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

Because of the extremely low temperature and the dim sky, the light appeared slightly distorted. The magnificent seven-colored aurora borealis constantly changed shape on the horizon, outlining irregular patterns.

This is the core area of ​​the far north, an absolute no-go zone for humans.

In the center of this icy world, a girl who looks like a human stands quietly.

The girl appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old, with long, pure white hair cascading down her back to her feet. Her flawless features seemed to embody the essence of this pristine white world. Her sky-blue eyes were ethereal and clear, as if they could see through everything. Her slender, delicate body was exquisite and translucent, like the finest jade in the world. Her white dress, though unadorned, accentuated her stunning beauty and noble purity.

The snowflakes that were originally fluttering rapidly in mid-air would suddenly slow down as soon as they got close to the girl's body, as if they were embedded in this space.

But if you look closely, you can see that these snowflakes are still drifting slowly. It's just very difficult to notice.

This art style is indeed somewhat bizarre.

But what contrasts most sharply with the girl is the scorpion in front of her.

A scorpion, no more than 1.5 meters long, with a bright green body.

Its front half of its carapace is covered with hexagonal protrusions that resemble scales, shimmering with an incomparably brilliant luster, like diamond-like protrusions.

These protrusions are also densely distributed on its six long, powerful legs, reflecting countless rays of light.

Both front claws are a meter long and are covered with diamond-like hexagonal protrusions. Only the pincers and the mouthparts that shimmer with a faint light are silver-white.

Its crystal-yellow eyes gleamed, giving it a dazzling, precious appearance. Its five-segmented, emerald-green tail was held high, still covered with densely packed hexagonal diamond-like particles. The stinger on its emerald-green tail also reflected a white, mirror-like luster.

This emerald green scorpion could actually speak human language, and it was a clear, crisp female voice.

"Snow Woman, are you really sure about this? To become human again?"

"Bing'er, I have no way out. I can't overcome the bottleneck of 700,000 years no matter what." The white-haired girl looked at the emerald green scorpion in front of her with gentle eyes, but her voice was unusually cold.

"The essence of heaven and earth contained in that snow lotus with a cultivation of 100,000 years is very pure and abundant. I only need to activate half of it to complete the sealing of my own origin and rebuild myself as a human. I'll leave the other half to you, as a way out for you. I remember that you will also encounter a bottleneck again within the next hundred years, right?"

The emerald green scorpion smiled bitterly, "Snow Maiden, I'm actually hesitant too. I know my own situation well. I've already pushed my talent and potential to the limit, and the possibility of surviving that tribulation is extremely slim. But once I'm reborn as a human, I'll become incredibly fragile, and I'll have to come into contact with those despicable humans and sense their aura in order to improve my cultivation. Just thinking about it makes me feel disgusted."

"Why would I want to come into contact with those vile humans?" The white-haired girl sighed softly, then her gaze hardened.

"The path for soul beasts to become gods has been completely blocked, and I can only fight for that sliver of hope. Our Ice and Snow Maiden clan is nurtured by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which is quite special. Even if we are reborn as humans, our true identity will not be seen through by humans. Bing'er, I have made up my mind before asking you to come and protect me. If all goes well, I can cultivate back to my current level of strength within thirty years. When that time comes, with my help, there is at least a 90% chance that we can overcome that tribulation."

The emerald green scorpion's crystal-yellow eyes shimmered, and just as it was about to say something more, it was stopped by the white-haired girl.

"Let's begin, Bing'er."

……

Deep in the southern seas of the Sun Moon Empire and the Star Luo Empire.

Seven adjacent islands dot this vast expanse of sea.

This is the Moon South Islands. Because it is far from the Douluo Continent, it is a pure land that has never been affected by the war on the continent.

Moon Pivot Island is the most prosperous island in the northern part of the Moon South Islands.

It was late at night, and under the starlight, the outline of an ancient castle built along the mountainside on the west coast of Moon Pivot Island gradually came into view.

A handsome young man stood with his hands behind his back in a pavilion on the edge of a cliff. His features had a feminine quality, and his long black hair was neatly combed and draped behind him.

A salty sea breeze blew in his face, and wave after wave crashed against the mountains along the coast. His long black hair also fluttered in the sea breeze.

The young man was none other than the master of this Moon Pivot Island, Viscount Yao Yang of Moon South.

As if sensing something, Yao Yang slowly turned around.

Suddenly, an elderly man, around fifty years old, appeared behind him. The man wasn't particularly burly, but three deep claw marks above his right eye gave him an air of menacing menace.

