The sixteen-into-eight matches proceeded in an orderly manner. In the afternoon, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy faced its opponent, yet the team captain Ma Rulong, along with Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, never once took the field.
However, the combat styles of the other team members left a deep impression on the Shrek crowd. Of course, everyone would keep some trump cards hidden; it was impossible to expose everything.
In fact, for the academies of the former Douluo Three Kingdoms that used soul tools, many academies that had already been eliminated did not leave Star Luo City at all. Instead, they chose to buy tickets and join the audience, mainly to observe the combat methods and soul tool applications of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
With ready-made teachers right in front of them, no one would easily give that up.
As for inside Star Luo City, because the day the tournament ended was drawing closer and closer, certain merchant guilds with imperial backgrounds personally stepped in to arrange betting on the top sixteen rankings. Aside from first place, which was almost already determined, the remaining positions were still unclear, drawing in the "leeks" who rushed to send their money.
In order to make money in these final days, merchant guilds with Shrek Academy backgrounds became extremely busy. It wasn't until Huo Yuhao proposed a concept called a shopping festival that it felt as if he had opened a new world for the people of the Douluo Continent.
Discounted goods, plus the Shrek Academy brand as a guarantee—one could easily imagine how well the goods sold.
This business secret was also captured by the Star Luo imperial family. They couldn't help but cooperate with Shrek Academy, jointly establishing a special event called the Soul Battle Shopping Festival. From the start of the sixteen-into-eight matches all the way until the end of the tournament, any shopping would receive varying discounts.
Merchants sold off old inventory at discounts, recovering large amounts of capital to manufacture new products. It could be said that while clearing inventory, they also completed an upgrade in product quality—earning massively.
And travelers bought cheap goods, likewise not losing out.
Even after this tournament ended, Emperor Xu Jiawei made a statement: every year on the same date, it would be the Soul Battle Shopping Festival, and he even planned to promote it throughout the entire empire.
From this point on, another title was added to Huo Yuhao's life résumé: Ancestor of the Merchant Path.
Ancestor of the Merchant Path and Life Mentor.
Huo Yuhao could be said to have unlocked two achievements.
Another day passed, and the team battle segment completely ended, ushering in the day of the individual matches.
The crushing defeat of the Dou Ling Royal Soul Master Academy in the team battles led them to want to regain some face in the individual matches.
But the main team members of Shrek Academy showed everyone what it meant to be a blazing fire when gathered together, and scattered stars across the sky when apart.
In the first match, Dai Yueheng faced the Dreadclaw Bear Soul King Qian Yuan, deliberately losing in strength, luring the enemy deep, and completing a counter-kill.
In the second match, Xixi faced the agility-type Soul King Han Ling'er. The speed of the Lightning Leopard stunned the entire audience.
In the third match, Chen Zifeng faced the Dou Ling Royal Academy's team captain Gu Zhu Jian. The killing intent of the Soul-Chasing Sword was like a death warrant.
With just three individual matches, Shrek Academy completely subdued the Dou Ling Royal Soul Master Academy, while also leaving a deep impression on the other academies that had yet to be eliminated.
Before, it was Huo Yuhao's personal performance; now, it was the stunning debut of the main team.
No wonder Xuanzi was so confident in the original work. With such a team, it was truly hard to imagine how they could lose.
This smooth progress continued all the way into the eight-into-four matches. This time, they once again encountered an academy from the same group in the round-robin stage—Zheng Tian Academy.
Ye Wuqing, who possessed the Golden Leaf martial soul, was once again forcibly made to quit smoking.
And after losing the team battle, Zheng Tian Academy directly chose to forfeit. They didn't even fight the individual matches, allowing Shrek to smoothly advance into the top four.
As the first top-four spot was decided, it also meant that this tournament had entered its final stage. And the finale signified that the most exciting few battles were about to begin.
Peaceful days passed, until it came to the night before the semifinals began.
After dinner, everyone gathered in the conference room.
Wang Yan swept his gaze over everyone and said, "Tomorrow the semifinals will begin. There's no need to think about it—our Shrek Academy will definitely be the first team to take the stage again. The only unknown is who our next opponent will be, because the semifinals are decided by on-site drawing of lots."
"This means we can't make targeted decisions in advance, so today we'll go over the other three academies."
"The top four are our Shrek Academy, the Tianhun Empire's Di'ao Academy, the Star Luo Empire's Royal Academy, and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy."
After that, Wang Yan spent more than two hours explaining the combat styles and habits of the three academies one by one, as well as analyzing their weak points.
It was still the same saying: anyone who can reach the top four has no weaklings. If you are careless, the enemy will definitely amplify that carelessness and break you.
