Since Huo Yuhao saw the White Tiger Duke, Dai Yueheng naturally saw him too. An excited flame lit up in his eyes as he saw his father, and he clenched his fists.
The White Tiger Duke, Dai Hao, only nodded slightly at him. He encouraged Dai Yueheng using the expression in his eyes. As Dai Yueheng had treated his father as his role model since his youth, the look that Dai Hao gave him caused his compet.i.tive streak to surge. The previous anxiety that he felt was now gone.
The Star Luo Emperor revealed a dim smile on his face as he saw the team members from both teams entering the resting area. He nodded at the White Tiger Duke beside him.
“Silence, the compet.i.tion is about to start. Your Majesty, please.” Dai Hao shouted in a deep voice. He did not use a sound-amplifying soul tool, but his voice still echoed far away. His vigorous energy spread out from the top of the city wall just like this.
All the peacekeeping troops lifted their weapons high and shouted, “Kill, kill, kill—!” At the same time, the entire Star Luo Plaza was filled with a strong killing intent.
The peacekeeping troops were all engulfed by pa.s.sion and fanaticism. In their eyes, there was only the commander standing at the top of the city wall. The White Tiger Duke’s authority in the military was even above the emperor’s to a certain extent!
The Star Luo Emperor wasn’t displeased because of this. He continued to smile, while all the spectators all kept their silence because of the strong killing intent.
The Star Luo Emperor smiled and said, “The last time the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament was held in Star Luo City was 20 years ago. Both myself and Dai Hao were only youths then. Fast forward 20 years, and I’m already the ruler of an empire, while Dai Hao is also the top commander in the empire. We’re about to witness a battle between the strongest youths on the continent. I’m feeling very excited. I hope both teams can present an exciting contest for every spectator. As per tradition, the winner of this tournament will be awarded 3 soul bones and 1 million gold soul coins. I have already picked out 10 of the most outstanding soul bones from our treasury for the winner to choose from. I wanted Dai Hao to host today’s final, but one of Shrek Academy’s team members is his eldest son. For fairness’ sake, today’s referee will still be the Heavenfiend Douluo.”
“Without further ado, let’s all watch this historical battle.”
After the Star Luo Emperor finished speaking, a streak of radiance flashed from the top of the city wall. It appeared in the center of the stage in the next moment. It was the Heavenfiend Douluo, Huang Jinxu.
However, his body jerked slightly after he landed on the stage. He turned his attention subconsciously to the resting area. His gaze landed on Shrek’s team.
A slovenly elder that carried a wine gourd had suddenly appeared behind them. As he saw the Heavenfiend Douluo looking over, he pinched his brow slightly, while Huang Jinxu became a little frantic, and quickly turned his head.
Everyone from Shrek Academy and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy discovered the arrival of this slovenly elder because of the referee’s gaze.
“Elder Xuan, you’re here.” w.a.n.g Yan said in surprise.
Elder Xuan too out another chicken drumstick from somewhere and took a bite. He said indistinctly, “Just give whatever instructions you have to and take it that I’m not here. No one will dare to play any tricks since I’m here.” Without a doubt, the Taotie Douluo was here to hold the fort for Shrek Academy.
Upon seeing him, the faces of the teachers from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Academy changed. They naturally recognized Elder Xuan. According to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy’s research, this Taotie Douluo’s cultivation was already above Rank 97. He was the strongest in Shrek Academy. However, this was as much as they were able to discover, as the Sea G.o.d’s Pavilion was too secretive.
The Heavenfiend Douluo also knew Elder Xuan, otherwise he wouldn’t have lost his composure. However, he recovered quickly, and said in a low voice, “I am Huang Jinxu, the referee for the finals of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. I shall announce the compet.i.tion rules.”
Although both parties were familiar with the rules, they still had to be announced as part of protocol.
“The finals will be divided into the team round, the individual round and the 2-2-3 round. A team must win at least 2 victories to be the overall winner. For the team round, each team will send 7 members out. After the team round, each team will have one chance to change their competing members. No further chances will be given. In the other 2 rounds, the 7 competing members cannot be changed. The team that wins 2 rounds will then be crowned the champion. Both teams can do what they want, and the referee will be responsible for everyone’s safety. Once the referee thinks that a particular move is fatal, he will intervene and eliminate the losing side. But because of the ever-changing conditions, the referee cannot guarantee absolute safety. I hope that both teams will know their limits. Right now, please prepare to send your team members up to the stage within 1 minute.”
