"Cough, cough…" Xu Sanshi started to cough as he was almost choked by the smoke.
He Caitou snorted and said, "I had specifically told everyone that I didn't want to talk about it, but you guys still forced me too. Additionally, all of you said you wouldn't laugh, but none of you kept your promise."
Everyone stopped laughing with great difficulty. They had laughed so hard that even their bellies had begun to hurt, especially Ma Xiaotao. At first, she thought that He Caitou was cursing her, but who would have thought that it was just his soul incantation.
"He Caitou, tell me this! What category does your martial soul belong to?" Ma Xiaotao asked while trying to hold back her laughter. After asking her question, she couldn't bear it anymore and started to laugh again.
He Caitou was indignant and replied angrily, "You're a senior student from the inner courtyard, and despite that, you don't even know such basic information? Only food-type martial souls need a soul incantation to appear. Therefore, I'm a food-type soul master."
Just as He Caitou was explaining things, Xu Sanshi cried out in surprise. He took the thick cigar out of his mouth. Next, to everyone's surprise, he brought it to his mouth again and took a deep breath, exhaling a mouthful of smoke afterward. The meeting room was immediately filled with the smell of tobacco.
"This thing is not bad! My mind has become clearer after just smoking it twice, it feels really pleasant.
The nearby Bei Bei laughed as she interjected, "Sure! Holding Caitou's thick cigar in your mouth must surely feel good, right?"
Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao weren't too clear about the meaning of her remark, but everyone else burst out laughing. Xu Sanshi's face immediately turned red and the nearby Jiang Nannan lowered her head; her face even redder than Xu Sanshi's.
Xu Sanshi stomped furiously towards Bei Bei and tried to push the cigar into his mouth, "Since you keep repeatedly talking about me, you should also get a taste of it before speaking!"
But Bei Bei wasn't planning to open her mouth even if the alternative was death and so, he struggled with all his might. As the two of them were evenly matched in strength Xu Sanshi had no way to pin him down.
Wang Yan also stopped laughing with great difficulty and said, "Alright. Don't be noisy. Caitou, what're the effects of your food-type martial soul?"
He Caitou snorted coldly and didn't respond.
Wang Yan laughed and said, "Fine. I promise that no one will laugh at you, but you can't blame us either. Your soul incantation was just too strange, we couldn't help but laugh! Anyway, you should tell us. It might be important when fighting our enemies tomorrow."
He Caitou replied somewhat unwillingly. "The one I used just now was my first soul skill. It's called Mind Stimulating Thick Cigar. Each cigar can stay lit for around twenty minutes. When smoked, it will strengthen both the user's mind and spiritual power. This type of soul skill is rather fitting for someone like Yuhao. If he smokes the cigar, I can assure that his spiritual-type soul skills will experience an amplification of at least 10%."
After hearing his explanation, all the smiling people in the room looked at each other in dismay. Their smiling expressions disappeared and were slowly replaced with shock.
Wang Yan was the most surprised. "It can strengthen spiritual-type soul skills? And it can amplify his skills by at least 10%?"
He Caitou nodded and said, "Yes. Isn't it quite normal for food-type soul masters? However, in the end, we are not as good as auxiliary-type soul masters. I've heard that there is a member of the Nine Treasures Clan in the second year whose soul skills have an astonishing level of amplification."
Wang Yan said, "Granted, but she needs to continuously consume soul power to maintain the effect. On the other hand, you don't have to expend any additional soul power after creating the cigar. And on top of that, food-type soul skills require the least amount of soul power. As if that wasn't enough, won't your soul skill also get stronger as your cultivation progresses?"
He Caitou thought about it for a bit and said, "That's true. My consumption of soul power isn't high. However, since I usually use most of my soul power on soul tools, I have never paid much attention to this useless amplification skill. The main use of my soul rings is to increase the rank of my soul power, and between my four soul skills, the only one I use regularly is the first one. And that's only because it has the ability to increase my accuracy when using soul tools. Since the other three aren't of any use to me, all I have is a vague idea about their effects."
Wang Yan looked at the crowd and asked in a grave tone, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Dai Yueheng replied, "It seems the Martial Soul Department has missed out on a very talented food-type soul master."
Wang Yan nodded in agreement. "Exactly"
"Ah?" He Caitou was bewilderedstartled, "Are you talking about me?"
