A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Su Cheng finished his brief training at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and headed to the location of the advancement competition, the Royal Arena of the Tian Dou Empire.
The advancement competition of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament was not as lively as the preliminaries.
To protect the privacy and safety of soul masters, the advancement competition did not allow any spectators.
In the Tian Dou Empire, including the five teams that advanced from the Tian Dou City preliminary division, a total of fifteen teams had already completed the registration process in the morning and gathered at the advancement competition site.
There were fewer teams, but those who could advance from the preliminaries were undoubtedly the elite of the elite.
The ten teams from the five kingdoms and duchies arrived earlier to familiarize themselves with the environment.
The Royal Hunting Ground was located fifty kilometers southwest of Tian Dou City. The terrain within was varied, and the area was vast. It was where the royal family usually hunted and trained.
Ordinarily, no civilians were allowed near it, and a regiment of ten thousand Royal Knights patrolled and guarded the area while also training there.
To avoid unnecessary trouble and conflict and to prevent each academy's strength from being observed by others, all fifteen advanced soul master academy teams were assigned to different places to rest.
Led by a soldier, Su Cheng soon arrived at the rest area designated for the Tian Dou Royal Academy.
The members of the Tian Dou Royal Academy team would stay here until the end of the advancement competition.
This stage of the competition was also a round-robin system. However, because the number of teams was much reduced, the competition time was shortened from one month to half a month.
Then, after resting for another half a month, the final championship would be held in Spirit City, located at the border between the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires.
Not long after Su Cheng entered the rest area, his disciple Feng Qingyu somehow got the news and ran over directly.
She was accompanied by Feng Xiaotian, the captain of the Divine Wind Academy team.
"Greetings, Teacher!"
As soon as they met, Feng Qingyu bowed solemnly to Su Cheng.
Feng Xiaotian looked at her in surprise and then turned to Su Cheng.
Su Cheng felt a bit speechless, "You don't have to do this."
"Once a teacher, always a father. From now on, I will respect you like a father."
"..." Su Cheng was too lazy to respond to her and turned to Feng Xiaotian.
"Brother Feng, what brings you here?"
The advancement competition was about to begin. He was not like Feng Qingyu, who didn't need to compete, nor was he like Su Cheng, who didn't care about anything.
On the contrary, as the team captain, he was actually quite busy.
Even if he had decided to join the Tian Dou Royal Academy team in the finals, there was no reason to come over now.
"It's like this, Brother Su. I appreciate your previous invitation, but our team plans to team up with the Blazing Academy in the finals. Even if we can't win the championship, we want to leave no regrets."
"..."
Feng Qingyu rolled her eyes lightly and gave Su Cheng a knowing look.
Su Cheng sighed and asked, "Is it because of Huo Wu from Blazing Academy?"
"Partly because of her. I hope you understand," Feng Xiaotian said candidly.
Su Cheng looked at him and originally wanted to say something more.
But in the end, he just waved his hand and said, "Everyone has their own ambitions, no need to force it. I wish you to soon win the beauty's heart."
There was no point in saying more. He and Feng Xiaotian were not close enough for him to make too many comments.
Feng Xiaotian seemed quite pleased, especially with Su Cheng's blessing, which made him feel very good. He had only come to say hello.
Seeing that Su Cheng didn't mind, he felt relieved and said with a smile, "I also wish Brother Su to win the championship smoothly. Please take care of Qingyu for me."
"No problem."
The next day, the competition officially began.
Unlike the preliminaries, the advancement competition had only one competition field, the Grand Parade Ground of the Royal Knights.
The fifteen teams participating in the advancement competition would play fourteen rounds of round-robin matches, all held in this single venue.
The Grand Parade Ground had been remodeled, with a hundred-meter diameter area marked in the center as the competition field. Compared to the preliminaries' stages, this space was much larger and allowed the participants to better showcase their skills.
On the north side of the Grand Parade Ground, a temporary grandstand facing south had been erected, which also served as the judges' stand. The number of dignitaries watching this time was much fewer than before.
Looking around, besides a few people like Emperor Xue Ye, Ning Fengzhi, and Platinum Bishop Salas in the first row, the rest of the seats were occupied by military officials and some high-level personnel from the Tian Dou City Spirit Hall.
Group battles were chaotic and difficult to follow, but the advancement competition was different. Each participant would display their individual strength under everyone's eyes, making it the best opportunity to evaluate a soul master's abilities.
Outside the Grand Parade Ground, ten thousand Royal Knights surrounded the entire field, making the defense extremely tight.
In the space between the circle formed by the knights and the competition field, all fifteen participating teams had arrived. Even those with a bye today were present. Even if they weren't competing, they needed to observe their opponents' strengths.
