Seven days later, Heaven Dou Grand Soul Arena.
The Heaven Dou Empire Division of the Continental Elite Soul Master Competition was holding its opening ceremony today.
As the first rays of morning sunlight shone over Heaven Dou City, the entire Grand Soul Arena was already packed with people.
As a once-every-five-years event, the enthusiasm of the Heaven Dou citizens was overwhelming. Tickets for the matches had sold out a month in advance, and some were even being resold at inflated prices.
To crack down on scalpers, the patrol teams had been arresting people daily.
The nobles had already taken their seats early in the arena. For them, the Soul Master Competition was more than just entertainment—it was a chance to recruit young talent.
As such, with every competition, in addition to the battles in the arena, there were even fiercer overt and covert contests happening in the VIP seats.
"Heh, you old guys really don't care about saving face anymore."
Yu Luomian turned to the deans of the other academies nearby and mockingly started roasting them.
He was already aware of the anti-Blue Tyrant team alliance and felt both scorn and displeasure toward it.
The other academy deans were a bit thin-skinned. Hearing Yu Luomian's words, their faces flushed slightly. Only old man Huo stiffened his neck and argued back.
"Is it our fault? Who told your little monster to be so terrifying?"
"Click—what a bunch of cowardly chickens."
Yu Luomian's face grew even more sarcastic.
After hearing what these academies had done in recent days, he had been a bit worried about the Blue Tyrant Team.
But Yu Xiaowei had said just one sentence that completely reassured him:
"I'm level 49."
That sentence made Yu Luomian feel like he had just gulped down a tenfold energy tonic—his worries vanished instantly.
Fourteen years old, level 49.
That left Tang Hao's record far behind.
Such a crushing soul power level, combined with Yu Xiaowei's terrifying martial soul and five soul bones—there was really no need to worry about the anti-Blue Tyrant team.
Still, he couldn't help but be annoyed.
So when he saw the other deans today, he couldn't resist spitting out a few jabs just to feel better.
Emperor Xue Ye, seated ahead of the group, listened to Yu Luomian's and old man Huo's bickering, his eyes flickering with complex colors. Previously, he had named Yu Xiaowei the Blue Lightning King—partly because he had exposed Xue Qinghe's true identity and uncovered the truth behind the assassinations of royal children, and partly because Yu Xiaowei had two great sects backing him. Gaining his loyalty meant also gaining the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
He had also dispatched people to investigate Yu Xiaowei.
Unfortunately, since Yu Xiaowei had joined the Soul Sect, he rarely made public appearances. The investigations turned up only a few instances of him taking action.
However, within noble circles, Yu Xiaowei's reputation was poor. The assessments of him said he had a bad temper, bullied the weak, and liked to buy mutant cat-girls.
These kinds of negative rumors made Emperor Xue Ye begin to question his decision.
But now, hearing the argument between the dean of the Blazing Fire Academy and Yu Luomian, it seemed the other academies believed they had no hope because Yu Xiaowei was simply too strong—so they had sent their top students over to Heaven Dou Royal Academy instead.
"He's only just turned 14…"
Emperor Xue Ye thought to himself. If it was true, Yu Xiaowei's potential was terrifying.
His previous doubts and worries faded away, and he even began considering how to draw Yu Xiaowei closer to the royal family.
"What if I married Xue Ke to him?"
"No, this kid is already engaged to the daughter of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. If Xue Ke marries him, she'll just be a concubine."
Just as Yu Luomian was still arguing with the others in the stands, the announcer began calling in the academies.
Each time an academy entered, cheers erupted from the crowd. Lanba Academy was scheduled to appear near the end.
Unlike in the original novel, where their school uniforms were covered in strange advertisements from Flender, the current Blue Tyrant Academy had not been renamed Shrek Academy and still wore their signature sky-blue uniforms.
Yu Xiaowei stood at the front of the team, looking a bit bored.
He just wanted the tournament to end quickly so he could collect his rewards from Spirit Hall.
Glancing around, he spotted two familiar faces.
Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun.
However, the two no longer had the same arrogance they once had outside the Star Dou Great Forest.
Especially Dai Mubai, who now looked extremely depressed.
Zhu Zhuqing's spirit had suddenly mutated, catching him completely off guard.
The Nether White Tiger was gone, his fiancée was gone, and his chances of becoming emperor were gone.
He still couldn't understand it—this was a family martial soul. And back at Shrek Academy, Zhu Zhuqing had definitely been a Nether Cat, so how had it suddenly changed?
And how did her soul power rise by eight levels in just two months?
Ma Hongjun, standing next to Dai Mubai, looked even worse. His boss had fallen, and he had fallen with him.
Seeing the two of them so dejected, Yu Xiaowei clicked his tongue twice and turned his head away.
After Emperor Xue Ye and Ning Fengzhi gave their respective speeches, the long-winded opening ceremony finally concluded.
Orlando, the newly promoted platinum bishop from Spirit Hall's Heaven Dou City temple, began the draw for the competition.
Since this was the opening ceremony and time was limited, only one round of matches was scheduled for today.
Compared to Salas, Orlando looked gloomier. He didn't say much. After the draw, he handed it to the host beside him to announce.
"First round of preliminaries: Canghui Academy vs. Zixing Academy."
"First round of preliminaries: Oakland Academy vs. Flame Glory Academy."
"First round of preliminaries: Heaven Dou Royal Academy vs. Lanba Academy."
Upon hearing that Heaven Dou Royal Academy would face Lanba Academy, the common crowd didn't react much—but the nobles all gasped collectively.
Especially Meng Shenji from Heaven Dou Royal Academy—he couldn't stop trembling.
How did they get matched against the strongest academy in Heaven Dou City in the first round?!
The strongest member of their second team was Dai Mubai, but he was only level 42.
Just now, Yu Luomian had proudly declared that his nephew Yu Tianheng was already level 48.
Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon versus White Tiger—his martial spirit was superior, his soul power was stronger, and that was not even mentioning the monster Yu Xiaowei.
In front of the entire city of Heaven Dou, their academy would be utterly humiliated.
At the players' rest area, Yu Xiaowei leaned against a window lazily and said:
"My second cousin and I won't participate in the qualifier matches."
"You guys go and play more."
"But Rongrong and Oscar have to play—you two lack practical experience."
"Let Tailong be the main attacker, Sister Yanyan control the field, and let Zhu Zhuqing and Huang Yuan protect the two support-type soul masters like we practiced during training."
"As for Jiangzhu, Jingling, and Meng Yiran—you three can rotate in and out as needed."
"There aren't many chances for real combat like this. Make sure everyone gets more field time."
"Oh right—when we fight Heaven Dou Royal Academy, be ruthless and make sure Blue Tyrant's name gets out there."