The round-robin tournament runs every two days, and Shrek Academy's next opponent is Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy.
It's a high-level soul master academy of the Douling Empire, ranking among the top three academies in the Douling Empire.
But the Douling Empire... well, those who know, know.
There aren't many good academies there. Only the best, the Douling Royal Academy, is somewhat worth watching; this year they managed to put together a team of five Soul Kings and two Soul Masters, so their overall strength is decent.
The other Douling Empire academies are a bit lacking.
For example, Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy only has one Soul King and six Soul Masters.
This lineup would have been invincible ten thousand years ago during the Spirit Hall era, since a full Soul Master lineup was extremely rare.
Even now, it's not enough.
If they're unlucky, Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy might not even make it into the top sixteen.
From this perspective alone, the Douluo Continent as a whole is evolving upwards on average; at least the lower-level soul masters are constantly developing upwards.
It's easy to see from the Soul Master Competition that Soul Kings and Soul Emperors were the pinnacle of power in this era.
Overall, the strength of martial souls was significantly higher than ten thousand years ago, with super martial souls becoming the standard for protagonists.
However, in terms of top-tier power, the Douluo Continent remained unchanged, or even regressed.
Huo Yuhao didn't believe that the three Limit Douluos of this era—the Dragon Emperor, Dragon God, and Death God—would be a match for the three Limit Douluos of sea, land, and air from ten thousand years ago.
Looking further back, to the era of the First Angel God and the First Sea God, Limit Douluos could even have lifespans of a thousand years.
A thousand years was enough for a Limit Douluo to explore the path to godhood; even if they didn't become a god, they could leave ample experience for future generations.
Unfortunately, at some point, the lifespan of Limit Douluos was locked at three hundred years. Living to three hundred years required relatively good health and few internal injuries.
Even with exceptional human talent and favored by the world, it was almost impossible for a human to create their own godhood within three hundred years.
Looking at the original work, Yun Ming is the only one whose talent comes closest to creating a godhood, and even then, he's only a demigod, almost certainly not a true god, because Tang Hao wouldn't allow it.
Unfortunately, Yun Ming was born in the wrong era.
During the Douluo Continent II: The Legend of the Dragon King era, he had a chance to become a god, but after the Dragon King Legend era, it's practically a pipe dream for someone without the Tang surname to want a godhood.
Turning our attention back to Star Luo City, Huo Yuhao was strolling around with Xia Die.
For the next match between Shrek Academy and Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy, Na Ke Xia and Wang Yan didn't plan to field their main team, but instead intended to send their reserve team, captained by Bei Bei.
The reserve team was more than capable of handling Thousand Spirits Academy, especially with the Soul King Ling Luo Chen among them; defeating the weak and outdated Dou Ling Empire would be a piece of cake.
Bai E and the others could therefore relax for a few days, wandering around Star Luo City at their leisure—this was arranged by Elder Song.
In her view, gaining experience was more important than fighting.
As long as Bai E and the others didn't die, they were almost certain to become Super Douluo; there was no need to rush.
Shrek Academy wasn't facing annihilation.
Although Zhang Lexuan's generation was essentially ruined, and Ma Xiaotao's generation was also nearing its end, the two generations combined would likely produce two Super Douluo in the future.
However, Shrek Academy's foundation remained strong; the older generation of powerhouses hadn't yet reached their lifespan limits, more than enough to sustain them until Bai E and the others had developed.
Huo Yuhao was carrying several bags containing dresses he had just bought for Xia Die at a clothing store.
They were all of normal taste; Huo Yuhao hadn't added any personal touches.
If Huo Zhanji wanted to buy clothes, he would arrange a yellow and purple outfit for him.
"Butterfly, how does it feel to participate in the competition?"
Xia Die held Huo Yuhao's free hand, a smile appearing on her indifferent face.
"Hmm, not bad."
"Not as nervous as I imagined, because everyone knows me."
"Sister Audrey often comes over to bring me food."
Huo Yuhao gently stroked Xia Die's hair and said softly,
"Actually, Adam has been watching you from the stands the whole time."
"But that kid didn't pay at all, he just skipped the ticket."
"Even your brother Amon is here, I guess we'll have to face off against you guys later."
"Those two, they haven't learned any good habits, they're quick to pick locks and steal!"
"My reputation will be ruined by those two one day."
"Luckily, you're here, Butterfly, so well-behaved, cute, and smart! It makes me feel that my parenting is still okay, the problem is with those two unfilial sons."
Xia Die's cheeks flushed slightly, a little shy from Huo Yuhao's praise, but soon her eyes showed doubt, and she tugged at Huo Yuhao's sleeve, saying,
"Isn't Brother Amon on the sea? Why is he participating in this competition?"
