The two of them arrived at the bottom of the small dormitory building where Jiang Chen lived.
Qian Renxue still had an impression of this place. Back then, in order to rescue Jiang Chen, who was being abused by Hu Liena, she had flown into a rage and nearly fought Hu Liena.
It was already late at night, but the lights were still on in Hu Liena's room.
Jiang Chen was not surprised. Hu Liena knew he would definitely return for the finals, so she must have been waiting bitterly night after night.
"Let's go up," Jiang Chen said softly.
"Little Chen?" Hu Liena's surprised voice rang out, and the door was suddenly flung open.
Hu Liena rushed out from inside, hands gripping the railing as she eagerly looked down.
She saw the Jiang Chen she had been thinking about day and night, and the girl who had left a stunning impression in her memory.
The excitement in her emotions instantly dissipated by more than half.
No matter how much she had accepted it in her heart, when this moment of meeting truly arrived, there would still be some discomfort.
"Senior Sister," Jiang Chen looked up and smiled.
The trace of discomfort on Hu Liena's face quickly disappeared as she said, "Come up quickly."
Jiang Chen subconsciously wanted to help Qian Renxue up the stairs, but Qian Renxue slapped his hand away.
As Qian Renxue walked up the stairs, she transmitted her voice: "She is about to participate in the finals. We can't let her notice anything that might affect her condition."
"Xue'er, you're still the thoughtful one." Jiang Chen also transmitted his voice, praising her.
Once they reached the second floor, Hu Liena warmly took Qian Renxue's hand. "Xue'er Jie."
Qian Renxue also showed a smile. "Liena Mei."
Jiang Chen was somewhat stunned. This was the first time the two women had met after agreeing to accept each other, yet they were already acting like real sisters.
If someone who didn't know the inside story were here, they would definitely think these two beauties were sisters who hadn't seen each other for many years.
The two ladies walked ahead arm in arm intimately, while Jiang Chen followed behind with a silly smile.
The two beauties chatted for about half an hour before Qian Renxue stood up, saying she wanted to take a look at Jiang Chen's room, leaving Jiang Chen with Hu Liena.
She knew Hu Liena must have many affectionate words she wanted to say to Jiang Chen. If she stayed, Hu Liena definitely wouldn't be able to speak them.
Qian Renxue quietly waited inside Jiang Chen's room.
Jiang Chen and Hu Liena spent half an hour being lovey-dovey before he got up to say goodbye.
Hu Liena's face was full of envy; she also wanted to stay by Jiang Chen's side.
Unfortunately, she still had an important task to complete, she must win the championship of the finals.
For the next three days, Jiang Chen spent most of his time accompanying Qian Renxue inside the hotel.
Three days later, in the early morning, all participating academies got up early. After preparing everything, they were led by the staff arranged by the Spirit Hall to the competition venue.
For this finals, the Spirit Hall had specially constructed a competition venue located in the center of Spirit City.
The huge stage had a diameter of a full hundred meters, more than enough for anyone to run wildly on it.
The stage was built with hard granite and reinforced with many soul tools. As long as the attack power did not exceed the Soul Emperor level, it was virtually impossible to damage this stage.
Such a massive project consumed an incalculable amount of funds. Only the Spirit Hall had the boldness to do so; the two great empires simply couldn't bear to spend such resources.
The location of this stage was directly below the Papal Palace, less than a thousand meters from Papal Mountain.
After entering the competition venue, Qian Renxue was invited to the VIP judges' seats, while Jiang Chen stood guard not far behind the judges' seats.
The judges' seats faced the Papal Palace across the stage. From Jiang Chen's position, he could clearly see the entire competition venue.
The finals had no entrance ceremony and no annoying speeches. As soon as the academies entered, they were invited to draw lots.
After the drawing, the matches began immediately, without any delay.
Jiang Chen stood with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning lazily against the wall, his eyes slightly narrowed as he recalled the plot of the finals.
If nothing went wrong, Shrek would draw Blazing Fire Academy in the first round, and Blazing Fire Academy would directly forfeit.
The reason for this was that several members of Blazing Fire Academy had already joined Divine Wind Academy and were participating in the finals under Divine Wind Academy's name.
In order to get the Spirit Hall to approve this operation, Blazing Fire Academy had paid a huge price: after the competition ended, the entire Blazing Fire Academy would join the Spirit Hall.
And all of this had been started by that fire dancer whom Jiang Chen considered big-breasted but brainless.
It sounded nice to say it was for the greater honor of the academy, but in reality it was only for her own selfish desires.
Ever since she was defeated by Tang San in the qualifiers, she had gone mad. As long as she could defeat Tang San, she was willing to gamble the entire Blazing Fire Academy.
...
It didn't take long before the drawing results were announced.
Jiang Chen stood not far behind the judges' seats and clearly heard the drawing results.
"It seems that aside from Shrek's slightly lower strength, the plot hasn't changed much. However, the champion later on will definitely be the Spirit Hall."
What left Jiang Chen helpless was that in the third round, Heavenly Dou Imperial Academy would meet the Spirit Hall Academy and be eliminated.
He had previously wanted to let Yu Tianheng and the others reach the top three. If they really encountered the Spirit Hall Academy early, they were destined to be eliminated.
In just a few short months, Yu Tianheng seemed to have been completely transformed. His cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds, breaking through to level fifty-one and becoming the only Soul King in the Imperial Academy team.
But against the current Spirit Hall Academy, it still wasn't enough. Jiang Chen had already learned about the strength of the Spirit Hall Academy from Bibi Dong. Compared to the other academies, it could only be described as terrifying.
Jiang Chen's gaze shot toward Shrek Academy's resting area, where he saw Tang San meditating and adjusting his condition.
He was thinking about whether he should go see Tang San as Jiang Chen.
The competition had a total of five rounds. There would be one day of rest between each round, and before the start of the final fifth round, there were even three days of rest.
The three seeded teams would get a bye in the first round and would not take the field.
And Shrek Academy's opponent had forfeited, so the matches on this first day were rather boring for Jiang Chen.
After the first round ended, there was one day of rest, and then the second round began.
In the second round, Shrek Academy got a bye. The Spirit Hall Academy and Heavenly Dou Imperial Academy both had matches, but they had drawn relatively weak opponents.
Among the four geniuses of the Spirit Hall Academy, only Jing Wuming was sent out, along with three other Soul Ancestor-level team members. They easily defeated their opponents.
As for Heavenly Dou Imperial Academy, Yu Tianheng, who had already become a Soul King, dominated the entire match. With Dugu Yan's poison mist support, he fought one against seven and, in a shocking display, blasted the opponents off the stage.
With that, the first two rounds of the finals concluded, and the top ten of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Competition emerged.
On the evening of the day the second round ended, Jiang Chen called Ye Lingling and together they arrived outside Yu Tianheng and Dugu Yan's room.
He wanted to give his three disciples a heads-up so they could mentally prepare themselves for defeat.
Ye Lingling followed Jiang Chen, her beautiful blue eyes fixed on him the whole time.
Jiang Chen couldn't be bothered to deal with her and directly knocked on Yu Tianheng's door.
"Who is it?" Yu Tianheng's slightly impatient voice came out.
"It's me," Jiang Chen replied calmly.
Immediately after, Jiang Chen's ears twitched as he heard rustling sounds inside, as if something had been knocked to the ground.
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Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are chapters available on Patreon."
"Douluo: Sword of Judgment and Eternal Ice 30 Advance chapters"
"From Douluo to Godhood by Defying the Heavens 30 Advance chapters."
"Douluo: Far North Invincible. The novel is already finished on Patreon."
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