It took him a couple of hours, with an hour or so dedicated to self-recovery, to repair the training room.
As for the broken training equipment, that would be covered by the academy's budget. Wang Yan had mentioned that the training facilities and meals were provided by the academy's funds. Huo Yuhao chuckled to himself, knowing Teacher Wang Yan might not be too thrilled about the extra expense.
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened as the memories of the shadow clone that had analyzed the auction soul tool schematics and watched over his friends' match flowed into his mind.
'Phew. They won the match,' Huo Yuhao breathed a sigh of relief and his expression softened at the memories of how his friends won the match.
It was a grand victory. Ma Xiaotao singlehandedly won the first 2v2 match even against the enemy leader while Tang Ya was a baddie as well as she quickly overwhelmed her opponents in the second match. There wasn't even a third match.
They dominated the robin-round once more.
The group had returned a couple hours ago and his shadow clone dissipated after excusing himself to the restroom.
After ensuring everything was back in order, Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and dissipated the twelve shadow clones in the training room.
"It isn't as easy as I thought it'd be," Huo Yuhao groaned at the sudden influx of memories and experiences from the clones. The overwhelming rush of information made his head throb, but he quickly sorted through the new knowledge, feeling a sense of accomplishment despite the strain.
"At least the training was productive," he muttered, rubbing his temples. The efforts of his clones had significantly advanced his mastery of various techniques and jutsus, making the exhausting process worthwhile.
With the training session completed, he decided to head back to his room and celebrate with his team's success.
Several days passed peacefully and although they went through four more matches in the round-robin; it wasn't anything to take note of, as Ma Xiaotao and the rest easily took them down.
And so, Huo Yuhao decided to pass the time by training and sparring with his teammates.
"Wind Style: Breakthrough!"
Wind whistled sharply through the training room as Xiao Xiao executed the technique, her hand releasing a powerful gust of wind that ripped through the air with precision.
Huo Yuhao figure blurred, using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to dodge the incoming gust of wind effortlessly. Multiple afterimages of himself appeared.
Xiao Xiao slightly widened her eyes and turned around, swinging her Giant Folding Fan(War Fan) to the side and blocked Huo Yuhao's punch.
Four out of nine dark stars in Xiao Xiao's War Fan lit up brilliantly.
"Hoh. Looks like it managed to correctly calculate the amount of strength I put out," Huo Yuhao mumbled.
"Don't you..." Xiao Xiao gritted her teeth and three soul rings; yellow, yellow and purple arose underneath her feet. The aura of the thousand year old soul ring spread out and a huge blueish-white cauldron appeared behind Huo Yuhao.
"Underestimate me!"
The Threelives Soulcrush Cauldron had changed, looking like it was carved from a huge diamond, its reflective layer was blinding as it separated into its three smaller forms.
Diamond Cauldron, that was the name of Xiao Xiao's third soul skill from the 2,000 year old Diamond Baboon. Although the name sounded simplistic, the skill is incredibly terrifying.
The cauldron takes on the characteristics of a Diamond Baboon's physical durability, making the cauldron extremely hard and durable, to the point that even a full-on attack from a peak Soul Ancestor could barely dent it.
'Got you!'
"Wind Style: Sickle Weasel Jutsu!" Xiao Xiao smirked as she pulled back the War Fan and swung it, causing a powerful gust of wind to be blown point-blank at Huo Yuhao.
"Hmph!" Huo Yuhao crossed his arms as he was knocked away from the wind and straight towards the three diamond cauldrons. He was soon carried into the air, surrounded by diamond cauldrons and sharp wind blades constantly hitting his body.
He was caught tight in between the three diamond cauldrons while suspended in a tornado. Despite the seemingly terrifying experience, Huo Yuhao looked relaxed.
'Unbelievable. To think her proficiency in Wind Style is this good....If it weren't for my Shadow Clones, Xiao Xiao would've overtaken me in terms of Wind Style mastery.'
The reason why he was so casual was because his body could take the crushing damage of the cauldrons and heal the cuts before blood could be spilled.
The effects Life Gold had towards his body was truly Godly, without using the Eight Inner Gates, his physical strength was at the level of a Soul Emperor and his vitality could put even a Titled Douluo and even some soul beasts to shame.
"Xiao Xiao, impressive." Huo Yuhao smirked, as he looked down upon Xiao Xiao. "However, you are still too green!"
"Wha—" Xiao Xiao's eyes widened in shock as the Huo Yuhao trapped in the tornado and between three diamond cauldrons.... crumbled like rocks.
'Rock clone jutsu?!' It was too late for her to realize that when a hand was poised at her neck—Huo Yuhao stood behind her with a playful grin on his face.
"....When?" Xiao Xiao asked, completely resigned.
Huo Yuhao hummed, "A Shinobi never tells~"
"Aaah, no fair!"
Huo Yuhao rubbed her head and looked around the training room, finding the rest of his friends training. "Anyone else up for a spar?"
"Me!"
"No, pick me!"
"Junior brother, pick me!"
Everyone quickly stopped what they were doing and started raising their hands.
And so, for the rest of the day Huo Yuhao sparred with his friends.
Later in the afternoon, Wang Yan called for them into the meeting room.
"The pairing for the elimination round is out," Wang Yan said in a deep voice. He had just returned from the Star Luo Empire's palace, where he had drawn lots.
To make the tournament more interesting, the tournament format will change slightly from previous matches. The elimination rounds won't be decided using lot-drawing as per previous matches. Each match will be held over two days, and both a team battle and an individual knockout round will be held.
