Chapter 107.2: The Semifinals Lineup!

Book 13: Life Gold

Wang Yan said, “However, the Imperial Mystical Academy from the Heavenly Soul Empire is also our rival. Only us, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, and the Imperial Mystical Academy have soul emperors amongst everyone in the tournament. The Imperial Mystical Academy is the royal academy of the Heavenly Soul Empire. All the royal members of the empire will enter the academy to learn. Their lineup for this tournament is very strong: 1 soul emperor and 6 soul kings. However, soul masters are their main force. Their soul engineers will provide support to their soul masters. Among their 7 official team members, 2 of their soul kings are soul engineers. From my observations, they shouldn’t even be Class 5 soul engineers, and are instead most likely Class 4 like He Caitou.”

“Our last opponent is the Star Luo National Academy from the Star Luo Empire. Among these 3 rivals, the Star Luo National Academy is the weakest. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the easiest to deal with. This is the Star Luo Empire, their home turf. Furthermore, the overall power of the Star Luo National Academy isn’t that weak either. Although they don’t have a soul emperor to hold down the fort, they still have up to 6 soul kings. Things have gone smoothly for them so far, or at least, they’re finding it smoother than us.”

“The last 2 rounds will be very tedious for us. Even though we have two soul emperors—Xiaotao and Yueheng—our rivals still possess a greater overall strength in numbers. Their overall abilities aren’t inferior to ours. The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy and Imperial Mystical Academy are even somewhat superior to us in terms of overall abilities. The only we’ll become champions is by giving it our all. It’s like the first time we faced Justsky Academy.”

Wang Yan didn’t sound relaxed at all. Everyone from Shrek Academy also felt heavy in their hearts.

Indeed! Even though they had two soul emperors and Ling Luochen, who was a control-type soul king, their preparatory team members were still much weaker than their rivals.

Among their 4 soul ancestors, Xu Sanshi’s soul power was only Rank 47. The rest were even worse. As for the last 3, Wang Dong was only a soul elder, Xiao Xiao had barely become a soul elder, and Huo Yuhao was only a soul grandmaster. While they all had twin martial souls, their cultivations were still very weak! How much could they truly contribute in the top-ranked team competition of the tournament?

According to Wang Yan’s arrangements in the previous round, it was more likely that Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong wouldn’t participate in the team battle. Even if the two of them were sent out together, it would still pull Shrek Academy’s overall power down. Although Huo Yuhao’s soul skill was very practical, and the Golden Road was a rather decent crowd-control skill, could their powers be fully unleashed against tough opponents? This was also under the circumstance that their opponents were entirely unaware of their capabilities.

Wang Yan swept his gaze from left to right. He naturally realized that not everyone was fully confident. He gently said, “I didn’t expect us to become the champions ever since the day we came to Star Luo City, as we’re not champion material. I’m already extremely satisfied that we’ve made it this far. All of your hard work is clear for everyone to see. All of you have already preserved Shrek’s glory, thus I hope that all of you won’t be pressured in the upcoming competition. Whatever the result, I will ask for all of you to receive merits when we return.”

Wang Yan’s words sounded normal to Huo Yuhao and the rest of the preparatory team members, as they had indeed sacrificed quite a lot. However, his words sounded a bit piercing to Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, and Ling Luochen.

As official team members, they faced a worse predicament than the preparatory team members in this tournament. Even though Wang Yan’s words had pricked them, they didn’t know how to reply.

Wang Yan seemed relaxed as he spoke; it was as if he didn’t notice the burning radiance in Ma Xiaotao and the other two’s eyes. “Our mission has already been completed. I shall describe our opponents now. We’ll analyze the capabilities of each team member before deciding our strategies. We’ll adjust who competes accordingly.”

This pre-competition meeting went on for nearly 6 hours, all the way from lunch through dinner until the sun set.

Shrek Academy wasn’t the only anxious one. The other 3 were also anxious. The overall victor of the tournament was about to be decided. This wasn’t only a battle of glory between these 4 top-ranked academies, but was also the most crucial battle for the competing team members.

It must be known that the members of the top teams would receive the most distinguished treatment no matter which power they joined. If they were to assume positions in an empire, they would be conferred titles, and this glory would accompany them throughout their entire lives! It was fair to say that the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament had become a platform for the various empires in the continent to pick and fight for the best talents.

If not for the prestigious status that Shrek Academy held, many powers, families, and even sects would have poached their students already.

Huo Yuhao felt that his body was extremely stiff as he walked out of the meeting room. Spending the entire afternoon memorizing the capabilities and strategies of his opponents was indeed very dull and boring. He would rather run in metal clothing than do this.

After stretching his lazy body, Huo Yuhao felt much better. As his blood began to circulate more smoothly throughout his body, the fatigue he’d felt earlier disappeared. The prosperous life power in his body seemed to have been awakened by this simple action.

“Junior brother, go and get some food.” Bei Bei patted him on the shoulder.

“Okay.” Huo Yuhao answered hurriedly.

“Eldest senior brother, do you think we can become the champions in the end?” Huo Yuhao asked softly. While Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng appeared to be the most powerful among them, Huo Yuhao was the most convinced by his gentle-looking and refined, yet intelligent and approachable eldest senior brother.

Bei Bei smiled and said, “What? Are you unconfident?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “It’s not that I’m not confident. I just think that our opponents are extremely strong now that I’ve heard Teacher Wang Yan’s analysis!”

Bei Bei laughed. “That’s right, our opponents are very strong. Their teams are almost entirely made up of at least soul kings. But I’m confident that we’ll be the champions in the end.”

“Eh?” Huo Yuhao was a little stunned as he looked at him.

Bei Bei retracted his smile a little and said gently, “Confidence stems from one’s own abilities. Shrek Academy was able to become the best academy on the continent because the academy has never once been hasty. Every single person that was sent to participate in this tournament has achieved our skills through our own hard work. That’s why Shrek Academy’s soul elders and soul ancestors are different from those of other academies. Our soul kings are even more different. At the soul emperor level, the gap is even larger. Maybe our opponents can use soul tools or some strategies and tactics to close this gap, but if our true abilities can be sparked by our fighting will, and if we can light the fire of glory for Shrek, we’ll win for sure.”

Everyone was walking out of the meeting room sequentially when Bei Bei said this, and as he didn’t lower his voice, they all heard what he’d said.

Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, and Ling Luochen’s expressions changed. The look in their eyes as they watched Bei Bei also changed slightly.

Huo Yuhao nodded, then asked curiously, “Eldest senior brother, what do you mean by destructive enthusiasm?”

Bei Bei chuckled and replied, “Do you think there are really so many talents in the world that are able to become a soul king before they’re 20 years old? Our Shrek Academy nurtures such students through a teaching model that has been built up over tens of thousands of years, as well as the extremely hard work of the talented students. Perhaps other academies can nurture a few such students, but have you ever wondered how those soul engineers with ordinary martial souls are able to do it?”

“I dare say that those from Shrek Academy will all have the ability to become a Titled Douluo so long as they’re able to survive in the outside world. However, it’s much less likely for people from other academies who’ve competed against them in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. That’s because a lot of the increase in their powers isn’t attributed to their own hard work.”

“Haven’t you ever realized that the most outstanding teams all come from the royal families of various empires, or are the best academies of the different empires? I’m sure that at least half of those who are competing used different types of pills and treasures to increase their cultivation. Especially the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy from the Sun Moon Empire, which is very wealthy! You’ve also seen the soul tools from the Illustrious Virtue Hall before.”

Huo Yuhao immediately understood. “So their powers were enhanced through medicine.”

Bei Bei nodded his head and said, “It’s undeniable that several medicines are beneficial to soul masters. However, moderation is key. A lot of medicines possess poisonous components too. Apart from a select few medicines that can solidify one’s foundations, it’s best to consume medicine that increases one’s soul power as little as possible. Ask Senior Ma and Senior Dai; they’ll tell you that Shrek Academy has banned our students from consuming such medicine. That’s because this form of cultivation method has no future. If one over-consumes these medicines, even by just a little bit, it can make it so that one will never be able to become a Titled Douluo.”

Ma Xiaotao’s voice suddenly rang out, “Junior Bei Bei, you know quite a bit. How do you know so much about the inner courtyard even though you’re from the outer courtyard?”

Bei Bei turned around and smiled at Ma Xiaotao, “Senior, I can’t tell you.”

Ma Xiaotao was stunned for a moment. “Why can’t you tell me? Tell me.”

Do you want to read up to 20 unreleased chapters? Support UTS on Patreon!