Two days had passed since the start of the competition, and all the Soul Master academies had completed the first round of preliminary matches.
Today, the second round of preliminary matches was about to begin.
When Yun Chuan, dressed in a blue swordsman's outfit, led the Cupid Academy team to the outside of the Heaven Dou Grand Arena, they immediately felt a different kind of treatment. Compared to their unremarkable appearance, previously lost among the many teams, the spectators gathered outside the Grand Arena preparing to enter made way for them, their eyes filled with awe and curiosity as they looked at the cool-faced young swordsman leading the way.
In the previous battles, Yun Chuan had already proven his strength with his sword! A strong person naturally deserves the respect of the crowd.
As the only two battles in the first round of the preliminary matches, Cupid Academy had left a very deep impression on the audience. Although the battle was very short, Yun Chuan's miraculous swordsmanship, ending the fight with a single draw… even now, recalling it still made the audience's hearts tremble!
It can only be said that his display of power was truly unique and refreshing.
The audience here had never seen a battle like this before.
...
Amidst the farewells of the crowd, Yun Chuan calmly led his group into the Great Soul Arena, where two staff members immediately greeted them and guided them to the participating teams' rest area.
Since yesterday, fourteen matches have been held every day. Seeing the arrival of Cupid Academy, many members from other academies cast glances, but almost everyone's attention was focused on Yun Chuan, ignoring the group behind him.
Dean Brand had been waiting in the rest area for a long time. Upon seeing Yun Chuan and his group arrive, he didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "Your opponent in the second match of the preliminaries today is not simple. Be careful. This opponent's strength is far beyond what other ordinary academies can match."
"Who is the opponent?" Yun Chuan asked calmly, holding his longsword and maintaining the posture of a cold and arrogant swordsman.
"You've heard of the Elephant Armor Sect, right? Ranked sixth among the seven major sects. Your opponents today come from the Elephant Armor Academy, founded by the Elephant Armor Sect. All seven of their participants are direct descendants of the Elephant Armor Sect. Three have reached level 40, and the other four are also close to level 40. They can be considered the new generation of elites of the Elephant Armor Sect," Dean Brand said solemnly. The
Elephant Armor Sect?
Hearing this name, Yun Chuan was taken aback. He had some recollection of this team from the original story. Even if he didn't know much, he still knew some things that everyone knew.
Just as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was known as the strongest support sect, the Elephant Armor Sect also had its own title: the strongest defensive sect!
The Elephant Armor Sect's ancestral martial soul was called the Diamond Mammoth, a super martial soul with extremely high defensive power, its characteristics mainly manifested in strength and defense. Almost no soul master could break through their defenses with martial souls of the same level. If the Elephant Armor Sect didn't lack a Title Douluo, their ranking probably wouldn't be just sixth among the seven major sects.
Despite this, the Elephant Armor Sect Master, an 87th-level Soul Douluo, could withstand some non-offensive Title Douluos with his formidable defense. This demonstrated the power of his Martial Soul.
Yun Chuan was recalling information about the Elephant Armor Sect in his mind when Brand, seeing him like this, assumed he was contemplating a battle strategy. He thought to himself with a touch of smugness: "He's still a young man, lacking experience. Let this senior teach you some combat experience."
With that thought, he first explained the characteristics of the Elephant Armor Sect, then continued: "The Elephant Armor Sect's weakest point is speed. In open areas, using hit-and-run tactics to wear down the opponent's soul power is a good option. But the arena is only so big. Fighting within this area, you have almost no chance. Although your opponent doesn't have a support Soul Master, because they share the same Martial Soul, the combined power is astonishing. Especially their defense!
And while your sword is fast, if you can't break through the opponent's defense, the speed of the sword is useless."
Indeed, Yun Chuan had to admit that this was the weakness of a fast sword. "Speed is sufficient, but destructive power is insufficient. No matter how fast your sword strikes, if you can't even break through your opponent's defense, then the speed of your strike is meaningless.
" Brand continued, "Theoretically speaking, for the sake of final victory, I suggest you forfeit this match. After all, the top five in the qualifiers are enough to advance. There's nothing wrong with hiding your strength early on."
"What you said makes a lot of sense,"
Yun Chuan nodded.
Brand was delighted, thinking he had accepted his suggestion. But unexpectedly, he turned around and heard him say, "However, I refuse!"
"Why?" he couldn't help but ask.
The usually indifferent face of the swordsman in blue robes showed a rare smile, but his tone remained indifferent as he said, "You don't actually think my swordsmanship is just about speed, do you? If that's all, what makes me dare to claim I can clear the entire tournament single-handedly?"
Upon hearing this,
Brand was stunned, and the other team members were also stunned.
That's right, why did they think that his strength was only due to the speed of his sword?
And what made them assume that his sword had no other abilities besides speed?
Only then did everyone realize how little they truly understood this person. They had simply assumed he was a pure-attribute Soul Master, having focused all his Soul Ring enhancements on speed to make his sword so fast! Therefore, they assumed his attack power was negligible.
But now, after hearing his explanation, they realized the situation wasn't quite as they had imagined.
...
The third day of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament officially began. Ten of the twenty-eight teams entered the arena.
The vast plaza was now arranged differently from the first day. Besides the original central arena, four additional arenas of the same size had been erected alongside. Despite their large size, the Heaven Dou Grand Arena, capable of holding 80,000 spectators, didn't feel crowded.
All twenty-eight teams were still divided into three groups for the third day of battle, with Cupid Academy being one of the first groups to compete. Due to Yun Chuan's unpredictable and swift swordsmanship displayed in the first match, and considering their opponent was the highly favored Elephant Armor Academy, their match was again scheduled for the central main arena.
As a once-in-a-lifetime event, and given that the participating Soul Masters were highly sought after by various parties, the number of VIPs in the stands was almost identical to that of the opening ceremony on the first day. Not only were the imperial high-ranking officials present, but Emperor Xue Ye was still seated in the center of the first row.
However, today there were five people beside him instead of the three he had been with.
.....................
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