"They are nothing but clumsy imitators. How could they possibly grasp the essence of the Soul Engineer system?" Meng Hongchen said disdainfully after hearing Ma Rulong's words. "However, Jiang Nannan is indeed a formidable opponent and we need to take her seriously, right, Brother?"
Xiao Hongchen's expression was solemn as he said, "Although a Soul Engineer is at a disadvantage against an agility-attack system Spirit Master, the essence of artillery warfare is to use concentrated ammunition attacks to form area-of-effect bombardment. This way, an agility-attack system Spirit Master would not have an advantage. However, this is only an effective strategy against ordinary agility-attack system Spirit Masters. If I'm not mistaken, Jiang Nannan's fourth Spirit Ability is a displacement Spirit Ability. Displacement—this is a fatal flaw for artillery warfare!"
"Heh! Xiao Hongchen, you can actually say such a thing. It seems you're not as arrogant and ignorant as Young Master, after all!" one of the main team members teased.
"What did you say?" Xiao Hongchen's face immediately changed upon hearing this. He stared coldly at the student and said, "What are you? You're not worthy of criticizing me!"
"I…" The student felt a pang of fear under Xiao Hongchen's icy gaze, involuntarily retreating a few steps. His face was pale, and he wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.
"Enough, Xiao Hongchen. My main team members are not for you to lecture!" Ma Rulong stepped in front of the student, somewhat annoyed, and said.
"Hmph!" Xiao Hongchen snorted coldly and said nothing more.
On the other side, Jiang Nannan stepped off the arena and was immediately greeted with cheers from everyone.
"My Lady Valkyrie, please sign for this humble girl!" Tang Ya leaned in front of Jiang Nannan, saying playfully.
"Alright, I'll sign it on your forehead. Your forehead is quite bright, it would be a waste not to sign it," Jiang Nannan said with a smile, responding to Tang Ya's teasing. She extended a finger and pointed it towards Tang Ya's forehead.
"Uh! No, thank you!" Tang Ya immediately raised her hands to protect her head, retreating a few steps, and chuckled awkwardly.
"Nannan, well done!" Zhu Ziyang said with a smile.
"Indeed, the battle was clean and decisive. As expected of Old Song's direct disciple!" Wang Yan also exclaimed, "However, Nannan, you exposed quite a few abilities. You might be targeted next!"
"Hehe! It's fine, I still have my most important trump card hidden!" Jiang Nannan said with a carefree smile. The true effect of her third Spirit Ability had not been revealed, so no one knew about it.
"What's next?" Ma Xiaotao said, "Should we go back to the hotel, or stay and watch the matches?"
"This?" Wang Yan showed a pained expression, somewhat indecisive.
"In my opinion, we should stay," Zhu Ziyang suggested. "What Teacher Wang Yan is worried about is nothing more than knowing the opponent's strength in advance affecting the mentality of the reserve team members. But I believe there's no need for that. If the reserve team members' psychological state is so fragile, then they wouldn't have been chosen. Am I right, Bei Bei, Yu Hao?"
"Ziyang is right!" Bei Bei nodded and said, "No matter how strong the enemy is, I will smash them with my fists!"
"Teacher Wang Yan, have you forgotten how Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and I won the Freshman Competition?" Huo Yuhao said.
"That's right, it seems I was too focused on appearances. In that case, let's stay and watch the matches," Wang Yan said, relieved and smiling. "It'll also allow you to get information on our upcoming opponents in advance."
With the plan set, the members of Shrek Academy sat in the luxurious lounge, awaiting the start of the second match.
The overall arrangement for the round-robin tournament was four group battles each day, with each group needing to play four matches. Single-numbered groups competed in the morning, and double-numbered groups in the afternoon, completing the first round of the round-robin in two days. According to the number of teams in each group, the round-robin tournament would consist of seven rounds, so the second stage would last at least fourteen days.
Shrek Academy's second match was the day after tomorrow, but this did not prevent them from staying to watch the matches.
The second match of the first group quickly began. The opposing teams were Zhengtian Academy from the Tianhun Empire and Qian Ling Academy from the Douling Empire. Both academies were traditional Spirit Master academies, and also Shrek Academy's opponents for the next two matches. Among them, Zhengtian Academy was particularly noteworthy for Zhu Ziyang and the others.
This was an old powerhouse team, and also one of the top eight teams from the previous tournament. The team had three Spirit Kings, and the other four members were all Spirit Ancestors. Wang Yan's tone was particularly grave when he introduced them. If all seven main team members were present, he naturally wouldn't be concerned about Zhengtian Academy. But at present, they only had three main team members. If Gongyang Mo and Ling Luochen still hadn't arrived in five days, Wang Yan would truly be tearing his hair out with worry.
The arena was currently holding individual elimination matches. That's right, this match also drew individual competitions, and the audience was absolutely thrilled.
