The next day, under Elder Xuan's lead, the preparatory team finally met the official team members.
Su Yunlin swept his gaze across the seven official team members before smiling faintly.
The seven members of the official team couldn't understand what this reserve brat was smiling about.
Elder Xuan spoke up.
"Introduce yourselves to each other."
The preparatory team had already decided their order based on age, so Bei Bei went first.
"My name is Bei Bei. Fifth-year outer court student. Rank 43 Assault System Battle Spirit Ancestor."
"Xu Sanshi. Fifth-year outer court student. Rank 43 Defense System Battle Spirit Ancestor."
"Jiang Nannan. Fifth-year outer court student. Rank 41 Agility Attack System Battle Spirit Ancestor."
Their cultivation levels were all quite reasonable.
The official team members from the inner court nodded slightly. Back when they had been outer court students, they had been around the same level themselves—some perhaps even weaker.
Next was Xiao Xiao.
"My name is Xiao Xiao. Second-year outer court student. Rank 29 Control System Battle Spirit Spirit Grandmaster."
The moment she finished speaking, the official team members froze.
A Spirit Grandmaster actually made it in here?
Was Elder Xuan joking?
Had the outer court's standards fallen this low?
That didn't seem right. They had heard this year's second-year students were exceptionally talented.
"Hello, seniors. My name is Huo Yuhao. Second-year outer court student. Rank 25 Control System Battle Spirit Grandmaster."
Another Spirit Grandmaster.
The official team members were speechless.
However, one person showed no contempt at all—Ma Xiaotao.
She knew Huo Yuhao possessed twin Martial Souls, and his second Martial Soul was Ultimate Ice. Among the reserves, she actually thought the most highly of him.
Then it was Su Yunlin's turn.
With his arms folded across his chest, he said calmly,
"Su Yunlin. Second-year outer court student. Rank 53 Assault System Battle Spirit King and a Class 6 Soul Engineer."
Another—wait, what?
Spirit King?
Class 6 Soul Engineer?!
The official team members, who had already grown numb moments ago, instantly widened their eyes in shock.
A Spirit King?
In second year?
Were they hearing things wrong?
What kind of monster was this?
Second-year students were usually only around twelve years old, yet this guy was already a Spirit King?
And on top of that, a Class 6 Soul Engineer?
That was equivalent to Spirit Emperor-level soul tools!
How absurd could one person be?
How did he cultivate so quickly while also mastering soul engineering to such a degree?
Teach us too!
No wonder this junior had smiled after seeing them earlier.
Turns out he considered himself on the same level as them—or perhaps even above them.
Finally, Wang Dong lifted her chin slightly.
"Wang Dong. You can also call me Tang Dong. Second-year outer court student. Rank 36 Assault System Battle Spirit Elder."
A Spirit Elder.
Now that sounded normal.
That was the cultivation level a talented second-year student should have.
As for a Spirit King... what kind of freak was that?
Elder Xuan nodded.
"Alright, your turn."
"Inner court, Ma Xiaotao. Rank 67 Assault System Battle Emperor."
"Inner court, Dai Yueheng. Rank 64 Assault System Battle Emperor."
"Inner court, Chen Zifeng. Rank 57 Assault System Battle Spirit King."
"Inner court, Xi Xi. Rank 56 Agility Attack System Battle Spirit King."
"Inner court, Ling Luochen. Rank 55 Control System Battle Spirit King."
"Inner court, Yao Haoxuan. Rank 55 Control Support System Battle Spirit King."
"Inner court, Gongyang Mo. Rank 59 Support System Spirit King."
As expected of the inner court.
Looking at the seven of them, Su Yunlin thought that if nothing unexpected happened, this full lineup really could dominate the Spirit Master Tournament.
His gaze flicked briefly toward Elder Xuan.
This future Holy Spirit Cult Supreme Elder was going to make his move later on.
Still, Su Yunlin intended to do something about it.
Since Shrek Academy had already given him so many benefits, helping them out a little was only fair.
It definitely wasn't because he wanted to help.
He was just repaying favors.
That was right.
Repaying favors.
Elder Xuan nodded slightly.
"Now that you've all gotten acquainted, next comes a friendly match so you can spar with one another. Sparring is the best way to familiarize yourselves with each other.
"Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, each of you will lead a team.
"Ma Xiaotao, your cultivation is higher, so you may only take two official team members. However, you get first pick: one official member and two reserve members.
"Oh right—Su Yunlin counts as an official team member."
Both teams were somewhat surprised.
But after thinking about it, it made sense.
Su Yunlin was a Spirit King and also a Class 6 Soul Engineer.
His strength was far beyond the standard reserve member level.
Ma Xiaotao chose first.
"For the official team member, I choose Gongyang Mo. As for reserve members... Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei."
Dai Yueheng looked surprised.
Why would Ma Xiaotao pick a Spirit Grandmaster?
He couldn't understand it.
"Chen Zifeng. Ling Luochen."
Ma Xiaotao fell into thought.
She still had one official member slot left, but she couldn't decide who to choose.
