Bei Bei turned his head to look at Huo Yuhao, his eyes still retaining the lingering shock and unease from just now.
He opened his mouth, his voice a few shades lower than before, yet carrying a heavily suppressed tremor: "The Holy Spirit Cult are all Evil Soul Masters, then Tang Ya... her?"
Huo Yuhao cast his gaze into the distance once more, and that group of people in black robes had already found their positions deep within the preparation area.
Tang Ya sat in the middle of the crowd, her posture upright and her expression calm. That pair of dark blue eyes still gazed blankly ahead, as if the surrounding commotion had nothing to do with her.
During the few times Huo Yuhao had interacted with Tang Ya back at Shrek Academy, she had been a lively and bright girl. When she smiled, her eyebrows would curve into crescents, and she always spoke with a cleverness, as if she possessed an endless supply of energy.
Yet at this moment, this woman dressed in black robes was simply like a different person compared to the Tang Ya in his memory.
Historical records about Tang Ya from Ten Thousand Years later flashed quickly through his mind. Those texts only stated that she had disappeared for a period of time, and when she appeared again, her cultivation had surged.
Comparing it to the reality before him now, during the time she disappeared, she was probably at the Holy Spirit Cult.
And her cultivation now had indeed surged, already reaching the Spirit Saint level. This was even a cut above Bei Bei.
Huo Yuhao could not help but recall the joke from the novels of Ten Thousand Years later that playfully called the Holy Spirit Cult a "Spirit Master Quick-Improvement Training Class".
Now it seemed that it was not entirely unreasonable.
He withdrew his gaze, turned to look at Bei Bei, and said in a calm yet unavoidably direct tone: "There is the smell of fresh blood on her body. I am afraid she has done plenty of slaughtering recently."
Hearing this, Bei Bei's entire body trembled violently. Of course he understood what those words meant.
If Huo Yuhao had not already extracted a portion of his emotions, he probably would have lost control and rushed out once more at this moment.
Huo Yuhao patted his shoulder again and said: "Since she has already been found, don't be in a rush to act rashly. Let's figure out the situation first, take it slow."
Bei Bei fell silent for a good while, his chest heaving a few times. Finally, he let out a long breath, pressed down that surging emotion, and slowly nodded at Huo Yuhao.
Not long after, under the strict escort of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Corps, the Sun Moon Regent Xu Tianran was wheeled onto the podium.
The wheelchair steadily ascended along the paved gentle slope, eventually stopping right in the center of the podium.
His expression was calm as his gaze slowly swept across the sea of people in the arena below.
"Silence!"
A low voice suddenly resounded through the entire venue.
That voice wasn't very loud, but it carried an immensely penetrating, heavy texture, accurately pouring into the ears of everyone present.
At the same time, an overwhelmingly tyrannical pressure bore down like a tidal wave, hanging over everyone's heads like an invisible dark cloud and heavily shrouding the entire arena.
Everyone present changed their expressions. That feeling as if the sky was collapsing down made their breathing grow slightly hurried.
You must know that although the participants were all young Spirit Masters under the age of twenty, among the academy teachers or Sect Elders who led the teams to participate, there was no lack of powerhouses at the Titled Douluo level.
Yet at this moment, even these Titled Douluos couldn't help but feel an irresistible sense of oppression rising in their hearts.
Everyone's gazes spontaneously converged upon the old man standing beside Xu Tianran.
That old man had a tall figure, hair as white as a crane's, and a youthful complexion. That abyss-like, profound pressure continuously radiated from his body, enshrouding the entire arena under his aura.
Everyone was deeply shaken, not expecting that the Sun Moon Empire actually harbored such a powerhouse.
This was at least a Super Douluo, and possibly even a Limit Douluo!
Huo Yuhao had never seen this old man before, but he had heard Yun Ming mention him previously.
He knew this person should be the Dark Dragon Long Xiaoyao, one of the formerly continent-shaking Black and White Twin Holy Dragons.
Xu Tianran took in the doubtful yet shocked expressions of the people below the stage, his lips curving upward in an imperceptible smile.
Then he leaned forward slightly and began a brief speech using the Spirit Tool amplification device in front of him.
When he spoke his final sentence, "The All-Continent Youth Soul Master Tournament officially begins", the atmosphere of the entire arena instantly refreshed. Changing from its previous solemnity, it erupted into enthusiastic cheers.
