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

The Star Luo Square, which housed hundreds of thousands of people, including participating academies and their instructors from over a hundred other advanced soul masters and soul master academies, as well as Emperor Xu Jiawei of the Star Luo Empire and his civil and military officials, fell into complete silence at this moment.

But after a brief silence came even more frenzied cheers.

One against seven, and a complete domination of the opponents. The spectators at the scene never imagined that the first round of the elimination tournament would end in such a way.

Besides shock, their eyes were filled with even more fervent excitement.

This is Shrek Academy, the Shrek Academy that has maintained its undefeated myth for thousands of years!

Xu Zihuang slowly turned around and walked towards Shrek Academy. His movements were as graceful and composed as his long, flowing black hair. His indifferent expression, combined with the lingering power of his crushing victory over Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy, caused most of the other participating students in the contestant area to awkwardly avoid his gaze; few dared to meet his eyes.

On the other side of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, Xiao Hongchen's face was even more gloomy, and his fists were clenched tightly.

A question inevitably arose in his mind.

If he were to face the Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy alone, could he achieve victory?

Perhaps, but it would never be as easy as it was for Xu Zihuang.

"This guy's soul skill," Xiao Hongchen murmured softly.

During the battle against Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy, Xu Zihuang only used two Soul Skills. One was his second Soul Skill, Mirror Annihilation, and the other was his fourth Soul Skill, Imprint.

With Xiao Hongchen's knowledge, he could naturally see that Xu Zihuang's second soul skill was deeply related to the innate soul skill of a top-tier soul beast like the Demonic Tiger Whale. But what he feared and cared about most was Xu Zihuang's strange fourth soul skill.

Silver Spirit Beasts only exist in a few wild spirit beast gathering areas that originally belonged to the Douluo Continent. Moreover, Silver Spirit Beasts were already on the verge of extinction in ancient times, and there are very few records of this spirit beast on the original Douluo Continent, let alone on the Sun Moon Empire.

This was the first time Xiao Hongchen had ever seen a soul skill that could replicate an opponent's abilities.

He had always been a very arrogant person, and he never believed that there was anyone more talented than him in the world. But the appearance of Xu Zihuang made him start to waver in this belief.

Wang Yan, along with the students of Shrek Academy, took the initiative to greet Xu Zihuang.

Their eyes met, and Xu Zihuang instantly understood Wang Yan's meaning. He joined the group and left Xingluo Square with everyone else.

It maintains a high degree of mystery.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the Shrek Academy group, and they watched them walk into the Star Emperor Hotel on the east side of Star Luo Square.

It was Shrek Academy's early departure that caused the entire competition to be interrupted for several minutes.

Emperor Xu Jiawei of the Star Luo Empire stood up at some point.

As soon as he stood up, the civil and military officials behind him naturally dared not remain seated. Hundreds of people stood atop the imperial city walls, utterly awestruck.

Xu Jiawei's slightly authoritative eyes seemed to flash with a sharp light as he gave instructions to the attendant beside him.

"Have someone investigate him, investigate his information."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

……

The Shrek Academy students maintained their aloof expressions until they finally returned to the conference room under Wang Yan's guidance, where they completely relaxed.

The meeting room provided by the Star Emperor Hotel to Shrek Academy is soundproof. Moreover, the participating students from other academies are still in Star Luo Square, so no one is afraid of being discovered by someone with ulterior motives.

The aloof and indifferent expression on Xu Zihuang's face disappeared, and his gaze softened again.

Xu Sanshi chuckled mischievously and put his right hand on Xu Zihuang's shoulder.

"Tianhuang, you're really something. You managed to intimidate so many people in one go."

"It was all done according to Teacher Wang's ideas," Xu Zihuang laughed heartily. He was completely different from how he had acted on the competition stage before.

Wang Yan walked to the head seat of the conference table, gesturing for everyone to sit down, and said with a smile.

"All of this is based on the premise that you, Tianhuang, are exceptionally strong. There's no need to be modest. Your performance in this battle showcased the spirit of Shrek Academy, and the effect was even better than I expected. Now, in the eyes of other academies, Shrek Academy is synonymous with mystery and power. I dare say that no academy would want to face us in the upcoming round-robin tournament."

At this point, Wang Yan looked at Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, Chen Zifeng, and Gongyang Mo.

"Xiao Tao, how are you four recovering from your injuries?"