Wang Yan smiled bitterly, "Who else could we be talking about? Caitou, you're aware that there was a food-type soul master among the first generation of Shrek's Seven Monsters, right? His martial soul was a sausage, and now that I think about it, he was similar to you in many ways. His soul incantation was also very funny. But in the end, he still managed to become a powerhouse and marry the successor of the Nine Treasures Clan. At that time, he also strengthened Ancestor Rong Rong's Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda and turned it into the Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda. You have to understand that food-type soul masters are in no way useless. If we consider Bei Bei as the leader of the group, and Huo Yuhao as its future brain, then you are the crucial backbone of the team with your food-type martial soul."
He Caitou looked at Wang Yan in disbelief. Up till now, he had believed that his martial soul was completely useless aside from the times he was practicing. Even Fan Yu didn't pay too much attention to his martial soul once he discovered that it was a food-type one and only trained him in the field of soul tools. In addition, that soul incantation was quite weird and was prone to causing misunderstandings. Therefore, he didn't use his martial skills too much. Today, or rather, now that Wang Yang had revealed the mystery of his martial skills, he discovered that even he could become a powerful soul master.
At this moment, He Caitou had the feeling that the Heavens were laughing at him. His brain went blank, and he didn't know what to say.
"No need to doubt your own abilities," Wang Yan said, "Once I'm done explaining things, everything will become clear. Do you know which type of soul master is the most demanded by an army? It's precisely a food-type soul master. What you've heard is correct. It's not the assault-type, defense-type, agility-type, control-type, nor the auxiliary-type, but it's the rarely seen and harmless food-type soul master."
"Why?" Wang Yan asked rhetorically, then answered his own question. "That's because a food-type soul master can act as backline support for an army, and can even increase the overall strength of the troops. If you're a battle soul master, the army can either look at you and act as spectators, or work as cannon fodder. But if you're a food-type tool soul master, you can integrate with the soldiers. For example, this thick cigar can increase spiritual power by 10%. If we compare it to an auxiliary-type soul skill, it is indeed not worth mentioning. However, you're considered a talent amongst talents if we're talking about food-type soul masters!"
"I-I don't understand," He Caitou replied, startled.
Wang Yan said, "Let me ask you this. Given sufficient time, how many cigars can you create with your current level of soul power?"
He Caitou replied, "A lot of them. At the very least a thousand, I think. However, if they are not used within two days, these cigars will expire and won't have any effect."
Wang Yan's eyebrows shot up. "Two days? You're saying that the cigars created by your soul skill can last for two days before going bad?"
He Caitou replied as if it were obvious, "Yes! However, if we compare them to normal cigars, they expire really quickly."
Wang Yan howled angrily after a moment of reflection, "Quick, your ass! Do you know that usually, the things produced by other food-type soul masters can only last for a few hours? A preservation time of more than three hours is already considered a major feat. If it can last for 12 hours, the soul master can be considered a genius. And you, who can preserve his creations for a whole 48 hours, are speaking of it as if it were something completely ordinary?! If we make full use of your abilities, your soul skill could allow an army of a thousand soldiers to increase their strength with your cigars over a period of several hours. Do you understand? And when it comes to your teammates, you can definitely provide them with one or more sets of cigars before every battle. When they smoke them during the battle, they'll receive a boost from your skill. However, you would have already recovered the soul power used to create the cigar long before the match. In other words, it'll be as though there was an additional soul master on our team."
He Caitou scratched his head and said, "Is it really that impressive? The effects of my other soul skills might be even better."
Wang Yan slammed the table and got up. "What are you waiting for? Quickly, tell us about your other three soul skills. Let's see what bomb you're going to drop this time."
At this moment, Wang Yan felt his heartbeat speed up. All this time, he had thought that the biggest shortcoming of this team was the lack of an auxiliary-type soul master. Without an auxiliary-type soul master, the team wouldn't have an opportunity to explosively increase its overall power during a match. And never would he have expected that a super talented food-type soul master like He Caitou would be hidden in plain sight. How could he remain calm after such a revelation?
Wang Yan's previous explanation had only mentioned some of the advantages of having a food-type soul master. Although auxiliary-type soul masters could amplify abilities to a larger degree, the amplification wouldn't last for too long. For a long drawn out team battle, a food-type soul master would surely be more useful than an auxiliary-type one. Despite the auxiliary-type soul master's short-term advantage, among tool soul masters, both of them had their strong points.