Winning the team fight doesn't mean that a team can definitely proceed to the next round; if you can defeat all seven of your opponents using only three members, you'll be able to overturn the outcome of the team match. On the other hand, the team that wins the team fight can guarantee their advance into the next stage by defeating three of their opponents using seven team members.
For example, if a team loses in the team fight, they might be able to win the elimination round by defeating all seven of their opponents in the individual match.
"So, who did we get this time, teacher Wang Yan?" Ma Xiaotao asked.
Wang Yan had a grim look on his face as said in a solemn voice,
"For the Round of 16, our opponent is a familiar one. They are the premier academy from the Dou Ling Empire, the Dou Ling Imperial Soul Academy."
When they heard the name 'Dou Ling Imperial Soul Academy', the faces of Ma Xiaotao, Ling Luochen, and Xi Xi changed.
Unbeknownst to all, Xu Sanshi's eyes flickered with a strange expression.
Ma Xiaotao clicked her tongue and crossed her arms, "To think we'd fight them early on."
"How powerful is the Dou Ling Imperial Soul Academy?" Xiao Xiao curiously asked.
Ma Xiaotao said, "They were in the top four in the previous tournament, that's how powerful they are. They are much stronger than the Justsky Academy who we fought earlier on."
"Teacher Wang, how powerful are the members of their delegation this time?"
Wang Yan then says, "The Dou Ling Imperial Soul Academy's official team is composed of five Soul Kings and two Soul Ancestors. They are powerful indeed. Furthermore, they are not inflexible in their approach. While they are an advanced soul academy, they are also the premier soul engineering academy in their empire."
"Every single one of their members possesses a soul tool, and they are able to wield them efficiently in battle. At least two of them are soul engineers, which means that they are Soul Kings with soul tools."
"They're...going to be a tough opponent." Ma Xiaotao muttered.
"Wait, why are they our opponents? We place first in the round, Dou Ling Imperial Soul Academy shouldve done the same as well. Aren't the number one teams supposed to only get the second place teams in the round of 16?" Xi Xi asked suspiciously.
"Did they....deliberately give up on getting a winning streak as to fight us in the elimination round?" Bei Bei said.
Wang Yan shook his head, "It might be deliberate or it might not, we'll figure it out tomorrow."
Just as they were about to decide on the lineup for tomorrow's match, someone suddenly knocked on the door to the conference room.
Wang Yan furrowed his brows and yelled, "Didn't we tell the service staff to not disturb us?"
A pleasant, female voice rang out from outside the door. "Sorry for the interruption. I'm not a member of the service staff; I've come from the Starlight Auction."
The Starlight Auction? Wang Yan and the rest were momentarily stunned, especially when they heard the familiar voice.
Huo Yuhao made a strange expression, thinking, 'Don't tell me they're coming for the Soul-Devouring Knife?'
If they were, there's going to be a fight. Life Gold is something at the level of the Ice God Bone, a quasi divine item! Like hell he was going to be forced to return it.
A woman wearing a black cheongsam was standing outside the door. Being in her late twenties, she possessed a mature charm and an occasional air of youth.
Huo Yuhao and the rest all recognised her; she was the auctioneer who had held the auction they'd participated in that day, Qing Ya.
Qing Ya lightly smiled at them and respectfully bowed, "Good evening, everyone. I have to apologise for taking the liberty to disturb you."
Wang Yan's gaze softened somewhat as he saw that the intruder was Qing Ya. "Do you have something for us, auctioneer Qing Ya? Also, how did you find us here?"
Qing Ya lightly giggled, "Mr. Wang must be kidding around, Shrek Academy is the most well known academy in the world. Almost everyone knows you guys settle in Star Luo Grand Hotel, and after making a few inquiries, I was able to find where you were."
"Eh..." Wang Yan froze, realizing that she wasn't wrong. Being so high profile, how could they expect much secrecy from others?
He coughed and asked, "I....see, uh, well, what brings auctioneer Qing Ya to us on this fine evening?"
"Smooth," Ma Xiaotao snickered at the side, the others stifling their laughter. Wang Yan glared at them.
Qing Ya smiled and said, "Our Starlight Auction is hosting a top-ranked auction tonight, and an auction like this will only be held once or twice a year. Only our most respected honorable guests receive an invitation from us to attend."
She looked apologetic as she continued, "Last time, we didn't know that you came from the continent's number one academy—thus we mistakenly neglected you."
She then brought out an invitation card from....somewhere, and said. "Our auction's boss has asked me to deliver this invitation card to you. If all of you have some free time tonight, you are welcome to participate in our auction. I believe that there will definitely be a few interesting things at tonight's auction."
She placed an invitation card on the table. Then, she held her smile as she bowed and said, "Then, I won't disturb all of you anymore. Once again, I apologise." With that, she slowly moved backwards and closed the door after her.
Wang Yan squinted his eyes as he picked up the beautiful, golden invitation letter, "Well? What do you guys think?" he asked his students.
Huo Yuhao grinned, "You seriously need to ask, Teacher Wang Yan?" The others shared his excitement and enthusiasm.
Considering the gains they got from a Grade 4 auction, the second lowest-ranked auction, then what are they going to get in a high ranking auction?
Huo Yuhao was especially excited. He didn't understand why, but something deep inside him told him that there was a great fortune waiting for him there.
Unseen by all, Huo Yuhao's forehead momentarily revealed a trembling slit as well as the appearance of the tattoo seals on his left arm....before disappearing.
The gears of fate and destiny begin to unravel once more.
...
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