Ma Xiaotao pondered for a moment and said, "After last night's cultivation, the injuries have recovered quite well. It should be no problem for him to fully recover within half a month. If he were to force himself to fight, ten days would be enough. But that would probably worsen the injuries."

Dai Yueheng continued, "My situation is similar to Xiao Tao's."

Chen Zifeng and Gongyang Mo, on the other hand, suffered less severe injuries and will likely recover in about ten days.

"Ten days. That means Chen Zifeng, you and Gongyang Mo might appear in the third or fourth round of the round-robin tournament." Wang Yan nodded.

If Chen Zifeng and Gongyang Mo can play, the pressure on Yu Tianhuang, Bei Bei, and others will be greatly reduced.

Wang Yan continued, "From now on, Xiao Tao and the other three should focus on recovering from their injuries at the hotel. Bei Bei, San Shi, and Cai Tou, the same goes for you three. In the round-robin tournament two days from now, you'll likely need to go all out. Now, let me make some arrangements for the round-robin tournament."

Chapter 164 Round-Robin Tournament, First Match

"After the first round of elimination, a total of 67 teams have advanced to the next round. According to the rules of this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, these 67 teams will be divided into eight groups for the next round of round-robin matches. That is to say, five groups will have eight teams each, and the other three groups will have nine teams each. As I mentioned before, the round-robin matches are based on a points system: two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Only the top two teams in each group will advance."

"Our Shrek Academy was the champion of the previous Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, and in this round of elimination matches, we will inevitably be placed in a group of eight teams. We only need to play one match against each of the other seven teams in turn. However, if we want to advance to the next round, we need to win at least five of those matches."

Wang Yan looked at everyone with a very serious expression.

"The knockout stage is divided into team battles, individual battles, and a 2-2-3 format. The format will be determined by drawing lots on-site. Team battles are, of course, standard seven-on-seven team battles. Individual battles don't mean one person only fights one match; the loser is eliminated, and the winner continues fighting until all seven participants from one team are defeated. Individual battles emphasize individual skill, and the order of appearance can be adjusted based on the opponents' abilities. But I won't go into that now. I'll mainly explain the third format, the 2-2-3 format."

"The 2-2-3 formation, as the name suggests, consists of two 2-on-2 matches and one 3-on-3 match. It's a best-of-three format. This will test my coordination skills. I've carefully considered your strengths. For now, I'll pair Beibei and Jiang Nannan as one team, and Xu Sanshi and Wang Dong as the other for the 2-on-2 match. Yu Tianhuang, He Caitou, and Ning Tian, ​​your abilities complement each other better, so you'll be the 3-on-3 team members."

Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, Chen Zifeng, and Gongyang Mo, the four inner court disciples, all nodded in approval of Wang Yan's arrangement.

The explosive power of the offensive type Soul Master and the agility of the agility type Soul Master complement each other perfectly. As a defensive type Soul Master, Xu Sanshi can also better create opportunities for Wang Dong to unleash the two powerful thousand-year Soul Skills that follow.

As for Yu Tianhuang's powerful crowd control ability, coupled with the assistance of Ning Tian's Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul, it is undoubtedly able to perfectly unleash the power of He Caitou's Soul Guidance Device.

It should be noted that, in terms of destructive power alone, for those of the same cultivation level below the seventh ring, Soul Masters are always far stronger than Soul Masters.

This combination is indeed the most reasonable.

Wang Yan looked at the reserve team members and asked.

"Does anyone have any objections to this arrangement? If so, you can raise them now."

Everyone shook their heads solemnly, except for Xu Sanshi, who hesitated to speak.

He certainly wanted to be in a group with Jiang Nannan, but remembering that he had just angered her again, he didn't say anything to provoke her further.

Moreover, this was part of the competition schedule, concerning the honor of Shrek Academy, so he couldn't just mess around with it.

Wang Yan stood up and said.

"Alright, that's the basic arrangement. I'll be watching the round-robin matches for the next two days to observe the abilities of the players on the participating teams. Any specific changes will depend on the situation. Everyone should go back and rest. Especially Xiao Tao and Bei Bei, focus on recovering from your injuries."

"Yes, Teacher Wang." Everyone responded in unison, stood up, and left the meeting room.

Originally, Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, and other inner court disciples wanted to have a talk with Xu Zihuang, but before leaving the meeting room, Xu Zihuang was stopped by Wang Yan.

This made them give up the idea.

Chen Zifeng turned around and glanced at Xu Zihuang, unable to help but admire him.

