Last time outside Tiandou City, Su Yu saw the great battle between Yan Shaozhe and Zhongli Wu from a distance.
However, the distance was too great, and Su Yu couldn't conveniently observe closely using Spiritual Power, so Yan Shaozhe's appearance wasn't clear to him.
Yet, he was quite familiar with Yan Shaozhe's Soul Power aura.
"Since Yan Shaozhe has entered Mingdu, then Xuanzi should also be in Mingdu,"
Su Yu couldn't understand what Shrek was thinking, with Yan Shaozhe appearing openly, was this indirectly informing the Sun and Moon Empire that they had entered Mingdu?
"Could it be that they don't intend to cause trouble anymore?"
By hiding their identities to infiltrate Mingdu, they surely have their own purposes, protecting their juniors being only one aspect.
Now that they've exposed the fact that they've entered Mingdu, whatever they want to do won't be so easy...
"Perhaps, they know that whether exposed or not, the defenses in Mingdu against them have already reached the highest level," Su Yu thought.
Perhaps this is the reason Yan Shaozhe didn't have any psychological burden.
...
As Su Yu pondered, the competition continued.
Soon, it was Tang Sect's turn.
The lineup of Tang Sect was also very high, one could say they were selected from Shrek Inner Courtyard, consisting of those with interests or needs in the Tang Sect.
"Tang Ya Soul King, Beibei Soul Emperor, Wang Dong Soul Emperor, even Jiang Nannan has reached Soul Emperor, Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu are Soul Kings, and there is a Five-Ring Seven Treasures Glazed Tower Ningtian."
By now, the Tang Sect was not hiding anything anymore.
The quality of their reserve team was slightly inferior, consisting of Soul Sects, though it did have some Soul Kings, but certainly couldn't compare to these seven in strength.
Of course, Tang Ya being the Sect Leader made her a main team member.
...
Tang Sect's opponent was the advanced Soul Master Academy team corresponding to the Douling Empire, and their match order was two-two-three and then a team match, concluding with a single match.
Even before reaching the individual match, Tang Sect had already secured victory.
It must be said, Tang Sect's lineup was among the top of the participating teams, provided it didn't encounter an accident like the Proud Sword Sect being matched against the Sun and Moon Royal Team early, entering the top eight wasn't a problem.
Teams with a Soul Emperor in place weren't common.
After all, a twenty-something-year-old Soul Emperor, even if progressing one level a year on average later, in thirty years they would be a Titled Douluo!
A Titled Douluo at fifty is considered genius-level at any time.
Afterward, given another hundred years, with time's honing, they have the potential to reach Super Douluo level.
Of course, the premise is they don't perish prematurely in between.
...
"The elimination matches are over; the thirty-six finalists of the Soul Fighting Competition have been determined. The next phase is the round-robin tournament of the Soul Fighting Competition."
"Each of the thirty-six teams please send one member to the stage to draw lots."
Thirty-six contestants ascended the podium.
The round-robin will divide all thirty-six finalist teams into four groups, each with nine teams.
Every two teams among the nine will compete, meaning each group has to have thirty-six matches in total.
Today is the first day of the round-robin. Since the third round of eliminations was held before, today each group will have one match.
In the following days, each group will have three matches daily.
This means that in twelve days, the top eight will emerge.
After the top eight, they will proceed to the final eight competitions, determined through further drawing of lots to decide the top four, followed by semifinals and finals.
Each round after the top eight is about every three days.
This is to allow all contestants to exert their full potential, making the final result more convincing.
Otherwise, two teams might negotiate to exhaust an opponent significantly in the previous match, thereby relieving pressure on the other team, which isn't fair.
Of course, risking violating rules to kill the opponent exceeds the range that regulations can govern.
...
There are A, B, C, and D types of lots for the grouping.
Thirty-six teams draw thirty-six lots.
"Group A!"
The Sun and Moon Royal Team was drawn into Group A.
The Shrek Tang Sect was placed in Group B. The Essence Sect is in Group C, while the Holy Spirit Sect is in Group D.
In the group where the Holy Spirit Sect is, the other eight teams are sects and academies from the Douluo Three Kingdoms.
"We do have some strong teams in Group A; Xingluo Royal Academy has the potential to reach the top eight, and there's also Earth Dragon Sect, both having Sub-dragon Martial Souls, their strength isn't weak either..."
Despite saying this, Su Yu was quite satisfied with such an arrangement.
"Next, there are eight matches in total, you three should try to finish your string of seven tasks during this process, otherwise, in the top eight competition, you might not manage,"
Su Yu looked at Xiao Ping and the others, assigning them the task.
...
"The first round of Group A's round-robin, Sun and Moon Royal Team versus Earth Dragon Sect, both sides send representatives to draw the competition mode."
The round-robin also has three systems, best of three, but the competition mode is drawn for each match, unlike the elimination rounds, which adopted different sequences every day.
Xiao Ping went on stage to represent the Sun and Moon Royal Team for the draw, while the Earth Dragon Sect was represented by a tall, burly youth.
Both sides drew a slip of paper.
"First match, two-two-three format."
"Second match, individual match."
"Third match, team match."
"The first is a two-two-three match, and the second is an individual match, not bad."
With the individual match not being the third, there was an opportunity to complete the string of seven.
Su Yu contemplated for a while and began to assign based on the Earth Dragon Sect's lineup.
"Xiao Ping, the string of seven in this match is up to you, conserve some energy during the two-two-three, and be prepared for the individual match," Su Yu instructed.
"Alright." Xiao Ping's gaze was firm.
"For the first match, Yuhao, you and Zhou Xinghao go together. For the second, it's me and Shi Xing, and for the third, Xiaomeng, you and the others will bring Xiao Ping."
Su Yu quickly arranged the sequence for the stage.
The Earth Dragon Sect team on the opposite side fell into silence.
The strength of the Sun and Moon Royal Team was evident to all.
In fact, after the seven days of preliminaries, the Earth Dragon Sect had a realistic understanding of the quality of the participating teams.
Before, the Earth Dragon Sect thought they stood a chance in the finals with their lineup, given they had four Soul Kings.
However, after experiencing the eliminations, they realized how naive they were.
Even the Proud Sword Sect, which possessed a Soul Emperor and all members were above Soul King level, could not avoid elimination when drawn against the Sun and Moon Royal Team.
Otherwise, such a team reaching the round-robin would still have a chance.
Unfortunately, it was in the eliminations.
Encountering the Sun and Moon Royal Team in the first round of the round-robin, Nan Qiuqiu from the Earth Dragon Sect felt a wave of despair.
At a minimum, they were a team consisting of Soul Kings.
Considering the enhancement from that Battle Armor, they might even possess Soul Emperor-level strength.
How can they fight that?