Feng Xiaotian's feelings for Huo Wu were well known at both Blazing Fire Academy and Shenfeng Academy. Now that Huo Wu had said those words, Feng Xiaotian would definitely turn into a battle-hungry warrior, willing to do whatever it took to defeat Shrek Academy.
As for Feng Xiaotian himself, Shrek Academy suddenly seemed a little more endearing, because as long as he defeated them, he and Huo Wu could finally be together.
The tournament continued. The Heaven Dou division had a total of twenty-eight teams, requiring twenty-seven days of grueling battles. They were only on the eleventh day now, with more than half a month of intense competition still ahead.
However, for Shrek Academy, it did not seem to be all that exhausting.
After they had displayed overwhelming dominance on the battlefield, slightly weaker teams began forfeiting their matches in order to save strength for other opponents.
Even top-tier teams like Elephant Armored Academy and Blazing Fire Academy were crushed when they faced Shrek Academy.
Thus, after only eleven matches, Shrek Academy had already established an unrivaled reputation and momentum.
Eleven matches, eleven victories. The only other teams still holding an undefeated record were Thunderclap Academy, Shenfeng Academy, and Tianshui Academy.
However, compared to Shrek's near-crushing victories in every match, those three teams' prestige was already falling behind.
Some people had even started taking bets on whether Shrek Academy would crush the remaining three elemental academies just like they had crushed Elephant Armored Academy and Blazing Fire Academy.
That evening, after watching the afternoon matches, Oscar asked Dugu Yan to take everyone to Lingyu Restaurant for a proper break, while he stayed behind to draw lots for the next day's opponent.
To Oscar's surprise, the opponent for the next day turned out to be Canghui Academy. The soul bone he had taken years ago from Canghui still lay quietly in his soul tool. And now he would be facing them again?
Canghui Academy had so far only revealed one Soul Sect and six Soul Kings, a mid-level strength among the twenty-eight teams.
But Oscar knew very well that Canghui's true strength was far more than that , they had a very powerful trump card.
Oscar did not plan to tell Tang San and the others about it, though. Since everything had gone smoothly for them so far, a bit of hardship might actually be a good thing.
The next day came quickly, and the match between Shrek Academy and Canghui Academy was naturally arranged on the central main battle stage. After all, Shrek was now the most popular team in the tournament.
But to everyone's surprise, before the match even began, Canghui Academy surrendered.
The spectators were all stunned. Though Canghui was not in the top tier, they were by no means weak. How could they give up without even putting up a fight?
Oscar was surprised as well, since in the original timeline Canghui had fought against Shrek.
He quickly understood. In this life, Shrek and Canghui had not crossed paths, much less made enemies of each other. Considering Shrek's current overwhelming strength, it made sense that Canghui would preserve their strength by conceding.
Put nicely, it was a tactical withdrawal , avoiding their strong opponent and saving their strength for others.
Shrek's team did not feel disappointed about not fighting. If anything, they were glad for the extra rest.
The happiest of all was Tai Long. After over ten days of fighting, and with his constant training, his spirit power level was on the verge of breaking through level forty.
He would have been thrilled if more teams forfeited, giving him even more time to train.
Although Shrek did not compete that day, two of the five elemental academies did, and they were matched against each other.
Those two were Shenfeng Academy and Tianshui Academy, whose eleven straight victories earned them the central stage.
Their match was just as exciting and talked-about as Shrek's match against Blazing Fire the day before, so every other team came to watch.
After all, they wanted to observe these strong opponents carefully to prepare countermeasures for future battles.
In Shrek's rest area, Tang San, Dai Mubai, and the others all sat down to watch.
Judging from the team data, Shenfeng and Tianshui were evenly matched, with three Soul Sects and four Soul Kings each.
Shenfeng Academy had a slight advantage because their average spirit power level was a little higher.
Tianshui Academy, however, always made a stunning entrance , all seven of their members were girls, and every one of them was a beauty.
In fact, Tianshui's entrance often drew louder cheers than even Shrek's.
But Feng Xiaotian now only had eyes for Huo Wu, and even these stunning girls could not make him waver.
Both teams were strong, but Shenfeng had a massive advantage , all seven members could fly. This made Tianshui feel powerless despite their strength.
With both sides deliberately holding back their trump cards, Shenfeng relied on their flight to wear Tianshui down before finishing them off with strong wind attacks.
The reason both teams held back was not just because they were fellow elemental academies, but also because of Shrek's presence.
Neither of them had fought Shrek yet, and they were unwilling to reveal their full strength too soon , they did not want to be defeated by a rookie team, especially one as terrifyingly strong as Shrek.
