Flander smiled slightly. "I almost forgot to mention it. There aren't just two seeded teams in the finals—there are three."
"This third one…"
"…is the team directly sponsored by the Spirit Hall. It can also be said to be the most competitive team."
"Although Spirit Hall is not an advanced soul master academy, they have their own specialized institutions for cultivating soul masters."
"In the previous three Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournaments, aside from the Star Luo Empire winning once,""the other two championships were both won by teams sent by Spirit Hall."
"They will also be your strongest competitors in the future."
"Based on my experience, the soul master team sent by Spirit Hall is definitely far stronger than the Imperial Battle Team you've seen before."
The Shrek Seven Monsters looked at each other, but what showed in their eyes was not worry—rather, intense curiosity and excitement.
After so many soul battles,and having become the unprecedented Level Thirty Gold Soul Battle Team,what they desired most was a powerful opponent.
Without strong opponents, how could they temper themselves better?
Besides,with Ye Fan here, who could truly be considered an opponent?
"The rankings in the promotion matches will be conducted separately within the two great empires, determining positions from first to fifteenth."
"The benefits of these rankings will become apparent in the finals. The finals will adopt a knockout system."
"In each round, several teams will receive byes."
"In the first round, the three seeded teams will receive byes."
"The other thirty teams will be paired off to compete, and the fifteen winning teams will advance to the next round."
"In the second round, including the three seeded teams, there will be eighteen teams in total."
"At this point, among the remaining teams, the two teams ranked highest in the promotion matches will receive byes."
"The remaining sixteen teams will determine eight teams to enter the third round."
"In the third round, only ten teams remain. Once again, the two teams ranked highest will receive byes."
"Teams that have already received a bye will not receive a second one."
"After the third round, six teams will remain—that is, the final top six of the tournament."
"At this point, there will be no more byes. In the fourth round, the six teams will be paired by drawing lots."
"This will determine the final top three. For fairness, the final rankings of the top three will be decided through both team battles and individual elimination battles."
"First will be the individual elimination battle, following the same format as the promotion matches. The three teams will compete in a challenge-style format."
"Each side sends out seven members, taking turns to fight."
"The loser is eliminated, and the winner continues to face the next opponent."
"When all members of the other two academies have been eliminated, the winning academy will advance directly."
"The remaining two academies will then conduct a team battle to determine the other advancing position,"
"and finally face the team that advanced through the individual elimination match in the ultimate team battle final."
After listening to Flander's explanation, Ma Hongjun couldn't help but say,"Flander, why is this competition so complicated? I'm getting a bit dizzy."
Dai Mubai said irritably,"What's there to be dizzy about? No matter how the format works, as long as we remain undefeated, won't the championship be ours in the end?"
Flander nodded slightly."Mubai is right. While it's important to understand the format, in the face of absolute strength, these things aren't the most important."
"During the competition, I'll remind you of the format and analyze the opponents you'll face."
"Alright, everyone get up. In the final half year, what you need to do is tactical training."
"Oh, right—there's something I must remind you."
"In the Heaven Dou City division's preliminary matches, only three of you little monsters can be on the field at the same time."
"And unless it's absolutely necessary, Ye Fan must not take the field."
"Ah? Brother Fan can't take the field?"
Everyone present exclaimed in shock.
Flander said sternly,"What? You have objections? The players guaranteed to take the field in the preliminaries include Tai Long, Huang Yuan, Jing Ling, Jiang Zhu, and Tang San."
"The remaining three spots are for you to discuss among yourselves."
Ma Hongjun asked cautiously,"Teacher, is this to preserve our strength?"
"But what if we lose?"
Flander said calmly,"What? You don't even have this much confidence? Your real opponents are in the promotion matches and the finals. They definitely won't be in the preliminaries."
"If you expose all your strength at this stage, how difficult do you think the road ahead will become?"
