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After several days of adjustment, the final matches for the Spirit Hall Tournament had begun.
Following a fierce round of competition, Ye Wen's team from the Tian Dou Imperial Academy effortlessly advanced to the finals.
However, what surprised Ye Wen—though not entirely—was that Shrek Academy also made it to the finals.
Ye Wen wasn't entirely surprised because he had roughly guessed that Tang San had obtained the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng. What did surprise him was that after discreetly observing, he discovered that the average level of the members in Shrek Academy's team had reached an astonishing 40th rank!
In Ye Wen's view, this was highly abnormal.
After all, no matter how extraordinary Tang San might be, there were only so many top-tier opportunities available at this stage. For the rest of his teammates to progress so quickly either meant they had consumed banned substances or...
Ye Wen narrowed his eyes slightly, suspecting that a god might have started interfering behind the scenes.
However, he soon sneered dismissively. No matter how much interference occurred, his team's overall strength far surpassed its previous levels, especially with the support of their top-tier martial souls. The ordinary members of Shrek Academy would face a crushing blow. As for challenging him personally, they would first have to get past the Spirit Hall team.
At this point, four teams remained in contention: Tian Dou, Chi Huo, Spirit Hall, and Shrek.
This outcome came as a bit of a surprise to Ye Wen. He hadn't expected Star Luo to fail to advance, considering that Dai Mubai no longer had Zhu Zhu Qing's assistance to execute their Spirit Fusion Technique. Logically, Shrek should have been defeated by the Xing Luo team. Facing two Soul Ancestors who could unleash power equivalent to a Soul Emperor, even Tang San's hidden weapons might not have been enough to turn the tide. Yet, fate seemed to intervene, and Star Luo ultimately lost to Shrek.
The result was perplexing.
While observing the match, Ye Wen noticed something strange: the couple who had been performing their Spirit Fusion Technique for years suddenly encountered a disruption in their soul energy flow during the match, causing the technique to fail. This allowed Tang San and his teammates to focus their attacks and secure the victory.
Now, Ye Wen was increasingly convinced that a god must be secretly manipulating events. Otherwise, with his sharp perception and insight, he wouldn't have missed such obvious signs.
As for why Shrek won, Ye Wen already had his suspicions. It was likely that the god behind the scenes wanted to use Dai Mubai's connections to help him ascend to the throne during the future empire-wide conflict, thereby aiding Tang San in his fight against the Spirit Hall.
However, Ye Wen found this approach puzzling.
After all, Limit Douluos could already decimate armies of hundreds of thousands, let alone gods. What was the point of relying on cannon fodder? Was it just to boast about how many people they killed? Clearly, the god orchestrating this was nothing but bloodthirsty.
(Asura God: Achoo!? Who dares to gossip about me? If I find out who it is, you're dead!)
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According to the draw, Ye Wen's Tian Dou team faced off against the Spirit Hall team, while Shrek faced Chi Huo Academy.
Huohuo Academy's Huo Wu was an extremely competitive young woman who had been brooding over her previous loss to Tang San during the Tian Dou preliminaries. Feeling that she still stood no chance against Shrek, she enlisted the help of Feng Xiao Tian—a loyal admirer—and combined forces with the elite members of Shenfeng Academy to form a new Chi Huo team specifically to target Shrek Academy.
To this, Ye Wen remarked sarcastically: "Is this really necessary? Losing a match isn't unusual. Does winning through cheating bring any real honor? Right? Future-generation Shrek Academy!"
However, Tang San's side wasn't to be underestimated either. At the start of the match, they unleashed the Seven-in-One Spirit Fusion Technique, invoking the True Body of the Hao Tian Hammer to send their opponents flying.
Meanwhile, in the Tian Dou Empire, Shi Nian continued his reckless "genius-hunting" plan, completely forgetting that he was merely a Soul Sage.
Thus, when rumors spread about tournament participants being targeted, Ye Wen took Dugu Bo with him to ambush and eliminate Shi Nian, seizing his soul bone as a wedding gift for Ning Rongrong.
Canghui Academy, however, was innocent, so Ye Wen didn't bother attacking them directly.
As a result, Canghui Academy proceeded as in the original storyline, using the Seven-in-One Spirit Fusion Technique, "Seven Asura Illusions." Because of this, Ye Wen wasn't puzzled about how Tang San knew the technique—it was likely due to the presence of a certain copycat master, right?
Still, Ye Wen scratched his head in confusion. If he remembered correctly, in the manga version, this technique was taught to Yu Xiaogang by Tang Hao, who then passed it on to Tang San. The manga likely modified this detail to enhance Yu Xiaogang's character. But in this world, the plot had deviated so much that Ye Wen could only feel his way forward like a blind man crossing a river.
But a new question arose.
Ye Wen was puzzled. Why had Tang San used this ultimate trump card in the semifinals? What would he do in the upcoming matches against the Spirit Hall and Ye Wen's own team?
Huo Wu had initially planned to make a big move against Tang San, but instead, she ended up suffering a humiliating defeat. After losing, her face turned ashen, and unlike in the original storyline, she had no interest in giving Tang San a kiss. She quietly slinked away, skipping the remaining matches altogether.
Now, it was Ye Wen's turn to take the stage.
Ye Wen stepped onto the arena, half of his face still masked as usual. However, even revealing just the upper half of his face was enough to captivate hearts. When Hu Liena, who had just entered the stage, saw him, she felt as if her entire body was splitting apart.
Wait, wasn't he a guy?! And he wasn't even cultivating a seduction-based path! Then what does my seduction-based cultivation even count for?!
But that wasn't the most shocking part.
When Hu Liena saw the six women who followed Ye Wen onto the stage, she felt utterly overwhelmed. Every single one of them was stunningly beautiful, with the least attractive among them matching her own level of beauty. This immediately shattered Hu Liena's confidence.
After all, her specialty was seduction and control. Now, facing opponents whose beauty far surpassed hers, she doubted whether her seduction-based soul skills would even work in the upcoming battle.
From the start of the tournament, Ye Wen hadn't concealed his team's strongest lineup. After all, even if the opposing side learned about their information, it wouldn't matter.
In the face of absolute power, even Tang San's True Body of the Hao Tian Hammer might not stand a chance against this team. So why hide anything?
Moreover, up to this point, no team had managed to force Ye Wen into action. Their opponents had already been defeated by the women on his team, making Ye Wen feel like a mere mascot on the stage.
Ye Wen exchanged a glance with Huo Yu'er, then glanced at the Spirit Hall team across the arena. With a hint of disinterest, he asked:
"The usual rules?"
Huo Yu'er nodded.
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