At Wuhun City Shrek Academy, everyone except Ma Hongjun has played, so the other academies don't yet know Ma Hongjun's true strength.
Huo Wu and the others have studied the current Shrek team members; aside from Xiang Chengxian and Dai Mubai's spirit fusion skills, they aren't afraid of the others.
Although Shrek's tactics are currently centered around Tang San, and Tang San's strength is the strongest among them, Tang San's spirit is the plant-type Blue Silver Grass.
Plants are countered by fire.
Therefore, Blazing Fire Academy feels that winning against Shrek isn't impossible.
Their only uncertainty is their captain, Ma Hongjun, who hasn't played yet.
Huo Wu is very curious about Ma Hongjun; she wants to see just how powerful this mysterious captain is.
"Don't worry, Xiao San won't disappoint you,"
Ma Hongjun said with a smile. He understands the Blazing Fire Academy's thoughts.
However, Tang San and he are exceptions.
They are both immune to ice and fire.
Blazing Fire Academy only has two people who have reached the Soul Master realm. Therefore, their overall strength isn't particularly high.
For academies with a single attribute, their strengths and weaknesses are equally prominent.
The most important issue is the issue of counter-countering.
Against Shrek Academy, Ma Hongjun didn't participate, and they had great confidence, believing that their most important player, Tang San, was countered by their fire attribute.
Unfortunately, they miscalculated.
At the start of the match, with the Double Tiger combination, they didn't even need to use their spirit fusion skill, and Tang San's Blue Silver Grass was completely unaffected by their flames.
Therefore, Shrek Academy won as expected.
The teams in the preliminary rounds weren't very strong; there were only a few teams with Spirit Masters.
In the following matches, Shrek Academy swept through the competition.
When facing Shrek Academy, Canghui Academy finally unleashed their ultimate move.
Their team leader, Shi Nian, had disappeared. Although they suspected Shrek Academy was behind it, they dared not speak out, as Shi Nian's actions were dishonorable.
However, they wanted to inflict heavy damage on the Shrek team on the field.
All seven members of Canghui Academy possessed gem spirits, and with seven gem spirits, they unleashed a seven-in-one fusion skill.
This was the first time they had used this trump card on the field, and their target was Shrek Academy.
Although it wasn't a spirit fusion skill, the combined power of the seven spirit skills they unleashed was still astonishing, enough to severely injure the Shrek team members.
Their spirit skill was Asura Illusion.
All seven used it together, their spirit skills stacked—
Seven Asura Illusions.
Unfortunately for them, they encountered Tang San.
Tang San's Purple Demon Eye could even break the illusions of a Soul Saint like Shi Nian, let alone the illusions of seven Soul Masters.
So when the seven members of Canghui Academy activated their gem spirits, dazzling seven-colored pillars of light instantly covered the entire arena, making it impossible for the audience to see what was happening inside.
Just when they thought their illusion had controlled the Shrek team, Tang San gave them a surprise.
The Purple Demon Eye delivered a powerful counterattack; the mental attack from the Purple Demon Eye disrupted Canghui Academy's fusion skill and caused them to be devoured by spirit power, turning them into vegetative states.
This was what Ma Hongjun told Tang San: to inflict a heavy blow on Canghui Academy. Since they were already on opposing sides, they should make the other side pay a heavy price.
The reason for not killing was due to the competition rules.
Because of Ma Hongjun's transmigration, Xiang Chengxian and Xiao Yuanyuan joined the team, adding two more Spirit Fusion Skills.
Therefore, although Xiao Wu was missing, the Shrek Academy team was now much stronger than in the original story.
No team could match them in the preliminary and qualifying rounds.
The five single-attribute academies generally only had about three members reaching the Soul Master level.
Therefore, even without Ma Hongjun and Ning Rongrong participating, Shrek Academy easily won first place in the Heaven Dou region's qualifying rounds.
There was a period of rest after the qualifying rounds.
Xiang Chengxian had just broken through to level 50 during the qualifying rounds, so Liu Erlong took her to hunt for spirit rings.
The finals were to be held in Spirit City, a twenty-day journey from Heaven Dou City, so they needed to reach Spirit City during the rest period.
Liu Erlong took Xiang Chengxian out alone to save time; they would meet up with the others in Wuhun City.