"This daddy has a large cigar!"
"This daddy has a long cigar!"
"This daddy has a thin cigar!"
Amidst everyone's violently twitching faces, He Caitou activated all three of his soul skills, causing three cigars to immediately appear in his hand. The form and the color were the same as the first cigar. However, all of them differed in size.
"Alright," He Caitou said in an obedient manner, "my large cigar, er, no, my second soul skill, is called the Strength Amplifying Large Cigar. I haven't used it much, so I don't know how much it can increase someone's strength by; you guys are free to test it out. As for my third soul skill, it's called the Defense Amplifying Long Cigar, and is a thousand year soul skill. Considering what level it is, I reckon that it's more effective than my first and second soul skills. Finally, my last soul skill is called the Soul Power Amplifying Thin Cigar. It has no use to me, thus I haven't used it yet."
Wang Yan forcefully swallowed a mouthful of saliva and stared wide-eyed at He Caitou. "In other words, your four cigars can strengthen spiritual power, strength, defense, and soul power? Heavens! Fan Yu, that bastard! He actually let a genius food-type soul master like you become a soul engineer? I… I really want to go beat him up now!"
"You aren���t allowed to curse at my teacher," He Caitou angrily retorted. Fan Yu's place in his heart was akin to that of a father's; even though his usual straightforwardness covered up most of things hidden in the deeper recesses of his heart, nothing could replace the respect he held for Fan Yu. Without him, he probably would've died at the hands of his assailants long ago.
"I'm sorry, I just got a bit too excited," Wang Yan hurriedly said, "however, I just couldn't help but get a bit excited over your soul skills! Come on, let's not talk about this for now. I order you to create ten of each of your cigars right now, as a trial."
"Teacher Wang, can I not partake?" Bei Bei asked bitterly.
"No way," Wang Yan resolutely replied, "every single one of you has to try them out. If you have Caitou's soul skills supporting you, your comprehensive strengths will be increased by at least 10%! Furthermore, even though his cigars can't be used simultaneously, all of you can choose one according to your specialty. Combined with the fact that these cigars are good for two days, they'll be essential tools for you guys on the battlefield."
The advantages gained from having the support of a food-type soul master were quickly revealed; if He Caitou had just been an auxiliary-type soul master, he definitely wouldn't have been able to use any of his soul skills ten times in a row like right now. However, He Caitou was able to do so for all of his soul skills easily. The conference room table was rapidly filled with a pile of cigars.
There were thick ones, thin ones, large ones, and long ones. Truly, everything that they needed was there!
Xu Sanshi smiled mischievously at Bei Bei. "Come, brother, there's no need to be polite! Actually, they taste quite good. Just think of it as us enjoying our blessings together. Everyone, let's all enjoy Caitou's cigars together."
"Nobody will think that you're mute if you don't shut up!" Jiang Nannan suddenly flew into a rage as she looked towards the table full of cigars in front of her. Her charming face had become somewhat pale.
Only then did Xu Sanshi realise that his words had been a bit too harsh. He immediately shut up due to the embarrassment he felt.
Despite this, Wang Yan didn't even seem to notice the resentment on Jiang Nannan's face. He immediately lit one of the Spirit Stimulating Thick Cigar, then placed it in his mouth and inhaled deeply from it.
The three disciples from the inner courtyard were clearly much more resistant towards He Caitou's soul incantation, as even Ma Xiaotao lit up a cigar and inhaled from it without giving it too much thought.
Thus, the other members of the preparatory team had no choice but to unwillingly light their own cigars.
Huo Yuhao held a thick cigar in his mouth, which He Caitou personally helped light it. However, his eyes held a somewhat cheeky glint in them as he did so. When Huo Yuhao finally inhaled, the strong taste of smoke caused his throat to immediately dry up. He involuntarily began to cough, and he felt as if all of his apertures had instantly been filled with the dense smell of smoke. Despite this, it really didn't taste too bad.
At that exact moment, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt his spiritual sea shudder slightly. Immediately afterwards, an indescribable sense of relaxation spread throughout his body. When it did, his Spirit Eyes actually lit up involuntarily.
This feeling was unexpectedly joyful. To his astonishment, Huo Yuhao discovered that his spiritual power hadn't just been strengthened by a mere 10%. Currently, his spiritual power was at least 15% stronger than usual.
