The Five Elemental Academies Exchange Tournament Begins

The Five Elemental Academies Exchange Tournament was a major event for the academies.

One could say they all took it seriously, yet they held back in the matches. One could also say they didn't, yet every academy cared deeply about winning and losing, and all of them wanted to fight for first place.

In that case, it came down to the lineup each academy sent onto the stage and how well they performed.

But if an academy revealed too much of its strength, it might encounter the other elemental academies at the Advanced Soul Master Tournament and find itself targeted.

Elephant Armor Academy had experienced that once before. It had held nothing back at the exchange tournament, cutting down opponents in every direction and looking down on the other elemental academies.

Little did it know that the other elemental academies hadn't used their full strength at all, and had even figured out Elephant Armor Academy's capabilities.

As a result, it had suffered crushing defeats against the other four academies in the qualifiers.

Everyone had figured out both its strengths and its weaknesses, so they all had ways to counter it and defeated its team with ease.

For that very reason, Elephant Armor Academy hadn't made the top five that year, and failing to make the top five meant elimination.

After that, everyone became even more careful to conserve their strength at the exchange tournament.

With their Soul Skills held in reserve, the contest came down more to Soul Power, physical ability, combat skills, and teamwork.

On that basis, whoever managed to take first place was truly strong.

The same applied to Feng Xiaotian's suggestion of hiding a Soul Skill. By keeping one's best Soul Skill hidden, an opponent would never know what other moves and abilities one had, and would have to remain wary.

All the way to the exchange tournament venue, Feng He explained things to everyone, helping them understand the reasoning behind it.

After climbing a hundred-meter-high flight of stone steps, they found a plaza about the size of a soccer field before them.

The vast plaza was divided into several smaller sections, with Soul Fighting stages of different sizes built in them.

At the very center stood a large Soul Fighting stage about fifty meters across.

That was where the bustle was now, with quite a few people from Blazing Fire Academy gathered around it.

Their matching fiery-red clothes made them easy to recognize. There were at least several hundred people in the plaza, a testament to Blazing Fire Academy's considerable strength.

And this was only Blazing Fire Academy's advanced Soul Master Academy division. The academy also had corresponding elementary and intermediate academies, and there were relatively more fire-attribute Soul Masters.

There were quite a few water-attribute Soul Masters as well, but because Skywater Academy's admission requirements were as strict as Elephant Armor Academy's, it had the fewest. Wind-attribute Soul Masters were also relatively numerous, ranking second in number.

Thunder Academy had slightly more than the previous two academies. After all, the lightning attribute was also relatively rare, though not to the same extent as at Elephant Armor Academy and Skywater Academy.

After all, those two academies had both attribute requirements and additional physical requirements: one required good looks, while the other required a weight of at least three hundred jin.

Feng He and Feng Xiaotian walked at the front of the Godwind Academy group. Led by a designated guide from Blazing Fire Academy, they passed through the crowd and reached their resting area, surrounded by Blazing Fire Academy students.

The resting areas faced one another in pairs, or rather, they were arranged like seats at a gathering of faction leaders.

As the host, Blazing Fire naturally sat at the head. Thunderclap and Elephant Armor occupied the first two places, since one was among the Upper Three Sects and the other was the foremost of the Lower Four Sects.

Skywater Academy and Godwind had somewhat weaker backgrounds than those two, so they sat in the last places.

Once Godwind Academy arrived, everyone took their seats.

Skywater Academy, Thunderclap, and Blazing Fire were all there, but Elephant Armor had yet to arrive.

Just then, a loud shout rang out!

"I hate coming to your academies most of all! Whenever we come to one of them, we have to either wade through water or climb a mountain, and those stairs are so narrow!"

As the voice rang out, anyone who paid close attention could feel the ground trembling slightly.

No kidding, this was a herd of mammoths!

Three hundred jin was only the minimum. Every one of them was big, with the tallest reaching around two and a half meters, and even the shortest standing over two meters.

The heaviest weighed five or six hundred jin, and as the dozen or so of them walked toward the others, they looked like a row of moving hills.

Elephant Armor Academy had its own distinctive qualities that had earned it a place among the Five Elemental Academies. Its attribute was earth.

Wind, fire, lightning, water, and earth-the five academies could be said to have developed those five attributes to a very respectable level.

But by speaking that way, Elephant Armor Academy had managed to offend all four academies present in a single sentence.

As a result, Elephant Armor Academy was also the least welcome.

After the people from Elephant Armor Academy took their seats, Huo Yan, the dean of Blazing Fire Academy, glanced toward Godwind Academy. Seeing that his old friend Cheng Cheng hadn't come, he frowned. Could it be because of his injuries?

Although Cheng Cheng had looked perfectly fine the previous night, Huo Yan had been able to see on closer observation that he was forcing himself to hold up in front of him. But to spare his old friend's dignity, he hadn't said so to his face.

He had merely cut their conversation short so his old friend wouldn't have to keep up the act.

Huo Yan said, "Welcome, everyone, to Blazing Fire Academy. Please forgive us if our hospitality has fallen short!"

"You're joking, Dean Huo. Your academy has done a fine job," Shui Mingyu said.

Feng He then stood up to voice his agreement, as did Yu Xiaolin, the leader of Thunder Academy's group.

As for Huyan Qiang, the leader of Elephant Armor Academy's group, he said, "It's passable. Dean Huo Yan, enough with the nonsense. Let's get this exchange tournament started."

Perhaps Elephant Armor Academy had suffered many setbacks against the other four academies in the past. Ever since arriving, its leader, Huyan Qiang, had acted as though he were looking for trouble.

Huo Yan said, "All right. Since Elephant Armor Academy wants to start so soon, I won't say much more. I'll briefly explain the rules."

"The Soul Fighting rules are: no killing, no crippling, and preferably no seriously injuring your opponents! Friendship comes first, and the exchange tournament comes second!"

"Next, as in previous years, the top three in this exchange tournament will receive Gold Soul Coin prizes. First place receives 10,000 Gold Soul Coins, second place receives 5,000 Gold Soul Coins, and third place receives 2,000 Gold Soul Coins. As for fourth and fifth place, fourth place must cover the second-place prize of 7,000 Gold Soul Coins, while fifth place must cover the first-place prize."

The Five Elemental Academies Exchange Tournament had both rewards and penalties.

This rule had been established to make everyone take the exchange tournament more seriously rather than go through the motions, turning it into a true exchange tournament. Otherwise, it would really have become an exhibition match with nothing worth watching.

That was why the exchange tournament was still exciting, even when participants held back their Soul Skills.

After speaking, Huo Yan looked at the middle-aged man beside him, who bore some resemblance to him, and said, "Huo Lie, take over from here."

Huo Yan stepped back after speaking. As the host, he had needed to make an appearance as dean. Once he stepped down, he quickly left, muttering all the while, "Old Cheng, nothing had better happen to you!"

Huo Lie stepped forward and said, "Hello, everyone. My name is Huo Lie, and I'm the vice dean of Blazing Fire Academy. Now, would the captains of each academy please come forward and draw lots to decide your opponents!"