Just then, Huo Yuhao lightly poked her arm.
"Senior Sister, choose Su Yunlin and Wang Dong."
Ma Xiaotao hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to trust Huo Yuhao.
"Su Yunlin. Wang Dong."
Wang Dong was so happy she practically wanted to jump up in excitement.
She hadn't expected to end up on the same team as Su Yunlin.
Dai Yueheng still couldn't understand Ma Xiaotao's reasoning.
"Yao Haoxuan. Xi Xi."
"Jiang Nannan."
Ma Xiaotao selected her final member.
The two teams were now set.
Ma Xiaotao's team:
Ma Xiaotao, Gongyang Mo, Su Yunlin, Wang Dong, Bei Bei, Jiang Nannan, and Huo Yuhao.
Dai Yueheng's team:
Dai Yueheng, Chen Zifeng, Yao Haoxuan, Ling Luochen, Xi Xi, Xu Sanshi, and Xiao Xiao.
Elder Xuan took a swig of wine.
"Ha~ good wine!
"Since your teams are set, you have ten minutes to discuss tactics. The spar begins after that.
"The losing side has to shout: 'I'm a pig!'"
What a bizarre punishment.
Su Yunlin briefly wondered whether he should just shout "Elder Xuan is a pig!" instead.
But he had a feeling he'd get beaten to death for that.
Even so, he really wanted to say it.
The two groups each returned to separate rest rooms to discuss strategy.
On Ma Xiaotao's side—
Bei Bei let out a long breath.
"Whew... Yuhao, thank goodness you told Sister Xiaotao to bring Su Yunlin and Wang Dong over. Otherwise we'd have been in huge trouble."
Ma Xiaotao looked curious.
"Why? Are those two really that strong? Su Yunlin's cultivation is definitely outrageous. At his age, I certainly couldn't compare to him.
"Huo Yuhao, why did you tell me to put them together?"
Huo Yuhao scratched his head.
"Because the class monitor and Wang Dong have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill."
"What?!"
...
Meanwhile, on Dai Yueheng's side—
"What?! Su Yunlin and Wang Dong have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill? And they wiped out all the outer court Core Disciples with a single move?"
Xu Sanshi explained the situation to the official team members, leaving everyone miserable.
A Martial Soul Fusion Skill unleashed by a Spirit King and a Spirit Elder together would have terrifying power.
Facing Ma Xiaotao alone was already troublesome enough.
And with Gongyang Mo supporting her, Ma Xiaotao's attacks could even reach the level of a Spirit Sage.
Now there was also a Martial Soul Fusion Skill on top of that.
And with Gongyang Mo's amplification, its power would increase even further.
How were they supposed to fight that?
...
Back on Ma Xiaotao's side—
"Su Yunlin, Wang Dong, we'll be relying on you two later. Your Martial Soul Fusion Skill can catch them completely off guard."
"I refuse."
Su Yunlin rejected her outright.
"Why?" Ma Xiaotao immediately flared up. "If you don't use your Martial Soul Fusion Skill, what if we lose? I refuse to say that punishment!"
Su Yunlin rolled his eyes.
"The power of our Martial Soul Fusion Skill is too great. Even if I suppress it as much as possible, the weakest version would still leave people either dead or crippled if it hit directly.
"This is just a sparring match. There's no need to take it that seriously. At worst, we just say 'I'm a pig.'
"And besides, what do you think our Martial Soul Fusion Skill is? Something we can casually use whenever we want?
"That's Wang Dong's and my trump card. If we don't need to use it, then we won't.
"And just because we don't use it, does that mean we can't fight?"
Su Yunlin felt speechless.
If he had known things would turn out like this, he wouldn't have revealed the Martial Soul Fusion Skill at all.
Now everyone acted like he and Wang Dong were only strong because of it.
"You—!"
Bei Bei hurriedly smoothed things over.
"Uh, Sister Xiaotao, Su Yunlin's individual combat strength is still extremely powerful. He's the strongest member of our reserve team. Even Xu Sanshi and I together aren't his match."
Ma Xiaotao snorted coldly.
"If we lose, I'm settling this with you afterward!"
"So what if we lose? It's not some huge matter."
Su Yunlin looked at her calmly.
"What? As an elite of the inner court, you can't even accept defeat?
"If that's the case, then your limits end here."
Ma Xiaotao exploded instantly.
"What did you say? You want to fight me?"
Su Yunlin chuckled.
"I wouldn't mind stretching a little.
"You seem pretty arrogant. The last arrogant guy I fought ended up crying his eyes out after I beat him down.
"I wonder if you'll end up the same way."
Su Yunlin found Ma Xiaotao deeply irritating.
She was the textbook definition of all brawn and no brains.
If he remembered correctly, the disaster that came later was caused precisely because Ma Xiaotao charged ahead recklessly.
If he wanted to protect the others, then he needed to seize control of the official team.
He needed every member of the official team to submit to him completely.
...
Read Advanced Chapters on : patreon.com/cw/OblivionTL
~ Every 250 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]