After Shen Ce was mentally devoured and controlled by Huo Yuhao, the two Soul Sect members, Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan, immediately returned to assist and launched a ruthless assault on him.
As a Battle Soul Engineer of the Assault System, even though Shen Ce wore an internal soul tool armor, he could not strengthen his physical body through spirit possession like Beast Spirit Masters could.
Moreover, after being controlled by Huo Yuhao, the seals carved onto his internal armor could no longer be triggered. Jiang Nannan's fighting style focused mainly on grappling techniques, making the defensive strength of the internal armor practically useless.
However, due to the soul power gap between the two sides, Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan did not entangle with him for long. Taking advantage of the unknown effect duration of the mental parasitism, they directly knocked Shen Ce off the stage.
Only after falling from the stage did Shen Ce slowly regain consciousness, unable to accept the reality of being eliminated so inexplicably.
Once the strongest member, Shen Ce, had fallen, the rest of Qianling Academy's team had no means of resisting Shrek Academy's group.
Since Shen Ce was their only Assault System Soul Master, all of their spirit configurations were designed to maximize his damage output.
With their own offensive abilities lacking, the remaining members of Qianling Academy could not break Xu Sanshi's defense even when working together until the very end.
With the referee announcing Shrek Academy's victory in this team battle, the first match of the second round of the round robin officially came to an end.
For Qianling Academy, although they lost, their actual losses were not too severe. In the upcoming group matches, they still had a chance to fight for qualification.
Next up in the competition, aside from Qianling Academy with their special lineup focused entirely on a single carry,
The most threatening team in the round robin was Zheng Tian Academy from the Heaven Dou Empire, a long-established academy with three Soul Kings in their roster.
But this time was different from before. Unlike the previous battles where only the reserve team struggled against strong opponents…
Due to time having passed, Ling Luochen and Xi Xi from the main team had nearly recovered, and against such formidable opponents, these two official members were sent into battle.
In the 2-on-2 portion of the match, Xi Xi and Ling Luochen formed one pair, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi formed the other. With their combined efforts,
Zheng Tian Academy never even got the chance to make it into the third match, the 3-on-3. They were defeated directly in the first two rounds.
Because of the cooperation between Xi Xi and Ling Luochen, the two strongest Soul Kings on the opponent's side were seriously injured. Unless something unexpected happened, it would be difficult for them to continue fighting in the tournament.
This was Shrek Academy's notorious tactic of eliminating dangerous teams early. Compared to the more manageable Qianling Academy and other weaker groups, taking Zheng Tian Academy out first was much more in line with Shrek's current strategy, especially with their limited manpower.
In the round robin group Shrek participated in, aside from Zheng Tian Academy,
The remaining academies varied in strength but were not considered powerful, not even as strong as Qianling Academy in their first match.
Since Shrek did not draw another team battle, Huo Yuhao was not needed in the next few matches.
Those matches were easily handled by Ling Luochen and Xi Xi, who had almost fully recovered from their injuries, accompanied by Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan,the three Soul Sects.
Because the match schedule ended up being quite relaxed, the original scenario from the novel,where Wang Yan spoke of the main team's tragic injuries and used pity to earn public respect and admiration, thereby boosting Shrek Academy's reputation,did not occur.
Huo Yuhao was perfectly happy to have this break. Now that he had obtained the Life Gold, the most important reason for coming to Star Luo City had been fulfilled.
With his soul power stuck at the bottleneck of rank 30, Huo Yuhao spent most of his free time in the spectator area, collecting information from the matches between the various powers.
Through the Eyes of Truth, he recorded and analyzed the structures of participants' martial souls and the composition of their soul skills.
Although the competition was officially restricted to advanced soul master academies and soul engineer academies,
In reality, many hidden sects and powerful families also disguised their talented young disciples as students to participate.
Some so-called "academies" were essentially subordinate institutions of these hidden powers, used to screen potential recruits and cultivate talent for the sects.
Within these teams, only the sect or family's own elite disciples would shine, while outside recruits served as substitutes.
The purpose was simple: those who stepped onto this stage were all young prodigies, the pride of their generation.
Participating allowed them to expand their social connections, gain experience, and,
For those who were isolated in closed sects, it was a chance to be humbled and sharpened by true competition.
Only by facing the wider world and recognizing stronger peers could they shed arrogance and later become pillars of their clans.
Because of this, powerful martial souls and unique soul skill configurations rarely seen outside were now being showcased.
After all, except for rare mutations, truly powerful martial souls were mostly cultivated by established sects and families.
Every soul ring combination was the result of countless predecessors experimenting and finding the optimal setup.
These refined martial soul configurations greatly expanded Huo Yuhao's knowledge, saving him a huge amount of trial-and-error time.
