They spent near ten days in the Sunset Forest to hunt fourth spirit rings for the Shrek Seven Devils. JoyBoy only changed one thing from the novel and that was protecting Xiao Wu from the attack of the Man Faced Demon Spider.
The moment the six thousand year old Man Faced Demon Spider tried to attack Xiao Wu to steal the Fragrant Silk Beauty Immortal Treasure from her, it was completely suppressed under strength type spirit power pressure released by JoyBoy, who learned the trick by observing Tai Tan using it against Tang San.
JoyBoy knew that after obtaining the fourth spirit abilities, the Shrek Seven Devil's strength had once again made a qualitative leap. He checked everyone's cultivation.
Evil Eye White Tiger Dai Mubai, forty fourth rank power attack system Battle Spirit Ancestor, two yellow and two purple spirit rings, four great spirit abilities separately were: White Tiger Barrier, White Tiger Light Wave, White Tiger Vajra Transformation, White Tiger Meteor Shower.
Sausage Monopoly Oscar, forty first rank food system Tool Spirit Ancestor, two yellow and two purple spirit rings, four great spirit abilities separately were: Big Recovery Sausage, Small Detoxifying Sausage, Swift Flight Mushroom Sausage, Stimulating Pink Sausage.
Thousand Hands Asura Tang San, forty first ranked control system Battle Spirit Ancestor, two yellow, one purple and one black spirit rings, four great spirit abilities separately were: Binding, Parasite, Spider Web Restraint, Blue Silver Prison.
Evil Fire Phoenix Ma Hongjun, forty first ranked power attack system Battle Spirit Ancestor, two yellow and two purple spirit rings, four great spirit abilities separately were: Phoenix Fire Wire, Bathing Fire Phoenix, Phoenix Ascension, Phoenix Cry Sky Strike.
Soft Boned Demon Rabbit Xiao Wu, thirty seventh ranked power attack system Battle Spirit Elder, two yellow and one purple spirit rings, three spirit abilities separately were: Waist Bow, Demon Confusion, Teleportation.
Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Ning Rongrong, forty first ranked auxiliary system Tool Spirit Ancestor, two yellow and two purple spirit rings, four great spirit abilities separately were: Strength Amplification, Agility Amplification, Spirit Power Amplification, Defense Amplification.
Hell Civet Zhu Zhuqing, forty first ranked agility attack system Spirit Ancestor, two yellow and two purple spirit rings, four great spirit abilities separately were: Hell Thrust, Hell Hundred Claws, Hell Decapitation, Hell Shadow Doppelgänger.
Besides Xiao Wu, the other six had completely climbed the fortieth rank threshold.
There were no accidents on the return trip, and the party of eleven smoothly returned to Shrek Academy. By now there were only five days until the start of the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament preliminaries.
Grandmaster gave the Shrek Seven Devils one day of rest, and early the next morning had them gather in the forest behind the teaching block for their final training.
What was worth mentioning was, to prevent Shrek's students from having not enough people due to injuries in future battles, Tai Long, who was rank thirty-eight and had the Vigorous Orangutan Spirit, was temporarily recruited into the team. Others that were recruited were three rank thirty five advanced class Spirit Masters as reserve team members for the Shrek students.
The latter four recruits, other than Tai Long, were each
Rank thirty five power attack system Battle Spirit Elder, Huang Yuan, Male, Spirit: Lone Wolf. Spirit Rings: Two yellow one purple.
Rank thirty five agility attack system Battle Spirit Elder, Jing Ling, Male, Spirit: Skeleton. Spirit Rings: Two yellow one purple.
Rank thirty five healing system Tool Spirit Master, Jiang Zhu, Female, Spirit: Healing Scepter. Spirit Rings: Two yellow one purple.
Before the Shrek students came, or perhaps before the academy became Shrek Academy, Tai Long and those three were all part of the main force for this year's Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament, educated by Liu Erlong herself, the elites of the academy. If not for this tournament, with their capabilities, they could've graduated ages ago.
Grandmaster, Flender, and Liu Erlong, after discussing, recruited those four into the academy team. Their plan was simple, to switch out the Shrek Seven Devils sometimes in the easier battles to lessen their exhaustion. They didn't consider JoyBoy because they knew just how strong he was, especially Grandmaster since JoyBoy was his direct disciple just like Tang San.
The Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament wasn't only a fight between Spirit Master Academies, it was a major event in the entire Spirit Master world. From the preliminaries, to the promotion stage, and to the Final Stage, it would be three months in total. In this long period of time, who could say the Shrek Seven Devils wouldn't accidentally get hurt and lose the ability to continue?
