Chapter 75.1: The Start of the Tournament
“Privilege?” The disciples from the outer courtyard looked at Wang Yan in astonishment.
Wang Yan nodded. “Right! Don’t forget, our Shrek Academy reigns as the number one academy across the entire continent. When were we not the champions of a tournament? Because of that, we’ll be able to complete our registrations regardless of when we arrive. However, the inner courtyard disciples are also Guardians, and many of them are carrying out assignments in the outside world, so they’ll definitely need some time to rush over. We won’t meet any strong opponents in the first few matches, so I’m confident there’ll be no problem with your strength. Now, I’ll explain the rules of the Continental Advanced Academy Soul Duelling Tournament.”
After putting the students from the outer courtyard at ease, Wang Yan explained calmly, “The Continental Advanced Academy Soul Duelling Tournament is the ultimate competition for the various academies around the world. It has fair and equitable rules that test the total strength of each academy’s students.”
“Because of that, the manners in which we compete are extremely plentiful and lively. I’m going to explain some of them today. There are a total of a hundred and thirty three advanced soul master and soul engineering academies who’ve come today, and all of them are staying in this hotel. The first round of the preliminaries is a direct elimination match. In other words, the losing party will be directly eliminated. The first round will be a 7v7 team fight. The lot-drawing for which will be carried out tomorrow. I reckon that it’ll take three days for the first round to be finished.”
“Once the first round is finished, we’ll be split into groups. Each group will have eight or nine teams, and will undergo a round-robin tournament. The rules for each of the round-robin matches will be randomly chosen from one of three situations: Firstly, Single Elimination. Secondly, a 3-man, 2-man, and 2-man Coordination Match. And lastly, a 7v7 Team Fight. This will test the comprehensive strength of every team. Every match will have a lot-drawing preceding the match, and this will determine which situation will be used for that match. This is the best way to test your strength as a whole.”
“I’ll explain the specifics of these matches after you get through the first round. Right now, you’ll have to face your opponents in the first round. After you finish that, we’ll be able to get into the elimination round and wait for our backup. Xiaotao and the rest won’t be able to make it in time, so we can only rely on you guys to win this no matter what. After the elimination round, you won’t have to be so nervous about the later matches. Furthermore, we could have our backups coming at any time. Even if they aren’t able to make it in time, Xiaotao and the rest will be able to recover their strength within half a month, at the very most. And after all, we’re still the number one team.”
The moment they heard that the first round was an elimination round, everyone’s faces clearly turned serious. If Shrek Academy were to take their leave in the first round of the Continental Advanced Soul Duelling Tournament, they would become a joke.
Yet, Wang Yan was extremely confident. Without revealing any worry at all, he smiled slightly. “What are you guys doing? Are you nervous? You don’t need to be nervous at all. After the tournament starts, you’ll realise that your opponents are far far weaker than what you were expecting. You’ve forgotten one thing; you’re the elites who’ve been chosen from Shrek Academy. Even if you’re the preparatory team, the fact that you’ve been chosen to represent Shrek Academy on this platform has proved that you’ve got enough strength. Moreover, this strength is something that the other academies will never be able to compare against. You can’t assume that your opponents from the Continental Advanced Soul Duelling Tournament will be as strong as the powerful enemies you’ve faced during your advancement tests!”
Everyone present was slightly stunned, Right! Teacher Wang was right. They were the disciples of the number one academy on the continent. They couldn’t use their fellow peers to judge the strength of their opponents.
Wang Yan leaned back in his chair comfortably, “Other than Yuhao, all of you have optimum soul ring combinations; every single one of you has a thousand year soul ring. What about your opponents? Do you think thousand year soul beasts are that easy to hunt? I can tell you that even Soul Kings are rare in many of the advanced soul master academies. Although your opponents are all around twenty, it’s already quite hard for them to guarantee that their whole team will be filled with soul masters who have three or more rings. Four-ringed soul masters are extremely rare. I dare say that unless you meet the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, you won’t meet a Soul King. What cultivations does our team possess? We have four Soul Ancestors, and two people with twin martial souls; we even have an Ultimate martial soul. Your opponents should be the nervous ones. Okay, go rest. Preserve your energy and go beat them up tomorrow. Let the other academies see that they won’t have any chance against us, even if we send out our reserve team. Oh, right. I have to remind you that we’ll definitely be going out on the first day of the elimination round. As the reigning champions, we’ll be the first ones out.”
Somewhat astonished, Xu Sanshi asked, “Teacher Wang, are you not going to make any strategies for us?”
