Star Luo City.
The sky was only just beginning to brighten, yet the city was already alive with activity.
A dark, densely packed crowd gathered outside Star Luo Square, filling the air with noise and excitement. Even with tens of thousands of soldiers stationed around the square, they could barely maintain order.
Six days had passed since the start of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament's round-robin stage, and the clashes between the academy teams had grown increasingly fierce.
Each team was fighting desperately for one of the two advancement spots in their respective groups.
Some matches had even turned brutally violent, resulting in severe injuries and deaths. The faint stench of blood from these battles, ironically, only made the matches more thrilling to watch.
Such was the nature of humanity—
The more brutal the spectacle, the more it drew the crowd's admiration.
The Star Luo Empire's officials, who were making a fortune off this year's tournament, didn't hold back in rewarding the fallen. Generous compensation was granted to any student who died unexpectedly in battle.
However, the noise outside Star Luo Square had no effect on the participants residing at the Star Emperor Hotel, where the competing teams from the various elite Soul Master and Soul Engineer academies stayed.
At the top floor of the Star Emperor Hotel, in the meeting room reserved exclusively for Shrek Academy's representative team, the atmosphere was calm yet focused.
Wang Yan sat at the head of the long table. On his left were the six members of the reserve team, while to his right sat Chen Zifeng and Gongyang Mo, two members of the main team.
The round-robin had now reached its midpoint, and today, Shrek Academy would be competing in their fourth match of the stage.
Yes—
the fourth match.
Because of Xu Zihuang's dazzling performances in both the first knockout round and the first round-robin match, the teams grouped with Shrek had all been deeply intimidated and pressured.
Although Sylvis Academy's overall strength was only mid-tier within the group, its captain Yang Wushang and vice-captain Gu Fengli were both exceptionally powerful. Their soul power levels were forty-nine and forty-eight, respectively—only a step away from reaching Soul King.
In this year's tournament, Soul Kings under twenty years old were rare.
Yet both of them had been completely crushed head-on by Xu Zihuang.
Naturally, the other academies, whose overall strength couldn't even match Sylvis Academy's, weren't foolish enough to challenge Shrek Academy directly.
After all, the round-robin followed a point system—only the top two teams would advance.
Shrek's opponent in the second match had therefore chosen to forfeit outright, admitting defeat before the battle even began.
Their third-round opponent had fared no better. Several of their main members had been seriously injured in their previous match, forcing their teacher to withdraw the team altogether.
Thus, with only Xu Zihuang having demonstrated his power so far, Shrek Academy had secured three easy victories in the round-robin—without shedding a single drop of blood.
This also gave Chen Zifeng and Gongyang Mo precious time to recover from their injuries.
Now that both appeared in the meeting room, it meant they were fully healed and could participate in today's fourth match.
But Xu Zihuang himself knew nothing of this—
because five days earlier, he had entered deep meditation by sheer coincidence.
For soul masters, there were two primary states of cultivation: meditation and deep meditation.
Ordinary meditation was also called shallow cultivation. It was the usual state in which soul masters trained—if disturbed or sensing changes in their surroundings, they would awaken on their own, suffering no major effects.
Deep meditation, however, was a rare and fortuitous state. When a soul master gained sudden insight while meditating, their mind would unconsciously sink deeper, completely isolating them from external perception. They would remain immersed in that state until awakening naturally.
During deep meditation, the circulation of soul power within the body accelerated to several times the normal speed, and comprehension also soared. Concepts that were difficult to grasp before often became suddenly clear.
It was no exaggeration to say that a single deep meditation was worth more than ten ordinary meditations.
Because Shrek's second and third opponents had forfeited their matches, Xu Zihuang had been able to cultivate undisturbed until today.
His absence from the meeting room was precisely for that reason.
Sitting to Wang Yan's right, Chen Zifeng looked out at the rising sun and reminded solemnly,
"Teacher Wang, it's getting late. We should head out. Today's opponent, Zheng Tian Academy, is quite strong—but they only have three Soul Kings. With me and Gongyang Mo on the field, it should be enough."
Wang Yan paused for a moment, then stood and nodded.
"Alright. We'll stick to the plan. Chen Zifeng, Gongyang Mo, Beibei, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, He Caitou, and Wang Dong—you seven will participate."
With Gongyang Mo, a level fifty-nine auxiliary-type Soul King, joining the lineup, Ning Tian was naturally replaced.
It was indeed a formidable setup. In their current group, only Zheng Tian Academy could truly match such a lineup in strength.
However, what the team lacked most was a true core—a control-type battle soul master.
The reason Wang Yan hadn't immediately led everyone to Star Luo Square was because he still hoped Yu Tianhuang (Xu Zihuang) would awaken from deep meditation in time to participate in today's battle.
There were three formats in the round-robin, determined by on-the-spot drawing: team battle, two-two-three format, and individual elimination.
If they drew team battle, having a control-type soul master—or not—could make all the difference.
And Yu Tianhuang's individual strength was an overwhelming advantage in any case.
"Understood, Teacher Wang."
Everyone answered in unison.
The reserve members—Beibei, Xu Sanshi, and the others—didn't seem particularly nervous.
Even without Yu Tianhuang, the addition of two powerful senior members from the inner court made their lineup formidable.
Last to rise was Ning Tian, who hesitated briefly before saying softly,
"Teacher Wang, since I'm not needed for today's match, I'll stay at the hotel. I'll check on Tianhuang—if he wakes up from deep meditation before the match starts, maybe he can still make it in time."
Her words struck directly at Wang Yan's thoughts, and he immediately agreed.
"That's fine. Stay with Tianhuang and make sure nothing disturbs him. If he wakes up, you two can join us at Star Luo Square later."
After giving his instructions, Wang Yan led the others out of the room.
——
Meanwhile, in a luxurious room not far from the meeting hall, Xu Zihuang sat cross-legged on a soft sofa, deep in cultivation.
Brilliant golden light radiated from his body, reflecting off the floor-to-ceiling amethyst curtains before him, scattering into a dazzling display of colors.
During deep meditation, a soul master's power instinctively released outward for self-protection, concealing all aura from detection. Xu Zihuang was now completely immersed in this extraordinary state.
The soul power coursing through his meridians flowed at astonishing speed, and he was steadily approaching the bottleneck of level forty-three.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are 40 early chapters available on Patreo
[email protected]/facficmax10