Although the match was thrilling, the audience still felt it was not enough. Their anticipation for Shrek only grew stronger, because Shrek was the only team that always fought with full power, often in crushing fashion.
But if the twelfth day left some spectators unsatisfied, the thirteenth day's matches thrilled everyone.
That day, another dark horse appeared , and crushed Blazing Fire Academy.
Yes, Blazing Fire lost again. They had not even recovered from the frustration of losing to Shrek before being crushed once more.
And their opponent was none other than Canghui Academy, who had forfeited against Shrek the day before.
In their match against Blazing Fire, Canghui displayed their true strength. Blazing Fire was the strongest team they had faced besides Shrek.
Canghui had yet to face the other four elemental academies, but this match made it clear that they did not even see them as a threat , only Shrek worried them.
And indeed, they proved it with their performance.
At the start of the match, Canghui's seven members stood still. The moment they released their spirits, even Ning Fengzhi in the VIP section let out a sigh.
Canghui had swapped out four members, and all seven of the ones on stage had gem-type spirits , seven different gemstones.
Gem spirits were a very special kind of spirit with no fixed development path. Their strength depended entirely on what spirit rings they absorbed later, making them highly versatile and advanced.
For example, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda was a gem-type spirit that had been developed into a top-tier support spirit.
This showed just how powerful gem spirits could be.
Canghui's seven were all control-type spirit masters , and they could perform a seven-in-one fusion skill.
This was the first time in the history of the tournament that an entire team of control-type spirit masters appeared, and also the first time a seven-in-one fusion skill had been seen.
Although fusion skills were weaker than martial soul fusion skills, they could combine everyone's power into one, multiplying their strength to a terrifying level.
Blazing Fire fell right into their trap from the very start and was defeated by their seven-in-one fusion skill , the Seven Asura Illusion.
It was not just defeat. They were crushed so completely that no one even saw how they lost.
All anyone saw was Blazing Fire being enveloped in the Seven Asura Illusion. Minutes later, when the illusion faded, all seven of them , including the powerful Soul Sects Huo Wu and Huo Wushuang , were lying unconscious on the stage, bodies twitching as though they had endured something horrifying.
Seeing this, Feng Xiaotian completely lost control of his rage, releasing his spirit and rushing onto the stage to attack Canghui's members.
But this was a tournament held in the imperial capital. Naturally, Feng Xiaotian was stopped by a Soul Saint and warned.
The medical team confirmed that Blazing Fire's members had no life-threatening injuries, but their mental state had suffered heavy damage and would take time to recover.
Feng Xiaotian held Huo Wu in his arms, his expression dark and murderous as he glared at Canghui's members.
Canghui's team did not seem to understand how they had offended Feng Xiaotian, but they were not afraid of Shenfeng Academy. Other than Shrek, they feared almost no one, not even the elemental academies.
Seeing Feng Xiaotian's furious expression, they even deliberately provoked him. A team led by an enraged, irrational captain would be easier to defeat.
Canghui's victory shocked the audience. In the VIP section, Emperor Xue Ye and Ning Fengzhi exchanged helpless smiles, remarking that this year's tournament was full of geniuses, far surpassing their own generation.
As the emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, Xue Ye was naturally pleased to see so many geniuses emerge , they were, after all, all citizens of his empire.
In Shrek's rest area, apart from Tang San whose Purple Demon Eye had just faded, everyone , including the level 55 Soul King Dai Mubai , was left dumbfounded. None of them could figure out the weakness of Canghui's fusion skill.
Oscar smiled and turned to Tang San. "Xiao San, what did you see?"
Tang San thought for a moment and replied, "Mental power. All seven members of Canghui are spirit-type control masters. Their seven-in-one fusion skill is based on mental power, and I suspect it is primarily an illusion technique."
Oscar nodded with a smile. Although Tang San had not yet taken the Water of Yearning, his Purple Demon Eye at level 44 was still strong enough to see some clues.
Oscar continued, "If you were to face this fusion skill, how confident would you be?"
Tang San replied, "If we ignore their surrender yesterday, our chances of winning would probably be less than fifty percent.
But the fact that they surrendered means they are still wary of us, even with their fusion skill.
Given our current strength, the only one they likely fear is Mubai."
Hearing this, Oscar's smile grew even wider. "Correct. Their seven-in-one fusion skill is indeed an illusion-based control skill. Its weakness is very obvious , if someone's mental power surpasses theirs, or if they have a way to break illusions, the skill becomes useless.
They likely surrendered yesterday because they were not sure they could handle a level-55 Mubai."
The others nodded thoughtfully, though they were still shocked.
After all, even someone as clever as Tang San could only guess the general idea, but Oscar had completely seen through the technique after a single glance , proof of his strength.
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