"Uncle Wang, you've already come out of seclusion. Did you succeed in making it?" Yao Yang asked with delight, gazing at the old man's face.

At this point, the old man's identity became self-evident; he was none other than Wang Xiao, who had led the remnants of the Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps to rescue Xu Zihuang.

Since Wang Xiao broke through to the Title Douluo realm a year ago and returned to Moon Pivot Island, he has been in seclusion trying to create a level nine soul tool.

However, the departure time is now at least several months earlier than scheduled.

"It went fairly smoothly." Wang Xiao nodded, not feeling overjoyed, but rather relieved.

He has officially advanced to the ninth level of Soul Master, which will allow him to help the young master more in the future.

A flash of light appeared on the storage soul tool on his wrist, and a white tray appeared on his right hand. On the tray was a wooden stand, inlaid with at least a hundred exquisite gems of various colors.

Yao Yang looked surprised, while Wang Xiao explained knowingly.

"This is the ninth-level soul tool, the God-Sealing Platform."

The Conferred God Platform may not seem like much among the level nine soul tools, but it is indeed a genuine level nine soul tool.

In the Moonlit Islands, because most of the people originally from the three great empires of Douluo Continent migrated there, and because they are far from Douluo Continent, they don't place as much importance on soul tools as the Sun Moon Empire on the mainland. Instead, they have preserved some traditions from the three great empires of Douluo Continent. In fact, traditional soul masters are still the mainstream; they just use soul tools.

Xu Zihuang's father held the same philosophy when he led the Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps: powerful Soul Masters should use Soul Tools. This is why members of the Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps generally possess powerful Martial Souls.

After all, they have all gone through layers of screening.

Having grown up on Moon Pivot Island, Yao Yang wasn't very familiar with the ninth-level soul tool, the Conferred God Platform, but he didn't ask too many questions.

"By the way, Uncle Wang. The All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament has recently been held in Star Luo City of the Star Luo Empire. With Zi Huang's talent, he might participate in this tournament as Shrek Academy's reserve team. If that's the case, the people we sent out to infiltrate Star Luo City should be able to bring back news about Zi Huang soon."

Shrek Academy has many powerful individuals, and they dare not send anyone to infiltrate in order to avoid exposing Xu Zihuang's identity. However, in order to gather information about the Douluo Continent, they have arranged quite a few people in the capitals of the four great empires.

Chapter 173 Round-Robin Tournament, Match 4, and Deep Meditation

Star City.

The sky was only just beginning to lighten, but the city was already bustling with activity.

A massive crowd thronged outside Xingluo Square, creating a noisy scene. Despite the presence of tens of thousands of troops stationed outside the square, they could barely maintain order.

Six days have passed since the start of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament's round-robin stage. The competition between the teams from various academies has become increasingly fierce. They are all giving their all to secure one of the only two qualifying spots in each group.

Some matches were particularly brutal, with serious injuries and deaths occurring. The slightly bloody scenes naturally increased the entertainment value significantly.

It just goes to show that this is the nature of human beings.

The more it is like this, the more popular it becomes.

The Star Luo Empire, which made a fortune from this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament, was generous in providing a substantial compensation to all the students who died unexpectedly in battle.

However, the noise outside Xingluo Square did not affect the participating students from various advanced soul masters and soul master academies staying at the Xinghuang Hotel.

On the top floor of the Star Emperor Hotel, in a conference room specifically provided for the Shrek Academy team.

Wang Yan sat in the main seat, with six reserve team members sitting to his left and Chen Zifeng and Gongyang Mo from the regular team sitting to his right.

The round-robin tournament is now in its middle stage, and today the Shrek Academy team will play their fourth match.

That's right, it's the fourth game.

Xu Zihuang's stunning performance in the first round of elimination matches and the first match of the round-robin tournament put immense pressure and intimidation on the other teams in the same group as Shrek Academy.

While Sylvester Academy's overall strength is only considered mid-tier in this group, the individual strength of their captain, Yang Wushang, and vice-captain, Gu Fengli, is exceptionally outstanding. Their soul power is at levels 49 and 48 respectively, not far from breaking through to the Soul King realm. In this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, Soul Kings under the age of twenty are ultimately a minority.

Even with such formidable strength, these two were completely overwhelmed by Xu Zihuang. Of course, other advanced soul master academies and soul master training academies whose overall strength was not comparable to that of Silvers Academy would not be foolish enough to fight Shrek Academy head-on.

