Douluo Continent II: The Dragon King Suppresses the World!

Early morning at Shrek Academy.

Early in the morning, Dai Huabin and the others had already gathered and stood neatly at the main gate of Shrek Academy. Ye Qi'an, Gu Yuena and Ye Xiyao also came out from the inner courtyard shortly afterward. However, there was another person with them, who was the senior sister of the inner courtyard of Shrek Academy.

The group wasn't moving too fast. Half an hour later, they left Shrek City, exited the west gate, and continued westward to reach the Sun Moon Empire. Using a flying soul tool was the fastest way to reach it.

Each of the three activated their flying soul tools. It was obvious that Ye Qi'an and the others were not equipped with soul tools, but that did not mean they could not fly. Ye Qi'an summoned the Heavenly Punishment Sword, and the sword instantly emitted a dazzling light. Powerful sword energy spread out. He lightly leaped onto the sword, as graceful and free as an immortal descending to earth.

At the same moment, the sword quietly enlarged, just big enough for the three of them to ride together. The remaining two seats naturally went to Gu Yuena and Ye Xiyao. Gu Yuena and Ye Xiyao smiled at each other and simultaneously leaped up, landing steadily on the Heavenly Punishment Sword.

Everyone took to the air, their destination—Mingdu.

The new All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament is touted as a return to the past, because long ago, this tournament with a history of ten thousand years originally allowed sects to participate. It was only in the last thousand years that the scale was reduced to allow only academies to participate.

This time, at the suggestion of the organizer, the Sun Moon Empire, and with the agreement of other countries, it was finally decided to reinstate the participation qualification of sects, and the competition system was also changed. As a result, the scale of the entire competition has increased significantly.

It should be understood that on the continent, the number of sects exceeds that of academies. For academies, achieving good results in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament is a great opportunity to make their academy famous and has huge benefits for enrollment and the development of the academy. And isn't the same true for sects?

The development of any sect cannot be separated from talent, and the more highly skilled and talented individuals are, the more likely they are to dedicate themselves to a powerful sect. After the rules for the new competition were finalized, more than 60 percent of the sects on the continent chose to register.

If the organizing committee hadn't ultimately decided to limit participants to twenty years old and also require that at least five members of each sect's registered participants have a cultivation level above the fourth ring, the number of participating teams in this year's competition would probably have been ten times that of the previous year. Even with these restrictions, the number of participating teams still reached 167, far more than the previous year.

As the wealthiest nation on the Douluo Continent, the Sun Moon Empire hosting such a grand competition was nothing special. Even so, they spent three whole months preparing for it. Mingdu, the continent's largest city, expanded its hotels, increasing the number of rooms to accommodate more guests, especially merchants from other regions, and to maximize profits.

As the nation with the highest number of Soul Masters on the continent, the Sun Moon Empire spared no expense in this competition. The final prize was no longer a Soul Bone, but a Soul Tool. The champion team would receive a level nine Soul Tool, the runner-up a level eight one, and the third-place team a level seven one. With such a generous reward, all participating teams were eager to compete and strive for a higher ranking.

However, for Ye Qi'an and Gu Yuena, the purpose of participating in this competition was actually to determine the plans of various sects on the Douluo Continent. Otherwise, they would not have participated in this turbulent Advanced Soul Master Elite Competition.

About 100 kilometers from Mingdu, the Shrek Academy group landed. If they went any further, they would enter Mingdu's territory. As the capital of the country and the nation most skilled in soul tools, flying any further would likely make them targets of Mingdu's urban defense system. The journey was uneventful, and they arrived here in just half a day.

However, the group did not linger for long before setting off again, heading straight for Mingdu. By the time they arrived in Mingdu, the sun was already setting. According to the registration information, upon entering Mingdu, they first had to complete the registration process. Although the previous registration had been completed, they still needed to complete the registration to confirm that the sect's participating teams had arrived. Then, the Sun Moon Empire would arrange their accommodation and the competition schedule.

Soldiers in armor patrolled the streets from time to time. Each squad consisted of twelve men, and they displayed excellent discipline during their patrols. Soon, the group found the registration area.

