The Glory of the Sun and Moon in the Peerless Tang Sect

"Welcome our two distinguished guests from Shrek Academy."

The four girls had charming faces and friendly smiles, and their manners were impeccable. Their beauty even surpassed that of the welcoming girls Xu Zihuang had seen at the Treasure Pavilion.

Her clothing was not revealing, exuding elegance and poise.

"Please follow me, esteemed guests." One of the girls smiled, stepped forward, and bowed, making an inviting gesture.

Upon entering the restaurant, one is immediately struck by its opulent, glittering decorations. Crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling, scattering a soft glow. The restaurant is at least 500 square meters in size—extremely luxurious.

At this moment, only the footsteps of three people echoed in the huge restaurant.

The girl led Xu Zihuang and Ning Tian to an exquisite dining table carved entirely from a single piece of amethyst. She then took out a menu from a silver storage ring on her finger and presented it to the two of them.

Xu Zihuang took the menu and handed it to Ning Tian across from him.

"You order first."

"Mm," Ning Tian responded with a faint smile.

The two had long since gotten along very well and naturally.

Xu Zihuang then ordered several exquisite dishes made with various rare ingredients from soul beasts, according to his own taste.

It must be said that the Star Luo Empire provides Shrek Academy with truly generous benefits.

Every dish on the menu uses ingredients sourced from at least a thousand-year-old spirit beast.

Of the dishes Xu Zihuang ordered, the most precious was the stewed thousand-year-old sea dragon tendon. The sea dragon is not a real dragon, but a sub-dragon-like spirit beast with dragon blood that lives in the sea.

However, compared to land-dwelling dragon-type spirit beasts, sea dragons possess a much richer dragon bloodline. This bloodline has excellent nourishing effects on spirit masters, enhancing their blood and qi, improving physical fitness, and warming their meridians and bones. If a spirit master with a dragon-type spirit consumes the dragon tendons, which embody the essence of the sea dragon's bloodline, over a long period, it may even promote a positive evolution of their spirit.

However, like the Demon Whale-type Soul Beasts, Sea Dragons generally live in the deep ocean. To capture one, one must take great risks and venture deep into the ocean.

Even with its connection to the Star Luo Empire's royal family, the Star Emperor Hotel likely wouldn't provide a large quantity of Sea Dragon Tendons to the Shrek Academy's participating students and their instructors. This demonstrates its exceptional rarity.

Xu Zihuang gently stirred the golden thousand-year-old sea dragon tendon soaking in the sweet and clear soup with a silver spoon. Suddenly remembering something, he looked up and asked Ning Tian.

"By the way, Ning Tian. Didn't you mention last time that your Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School and the Body Sect had some contact? You have some connection with the Body Sect?"

"I've only heard the elders in my family mention it occasionally." Ning Tian met Xu Zihuang's gaze; she wasn't too surprised that Yu Tianhuang asked this question.

After all, Yu Tianhuang's martial soul, the Golden Eye, is a top-tier Body Martial Soul. It's perfectly normal for him to want to know about the Body Sect.

"The Body Sect grew and prospered over the next few thousand years after the Spirit Hall was destroyed ten thousand years ago. At the beginning of the Body Sect's establishment, our Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School provided them with some assistance. However, after the collision between Douluo Continent and Sun Moon Continent, our Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School and the Body Sect went into seclusion one after another, and gradually lost contact with each other."

Xu Zihuang didn't dwell on the question. He had only asked it casually in the first place.

Moreover, he knew that there were members of the Body Sect watching the battles at this year's All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament.

He only needs to use his martial soul to demonstrate his strength, and the people from the Body Sect will naturally come knocking on his door.

The two ate and chatted, and the dinner lasted for almost half an hour.

However, as the two returned to their respective rooms along the corridor to rest, two people walked towards them from the other end of the corridor.

The two appeared to be around fourteen or fifteen years old. The one in front was a handsome young man dressed in a moon-white outfit. His left eye was blue, and his right eye was green. His two-tone eyes made him even more striking. Long, snow-white hair cascaded over his shoulders, as proud as its owner.

