Chapter 102.3: Team Dou Ling

Book 12: The Strength of the Preparatory Team

On the stage, the referee’s voice caused everyone to cheer louder and louder. The atmosphere reached a high in an instant. The peacekeeping army that was in charge of maintaining order raised their alertness to guard against any unprecedented situations.

As if nothing had happened, the Star Luo Emperor came to the top of the city wall very early on. Whenever Shrek Academy competed, he would come to watch.

Under Wang Yan’s guidance, Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochen, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong entered the waiting area.

When the competing members of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy saw that Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng were present, they immediately raised their guard.

In the previous tournament, Dai Yueheng had appeared as the leader of the preparatory team, and Ma Xiaotao had not participated. Hence, Dai Yueheng naturally drew more attention to himself.

Wang Yan looked at his own team members. After pursing his lips, he said in a low voice, “It hasn’t been not easy for us to reach this stage. It was only possible because of all your hard work and effort. All of you must remember not to allow any mistakes to render all our hard work for nothing. Shrek will win.”

“Shrek will win!” The 7 of them shouted at the same time. Once they spoke these few words, all of them became focused, and their competitive streaks rose.

Competition was the best way for one to grow. From the start of the tournament till now, Wang Yan could clearly see the growth that the 7 students on the preparatory team had experienced. Their state of mind, emotions, thirst for competition and live experience had all improved at alarming rates. They were like depthless sponges that kept on absorbing elements that would aid in their growth.

Wang Yan also knew about the arrival of Elder Xuan, the Taotie Douluo. After Elder Xuan arrived, he found Wang Yan and relayed the decision of the conference held within the Sea God’s Pavilion to him. Wang Yan had not understood at first. But as time passed, he became convinced of the decision. Maybe this would dim the glory of the Shrek Academy. However, would all the glory be lost if this batch of talented kids was able to mature?

Not to even mention anything else, the simultaneous appearances of 3 twin martial souls in Shrek Academy was already worth a wager.

“Participants of both parties, please enter the stage.” The referee’s voice disrupted Wang Yan’s thoughts. Ma Xiaotao was the first to stand up, and she advanced with huge steps. Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochen, Bei Bei, Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong and Xu Sanshi followed behind him.

The 7 of them streamed onto the stage.

On the other side, the participants of the Dou Ling Imperial Soul Academy also walked towards the stage.

They were similar to Shrek Academy in one aspect. Among their 7 members, 2 were female. While it was a team competition, everyone from Shrek Academy understood that today’s match would be different from any of the other matches they had fought before.

A dim radiance flashed, and Huo Yuhao smiled gently. He turned to look at Wang Dong, and noticed that Wang Dong was also looking at him. As their gazes met, they saw the resolve in each other’s eyes.

Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng stood at the very front. As for their opponents, the person who stood at the front was a youth who seemed to be around the same age as Dai Yueheng.

This youth had a huge bone structure, but he was very thin. His cheeks even appeared to be shriveled. However, his eyes were filled with energy. As he advanced a few steps and walked towards the referee, he said to the others from the Shrek Academy, “It’s my honor to spar with Shrek Academy. Please advise us.”

The person who stepped forward was not Ma Xiaotao, but Dai Yueheng. Dai Yueheng took a large step forward and smiled gently, saying, “If I’m not wrong, you are called Gu Zhujian. Am I right?”

Gu Zhujian was slightly stunned, and replied, “How do you know my name? I think I saw you in the last tournament.”

“I am Dai Yueheng.” Dai Yueheng introduced himself. He did not believe that the other party did not recognize him. As the team leader of the preparatory team of Shrek Academy the last time round, he had been a focal point for many of them.

Gu Zhujian squeezed out a slight laugh from his shriveled cheeks and said, “I hope to learn new things through this competition with Shrek Academy.”

“Your wish will be granted,” Dai Yueheng replied.

Gu Zhujian’s eyes flashed with a cold radiance. He only laughed without replying to Dai Yueheng. The other participants of Dou Ling’s team were also very confident. It seemed as if they were pretty sure of defeating Shrek Academy.

“Both parties, please step back and prepare for the start of the match.” The referee today looked to be around 60 years old. But he seemed to be much more composed compared to the previous referee. His cultivation also appeared to be greater. With him at the center, both parties seemed to have been separated by a barrier.

Huo Yuhao’s mind quickly thought over the descriptions of the 7 participants on the opposing team that Wang Yan had related to them.