This is a large hotel with eight floors, located in the center of Mingdu. It's called Mingyue Hotel, and its all-white silver-white building can be seen from afar. Because each floor is so tall, even though it only has eight floors, it's considered an extremely tall building in Mingdu.

At this moment, a large number of people had gathered in the spacious hall, which spanned several thousand square meters. As soon as Ye Qi'an and his group entered, a young girl in a silver dress immediately came to greet them.

"Greetings, distinguished guests. Are you here to participate in the Continental Elite Advanced Soul Master Tournament?"

"Hmm." Ye Qi'an nodded indifferently.

The young hostess smiled slightly and said, "Because there are quite a few people arriving right now, please wait a moment, everyone. Please follow me." With that, the young woman led the group into the lobby.

The lobby is located on the east side of the first floor of the Mingyue Hotel, covering an area of ​​about 1,000 square meters, and is filled with soft and comfortable white leather sofas.

The Shrek group was led to a sofa area, where the welcoming girl bowed again before turning to leave. A waitress in a white skirt immediately approached, serving them various drinks and snacks with exceptional attentive service.

After the waiter left, Zhang Lexuan said, "I'll go check. Shrek Academy, as the champion of the last competition, should have priority registration." With that, she got up and walked to the side.

Ye Qi'an nodded slightly and then fell silent. Gu Yuena and Ye Xiyao sat on either side of him, while the others curiously looked around at everything.

Just then, a group of people walked towards them from not far away. Leading the way was Princess Xu Jiujiu, the princess of the Star Luo Empire from the previous competition. To be honest, Ye Qi'an had no impression of the people behind her and didn't recognize them at all.

At this moment, the princess's eyes were filled with shock. In the reflection of her eyes, there was only one person, Ye Qi'an, who was resting with his eyes closed. It was because she saw Ye Qi'an that she came over. If she could see Ye Qi'an's strength before, she could not see the slightest bit of his strength now.

"Ye Qi'an?" Xu Jiujiu walked up to the crowd.

The Shrek Academy members all politely stood up to acknowledge her, except for Ye Qi'an, Gu Yuena, and Ye Xiyao.

Facing Xu Jiujiu, Ye Qi'an's attitude was also very calm, saying, "Your Highness, it's been a long time."

"You're the reigning champions, why are you queuing here too? According to the rules, teams that made it to the top eight in the previous competition are given priority for registration. We've already completed our registration," Xu Jiujiu said, nodding.

"Our senior sister has already asked, and it should be our turn soon. Here we are."

Ye Qi'an glanced over and saw Zhang Lexuan walking slowly over, accompanied by a staff member. The registration area was in the center of the hotel lobby, with a row of long tables laid out horizontally, facing the entrance. There were ten people responsible for registration. There was also a row of empty tables next to them. Under the guidance of the staff, they had to fill out forms first.

This task naturally fell to Zhang Lexuan, the team leader of Shrek Academy. It took more than ten minutes just to fill out the forms. After the forms were filled out, everyone had to take a photo in front of the registration desk. After the photo was taken, a physical examination and physical test were conducted, mainly to confirm that the participants were indeed under twenty years old.

Led by the staff, the group arrived at a large room on the inner side of the first floor of the hotel. The physical test was just a formality, as it was only a test to confirm age. In order to keep the strength of each participating team confidential, there was no test for soul power cultivation.

According to the arrangements of the Sun Moon Empire Tournament Organizing Committee, the participating sects and academies are also divided into different levels. For example, the Shrek Academy team is definitely ranked first, staying in the best rooms and receiving the best treatment. The same applies to sects; the more famous the sect, the better the treatment it receives. In the Mingyue Hotel, the lower the floor, the worse the room; the higher the floor, the better.

.........

The top floor of Mingyue Hotel.

Ye Qi stood quietly on the spacious semi-circular balcony, gazing into the distance. The view from this spot was excellent, offering a view of almost half of Mingdu.

