A few days later, Spirit City, the Pope's Hall.
"Such strength." After reading the report, a trace of surprise flashed in Bibi Dong's eyes before her brows knitted slightly.
"Seems she's already made contact."
She was silent for a moment, then rose and walked toward a side chamber.
Before long, inside a room—
"Teacher, you called for me." Hu Liena quickly approached.
Bibi Dong smiled faintly and handed the file in her hand to Hu Liena. "Nana, take a look."
Hu Liena accepted it respectfully. Under Bibi Dong's gaze, she opened it and read. A short while later, her expression grew serious.
Bibi Dong nodded. "Without a doubt, this child will be the powerful opponent you face in the finals."
"Teacher, I won't let you down." Hu Liena raised her head, speaking solemnly.
"I look forward to your performance." Bibi Dong gave a small nod.
Hu Liena returned the nod with equal gravity. "Teacher, I'll return to cultivate now."
"Go." Bibi Dong's voice softened.
Hu Liena gave a slight bow and turned to leave.
As soon as she was gone, Bibi Dong's face grew cold again. She lifted her gaze toward the direction of the Worship Hall and sneered softly.
"Qian Renxue, no matter how you scheme, this child ultimately belongs to my Pope's Hall." After all, Yang Yunhai's teacher and uncle-master both served her Pope's Hall.
"However, with such strength, Nana may have trouble restraining him. And the championship…"
For a time, she sank into silence.
——
Heaven Dou Royal Academy, inside the team dormitory.
"Brothers, I've broken through rank 40." Yu Feng puffed out his chest and strode forward.
"What a coincidence, me too." Already seated at the dining table, Oslo said lightly.
Yang Yunhai smiled. "Perfect. Uncle Shou, take them both to obtain soul rings together."
"I'll arrange it immediately." Meng Shenshou replied with a wide grin.
——
Several days later, inside a soul beast forest, the towering trees cast dappled light across the ground.
"Chi-la." Tang San pulled back his Eight Spider Lances.
"Xiao San, let's go. The ranking tournament is about to begin. We should head back." Liu Erlong's voice came.
"Yes, Aunt."
Soon, after gathering their things, the two hurried toward the forest's edge.
'Yang Yunhai, are you ready?' Tang San's eyes flashed as he ran through the shadowy path ahead.
Rank 45. In less than a month, his soul power had risen by 3 whole ranks. His Eight Spider Lances had also evolved to an entirely new level, reaching the level of a 10,000-year soul bone. The boost it gave his body was immense. The mixed toxins it now contained were terrifying, enough to easily poison even thousand-year soul beasts.
By his estimate, its poison was no weaker than the innate venom of a 20,000-year Man-Faced Demon Spider. The toxicity was frightening.
With venom like this, he believed that not a single opponent in the tournament could withstand it.
Including Yang Yunhai.
Of course, the greatest improvement was his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul itself—something that even left him shocked.
Its strength had advanced on all fronts, and it had even evolved a devouring attribute. What's more, the devouring worked on everything. Through testing, he found that blood, vitality, soul power, and even spiritual power could be consumed—and with remarkable efficiency. The energy filtered through the Martial Soul was pure and flawless, no weaker than what the Eight Spider Lances produced.
Most importantly, because it was his Martial Soul's innate talent, devouring soul beasts directly brought clearer, stronger enhancements to the Martial Soul itself. This accelerated his Martial Soul's evolution and also his cultivation speed.
Cultivation of soul power was originally the conversion of heaven and earth energy through the Martial Soul. Now, it was just more direct.
That was why his Martial Soul had advanced to this level so quickly, and why his strength had grown so rapidly.
After numerous trials, he could already control this ability, choosing what to devour.
'With this, in the tournament, I can do just as Yang Yunhai does—devour only soul power to extend my stamina. With the current strength of my Martial Soul, even when facing Yang Yunhai or the Spirit Hall team, why should I fear?' His heart blazed with fervor.
The head soul bone awarded to the tournament champion—he was determined to claim it!
——
Heaven Dou Royal Academy, team dormitory.
Meng Shenshou strode quickly inside. "Xiao Hai, the carriages are ready. The three Education Committee members are already there. We're just waiting on you."
"Good." Yang Yunhai nodded, then turned with a smile. "In that case, let's set off!"
The one-month break was over. The ranking tournament was finally beginning.
And after this period of training, the team's strength had advanced again. Yu Feng and Oslo had both broken through to Soul Ancestor, now at rank 41. Ye Lingling had advanced 1 rank, reaching 39. For an auxiliary soul master under 17 who had never consumed an immortal herb, this was extremely impressive.
As for the others: Yang Yunhai himself was rank 49, Dugu Yan rank 46, Zhu Zhuqing rank 44, Shi Mo rank 42, Shi Mo (the other twin) rank 41.
Seven Soul Ancestors, and one rank 39 Soul Elder. Their combined strength was enough to look down on all the other academies of the Heaven Dou Empire.
According to Meng Shenshou, his father, one of the Education Committee, had been walking with his head held high lately, clearly in excellent spirits.
"Yes, Captain!" The team answered in unison and followed Yang Yunhai out of the dormitory.
"Long live Heaven Dou Royal Academy!" Their departure drew cheers and applause from the other students watching.
The ranking tournament venue was at the Royal Knight Regiment's grand drill grounds. Apart from high-level nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire and several top powers, outsiders could not enter.
Since they could not spectate, the Academy students could only watch their team depart with admiration.
Before long, at the mountain foot of the Academy, several grand carriages escorted by royal knights rolled away.
After two quarters of an hour, they arrived at the drill grounds. Stepping out, the team followed the three Education Committee members inside.
Before them was a vast open field, with a hundred-meter-wide arena marked out at its center. Without a doubt, this was the competition stage. On the north side stood the VIP platform, facing south. In the front row sat Xue Ye, Ning Fengzhi, and Salas. Behind them, one side was filled with martial generals, the other with Heaven Dou Spirit Hall officials in uniform.
Around the edges were 16 viewing platforms for the participating teams.
Because the Heaven Dou Royal Academy team had given up their automatic promotion, this year's ranking tournament had 16 teams in total. By the rules, all 16 would battle in 15 rounds of round-robin competition, one round per day, with 8 matches each day.
Fifteen days straight. Eight matches a day. The schedule was tight and punishing, a true test for every team.
After all, once injured, it would be easy to affect the following matches.
Thankfully, the ranking tournament was not a knockout stage. Losing did not eliminate them from reaching the finals.
"Shou'er, you take the team to sit at the platform first," Meng Shenji instructed.
"Alright." Meng Shenshou nodded and led the team to their viewing platform.
"Captain, how are we going to fight today?" Yu Feng asked, noting that not all teams had yet arrived.
The draw had been done the night before. Their first opponent today was Shrek Academy.
First match, and again Shrek. He couldn't help but feel their team's fate was cursed to keep clashing with Shrek Academy.
(End of Chapter)
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