The morning was clear and bright, with sunny skies.
Standing before the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Daydream Hotel, the bustling scene of Abyss City was fully visible. In the distance, the coast was teeming with people, and a clamor rose and fell.
The round-robin matches had concluded, and the list of the top sixteen teams was freshly announced. Next, they would enter the round of sixteen, where teams would compete to advance to the top eight.
At this stage, the competition was gradually nearing its end.
Although the emergence of the Stigmata had caused a storm in the soul master world, for the common audience, their focus remained on the exciting matches to come.
In the round of sixteen, four matches would be held daily.
Without suspense, as the defending champions and host, St. Freya Academy's match was scheduled for the first slot.
According to the rules, the top team from a group would always face the second-place team from another group.
Therefore, St. Freya Academy's opponent for this match was Justsky Advanced Soul Academy, which had lost to Shrek Academy in the group stage and advanced as the second-place team.
It must be said,Justsky Advanced Soul Academy's luck was truly lacking.
As Lu Jingming led his team out of the Daydream Hotel, he saw Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy also preparing to head to the arena.
Xiao Hongchen's face was as black as a pot bottom, clearly indicating he had just had an argument with someone from Shrek Academy and hadn't gained any advantage.
"What's going on, everyone? The match is about to begin!" Lu Jingming glanced at Ma Xiaotao, then said with a smile.
"Student Lu Jingming!" Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen had their backs to Lu Jingming and the others. Hearing his voice, they quickly turned around.
Meng Hongchen looked at Lu Jingming's handsome face, then at Wang Dong's delicate features. One was masculine, the other feminine, both so outstanding. This caused a conflicted expression to appear on Meng Hongchen's face.
"Hi everyone, let's not fight!" March 7th greeted everyone familiarly. Her lively and adorable demeanor instantly made everyone feel favorably towards her.
"Yuhao, something's not right. I sense the aura of a fellow clansman on this pink-haired girl. It's that soul bone; she's refined it!"
In his spiritual space, Ice Empress's voice held clear surprise.
Huo Yuhao's expression changed, and he looked at March 7th in disbelief.
He knew very well what it meant for the Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone to be refined by the other party. This seemingly harmless, lively, and adorable pink-haired girl was, like him, a possessor of Ultimate Ice.
Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao glanced at the quiet and gentle Firefly, his eyes filled with profound shock.
He felt a bit lost. Weren't Ultimate attribute soul masters said to be rare, seen only once in a millennium? How was it that St. Freya Academy seemed to have them gathering in clusters? Could there be even more Ultimate attribute soul masters among the others?
Huo Yuhao's gaze swept over Castorice, Jinshi, Robin, and the others, and his heart sank.
"Everyone, let's walk together. We're all young people; if there are any disagreements, why not settle them on the arena?"
Lu Jingming extended an invitation with a smile. Without waiting for a reply, he led his team towards the coast.
"Hey, brat!" Suddenly, Ma Xiaotao called out to Lu Jingming.
Lu Jingming's mouth twitched slightly, and he retorted ungraciously, "Ma Xiaotao, can't you remember my name, or have you forgotten your previous lesson?"
Ma Xiaotao froze for a moment, recalling Lu Jingming's teasing words from before. Her pretty face immediately flushed, and then she said, annoyed, "If you call me Sister Xiaotao, I might even change my address for you. No, that's not the point! Listen to me, this time, we definitely won't lose!"
"Oh, I'm quite looking forward to it then!" Lu Jingming smiled indifferently. Although Ma Xiaotao had broken through to Soul Sage, he honestly didn't take it seriously. So what if she was a Soul Sage? Could she block his Abyssal White Flower?
"Hmph, just you wait! Sister Xiaotao will give you a good lesson sooner or later!" Ma Xiaotao's cheeks were flushed with anger. She couldn't stand Lu Jingming's condescending attitude towards her.