As the compet.i.tion rules were announced, the atmosphere in Star Luo Plaza tensed up. The spectators became extremely silent as they waited. Everyone widened their eyes. Although the compet.i.tion was yet to begin, they were unwilling to miss out on anything.
w.a.n.g Yan stood up and spoke to all 10 students from Shrek Academy in a deep voice, “Follow our original strategy. Shrek will win.”
“Shrek will win.” 10 people stood up together and roared in a unified, determined voice.
w.a.n.g Yan turned his attention towards Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng and nodded his head at them. The two of them also nodded back in acknowledgement.
On the other side, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy members also stood up and listened to their teacher’s final strategy.
One minute pa.s.sed very quickly.
“Members from both teams, please enter the stage.” The Heavenfiend Douluo kept strict watch on time, and didn’t extend the time limit by even a second.
7 members instantly walked out from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy’s side. Firstly, there was the team leader, Ma Rulong. Behind him were Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen. Following them was Michael, the Cla.s.s 5 soul engineer that Huo Yuhao and the others had seen in the semifinal match. The remaining 3 were all Cla.s.s 5 soul engineers too. Because of their unique appearances, everyone from Shrek’s team could recognize the 7 members from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. The last 3 were Xiao Xiafeng, Chen Fei and Lin Xi. Besides Meng Hongchen, everyone else was male.
Shrek’s team was not surprised to see these 7. That’s because this was exactly what Teacher w.a.n.g Yan had expected.
Ever since the start of the tournament, w.a.n.g Yan had been monitoring the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy silently. Just yesterday, he related everything that he had gathered and a.n.a.lyzed on the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy to everyone from Shrek. He even came up with a detailed plan. Today’s victory was highly dependent on his tactics and strategies.
Since their opponent was already walking towards the compet.i.tion stage, Shrek Academy also did the same. After everyone entered the waiting area, 7 walked out. However, this was a surprising scene for the spectators and Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy both.
The 7 from Shrek Academy were the team leader, Ma Xiaotao, vice-team leader Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochen, Bei Bei, Xu Sans.h.i.+, Jiang Nannan and He Caitou.
Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong, who had both contributed greatly in the semifinals, were not in the team lineup. They sat in the waiting area.
All the spectators who were originally silent started to become noisy.
Although Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong did not have powerful cultivations, they had left a deep impression in everyone’s minds in the previous rounds of the tournament.
Ever since Huo Yuhao imitated a soul emperor in the first few rounds and unleashed 6 hundred thousand year soul rings, he managed to capture every spectator’s attention with that shocking method.
In the following rounds, he was very effective as long as he appeared. The most obvious examples of this were the time they were against Justsky Academy, and in the semifinal against Star Luo Academy. This pairing of Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong managed to turn the tide on several occasions.
Even till now, no one was clear on how powerful they were. For those who understood soul masters, they knew that both of them had twin martial souls even though they only had two and three rings respectively. They even possessed a martial soul fusion skill. Although their cultivations were not high, they were still very young, and they had great potential. They could aid their team greatly during a battle, and this was especially obvious during the team round.
No one could understand the reason why Shrek’s team hadn’t sent the both of them out for the team round, including the Sun Moon Soul Academy team. Because of this, everyone wore stunned looks on their faces as they watched Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong in the waiting area.
Was this some new way of winning? What was Shrek Academy doing?
w.a.n.g Yan was expressionless as he sat down in the waiting area. No one knew how he was feeling.
w.a.n.g Yan was exhilarated beneath his calm exterior. When he had first led Shrek’s team to Star Luo City, he had had no confidence. This tournament was a huge trial for not only the team members, but him too. The further the compet.i.tion proceeded, the more self-confidence he gained, and the more ideas on tactics and strategies he developed.
However, w.a.n.g Yan had not made too many detailed arrangements in the previous rounds of the tournament. This was even the case in the semifinals.
What was his reason? It was because he was trying to hide, puzzle and conceal his abilities from their opponent.