Douluo Continent: Heaven rewards diligence, Tang San's defenses are breached by liver damage.

Soon, eight brand-new wooden houses sprang up, and as more people moved in, the once quiet area became lively.

On the lake shore, the ten members of the Tianshui team stood in a row, facing Shui Lanxin.

Looking at the confident faces in front of her, Shui Lanxin and Leng Man beside her exchanged a glance, both able to see the smile in each other's eyes.

These are some of the most outstanding members of the younger generation of Tianshui Academy. They would be considered excellent even on the entire Douluo Continent. With them, Tianshui Academy might really be able to win the championship this year.

"As you all know, the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, held once every five years, is about to begin, and you will all be representing Tianshui Academy in this grand event."

"In this competition, you will encounter elites from various advanced Soul Master academies. They may come from different empires, but their strength should not be underestimated. Each of them is the future of the Soul Master world, and you could say they are your lifelong rivals. Therefore, participating in this competition will broaden your horizons and be more beneficial to your future."

"So now, is there anyone who doesn't want to participate?"

Shui Lanxin's eyes swept over the crowd, and everyone's eyes sparkled with excitement, yet no one chose to withdraw.

"Excellent! This is the kind of student my Tianshui Academy should have!"

Leng Manqing spoke coldly, then nodded in satisfaction.

"Since no one has withdrawn, I will now briefly explain the rules of the competition. In short, there is only one point: the competition is for friendly sparring, and we should try our best to avoid injuring or crippling our opponents, and death is absolutely not allowed."

"If any academy kills an opponent, it will not only suffer the corresponding losses, but will also be expelled from the Soul Master Tournament. So, to ensure your elimination, all you need to do is defeat your opponent."

"At the same time, during the competition, it is forbidden to use medicines and food made by non-food-type and non-healing-type Soul Masters, and it is forbidden to use weapons other than Martial Souls. That's about it."

"..."

To ensure everyone understood the details of the competition, Shui Lanxin explained everything in great detail, even covering every aspect.

Ultimately, the purpose of the two great empires and the Spirit Hall in holding the competition was simply to select outstanding talents and recruit them in order to enhance their own strength.

If you are good enough and perform well in the elite competition, you will be rewarded.

fiefdoms, titles, and even spirit rings and spirit bones can all appear, which is why each Elite Tournament is so exciting.

For the vast majority of Soul Masters, besides pursuing power, the other pursuit is fame and fortune.

If you can shine in the competition, then all of this will be within your grasp.

Because it is so important, this competition, the largest in the entire continent, is a long and drawn-out affair, from the initial qualifiers to the knockout stage and finally to the grand final. It can last for more than three months.

Almost everyone present was participating in this kind of competition for the first time, so they were all quite excited.

Shui Lanxin and Leng Man took in everyone's reactions and chuckled to themselves.

But thinking about it carefully, they seem to have been just like these children back then. It's just a pity that time flies by too fast, and they haven't seen their friends from back then for a long time, and some of them are no longer around.

It took almost half an hour to finish recounting everything about the Elite Competition.

"That's about it. So you little guys better work hard. If you get good results, not only will the rewards be generous, but the Heavenly Dou Empire will definitely recruit you. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

However, these words were not very tempting, and only a few people were somewhat interested.

Seeing that everyone had almost digested the information, Shui Lanxin clapped her hands again.

"Alright, now let's talk about the arrangements for the participants. Our Tianshui College doesn't have any guaranteed admission spots, so we'll have to start from the preliminary rounds. After discussion, we've unanimously decided that Xiao Chuan won't participate in the preliminary rounds or the qualifying rounds. Do you have any objections?"

Upon hearing this, all the girls shook their heads in perfect unison.

Just kidding, of course they have no objection.

Otherwise, with Lin Chuan's strength, if he were to appear in the qualifiers and promotion matches, how would others compete? Let alone defeating seven opponents at once, he could even take on seven opponents at once without any problem.

"It's okay. Even without Xiaochuan, we are confident that we can successfully enter the finals."

Dugu Yan clenched her fist, looking very confident.

“Exactly!” Shui Yue’er nodded, standing with Dugu Yan, which was unusual for her. “If Xiao Chuan didn’t need to play, and we could win the championship ourselves, that would be the best!”

The other girls didn't speak, but their expressions were also full of confidence.

"Hehe, it's good that you have confidence. If you can really defeat all your opponents and win the championship without Xiaochuan's participation, I will naturally have no objection."

However, despite saying that, Shui Lanxin didn't think they could do it.

It is said that the team sent by the Spirit Hall this year is unprecedentedly strong. Judging from past experience, it will not be easy to defeat the Spirit Hall team and win the final victory.

After all, this year's champion prize includes three Soul Bones.

Since the Spirit Hall dared to put it out, they were confident it wouldn't fall into the hands of others.

"Alright, Xiaochuan will be a substitute and will come on as needed. As for whether the others will play, it will be changed based on the situation on the day, so everyone should be ready to play."