After all, the round-robin tournament uses a points system, and the top two teams in terms of points will advance.

The opponent Shrek Academy's team faced in their second match of the round-robin tournament was in this situation. They decisively chose to forfeit and concede defeat.

Shrek Academy was still lucky in the third match of the round-robin tournament. Their opponent in the third match had suffered heavy losses in the previous game, and their coach had no choice but to give up on this match.

Thus, with only Xu Zihuang demonstrating his individual strength, Shrek Academy easily won three round-robin matches without drawing blood.

This also bought Chen Zifeng and Gongyang Mo time to recover from their injuries.

The fact that the two appeared in this conference room also means that their injuries have fully recovered and they can play in today's fourth round-robin match.

However, Xu Zihuang himself was completely unaware of these matters. Five days prior, he had coincidentally entered a state of deep meditation.

Soul Masters typically cultivate in two ways: meditation and deep meditation.

Ordinary meditation is also known as shallow cultivation. This is the state in which all Soul Masters meditate and cultivate. They will wake up on their own when disturbed by external factors or when they sense changes in the external environment, and they will not be greatly affected.

Deep meditation, however, is a state that can only be encountered by chance. During meditation, one gains insights, and the mind unconsciously becomes immersed in it. The whole person enters a state of complete stillness, no longer aware of external changes, and can only awaken on their own.

During deep meditation, the speed at which a Soul Master's Soul Power circulates is at least several times faster than during normal cultivation. At the same time, comprehension is greatly enhanced during deep meditation; things that are difficult to understand in normal times often become clear and intuitive.

It is no exaggeration to say that the effect of one deep meditation session is at least equivalent to more than ten ordinary meditation sessions.

In the second and third rounds of the round-robin tournament, the opponents withdrew for their own reasons, which allowed Xu Zihuang to cultivate undisturbed until today.

This is also why he didn't appear in the meeting room today.

Sitting at the head of the right side of the conference table, Chen Zifeng looked out the window at the rising sun and solemnly reminded Wang Yan.

"Teacher Wang, it's getting late, let's go in first. Although our Shrek Academy's opponent today, Zheng Tian Academy, is quite strong, they only have three Soul Kings. With me and Gongyang Mo on the field, we can handle them."

Wang Yan remained silent for a moment, then stood up and nodded.

"Okay. Let's stick to the previous arrangement. Chen Zifeng, Gongyang Mo, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, He Caitou, and Wang Dong, the seven of you will be the ones to fight."

With the appearance of Gongyang Mo, a support-type Soul King with a Soul Power level of 59, Ning Tian was naturally replaced.

This lineup does look quite good. At least in their group, only their opponent, Zheng Tian Academy, has a comparable lineup. However, they lack a true soul, a control-type battle spirit master.

The reason Wang Yan didn't lead everyone into Xingluo Square immediately was that he hoped Yu Tianhuang could wake up from his deep meditation and participate in today's match.

There are three different formats for the round-robin tournament, determined by a draw on the day of the event.

It goes without saying that being drawn into a team battle makes a world of difference whether or not there is a control-type Soul Master in the team. Not to mention that Yu Tianhuang's individual strength is so formidable.

The same applies to the 2-2-3 battle strategy and the individual elimination rounds. Having Yu Tianhuang as a key combatant would greatly increase the chances of winning this match.

"Yes, Teacher Wang."

Everyone responded in unison.

Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and the other reserve team members didn't seem too nervous. Although Yu Tianhuang couldn't participate, the team now had two strong senior students from the inner academy to support them.

Ning Tian, ​​who was the last to stand up, hesitated for a moment before saying softly to Wang Yan, "Teacher Wang, since I don't need to participate in today's match, I'll stay at the hotel. I'll go check on Tian Huang later. If he can wake up from his deep meditation just before the match starts, he might still be able to make it to today's game."

Ning Tian's words struck a chord with Wang Yan, who readily agreed.

"That's fine. Ning Tian, ​​you stay by Tian Huang's side to prevent any unexpected situations from disturbing him. Once Tian Huang finishes his deep meditation, you can all enter Xingluo Square together later."

After giving his instructions, Wang Yan led the group out in single file.

Meanwhile, in a luxurious room not far from the conference room, Xu Zihuang was sitting cross-legged on a soft sofa, cultivating.

A brilliant golden light shone from his body, falling onto the floor-to-ceiling amethyst curtains directly in front of the sofa and refracting a magnificent glow.