Douluo Continent: This Tang San is different

Chapter 206 Undercurrents Rise, the Qualifying Rounds Begin

"Shrek has indeed lost."

Watching Mu Tian, ​​the last one standing on the field, fall, Huo Wu curled her lips into a smile. "My own family from Blazing Fire Academy is still the most powerful. Of the Shrek Academy students, only four are capable of fighting. The remaining three are just there to make up the numbers, forcibly added in."

Qin Ming sighed slightly at this.

In Qin Ming's view, Shrek Academy had already compromised with the world—joining Blue Tyrant Academy... Although it changed its name to Shrek, Qin Ming believed that the standards for admitting students had been lowered.

Although the school couldn't continue operating without compromise, Qin Ming couldn't help but feel a sense of loss when Shrek Academy truly stepped into the secular world.

The real Shrek is a thing of the past.

The only familiar people and things he knew were Flander, Zhao Wuji, Shao Xin, and Li Yusong; the other students couldn't really be considered his juniors.

[This is good; Dean Flander and the others can now establish themselves in Heaven Dou City, and their lives in their later years should be secure.]

With this in mind, Qin Ming felt relieved that he had let go of his insistence on Shrek Academy, and began to make other plans for the future.

For example: to cultivate the next Heavenly Dou Royal Team.

In this team, he only serves as the team leader. He doesn't need to arrange training or actual combat, so he doesn't feel much sense of accomplishment.

Although teachers are happy because of their students' excellence, Qin Ming felt that if the students were too talented, it would make him, as the team leader, feel like he had no experience at all—it would be the same whether he was there or not.

Some team leaders might be happy, as they could get a promotion, a raise, and a big name in the business, but Qin Ming is the kind of person with ambition. He doesn't want to "just coast along." Only by demonstrating his talents, gaining recognition from others, and making corresponding contributions can he obtain what he wants: wealth, status, and honor.

He is a person with self-respect.

Seeing the relief and determination in Qin Ming's eyes, Tang San smiled calmly and said to everyone, "Next time, we'll gamble too, and the reward will still be the meat of the Ice Phoenix!"

That way, someone's bound to guess right, and everyone can enjoy a good meal...

···

Night fell quietly.

Inside the magnificent hall of the Papal Palace, Bibi Dong asked the elder in charge of the library, "Has Tang San visited the Papal Palace's library in the past seven days?"

"Your Holiness has not visited us," the elder replied respectfully, bowing deeply.

"No?"

Bibi Dong's expression remained calm, but a hint of doubt was revealed in her eyes. Then she thought of a possibility, "It seems that the punch had a significant impact on him, and he's probably recovering from his injuries."

The elders of the Spirit Hall and the theorists who study spirit beasts have already studied Huo Yuhao's corpse, the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion. Its hardness is ten times harder than that of Thousand-Refined Steel.

At first, they didn't know how Tang San killed it. Only after breaking through the shell on its head did they find that its brain had become a mess.

Therefore, most people in the Spirit Hall believed that Tang San's control over power and spirit energy had reached an unparalleled level, enabling him to penetrate the outer shell and directly strike the inside.

Of course, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo, upon discovering the fracture inside the split shell, had other opinions, believing that Tang San might be hiding some kind of peculiar power.

That was the real method to kill this 300,000-year-old Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion.

Bibi Dong felt that both reasons were valid, but judging from Tang San's absence from the Papal Palace in the past seven days, he must have suffered considerable injuries from using that power.

In this way, if Nana, Xie Yue, Yan and the others join forces, they might be able to defeat Tang San... Even if they lose, it doesn't really matter, since Tang San will inevitably join the Spirit Hall after this.

Besides, the two girls, Xiao Wu and Guang Ling, one being Tang San's adopted sister and the other Tang San's disciple, will inevitably join them as well.

Those two were also exceptionally talented, especially Guang Ling, who had innate soul power at level three. Tang San had actually trained her to be so powerful, enabling her to become a Soul Master at the age of thirteen... Whale glue and such things cannot make up for a lack of natural talent.

Meanwhile, Yu Luomian from Thunder Academy found Yu Tianheng.

