The Ranking Competition of the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament arrived as scheduled. Led by the King of the Hagendas Kingdom, the Hagendasi Battle Team and the Exotic Beast Team arrived at the Royal Hunting Grounds, fifty kilometers southwest of Heaven Dou City.
The Heaven Dou Royal Hunting Grounds covered several thousand square kilometers. It was said to have twenty or thirty types of artificially constructed terrain. It served as a venue for royal hunting and training, with ten thousand members of the Royal Knights stationed there for patrolling and guarding.
The Royal Knights were the army mentioned by Yu Yan and Xue Qinghe during their conversation; they were the strongest military force controlled by the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family.
Because the Ranking Competition was to be held here, an additional ten thousand men were mobilized in addition to the ten thousand Royal Knights usually stationed there.
The bright silver Mingguang Armor shone brilliantly under the sun, and the neatly arranged military formations seemed capable of tearing any enemy to shreds.
Yu Yan and the others watched with great interest, but the expression of the King of the Hagendas Kingdom gradually darkened. In his view, this was the Heaven Dou Empire demonstrating its power to him, clearly telling him, "I am the boss of the Heaven Dou Empire."
After presenting the ranking qualification scroll, the King of Hagendas was led by a commander to see the Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire. Yu Yan and his group were brought to a small area of tents. The guide pointed to the tents ahead:
"This will be your residence during the competition. If you need anything, you can tell the soldiers in front of the tents. Tomorrow, I will come to lead you to the competition grounds to begin the first day of matches."
...The next morning, under the leadership of a squad leader of the Royal Knights, the Exotic Beast Academy arrived at the competition venue for the Ranking Competition—the Royal Knights' Grand Drill Ground.
A total of fifteen teams participating in the Ranking Competition would compete here in a fourteen-round robin tournament, with one round each day. One team would have a bye each day, and seven matches would be held daily.
An area with a diameter of one hundred meters was marked out in the center of the Grand Drill Ground as the competition arena. Compared to the Soul Fighting Arena of the qualifiers, this place was clearly more open and more convenient for contestants to showcase their strength.
On the north side of the Grand Drill Ground, many people sat in the temporarily constructed VIP seats. They were all VIPs who had come to watch the matches; any one of them could cause a storm within the Heaven Dou Empire.
As soon as Yu Yan arrived and stood firm, he felt several gazes fall upon him. Most of the gazes from the VIP seats lacked malice, but the ones from the academy area were not so friendly.
Following the most unfriendly gaze, Yu Yan saw a very thin Ma Hongjun. From his pale and weak complexion, it was evident that he should no longer be tormented by that nameless evil fire within his body.
Beside Ma Hongjun, Oscar, who had been looking at Yu Yan's side, immediately turned his head away upon seeing Yu Yan look over, not daring to meet Yu Yan's gaze.
Flender and the other teachers of Shrek Academy, who had long since investigated information on Yu Yan, would have rushed forward to demand how Zhao Wuji had died if not for the inappropriate occasion.
Yu Xiaogang was advising Flender to stay calm, as this was not the place to act on impulse. If he really wanted to ask, he could wait until today's competition ended and then inquire privately.
Tang San's gaze was locked onto Yu Yan. Because of Ma Hongjun and Oscar, and because of the late Zhao Wuji whom he had never met, he was already thinking about how to quietly capture Yu Yan to interrogate him for information before finishing him off.
A Tang Sect assassin in his previous life and often acting alone in this life, this Tang San's personality was even worse than that of the original timeline.
Dai Mubai's gaze scrutinized Zhu Zhuqing in the Exotic Beast Team. He felt he should have seen this girl somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.
Many years had passed, and after Zhu Zhuqing had consumed two Immortal Herbs, her entire appearance and temperament had changed. It was normal for Dai Mubai not to recognize her.
Having already let go, Zhu Zhuqing only gave Dai Mubai a single glance before focusing her attention on other, more powerful contestants; those matters of the Star Luo Royal Family could not trap her.
The remaining people, due to the strange atmosphere of Shrek Academy, all held considerable hostility toward Yu Yan.
Yu Yan didn't care about these hostile gazes. As long as they dared to look for trouble, he would teach them a lesson one by one; no one would escape.
Amidst the hostile gazes of the Shrek Academy crowd, Yu Yan gave a wide yawn and then took out a lounge chair from his storage soul tool and sat down.
In the draw last night, the Exotic Beast Academy had drawn the Hekemu Battle Team of the Tianshuang Duchy. This was a team with only one Spirit Ancestor, so it wasn't Yu Yan's turn to act at all; he just needed to lie back comfortably and win.
"Is that middle-aged man with the buzz cut Yu Xiaogang?"
Sitting down beside Yu Yan, Xiao Wu looked at the middle-aged man with the buzz cut and paralyzed face in the direction of Shrek Academy, seeking confirmation from Yu Yan.
"That's right, it's him."
Previously, Yu Yan had wondered if he should refute Yu Xiaogang's theories, but after realizing that everyone treated Yu Xiaogang as a joke, he didn't bother doing so.
"The beautiful woman beside him should be the Corner of Slaughter, Liu Erlong, from the Golden Triangle. I remember she is Yu Xiaogang's cousin. They almost got married before. Looking at them now, are they back together?"
"Yu Xiaogang's luck with women is really good. I remember he also had a romantic history with a high-ranking woman from Spirit Hall, but unfortunately, the information was suppressed, so I couldn't find out who it was."
Because of her interests, Xiao Wu had collected many anecdotes from various places. She scanned Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong with a subtle gaze, her eyes sparkling with the light of gossip.
"In some respects, he is indeed quite impressive."
Thinking of the other woman who doted on Yu Xiaogang—the current Supreme Pontiff of Spirit Hall, a possessor of twin spirits, and the future Rakshasa God, Bibi Dong—Yu Yan found it a bit hard to keep a straight face.
Regarding this unexplainable phenomenon, Yu Yan had no thoughts other than marveling at how incredible the Love Continent was.
"I've heard this information too. My grandfather seems to know, but he won't tell me."
At this point, Dugu Yan turned her head and joined the conversation.
As a pride of heaven from the previous era and a famous figure, Dugu Bo naturally knew about the affair between Yu Xiaogang and Bibi Dong, but he really didn't dare to speak of it.
It is human nature to love watching a spectacle. After hearing such explosive news, everyone from the Exotic Beast Academy shifted their full attention to this side.
After hearing about the relationship between Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong, their gazes all turned toward Shrek Academy, leaving the people there feeling quite bewildered.
"Dean Jiang Jing, do you know who the high-ranking member of Spirit Hall that Yu Xiaogang was in love with is?"
"How could I know? Back then, I was focused entirely on my Cultivation and rarely went to Spirit City. If I hadn't heard you guys talking about it today, I wouldn't have known any of this."