The Wuhun Hall's teams hadn't been exposed, unlike the teams from the Heaven Dou and Star Luo competitions, whose strengths had been largely revealed.
However, Poison Douluo seemed to know some inside information, as he brought Tang San news of the Wuhun Hall's team.
His main concern was that Tang San and Ma Hongjun should be careful in the competition, as their displayed talent was truly extraordinary; if they couldn't be used by the Wuhun Hall, they might use this opportunity to eliminate them.
After Tang San helped Poison Douluo detoxify, their relationship became friendly, and Poison Douluo even agreed to nominally become an honorary elder of Shrek Academy.
Now he considers Tang San his good brother and naturally doesn't want him to be in danger. He
learned from Poison Douluo that this generation of Spirit Hall team is incredibly strong, known as the Golden Generation.
The Golden Generation consists of three people. Poison Douluo doesn't know the specifics, nor their spirits or spirit skills.
He only knows that the lowest spirit power among these three is level 51, and the other two are level 52. They are all only twenty-three or twenty-four years old.
When they broke through level 50 and obtained their fifth spirit ring, they were personally awarded the Spirit Hall Purple Record Medal by the Pope, setting a record for the Spirit Hall. The others in their team all have spirit power levels below 45.
This news is incredibly shocking for Shrek Academy; the Spirit Hall is indeed powerful.
Overall, their strength is higher than Shrek's. If Xiang Chengxian successfully breaks through, they will have two Spirit Kings.
But the Spirit Hall has one more Spirit King, and their Spirit Masters are all above level 45.
Although Shrek has spirit fusion skills and spirit bones, who can guarantee that the Spirit Hall won't have these things?
Although there were difficulties, it wasn't too difficult. With Ma Hongjun as their pillar of support, they were all much more at ease.
Ma Hongjun's spirit rings were a mix of yellow, purple, black, and other colors—two ten-thousand-year spirit rings, making him a Soul King.
He also possessed two external spirit bones and a torso spirit bone.
For Ma Hongjun, who already knew the plot, panic was out of the question.
Originally, the finals weren't supposed to be held in Wuhun City, but for some reason, the Spirit Hall suddenly changed the venue, setting the finals there.
Wuhun City almost entirely belonged to the Spirit Hall. Located at the border of two great empires, neither of which claimed ownership. Most importantly, one of the two most prestigious halls of the Spirit Hall, the Papal Palace, was located within Wuhun City.
This newly built Papal Palace was hailed as the most magnificent building on the entire Douluo Continent. Wuhun City became a holy land for all spirit masters because of this newly built Papal Palace, a place the Spirit Hall considered its capital.
The teams from Heaven Dou City were on their way to Wuhun City.
The team in charge of this competition was led by the Crown Prince, Xue Qinghe.
They were accompanied and protected by the Heaven Dou City army along the way.
Ma Hongjun vaguely remembered that in the original story, there would be an ambush from the Spirit Hall targeting Tang San.
However, that was because Tang San had revealed his Clear Sky Hammer during the Heaven Dou City competition.
But now Tang San hadn't revealed his Clear Sky Hammer, so it was uncertain whether an ambush would occur.
Regardless, necessary precautions were still necessary.
This time, Ma Hongjun specifically invited Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo, and Poison Douluo to travel with them.
Of course, they were all with the team, but Ma Hongjun specifically mentioned it.
The journey was very smooth, and they arrived at Spirit City without any incidents.
"Hongjun, we've finally arrived! It's time for you to appear in the finals, right? I've been looking forward to it!"
Xue Qinghe walked up to Ma Hongjun and greeted him warmly.
The Snow Winged Angel outfit that Ma Hongjun had designed for her had already been sent to her through Bai Baoshan, but it was too beautiful for her current status to wear.
She had expressed her gratitude and liked the outfit, which brought the two closer.
They talked almost the entire way, becoming quite familiar with each other.
Xue Qinghe genuinely admired Ma Hongjun, and her willingness to lower herself to befriend him showed her determination to recruit him.
Ma Hongjun, looking at the warm and noble Xue Qinghe, remembered her status as the Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall.
Perhaps, this ambush was averted because of her.
"Of course I will! You'll have to cheer me on then."