"Second Grandfather".

Upon seeing Yu Luomian arrive, Yu Tianheng hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and led him to his room. "I wonder what brings you here? You wouldn't happen to be asking the Heavenly Dou Team to go easy on Thunder Academy, would you?"

"While I was indeed born into the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex family, isn't that a bit of a problem?"

"This goes against the reputation of the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex..."

The jade crown rises up—

Snapped!

He slapped Yu Tianheng on the head and said speechlessly, "What are you thinking? The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan doesn't need you to give way. Even if we can't beat them, there's nothing shameful about it. Who told Tang San to be such a monster?"

"I've come here mainly to tell you something—"

"Tang San will most likely join the Spirit Hall after this conference, and you should join him too."

This is obvious to anyone with eyes to see. After all, when Tang San's identity as a master of spirit theory was exposed, everyone knew that most of the cases in his theories came from the Spirit Hall's publicly available collection of books.

Judging from Tang San's age, it's reasonable that he had been in contact with the Spirit Hall since childhood and had a favorable impression of it.

But, is he going to join too?

"Second Grandfather, I am the direct heir of the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Clan, right? Is joining the Spirit Hall really a good idea?" Yu Tianheng felt that his position as the direct heir might be worthless.

"Who says a direct descendant can't join the Spirit Hall?" Yu Luomian sneered. "Besides, it's you joining personally, not the entire Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan."

"Isn't this a bit shameless?" Yu Tianheng felt that this was not a good idea.

"It's a last resort. You can't see how incredibly talented Tang San is. Only by staying with him can you make greater progress." Yu Luomian sighed deeply. "He and that 'Sun Chaser,' which should be Guang Ling, right? The new type of life-giving soul tool they created has brought about earth-shattering changes to the entire continent."

Yu Tianheng was aware of this as well, but—

"It seems that there haven't been any major changes on the mainland because of the soul-guided camera, soul-guided photography box, and mother-child soul-guided photography sphere, right?"

"That's just the surface." Yu Luomian shook his head. "Under the unseen circumstances, there are undercurrents. Each of those three things can greatly accelerate the recording and dissemination of information."

"In the short term, there will be less friction between the major forces."

"After all, once the news spreads, the force that stirred up the conflict will inevitably be despised by the entire world."

"But in the long run, this thing can also be a powerful tool to provoke conflict on the mainland."

"After all, who says that all recorded information is true and accurate? Aren't movies fake too? Ordinary people don't care about the truth at all; they only care about the results they can see and that are superficial."

Yu Tianheng's heart sank as he realized the seriousness of the problem.

If some force were to release footage to smear the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex family, it would take them a lot of effort to clarify the situation.

Spreading rumors requires only a mouth.

In the past, major powers could afford not to care, because rumors could not travel very far by word of mouth. They would become all sorts of wildly varied and even reach extremely outrageous levels, which no one with a bit of intelligence would believe.

Now, with the emergence of soul-guided photography devices, information can spread much faster. If information is taken out of context, even if it is clarified afterward, one's reputation will be greatly affected.

The Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex family can't control the mouths of everyone on the entire continent.

In this world today, there are only three major powers that prevent people from spreading rumors: the Heaven Dou Empire, the Star Luo Empire, and the Spirit Hall.

Among them, the Spirit Hall is the strongest, because this force has branches in both empires.

Besides these three major forces, there is one more person who cannot be slandered.

Tang San.

He is a master of spirit theory, and more than 90% of the commoner spirit masters on the continent have benefited from his theories: "Analysis of Spirit Masters' Self-Positioning", "History of Spirit Ring Evolution", "Analysis of the Factor of Spirit Masters' Years of Bearing Spirit Rings", "The Theory of Whale Glue", "The Three Major Categories of Spirit Fusion Techniques", etc.

In particular, his martial soul is Blue Silver Grass, yet he was able to reach the Soul King level at the age of fourteen, with his fifth soul ring lasting 100,000 years.

This conference was broadcast live across the entire mainland!

His reputation is widespread, and anyone who dares to slander him will be despised by all the Soul Masters on the continent, and the local Spirit Hall may even arrest and punish him.

