It took a full hour for the spectators to enter the arena; there were simply too many people.
The originally-empty Star Luo Plaza was now packed with people. Fortunately, the place didn't seem too chaotic due to the iron fences partitioning it, in addition to the army maintaining order.
'.... I should've gotten something to eat first,' Huo Yuhao silently swallowed and inwardly sighed. He could only blame himself for his current situation. He thought the tournament would start immediately after they arrived, but now he had to endure the long wait with an empty stomach.
The reason as to why he had been in a coma was because the awakening of his Mangekyou Sharingan did more than just change his eyes, it had... transformed his body and mind; the meridians in his body became more robust and his spiritual power more 'refined'. Although his cultivation hadn't increased, his potential had.
His control over his abilities and spiritual power was now on a whole new level, granting him deeper insight and greater precision in his actions. This transformation was both a boon and a challenge, as he had to quickly adapt to the changes in his body and mind.
"Silence!"
A loud voice suddenly spread throughout the entire field, snapping Huo Yuhao out of his thoughts. After hearing this voice, every soldier in the army stood perfectly straight and raised the lances in their hands.
Immediately, as the solemn voice covered the entire field, the originally-clamorous Star Luo Plaza promptly went silent.
"His Majesty, the Emperor, arrives!"
With a crash, the populace immediately knelt down in large numbers. Several hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously made the same, orderly movements, creating a truly spectacular scene.
The soldiers only knelt down on one knee, but the participating academies had been given special permission to not kneel. However, they had to give a ninety-degree bow to show their respect to the emperor.
"Subjects, you may rise." The voice of the Star Luo Empire's Emperor was magnified with a loudspeaker-type soul tool. Only then did the populace get to their feet, and the participating students subsequently straightened their backs. The gazes of everyone present were cast towards the top of the imperial capital's walls.
"The Continental Advanced Academy Soul Dueling Tournament is the most important occasion in our Douluo Continent. This time, it's our Star Luo Empire's turn to host it, and I'm very happy. Now, on behalf of the Star Luo Empire, I welcome each and every academy who has travelled far to come here. I wish that you'll be able to reveal the elegance you should have in the tournament one month from now."
"Thank you, your majesty." The leaders and students from the hundred and thirty-three academies bowed again.
The Star Luo Emperor nodded and smiled slightly in their direction.
"Okay, I now announce that the Continental Advanced Academy Soul Dueling Tournament has formally begun!" The Star Luo Emperor's loud declaration opened the curtains to this grand occasion.
"Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!" The masses all cheered in chorus. The atmosphere in the plaza seemed to have been aroused instantly.
Bang*! Bang*! Bang*! Bang*!
Sounds of gunfire and fireworks rang out from the city walls and rang out a hundred and eight times before stopping. Star Luo Plaza had already transformed into an ocean of excitement and cheers.
The Star Luo Emperor retreated slightly with his generals, then took a seat alongside the empress in a chair that was already prepared for him. He waved towards the prime minister beside him, who then obeyed his command and ordered a subordinate to start the tournament.
"Now, the first match will begin. The first team consists of the participants from the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy, while the other is the continent's number one academy, the academy that has countless feats of glory to its name, the academy that has won every single tournament for the past thousand years, Shrek Academy!"
Following the announcer's declaration, the atmosphere in Star Luo Plaza immediately reached its boiling point.
"Shrek! Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!"
The ten outer courtyard students were left staring blankly as they watched the scene unfurling in front of them. This was the first time they'd seen something like this, and some of their faces were somewhat pale for a brief moment. This was a crowd of several hundreds of thousands! If they were to lose this match, leading to Shrek Academy's disqualification, they simply couldn't imagine what would happen.
"Everyone, don't panic. This is the glory that belongs to our Shrek Academy, and also the glory that will soon belong to you. During the last tournament, we too faced a scene like this. I can tell you that our opponents will definitely be ten times more nervous and panicked than us, because we're Shrek Academy." Ma Xiaotao's voice rang out in the ears of every single newcomer, calming them down.
Right at this moment, the announcer's voice rang out. "May the team members from the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy take the field."
A group of young, pale-faced students walked out from the far side of the contestant's area. As they walked out, even their footsteps were somewhat unstable.