"Damn, how relaxing. Just what is this feeling?" The Skydream Iceworm seemed to have been almost immediately roused from its slumber.
At that moment, Huo Yuhao subconsciously inhaled another puff from the cigar.
The Skydream Iceworm became infatuated with the feeling. "Wah, wah, wah… how comfortable! It feels like all the pores on my body have opened up! This feels to great. What sort of soul skill is this!?"
The Ice Empress' chilly voice immediately attacked him, "Does a large bug like you even have any pores?"
"Icy, don't you think that this feeling is extremely comfortable too?" The Skydream Iceworm asked, infatuated. "This sensation has a great nourishing effect on our souls. There truly isn't anything more relaxing. It's even more relaxing than sleeping!"
The Ice Empress snorted. "Besides eating, all you do is sleep. Do you even know how to do anything besides those two things? I'm too lazy to even care about you. However, Yuhao, this sort of thing truly is quite beneficial for you. I suggest that you use it as often as you can over a long period of time. It'll help improve your level of control over your spiritual power."
The facts proved that He Caitou's cigars had much better effects than what he'd said earlier.
Huo Yuhao had felt a large increase in the strength of his spiritual power. On the other side of the room, when Xu Sanshi tried out the Defense Amplifying Long Cigar, he jumped up excitedly, and immediately told everyone that his body felt as hard as a rock. He felt that his defensive capabilities had increased by 15 to 20% at the very least.
After continuous testing by everyone present, they discovered that identical cigars actually had different effects based on the person that used it.
For example, the thick cigar—which would amplify a person's spiritual power—was most suited for the spiritual-type Huo Yuhao, while the long cigar—which would amplify a person's defense—was most suited for Xu Sanshi. On the other hand, the large cigar was most suited for Bei Bei, since it amplified a person's strength. The fourth cigar on the other hand, which boosted a person's soul power, turned out to be suited for everyone. When they used it, the soul power required for them to activate their soul skills was actually reduced. This was equivalent to their total pool of soul power being increased by the same amount!
When they realized just how effective He Caitou's cigars were, they gradually became numb to the embarrassing soul incantations that he had to recite. In any case, his soul skills lasted for two days, thus they wouldn't need to listen to his incantations when he used them most of them. However, despite the evidence of their usefulness, there were still a few people who were still somewhat unwilling to use his cigars.
The person who was most opposed to it wasn't Jiang Nannan or Xiao Xiao, who were girls, but was actually Wang Dong. No matter what, Wang Dong absolutely refused to test the effects of He Caitou's cigars. Huo Yuhao tried to persuade him for an extremely long time, but he wasn't willing to relent no matter what.
Even though Xiao Xiao and Jiang Nannan were unwilling, they still accepted a set of cigars.
Helpless, Huo Yuhao could only keep an extra set of cigars as a reserve.
Wang Yan gazed at the steadfast Wang Dong with a somewhat helpless look on his face. "It's fine if you're simply unwilling to try them. However, I suggest that you keep a set on you, just in case."
Wang Dong shook his head forcefully. "No!"
Wang Yan furrowed his brows, but only said, "Alright then. Now then, let's come up with a few plans for the upcoming round-robin tournament. Earlier, I said that there would be three types of combat during the round-robin section of the tournament. Considering the level of strength we revealed during the first round, there's no doubt that our group will only contain eight teams. At least from the others teams' standpoints, they'll only be fighting for a qualifying spot in the tournament. To them, we're guaranteed to qualify. We can use this mindset of theirs against them in order to make our tactics more flexible."
"There will be a total of sixty-seven teams participating in the round-robin tournament, who will be split into a total of eight groups. Of these, three groups will have nine participating teams, while the remaining five groups will have eight teams. In other words, we'll have to fight seven matches in our group. If we win a match, we'll get two points, if we lose a match, we won't get any points, and if we draw, each team will receive one point. Four groups will have a match every day, thus a cycle of matches will be completed every two days. After seven cycles and the remaining matches from the groups with nine teams are completed, the round-robin section will be done. I reckon that the round-robin portion of the tournament will last for fifteen to sixteen days. Ling Luochen should be recovered by the fourth cycle or so, and if their recovery goes smoothly, Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng should be recovered by around the sixth cycle. When that happens, our strength team's strength will increase dramatically."