After all, just seven days ago, Tang San was appointed as an honorary elder of the Spirit Hall by the current Pope of the Spirit Hall!

Yu Tianheng also understood why his family wanted him to join the Spirit Hall.

It's because of Tang San.

As long as he is on the same side as Tang San and doesn't do anything foolish in the future, the reputation of the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Clan will certainly not be too bad. At least no one will dare to slander them casually. Moreover, the Spirit Hall is a neutral force on the surface. As long as the current Pope doesn't suddenly go crazy, the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Clan can also grow stronger by taking advantage of the Spirit Hall's reputation.

Besides that, it's estimated that the family hopes Tang San and Guang Ling will invent some new type of soul tool in the future, and then he can try to cooperate with Tang San.

This is mainly because he is envious of how much money the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School is making now—the scepter that Ning Fengzhi is holding has three times the size of the gemstones on it as before!

"I understand, Second Grandfather." As a member of the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex family, Yu Tianheng valued his family highly, so he could only nod heavily. "I will join the Spirit Hall, in my own name."

"Good boy, I didn't misjudge you." Yu Luomian smiled. "However, don't be so pessimistic. Joining the Spirit Hall is actually not bad. In addition to the aspects mentioned before, you can also pass on the Spirit Hall's intelligence to your sect, which is a win-win situation. Moreover, you can also use the Spirit Hall's resources to cultivate."

Speaking of this, Yu Luomian felt resentful towards his elder brother's son, Yu Xiaogang.

He had once entered the Spirit Hall's library and memorized almost all the information, but he didn't send any of it back to his family, only thinking about becoming famous.

really-

They have absolutely no sense of responsibility.

Now, he's actually spending time with Liu Erlong again. Isn't he afraid of being ridiculed by the world?

If it weren't for the many people and eyes in Wuhun City, he would have definitely taught Yu Xiaogang a lesson!

Unfortunately, family scandals should not be aired in public.

Yu Luomian grew increasingly angry, her pleasant expression vanished, and after giving Yu Tianheng a few instructions, she left.

Yu Tianheng took a long time to come back to his senses, muttering to himself, "The responsibility of the family is really heavy... Well, thinking about it carefully, joining the Spirit Hall will at least allow me to not have to worry about the family for a long time. I can just focus on cultivation, or follow the Spirit Hall's arrangements to capture fallen ones or something. It suits my taste perfectly."

Putting aside his family responsibilities for the moment and looking on the bright side, Yu Tianheng suddenly felt that joining the Spirit Hall didn't seem to be too restrictive. Besides, the Spirit Hall has always been lenient towards geniuses—provided they don't make any fundamental mistakes.

But he is Yu Tianheng!

How could they not understand reason?

"Go find Yanyan to sleep with." Having figured this out, Yu Tianheng suddenly felt a sense of relief, and he felt the bottleneck in his soul power loosen somewhat. He estimated that it wouldn't be long before he could break through to level fifty-two...

···

In the blink of an eye, the second round of the competition ended in five days.

In the second round of the revival competition, Canghui Academy advanced.

Although Canghui Academy was once considered to be colluding with a 100,000-year-old transformed soul beast and was a traitor because of Huo Yuhao, Canghui Academy tried its best to explain, and the Pope of the Spirit Hall was reasonable and investigated the situation, proving Canghui Academy's innocence.

However, Canghui Academy's reputation plummeted, and even some Canghui students in Tiandou City, after learning about the situation through the live broadcast on the screen, prepared to drop out of the school.

After all, they don't want to be called traitors.

The main reason why Canghui Academy was able to advance was that the person who replaced Huo Yuhao, along with the remaining six members, could still form a seven-in-one martial soul fusion skill: Seven Asura Illusions.

This skill, similar to a domain, allows enemies to recall their most unwanted past experiences, causing them to sink into a painful illusion created by their own memories.

This also shows the audience that the leader of Canghui Academy at that time had some real skills, and was not just lucky to encounter a scorpion that was a 100,000-year-old soul beast.

After two rounds, only twenty-four teams remained in the competition.