Even Huo Yuhao wasn't idle, recounting everything he remembered, especially the combat methods of the Star Luo Royal Soul Master Academy and the martial soul characteristics of Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
Although everyone was curious about the source of Huo Yuhao's information, they had no doubts. When dealing with the Dou Ling Royal Soul Master Academy, Huo Yuhao had already proven that his information source was correct.
If you insisted on asking, there was only one answer anyway: classified, not to be disclosed.
Therefore, everyone listened very seriously, especially the members of the reserve team. After all, five years later, the Soul Battle Tournament would be held in the Sun Moon Empire.
The difficulty they would face then would be far greater than in this tournament.
While Wang Yan was drinking water, Zhang Lexuan took over, "The semifinals will still be team battles and individual battles, but the finals will be different—they'll also add the two-two-three battle method."
"The cruelty of the finals will be second only to the first-round single-match elimination, because the matches will proceed from start to finish in one continuous run."
"So in the upcoming semifinals and finals, it'll be time for you to shine, Xiao Tao."
As she spoke, Zhang Lexuan's gaze turned to Ma Xiaotao.
Everyone's expressions shifted slightly, smiles appearing on their faces.
Ma Xiaotao cracked her knuckles, already unable to wait, and said in a deep voice, "Leave it to me."
As team captain, Ma Xiaotao had never taken the field up until the semifinals were about to begin. There were people outside who speculated that her cultivation was at the Soul Sage level, but very few believed it, because the appearance of a Soul Sage on such a stage almost meant invincibility.
The competition platform was only so big—when a Soul Sage unleashed their attacks at full power, covering the entire field was no problem at all.
"There's something I forgot to tell everyone," Wang Yan interjected.
Everyone looked over in confusion.
Wang Yan said cheerfully, "The academy sent a letter saying that Director Yan is already preparing a follow-up mobilization assembly for the academy. All of you must attend—it'll count as showing your faces in front of the other students."
"They're really holding a mobilization assembly? Shouldn't our identities be tightly concealed?" Beibei couldn't help but say.
"If it were before, then yes, they would need to be hidden. But today is different from the past. Since the academy plans to reform, many things will change," Wang Yan explained.
Everyone looked at each other, still feeling somewhat surprised. The determination of this reform—it seemed it wasn't just for show.
While Shrek Academy was communicating internally, the other three academies were also discussing how to fight the upcoming matches.
The top-four stage was the best platform for every student to showcase themselves. Being able to enter the top four meant that once a student chose to join any faction in the future, they would definitely be cultivated with all effort—the benefits were immense.
You might even obtain a noble title if you chose to join an empire, which would be an honor for a lifetime.
After all, not everyone would choose to stay in an academy for their entire life.
The Soul Battle Tournament wasn't just a simple competition. In reality, it had long since become a talent selection base.
"How's the preparation going?"
In the tea room, Emperor Xu Jiawei personally brewed tea, asking without even lifting his head.
Sitting opposite him, Xu Jiujiu smiled and said, "Everything is ready. For this day, I spent a full eighteen days gathering Star Power. When we encounter Shrek Academy, they'll definitely get a huge surprise."
Xu Jiawei chuckled. "Seems you're quite confident. But this Shrek team isn't easy to deal with. That student called Ma Xiaotao hasn't taken the field even now. I suspect she's at the Soul Sage level. If that's true, it'll be troublesome."
Hearing the words 'Soul Sage,' Xu Jiujiu fell silent for a moment, then shook her head. "If she really is a Soul Sage, then even if I lose, it won't be unjust."
Xu Jiawei smiled and said nothing more.
As the host, it was normal for him to stir things up a bit, right?
For example, secretly manipulating the draw positions.
…
"Whoosh."
Within the dense mountain forest lay thorn-covered dangers, the cruelty of prowling beasts, and the gentle softness of countless fireflies dispelling the darkness.
Urgent sounds of movement rang out as a ghostlike figure continuously leaped from one towering tree to another, as if evading pursuit.
"Shua!"
Suddenly, in the pitch-black forest, a dazzling golden light lit up, as bright as the sun in broad daylight. The radiance spread out, illuminating the figure fleeing at high speed.
It was a mysterious person with their face covered by a black veil, their entire body shrouded in black robes, only barely revealing a pair of gray eyes.
"Damn evil soul master."
A crisp shout sounded along with the rising light. In the next instant, a golden sword light tore through the endless night, slashing straight toward the mysterious person.
Howling soul power winds swept up大片 of leaves, filling the air with a sense of killing intent and sacred aura.
The mysterious person suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at the dazzling golden sword light flying toward him. He seemed to freeze in place, not moving at all. This immediately made the girl holding the long sword become vigilant, slowing down at once.