"We'll know which group we've been placed into—along with who our opponents are—tomorrow morning. With our reputation, we'll most likely be the first ones up during the round-robin tournament as well. The most important thing you all have to do is ensure that Yuhao doesn't make a move."
When he saw the astonishment present in everyone's eyes, Wang Yan continued, "During the first round, Yuhao and Wang Dong revealed cultivations at the Soul Emperor rank. Yuhao even used his Imitation skill to give them them six hundred thousand year soul rings. That was truly extravagant, and ordinary soul masters would immediately be able to tell that this is simply impossible. However, we are Shrek Academy. Some of the other academies that don't understand us too well will have misunderstand. At the very least, they'll think to themselves, What if those youths from Shrek really have six hundred thousand year soul rings? What will we do then? This way, so long as Yuhao and Wang Dong don't make any moves during the round-robin tournament, they won't be exposed, and the fear in their hearts will persist. This will be extremely beneficial in our fights as a whole.
"In accordance with your cultivations and the understanding that I have of each you, I've divided you into some simple groups. There's no need to mention the team fight; Yuhao will simply command you with his Spiritual Detection. If we draw the 1v1 elimination fight, you'll start by going up based on your age, from the oldest to youngest.
"The 1v1 elimination fight isn't just fought by a single person. On the contrary, the loser of the fight steps down, while the winner continues fighting. This goes on until all seven members of a team have been completely defeated. Because of this, you must be wary of enemy soul engineers. If we draw a 1v1 fight, I'll do as much as I can to create the best lineup possible based on their abilities. You all will just have to do your best.
"The last mode of combat is the 2-2-3 fight. Normally, two 2v2 matches will be held before the 3v3 match. If we win both 2v2s, we won't even need to fight the third match. Because of that, I've tentatively put Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan on one team, and Xu Sanshi and Caitou on the other team for the two teams that will go out in the 2v2 matches. Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao work extremely well together, but we can't let them go out and fight. Because of that, they'll be the participants for the 3v3 match."
Xu Sanshi had a gloomy expression on his face as he said, "Teacher Wang, why didn't you put Jiang Nannan and me in a team together? The two of us know each other well, thus we'll definitely work well together as a team."
Jiang Nannan almond-shaped eyes widened. "Who's the one that's familiar with you? Stop trying to worm your way into being intimate with me."
Wang Yan interjected, "This is a competition, not the place for you two to murmur endearments to one another. The reason that I've placed you all together like I have is because your abilities are much more compatible with Caitou's; your focus is on defense, while his is on attack. As for Jiang Nannan, her quick-wittedness is better suited when combined with Bei Bei's strong attacks. If she were to team up with you, I'm afraid that she wouldn't even be able to exhibit thirty percent of her true strength."
Jiang Nannan, who usually didn't talk much, immediately nodded without a shred of hesitation and said, "Teacher Wang is wise."
Xu Sanshi's expression immediately sank at, but since this had to do with their arrangements in the competition, he didn't think that it would be appropriate to harp on about this matter.
Wang Yan said, "The basic arrangements will thus be like this. Now then, the most favorable styles of competition for us are actually the 1v1 and 2-2-3 fights. On the other hand, team battles will the easiest for us to reveal flaws to our opponents in. I have to emphasise this point once again: During the competition, all of you must pay attention to your opponent's soul tools, as competitors are allowed to utilise simple soul tools in battle. Yuhao definitely can't repeat his attack pattern after what happened in the first round, but the deterrent effect your team has is still present. Furthermore, Yuhao, you can't hold back with your spiritual detection either while the others are competing. We have to do everything in our power to emerge victorious and ensure that we uphold the academy's glory. When the time comes, I'll be commanding you guys on the field. I hope that you guys can carry out my commands at that time."
"Yes." The seven team members from the outer courtyard replied in uniform.
Wang Yan finally stood up and said, "Make sure to get some rest tonight everyone; you all need to ensure that you're in peak condition for tomorrow. None of you are allowed to leave tonight. Dismissed."
Once Wang Yan had finished speaking, everyone stood up and left the conference room. As Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were walking towards Huo Yuhao's room together to cultivate, Huo Yuhao suddenly sensed something. His gaze instantly landed on the other end of the corridor afterwards.
A handsome youngster that appeared to be around fourteen or fifteen years old stood at the other end of the corridor, and was currently burning holes through Huo Yuhao as he stared at him.