"Another point is that, in order to add some excitement to the competition, the Spirit Hall requested that we dance when we go on stage, and I have already agreed. In addition to cultivating team chemistry, we will also practice group dances during this period of training."

Shui Lanxin added.

The others were fine, but Ye Lingling, who had just joined, was immediately taken aback.

Lin Chuan shook his head directly, "I refuse. If I have to go on stage to dance, I'd rather not participate."

Hearing this, Shui Lanxin raised her eyebrows slightly, but she wasn't surprised. She nodded helplessly, "Alright, Xiao Chuan, you don't have to dance, but everyone else should practice. It's a rare opportunity for promotion, so let's treat it as advertising for the academy!"

With things said to this point, no one had any objections.

After all, they all have a deep affection for Tianshui Academy, so they naturally don't mind doing their part for the academy.

"Since everyone is fine, let's head to the Soul Arena for the final training session!"

"So I don't need to go, right?"

Lin Chuan shrugged, appearing quite relaxed.

"You... never mind, you can do whatever you want!" Shui Lanxin thought about it carefully. With Lin Chuan's strength, he could easily sweep through the entire team by himself and didn't need any cooperation. She could only reluctantly agree.

However, others naturally do not receive this preferential treatment.

Since it has been decided that Lin Chuan will be the substitute, the other members need to have good teamwork to avoid being unable to cooperate and instead dragging each other down. Otherwise, they might crash and burn before even reaching the finals, which would be a huge mess!

So Shui Lanxin and Leng Man left with the other nine people.

"Senior Dugu, since you're here, come out!"

"I deliberately concealed my aura, yet you still discovered me. You can't hide anything from you, kid," a black shadow flashed, and Dugu Bo appeared before Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan chuckled lightly, offering no further explanation, but his eyes lit up.

"Senior, you should be free these days, right?"

Dugu Bo's eyes narrowed instantly, sensing something was amiss. "What are you up to now, kid?"

"Dean Shui said I don't need to participate in the preliminaries and qualifying rounds, and plans to let Yanzi and the others gain some experience, so I have at least two months left. However, I don't want to waste it, and I would like to ask you, senior, to be my sparring partner."

"Fight you again, kid?" Dugu Bo's expression changed, and he was somewhat unwilling.

The sparring was too strenuous; not only could I not defeat this kid, but I also felt incredibly frustrated. Why do something so thankless?

Seemingly sensing what Dugu Bo was thinking, Lin Chuan spoke again, "Senior Dugu, rest assured, this time you don't need to hold back, just go all out."

"Young man Lin, are you sure you're not joking?"

Dugu Bo's voice was deep, but his eyes were unusually strange. "I'm afraid I might accidentally kill you!"

Lin Chuan immediately smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about that, senior. With Aunt Ye here, I won't die as long as I have a breath left. Can you rest assured now?"

"Alright, since you've taken the initiative, young Lin, then I won't stand on ceremony!"

Dugu Bo was quite frustrated during their last sparring session, and now that Lin Chuan has come to him, he might as well take this opportunity to teach the kid a lesson.

After all... in two years, they might not be a match for us anymore.

"Thank you, senior. Let's go find Aunt Ye first, and then find a secluded place!"

Although one's cultivation progress is not bad, it is still far behind what one gains in battle. Since there is a readily available sparring partner, Lin Chuan naturally will not miss the opportunity.

The two quickly found Ye Rong. After learning their purpose, the beautiful woman was extremely surprised, but she eventually nodded in agreement. At the same time, she was also very curious about just how powerful Lin Chuan was, that he could fight against Dugu Bo, who was a titled Douluo.

"Young Lin, I'm coming soon, so you better not die!"

Dugu Bo gave this final reminder.

"Senior, please feel free to make your move," Lin Chuan said with a relaxed smile, summoning the Sunset Bow first and standing with his hands at his sides.

As soon as he finished speaking, Dugu Bo activated his martial spirit and rushed over at top speed.

Lin Chuan did not intend to let him get close so easily. He drew back the bowstring, and several flaming arrows shot out rapidly. With the support of his mental power, they were incredibly fast and shot towards Dugu Bo in a triangular formation.

"You're using this trick again! I was prepared for this!"

Dugu Bo snorted coldly, and an earth-yellow energy shield immediately appeared around his body, blocking all the incoming arrows.

Rumbling--

The arrow exploded violently, and flames engulfed everything around it.

Although Dugu Bo was not injured, his progress was still slowed down.

"A shield?"

Lin Chuan murmured softly, and surging flames appeared around him, mixed with crystal-clear water. The two were clearly separated and did not interfere with each other.

[Through your archery skills, you gain a deeper understanding of the mysteries of water, the source of all things.]

[You use your archery skills to gain insight into the mysteries of the fire that governs all things, deepening your understanding of its secrets.]

[You have diligently contemplated the mysteries of water and fire, the two fundamental elements of all things, and grasped their commonalities. The fusion of these two mysteries has slightly increased.]

Indeed, the frequency of increase varies depending on the circumstances.