The first contestant sent out by Qian Ling Academy was their captain, Shen Ce, a Spirit King with the Thousand Strike Spear Spirit, and the absolute core of the Qian Ling Academy team.
The contestant sent out by Zhengtian Academy, however, was a young woman named Yu Mengdi. Her Spirit greatly surprised the Shrek members: the Angel Martial Soul!
The connection between the Angel Martial Soul and Shrek Academy had a long history. The reserve team members might not understand, but Zhu Ziyang, Ma Xiaotao, Wang Yan, Bei Bei, and Tang Ya were all very familiar with that history, so their gazes coincidentally fell upon Yu Mengdi.
Zhu Ziyang's eyes narrowed slightly as he observed Yu Mengdi. This Yu Mengdi might be a descendant of the Qian family from back then, but it was also possible she belonged to another Angel family. After all, while families with the Angel Martial Soul were rare on the continent, they weren't nonexistent.
For some reason, Zhu Ziyang suddenly recalled the pair of grandparents and grandchild he met a few years ago in Tianhui Grand Canyon. They, evidently, resembled descendants of the Qian family more than Yu Mengdi.
On the arena, the battle between Yu Mengdi and Shen Ce had already begun. Although both were Spirit Kings, Yu Mengdi, with her ten-thousand-year spirit ring, was clearly superior. Moreover, one possessed the top-tier Angel Martial Soul, while the other had the Thousand Strike Spear, which was barely considered a top-tier Spirit. The difference was immediately apparent.
Although Shen Ce tried his best to contend with Yu Mengdi, the immense pressure from the Angel Martial Soul forced him to retreat step by step, completely unable to withstand it. In the end, after about five minutes of back-and-forth, Shen Ce was defeated with regret, while Yu Mengdi's condition remained excellent.
With Shen Ce, the strongest member and captain, already defeated, the outcome of this match was quite clear. However, Qian Ling Academy had no intention of admitting defeat. Not every academy could be as straightforward as Yunluo Academy. Besides, Yunluo Academy's opponent was Shrek Academy; no one would gossip about that.
Next, Qian Ling Academy surprisingly sent out four defense system Spirit Ancestors in a row. These four Spirit Ancestors all possessed the same Spirit, the Rhinoceros Shield. Relying on the high defense and HP advantage of defense system Spirit Masters, they finally managed to exhaust Yu Mengdi's spirit power and secure a victory shortly after their fifth student entered the arena.
However, Zhengtian Academy's second contestant was still a Spirit King, and a powerful attack system Spirit King with long-range attack capabilities: Tang Xiaolei, with the Purple Splendor Bow Spirit.
The Purple Splendor Bow Spirit reminded Zhu Ziyang of Senior Sister Luo Wei from the Inner Courtyard. Luo Wei's Heavenly Feather Bow was quite similar to Tang Xiaolei's Purple Splendor Bow, but the Heavenly Feather Bow was superior in quality. The Purple Splendor Bow, however, had a fatal flaw: it used spirit rings as arrows. It could shoot as many arrows as it had spirit rings, and while powerful, if the spirit rings ran out and the opponent wasn't defeated, there was nothing left but to await death.
Therefore, after Tang Xiaolei defeated the last Rhinoceros Shield Spirit Master with two arrows and then defeated a control system Spirit Master with three arrows, he chose to withdraw from the match.
Qian Ling Academy's last contestant was a young woman with the Blazing Tiger Spirit, a Spirit Ancestor. Her opponent was Zhengtian Academy's captain, the Level 58 Spirit King Ye Wuqing. The result was easily predictable; Ye Wuqing effortlessly secured the victory.
In the second match, Zhengtian Academy won, making them the most promising team in the first group to secure the second qualification spot.
As the second match concluded, the members of Shrek Academy lost interest in continuing to watch the matches. Among the eight teams in the first group, only Qian Ling Academy and Zhengtian Academy had Spirit Kings and required some attention. The other five teams were all at the level of Yunluo Academy, and there was no need to watch them.
Shrek's departure immediately caught the attention of Sun Moon Academy. Their gazes all turned towards them, with Xiao Hongchen's eyes never leaving Huo Yuhao. His curiosity about Huo Yuhao grew increasingly intense, and his curiosity and suspicion in his heart did not diminish at all, but rather grew stronger. Unfortunately, their intelligence work was too backward; they had not obtained any information about Huo Yuhao other than his name and age.
To be precise, other than Jiang Nannan, who had already competed, they only knew the names and ages of the other members of Shrek Academy's team; they knew nothing else.
It must be said that Shrek Academy's anti-espionage work was very thorough, at least in preventing the Sun Moon Empire.
"Zitong, let's go too!" Emperor Emperor Xu Jiawei of the Star Luo Empire, seeing the Shrek members leave, also turned and, holding the Empress's hand, departed from the Imperial City tower.