Douluo Dalu II: The Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 358 Tang Sect, Earth Dragon Gate, and Holy Spirit Sect!

The second day of the competition was even more intense. Several people were seriously injured and two people died in the first five matches. It is foreseeable that the later matches will only be more brutal and exciting.

In the sixth match, the Tangmen team faced off against the Dilongmen team.

As the referee announced the two sides for the next match, Zhu Ziyang, who was in the rest area, showed a rare serious expression. Leaving aside the Tang Sect for the time being, the Earth Dragon Sect also interested Zhu Ziyang.

The Earth Dragon Sect, originating from Dragon City, the main city of Zhenbei Province in the Heavenly Soul Empire, is an old and established sect. It has a significant connection with Zhu Ziyang, as his maternal grandfather was from the Earth Dragon Sect. There are still quite a few members of the Earth Dragon Sect who are related to Zhu Ziyang's mother, Liang Ying, by blood. However, these are all trivial matters, since Liang Ying has never mentioned anything about the Earth Dragon Sect to Zhu Ziyang, and his maternal grandfather has long since passed away. The past of the older generation seems to have been forgotten.

In the battle between the Tang Clan and the Earth Dragon Clan, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Tang Clan is a sure winner. Putting aside everyone else, Bei Bei alone is enough; the superior dominance of a True Dragon over a Sub-Dragon is not just talk.

The competition began, and as Zhu Ziyang had expected, the first contestant sent out by the Tang Sect was indeed their captain and senior disciple, Bei Bei. As the person with the highest cultivation level in the Tang Sect, it was not hard to guess why he was the first to go on stage.

As Tang Sect's first battle back on the mainland stage, the more impressive the victory, the better. Ideally, they should achieve a feat of defeating seven opponents single-handedly. Only in this way can the world remember this once-forgotten number one sect on the mainland.

In fact, Bei Bei's appearance did achieve such an effect. His seven soul rings, two yellow, two purple, and three black, were flashing, demonstrating his strength as a Soul Saint. His body was covered with pure white dragon scales, showcasing his Martial Soul as the Holy Light Dragon.

The arrival of a seven-ring Soul Saint shocked everyone. No one could have imagined that a previously unknown Tang Clan, or rather, a Tang Clan that had been in decline for thousands of years, would suddenly produce such an astonishing figure—a Soul Saint at the tender age of twenty. Based on this alone, everyone knew that the Tang Clan was truly about to rise again.

It was Tang Sect's good fortune that Bei Bei broke through to the Soul Saint realm just half a month before the start of the competition. After absorbing the soul ring of a 50,000-year-old golden earth dragon, he completely absorbed the power of the Holy Light Dragon left in his body by Mu En. This not only made his cultivation level jump to level 75, but also evolved his martial soul into the Holy Light Dragon, truly integrating Mu En's legacy.

As the first Soul Saint in this competition, Bei Bei received far more attention than Meng Hongchen yesterday. Almost at the same time, all the teams that were determined to achieve good results began to inquire about the Tang Sect. Even Xu Tianran on the podium couldn't help but lower his eyes and ordered his subordinates to investigate the Tang Sect's background.

However, compared to the outside world's commotion and surprise, the reaction of the opposing team, the Earth Dragon Gate, was much simpler. Shock and frustration permeated the entire team. They were helpless and had no choice but to give it their all. In the end, they gained nothing and could only leave the field dejectedly.

And so, after the captain, young master, and Rouge Dragon Soul King of the Earth Dragon Gate, Nan Qiuqiu, took to the field and were defeated, the Earth Dragon Gate chose to concede defeat. In the end, they failed to let Bei Bei achieve the feat of defeating seven opponents in one battle. But even so, the Tang Sect today was already quite eye-catching.

At the same time that Dilongmen conceded defeat, the information on the Tangmen team members was delivered to Xu Tianran. Xu Tianran flipped through the information on the Tangmen team members, his expression changing repeatedly before finally revealing a meaningful smile. "Heh, Tangmen? No, Shrek Academy!"

Xu Tianran tossed the documents in his hand to Ju Zi. After reading them, Ju Zi's expression turned strange. She didn't say anything, but handed the documents to Jing Hongchen. After taking them and flipping through them briefly, Jing Hongchen understood why the Regent and the Regent's Consort had such expressions.

"Your Highness, all the players on the Tang Sect team are members of the previous Shrek Academy preliminary team. What is Shrek Academy trying to do? Are they that confident? Or does Shrek Academy have enough talent to split into two teams?" Jing Hongchen said with a gloomy expression.

"Shrek Academy, how intriguing!" Xu Tianran didn't comment on Jing Hongchen's opinion, but instead said with a touch of melancholy, "I heard that Zhu Ziyang is here too. Is he the one from over there?"