The rules were simple.
Each side would send seven members, and every participant had to fight until defeated. The winner would face the next opponent until one side had all seven members defeated.
The draw had already taken place the night before. Coincidentally, the first opponent for the Tian Dou Royal Academy was Shrek Academy again.
Emperor Xue Ye stood up from the grandstand and announced loudly through a soul-guided amplifier, "The advancement competition officially begins today. In the next fourteen days, I hope each academy team will fully demonstrate their abilities and showcase the spirit of soul masters."
As soon as he finished speaking, a cheer as loud as a landslide erupted, "Long live, long live, long live."
Then, the seven members each from the Tian Dou Royal Academy and Shrek Academy took the stage.
Su Cheng glanced at the opponents.
Zhu Zhuqing still had the same indifferent attitude towards him, but Tang San looked over, ready to confront him.
"Using the Clear Sky Hammer now? Looks like you're confident."
With a slight sense, he detected the change in Tang San's aura over the past month, and suddenly understood.
"However, this might not be a bad thing for him. With the Blue Silver Emperor awakening out of reach, it would be better for him to focus on cultivating the Clear Sky Hammer."
At this moment, Tang San indeed felt very confident.
His level had astonishingly reached 47.
The soul power boost from absorbing the spirit rings was too significant.
Especially at lower levels, absorbing spirit rings at their maximum limit was enough to increase one's soul power by at least one level. Moreover, Tang San hadn't just absorbed spirit rings at their limit.
One thousand-year spirit ring for his Blue Silver Grass, combined with four ten-thousand-year spirit rings for his Clear Sky Hammer, had helped him increase his level by over seven, making him close to level 48 now.
He finally considered himself the strongest in his academy's team.
At least, that's what Tang San thought.
Although Zhu Zhuqing had the same level, there were differences even among those of the same rank.
He looked at Su Cheng in the Tian Dou Royal Academy team with a serious expression.
Although their levels differed by a bit now.
He had eight spirit rings, with the Clear Sky Hammer bearing four ten-thousand-year spirit rings.
Though these rings were just over ten thousand years due to his body's endurance limits.
But compared to Su Cheng's mere two ten-thousand-year spirit rings, he believed he had a fighting chance.
Shrek Academy's first participant was Xiao Wu, who consecutively defeated two members of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Su Cheng, watching from the sidelines, wasn't surprised by this.
Xiao Wu's strength far surpassed those of the same level.
After comprehending the method of spirit ring condensation, Su Cheng realized that these humanoid spirit beasts, due to their bloodlines turning into their martial spirits, had extremely pure bloodlines and martial spirits, which could be called "origin martial spirits."
Thus, when generating their spirit rings, they almost always got spirit abilities that perfectly suited their needs, and the ring's age would be the optimal limit according to their physique.
In this situation, humanoid spirit beasts were naturally among the top fighters of their rank.
Unless encountering a natural counter in attributes or battle styles, they were essentially invincible among their peers.
The third participant for the Heaven Dou Royal Academy team was named Wang Yu.
He was a control-type soul master, with soul power as high as Xiao Wu's, reaching level 38.
Excluding the auxiliary-type soul master Ning Rongrong, he was considered the second strongest in the second team after Su Cheng.
As light flickered, tentacles appeared behind Wang Yu—his martial spirit was an octopus.
With the referee's signal to start, Wang Yu extended his hands, and his third spirit ring lit up.
The eight tentacles behind him rapidly grew and extended, wriggling towards Xiao Wu.
Seeing the slimy tentacles, Xiao Wu felt a surge of disgust.
She immediately focused her gaze on her opponent.
But Wang Yu closed his eyes, clearly not wanting his third spirit ability interrupted by Xiao Wu's charm skill.
In the previous two matches, Xiao Wu had already displayed her combat methods as an assault-type soul master, and her three spirit abilities were no secret.
Closing his eyes didn't hinder Wang Yu's combat at all.
As a control-type soul master, he had a second spirit ability specifically enhancing his senses.
The water droplets on the ground constantly fed him information about the surroundings.
Even without visual input, he had a clear grasp of the situation, possibly even sharper than sight.
Xiao Wu moved silently along the outer circle of the arena.
Wang Yu kept pressing towards her.
The eight tentacles on his body further extended, even splitting at the ends, enveloping her densely.
Xiao Wu frowned lightly.
The tentacles were extremely uncomfortable to look at.
Especially with Wang Yu's first spirit ability causing further splitting, it was like a mental pollution.
She started running faster to buy time.
Her goal was simple: don't aim for victory but avoid mistakes. Maintaining three spirit abilities simultaneously consumed a lot of soul power.
But Wang Yu clearly didn't intend to engage in a prolonged standoff.
