Douro Continent

Chapter 375 The King of Flowers Reigns Supreme Among All Beauties (Part 1)

Team battles are inherently chaotic, making it difficult to see clearly, but the qualifying rounds are different. Each student will showcase their individual strength under the watchful eyes of everyone. This is also the best opportunity to assess the strength of a Soul Master.

Outside the Great Training Ground, a full ten thousand Royal Knights completely surrounded the area, their armor gleaming. The front ranks of Royal Knights stood on the ground, while those in the back sat atop their mounts, forming a massive circle.

Such a tight defense was virtually impenetrable. Of course, just as Tang San had predicted, Emperor Xue Ye's purpose was to let his most elite warriors witness the strength of the new generation of young soul masters, in order to inspire their fighting spirit.

Between the large circle formed by the knights and the competition field, all fifteen participating teams had arrived, including those who had a bye today. Even without playing, they wanted to assess their opponents' strength.

The rules of the competition are simple. Each side sends seven players to participate, and each player must fight until they are defeated. The winner then faces the next opponent, until all seven players on one side are defeated.

The draw was completed last night, and Shrek Academy did not receive a bye in the first round. Their opponent is a high-level Soul Master Academy from the Kingdom of Barak. They will play in the third of today's seven matches.

Teams from different divisions who had qualified through the preliminary rounds were grouped together, and Tang San naturally saw his familiar opponents from the Four Elements Academy. When they looked at Shrek Academy, a few of them specifically focused their gaze on Tang San.

Among them are Feng Xiaotian, captain of the Shenfeng Academy team, and Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu, siblings from the Chihuo Academy team.

Shui Bing'er, the captain of the Tianshui Academy team, and the captain of the Thunder Academy team whom Tang San had never encountered before, a young man of ordinary build and unremarkable appearance.

The master summoned everyone to his side, his gaze sweeping over all eleven members of the Shrek Academy team. "Now I announce the lineup. Xiao Wu, you'll go first, followed by Tang San, and then Dai Mubai."

Everyone was still listening, but the master had already finished speaking.

Dai Mubai couldn't help but ask, "Master, wasn't the Medicine Sect supposed to send seven people?"

The master smiled calmly and said, "Don't you three have any confidence in ending the match? Although the opponents in the qualifying rounds will be stronger, they won't be stronger than the Four Elements Academy. One-on-one, there's no need for cooperation, only strength."

A simple sentence immediately ignited the fighting spirit of all the students at Shrek Academy. Tang San, Dai Mubai, and Xiao Wu exchanged glances, and in each other's eyes, they all saw the belief in certain victory.

Emperor Xueye rose from the VIP seats and announced loudly through his soul tool: "The qualifying rounds officially begin today. Over the next fourteen days, I hope that each academy team will fully demonstrate their strength and showcase the true style of a soul master. Begin."

As soon as he finished speaking, a chorus of shouts, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing, rang out in unison: "Long live! Long live! Long live!"

The Royal Knights raised their lances high, the clanging of their armor and their booming shouts startling the participating Soul Masters. The grandeur of a great nation was undeniable.

The first match has begun, and the first team to take the stage is none other than Blazing Academy. Their opponent is a team called Fabia Academy.

Huo Wushuang, the official captain representing Blazing Academy, was the first to appear. Clearly, the teachers and masters of Blazing Academy had similar ideas: not only to win this first match, but also to achieve a high score as much as possible.

In the final rankings of the qualifying rounds, in addition to the overall score, the point differential is also extremely important. In the event of a tie in a major match, the rankings will be determined by the point differential.

Tang San didn't pay attention to the match on the field. Instead, he stood beside Xiao Wu and whispered to her, "You'll be the first to go in our match later. If you find yourself countered by your opponent, don't force yourself. Don't get injured. Understand?" Tang San originally wanted to go first himself, but he didn't expect Grandmaster to send Xiao Wu instead. He couldn't object, so he could only give Xiao Wu a few words of advice.

Xiao Wu smiled slightly, squeezed Tang San's hand, and said, "Don't worry. Are you worried about my one-on-one ability? If I can't beat you, I'll just admit defeat."

Tang San patted her head and said, "Better safe than sorry. Our opponents will only get stronger, so we can't afford to be careless."

The match proceeded quickly. Between soul masters, once a difference in strength emerged, victory or defeat often hinged on a single moment. Whoever possessed stronger soul skills and a higher soul power level could easily defeat their opponent. After all, possessing a soul bone was an extremely rare occurrence.

