It had to be acknowledged that Liu Erlong truly cared deeply for Yu Xiaogang. Understanding that the Shrek team's substitute roster was insufficient, she directly introduced Tailong and Jiangzhu, the most outstanding disciples of Lanba Academy, to Flender.
Yang Xiong remained uncertain about exactly what had transpired between the various parties. Eventually, Titan encountered Tang San, who revealed his second martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer. After that dramatic revelation, Tang San gained a devoted follower in Tailong.
Even Yang Xiong lamented the unpredictable nature of fate, never imagining that events would eventually return to following the original timeline despite all the changes.
Time passed swiftly, and more than a year elapsed. The Soul Master Competition was rapidly approaching, or rather, the time for Yang Xiong's graduation was drawing near.
After a year and a half of intensive training, Yang Xiong had improved by a remarkable six levels during this single year, now reaching level thirty-eight—the greatest improvement among all his peers.
Compared to Yang Xiong's exceptional progress, the others had also achieved significant advancement.
Among them, Dai Mubai had successfully broken through to level forty-two, making him the only Spirit Ancestor among the group. However, Dai Mubai was already seventeen years old, giving him a considerable age advantage.
Tang San's soul power had now reached level thirty-nine, only one level higher than Yang Xiong, while Xiao Wu had achieved level thirty-eight, matching Yang Xiong's current soul power level.
Oscar had trained diligently alongside Yang Xiong throughout this year, and his soul power had reached level thirty-six, representing a full four-level improvement in a single year.
Ning Rongrong had also achieved level thirty-six, though she had only recently broken through to this milestone.
Both Zhu Zhuqing and Qin Shuang had reached level thirty-four. These two young women cultivated with exceptional dedication, but unfortunately, their innate soul power was relatively low, and they probably wouldn't be able to advance further in the immediate future.
Qin Shuang, in particular, showed a special affinity for cultivating within the gravity simulation environment, spending even longer periods there than Yang Xiong. She engaged in daily sparring sessions with Zhao Wuji, just as Yang Xiong did. The gravity simulation environment seemed specifically designed for her martial soul type.
In comparison, Ma Hongjun had only reached level thirty-three, representing the lowest soul power level among the entire group. He had even been surpassed by both Qin Shuang and Zhu Zhuqing, causing Flender considerable embarrassment, especially since Ma Hongjun was his personal disciple.
Team Composition and Strategy
Judging from the cultivation speed of the Shrek Seven Devils, even if they reached the tournament finals, there would be at most four Spirit Ancestors. Only Yang Xiong, Tang San, and Xiao Wu had realistic chances of achieving another breakthrough. The others lagged too far behind.
Without the benefit of immortal herbs, the Shrek Seven Devils were not as extraordinarily talented as in the original timeline, but in terms of natural ability and cultivation speed, they remained far superior to their peers. Especially by the next Soul Master Competition, everyone achieving Spirit Ancestor status or even multiple Spirit Kings wouldn't be problematic.
However, in this particular Soul Master Competition, they could only serve as supporting characters. At the very least, there was no realistic hope of winning the championship.
The day before the Soul Master Competition officially began, all teachers and students of the Shrek Academy team from Heaven Dou Royal Academy gathered together once more. Yu Xiaogang and Flender explained the competition rules in detail, including all aspects of the preliminary and advancement rounds.
It was evident that instructors like Yu Xiaogang felt very confident. Although they wouldn't win the championship, they were confident in achieving a top-five position in the preliminary rounds. Normal advanced soul master academies generally possessed only one or two Spirit Ancestors, while their team, despite having only one official Spirit Ancestor, had Yang Xiong, Tang San, and even Xiao Wu possessing Spirit Ancestor-level combat capabilities. The others demonstrated excellent cooperation.
Moreover, compared to other teams, the Shrek team had recently undergone training in Sunset Forest, giving them relatively richer combat experience. They had even witnessed considerable bloodshed, which definitely couldn't be compared to ordinary academy teams.
The current Shrek team had no way to conserve their strength as in the original story, and the main lineup was quickly confirmed.
The primary seven members were Dai Mubai, Tang San, Yang Xiong, Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, Tailong, and Oscar, while the substitutes were Qin Shuang, Zhu Zhuqing, Ma Hongjun, and Jiangzhu.
Among them, Tailong's soul power level had reached thirty-eight, matching Yang Xiong's level in the main lineup. After all, he had originally been the captain of Lanba Academy.
Although Yang Xiong had attempted every possible method during this year, even requesting Lin Gong to create additional pressure for him, he remained unable to truly integrate his pair of Exploding Dragon Claws completely with his body. This made Yang Xiong realize that his dragon claws were becoming increasingly extraordinary. Complete integration probably wouldn't be so simple. Perhaps it was because the dragon bloodline within these claws was too powerful for him to fully absorb at his current level.
Yu Xiaogang continued following his established plan, assigning Tang San responsibility for the team's formation and tactical arrangements. After all, he was the only control-type soul master on the team.
Yang Xiong didn't concern himself excessively with these matters. He didn't take this Soul Master Competition too seriously anyway. He would only exert approximately seventy percent of his true strength during competition, and wouldn't pay excessive attention to the rest.
Compared to Yang Xiong's calm demeanor, Yu Xiaogang and Tang San appeared much more nervous. They both wanted to prove themselves even more dramatically.
During this year, Yang Xiong's soul power had drawn increasingly closer to Tang San's level, which created considerable pressure for Tang San himself.
Originally, Tang San felt that his talent was unparalleled and that he cultivated with exceptional diligence. Unfortunately, if both sides continued cultivating at this rate, he might be surpassed by Yang Xiong. At that point, his innate full soul power would become somewhat of a joke.