"Sister Xiaotao, you two know each other?" Xu Sanshi leaned closer and asked in a low voice.
After all, anyone could tell from Ma Xiaotao and Lu Jingming's conversation that they had known each other before.
"More than just know each other, they're old rivals!" Ling Luochen's lips curled slightly. She had also seen Lu Jingming, who was always with Zhang Lexuan and Keqing, in the previous tournament. Naturally, she knew Lu Jingming was Ma Xiaotao's bane, always managing to infuriate her.
"This student Lu, he's truly capable!" Xu Sanshi fanned himself with his folding fan, sighing.
"How so?" Bei Bei asked, looking puzzled.
"Can't you tell? When Sister Xiaotao spoke, the girls from St. Freya Academy looked at her a bit oddly. And Sister Xiaotao's attitude is quite unusual! She's known as the 'live volcano' of the Inner Court; when did she become so agreeable?"
Xu Sanshi leaned in and whispered into Bei Bei's ear.
Bei Bei paused slightly, then also realized that something indeed seemed off.
But he quickly said helplessly, "These aren't our concerns. If we gossip any more, we might get a beating!"
Xu Sanshi shivered subconsciously at that, secretly glanced at Ma Xiaotao, and seeing that she wasn't paying attention to him, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
If Ma Xiaotao found out he was speculating behind her back, he truly would get a beating!
March 7th's charm was truly extraordinary. Along the way, she not only chatted animatedly with Xiao Xiao, Jiang Nan Nan, and Meng Hongchen, but even the usually aloof Ling Luochen would respond to her. This showed how high Little March's affinity was.
Little March, with this demeanor, was absolutely a "social terrorist"!
Compared to Meng Hongchen and Xiao Xiao, who saw each other as imaginary rivals, Little March had no such thoughts at all.
In her view, competition was competition, but friendships between girls were more important. She genuinely liked making friends.
Under Little March's matchmaking, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo also pulled Ye Guyi into their circle. Xiao Xiao even asked Little March to help her get an autograph from Robin, grinning from ear to ear.
To outsiders, the girls from the three teams seemed to get along exceptionally well, completely unlike teams about to fight to the death on the arena.
However, the boys were not as harmonious. Lu Jingming was busy trading barbs with Ma Xiaotao, while Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Hongchen glared at each other, creating quite a tense atmosphere.
Soon, guided by the paths opened by the city guards, they passed through the dense crowds and once again boarded a soul guiding warship, arriving at the Eye of the Abyss.
The three teams then separated, entering their respective lounges.
As soon as they entered the lounge, Huo Yuhao couldn't wait to inform the others of his discovery.
"Huh?! Class monitor, you're not mistaken, are you? Little March is actually an Ultimate Ice attribute soul master?"
Xiao Xiao's face was full of disbelief upon hearing this.
It was hard to imagine that the usually lively, outgoing, and cheerful girl would actually be an ice attribute soul master, and what's more, an extremely rare Ultimate Ice attribute one.
Jiang Nan Nan looked deeply at Huo Yuhao, secretly marveling. She hadn't expected him to be able to sense the Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone and thus determine that March 7th was an Ultimate Ice soul master.
She actually knew this information earlier than Huo Yuhao, but for certain reasons, she hadn't revealed it to anyone.
Bei Bei, Wang Yan, and the others were equally surprised, but they chose to trust Huo Yuhao's judgment. After all, his martial soul was the Ice Jade Scorpion, giving him a unique perception in this regard.
"So, St. Freya Academy doesn't just have one Ultimate attribute soul master. They have both Ice and Fire, and both of them counter me!" Ma Xiaotao's mouth twitched slightly, and she couldn't help but feel some regret recalling the bold statement she had just made to Lu Jingming.
The Ultimate Fire attribute suppressed her, and the Ultimate Ice attribute countered her. She felt as if she had violated heavenly rules; how could all the bad luck happen to her?