"Besides, Ye Fan's combat power is far too strong right now. With him there, it would be a complete crushing victory, which wouldn't serve as training for you at all."
After hearing Flander's words, Ma Hongjun thought for a moment,exchanged a glance with Dai Mubai, then nodded.
"Teacher, I understand."
Flander patted the shoulder of his proud disciple.
"Ye Fan will be responsible for tactical arrangements on the field. The participating lineup will also be decided by Ye Fan."
"What I can remind you is that in the preliminaries, the fewer members of the Shrek Seven Monsters that appear, the better."
"In the finals, the opponents you face will be far stronger than you imagine."
"And you have only one goal. For that goal—work hard."
Over the next half year, under Flander's leadership, the participating members of Shrek Academy began tactical training.
Especially the four newly joined members, who spent every day in coordination practice.
It was never easy to synchronize a soul master team,but if there was an exceptionally outstanding soul master within the team,
then everything would become much simpler.
And that person was naturally Ye Fan.
Under his coordination, the four new members gradually became familiar with the Shrek Seven Monsters' combat methods.
At the same time, Ye Fan had already decided the lineup for the preliminary matches.
It would mainly rotate among four members of the Shrek Seven Monsters.
Although the preliminaries weren't particularly important, qualifying was still necessary.Therefore, among the four rotating members Ye Fan determined, he himself was included as a must-play.
Ye Fan would be the final trump card.
If the situation reached the point where they had to win the later matches to qualify, then Ye Fan would step in and sweep through.
This was the safeguard.
Half a year later, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire—Heaven Dou City.
The opening ceremony of the Heaven Dou Empire division of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournamentwas held with grand ceremony in Heaven Dou City.
As the grandest soul master competition in the soul master world,it attracted not only soul masters' attention, but also that of royalty, nobles, and commoners alike.
Every citizen of Heaven Dou City regarded this tournament as the greatest festival.
The opening ceremony was held inside the Heaven Dou Grand Soul Arena.
Tickets for the opening ceremony had already sold out a month in advance.
You should know thatthe price of these tickets was the same as the admission price of the Grand Soul Arena's main battle center.
As the main venue of the Heaven Dou division,
the Heaven Dou Grand Soul Arena had stopped all soul battles a month agoto undergo internal renovations.
All sub-arenas inside the Grand Soul Arena were merged with the main battle center, forming an enormous competition venue.
Aside from the VIP area retained on the northern side of the entire venue,the renovated Grand Soul Arena could accommodate up to eighty thousand spectators at once.
Although ticket sales generated considerable revenue,the arena itself also invested heavily.
For the upcoming period, all Heaven Dou division preliminary matches would be held here.
At dawn, before the sun had risen in the east,the renovated Heaven Dou Grand Soul Arena was already welcoming massive crowds.
The spectators arrived so early not to enter the venue ahead of time,since every ticket had an assigned seat.
What they wanted was to see the young participating soul masters up closeon the first day of the opening ceremony.
Among them were many young girls in the throes of youthful infatuation.
Just as Flander had said, the total number of soul masters across the continent didn't even exceed six figures.
Those who could represent advanced soul master academies were the cream of the crop.
With an age limit of twenty-five,they were undoubtedly the most ideal objects of admiration in young girls' hearts.
Marrying a powerful soul master would be a case of gaining both fame and fortune.
Even some nobles who had purchased VIP ticketswere also gathered outside at this time.
Nobles were always eager to recruit soul masters.
The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament itself was a cradle of talent.
Not to mention those who achieved notable results—even participants alone were sought after by nobles and clans.
At this moment, centered on the Heaven Dou Grand Soul Arena,nearly one-third of Heaven Dou City presented a scene of empty streets.
Starting several days earlier, all hotels of every level in Heaven Dou City were fully booked.
The city's population had increased by nearly fifty percent.
From this, one could see just how great the attraction of this tournament was.
For the sake of the tournament,Heaven Dou City mobilized a full five thousand city defense troops to maintain order,
thereby avoiding unrest as much as possible.
