Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling also showed anticipation in their eyes. The upcoming matches not only concerned their annual assessment scores but also whether they would get to see their teacher's true face. After their teacher revealed his heart to them, they became even more eager for the moment he would remove his mask for them.
In the preliminary rounds, only the Four Elemental Academies put pressure on the students of Hear of Fire Academy, with Tianshui Academy and Divine Wind Academy being the most troublesome.
Tianshui Academy's Ice Seal and the fusion Spirit Ability, Ice and Snow Falling, possessed hard control and large-scale offensive capabilities, giving Hear of Fire Academy some trouble. Ultimately, by relying on Meng Yiran's third and fourth Spirit Abilities to summon two thousand-year Spirit Beasts and one ten-thousand-year-old Spirit Beast to break the ice and absorb damage, and Dugu Yan and Xiao Wu's ice immunity to evade the ice element's cold, they used poison gas to force a retreat and provide cover, allowing Xiao Wu to successfully get close and defeat Water Binger and Snow Dance.
Divine Wind Academy's captain, Feng Xiaotian's self-created Spirit Ability, Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes of Gale, was essentially a basic unique skill with fused Spirit characteristics. Each slash was stronger than the last, and its extreme speed made it difficult to lock onto. If not for the cooperation of Bell, Dugu Yan, and Meng Yiran, who created an opportunity for Zhu Zhuqing to successfully apply her Spirit Ability—Nine Nether Cross Slash—on Feng Xiaotian, temporarily locking him down and breaking the situation, they might have been forced to use the power of their unique skills to fight.
In contrast, the more aggressively offensive Thunderclap Academy and Blazing Academy were easier for the Hear of Fire Academy girls to defeat. The reason was simple: they had been undergoing their teacher's precious herbal medicinal baths for over a year and possessed ten-thousand-year spirit rings. Coupled with Captain Rongrong's amplification of over fifty percent in spirit power, speed, and strength, they were the most ferocious team when going all out!
Bell's fourth spirit ring came from a ten-thousand-year Storm Star-Patterned Lion personally hunted for him by his teacher, granting him a powerful ten-thousand-year Spirit Ability: he could transform the areas his third Spirit Ability's axe teeth passed through and tornados into a storm restricted zone, confining enemies within an arc and subjecting them to multiple storm slashes. Its name was: Storm Nebula Split!
His formidable strength directly beat the likes of Yu Tianxin of Thunderclap Academy and Fire Wushuang of Blazing Academy until their own mothers wouldn't recognize them.