Behind the boy stood a stunningly beautiful young woman. Her hair was a rare wine-red, darker than Ma Xiaotao's, as intoxicating as fine wine. But her eyes were icy blue.

The four people's eyes met here.

Upon seeing Xu Zihuang, whose handsome appearance surpassed even that of her brother, the girl's icy blue eyes immediately lit up, revealing a complex mix of excitement and shyness.

The handsome young man stared arrogantly at Xu Zihuang. Although he sensed a faint threat from Xu Zihuang, the pride in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

"My name is Xiao Hongchen. Remember my name. Although I don't know if your Shrek Academy only sent four members of the main team because of overconfidence or some other reason, I will personally end your Shrek Academy's undefeated myth in this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament."

"I hope you get what you want," Xu Zihuang said with a warm smile. His expression remained unchanged throughout.

After saying this, he didn't look at Xiao Hongchen again, greeted Ning Tian, ​​and returned to his room.

In Xu Zihuang's eyes, Xiao Hongchen was no different from people like Dai Huabin and Wang Dong. They were all destined for only one ending: their pride would be ruthlessly crushed by him.

Ning Tian also returned to her room, but before that, she took a deep look at the girl next to Xiao Hongchen.

Xiao Hongchen's gaze sharpened slightly, a thoughtful expression on his face, before he finally came to his senses after a long while.

The girl beside him, who was also his sister Meng Hongchen, behaved almost exactly like him.

When Xiao Hongchen glanced at Meng Hongchen, Meng Hongchen was still staring blankly at the other side of the corridor.

"Meng, you can't be serious?" The pride in Xiao Hongchen's eyes vanished instantly, and he stared at his sister in disbelief.

"He is our opponent."

What happened to the opponent?

When Xiao Hongchen saw through her thoughts, Meng Hongchen's pretty face instantly flushed red. She gave a soft hum and pushed open the door to her room.

Then there was another loud bang as the door slammed shut.

Only Xiao Hongchen, with a blank expression, remained standing in the corridor.

……

The following morning, golden rays of dawn shone upon the majestic outline of Xingluo City, highlighting the ancient simplicity and grandeur of this millennia-old capital.

Today marks the official start of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament.

The Starry Sky Square in front of the Imperial City was divided into sections by rows of iron fences over five meters high. These sections were also where spectators would watch the battle later.

Tens of thousands of soldiers in uniform armor were stationed around Xingluo Square to maintain order.

Currently, only participating students and their accompanying teachers who are staying at the Xinghuang Hotel are allowed to enter Xingluo Square.

The arena for this year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament was built on the north side of Star Luo Square, in front of the main gate of the imperial city. This way, His Majesty the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire and his civil and military officials could watch the battle from a high vantage point atop the city wall.

Led by Wang Yan, the group representing Shrek Academy took their places in the contestants' area.

Today, everyone was wearing Shrek Academy's traditional dark green school uniform. As the champions of the previous Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, they were naturally seated in the first row.

No one objected, because this was the honor that Shrek Academy had accumulated through its strength over thousands of years.

Team members from a total of 133 colleges took their positions in the contestants' area, while the massive crowd of spectators entered the arena in an orderly fashion under the soldiers' direction. The entire Xingluo Square suddenly became bustling with activity.

Meanwhile, Wang Yan, the teacher in charge of Shrek Academy, and the teachers in charge of other academies began the draw for the first round of elimination matches.

Without their team leader by their side, the other contestants from the other academies standing behind Shrek Academy couldn't help but show surprise when they saw Shrek Academy's lineup.

He Caitou, with his mature appearance and robust build, was alright. However, Xu Zihuang, Beibei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan, while nearly adult-sized, clearly had youthful faces that suggested they were quite young—around fifteen years old at most.

Ning Tian and Wang Dong need no further explanation.

What exactly is Shrek Academy trying to do by sending out such a lineup?

The same question arose in everyone's mind.