After the third round, twelve teams remained, plus the team that "revived" in the third round's revival match, making a total of thirteen teams.

With that, the preliminary elimination rounds came to an end.

The next stage will be the qualifying rounds.

The qualifying rounds consist of two teams of seven members each, engaging in one-on-one duels. The winners can continue to challenge until all seven members of one team are defeated.

The main purpose of the qualifying rounds is to assess the individual combat abilities of Soul Masters; in the past, it was primarily used for talent selection.

However, with the diversification of competition venues, this qualifying tournament has become a competition to showcase the individual bravery of Soul Masters. After all, the previous method of recruiting talents, which did not consider various environmental factors and only relied on the strength of Soul Power, was indeed too general and crude.

Therefore, in the current qualifying rounds, each team needs to fight each other once. Instead of comparing the wins and losses of the academies, the points are calculated based on individual scores, that is, one point is awarded for each win.

If a person is highly capable and is always the first to appear, then this powerful Soul Master can defeat 84 people from the other 12 teams by himself and achieve a perfect score of 84 points.

If someone possesses such strength, it doesn't matter whether they can consider environmental factors in future battles. After all, such a powerful individual can easily sweep aside all opponents and deserves everyone's attention.

"The qualifying rounds are about to begin." Yu Feng leaned on the railing, watching the first pair of players take the stage. "Blazing Fire Academy versus Heavenly Water Academy, a clash between water and fire."

"It all comes down to whose soul power is stronger," Oslo commented. "After all, water can extinguish fire, and fire can also evaporate water."

Although fire and water elements are not actually water and fire, their corresponding characteristics are inherited, and the mutual restraint between the two... Putting aside factors such as individual proficiency in using soul skills and grasp of the timing of battle, it really is a contest of the strength of soul power between the two.

Tang San agreed with some of Osro's views, but disagreed with the latter. He believed that in a real battle, when the difference in soul power is not significant, it is not just about soul power. Combat skills, the timing of using soul skills, and interference from external environmental factors are all key to victory or defeat.

Fairness is always relative.

"Captain, which academy do you think will win?" Yu Feng asked.

"We've already finished eating the Ice Phoenix's meat," Tang San said truthfully, spreading his hands.

"I'm not a glutton," Yu Feng said helplessly. "Captain, tell me, in terms of individual strength, which academy will get more points?"

"Judging from the situation of the two schools, Tianshui has a higher probability of winning, after all, Shui Bing'er's martial soul is the Ice Phoenix, a top-level beast martial soul." Tang San began to analyze, "However, she probably won't be the first to appear, since top-level martial souls all have a common problem: they consume a lot of soul power."

"She needs to conserve her strength."

"As for individual scores, Huo Wushuang's score should be the highest among the two academies, since he is stronger than everyone else from Tianshui Academy except for Shui Bing'er."

"After all, the qualifying rounds test individual bravery, not the academy's victory. Therefore, the academy's wins and losses are not very important in these qualifying rounds."

Yu Feng asked curiously, "So, Huo Wushuang will be the first to go on stage? Then why isn't Shui Bing'er going on stage first?"

Tang San pushed up his detection glasses and said calmly, "The two have different personalities. Huo Wushuang is outgoing, while Shui Bing'er, although also lively, is more proud. I've noticed this in the matches these past few days. She doesn't want Tianshui Academy to suffer any defeats, even in the qualifying matches where winning or losing doesn't affect her entry into the finals."

Oslo exclaimed, "What a stubborn girl!"

"No, she's actually quite smart." Tang San had a different opinion. "After all, this competition is being broadcast live across the entire continent. Soul Masters and commoners who can't come to Wuhun City don't fully understand what the qualifying rounds are about. They only care about which academy wins, which helps the academy's enrollment."

"I see," Huo Wu said, suddenly understanding. "But wouldn't showing off individual bravery and taking on six people at once also attract new students?"

"That depends on other people's choices. It will take time to prove which approach is better," Tang San said conservatively. "However, from the perspective of the many ordinary soul masters on the continent, Shui Bing'er's actions are still more conservative."

(End of this chapter)