Even though some academies withheld their trump cards for the knockout stage,
Huo Yuhao's Eyes of Truth already saw through the hidden soul skill structures within their rings.
With the evolution of his eye ability, even without activating his Golden Demonic Eye awakening, he could now peer deeper into the hidden structures of others' martial souls and bodies.
After mental calculations and deduction, he could figure out the effects, composition, and workings of those hidden soul skills.
In just a few days, Huo Yuhao had gained more insight than he would have in an entire year at Shrek Academy.
Of course, this was also because he previously only lingered in the outer courtyard and lacked power.
After a short break to conclude the round robin stage,
The intense top-16 knockout battles were about to begin.
On the eve of the knockout matches, aside from the scheduled rest time, Star Luo City held a top-tier auction.
In the original story, this auction included an Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone compatible with the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion martial soul, carrying the Ice Explosion ability,
And the ninth-rank soul tool, the Sealed God Platform, which contained the Snow Empress.
However, this time, Huo Yuhao did not go to the Extreme North during the earlier break to subdue the Ice Empress.
Therefore, the Ice Empress should still be guarding the Snow Empress, making it impossible for humans to capture the Snow Empress during her vulnerable transformation period.
Even in the original story, the Snow Empress being captured during transformation in the heart of the Extreme North was suspicious.
Although the Snow Empress was the sole Ice Sky Snow Lady and usually lived without other soul beasts nearby,
Just outside her domain lay the territories of two ferocious beasts: the Ice Empress and the Titan Snow Demon King, along with the hidden Ice Bear King.
Avoiding these three without alarming them would have been extremely difficult,
Unless the ninth-rank soul engineer originally happened to enter through the territory of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion clan after their leader was lost.
That would explain why an Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone also appeared in that auction.
But even then, for him to obtain that soul bone, then coincidentally encounter the Snow Empress mid-transformation,
And also discover the exact hidden location she believed safe enough to isolate herself,
The coincidences were simply overwhelming.
Unless the Ice Bear King could not leave because the Ice Empress had gone missing, forcing him to remain as a deterrent against the Titan Snow Demon King's restlessness.
Thus, a chain of coincidences led to the Snow Empress' capture, though the circumstances were still overly convenient.
Still, everything the unknown soul engineer gained ultimately went to Huo Yuhao, the child chosen by Douluo's destiny. It was not unreasonable that fate favored him.
But now, Huo Yuhao was very curious,
Without the Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone and the Snow Empress embryo, what treasures would appear in this auction instead?
And would any of the new treasures be suitable for who he was now? After all, his development path differed completely from the original Huo Yuhao.
After dinner, led by Wang Yan, the group arrived at the Starlight Auction House.
Different from before, the reception hostess was replaced by the previous auctioneer, Qing Ya.
Clearly, due to Shrek Academy's influence, the auction house provided special service.
Compared to regular attendants, a well-trained auctioneer was far superior in every regard.
Guided by Qing Ya, everyone entered Auction Hall No. 1.
It was far more luxurious than any of the halls they had seen before,filled with valuable wood, jade, and decorations that, although offering no cultivation benefits, were priceless in the market.
Additionally, a custom soul tool, a light-projection display screen, was used for showcasing items.
It came from the Sun-Moon Empire as a civilian soul tool, low in rank but requiring no soul power to operate, ahead of most nations technologically.
It functioned using special mineral energy and had limited research value overall,still too immature in concept since the empire focused more on weapons-grade soul tools.
While Wang Yan was being teased and toyed with by Qing Ya's flirtatious professionalism, the auction finally began.
Golden light shimmered across the display screen, drawing everyone's eyes.
Then, with an introduction from Princess Xu Jiujou of the Star Luo Empire,who was also the host of this top-tier auction,item after item was bid up to staggering prices.
Gold soul coins flowed like water, shocking everyone.
To Huo Yuhao, however, most of these items held little real value.
Even if he obtained an eighth or ninth-rank soul tool now, what use would it be? His soul power was too low to operate them.
And by the time he was powerful enough to use such tools,
He would naturally be able to acquire far better ones.
Any item that appeared at auction might be considered a treasure by the ignorant,
But to major powers, they were nothing special. True priceless artifacts would never appear publicly; they circulated only among the highest levels of influence.
Items like the Sealed God Platform containing the Snow Empress embryo were exceptions,likely Scams or bait originally designed by the Star Luo Emperor to target the Sun-Moon Empire.
Otherwise, a national treasure like that would stay locked away forever instead of being auctioned off.
Soon, after a set of fixed-installation soul tool cannon rounds was sold, the next item was supposed to be the soul bone from an Ice Jade Scorpion containing Ice Explosion,
But this time…
If you want to read 40 advanced chapters and 3 new chapters daily, please subscribe to my : patreon.com/Moorowkeel