Even so, the participants from other academies dared not underestimate Shrek Academy in the slightest. The reputation of Shrek Academy as the number one academy on the continent was simply too prestigious.

Most of the participants from various academies were secretly praying that they wouldn't encounter Shrek Academy in the upcoming first round of elimination matches.

After the draw was completed quickly, Wang Yan returned to Xu Zihuang and the others, his expression quite interesting.

"Our first opponent is the Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy from the Douling Empire. This academy is one of the top three in the Douling Empire and has supplied a large number of talents to the Douling Empire. This team has at least one Soul King. In other words, Tianhuang, you will be facing a team led by at least one Soul King, with all members at the Soul Sect level or above. Our luck is a bit bad."

Of all the participating academies, only about one-tenth of the teams actually had students with Soul King cultivation levels or higher. Before the age of twenty, only a minority of students possessed Soul Power reaching level fifty.

Even the graduation requirement for Shrek Academy's outer court is merely reaching the Soul Master level. A Soul King at twenty years old—such talent fully qualifies one to enter Shrek Academy's inner court.

"Qianling Advanced Soul Master Academy?" Xu Zihuang's mind stirred slightly as he recalled information about this team.

The Thousand-Strike Spear, controlled by both ice and fire.

Ma Xiaotao spoke with nonchalance at the pre-battle meeting yesterday, but at this moment she couldn't help but furrow her brows.

Dai Yueheng, Chen Zifeng, and the others felt much the same way as Ma Xiaotao. If they lost this match, it would all be over.

Now they have no choice but to trust Yu Tianhuang.

As Wang Yan explained to the crowd, a middle-aged man dressed in a bright yellow robe and wearing an eight-treasure purple-gold crown walked up to the city wall. Standing with his hands behind his back, he was positioned right in the center of the city wall, an excellent vantage point for watching the competition below.

He is Xu Jiawei, the current emperor of the Star Luo Empire. Behind him are the civil and military officials of the Star Luo Empire.

"Silence!" An elderly man dressed in a bright red civil official's robe stepped forward quickly and shouted.

A deafening sound echoed throughout the arena, and all the soldiers clad in silver armor slammed the handles of their spears into the ground. The clanging sound, like metal striking metal, brought with it a chilling atmosphere.

"His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!"

The crowd knelt down, and the sight of hundreds of thousands of people making this gesture in unison was extremely spectacular.

The soldiers knelt on one knee, while the participating trainees and their instructors bowed.

"Rise, my subjects." Xu Jiawei surveyed his people with a gentle yet authoritative gaze.

The people who had stood up all turned their gazes back to the city walls of the imperial city.

"On behalf of the Star Luo Empire, I welcome you all. The All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament is a grand event for the entire continent, a tradition that has continued for tens of thousands of years. I am very pleased that this year's All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament can be held in Star Luo City. I hope you will show your true colors in the competition over the next month."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The participating students and their supervising teachers from the 133 academies bowed again.

Xu Jiawei smiled and nodded in the direction of the crowd. Then, with his loud announcement, the curtain was finally raised on this grand event.

"Now, I hereby declare the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament officially open."

The sound of cannon salutes and the cheers of the crowd mingled together, resounding throughout the heavens and earth.

Xu Jiawei and the other civil and military officials took a few steps back and sat down in the seats that had been prepared beforehand.

The prime minister, representing Xu Jiawei, once again came to the city wall and proclaimed loudly.

"The first round of this competition is an elimination tournament. There are 133 participating colleges, one of which will receive a bye. A total of 66 matches will be played. The first match will begin soon."

"The Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy will face off against Shrek Academy, which boasts countless honors and has almost swept the championships of the continent's advanced soul master academy fighting tournament over the past thousands of years!"

His words completely ignited the atmosphere at the scene.

"Shrek—"

"Shrek—"

"Shrek—"

"..."

Shrek Academy has long been deified in the public eye. In a sense, Shrek Academy is a symbol of invincibility.

Xu Zihuang turned around calmly and looked around at everyone.