It must be said that Liu Erlong truly cared for Yu Xiaogang. Knowing that the Shrek team lacked sufficient substitutes, she directly introduced Blue Tyrant Academy's most outstanding disciples, Tai Long and Jiang Zhu, to Flander.
Yang Xiong didn't know what happened between them, but eventually, Titan and Tang San met. Tang San revealed his second Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, and then Tang San gained a little follower, Tai Long.
Even Yang Xiong sighed at the unpredictability of life, never expecting things to circle back to the original plot.
More than a year passed quickly. The Soul Master Competition was very close, or rather, the graduation time in Yang Xiong's heart was very close.
After a year and a half of hard training, Yang Xiong had increased his level by a full six levels in this year, now reaching level thirty-eight, the most significant improvement among everyone.
Compared to Yang Xiong, the others also had considerable improvements.
Among them, Dai Mubai broke through to level forty-two, the only Soul Ancestor among everyone, although Dai Mubai was already seventeen years old.
Tang San's soul power had reached level thirty-nine, only one level higher than Yang Xiong. Xiao Wu was level thirty-eight, the same soul power level as Yang Xiong.
Oscar trained hard with Yang Xiong this year, and his soul power reached level thirty-six, increasing by a full four levels in one year.
Ning Rongrong was also level thirty-six, but she had just broken through.
Zhu Zhuqing and Qin Shuang were also level thirty-four. These two girls trained extremely hard, but unfortunately, their Innate Soul Power was relatively low, and they probably wouldn't be able to improve further in the short term.
Especially Qin Shuang, who particularly liked training in the gravity Simulated Environment. She trained longer than Yang Xiong, and even fought against Zhao Wuji every day like Yang Xiong. The gravity Simulated Environment seemed to be tailor-made for her.
In contrast, Ma Hongjun was only level thirty-three, the lowest soul power level among everyone, and was actually surpassed by Qin Shuang and Zhu Zhuqing, which made Flander lose a lot of face, as Ma Hongjun was his direct disciple.
Judging by the training speed of the Shrek group, even if they reached the finals, there would probably be at most four Soul Ancestors. Only Yang Xiong, Tang San, and Xiao Wu had hope of breaking through again. Everyone else was too far behind.
Without Immortal Herbs, the Shrek group was not as outstanding as in the original work, but in terms of talent and training speed, they were indeed far ahead of their peers, especially by the time of the next Soul Master Competition, where having all members as Soul Ancestors or even multiple Soul Kings would not be a problem.
However, in this Soul Master Competition, they would probably only be playing a supporting role. At least, there was no hope of winning the championship.
The day before the Soul Master Competition, all the teachers and students of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Shrek Team gathered together again. Yu Xiaogang and Flander explained the rules of the Soul Master Competition in detail, including all the content of the preliminary and promotion rounds.
It was clear that teachers like Yu Xiaogang were very confident. Although they wouldn't win the championship, they were confident in finishing in the top five of the preliminary rounds. Normal Advanced Soul Master Academies generally only had one or two Soul Ancestors, and although the second team only had one Soul Ancestor, Yang Xiong, Tang San, and even Xiao Wu had Soul Ancestor level combat power, and the others cooperated very well.
Moreover, compared to other teams, the Shrek group had recently gone to Sunset Forest for training, and their combat experience was relatively rich. They had even seen quite a bit of blood, which was definitely incomparable to those ordinary teams.
The current Shrek team had no way to preserve their strength like in the original work, and they quickly confirmed the main lineup.
The main seven were Dai Mubai, Tang San, Yang Xiong, Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, Tai Long, and Oscar. The substitute lineup was Qin Shuang, Zhu Zhuqing, Ma Hongjun, and Jiang Zhu.
Among them, Tai Long's soul power level had reached thirty-eight, the same as Yang Xiong among the main players, as he was originally the captain of Blue Tyrant Academy.
Although Yang Xiong had tried everything this year, even asking Lin Gong to put pressure on him, he was still unable to truly integrate his pair of Exploding Dragon Claws with himself. This made Yang Xiong feel that his pair of dragon claws were becoming increasingly extraordinary, and complete integration might not be that simple. It was possible that it was because the dragon bloodline of these dragon claws was too strong to be fully absorbed.
Yu Xiaogang still followed his own plan, letting Tang San be responsible for the team's formation and tactical arrangements, as he was the only control-type Soul Master in the team.
Yang Xiong didn't care too much about this. Anyway, he didn't take this Soul Master Competition too seriously. It would be enough for him to use about seventy percent of his strength in the competition, and he wouldn't pay too much attention to the rest.
Compared to Yang Xiong's composure, Yu Xiaogang and Tang San were much more nervous. They were both more eager to prove themselves.
This year, Yang Xiong's soul power was getting closer and closer to Tang San's, which put a lot of pressure on Tang San himself.
Originally, Tang San thought he had unparalleled talent and trained quite hard, but unfortunately, if both sides continued to train at this speed, he might be surpassed by Yang Xiong, and then his Innate Soul Power might become a joke.
And Yu Xiaogang, as the leader, especially since he was Tang San's teacher, believed even more that Tang San would be unparalleled under his tutelage. But his disciple seemed to be about to be surpassed by a teammate, so wouldn't his individual training become a joke?
