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Su Yu's Blue Silver Grass evolved to a form of ultimate life, granting him remarkable healing and restorative powers beyond anything seen before.
Within Xu Sanshi's body, the corpse poison dissolved before Su Yu's purifying force, while the Star Spirit Power soul skill further infused Xu Sanshi with life force.
Before long, Xu Sanshi's injuries had significantly improved, no longer life-threatening. Su Yu chose not to continue the treatment—it was no longer necessary. Xu Sanshi's performance from here would determine the rest. After all, as the young master of the Xuanying Sect, he held considerable power; his sect was one of the most influential within the Douling Empire, capable of stirring the waters of its politics. Moreover, Xu Sanshi's mother was a member of the Douling Empire's royal family, and royal blood ran through his veins.
Xu Sanshi's defenses were formidable. Without Huo Yuhao's warning, he would have still been alert enough to activate all his defensive soul skills before the chained corpse explosions. However, lacking a reminder, he couldn't protect others from the damage.
"Nan Nan!"
Murmuring Jiang Nan Nan's name, Xu Sanshi suddenly snapped to his senses.
"Where am I?"
Su Yu felt exasperated. This lovesick fool—nearly died, and he's still worried about someone else.
"We're in Starluo City. You were captured by an evil soul master, but my elder saved you. Judging by your clothes, you're a Shrek Academy student. How did you end up getting caught by an evil soul master?"
Earlier, Su Yu and Kong Deming had changed into different clothes to avoid suspicion as people from the Sun and Moon Empire. Being a native of the Starluo Empire, Su Yu had no issues with his accent, either.
Thanks to Su Yu's life-saving intervention, Xu Sanshi, although cautious initially, gradually recounted his ordeal. However, he did leave out details. Given that Shrek Academy's delegation to the Spirit Battle Tournament might have suffered complete defeat, he couldn't freely disclose the academy's status, uncertain as it was.
He merely mentioned that he had encountered a crisis and that Elder Xuan hadn't been able to save him.
"As I expected," Su Yu said with a knowing nod. "It must have been that Gluttonous Douluo. Most of Shrek's inspection team accidents happened with him leading."
Xu Sanshi couldn't find words to argue. Before passing out, he had a hazy awareness of the situation. Elder Xuan had clearly realized something was wrong but still failed to save him from a Spirit King. Worse still, they had even lost track during the ensuing pursuit. If not for Su Yu's intervention, Xu Sanshi would likely have become a corpse slave under the evil soul master—an outcome he found utterly unacceptable.
Shaken by the thought, Xu Sanshi's opinion of Elder Xuan plummeted.
Though wary, Xu Sanshi wasn't a complete liar. Su Yu didn't mind. He was simply displaying a typical level of guardedness.
In the days that followed, Xu Sanshi hardly enjoyed the treatment usually afforded to an injured person. Bound by a soul tool that restricted his soul power and hampered by his injuries, he could barely move without assistance and relied on staff even for meals.
"Let's observe Shrek's line-up in the next couple of days," Su Yu suggested. "If the roster seems weak, it'll likely mean their main force met with trouble. In that case, we can approach the remaining matches more aggressively and secure first place with a powerful display—it'll be more effective."
"As for Xu Sanshi, no one else knows about his rescue, so his presence with us remains unknown. First, let's inquire into his background. If his status is significant, he'll hold even greater value."
Kong Deming nodded, agreeing with Su Yu's approach.
Shrek Academy's inner court students, and particularly potential Spirit Battle Tournament representatives—like the prospective Shrek Seven Devils—often came from notable backgrounds.
True self-made students rarely ascended this high. And with Shrek's restrictive city-lord recommendation system, it was even harder for ordinary civilians to rise through the ranks.
Moreover, anyone who can survive the corpse explosions of a Spirit King-level evil soul master must have impressive defensive capabilities, and their martial spirit must be top-tier in defense.
First, we should send someone to investigate his identity before making any further decisions.
On the second day of Su Yu and his team's arrival in Starluo City, the tournament officially began.
"The Continental Advanced Academy Soul Dueling Tournament has a well-structured format. First, there's an elimination round where only the victorious teams continue to the next stage, lasting three days. After that, teams are grouped for a round-robin tournament, where they battle each team within their group.
In the round-robin, a random format is chosen: it could be a single-elimination round, a three-two-two collaborative battle mode, or a seven-on-seven team battle. Once the round-robin concludes, the two teams with the best results from each group will advance. From there, a draw will determine the quarterfinals and semifinals, followed by the championship match."
The Sun and Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy's team was led by Elder Ma, a Soul Douluo-level powerhouse and an eighth-level soul engineer.
"This time, our goal is first place."
"We'll claim first with absolute strength!"
Yesterday, he had already observed that Shrek Academy brought only seven participants this time. Each of them appeared extremely proud, acting as though they were untouchable.
It seemed like arrogance.
But Elder Ma knew this was Shrek's attempt to mask their insecurity. Su Yu had disclosed some inside information, hinting that Shrek's participating team had faced unforeseen circumstances. Observing Shrek's lineup would confirm the information's accuracy.
With this thought in mind, Elder Ma indeed noticed something unusual.
In past tournaments, Shrek Academy always competed in the opening match against another academy. This year was no different.
This time, Shrek Academy had hastily assembled a team of seven, with the last members only joining the night before. Wang Dong, Jiang Nannan, and He Caitou, who had sustained the lightest injuries during the previous incident, had undergone healing under the care of a Level 95 Titled Douluo known as the Medical Immortal Douluo, a revered figure within the Starluo royal family. They were now ready to compete.
Besides these three, the remaining four were local students from Shrek Academy's outer court.
Ye Wushuang, a sixth-year outer court student and a Level 49 assault-type Soul Ancestor, possessed the Seven-Star Sword martial spirit. Following the usual process, he would have graduated from the outer court and been allowed to enter the inner court for further training, though it was clear he was far from holding a title like "Shrek Seven Devils."
Still, he was a fortunate addition.
Coincidentally, Ye Wushuang had been on leave nearby, inheriting the Seven-Star Sword Intent just outside Xingluo City.
Besides Ye Wushuang, the other three were also in Starluo City for various reasons.
However, they were all fourth-year students, and only one of them had reached Level 41 as a Soul Ancestor. The other two were Level 39 Soul Elders.
"Let the battle begin!"
With the referee's signal, the arena erupted in brilliant light.
On the other side, Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy's lineup was formidable too, featuring five Soul Ancestors and two Soul Elders.
Shrek Academy, by contrast, had only four Soul Ancestors.
Ye Wushuang, He Caitou, Jiang Nannan, and Su Yue were all Soul Ancestors, with Su Yue being a Level 41 support-type Soul Ancestor who wielded the Star Spirit Scepter as her martial spirit.
"What is Shrek trying to do?"
The audience felt puzzled.
Shrek's lineup seemed underwhelming.
"Could it be that Shrek is aiming to showcase their ability to fight across levels?"
"That makes sense! Then again, only Shrek would have the resources to pull off something like this in the Tournament, right?"
"That's Shrek for you!"
(End of Chapter)