"Wow, so many people!"
Ning Rongrong couldn't help but exclaim.
She looked around everywhere—this was her first time seeing such a densely packed crowd.
Xiao Wu was also looking around excitedly, full of playful curiosity.
But aside from the two of them and Ye Fan,everyone else kept their heads lowered as much as possible.
Because the clothes they were wearing truly made them feel embarrassed.
The standard Shrek Academy uniform was not an ordinary green,but a color somewhere between yellow and green.
According to Dai Mubai, it was "shit green."
For this academy tournament,Dean Flander, with his impeccable taste, had specially ordered these uniforms for them.
The material was quite good and comfortable to wear.
But aside from the shit-green color,each person had a monster Shrek emblem on their chest that nearly covered the entire front.
And the color of this emblem was a bright, vivid green.
That wasn't all.The most bizarre part was that on each person's back,
there were six large, eye-catching red embroidered characters:"Sincerely Recruiting Title Sponsorship Advertising."
Below the six large characters was a line of small text:"For advertising fees, please consult Shrek Academy Dean Mr. Flander."
For this competition outfit,the Shrek Seven Monsters had once risen up in protest,but in the end were still suppressed by Flander's tyrannical authority.
After everyone's persistent struggle,Flander reluctantly agreed thatif there really was advertising income,
then one-third of all advertising revenue would be paid to the participating members, with the remainder used for academy construction.
For Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ye Fan,this money might not mean much, but for the others,
money was still important.
Moreover, everyone had seen the former situation of Shrek Academy.Now that there was finally a chance to earn money,
they couldn't really embarrass Flander too much.
Although the dean was a bit scheming and sly,it truly hadn't been easy for him to support the academy all these years.
In addition, Flander had a lofty-sounding reason:
Although the uniforms were ugly, they were also a form of psychological training.
If they could remain unfazed amid widespread ridicule,then their mental resilience would reach a certain level.
The Shrek Seven Monsters muttered secretly—this was clearly training the thickness of their skin.
Because of these bizarre outfits,
the moment Ye Fan and the others entered the crowd,they immediately drew special attention.
"What academy is that? My god, did they just crawl out of a latrine?"
"Haha, that green monster pattern on their chests is so cute."
"Why do their ears look like trumpets?"
"Look, look, they're even recruiting advertisements on their backs? Is there really such an advanced soul master academy?"
"And this kind of academy can participate in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament? That's hilarious."
"Truly, the bigger the forest, the stranger the birds."
"No, it's the bigger the birds, the stranger the forests."
"Keep it down—they're soul masters after all."
"But they're probably just here to go through the motions."
"Look, there's even a fat guy in there—he looks like a ball."
If there were a crack in the ground at that moment, the eleven students from Shrek Academy would probably have scrambled to钻 into it.
Even with some mental preparation,they hadn't expected so many people to be gathered outside the arena.
It was like an exhibition—an absolutely negative example.
No longer caring about dignity, Dai Mubai was the first to take out the Shrek mask he had used during the soul battle competitions and cover his face.
The Shrek Seven Monsters and Tang San hurriedly followed suit.
The pitiful four who joined later—Tai Long and the others—didn't have this equipment,so they could only cover their faces with their hands, looking utterly miserable.
Flander walked in front with an expression of "I don't know these people,"striding straight into the crowd.
Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong followed closely behind, not slowing down at all.
That was because the three of them weren't wearing similar outfits,to avoid drawing fire onto themselves.
Flander naturally knew very well how much attention these clothes attracted.This was deliberate—
otherwise, how would people notice the advertisement on their backs?
Fortunately, many teams had come to participate in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament that day,with representatives from nearly thirty academies.
Most of the public's interest was drawn to those teams instead.
Only then did the Shrek group manage, after great difficulty, to squeeze into the Heaven Dou Grand Soul Arena.
............................
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