There are only eight rooms on the top floor of the Mingyue Hotel, which are called sky villas. They are extremely luxurious. Each sky villa has a huge castle-like archway and contains a living room, a sitting room, a large conference room, twenty bedrooms of different sizes, a gym, a tea room, a sky garden of more than 200 square meters, and even a 20-meter square sky swimming pool in the center of the villa.

When Dai Huabin and the others first checked into the villa, they were all deeply moved. Such a luxurious hotel, with twenty rooms—enough for a team of only a dozen or so people; one room per person was more than enough. Their daily meals could be customized and were all provided free of charge by the hotel. This was the top-tier service and amenities offered to the participating teams in this competition, enjoyed by only eight teams. The Shrek Academy team was staying in Villa Number One.

Sitting in a recliner, Ye Qi'an held a palm-sized core in his hand, its gold and silver hues sweeping across the entire Mingdu. "It seems the Dragon Clan's cemetery is here. However... Zihuang Annihilates the Heavenly Dragon, you must die."

"Qi'an, have you seen him?" Gu Yuena asked, coming up behind Ye Qi'an and wrapping her arms around his neck.

Ye Qi'an nodded slightly and said, "He is very clever. He uses his dragon soul to choose a host and make it his martial soul. However, as of now, he has not completely mastered that person's body. That person is none other than Xu Tianran, the crown prince of the Sun Moon Empire."

"Zihuang Mietianlong has truly fallen, choosing such a cripple as its host," Gu Yuena sighed, because the information she received from her divine sense was similar to what Ye Qi'an had said.

"Let him live a little longer," Ye Qi'an said, taking a sip of wine from his glass.

"Alright." Gu Yuena nodded.

……

The competition rules were finally announced early the next morning, and each participating team received an explanation of the rules from the organizing committee.

When Zhang Lexuan received the instruction manual, she couldn't help but frown. According to the competition rules, the entire competition was divided into two stages: the preliminary round and the final round. The clan representative team and the academy representative team were all mixed together.

The preliminary rounds were indeed elimination rounds, but they seemed to have changed somewhat. The competition venue was set in the outskirts of Mingdu, instead of the city center where the competition was originally supposed to be held. One of the instructions that caught Zhang Lexuan's attention the most stated that, whether it was the preliminary rounds or the finals, only the diameter of the competition venue would be limited, but the height would not be limited.

What does "no height limit" mean? Are there any Soul Saint-level experts among the participating students? Of course, it's not impossible, because this time the Shrek Academy team has two Soul Douluos and one Soul Saint. A Soul Emperor is already the pinnacle at twenty years old. For others, as long as they possess a flying Soul Tool, a four-ring Soul Master can soar through the sky and launch air-to-ground attacks. Undoubtedly, this rule is a huge advantage for Soul Masters.

This competition format is blatantly biased towards the Sun Moon Empire. Of course, the Sun Moon Empire wouldn't dare to go too far. In addition to this, the scoring method for the individual elimination rounds has also changed slightly, and will be calculated based on the remaining number of participants.

In other words, if one side manages to defeat seven opponents in the individual elimination rounds, they will be awarded seven points based on their remaining seven players, and the subsequent team matches may not even need to be played. This is because the team matches are only worth five points, making a comeback impossible.

For any country, a major event like the All-Continent Youth Soul Master Elite Tournament is like a festival. Held once every five years and touring four countries, it is quite an achievement to be the host once.

Although the competition format proposed by the Sun Moon Empire was met with resistance from the sects and academies of the three kingdoms originally belonging to the Douluo Continent, they ultimately could not overcome their tough stance. The Sun Moon Empire's explanation for not restricting the height of the competition was very simple.

With the development of soul tools, future battles will be about the struggle for air supremacy. As young elites, if they cannot make achievements in this area, what makes them worthy of being called elites?

The draw ceremony was held the day before the start of the competition. Among the 167 participating teams, the luckiest team would get a bye. The first round's bye spot was decided by the Sun Moon Empire and given to the Shrek Academy team.

The Shrek Academy team advanced directly to the next round without doing anything and will receive the maximum of twelve points. No one objected to this preferential treatment. After all, Shrek Academy has achieved far too much glory in this competition. This is what they deserve.

…(End of this chapter)