The team leader of Dou Ling’s team was Gu Zhujian. His martial soul was the Purplebrilliant Bamboo, and he was a Rank 57 assault system soul king. As an assault system battle soul master, his fighting strength was extremely tough. The Purplebrilliant Bamboo was also very unique.

Their vice team leader was a youth who stood beside Gu Zhujian and seemed to be two sizes bigger than He Caitou. His name was Qian Yuan. His martial soul was a rare assault-type martial soul, the Terrorclaw Bear. The Terrorclaw Bear was extremely powerful, and it was equally good at offense and defense. It could be considered a top-ranked martial soul. His soul power was also Rank 53.

The core of Dou Ling’s team was a thin youth that was standing at the back. His name was Xiao Feng. His martial soul belonged in the rare spiritual-type category just like Huo Yuhao. However, his was not a body soul, but was something called the Maze Pearl. His spiritual-type martial soul was different from Huo Yuhao’s. It did not effect his opponents directly but was targeted towards the environment. It was extremely powerful, and Xiao Feng was one of the 5 soul kings. His soul power was only inferior to Gu Zhujian’s and he was a rank above Qian Yuan at Rank 54.

The three of them were the absolute core of this team. Besides them, there were two more soul kings. They were Chi Hengyu, a Rank 52 defense-type soul king, and Han Ling’er, a Rank 51 agility-type soul king. Han Ling’er was one of the 2 female members.

The remaining 2 soul ancestors were Tang Niuniu, who was an auxiliary system soul master, and Qing Feng who was a control system soul master. The two of them each had their own special traits. The powers of their entire team were very strong, and were far superior to the Justsky Academy that had made a lot of trouble for Huo Yuhao and the rest.

As both parties stepped back, their formations had already started to change.

On Shrek Academy’s side of, Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng were naturally the ones in front. Behind them were Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi, who stood slightly diagonally outwards. The 4 of them formed an arc. In the center at the back, Ling Luochen was there. Behind Ling Luochen were both Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.

During the process of stepping back, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual detection sharing was already unleashed, and shrouded all of his team members. The entire stage was instantly enveloped by his spiritual detection.

Even for the strongest Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, they felt a wave of comfort and relief as they sensed the all-round detection from the spiritual detection sharing. Indeed, with such a powerful spiritual skill, they would be able to control the rhythm of the match.

On the other side, Dou Ling’s team also unleashed their formation as they stepped back. However, a scene that left Shrek Academy shocked appeared. Gu Zhujian did not appear in front of the team even though he was the team leader and an assault-type soul master. Rather, he stood in the center.

The ones who stood in front were Qian Yuan, the Terrorclaw Bear, and Chi Hengyu, the Giant Vajra Shield.

Han Ling’er, the agility-type soul king, concealed herself a short distance behind the both of them. The two control system battle soul masters stood at either two side of her, protecting Gu Zhujian in the center, as well as Tang Niuniu, the auxiliary-type soul master.

This formation was very weird. The assault system battle soul master actually stood at the position that the control system soul master should be standing in. What were they trying to achieve?

In the face of such a situation, the reaction of Shrek Academy was to do nothing. They only watched their opponents carefully.

Seeing that both parties were already in position, the referee gestured to the team leaders of both parties and shouted, “Match start!” Before he even finished speaking, the referee quickly left the center of the stage. No one knew if he was fearful of the freezing effect that Ling Luochen had exhibited in Shrek’s last match.

The soul masters of both parties unleashed their martial souls at the first instant. Ling Luochen did not carry out an ultimate move like she did in the last round. She only summoned her own ice staff. Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong worked well with each other to support her. The adhesive effect of his ultimate ice was on display now.

Thick phoenix flames rose instantly on Ma Xiaotao’s body. She could not hold it any longer. Even though Wang Yan had instructed her to conceal her true abilities, how could she listen to him? Two yellow, two purple and two black soul rings – a total of six soul rings - were unleashed. Along with the burning phoenix flames, her might was shown.

However, since Huo Yuhao had shown to everyone that not everything that they saw was the truth, no-one did not believe that a soul emperor had appeared even though they were stunned.

Dai Yueheng also exuded the aura of a soul emperor. As he roared, the White Tiger possessed his body, and his entire body swelled up. His aura was not lacking either. The 2 soul emperors of Shrek Academy’s official team had finally appeared on the competition stage of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament for the first time.

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