Huo Yuhao's gaze immediately froze over. He was immediately able to tell, based on the white, skin-tight clothing that the other party was wearing, as well as from the direction that the other person had appeared from, that the other party was a student from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
"You're known as Huo Yuhao, right? Remember my name: I'm Xiao Hongchen. I'll definitely defeat you!" The handsome youngster then made a thumbs down sign towards Huo Yuhao.
"You…!" A cold glint flashed through Wang Dong's eyes, but Huo Yuhao immediately stopped him from moving by placing his hand firmly on Wang Dong's shoulder.
Huo Yuhao raised his right hand, then hooked his thumb and middle finger together and flicked his own clothes. He frowned and said, "Where did this flea come from? It's so hateful! Whatever, I'll make sure to crush it to death sooner or later."
Once he'd finished, he opened the door to his room and entered with Wang Dong.
Huo Yuhao's voice had been very loud, while the acoustics in the Grand Imperial Star Hotel were also pretty decent. These two things caused Xiao Hongchen's face to twitch slightly as he squinted his eyes. However, he didn't seem angry; instead, a thoughtful look had appeared on his face. His strength wasn't the only reason that he'd been able to become the new commander of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy's team. He also had a brain.
"Why did you stop me?" Wang Dong suddenly asked once they'd entered the room.
Huo Yuhao forcefully smiled and said, "What would you have done if I didn't stop you? Did you plan to suffer the consequences? I activated my spiritual detection the moment I saw that person, which he seemed to notice right away. Furthermore, the soul power fluctuations that his body was emanating far surpass ours. Based on his soul power fluctuations, I'm afraid that he has five soul rings."
"What?" Wang Dong was instantly taken aback. "No way! He doesn't even seem that much older than us. He ought to be a reserve member of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, but a Soul King at that? It can't be that he also disguised his soul power like you did, right?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, "Is it really that easy for someone to mask the fluctuations of one's soul power? Anyways, he hadn't even released his martial soul yet."
Wang Dong frowned slightly, and a worried expression emerged in his large pinkish-blue eyes. "Just the reserve team is like that… It seems that the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy is much stronger than we could've imagined. Thankfully, we shouldn't meet them in the round-robin tournament, considering the fact that they were the runners-up last year."
Huo Yuhao's eyes twinkled. "Actually, the thing that we have to be more worried about is them being our opponents when we become official members of the team in five years and compete against them in the Elite Continental Soul Master Academy Tournament! He's a Soul King now, but what about in five years, considering his current cultivation speed?"
Wang Dong indignantly exclaimed, "But we're still young!"
"The tournament still gives all of us the same amount of time," Huo Yuhao retorted. "Come on, we have to work harder. Our true strength actually lies in our Haodong Power. As you know, my cultivation speed will most likely become slower once I get my third soul ring, due to the restrictions of my Ultimate martial soul."
Xiao Hongchen's appearance really did give them a sense of urgency. The duo immediately sat down on the bed, then placed their hands against each other's and began circulating their Haodong Power.
Wang Dong had become less and less mysophobic towards Huo Yuhao as they spent more time together.
The warm Mysterious Heaven Technique intertwined with Wang Dong's light-attributed soul power, then quickly gathered to form their torrential Haodong Power. Once it had, it began to circulate throughout their bodies.
Following Wang Dong's breakthrough to Rank 30, Huo Yuhao had also broken through to Rank 27. Currently, when they joined hands and circulated the Haodong Power in order to utilise a soul skill, the true might of their attack could compare to that of a Soul Ancestor. This was a massive amplification in terms of martial soul fusion.
Their cultivation was also close to each other's; the higher their cultivation level, the stronger the circulation of soul power, and in turn, the speed of their cultivation. Using their Haodong Power to cultivate was equivalent to them cultivating with the same speed as a Soul Ancestor; their cultivation was advancing by leaps and bounds.
Huo Yuhao had only broken through to Rank 27 around ten days ago, yet he already felt like his soul power was nearing the middle stage of Rank 27. If he continued at this cultivation speed, it wouldn't be a dream for him to break through at a speed of one rank per month until he reached Rank 30!
Wang Dong wasn't left in the dust by Huo Yuhao's speed, as his body seemed to be able to support more soul power than even Huo Yuhao's, who had twin martial souls. He felt no sense of blockage whenever he circulated his soul power, and he also felt as if he was growing stronger every day. In the few months since school had started, he'd already broken through to Rank 32, yet he was already charging straight ahead towards the Rank 33 bottleneck. With the help of their current Haodong Power, it was possible that he might break through to the Soul Ancestor stage within a year and half.
