Hearing this, Master was momentarily speechless, his face flushing crimson.
Immediately after, a sudden thought flashed through his mind, and he quickly seized upon another seemingly irrefutable point, once again roaring at the referee:
"Fine! Even if... even if we put aside the matter of injuring someone for now! What about the rules of the competition?!"
"The preliminary rounds of the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament clearly stipulate a seven-person team battle! Seven people should rightfully ascend the Douhun Stage together! Yet, their Tianxing Academy only sent out two people!"
"If this isn't openly violating the rules, what is it?!"
The more Master spoke, the more he felt he had grasped the opponent's fatal weakness, and his voice became even more self-assured. He sharply turned to the referee and righteously demanded:
"Referee! Please make a fair judgment! Tianxing Academy has openly violated the basic rules of the competition, treating the competition's discipline as nothing! I strongly demand that all their subsequent participation qualifications be revoked!"
This time, he had indeed hit a crucial point.
The referee, hearing this, showed a look of extreme awkwardness and difficulty on his face. He slightly opened his mouth, stunned frozen in place.
From the perspective of the rulebook, Master's accusation was entirely correct.
A team battle must be a seven-person team operation.
But the problem was... when Tianxing Academy ascended the stage, that Golden-haired woman had clearly stated that the other five people had already conceded and stepped down.
This act of voluntarily reducing their numbers, while bizarre and arrogant.
Strictly speaking, it seemed... subtly different from an insufficient number of participants? Did this count as a violation? The rules didn't specify such details!
The referee's head throbbed, and he had no idea how to rule on this unprecedented situation. He instinctively cast a pleading gaze towards the highest point of the VIP stand, looking at Emperor Xue Ye, the representative of the highest organizer of this competition.
On the VIP stand.
Emperor Xue Ye naturally heard Master's accusation and saw the referee's difficult, pleading gaze. But he did not immediately express his stance. Instead, he slightly turned his head to look at Ning Fengzhi, who had an elegant demeanor beside him, and threw the question to him:
"School Master Ning, regarding this matter, how do you think it should be decided?"
A gentle smile appeared on Ning Fengzhi's face. He slowly stood up, first bowing slightly to Emperor Xue Ye, then facing the entire arena, his voice amplified by a spirit tool:
"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, while Tianxing Academy's action seems unconventional, and even a bit... well, informal."
"But upon closer consideration, it shouldn't have truly violated the core rules of the competition."
He paused here, his words subtly favoring Tianxing Academy without leaving a trace.
"The competition rules require a seven-person team battle, aiming to test teamwork."
"Tianxing Academy voluntarily had five team members concede, which is equivalent to them willingly bearing the risks and outcome of the entire team with the strength of two people. This is not an insufficient number of participants, but an extremely confident strategic choice, or rather... an absolute trust in their own strength."
"Moreover, the result is that Tianxing Academy achieved victory with only two people."
"This precisely proves that they possess the strength to break conventions. Isn't the purpose of our competition to discover and encourage such Geniuses and powerful academies? To negate such a spectacular duel and powerful strength due to a matter of form would be... to lose sight of the greater picture."
"Therefore, I believe revoking Tianxing Academy's participation qualification is not appropriate. Of course, perhaps they can be reminded to pay attention to the format of the competition later. But the victory should rightfully belong to them."
Hearing this, Master's face instantly turned ashen.
Just as he was about to refute Ning Fengzhi's obviously biased remarks, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a strange green light flashing not far away!
The next second, a chilling, heart-pounding aura suddenly descended upon the Douhun Stage!
A tall, thin figure clad in a dark green robe appeared silently on the arena, like Gui Mei, precisely blocking the space between Master and the referee.
It was Poison Douluo Dugu Bo!
Seeing Dugu Bo suddenly appear, Master's pupils contracted sharply. The words on the tip of his tongue were forcefully swallowed back. His face turned from ashen to pale, fine cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his body even trembled slightly from fear.
He now had an instinctive fear of this unpredictable Titled Douluo.
"Your Excellency, the Soul Master Competition is currently underway. According to the rules, please..."
The referee was also startled by this sudden turn of events, but it was his duty. He immediately bit the bullet and took a step forward, blocking Dugu Bo, speaking with great respect.
"Rules?"
Dugu Bo snorted coldly before he could finish, his sinister gaze sweeping over the referee. He then pointed directly at Master in the wheelchair not far away, interrupting him with extreme displeasure:
"He can just run up here, shouting and complaining about this and that, but I can't go on stage? What kind of ridiculous rule is that?!"
"This..."
The referee was instantly speechless, stumped by the question.
Master was Shrek Academy's team leader, and theoretically had some authority to go on stage, but compared to the deterrent power of a Titled Douluo... Just as he was about to explain Master's identity, Dugu Bo had already impatiently pushed him aside, then walked directly towards the pale-faced Master.
"Du... Dugu Bo, you... what do you want to do?!"
Watching Dugu Bo approach step by step, Master's face instantly turned ashen, his body stiffened slightly from fear, and his voice trembled.
"Hehehe!"
Dugu Bo let out a chilling, eerie laugh, his voice hoarse and full of malice, saying, "What do you think? Yu Xiaogang, weren't you complaining quite vigorously just now?"
Not far away, Liu Erlong and Flender's faces also changed dramatically at this scene!
"Oh no, Xiaogang is in danger." Liu Erlong let out a furious roar, and a violent Soul Power fluctuation instantly erupted around her, with the faint apparition of a fire Dragon appearing.
"Dugu Bo, stop!"
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