Ma Xiaotao giggled, and turned towards Huo Yuhao and the rest, "Look, these are your opponents. Have you noticed? Some of them are shaking all over. The reputation of Shrek Academy is indeed a large responsibility and a heavy burden on you, but our glory is also one of the most effective weapons you have. Bring out your courage and strength. Shrek, bring victory."
With that, Ma Xiaotao strode towards Huo Yuhao and extended her right hand. The others then stepped forth, and fourteen right hands were placed atop each other.
Wang Yan whispered, "Huo Yuhao, you're in charge of commanding the team after we're up. You said you had a plan, let's hear it."
After he heard from Tang Ya and Xi Xi that Huo Yuhao was the one to plan the ambush on the Ghost Emperor's group, Wang Yan had developed a deep respect for the young student's strategic mind. Trusting him to lead the team wasn't a decision taken lightly.
Huo Yuhao nodded, "The plan is simple, we can't just win this match; we have to do so overwhelmingly. We have to show the glory that belongs to Shrek Academy. So, I'll be the only one to step up the stage for now."
Everyone blinked.
"What?"
Before anyone could say anything in return, the announcer's voice was heard.
"Everyone! The members of the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy have stepped up! Under the eyes of the crowd, let us now have the continent's number one academy, the true king of academies, Shrek Academy, take the field!"
Right in front of everyone's gaze, only one person walked up the stage with large confident strides. Huo Yuhao calmly strode forward before stopping, his white bandages acting as his blindfold caught people's attention.
The referee stepped forward to stop and question him, "Hey, what about the rest of your team?" He then look at his bandages and asked, "Are you even fit to fight?"
Wang Yan and the rest wanted to stop him or tried to accompany him, but they all stopped in their tracks when they heard Huo Yuhao's response to the referee in a loud voice.
"I alone am enough."
The referee look at him in disbelief and he turned towards Wang Yan in question. Wang Yan opened his mouth, a hesitant look on his face and a flash of determination across his eyes, and he nodded.
"We'll only be sending him, that shouldn't be a problem, is it?"
The referee furrowed his brows. There had been a rule to ban individuals from participating alone in group battles due to safety reasons and ensuring fair play. However, it wasn't explicitly forbidden as long as the team had no intention of dropping out or helping the other team in advancing the next round.
This was Shrek Academy after all! Why would they drop out like this and be shamed, or even help out a relatively unknown academy?
This was either they had became stupidly arrogant or.... the person they sent out was incredibly strong that he can easily handle a whole team by himself! Realizing this made him take a nervous glance at the boy, as he just notice that he couldn't read him.
'Just who is this?' He thought to himself, getting a bad feeling.
"Very well, we will proceed with the match," the referee said, casting one last scrutinizing glance at Huo Yuhao. "Remember, dropping out voluntarily is not allowed once the match begins."
Huo Yuhao nodded.
Everyone that was watching were dumbfounded. Was Shrek only sending out only one person? Weren't they being too arrogant?! Regardless of how strong they were, would they be able to beat a team of soul masters who were near twenty years old with a single person that looked at least sixteen years old?
The Star Luo Emperor also had a stunned look on his face. He asked doubtfully, "Just what is Shrek Academy doing? Why are they only sending out one person? Empress, do you have any information about who this person might be?"
The Empress narrowed her eyes and replied, "Please wait a moment, Emperor. I will have to inquire further." She signaled one of her attendants, who quickly left to gather information on the mysterious lone participant.
However, a competition was a competition. No matter how doubtful they were, the competition still had to go on.
The referee sent by the Star Luo Empire had already taken his position. He motioned for both parties to step forward.
The Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy's team was visibly uneasy. The sight of a single opponent initially caused them to be offended and angered that, are they looking down on them? Although they weren't known as the rest of the academies that doesn't they had the right to humiliate them like this.
But then, seeing Huo Yuhao's calm demeanor and the resolute stance from Shrek Academy began to unsettle them. Shrek Academy was completely deserving of its nickname of an academy for monsters. Just what were they trying to do?
They were fighting against only one person, yet, Shrek Academy's reputation was a powerful weapon. As they stared at Huo Yuhao, standing alone with unwavering confidence, the students from the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy felt cold sweat perspiring down their faces.
"The first round of the knockout round is a team fight." The referee said solemnly, "Both parties can use a large majority of their soul tools during the fight. However, if one party admits defeat during the course of the fight, the other party cannot continue attacking. Soul engineers cannot use stationary soul tools which have a high degree of killing power. Do you understand?"
"Understood."
The leader of the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy's team took the initiative to respond, Huo Yuhao merely nodded.
The referee nodded, "Good. Both parties, move back to your corners. Once I give the command, the battle will start. Before I announce the start of this match, you are not allowed to release any martial souls. Otherwise, you will be punished."
Both parties started to slowly widen the distance between them.
Huo Yuhao merely stood by his lonesome, hands in his pockets.
Over on the other side, the Tian Ling Empire were taking a very defensive formation.
The referee who stood at the center of the arena slowly raised his right hand.
At this moment, the Star Luo Plaza filled with several hundreds of thousands of people instantly quieted down. Every single spectator was staring at the spacious stage with their eyes wide.
This was the first round of the tournament, as well as the first knockout round. Moreover, it was a match that had the continent's number one academy participating! Especially since it was 1v7! This was a situation that the team with one person participating was intending to drop out.
'Yuhao, please win!' Wang Yan and the others prayed, clenching their hands in anticipation.
Everyone watched with bated breaths.
The referee glanced at both teams and swung down his right hand, shouting, "Match, start!"
Following the referee's shout, both parties simultaneously released their martial souls.
The seven from the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy couldn't be considered weak at all; their soul rings were mainly comprised of yellow and purple ones, and flashed with dazzling light. Of the seven, five of them had four soul rings, while the other two had three soul rings.
The four soul rings of the youth who led the pack flickered dazzlingly. Clearly, he had already reached the later stages of the Soul Ancestor rank. Reaching a stage like this at the mere age of twenty was relatively decent.
However, simply nobody would pay attention to the state of the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy at this moment. All of the spectators were focused on Huo Yuhao, who was taking large strides forward.
At this exact moment, an indescribable yet terrifying aura impressively appeared on the huge stage.
Huo Yuhao's bandages slowly unravel, showing a pair of strange blood-colored eyes with golden pupils that took on the shape of a bloomed lotus flower.
In that instant, a dark-blue colored light lit up the entire tournament stage. A large translucent blue skeleton with only its upper body appeared over Huo Yuhao's figure; it had a spinal cord, ribcage and a pair of curved horns on its skull, it glowed with a dark-blue aura that causes the area around him to instantly freeze.
This devil-like manifestation was awe-inspiring, casting a profound sense of pressure across the arena.
"W-Wait, his soul rings!" An observant spectator exclaimed and everyone looked closer and saw something unbelievable.
White, black, black, black, red.... The black soul rings were already unbelievable but, red? What did that represent? It represented the pinnacle of soul rings, a terrifying level of power. It represented... a hundred thousand year old soul ring!
How was that possible?!
While everyone watched in disbelief, Huo Yuhao raised his right arm, and the skeleton over him followed his movement and a magnificent ice crystal sword appeared in its hand.
His intention was obvious, but the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy students were unresponsive. Their faces were pale and legs trembling in terror; they looked at the skeleton's eyes and all they saw was...
Death.
Huo Yuhao didn't say anything and swiped his hand to the side, the skeleton's movements followed it, swinging the ice crystal sword in a wide arc towards the Tian Ling Advanced Soul Academy's team; sending out a wave of ice and frost.
In an instant, the battlefield transformed. The air around Huo Yuhao crackled with frost as the ice sword cleaved through the air, leaving a trail of freezing mist in its wake.
The Tian Ling Academy students, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of Huo Yuhao's formidable spirit, were momentarily paralyzed with fear.
"Shit!" The referee cursed under his breath and appeared near the Tian Ling Academy students, ready to intervene if the situation got out of hand.
The leader of the Tian Ling Academy students snapped out of his daze and quickly yelled, "We admit defeat! Referee, save us!" They quickly turned around and started running out of the stage.
When they left, the wave of frost dissipated into the air, leaving behind a chilling silence. Huo Yuhao stood alone on the stage, his aura still resonating with power as the crowd remained stunned by the swift and overwhelming display.
The referee, dumbstruck, raised his hand and declared, "The match is over! Shrek Academy's team wins by default!"
.....
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