Currently, Dai Huabin was unquestionably the second year outer courtyard disciple with the strongest soul power, as he was currently at Rank 37. However, Wang Dong was beginning to feel more and more confident that he could surpass him in two years' time.
On the other hand, Xiao Xiao's cultivation was slightly slower than the theirs. Despite this, this was only because she was about to break through her Soul Elder bottleneck.
Once the first round of the knockout competitions finally ended, the spectators that had been watching the match in Star Luo City were all riding on an emotionally-driven high. Due to this, there would be people queueing up deep into the night every day of the tournament. Even though Star Luo Plaza had an extremely large surface area, there were still some limitations as to how many people it could contain; it couldn't satisfy the needs of the masses.
The government officials from the Star Luo Empire naturally increased the entrance fee in order to regulate the queue and to ensure that it wasn't too congested. Because of this, the empire made an enormous amount of profit, thus it was only natural for the Star Luo Empire to contribute to the rewards for the tournament. It was the same every year, however the rewards were never expressly stipulated. As no country would ever want to lose face, they'd always present very good things as rewards.
Why did the competition rules stipulate that the first cycle had to be a knockout competition? Besides the simple fact that it reduced the number of academies participating in the later matches, it was also in order to make the competition more exciting!
The Elite Continental Soul Master Academy Tournament had become the most important competition on the entire continent, and was thus conducted by the officials of every single country The reason that this competition was so popular every year was also due to these exciting matches. It was only natural to use various means in order to ensure that this grand occasion, which was only held every five years, would run better than the last each time.
The knockout tournament made the entire competition extremely exciting. Even though the tournament officials tried their best to prevent any injuries, close to two hundred students participating in the match would sustain various degrees of injuries each time around. There were even several tens of students who'd died due to excessive injuries. The battlefield was drenched in blood, thus it naturally drew in more viewership. Of course, it also meant that any school who's student unexpectedly died would also receive a bountiful compensation.
However, the knockout round was now over, and the second phase—the round-robin tournament—was next. Even though the round-robin tournament wasn't as intense as the knockout matches, the former still had its perks, which mainly lay in the variety of rules that the competition had. There were three ways that matches could be held, and whichever one the students would compete with was decided through drawing lots. One could say that every single match had its own exciting aspects.
Moreover, after the first elimination cycle, the remaining teams would be much stronger, and thus the matches would get both much more exciting and more varied. As such, it was extremely difficult to get ahold of a ticket to watch this match in Star Luo Plaza, despite it being capable of accommodating more than two hundred thousand people. The entire plaza would be packed to the brim every day, while those who weren't able to get in that day wouldn't leave. They would continue waiting in line all the way until the next day; it was impossible for those who'd queued up on the first day and watched the competition to also watch it the second day, be it civilians, or the rich and powerful. This actually ensured that everyone was treated fairly.
When faced with such a situation, the Imperial family of the Star Luo Empire naturally wasn't able to conceal their happiness. Not only did they deploy five thousand soldiers in order to maintain order throughout the city, they also began to sell official match reports despite having trouble dealing with so many people. They would release a new match report would appear every day, which would only cost a few copper coins. There would be also be a detailed report released after every match too, which served as another form of income.
However, the Star Luo Empire knew how to conduct themselves well. They would cover all travelling and lodging expenses for the academies that had been eliminated, and even gave them a set amount of subsidies. They also provided medical treatment for those that had been injured, and provided financial support to relatives of those who'd died in the matches. In addition to that, all of the participating academies were highly praised during the event. The way that the Star Luo Empire had dealt with the lively crowd in such an orderly manner just three days into the tournament… it could be said that they were earning a profit at the same time as increasing their reputation.
Today was the fourth day of the tournament, and screams from the spectators had been constantly reverberating throughout Star Luo Plaza since early in the morning. There was only one reason for this: and that was because the team representing Shrek Academy was finally going to appear on the field again. Furthermore, they would be appearing in the first match. Even the emperor of the Star Luo Empire, who would only occasionally grace the city with his presence to spectate, had mounted the lead position in the imperial city at first light, and was currently quietly waiting for the match to begin. For the emperor to do such a thing, he was giving Shrek Academy quite a lot of face.