According to the tradition of past tournaments, the first to take the stage was naturally the champion team of the previous session, Shrek Academy.
For Ten Thousand Years, Shrek Academy appearing first had almost become an indispensable, iconic segment of this event.
This time, no unexpected incidents occurred with Shrek Academy's participating Students. All the Main Team Members took the stage together, winning the first match in a landslide victory.
By the afternoon, the Spirit Pagoda team took the stage.
Their opponents were merely a Sect of ordinary strength, with only two Spirit Kings among the participating members and the rest being Spirit Ancestors.
Facing such opponents, Jin Li won easily without even needing to make a move.
Aside from these mismatched duels, matches between many evenly matched teams were far more intense.
Those evenly matched collisions were often fought back and forth with neither side yielding. Some left the field injured, while others fought until their Spirit Power was exhausted just to barely snatch a narrow victory. The roars of Spirit Power collisions and waves of exclamations and sighs from the spectator stands rang out continuously in the arena.
The subsequent matches proceeded day after day, and the spectator stands remained packed without a single empty seat.
As the tournament progressed, the strength of the remaining teams grew stronger and stronger, and those methods that had been deliberately concealed previously were forced to be revealed one by one.
By the knockout stage, everyone had clearly realized that the participating teams of this session not only had a greater number, but the overall strength of the participants also far exceeded past sessions.
To say nothing else, regarding peak combat power alone, the highest cultivation in past tournaments was merely at the Spirit Emperor level.
Yet this time, competitors at the Spirit Saint level had already shown themselves, and there was more than one.
The Spirit Pagoda had Spirit Saints, the Holy Spirit Cult had Spirit Saints, and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy also had Spirit Saints.
Yet Shrek Academy, known as the continent's number one academy, didn't even have a single Spirit Saint among its participating team this time.
Many people sitting in the spectator stands could not help but raise the same thought in their hearts: Shrek Academy's championship throne, which it had monopolized for Ten Thousand Years, might truly change hands this time.
Half a month flowed by like running water, and the All-Continent Youth Soul Master Tournament had quietly passed its halfway mark.
When yesterday's final match ended, the top eight teams of this tournament were finally all decided through competition.
To leave the participating contestants with sufficient adjustment time to welcome the upcoming high-intensity duels in better condition, the Sun Moon Empire deliberately arranged a day of suspension for today.
The entire arena grew silent. Without the deafening sounds of Spirit Power collisions and the mountain-shattering, sea-overturning cheers from the stands, the eastern suburbs of Ming City rarely recovered a bit of tranquility.
And on this very day, Princess Xu Jiujiu stood in the small square outside the Sun Moon Spirit Pagoda, tilting her head up to look at this building that was almost identical to the Star Luo City Spirit Pagoda, her mood somewhat complicated.
As the princess of the Star Luo Empire, she naturally considered her nation's interests at all times.
Therefore, when she learned that the Sun Moon Empire was also going to build a Spirit Pagoda Branch Pagoda, she had previously found Huo Yuhao in private, expressing Star Luo's dissatisfaction and concerns in a tactful and restrained manner.
In her view, Star Luo was the Spirit Pagoda's initial partner and the funder that allowed the first Spirit Pagoda to rise from the ground. Now that Huo Yuhao turned around to cooperate with Star Luo's sworn enemy, it carried somewhat of the implication of burning bridges after crossing.
However, her persuasion evidently did not play a role; the Sun Moon Spirit Pagoda was still completed as scheduled, and now it had firmly embedded itself into the urban silhouette of Ming City.
She had also felt secretly angered because of this, but as time passed and she calmed down, Princess Xu Jiujiu had to admit that her initial thoughts had been too subjective.
Not to mention that Huo Yuhao held the core technologies of Spirit Souls and Spirit Tools in his hands, standing behind him were even powerhouses at the Limit Douluo level.
Such a young man possessing profound trump cards naturally did not need to attach himself to any royal family.
Star Luo was a partner to him, but not the only option.
However, even after figuring out this logic, the cooperation between the Star Luo Imperial Family and the Spirit Pagoda was no longer as close as it was initially.
Because of this, Princess Xu Jiujiu had not proactively gone to see Huo Yuhao for quite a while.
Yet today, she had no choice but to come.
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A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.