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"Is it taken care of?"
When Tang San returned to the VIP seating with Gu Yuena, Bibi Dong inquired.
"Just three Soul Douluos. It didn't take long," Tang San replied, nodding. "They're a royal merchant team from the Sun and Moon Empire here for business. However, considering that they entered without our permission, disregarding our sovereignty, it's best to detain them until we can hold a proper trial."
Bibi Dong nodded slightly, turning her gaze to the screen displaying the competition. "Who do you think will win this final match?"
"Most likely the Spirit Hall team," Tang San answered without hesitation. "While the individual strength of the Haotian Clan's team captain is the highest, their team structure is overly specialized. They're all power-focused, covering close combat, armor-breaking, and crowd control. However, they lack any long-range attack capabilities."
"In a seven-on-seven Soul Battle, the Spirit Hall team might struggle since the Haotian Clan team could potentially use brute strength to counter any strategy."
"But in this intelligence relay contest, the field is expansive. As they make their way back to Spirit Hall City, the environment changes with each checkpoint. Even if the Haotian Clan manages to capture Xu Huang, they'll still have to guard against ambushes from other teams. Based on what I observed in their last fight with the Spirit Hall team, the Haotian Clan members are quick to adapt in battle, but when it comes to strategy, they're a bit inflexible, almost like they're hammering through everything without thinking."
"I'm less familiar with the other teams, but the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's team members are all fairly astute. They've divided their forces to watch over the Spirit Hall, Four Elements Academy, Shrek, and two other teams. My guess is that they're hoping to extract more intel from the two key individuals as they make their way back."
"Although those two individuals are 'intelligence' themselves, obtaining more detailed information is a sound approach."
"They may not win the championship, but securing third place is still an achievement."
"As for the Shrek team..."
"It's worth keeping an eye on them. The Eight Spider Lances give Oscar exceptional agility, and they're also venomous. His spirit abilities are unique: he can heal, fight in close quarters, control, and even perform ranged and defensive actions. He's very versatile."
Mentioning Oscar, Bibi Dong's expression darkened, though she gave a somewhat objective evaluation. "Aside from his rather perverse tendencies, he does offer something 'refreshing.' A sausage-based martial spirit… How does it yield such diverse soul skills? By your theory, doesn't each type of soul ring only grant abilities that naturally align with the martial spirit itself? For instance, ropes can bind, wolves can bite, and so on?"
"Typically, yes," Tang San reminded her. "But I said 'typically' for a reason. Some soul rings from special soul beasts grant abilities that don't correlate with the martial spirit. Take a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, for example; if it doesn't align with the martial spirit, the resulting soul skill will reflect the soul beast's nature instead."
In the original tale, Tang San's sixth soul ring came from Xiao Wu's sacrifice, with both skills unrelated to his Blue Silver Grass. One was the Void ability, while the other allowed him to summon Xiao Wu's spirit, turning her energy into a corporeal form for a multi-hit martial technique called "Void Burst Eight-Directional Slam."
"Does Oscar's case mean the soul beasts he hunted were unrelated to food?" Bibi Dong asked, intrigued.
"No." Tang San shook his head. "Food and tool martial spirits can indeed inherit the attributes of the respective soul beasts they hunt. Oscar's martial spirit has clearly inherited the attributes of the soul beasts he's encountered."
"As for why his soul skills take on those forms—"
"That's where my 'Martial Spirit Evolution Theory' comes in. Martial spirits can respond to a person's desires, evolving according to the soul master's aspirations."
"For ordinary people, martial spirit evolution takes several generations. But soul masters can cultivate soul power, which speeds up this evolution. During this process, the soul master's intense personal wishes also play a role. Recently, I've had a new theory that humanity's original martial spirits were all body-based spirits. Since body-based spirits have unstable inheritability and often result in physical mutations, there's a high likelihood that, with external influence prior to martial spirit awakening, a body-based spirit might manifest in a different form."
"Oscar's martial spirit seems to be evolving towards a body-type transformation. As for why it's moving in that direction… As I said before, martial spirits can, to some extent, respond to one's desires."
"Additionally, judging by his soul skills, the soul beasts he hunted likely had abilities like silk-spinning or venom-spraying, aligning somewhat with certain reproductive organs... Given this analysis, it seems natural that his martial spirit would evolve in that direction, based on the attributes of the soul beasts he hunted."
Though Tang San's analysis was logical, Bibi Dong's face grew darker with each word, and her opinion of Yu Xiaogang soured even more.
With a disciple so depraved, how could the teacher be any better? Moreover, knowing full well that Liu Erlong was his cousin, Yu Xiaogang still chose to get involved with her... Yu Xiaogang, have you sacrificed all dignity just to justify yourself?
You've fallen indeed! Well, this makes things easier; no more need to extend even a shred of courtesy in the future.
In a flash, the afternoon had arrived.
All seven teams returned to Spirit Hall City, and from the moment they set foot inside, any further skirmishes were prohibited.
Naturally, the Spirit Hall team won the championship, returning with Xu Huang, whose eyes were glazed over from fatigue.
Second place went to the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan team—while the Four Elements team, along with Shrek, the Tian Dou Royal, and the Star Luo Imperial teams, were entangled in clashes, the Seven Treasures team seized their moment, sweeping in to capture Fu Hongchen, who looked pale and spent.
Third place was claimed by the Four Elements Academy. Although they lost Fu Hongchen, they extracted a wealth of intelligence about the Sun Moon Empire from him. The completeness of their gathered information far surpassed that of the other teams, thus securing them third place.
The Tian Dou, Star Luo, Haotian Clan, and Shrek teams collected the least intelligence and missed out on the top three. Among them, the Haotian Clan gathered the least information!
"This place's grandeur far surpasses the capital of the Sun Moon Empire!" Xu Huang finally came out of his dazed state, glancing around with a sinking feeling. This is undeniably the base of a power equal to the Sun Moon Empire. My royal brother... could it be that you've already…?
As Tang San and Bibi Dong prepared to present the prizes to the victors, Yu Xiaogang from Shrek Academy stepped forward, shouting to them, "On behalf of Shrek Academy, I protest! We do not acknowledge this final match! We demand a proper competition in a regulated arena, as per past rules!"
(End of Chapter)