"Won't he use his parasitic abilities to steal other people's bodies again?"
Xia Die couldn't help but worry, thinking about Amon's abilities.
Huo Yuhao sighed and said,
"Just what you think."
"That kid has taken over the bodies of the Zheng Tian team members."
"But don't worry, he's careful; it's just parasitism, not assimilation."
"He'll return the bodies after the match."
Xia Die nodded slightly, relieved. She was also worried that Amon might go too far and become a true evil spirit master.
Just then, Huo Yuhao changed the subject, saying with a hint of regret,
"It's a pity I haven't seen you play in these past few matches."
"I carefully prepared cheering outfits and lines."
"Dai Ying and the others are clearly impatient."
Hearing this, Xia Die's pretty face flushed slightly, her delicate elven ears twitched slightly, and her usually indifferent tone was now tinged with urgency and shyness.
"Father!"
"Please don't do that!"
"That kind of thing is too shameful!"
Being led by her own father to shout cheers—if that really happened, Xia Die felt her academic career and graduation would be over!
No, she felt she could escape this world by then!
Seeing Xia Die's resistant expression, Huo Yuhao reluctantly said,
"Um, could you shout a little quieter?"
"After all, we've already rehearsed."
"Father!"
Xia Die's forehead was practically steaming, whether from warmth or embarrassment, it was hard to tell.
Suddenly, Huo Yuhao felt a surge of spiritual energy emanating from the pendant Dai Ying had given him some time ago.
He quickly took it out and sensed a message inside.
"Original Sin Divine Power Bomb successfully attached."
Xia Die looked at Huo Yuhao's suddenly twisted smile with some worry. She was about to say something when Huo Yuhao preemptively said,
"It's alright."
"I got some good news."
"I'll take you to get something to eat."
Huo Yuhao took Xia Die's hand while using his telekinesis to crush the pendant. The powder fell to the ground, turning into pure spiritual energy that returned to the world.
The knowledge within the pendant had already been copied by Huo Yuhao into the Tianmeng server; now it was simply a detonator.
"Lao San, you can enjoy this yourself,"
...
In the God Realm, Tang San, who had spent the entire day battling the God of Destruction, finally dragged his weary body back to the Sea God's Mansion.
"Xiao Wu, I'm back."
He had just managed to draw some happiness energy from Xiao Wu to heal his mind and body, only to find that Xiao Wu wasn't there.
Tang San shook his head, plopped down on the Sea God's throne to receive the faith from the lower realms, using it to upgrade his Sea God status.
A first-level God's Sea God status was still too much for the God of Destruction.
"Wait a minute?!"
"Where's the faith in the ocean?!"
"Why is so much missing?!"
"Who did this?! God of Destruction! I'll curse you!"
Tang San hurriedly contacted the Demon Soul Great White Shark in the ocean through his Sea God status to inquire about the situation.
"No?!" "
Where are the Demon Soul Great White Sharks?"
"How come there aren't any left?!"
"This message is from the Deep Sea Demon Whale King?!"
Only then did Tang San finally receive a distress message from the Demon Soul Great White Shark clan, but it was too late.
Bai Xiuxiu had already perfectly cosplayed Uchiha Sasuke from the neighboring Konoha Village, and there wasn't a single fish left in the house.
However, the Demon Soul Great White Sharks were dispensable to Tang San, after all, they were the old subordinates of the former Sea God, remnants of the previous dynasty.
Allowing them to continue enjoying the glory of the Sea God was already Tang San's mercy.
Tang San immediately turned to contact the Sea God family located on the sea—the Chen family. This family was the key piece in his strategy to guard the sea.
The Sea God family absorbed the elites of the former Sea God Island, and generation after generation, the patriarch's martial soul was a divinely bestowed martial soul—the sea.
Their strength was even slightly greater than that of the Clear Sky Sect.
While waiting for the Sea God family's reply, Tang San felt extremely tired.
Not only was he being relentlessly pressured by the God of Destruction in the God Realm, but trouble was also brewing in the lower realm.
"Forget it, let's see how Wang Dong is doing.
Surely something can go wrong there too? Can bad luck last forever?"
Tang San leaned against his divine throne, closed his eyes, and, through the connection to Wang Dong's soul, sent his divine sense into her sea of consciousness.
It's said that the sea of consciousness is the most secret place of life, but Wang Dong's sea of consciousness was different. It was like a Maginot Line, a gathering place for all sorts of heroes.
Anyone could come and touch it, but Wang Dong herself, due to insufficient spiritual power, couldn't project her consciousness into her sea of consciousness.
She had no idea that her sea of consciousness was about to become the front line of battle for heroes from all sides.
(End of Chapter)
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