As the finals of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament began, the Dou Ling Empire sent out its army as usual, followed by the entrance of its emperor.
A full six Titled Douluos guarded the Dou Ling Empire's emperor, displaying the empire's national strength.
When the emperor appeared with a full six Titled Douluos, cheers erupted from the people of the Dou Ling Empire, but Su Yun merely felt a little like laughing.
Their highest combat strength was only rank ninety-seven. Although the other six Titled Douluos worked hard to maintain their imposing presence, he could still clearly sense that they were a great deal weaker than the Su Clan's grand elder.
That weakness was not merely the difference of a single Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, but a weakness in every respect.
In other words, the six Titled Douluos beside the Dou Ling Empire's emperor truly only had the title of Titled Douluo; not one had cultivation that reached the level of a Super Douluo.
Their combat strength was almost equivalent to the Clear Sky Sect without Tang Hao during the Douluo I era.
A rank ninety-seven Tang Xiao paired with a few Titled Douluo elders-their combat strength looked truly pitiful.
Su Yun was certain that, leaving those armies aside, the Dou Ling Empire would be crushed by the current Su Clan with just its high-level combat strength.
In terms of high-level combat strength, the Dou Ling Empire really could not quite make it onto the stage.
Watching that interminably long, tiresome ceremony, Su Yun began to understand why Tang Wulin had dozed off when he went to the Star Luo Empire, because that jumble of nonsense nearly put Su Yun to sleep too.
Fortunately, no one came to disturb him, and he finally endured that interminably long, tiresome pre-match ceremony.
After they got through the ceremony, the teachers leading the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and Shrek Academy brought their respective teams forward together.
The starting members met the eyes of the opposing starting members, while the reserve members met the eyes of the opposing reserve members.
Of course, compared with Shrek Academy's reserve members, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy had far fewer.
The reserve members Shrek Academy sent out were the rest of the Shrek Seven Devils, excluding Ma Xiaotao, while the Sun Moon Empire's side had only Su Yun, Ma Rulong, and two Soul King substitutes.
Compared with Shrek Academy's side, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's substitutes were closer to true substitutes: Soul King experts who could genuinely step in if something happened to a starting member.
When it came to training their younger members, it was hard to say whether the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy simply did not care or truly lacked the strength. In any case, aside from Ma Rulong, not a single one of its starting members for the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament had come.
In fact, if not for the Su Clan's lack of money and Su Yun's need to ensure his older sister's safety, even Su Yun would not have come here.
"You're the captain of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's team for the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament?"
As the two teams stood facing each other, meeting one another's eyes, Dai Yueheng's somewhat surprised voice rang out.
He had thought the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's captain for the next tournament would be Ma Rulong. Who would have thought that, judging by where Ma Rulong stood, he actually was not the captain?
"Perhaps," Su Yun said indifferently.
He had no intention of participating in the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament. Dou Qi was his foundation, while Soul Power was merely supplementary. He had come this time because Su Qingxue was here; the next tournament would have nothing he wanted, so he did not even intend to go.
The Snow Empress Embryo could no longer appear, the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife had long since been purchased, and the only Ice Jade Scorpion Soul Bone was something Su Yun neither valued nor could use.
Naturally, however, there was no need to tell Dai Yueheng any of this, so Su Yun simply brushed him off with a casual reply.
But although Su Yun was being perfunctory, Dai Yueheng, who wanted to win glory for Shrek in the Star Luo Empire, did not take it that way. Instead, he looked at Su Yun solemnly.
"Dare you fight me?"
"Hmm?" Su Yun looked at Dai Yueheng in surprise. "I don't think they'll call reserve members up in the finals."
"I can persuade our captain at Shrek Academy. If you can persuade the captain on the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's side too, perhaps we can have a match."
Dai Yueheng spoke with great certainty.
Every Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament had a roster of participants listing their ages and cultivation. Dai Yueheng had not read that roster, but when it came to Su Yun, he did not need to.
This was the Douluo Continent, not the Dou Qi Continent. That absorbing Soul Rings made people grow much faster than ordinary people was common knowledge throughout the continent.
On the Dou Qi Continent, Su Yun could pass himself off as fifteen at the age of eleven and people would believe him, but in the Douluo Continent's Soul Master World, any Soul Master could make a fairly accurate guess at his age with a single glance.
Dai Yueheng was quite certain that Su Yun was twelve at most.
At twelve, he had already been earmarked as the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's captain for the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament. Such talent would probably qualify him as a genius even at Shrek Academy.
Taking into account the rapid cultivation through pills on the Sun Moon Empire's side, Dai Yueheng estimated that Su Yun would most likely reach high-level Soul Emperor in five years.
With it uncertain whether Ma Xiaotao could participate in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament five years from now, Dai Yueheng, the prospective captain of the next Shrek Seven Devils, had to consider how he would lead Shrek Academy to victory in the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament without her.
If the captain for the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament were Ma Rulong, everything would be straightforward. Against Ma Rulong alone, he was ninety-eight percent confident that he could lead his team to victory.
But if the captain changed, the situation would become rather harder to judge.
Ma Rulong was currently rank forty-six, and reaching Soul Emperor by the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament was practically nailed to the board.
One high-level Soul Emperor plus one low-level Soul Emperor would be manageable with Ma Xiaotao present, but if she did not participate, winning would not be easy.
As someone who might become Shrek Academy's captain for the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament, Dai Yueheng had to consider what lay ahead and think about whether Shrek's glory could continue through the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament.
Thus, to be safe, Dai Yueheng chose to challenge Su Yun.
If he could deal with Su Yun directly in the arena of this Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament, denying him those five years to grow, then the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy would have only Ma Rulong left for the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament.
At that point, it would not matter whether Ma Xiaotao competed. With his strength, leading a group of Shrek elites against the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy would practically be a sure thing.
Unless some accident along the way caused unusual losses among Shrek Academy's members-but that was simply impossible. The strength of Shrek Academy's accompanying teachers had always been assured, enough to let them travel safely.
"Well? Dare you fight me?" Dai Yueheng asked eagerly.
Su Yun glanced at Dai Yueheng, sensed his rank-forty-something Soul Power, and thought it over. Perhaps playing around a little would be fine.