However, Yang Xiong had never shown his soul skills, so they had no idea about Yang Xiong's Soul Ring skills and what soul beasts they came from. Even though the two of them had analyzed Yang Xiong many times, they still had no understanding.
Even Yu Xiaogang had given Yang Xiong various hints, but Yang Xiong just pretended not to notice. Anyway, this person didn't have the strength to force him.
Of course, there were also many rumors circulating outside, saying that if the two teams from Heaven Dou Royal Academy were combined, it might make the team stronger. Even Qin Ming, the leader of the first team, had expressed this idea.
Unfortunately, this news eventually died down. The first team of Heaven Dou Royal Academy was already internally complex, with each person having their own background. If the two teams were truly merged, their coordination might not be as good as it is now. Especially since the Three Great Education Committees valued the potential of the second team more than their current strength.
On this day, the Soul Master Competition finally began. The original Heaven Dou City Great Spirit Arena had been renovated and appeared more high-end, even expanding to include more than ten small Soul Duel Arenas inside.
The entire Heaven Dou City was bustling with people, especially outside the Great Spirit Arena, where it was packed.
The Shrek group, wearing silver battle robes, walked among all the teams.
The first team to enter was, of course, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy first team, followed by the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Shrek Team. Originally, they were supposed to be called the Heaven Dou Royal Academy second team, but the Three Great Education Committees and Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, out of respect for the Shrek group, specifically named them this way.
If the area outside the Great Spirit Arena was bustling with people, the inside of the Soul Duel Arena was packed, with cheers erupting from time to time.
Sitting in the center of the guest seats was the Emperor Xue Ye. On either side were Ning Fengzhi and a high-ranking official from the Spirit Hall, who should be Salas, the Platinum Bishop of the Spirit Hall in the Heaven Dou region, and the true host of this Soul Duel Competition.
Although Yang Xiong had participated in many Soul Master Soul Duel Competitions, he had never participated in a competition like this that was watched by the entire continent. No wonder Yu Xiaogang and the others attached such great importance to it.
After Platinum Bishop Salas drew lots, the opponent of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Shrek Team turned out to be Blue Tyrant Academy, which left Yang Xiong speechless for a moment.
Blue Tyrant Academy was originally at the bottom in terms of strength in the Heaven Dou region. Now, even their captain had been poached by the Shrek Team, making their combat power extremely weak.
As soon as they entered the arena, they were caught off guard by Shrek. In just half a minute, all their members were knocked down. Yang Xiong hadn't even exerted his full strength, and all the opponents were already knocked off the stage.
According to Tang San's arrangement, although Yang Xiong was on the field, he stood relatively far back in the formation, mainly acting as a defense-type Soul Master to protect the two support types, Oscar and Ning Rongrong. At the same time, he acted as a surprise force during the battle. After all, with Yang Xiong's speed, he could completely be considered an agility-attack type Battle Soul Master.
Yang Xiong himself was happy to be idle. He wouldn't do anything to turn the tide. Showing seventy percent of his strength was already considered doing justice to everyone.
However, Yang Xiong specifically paid attention to Liu Erlong. Even though Blue Tyrant Academy suffered such a crushing defeat, their dean seemed completely unconcerned. Her mind was basically entirely focused on Yu Xiaogang, which also left Yang Xiong speechless for a moment. Douluo Continent truly lived up to its reputation as the Continent of Love. Why did these women all prioritize love over their careers?
Of course, Yang Xiong also had a very strange question. Normally, in a Soul Master Competition like this, Xiao Wu shouldn't participate, especially with experts like Sword Douluo in the stands, and even other Titled Douluo experts might occasionally appear. But Xiao Wu seemed fearless and actually participated in the competition, which made Yang Xiong start to feel a little suspicious.
In the following days, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Shrek Team achieved consecutive victories. Several Battle Soul Masters appeared extremely dazzling, while Yang Xiong, standing at the back of the team, performed relatively ordinarily.
Yang Xiong wasn't very interested in this kind of competition to begin with, but everyone around him was discussing it, so he couldn't help but watch the matches of other teams.
The Five Element Academy truly lived up to its reputation as a veteran strong team. Each team performed very dazzlingly, especially the captains of each team, whose strength had basically reached the Soul Ancestor realm. Their various Soul Ring skills were also very good. In terms of foundation, they were indeed far beyond what the Shrek group could compare to.
Yang Xiong even saw his elder brother, Yang Wei, on the field. Although he was only a substitute for Purple Star Academy, he now had thirty-fifth level Soul Power, and his Iron Sword Martial Soul had extremely strong attack power. He was also a rare Tool Martial Soul Soul Master in Soul Duel Competitions.
It is well known that the difficulty of cultivating Tool Martial Souls in the early stages is far greater than that of Beast Martial Souls. Although Yang Wei's Soul Power level was average, he had been cultivated with many resources from the Sect, and his physical fitness in all aspects was very good. Especially since the Sect had a specialized inherited sword technique, these were things that ordinary Soul Masters could not compare to.
Yang Xiong also thought to himself. After all, this was his own elder brother, and the person closest to him in this world. Should he pay special attention to him, and even make some plans for his future? Especially since this elder brother was quite good to him when he was a child. However, he had his own cultivation methods and his father's training, so the two of them didn't communicate much about cultivation issues.
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