The competition's resting areas were much quieter than before, as only sixteen teams remained now.
The teams that had managed to stand out and remain were almost all well-known advanced academies on the continent. This year, there hadn't been a dark horse team like St. Freya Academy in the previous tournament.
The round of sixteen, leading to the top eight, would last four days, with four matches held daily. The competition was divided into team battles and individual elimination matches, held on separate days.
The first day would feature team battles. Even if a team lost the team battle, as long as one side could eliminate three of the opponent's seven members in the individual elimination match, they could still reverse the situation and secure victory.
Therefore, the Soul Master Tournament actually placed more emphasis on individual combat power.
As long as a team had an exceptionally powerful soul master, even if they lost the team battle, they still had a chance to achieve a comeback in the individual elimination matches.
Teams that won the team battle also had a certain advantage. In the individual elimination matches, they only needed seven people to defeat three of the opponent's to ensure final victory.
Overall, the tournament rules were more favorable to players with strong individual abilities.
"Round of Sixteen Team Battle: St. Freya Academy versus Justsky Advanced Soul Academy! Both teams, please enter the arena!"
The names and member avatars of the two teams were clearly displayed on the soul guiding screen, allowing all spectators to see them at a glance.
Dan Heng, as the referee, also appeared punctually at the center of the competition stage.
This time, Lu Jingming made a personnel adjustment, replacing Jinshi with Ye Guyi.
This was because Justsky Advanced Soul Academy had an Angel martial soul user, and Ye Guyi was very interested in sparring with them.
As both teams successively ascended the competition stage, the cheers from the audience instantly roared to the sky, pushing the atmosphere to its peak.
Compared to the composed and calm demeanor of Lu Jingming and the others, the faces of Justsky Advanced Soul Academy's seven members looked particularly grim.
This was truly helpless; encountering St. Freya Academy meant their participation in the tournament would likely end here, only reaching the top sixteen. Such a result was even worse than their performance in the previous tournament.
Lu Jingming looked at the seven approaching figures, their information flashing quickly through his mind.
The serious-looking young man at the forefront was Justsky Advanced Soul Academy's captain, Ye Wuqing. His martial soul was the Golden Leaf, and he was a Level 59 Assault System Soul King.
If this tournament had been held a few months later, he might have been able to participate as a Soul Emperor.
The blonde girl next to Ye Wuqing was Yu Mengdi. Her martial soul was the Twin-Winged Angel. She was a descendant of the Martial Soul Hall's Angel Legion from ten thousand years ago, currently a Level 53 Assault System Soul King.
Although both were Angel martial souls, Yu Mengdi's Twin-Winged Angel was quite inferior to Ye Guyi's Holy Angel, and it also lacked the passive effect of increasing cultivation by killing evil soul masters.
Because of this, Yu Mengdi was already nineteen years old, but her soul power was only Level 53.
Such talent would have been considered top-tier ten thousand years ago, but in the present day, it wasn't particularly outstanding.
However, even the weakest Angel martial soul was still a top-tier martial soul, no worse than typical top-tier beast martial souls.
Justsky Advanced Soul Academy had a total of three Soul Kings. The last one was a handsome black-haired young man named Tang Xiaolei, whose martial soul was the Violet Splendor Bow, a Level 52 Assault System Soul King.
As forJustsky Advanced Soul Academy's other four members, they were: the rather unattractive Shangguan Can, whose martial soul was the Soul Suppressing Bell, a Level 46 Control System Soul Sect;
The red-haired, braided, well-figured Yan'er, whose martial soul was Fire Element, a Level 45 Assault System Soul Sect;
The hooded Yang Yifan, whose martial soul was the Shadow Blade, a Level 46 Agility Attack System Soul Sect;
And finally, the somewhat irritable young man, Xue Lang, whose martial soul was the Bloodthirsty Demonic Wolf, a Level 47 Agility Attack System Soul Sect.