Sure enough, vigilance had its effect. When she slowed by half a beat, a shadow suffused with black qi burst violently from the ground, swinging its arm to release a spinning claw slash, forcibly blocking the path of the sword light.
"Corpse Puppet!" The girl's expression turned grave.
With a loud boom, the sword light raged outward. Intense soul power shockwaves tore at the surrounding trees, countless shattered points of light quietly exploding and scattering like fireworks.
The shadow, having borne the violent impact, was sent flying away, its body still carrying strong sacred light.
Ye Guyi was well aware of her own sacred attribute. The enemy would inevitably suffer heavy damage, because this was the attribute that most restrained evil soul masters.
The tension on her pretty face eased slightly as her sharp gaze fixed on the mysterious person standing on a tree branch.
"Your luck is bad—you ran into me," Ye Guyi said coldly.
The mysterious person glanced at Ye Guyi, didn't reply, and instead looked toward the shadow that had been blasted into the thorny undergrowth.
Ye Guyi frowned and glanced in that direction. In the next moment, her pupils suddenly contracted.
Her Holy Spirit Slash, which should have greatly restrained the sinister cold attributes of evil soul masters, hadn't directly destroyed the opponent.
From the shattered thorn bushes, a figure slowly walked out. With each step it took, Ye Guyi grew more alarmed. That figure was wrapped entirely in white cloth, its form lifeless like a withered tree. Yet strangely, although it was a corpse puppet refined by an evil soul master and should have been extremely cold in nature, at this moment its body was shining with a power of light even more sacred than that of her Sacred Angel martial soul.
This scene completely left Ye Guyi at a loss.
The grip on her sword unconsciously tightened. After the shock came extreme seriousness.
This high-level fight would not be easy.
"Is your martial soul the Sacred Angel?" the mysterious person suddenly spoke.
His voice was not hoarse or unpleasant as imagined. On the contrary, it gave off a steady feeling.
Ye Guyi didn't speak, only silently circulating the soul power within her body. She wanted to resolve this person as quickly as possible and then investigate the situation—why an evil soul master possessed a sacred aura even stronger than hers.
"Is your name Ye Guyi?"
Just as Ye Guyi's soul power reached its critical point and she was about to make a move, the mysterious person spoke again. But this time, the question stunned her.
The instant change in her expression caught the mysterious person's attention.
"Then it seems so," the mysterious person said, as if letting out a sigh of relief. His tone turned light. "My master sent me to the Sun Moon Empire to find someone named Ye Guyi who possesses the Sacred Angel martial soul. I was quite lucky—to complete my master's task so quickly."
"What do you mean? Why are you looking for me?" Ye Guyi was extremely vigilant, suppressing her urge to attack.
"The one looking for you is my master. He will come to the Sun Moon Empire in the future to meet you personally. As for the specifics, I'm not clear. At the same time, you must be very puzzled as to why I'm not afraid of your sacred attribute attacks. That's because my corpse slave and I were long ago transformed by my master into beings of light."
"Simply put, I am a light-attribute evil soul master. Oh—and in terms of level and strength, I'm even slightly stronger than you at present."
"That's impossible!" Ye Guyi shouted in rebuttal. "What kind of joke are you playing? In this world, how could there be light-attribute evil soul masters? How could there be light-attribute corpse slaves?"
"Am I not one?" the mysterious person asked in return.
Ye Guyi's lips twitched, and she was choked for a long while, unable to say anything.
He really was.
"Since you've been confirmed as Ye Guyi, then that's good," the mysterious person said seriously. "In the future, please go to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and look for a Shrek Academy exchange student named Huo Yuhao. He will tell you all the reasons. At the same time, he is also my master."
The emotions in Ye Guyi's beautiful eyes remained unchanged.
"Oh, right. My master asked me to pass you a message—the Sea God Clan is also his enemy."
"Corpse slave, let's go."
After speaking, the mysterious person turned around and quietly retreated together with the corpse slave wrapped in white cloth.
Watching the mysterious figure depart, shock quietly surfaced in Ye Guyi's eyes. She did not pursue.
At this moment, her mind was in confusion.
Her hatred for the Sea God Clan—she had never spoken of it to outsiders. Why would this evil soul master's master say that the Sea God Clan was also his enemy?
"Creating light-attribute evil soul masters, and also being enemies with the Sea God Clan…" Ye Guyi stood silently in place. The soft light from the wings behind her fell upon her exquisitely beautiful face, which was filled with confusion. In the end, she murmured, "Huo Yuhao… Huo Yuhao."
"Shua."
After a long while, the light dissipated, and her figure headed off in the opposite direction.
After a long time, beasts passed through once more, insect calls rose again, and everything returned to normal.
..............
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(End of Chapter)