Xu Tianran's gaze turned to the distant rest area, or more precisely, to the Shrek Academy rest area, where Zhu Ziyang was sitting on the sofa with two women on his arms. A hint of jealousy and gloom flashed in his eyes.

Zhu Ziyang sensed someone was watching him and subconsciously looked up in the direction his intuition pointed. His eyes met Xu Tianran's. He smiled and nodded to Xu Tianran, but his eyes were indifferent.

"..." Xu Tianran fell silent, withdrawing his gaze and daring not to look again. However, his heart was no longer calm; a raging storm was brewing within him. What did he see? Indifference, an aloof indifference, as if a god sitting high in the heavens were looking down upon the creatures on earth. It was the gaze of a powerful being looking at ants. That gaze filled him with uncontrollable rage. Xu Tianran had never been so insulted before!

He was determined to pay back double, Xu Tianran thought fiercely to himself.

Zhu Ziyang was unaware that his gaze had angered Xu Tianran and earned him his hatred. After watching the battle between the Tang Clan and the Earth Dragon Clan, he returned to his previous relaxed and casual demeanor, only occasionally glancing up at the upcoming matches with indifference.

It wasn't until the last match of the morning that Zhu Ziyang's interest was rekindled; the two sides were the Holy Spirit Sect and the Heavenly Capital Academy.

The Holy Spirit Sect is said to be a secluded sect of the Sun Moon Empire, and is very mysterious. However, it is not difficult to see from their name that the Holy Spirit Sect is the Holy Spirit Cult, and their behavior after the competition has also confirmed this.

Tiandu Academy is a high-level soul master academy from the Douling Empire. It is of medium strength and has previously entered the top 16 of the competition. However, this time it encountered the Holy Spirit Sect, which can only be described as bad luck.

The first contestant sent by the Holy Spirit Sect clashed with the first contestant from the Heavenly Capital Academy. The two were not evenly matched in strength. Although the contestant from the Heavenly Capital Academy was also a Soul King, the contestant from the Holy Spirit Sect was also a Soul King, and had the best Soul Ring configuration. Moreover, he was also an evil Soul Master with strange abilities.

The contestant from Tiandu Academy died on stage before even figuring out his opponent's martial soul; his death was extremely gruesome. The people of Tiandu Academy were furious but helpless. Anyone with eyes could see that something was wrong with the Holy Spirit Sect's contestant, but with the official backing of the Sun Moon Empire, others couldn't say much even if they had objections. After all, it wasn't time to break ties yet.

"A brain-eating worm martial soul, huh..." Zhu Ziyang recognized the martial soul of the Holy Spirit Sect disciple. He was somewhat surprised, but not particularly surprised. He could only say that this was very much in line with the style of the Holy Spirit Sect.

Tiandu Academy conceded defeat outright, as there was no need to inflict unnecessary casualties.

The competition continued, and over the next three days, teams advanced and were eliminated every day. This was normal and a regular occurrence, nothing to lament or regret.

Starting from the afternoon of the second day, the Shrek Academy team members basically stopped appearing in the rest area. Everyone was required by Ma Xiaotao to cultivate in the hotel. On the contrary, Ma Xiaotao herself often dragged Zhu Ziyang to the arena, ostensibly to find out information about the participating teams, but in reality, she was using work as an excuse to monopolize Zhu Ziyang.

Jiang Nannan and Qian Lingyi naturally wouldn't tolerate Ma Xiaotao, so after some friendly exchanges, the other team members in the rest area suffered. Almost every day, they could see Zhu Ziyang with two women on each side, enjoying the bliss of having two wives. What made the male members even more infuriated was that his female companions were different in the morning and afternoon. In the morning, it was a pair of elegant young women with long golden and silver hair, while in the afternoon, it was a pair of red-haired, busty sisters, making them envious to the point of gnashing their teeth.

Soon, the first round of the competition ended, and the number of teams was reduced by half from 367. The remaining 184 teams will begin the second round of the competition. The second round will also be held over five days, with only about 18 matches per day, which is much easier than the first round.

Of the teams that advanced, two-thirds were from sects, while only about sixty were from academies, highlighting the vast gap between sects and soul master academies. The remaining academy teams were mostly established, renowned institutions, while only a handful of sect teams were household names, further emphasizing the disparity between the two.

However, to Zhu Ziyang's surprise, Yang Zhenzhen's Fran Advanced Soul Master Academy had also advanced to the second round. The highest cultivation level on the Fran team was only level 48, and Yang Zhenzhen, at level 35, was already a key member, demonstrating the team's overall weakness. But, despite their weakness, they had good luck. Their first-round opponent was also an academy team, even weaker than Fran's. Therefore, considering the two, Fran's advancement was quite normal.

In the second round of the competition, Shrek Academy finally made its debut in this tournament. In the first match of the second round, Shrek Academy faced Taining Advanced Soul Master Academy.

(End of this chapter)