the first participating team arrived in Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire: the Botanical Academy Team from Jige Province.
As a renowned advanced academy in the Heaven Dou Empire, the Plant Academy, though not as prestigious as the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, the Five Elemental Academies, or the newly emerging Shrek Academy, is still second to none. Naturally, it has its own exclusive base and intelligence network in Heaven Dou City.
Upon arriving in Heaven Dou City with the Botanical Academy Team, Little Nine immediately retrieved the video recordings of the previous preliminary rounds in the Heaven Dou Empire's capital region.
Because Shrek Academy participated in the preliminary rounds of the Heaven Dou Empire's capital region.
After spending three days and nights watching all the battle videos of the Shrek Team, Little Nine closed his eyes and pondered. After a while, he suddenly looked at the beautiful woman beside him.
"Aunt Lian, could you please help me contact Huo Wu from the Blazing Fire Academy, Shui Bing'er from the Skywater Academy, and Meng Yiran from the Exotic Beast Academy?"
"Aunt Lian?!"
The beautiful woman beside her reached out and pinched Little Nine's fair and smooth cheek, her expression quite unfriendly.
"Sister Lian!"
Little Nine reluctantly changed how she addressed the teacher in charge of the group.
The beautiful teacher leading the group was named Caren, the only daughter of Dean Suosite, and also the wife of that teacher, Yamato.
However, compared to the middle-aged teacher Yamato, this teacher Caren pays more attention to maintaining her appearance because of her Martial Soul, the Black Jade Snow Lotus.
So even though she's over forty, she still looks like a young girl in her late teens and early twenties, and has a completely girlish heart, and always asks them to call her "sister".
This is clearly an attempt to appear younger than one's age, but it must be said that they certainly have the looks to pull it off.
Since she needed someone's help this time, Little Nine had no choice but to give in to this seemingly innocent Sister Lian.
Seeing that Little Nine had changed how she addressed Caren, her expression brightened, and she then looked through the information on the three women Shui Bing'er and the others, that Little Nine had picked out.
After looking at the photos of the three girls, Caren seemed to understand something. She smiled and looked at Little Nine, teasingly saying, "Our Little Nine has grown up quite a bit!"
"Sister Lian!"
Little Nine couldn't help but smile wryly. It was undeniable that Shui Bing'er and the other two girls were all rare beauties who could topple kingdoms. Even though they hadn't fully matured due to their age, they were still stunning beauties in the making.
However, he met with these three women not because of their beauty, but because of their strength and the fact that they had all lost to the Shrek Team in the qualifiers.
Judging from the video footage, all three women were very unwilling to accept their defeat.
Next, he needs to rely on the power of these three women and the three major academies behind them, so he must arrange a meeting with them first.
"Alright, alright, I won't say anything more. You're so shy!"
The smile in her eyes deepened. Caren stopped teasing Little Nine, stood up, and walked away with elegant steps, preparing to use her connections to arrange a meeting with the three girls.
"Haha... Little Jiang Zhu, is this the devilish little brother you mentioned in your letter?"
Not long after Caren left, three figures suddenly emerged from the shadows inside the room: the Demon Subduing Douluo brothers and Ghost Douluo.
As soon as the Demon Subduing Douluo appeared, his gaze swept over Jiang Zhu and the others, finally settling on Little Nine, his eyes filled with undisguised astonishment.
If what Jiang Zhu wrote in her letter is true, then this kid is indeed extraordinary and deserves the attention of their Spirit Hall.
"Your Majesty the Jiang Mo Slayer! Your Majesty the Qian Jun King! Your Majesty the Ghost King!"
Jiang Zhu and the others hurriedly paid their respects to the three Demon Subduing Douluo, deeply moved.
They never expected the Spirit Hall to take this so seriously, sending three Titled Douluo directly.
This far exceeded their expectations!
"Kindness!"
Nodding in satisfaction, the Demon Subduing Douluo carefully examined Little Nine and said, "I never expected that the Evil Fire power valued by the Grandmaster would be transferred into your body, and even trigger such a heaven-defying change."
The Demon Subduing Douluo was deeply moved by this. He had been present when Wang Hao had shown great interest in guiding Ma Hongjun, and he had some understanding of this Evil Fire power.
At that time, Ma Hongjun, who possessed the power of Evil Fire, could only apply it to himself. Although the effect was remarkable, it was nothing special.
But who would have thought that this Evil Fire power would unleash such heaven-defying might in Little Nine's hands?
It's not a big deal for one person to possess Evil Fire, but if one can share the power of Evil Fire with others, it immediately rises to a strategic level.
This means that a large number of powerful individuals can be trained in batches, which is invaluable to any faction.
"Your Majesty flatters me; it's merely that I was lucky!"
Little Nine replied modestly that he was quite pleased with the arrival of these three big shots, and that his plans would surely proceed more smoothly from now on.
"There's no need for such empty formalities in front of me. I know perfectly well whether it's an overstatement or not. Excessive modesty is just hypocrisy."
There's not much to worry about in our Spirit Hall; our current atmosphere is quite open.
No matter how outrageous your performance is, we can tolerate it.
With a wave of his hand, the Demon Subduing Douluo became increasingly interested in the junior before him.
"Your Majesty's lesson is well learned, and I will keep it in mind."
Little Nine seemed to understand something and kept those words in mind.
After all, he had already decided to follow the Spirit Hall, so he naturally needed to understand some of the Spirit Hall's internal rules beforehand.
He was initially a little worried, after all, the Spirit Hall was also a force, and as long as it was a force, it was inevitable that it would have the same kind of dirty dealings as sects, aristocratic families, and imperial nobles.
With such terrifying talent on display, who knows if he'll be subjected to the tragic fate of "the tallest tree in the forest catches the most wind"?
Now that he heard the words " Demon Subduing Douluo," he felt much more at ease.