Seeing that dark shadow appear like a ghost, the smug smile on Xuan Zi's face instantly froze.
The atmosphere, which had relaxed just a second ago because victory was within his grasp, suddenly became serious at this moment.
It turned out that after confirming last time that the "Genius youth" was unwilling to join Shrek Academy no matter what, Xuan Zi immediately issued a top-level secret supervision order.
He utilized the Supervision Team's deepest undercover forces within the Sun Moon Empire to focus on monitoring the other party's every move.
For an old monster like Xuan Zi who had lived for hundreds of years, his principles of conduct were incomparably cruel and realistic:
An unparalleled Genius that you cannot possess or control—if he cannot become a friend, then he will inevitably become your most terrifying enemy!
You must master everything about him before he has fully grown!
Understand all his hidden cards and gain insight into all his weaknesses!
Only in this way, when meeting on the battlefield becomes inevitable in the future, can you have... a chance for a one-hit kill!
At this moment, a flash of cold killing intent crossed Xuan Zi's seemingly cloudy old eyes. He spoke slowly, his voice low and raspy:
"Speak, what do you have to report?"
The spy remained in a kneeling position with his head deeply bowed, reporting quickly and clearly in a specially trained, emotionless voice:
"Reporting to Elder Xuan."
"According to the latest intelligence sent back by our personnel embedded within the Sun Moon Royal Academy."
"The Sun Moon Royal Academy has officially begun selecting formal members for the upcoming All-Continent High-Rank Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament through an internal school-wide competition."
His voice paused before delivering the most critical piece of information.
"The target individual..."
"...is also participating."
Yan Shaozhe, standing to one side, remained silent.
Xuan Zi stared intently at the spy before him and continued to ask:
"What about the details of the matches? How... did he perform?"
"Because it happened so suddenly, our people were temporarily unable to get close to the core competition grounds."
"Currently, we only know that in the class selection rounds, he advanced easily with an absolute, crushing posture."
Shadow replied.
Xuan Zi's brow furrowed even deeper.
He pondered for a moment before issuing another command in an unquestionable tone:
"I don't care what method you use, at all costs!"
"Have your people keep a close eye on every subsequent match immediately!"
"I need to know all the more detailed information regarding that kid!"
"I want to know exactly which Spirit Abilitys he uses in battle!"
"I want to know, as a Soul Engineer, exactly what Rank and type of spirit tools he can craft and use!"
"His combat style, his habits, his spirit power attributes, and where his limits lie!"
"Everything! I want it all!"
"The more detailed this intelligence is, the easier it will be for us to completely stifle this greatest variable during the future Soul Master Tournament!"
Every word from Xuan Zi was like a cold blade, carrying a grim chill.
"Yes! Elder Xuan!"
The spy gave a heavy acknowledgment. With a flicker of his figure, he once again merged into the shadows like a ghost and vanished.
It was as if he had never appeared.
...
Liu Yuan, of course, did not know.
That at this moment, he had already become a focal point of interest for Xuan Zi at the distant Shrek Academy.
After completing yesterday's suspense-free class selection match, he, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen were unsurprisingly promoted as representative students for the grade-level competition.
What they were about to participate in was the next round, the even more brutal second-year grade elimination tournament.
However, that wasn't today.
Because the Sun Moon Royal Academy was massive, its student body alone was several times that of Shrek.
The selection rounds for other classes and even other grades still needed time to conclude.
So today, they rarely had a day of leisure.
Liu Yuan's original plan for today was to Cultivate as usual.
He intended to go to his exclusive laboratory to try putting some new concepts into practice, adding a few more hidden cards for the upcoming matches.
However, he didn't expect that early in the morning, his dormitory door would be pounded on loudly.
Liu Yuan opened the door to see the siblings Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.
He was initially a bit confused, not knowing why these two had come looking for him so urgently so early in the morning.
Xiao Hongchen looked excited and, without a word, tried to pull Liu Yuan outside.
"Brother Liu Yuan! Stop Cultivating! Come with us quickly, there's a good show to watch!"
"A good show?"
Liu Yuan was puzzled.
Meng Hongchen, standing nearby, still had her cool demeanor, but her beautiful eyes also held a clear hint of interest.
She explained:
"The matches for the other grades haven't finished yet."
"Today just happens to be the selection matches for the seniors in the fifth and sixth grades."
"My brother's idea is for us to go watch together."
Xiao Hongchen nodded repeatedly from the side, adding:
"That's right, that's right! Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated!"
"Those high-grade guys are our true opponents in this school-wide competition! There's no harm in going early to scout them out and see how strong they've become!"
Hearing this, Liu Yuan also felt a slight stir in his heart.
He felt that Xiao Hongchen's words indeed made a lot of sense.
His goal was the final championship.
And on the road to the championship, the biggest obstacles would inevitably be those seniors who had already spent five or six years accumulating power, standing at the top of the academy's pyramid in both spirit power Rank and Soul Engineer Rank.
Observing the strength of these future opponents in advance would indeed be purely beneficial.
"Alright, that makes sense."
Liu Yuan nodded and agreed.
Soon, he followed the Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen siblings out of the dormitory area, heading toward the high-grade competition grounds.
Led by Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, Liu Yuan quickly arrived at their destination.
As soon as he stepped into the senior-exclusive 'Main Combat Arena', an incredibly hot and violent atmosphere, completely different from yesterday's, rushed toward him!
This place was more than ten times grander and more spectacular than their second-year venue!
Embedded in the massive dome were hundreds of glowing spirit tools, illuminating the entire arena as bright as day.
In the center were ten enormous platforms made of special alloys.
Above each platform floated an energy shield emitting a pale blue glow, clearly intended to withstand the shockwaves of battle.
And surrounding them were layers upon layers of circular spectator seats, like mountain ranges.
At this moment, the spectator seats were already packed with people, not a single seat empty!
The deafening cheers, shouts, the clashing of weapons, and the roar of spirit tools converged into a terrifying wave of sound that almost threatened to lift the dome off the arena!
The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder smoke, woven from spirit power and spirit tool rays.
Just then, Xiao Hongchen's gaze was firmly attracted by the battle on the largest main platform, number one.
He pointed over there and said excitedly:
"Look over there!"
Liu Yuan and Meng Hongchen looked in the direction he pointed.
They saw two figures engaged in a fierce exchange on that main platform.
One of them was burly, holding a heavy soul tool cannon with an extremely complex design and six barrels!
That was a genuine Rank 6 spirit tool!
Every time the barrels rotated, they would spray destructive energy beams, forcing his opponent into a pathetic state, barely able to hold on with Spirit Abilitys and shields, with no power to strike back.
The student holding the Rank 6 spirit tool also wore a badge on his chest that sparkled with six stars.
He was a Rank 6 Soul Engineer!
Seeing this scene, a hint of unmasked excitement and Battle Intent appeared on Xiao Hongchen's face.
He gave a chuckle and said to Liu Yuan:
"We're really lucky; we ran into the main course as soon as we arrived."
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