"I never expected Tianhuang to be so strong. With only the cultivation level of a Soul Master, he possesses combat power that surpasses that of an ordinary Soul King. He's truly a freak."

He and Shen Ce, the former captain of the Thousand Spirits Advanced Soul Master Academy, were the same type of Soul Master, and he understood even more the strength of their type of Soul Master.

"Teacher Wang was indeed farsighted. Junior Brother Yu's strength is indeed greater than we imagined." Dai Yueheng nodded in deep agreement.

In Shrek Academy, strength has always been paramount. These inner court disciples didn't really think much of Wang Yan, their outer court teacher whose cultivation was weaker than theirs. However, as it turned out, having such an experienced teacher to advise them saved them some trouble.

Gongyang Mo smiled without saying a word, and said mysteriously, "This junior brother Yu's strength is far more than what he just showed."

Neither Chen Zifeng nor Dai Yueheng denied Gongyang Mo's statement.

With their limited understanding, they could naturally see that Yu Tianhuang still had energy left over when he directly overwhelmed Qianling Advanced Soul Master Academy. However, they were unaware that Gongyang Mo was referring to Yu Tianhuang's possession of twin martial souls.

Dai Yueheng asked Ma Xiaotao, who was walking at the front of the group.

"By the way, Xiaotao, aren't you quite familiar with Junior Brother Yu? Give us a sneak peek at his true strength. That way we can feel more at ease."

"Who told you I'm close to this brat?" Ma Xiaotao turned around and spat lightly, annoyed. Hearing Dai Yueheng's words, she couldn't help but recall the scene when she fell into the lake that day, and a hint of shyness and frustration appeared in her pink eyes.

She had known Yu Tianhuang for less than a month.

But on the day they fell into the lake, the two were almost completely honest with each other.

Ma Xiaotao knew that she couldn't blame Yu Tianhuang at the time; on the contrary, she owed him a huge favor.

But that's what made her even more depressed.

She was seen naked by Yu Tianhuang for no reason, and she couldn't even retaliate. In the end, that brat acted like nothing had happened.

However, what elicited such a strong reaction from Ma Xiaotao was Yu Tianhuang's truly amazing performance today.

She was attracted to strong, arrogant men.

Even while watching the game from the sidelines today, an idea unconsciously popped into her head.

If Yu Tianhuang were about five years older, she might have readily agreed to her teacher Yan Shaozhe's suggestion.

Dai Yueheng and Chen Zifeng stared at Ma Xiaotao with strange expressions.

Gongyang Mo, on the other hand, gave a knowing, ambiguous smile.

Among the seven members of the main team, he actually had the best relationship with Ma Xiaotao and knew her the most.

Yes, it's the kind of relationship that's similar to that of 'sisters'.

The rooms for the regular players and the reserve team members were on opposite sides. The reserve team members were also talking at that moment.

It was supposed to be a conversation, but in reality, it was just Xu Sanshi frantically fawning over Jiang Nannan.

Jiang Nannan frowned and looked at Xu Sanshi, who was sticking to her like a leech, with disgust. She then quickened her pace and returned to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Beibei placed her right hand on Xu Sanshi's shoulder and smiled, "It's a long and arduous journey ahead."

Xu Sanshi's face instantly fell. Just as he was about to argue with Bei Bei, who was mocking him, he caught a glimpse of Ning Tian out of the corner of his eye.

His heart stirred slightly, and he quickly approached Ning Tian, ​​saying with a mournful face, "Junior Ning Tian, ​​tell me, what do I need to do to get Nan Nan to accept me? I really don't know what to do. From your perspective as a girl, please give me some advice."

"Senior Xu must have done something to offend Senior Jiang. I personally think Senior Xu can start from this direction to dispel Senior Jiang's prejudice against you." Ning Tian smiled faintly, but there was also a hint of doubt in his light blue eyes.

Although Xu Sanshi usually seems cheeky, he is actually quite outstanding in terms of strength, talent, and character. She was also puzzled as to what Xu Sanshi had done to Jiang Nannan that caused Jiang Nannan to have such a strong prejudice against him.

Upon hearing Ning Tian's words, Xu Sanshi's expression froze instantly. He scratched his head awkwardly and stammered for a long time, unable to utter a word.

He Caitou, standing to the side, chuckled and said to Xu Sanshi, "I think sincerity is the most important thing."

"Wasn't I being sincere enough? Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore." Xu Sanshi sighed and returned to his room in frustration.