The next day, the round-robin tournament arrived as scheduled.
With Lin Yun's performance in the previous knockout stage, almost every team wanted to avoid facing Shrek Academy. The instant kill demonstrated by his Shift and Exchange technique was simply too unresolvable.
Even the top eight teams from the previous competition felt the same.
Fortunately, the top eight teams from the previous competition were generally not placed in the same group during the round-robin stage; instead, they served as the seeded teams for the eight groups.
The group Shrek Team was assigned to didn't have any overly powerful teams. There were no royal academies from the Four Great Empires, and none of them happened to be grouped together either.
"First round of the round-robin tournament, Shrek Academy versus Yunluo Advanced Soul Master School, individual combat!"
After the draw was complete, the referee announced loudly.
"Please, both participating players, take the stage!"
The moment the referee's words fell, almost all the spectators and personnel from other participating teams fixed their gaze on Shrek Academy's waiting area.
They were all anticipating: in this match, would Shrek Academy still send Lin Yun, who had instantly killed seven people in the previous match?
In the last match, they witnessed Lin Yun's 'seven in one second.' In this match, they wanted to see Lin Yun 'sweep through seven'!
The audience simply wanted to enjoy the show, to witness Lin Yun's invincible dominance on the field. As for the other participating teams, they wanted to see if Lin Yun would use more techniques.
He was too mysterious, so mysterious that he was almost impossible to counter. Even if they ultimately couldn't defeat him, knowing more of Lin Yun's methods would at least prevent them from losing too badly.
However, contrary to their wishes, Lin Yun remained calmly seated in Shrek's waiting area, showing no signs of getting up.
Instead, it was Ma Xiaotao, who was beside him, who stood up and walked towards the arena.
"Ah? Shrek sent someone else?"
"Yeah, I wanted to see that guy from last time sweep through everyone!"
"What a pity, I bought the ticket just for that golden-haired soul master!"
"But it's not a loss, look at who Shrek sent out this match, it's a beauty!"
"Hehehe, that figure, that face, brother, this ticket was worth it..."
"Shut up! That's a Shrek Academy soul master, are you trying to die?!"
"Ah, right, right, right..."
The audience members, upon seeing that Shrek's chosen combatant wasn't Lin Yun, initially stirred in commotion, many with obvious disappointment on their faces.
But later, the topic was somehow led astray, and the discussion directly veered towards Ma Xiaotao's face and figure.
Indeed, old perverts are the mainstream.
It was only because the voices were too varied and the distance too great that Ma Xiaotao didn't quite hear clearly. Otherwise, she might have directly bombarded the audience with a Phoenix Meteor Shower.
On the other hand, the people from Yunluo Advanced Soul Master Academy breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Lin Yun wasn't on stage. Their most feared opponent was Lin Yun. In terms of team strength, their Yunluo team wasn't much stronger than Shrek's previous opponent, the Heavenly Spirit Team.
If Lin Yun had truly taken the stage, their Yunluo team would likely have been the first team in this competition to be swept seven to one.
Though the result would be the same with Ma Xiaotao...
"This... Senior Sister, my name is Ma Yingjun. When we compete later, can you please go easy on me?" The goofy-looking guy from the Yunluo team who went on stage spoke weakly, completely submissive.
Ma Xiaotao merely gave him a calm glance, then turned her gaze to the referee.
The referee's mouth twitched. He simply declared the match begun and promptly scurried away.
Boom!
Golden-red flames instantly surged, and soul rings rose one after another beneath Ma Xiaotao's feet.
Two yellow, two purple, two black: Soul Emperor!
Ma Yingjun's expression instantly froze. He looked down at the lonely three soul rings beneath his own feet, and he almost burst into tears.
"My side pulls out a slingshot, and the enemy shamelessly throws a nuclear bomb directly."
"No martial ethics!"
Ding—
Ma Xiaotao's third soul ring suddenly lit up. Her golden-red flame wings flapped violently, carrying her like a fiery meteor directly towards Ma Yingjun. In Ma Yingjun's shrinking pupils...
An instant explosion!
The soul tools he had brought out were instantly melted by the terrifying high temperature of the Extreme Fire. The powerful explosion triggered by Phoenix Sky Dance blasted him away instantly.
Three seconds!
From the referee announcing the start of the match until Ma Xiaotao blasted Ma Yingjun away, the total time taken was only three seconds!
These three seconds even included the time it took for Ma Xiaotao to release her martial soul and activate her soul skill. In fact, Ma Yingjun was utterly disoriented by Ma Xiaotao in an instant.
As they shared the same surname, Ma Xiaotao had still held back. Her attack method was merely the explosive impact of Phoenix Sky Dance. Otherwise, with the Soul Emperor-level Extreme Fire, Ma Yingjun, a Soul Venerable, would have been incinerated into charcoal in a single encounter.
As it was, he only suffered some burns and minor internal injuries from the explosion's shockwave.
"Thank you, Senior Sister, for going easy on me," Ma Yingjun grimaced, enduring his burns, and scrambled off the stage.
Only Ma Xiaotao remained on the stage, her expression indifferent, her six soul rings still exuding a powerful aura.
Soul Emperor!
The first Soul Emperor in this competition!
It wasn't until then that the audience reacted. The entire Soul Dueling Arena erupted in cheers even more fervent than when Lin Yun had instantly killed the seven members of Heavenly Spirit previously.
Shift and Exchange was cool, and it had a strong visual impact, but they didn't know how to appreciate it!
Among the hundreds of thousands of spectators, soul masters probably didn't even account for one percent. The other ninety-nine percent were commoners; how could they understand a soul master's battle?
Therefore, compared to the psychological shadow Lin Yun cast on other teams, Ma Xiaotao's dazzling six soul rings and her incredibly dominant performance were more likely to make their blood boil.
Not to mention Ma Xiaotao herself was a stunning beauty.
Beauties are always more popular.
Listening to the cheers that echoed through the sky, the coldness on Ma Xiaotao's face thawed slightly. Her alluring red lips curved upward, and a hint of pleasure flashed in her eyes.
Wasn't this precisely what she came to the competition for?
Gradually, the initially noisy cheers from the audience bizarrely converged into four words:
Phoenix Saintess.
The scene of hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously shouting "Phoenix Saintess" was quite shocking. No one knew who started it, but everyone felt that this title suited Ma Xiaotao, so they shouted it.
It was just like Wang Qiu'er's title of 'Golden Dragon Girl' in the original novel.
Only Lin Yun's expression gradually became peculiar.
Phoenix Saintess?
Good heavens, even with her Evil Fire purified, Ma Xiaotao still received the title of Phoenix Saintess. It seems Ma Xiaotao was truly destined to become a saintess!
Hehehehe~
(End of Chapter)
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