Because there had to be at least seven spirit master's cooperating, every match the academy had to send at least seven people up, having a certain number of hands for the roster was essential.
"Everyone sit."
Grandmaster waved his hand, gesturing for everyone to sit where they were. The Shrek Seven Devils and the four substitutes all sat in a circle around Grandmaster, quietly listening to his explanations.
"In a few more days, The Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament will commence. I will tell you the rules today."
As he spoke, he kicked the drowsy Ma Hongjun's butt. He didn't look at him and continued
"Don't object, rules are rules, and they might be exploited for advantage. Strength is important in the competition, but you must also clearly understand the rules. Otherwise, it's very possible that others might use them against you."
After getting kicked by Grandmaster, Fatty stuck his tongue out and didn't dare to be neglectful anymore. Grandmaster continued
"The Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament is hosted by Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires' royal families, assisted by Spirit Hall. It is the greatest Spirit Fight and the participants are only weaker than the Spirit Hall elite selection. In the rules, there are a few that still need obeying. First of all, all participants must be under twenty five and every team must ensure there are seven every match. Second, the matches are only friendly interactions, so try to refrain from hurting or crippling your opponents. Deaths are definitely not allowed, and once it happens, not only does the school have to pay for the losses, but they will also be disqualified."
"Grandmaster, this one might not be appropriate."
Dai Mubai rose his hand to interrupt Grandmaster.
"Spirit abilities have no eyes, what if we accidentally kill people? If the two sides are of similar strength, fighting all out will inevitably cause incidents."
Grandmaster looked towards Dai Mubai and said solemnly
"What you say is correct. But, you need to know that the reason the two empires are hosting this tournament is not to let all the schools fight for a victory, but to find the best talented people to recruit. Including Spirit Palace and the kingdoms within the two empires, they all have similar thoughts. Those that can represent Advanced Spirit Master Academies are all people of outstanding talent as well as the future of the Spirit Master World. Nurturing a spirit master is very difficult, and the amount of spirit masters in the entire continent was never more than a million. Prohibiting killing might be a restriction, but it is also protection for you kids. From my perspective, this rule is very correct."
Dai Mubai still disapproved of the rule. Though he didn't like killing, he hated a sense of restriction when fighting even more. Grandmaster continued
"Other than these two strict rules, the others are standard. Everything is based on fairness. For example: During the match, no using food or medicine created by non participating spirit masters. Only Food or Healing System Spirit Masters on the stage can replenish their teammates. In other words, if you want to obtain supplements on the stage, then a Support Type Spirit Master must take up one stop. This is to prevent teams with Food System Spirit Masters from cheating. Also, you can't use weapons other than your own spirit. Because of this, Tang San, the hidden weapons you make can't be used in this tournament. You must remember this, or else we will be disqualified instantly."
Getting to there, Grandmaster paused.
"The main rules are these. If anything else needs to be mentioned, I will tell you during the tournament. Now, lets talk about the system of this tournament."
While he was talking, Grandmaster took a wooden stick he prepared and drew two connecting circles in the ground.
"These two circles represent the two empires."
He then drew a small circle that touched both large circles.
"This one represents the Spirit Palace. Within the two empires, there are almost a hundred Advanced Spirit Master Academies. Every academy has a chance to participate, and the two empires' official Advanced Spirit Master Academies will have two slots. For example, Heaven Dou Empire has Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. These two official teams will be split into a main team and a secondary team. The main team will be advanced to the finals phase instantly, which is a guarantee for the two royal families. The secondary team will be with everyone else, participating in the preliminaries."
Grandmaster then drew a few circles inside the two large circles.
"The preliminaries are split into areas. Within, with Heaven Dou City as the center, within Heaven Dou Empire's bounds, all that do not belong to a kingdom or dukedom will come to this area for the preliminaries. All the academies of the kingdoms and dukedoms will be matched based on their areas. Heaven Dou Empire has four kingdoms and one dukedom. In other words, counting the Heaven Dou Area, there will be six preliminary areas. Other than the one team that is in the finals already, these six areas will be fighting over fifteen spots. Because our area has a lot of academies and is also directly subordinate to the empire, there will be five spots to fight over. Every other area has two spots. Star Luo Empire is almost identical to Heaven Dou Empire.
Which means, through the preliminaries, the amount of teams that go to the next stage will be thirty. These thirty teams will all participate in the finals. But before participating, there will be a promotion stage. This promotion stage is a ranking of the thirty teams to decide the order of matches in the finals."