In a one-on-one match, there's no possibility of using a spirit fusion technique. Everything depends on one's own strength.

In the first major match, Huo Wushuang defeated three opponents in a row, only to be defeated after his soul power was greatly depleted.

Continuous battles allow no rest. This is what makes the qualifying rounds more interesting than the preliminary rounds; they test not only the individual strength of each team member, but also the importance of personnel and tactical arrangements. Even the most powerful Soul Master will find it difficult to defeat opponents single-handedly.

After all, no matter how powerful a soul skill is, soul power is still limited.

The second representative from Blazing Academy to take the stage was Huo Wu. She appeared more composed than during the preliminaries, and her fighting style was more powerful and overwhelming. Although she was a girl, she exerted immense pressure on her opponents in every battle. It didn't seem like a competition at all; it was more like she was fighting desperately.

Relying on the advantage of being a control-type Soul Master, Huo Wu defeated four people in a row, and together with Huo Wushuang and his sister, they directly crushed the Fabia team.

When Huo Wu returned from the arena, she was already exhausted due to the large consumption of soul power, but her pale face was still full of arrogance. She stared at Tang San without any hesitation and pointed at him with her index finger.

Faced with Huo Wu's provocation, Tang San merely frowned and made no response.

Many other Soul Masters from other kingdoms and duchies noticed Huo Wu's presence because of his finger strike.

Huo Wu has indeed become stronger. Although only a month has passed, the oppressive aura emanating from her has noticeably increased, and her explosive power is astonishing. It seems she truly worked hard during the past month.

The Fabia Academy team was one of the weakest among all fifteen participating teams, but the Blazing Academy easily defeated them with only two people, still making a big splash among the many participating academies.

The second match was held in two academies that Tang San was not familiar with, but he saw a familiar face in these unfamiliar academies.

A simple school uniform accentuated her perfect figure, and a sturdy, slender snake staff lay horizontally in her hand. She was none other than Meng Yiran, the granddaughter of the Peerless Dragon Serpent, the one whose third spirit ring had been stolen by Tang San.

Meng Yiran appeared on the competition field as the vice-captain of the Beast Academy team, full of vigor and high spirits.

As the first Soul Master to appear, she fully demonstrated the advantages of Soul Masters.

Although weapon spirit masters are not as explosive as beast spirit masters, they have the advantage of sustained combat power. Relying on the venom on her snake staff and her varied and fierce attack methods, she managed to defeat three people in a row.

To Tang San's amusement and exasperation, when Meng Yiran walked off the field, her gaze fell upon him, and she even pointed at him, mimicking Huo Wu's gesture.

It turns out that Meng Yiran noticed Tang San's presence when Huo Wu pointed at him. This was not only a show of force but also a challenge to him.

Feeling the strange looks from the many Soul Master students, Tang San couldn't help but feel helpless. Even Oscar couldn't help but chuckle to himself, "Little San, it seems you've offended quite a few beauties. If you add Shui Bing'er from Tianshui Academy to that list, quite a few people will consider you an enemy now. Do you think students from other academies will think you seduced and then abandoned them, turning love into hate?"

Tang San glared at Oscar with annoyance. "Little Oscar, I think it would be more appropriate for you to play in the match. Should I suggest it to the teacher?"

"Uh..." Oscar quickly smiled ingratiatingly, "Little San, we're good brothers! I'm a support-type Soul Master. It's better to leave such a difficult task as the advancement competition to you guys. You wouldn't want Shrek Academy to be disgraced because of me, would you?"

As they were talking, the competition on the field had already taken a turn for the worse. Although Meng Yiran had defeated three opponents, the other students in the Beast Academy were obviously not as strong as Meng Yiran. Four of them were defeated by their opponents, and the competition went to the tenth match before the winner was decided. The Beast Academy narrowly won.

From the previous two matches, Tang San had already seen that the academies from the kingdom and the duchy were still somewhat weaker than the Five Elements Academy in terms of overall strength.

Of the three academies that have already appeared, each has at most one Soul Master above level 40, with most only around level 30. Meng Yiran, for example, is currently only around level 37 in terms of Soul Power.

Based on this, the final rankings in the qualifying rounds should still be decided among the five teams that advanced from Tiandou City.

(End of this chapter)