After pressing to a certain distance, he suddenly stopped and raised his arms.
With his movement, the water droplets on the ground flew into the air.
This unexpected turn caught Xiao Wu off guard.
Since the start of the match, a significant amount of water droplets had silently accumulated on the ground.
These weren't ordinary water drops; they contained special mucus from Wang Yu's martial spirit, which he could easily control.
In the next moment, Xiao Wu was covered in these water droplets, her movements slowing down significantly.
At the same time, the splitting tentacles accelerated their encirclement.
Watching from below, Tang San looked anxious.
According to the original plan, Xiao Wu should have conceded by now.
The opponent had used all his spirit abilities, and her tactical role was fully achieved, not to mention her soul power was nearly exhausted.
But Xiao Wu showed no intention of giving up.
Xiao Wu finally unleashed her full speed, hoping to break free by bouncing and teleporting.
In her calculations, she should have been able to escape the opponent's attack range before the dense tentacles could reach her.
However, she soon realized something was wrong.
As the split tentacles got closer, she felt a pulling force dragging her body, making it impossible to escape even with teleportation.
At this moment, Tang San, standing outside the competition field, clenched his fists tightly.
The current situation was beyond his control.
After all, Xiao Wu had already participated in two matches and had little soul power left, making continuous teleportation impossible.
When the dense tentacles exerted suction on her body, it not only slowed her down but also allowed the main eight tentacles to strike swiftly.
This was the real killing move!
The timing was perfect—right when Xiao Wu had to move forward, just after completing a teleportation, unable to continue with another move.
The control-type soul master's ability to grasp the battlefield was indeed unmatched by an assault-type soul master.
The current situation clearly showed that Wang Yu had considerable experience and excellent control over the battlefield.
With a flash of white light, Xiao Wu's elusive figure suddenly came to a halt.
Three tentacles missed, two struck her, and the remaining three tightly bound her.
A sea-blue glow surged, the tentacles tightened, and pain spread across Xiao Wu's face, turning her complexion pale.
"We concede." Yu Xiaogang's voice rang out in time.
Upon hearing this, Wang Yu withdrew his spirit abilities. The sea-blue light retracted into the ground.
Just before Xiao Wu hit the ground, Tang San rushed over and caught her.
Xiao Wu's body trembled slightly due to the cold, with a few fine red whip marks from the third spirit ability she couldn't entirely avoid.
Seeing her closed eyes and weak breath, Tang San felt a pang of heartache.
He looked up at his opponent, and Wang Yu's face was also pale from the multiple spirit abilities he had used.
A cold glint flashed in Tang San's eyes.
He was not going to wait for his match with Su Cheng.
He wanted to be the next one up to avenge Xiao Wu.
Handing Xiao Wu to Jiang Zhu behind him, Tang San stood up and walked slowly onto the field.
He walked neither quickly nor slowly but steadily and powerfully, his gaze fixed coldly on Wang Yu.
Seeing Tang San's expressionless, slow approach, Wang Yu suddenly felt a sense of oppression.
Although his soul power was greatly depleted, he didn't plan to give up.
Wang Yu knew his strength was lacking, and he was unlikely to appear in the finals.
The qualifying matches were his last chance to perform, making every battle invaluable.
Reaching this point, Wang Yu already felt very content and grateful.
His talent wasn't particularly outstanding, and his martial spirit wasn't strong.
As a control-type soul master, he was far inferior to Dugu Yan and naturally couldn't make the first team.
He had seen Su Cheng and others fight against the powerful Elemental Academies.
He knew that without Su Cheng, their second team couldn't possibly defeat those academies or even Shrek Academy, and wouldn't have this chance to participate in the qualifiers.
His soul power was less than half remaining.
Just causing Tang San some trouble would be enough.
Even though Su Cheng was there as a safety net, he didn't want to seem completely useless.
"Let the match begin."
The qualifying match rules stated that contestants couldn't rest. With Tang San on the field, the match began immediately.
A small black hammer instantly appeared in Tang San's hand.
The first and second black spirit rings lit up one after another, making the hammer grow enormous.
As the hammer's handle swung, the head of the hammer, with a fierce whistling sound, instantly smashed through the defense built by Wang Yu's third spirit ability.
Then, the Clear Sky Hammer mercilessly smashed onto Wang Yu's right shoulder.
"Bang!"
In the next moment, Wang Yu's body flew out of the field like a rag doll.
Before losing consciousness, Wang Yu clearly heard the sound of his bones breaking as he spat blood.
"Boom!"
Driven by inertia, the Clear Sky Hammer didn't stop and smashed into the ground beside Tang San.
A huge pit appeared on the hard ground, with countless fine cracks spreading outwards with a "crackling" sound.