Wang Yan snorted unhappily. “What do you need a strategy for? Are you trying to humiliate me, or yourselves? Do you even need a strategy against these types of opponents? Go. Xiaotao, you three stay behind for a moment. I’m going to get some medicine for you.” The seven from the preparatory team all returned to their rooms and rested. After Wang Yan’s speech, they had become much less nervous. Right! We’re the elites of Shrek Academy! So what if we’re from the preparatory team? We’re not weaker than anyone else.
Once the seven left, Wang Yan rose to his feet and shut the door to the conference room. The relaxed look on his face instantly vanished as he let out a long sigh. Once he sat back down, the look on his face turned extremely serious.
Dai Yueheng sighed, “Teacher Wang, is there a need for you to console them like this? Although nothing you said was wrong, the students who are representing their respective academies are the most elite existences among their peers as well. Although there might be a few weaker ones, the overwhelmingly large majority of our opponents are at the Soul Ancestor rank on average. Furthermore, the academy we’re fighting against in the elimination round tomorrow will definitely go all-out.”
Ma Xiaotao said, “What Teacher Wang did was right. Were it not for him, they wouldn’t have any morale at all; they wouldn’t have even needed to fight if that was the case. All we can do now is trust them completely. Can you or I even move now?”
“I asked you three to stay behind to tell me how long you’ll need to recover from your injuries and fight,” Wang Yan said solemnly, “I need an accurate timespan.”
Ma Xiaotao said, “If I go all-out cultivating to recuperate, I’ll need fifteen days.”
Dai Yueheng said, “My cultivation isn’t as good as Xiaotao’s, so I might need a bit more time. I reckon seventeen days or so.”
Wang Yan’s heart became increasingly heavy. This was his first time taking a team to a tournament and he wasn’t confident in himself at all!
Ling Luocheng said, “My injuries are relatively lighter, so ten days or so should be good.”
There was finally a rather good piece of news. After doing a few calculations, Wang Yan continued, “In other words, you’ll be able to fight in the third or fourth match of the knock-out tournament if everything goes well.”
After sinking into contemplation for a while, Wang Yan nodded. “We can only hope that they’ll win their first match. We’ll only have the chance to continue on if we’re able to get into the knockout stage. You have to keep the fact that we don’t have a backup team a secret. Their confidence has to be established via victory, and I believe that they’ll have the strength to maintain the glory of our Shrek Academy.”
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong both returned to the former’s room.
After shutting the door, Wang Dong couldn’t help but ask, “Yuhao, do you think what Teacher Wang said was the truth?”
Huo Yuhao smiled slightly. “Regardless of whether it’s true or not, we have to assume that he’s being honest, because we simply don’t have any other choices. Come, let’s start cultivating. After the lot-drawing for the knockout round tomorrow, the tournament will officially start. The only thing we can do now is make ourselves more confident. There are no alternatives.”
“Right.” Wang Dong sat directly opposite Huo Yuhao, and the two placed their palms against each other and started cultivating their Haodong Power.
Shrek Academy wasn’t the only academy that was holding a meeting; at this moment, all of the participating academies were trying to boost the morale of their students. The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy that was on the same level as Shrek Academy was also doing the same.
They were always second place in practically every single tournament, so there was practically no difference between the treatment that they and Shrek Academy received in the Imperial Star Grand Hotel. They only had a single target, that was, to become champions.
Two elders sat at the head of the table within the conference room, and a total of fourteen students were sat by their sides. The students seated on the left were evidently older, and the students seated on the right were slightly younger. Clearly, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy had also sent an official team and a preparatory team for the tournament that was to be held five years later.
The elder who sat on the left had a straight nose, and a square mouth. His facial features were majestic, and he was wrinkled like a date. As he sat there with his wide shoulders, he gave off an extremely sturdy feeling. He spoke in a low voice. “According to our investigations, Shrek Academy has actually brought only ten people this time. Furthermore, three of them look younger than twelve. The others are a bit older. We’ve used a few men who’ve infiltrated the inner parts of the Star Luo Empire, and we’ve obtained accurate information. When they registered, only those three were nineteen. The other seven were all under fifteen. In other words, Shrek Academy didn’t even make an official team of seven to participate in this tournament. Out of the seven from last time’s preparatory team, only two of them showed up. It’s the first time we’ve seen that nineteen-year-old girl show up. Do you know what this means?”
The fourteen students were all somewhat doubtful.
The elder seated by the right had a curly beard and was similarly tall and big. His short white hair resembled steel needles, and the hairs on his temples, along with his curly beard made him seem impressively terrifying.