Chapter 182: Preliminaries End
Yu Xiao Gang clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white as he walked into the arena with the students, his face stern.
He understood that his actions earlier had been somewhat reckless, but the method for absorbing soul rings beyond their optimal age was the only way to save his half-disabled disciple at this stage.
And those kids had no adults backing them up at the moment—this was the perfect opportunity. Otherwise, how could he ask for such a method in front of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School?
Before morally cornering Ning Rongrong and the others, he had already thought it through: once he learned the method for absorbing soul rings beyond the limit, he would make it public. Even if Ning Fengzhi and the others got angry, it would be impossible to punish everyone involved.
Moreover, both Liu Erlong and he had the backing of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and Ning Fengzhi wouldn't make a fatal move over something that couldn't be undone.
Unfortunately, Ning Bei's appearance had disrupted all of his plans—truly sad and painful!
Although his mood was heavy, the competition had to go on, and luckily, this time Shrek wasn't facing a strong opponent.
The students, still burning with anger from the previous incident, easily defeated their opponents under Tang San's leadership, giving Shrek's team more confidence.
Liu Erlong and Flanders had remained as ice sculptures in the resting area for three whole days.
After the day's matches ended, the frost on both of them finally cracked in a spiderweb-like pattern, and then a burst of soul power erupted, causing the ice to shatter into powder.
Once freed, Liu Erlong shivered, exhaling cold mist, her eyes full of fury.
"That damn brat, I'm definitely going to get even!"
Flanders, who was also shivering from the cold, heard Liu Erlong's words and immediately trembled, his eyes filled with fear. He quickly tried to calm her down.
"Second sister, let's think this through carefully. We can't act rashly."
"Hmph!"
Liu Erlong was just venting her anger. Since Flanders had already given her an out, she naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to go to Ning Bei and offer herself up. After a cold snort, she turned her head away.
Due to Ning Bei's earlier words, the Great Master and the others didn't dare to even move Liu Erlong and Flanders to the resting area, fearing they might damage them and cause them to lose an arm or leg.
So, the two of them had been used as scenery for the other participants to admire for three whole days. Now that they had just been freed, they noticed many students walking by and pointing at them.
Both of them blushed and quickly scurried into the resting room.
"Dean, Teacher Erlong, you're out!"
Jiao Zhu, seeing the two enter the room, was filled with joy. She had suffered a lot these past few days, constantly having to peek outside to make sure no one damaged the ice sculptures.
Once the Shrek team returned to their rooms, there were more greetings. The opponents they had faced recently weren't particularly strong, and although the process was a bit rough at times, they had come through victorious.
Now, with a record of four wins and one loss, hearing the good news lifted Flanders and Liu Erlong's spirits, though their frustration was still there.
Compared to Shrek Academy's difficult victories, Tiandou Royal Academy's second team had been crushing their opponents with ease, and every match had been against formidable opponents.
It was unclear whether Sarath had intentionally made things difficult for them, but after facing Shrek and Tian Shui Academy, in the next three days, Tiandou Royal Academy's second team would be facing teams like Elephant Armored Academy, Plant Academy, and Divine Wind Academy.
They had already crossed paths with the major seed teams.
In the match against Elephant Armored Academy, Long Nianbing displayed incredible power.
The Earth Melody: Eternal Blade not only absorbed strength from the earth to create thousands of kitchen knives but also formed a barrier to absorb the enemy's soul power, primarily relying on the earth to absorb everything.
The clumsy Elephant Armored Academy had no solution for these barriers, and in the end, they exhausted their soul power and were defeated, with Long Nianbing finishing off half of them, Ning Rongrong counted as half.
This disappointed the enthusiastic Huyan Zhen, the leader of Elephant Armored Sect, who almost ground his teeth in the stands, glaring at Ning Fengzhi with malice.
The battle against Plant Academy was Nami's solo show. With Ning Rongrong's support, the massive tidal waves made the enemy students feel miserable. Before they even had the chance to release their seeds, they were all knocked off the stage.
This made the long-legged girls from Plant Academy angry, cursing as they left the arena, calling it bullying.
In contrast, Divine Wind Academy was much more cunning. After consulting with their lead teacher, they simply forfeited their match against Tiandou Royal Academy's second team, which caused the audience to erupt in boos.
Shouts rang out: "Refund!"
However, most of the other participants agreed with Divine Wind Academy's decision. They all followed suit, not wanting to waste energy fighting against a team of Soul Kings and risk wearing themselves out for future battles.
This led to the long-legged girls from Tian Shui Academy, who had already faced the second team, cursing the organizers for drawing such ridiculous lots. If they had faced them later, they could have preserved their strength.
Now, not only had their Martial Soul Fusion skill been revealed, but they hadn't even won. They couldn't even claim a dignified loss.
On the stands, Xue Ye and the little angel were delighted that their second team had easily advanced to the next stage.
But this made Xiao Wu incredibly frustrated. She had originally planned to give her teammates a chance to shine, but now, as soon as their opponents stepped onto the stage, they immediately called for forfeiture.
This left Xiao Wu with nowhere to vent her energy, and she was furious, yet helpless.
Finally, in the last match of the preliminaries, after their opponents called for forfeiture again, Xiao Wu couldn't take it anymore. She pointed at the Lightning Academy team and started cursing at them.
"Do you have any shame? You're supposed to be here to compete, not just forfeiting!"
Yu Tianxin, the captain of Lightning Academy, immediately turned red in the face, but he couldn't argue. He led his team back to the resting area, ignoring Xiao Wu's taunts.
Ning Rongrong, amused, stopped her sister, who was about to chase after them and continue insulting them, and comforted her.
"Alright, Xiao Wu, it's just the preliminaries. Everyone is just trying to get into the next stage, so it's understandable they want to preserve their strength."
"Hmph!"
Xiao Wu understood but still felt a little frustrated. This was a great opportunity to show off in front of Ning Bei, and it was wasted just like that.
Seemingly understanding her sister's thoughts, Ning Rongrong continued.
"Once we get to Soul Master City, it will be the real competition. There will be one-on-one Soul Battles, and you'll be the first to go up every time!"
Hearing this, Xiao Wu's rabbit ears stood up, excited.
"Really? If I meet these cowards again, Xiao Wu will definitely give them a set of Eight-Dan Throws!"
With Lightning Academy's forfeit, the host announced that Tiandou Royal Academy's second team had successfully advanced to the next stage as the first seed in the preliminaries. The audience erupted in applause, both in support of Tiandou Royal Academy's main team and in mockery of the teams that had forfeited early.
(END CHAPTER)
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