As the team leader, especially since he was Tang San's teacher, Yu Xiaogang believed even more strongly that Tang San was absolutely unparalleled under his guidance. However, it appeared that his disciple was about to be surpassed by a teammate. Wouldn't his individual instruction become meaningless?
However, Yang Xiong had never demonstrated his soul skills publicly. They simply didn't understand Yang Xiong's spirit ring abilities or which soul beasts they originated from. Even though the pair had analyzed Yang Xiong numerous times, they still knew virtually nothing.
Yu Xiaogang had even hinted at Yang Xiong in various ways, but Yang Xiong pretended not to understand. This person lacked sufficient strength to force him into revealing anything.
Competition Preparations and Politics
Of course, there were also numerous external rumors suggesting that if the two teams from Heaven Dou Royal Academy were combined, the merged team's strength might be superior. Even Qin Ming, the leader of the first team, had expressed this viewpoint.
Unfortunately, this proposal eventually came to nothing. The Heaven Dou Royal First Team was already internally complicated, with each member possessing their own background and connections. If the two teams were truly merged, their cooperation might not be as effective as current arrangements. In particular, the three major education committees valued the second team's potential more than their current strength.
The Soul Master Competition finally began on this momentous day. The original Heaven Dou City Great Soul Arena had been transformed to appear more prestigious, with more than a dozen smaller soul arenas expanded within the facility.
The entire Heaven Dou City bustled with activity, especially outside the Great Soul Arena, which was packed with enormous crowds.
The Shrek Seven Devils, dressed in distinctive silver battle robes, walked among all the participating teams.
The first to take the stage was naturally the Heaven Dou Royal Academy First Team, followed by the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Shrek Team, which should have been called the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Second Team. However, the three major education committees and Crown Prince Xue Qinghe had specially designated this name out of respect for the Shrek Seven Devils.
If the area outside the Great Soul Arena bustled with people, then the interior of the arena was absolutely packed, with enthusiastic cheers erupting regularly.
Seated in the center of the guest section was Emperor Xue Ye, with Ning Fengzhi and a high-ranking Spirit Hall member on either side—presumably Salas, the Platinum Bishop of Spirit Hall in the Heaven Dou region, who was also the actual host of this soul fighting competition.
Yang Xiong had participated in numerous soul master duels, but he had never participated in a competition of this magnitude that was observed by the entire continent. No wonder Yu Xiaogang and others attached such tremendous importance to it.
The First Match
After Platinum Bishop Salas conducted the drawing ceremony, the opponent of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Shrek Team turned out to be Lanba Academy, which left Yang Xiong somewhat speechless.
Originally, Lanba Academy's strength within the Heaven Dou region ranked at the bottom, and now even their captain had been recruited to the Shrek team, making their combat power extremely weak.
As a result, they were caught completely off guard by Shrek immediately upon taking the stage, with all members knocked down within just thirty seconds. Yang Xiong hadn't even needed to exert any effort when all opponents were eliminated from the platform.
According to Tang San's tactical arrangement, although Yang Xiong had taken the stage, he positioned himself relatively toward the rear of the entire formation, primarily serving as a defensive soul master to protect Oscar and Ning Rongrong, while simultaneously acting as a surprise attack specialist during combat. After all, with Yang Xiong's speed, he could easily be classified as an agility-attack type soul master.
Yang Xiong himself was content to remain relatively inactive. He wouldn't perform any tide-turning heroics. Displaying seventy percent of his strength was already generous toward everyone.
Meanwhile, Yang Xiong paid particular attention to Liu Erlong. Even though Lanba Academy had been so thoroughly defeated, she, as the dean, didn't seem to care at all. Her entire attention was focused on Yu Xiaogang, which left Yang Xiong speechless. The Douluo Continent was indeed known as the Love Continent. Why did these women prioritize romance so much more than their careers?
Of course, Yang Xiong also harbored a very strange question. Normally, Xiao Wu shouldn't be participating in this type of soul master competition, especially since there were experts like Sword Douluo in the stands, and even other Titled Douluo experts might occasionally appear. However, Xiao Wu seemed fearless and actively participated in the competition, which made Yang Xiong begin to develop certain doubts.
Observing the Competition
In the following days, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Shrek Team achieved consecutive victories, with several soul masters appearing exceptionally impressive, while Yang Xiong, positioned at the back of the team, performed relatively averagely.
Originally, Yang Xiong hadn't been particularly interested in this type of competition, but since everyone around him was discussing it constantly, he couldn't help but observe the battles of other teams.
The Five Element Academy was indeed a veteran powerhouse. Each team performed brilliantly, especially the captains of individual teams, whose strength had essentially reached the Spirit Ancestor realm. Their various spirit ring skills were also quite impressive. In terms of foundation and experience, they were indeed far superior to the Shrek Seven Devils.
Yang Xiong even observed his eldest brother Yang Wei taking the stage. Although he was only a substitute for Purple Star Academy, he now possessed level thirty-four soul power, and his Iron Sword martial soul demonstrated extremely powerful attack capabilities. He was also a rare weapon martial soul master in the soul fighting competition.
As everyone understood, weapon martial souls were much more difficult to cultivate than beast martial souls in the early stages. Although Yang Wei's soul power level was average, he received substantial resources from the sect for training, and his overall physical fitness was excellent. In particular, the sect possessed specialized inherited swordsmanship that ordinary soul masters couldn't compare to.
Yang Xiong also privately contemplated whether, since this was his own eldest brother and one of his closest people in this world, he needed to pay special attention to him and even develop plans for his future. Especially since this brother had treated him quite well during childhood, though he had possessed his own cultivation methods and their father's guidance, so the two sides hadn't communicated extensively about cultivation matters.
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