When the first ray of sunlight pierced into Star Luo City, all the streets surrounding Star Luo Square had already been cordoned off by fully armed soldiers.
The area near the Star Emperor Grand Hotel was under an especially strict martial law; the avenues leading from the hotel to Star Luo Square were completely restricted, allowing passage only to the competing team members emerging from the Star Emperor Grand Hotel.
To facilitate the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire and his civil and military officials to watch the battles from a commanding height atop the imperial city walls, the tournament platform for this iteration of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament was constructed right in front of the main gates of the imperial city. This location not only offered a vast, unobstructed view but also guaranteed absolute safety.
The entire tournament platform measured one hundred meters in both length and width, standing five meters high. Around the perimeter of the platform stood a total of one hundred and eight soul tool metal pillars, managed by one hundred and eight soul masters to maintain a protective barrier. During matches, this would form a protective shield capable of containing the overflow of any soul skill, which was more than enough to protect the safety of the imperial city and the spectating crowds.
Early in the morning, under the guidance of dedicated personnel from the Star Luo Empire, all competing academies arrived at the tournament grounds.
There were only seventy rest areas, constructed to encircle the tournament grounds. Only those academies that passed the first elimination round would be permitted to enter the rest areas to watch the subsequent matches.
As for the rest, if they failed to pass, they could only make a dismal exit.
As soon as they arrived, Elder Ma and Mu Jin were called away to draw lots.
During the brief period of the lot-drawing, Xu Jiawei, the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire, dressed in a bright yellow robe and wearing an Eight Treasures Purple Gold Crown, had already appeared at the exact center of the main gate tower of the imperial city, accompanied by his Empress and the assembly of civil and military officials to watch the tournament together.
After a few lines of meaningless, formulaic diplomatic pleasantries, Xu Jiawei suddenly transmitted his voice to ask his Empress, "What is it? Is Dai Hao still unwilling to return?"
The Empress, attired in a magnificent palace gown, replied via voice transmission, "Yes, Your Majesty. He replied stating that the movements from the Sun Moon Empire have become increasingly frequent in recent years. He must arrange everything properly, and can only return for the finals."
Xu Jiawei said indifferently, "It seems my worthy brother truly holds me, his Emperor, less and less in his regard."
Concern leaked from the Empress's tone. "Your Majesty, in recent years, Dai Hao has grown more and more presumptuous. The White Tiger Legion he leads knows only the Duke of the White Tiger and knows nothing of Your Majesty. I worry that if this continues..."
Xu Jiawei mocked himself, "This is an unavoidable predicament. Leaving aside how many noble factions Dai Hao has gathered, even if we truly arrest him, who would hold the line when the Sun Moon Empire launches a full-scale invasion? For now, preserving the current balance is the best course of action."
"Must we simply sit and wait for our doom?" The Empress was unwilling to accept this.
"Not necessarily." Xu Jiawei suddenly asked, "I heard that the girl from the Zhu family has still not been found?"
At the mention of this matter, a smile finally surfaced on the Empress's face. "Although there is no concrete evidence, it is highly likely the doing of that profligate second young master from Dai Hao's household. Precisely because of this, the Zhu family has distanced themselves considerably from the White Tiger Duke's Palace, which has relieved quite a bit of pressure for us... Eh, Your Majesty, I seem to see that girl?"
"Where?" Xu Jiawei immediately scanned the competing team of Shrek Academy, only to find two fairly familiar faces, Dai Huabin and Dai Yaoheng.
"Right within the competing team of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy," the Empress reminded him.
Xu Jiawei focused his gaze and found that it was indeed Zhu Lu. An intriguing smile instantly spread across his face. "That girl from the Zhu family actually ran off to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy and is even representing them in the tournament. It seems that after surviving the assassination attempt, she didn't die but instead encountered an extraordinary stroke of fortune."
It was not just the Emperor and Empress of the Star Luo Empire who noticed Zhu Lu; the group from Shrek noticed her as well. However, compared to the former two, they were far more shocked.
At this moment, the members of Shrek Academy had all put on their traditional poop-green school uniforms. This was the color once worn by the original Generation of the Shrek Seven Monsters ten thousand years ago.
Standing as the number one academy on the continent, their position was naturally in the very front row of all the academies.
Only nine people had come: Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yaoheng, Ling Luochen, Xi Xi, Bei Bei, Dai Huabin, Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Wu Feng.
Originally, they should have been the most eye-catching presence.
Today, however, their spotlight was thoroughly stolen by the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy standing right behind them.
This was because they had brought the largest number of people—a full twenty members combining the main team and the preparatory team.
Among these twenty individuals, aside from the seven members of the main team, the oldest among the rest were merely fourteen or fifteen years old, while the youngest were only twelve or thirteen.
Consequently, even though Shrek Academy also possessed students of similar ages, the sheer volume of the opposing team completely hijacked everyone's attention.
If it were only that, it might have been fine, but the most critical detail lay in the fact that the nine core disciples—and students enjoying the treatment of core disciples—who had been categorized as missing by Shrek Academy a year ago, were all present right there inside that group.
This gave them a massive fright on the spot.
"Feng Piaoling and Zhu Lu, you guys actually aren't dead?"
Seeing the nine individuals including Feng Piaoling, Wu Feng and Wang Dong'er fared a bit better, since they were the ones rescued by Feng Piaoling and had already learned the 'truth' of the matter from his mouth long ago.
But the others were utterly shocked.
Especially Dai Huabin; seeing Feng Piaoling's group appearing here completely unscathed caused his eyes to nearly pop out of his head, and he couldn't help but cry out in alarm.
Huo Yuhao's expression was equally unsightly. Although he had heard from the Skydream Ice Worm long ago that Feng Piaoling was highly likely to still be alive, seeing the opponent standing perfectly intact right before his eyes still left him deeply shocked.
Furthermore, it was not just him who was unharmed; even the others were still alive and well. How could this be possible?
"What is it? You seem very surprised to see us alive?" Feng Piaoling spoke with a perfectly calm and collected demeanor.
Jiang Nannan stood to the side, mocking coldly, "Indeed. After all, certain individuals dispatched assassins to hunt us down back then. It would be stranger if they weren't shocked."
"What... what do you mean by that?" Cold sweat broke out on Dai Huabin's forehead. He had originally assumed that the six assassins he sent out had been executed by Shrek Academy.
For that reason, he had been anxious and on edge for a long time.
It wasn't until Shrek Academy dropped the matter without investigation that he finally set his mind at ease.
Now, it appeared that was not the case at all.
"If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it in the first place. Boss, Second Sister, why waste words with this dead pervert? Once we face them on the tournament platform, we will settle both our old and new grudges with them together."
The speaker was Zhu Lu. At this moment, she no longer possessed the submissive deference toward Dai Huabin she had when she first enrolled in Shrek. All that remained was a sharp, aggressive edge. This commanding aura made the rest of the Shrek group—with the exception of Wang Dong'er and Wu Feng—feel highly uncomfortable.
Dai Yaoheng frowned and said, "Zhu Lu, you've lost your mind. How could you join the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy? Listen to your eldest brother, come back quickly. It is not too late before you commit an irreversible mistake. I can plead for leniency on your behalf with the academy."
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi