Chapter 203: Tang San's Early Breakthrough in Cultivation
Following the host's announcement, the first match of the opening preliminary round officially began.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy versus Shrek Academy.
The moment the matchup was announced, a wave of noisy discussion erupted from the spectator stands.
Many spectators immediately began shouting accusations of cheating, their voices filled with dissatisfaction.
In their eyes, Heaven Dou Royal Academy was clearly abusing its privileged status to choose an easy opponent for its opening match.
As for Shrek Academy, with their bizarre shit green uniforms and their flamboyant entrance earlier, they looked more like a group of clowns than serious competitors.
How could a team like that possibly contend with Heaven Dou Royal Academy?
Because of this, quite a few spectators immediately developed a poor impression of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
As the number one academy of the Heaven Dou Empire, resorting to such methods simply to secure an easy first victory seemed beneath their status.
However, none of the discussions in the stands affected the competitors on the stage.
Both teams had already taken their positions.
Representing Shrek Academy were Tang San, Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, Jing Ling, Huang Yuan, Jiang Zhu, and Tai Long.
The instant the signal to begin was given, spirit rings simultaneously appeared around all seven Shrek members.
Four spirit rings rose beneath Tang San and Dai Mubai.
Two yellow and two purple.
Both were Spirit Ancestors.
The remaining five each possessed three spirit rings and were all Spirit Elders with optimal spirit ring configurations.
From the very beginning, Tang San and Dai Mubai did not hold back.
Their third and fourth spirit rings lit up almost immediately.
Zhu Zhuqing, Jing Ling, Huang Yuan, and Tai Long followed closely behind, each activating their own enhancement Spirit Abilities.
Shrek Academy had chosen to unleash everything from the opening moment.
Under White Tiger Vajra Transformation, Dai Mubai's body expanded dramatically.
His muscles bulged, and brilliant white light surged around him.
He raised both hands.
White Tiger Meteor Shower!
Countless platinum colored spheres of light shot forward, raining down fiercely upon the formation of Heaven Dou Team 2.
Although the seven members of Heaven Dou Team 2 also possessed optimal spirit ring configurations, all of them were merely three ring Spirit Elders.
The five attack system Spirit Masters positioned at the front possessed lion, bear, tiger, leopard, and wolf Spirits respectively.
They had only just completed Martial Soul Possession and had not even begun their charge when the dense meteor shower descended upon them.
Caught completely off guard, their formation was instantly torn apart.
Even more dangerous was Tang San's attack.
His third and fourth spirit rings lit up one after another.
Blue Silver Grass spread wildly across the arena.
In the blink of an eye, four dark purple spider webs condensed and flew toward the five Heaven Dou Team 2 members rushing at the front.
Spider Web Restraint.
And it was instantaneous.
Four webs accurately enveloped four of the five Spirit Masters.
The sticky spider silk wrapped tightly around their bodies, leaving them unable to break free no matter how fiercely they struggled.
Only the leopard Spirit Master barely avoided being caught due to his superior speed.
Even so, the sudden attack frightened him into retreating several steps.
The final two members of Heaven Dou Team 2, one support system Spirit Master and one control system Spirit Master, had only just begun activating their Spirit Abilities.
The second spirit ring beneath the control system Spirit Master's feet lit up.
The ring shaped Spirit in his hand was just about to fly out when a ghostlike black shadow suddenly appeared before him.
Zhu Zhuqing.
Her movements were as fast as lightning.
Using the White Tiger Meteor Shower as cover, she had already broken into the opponent's back row.
Her sharp claws swept directly toward the control system Spirit Master's throat.
He had no choice but to withdraw his Spirit and hurriedly defend himself.
Barely a dozen breaths had passed since the match began, yet Heaven Dou Team 2 had already fallen into complete passivity.
Inside the rest area, Lin Mo stood quietly at the front.
His gaze remained fixed on the competition stage.
Thanks to the enhanced vision provided by his Spirit Eyes, he could clearly observe every detail of the battle despite the distance.
Dai Mubai's White Tiger Vajra Transformation and White Tiger Meteor Shower were exactly as Lin Mo remembered.
Tang San's fourth Spirit Ability, however, immediately caught his attention.
The strength and number of Spider Web Restraints Tang San had just released were clearly beyond what his third Spirit Ability should normally be capable of.
When Tang San's fourth spirit ring lit up, the aura surrounding him was almost identical to when he activated his third Spirit Ability.
The only difference was that it was several times stronger.
It was obvious that Tang San's fourth Spirit Ability strengthened and amplified his third Spirit Ability.
That was how he had managed to instantly release several Spider Web Restraints in such a short period.
For this kind of effect to occur, the most likely explanation was that Tang San's third and fourth spirit rings had both come from the same species of Spirit Beast.
However, after unleashing that wave of attacks, Tang San's face visibly paled.
His breathing also became noticeably heavier.
The burst had clearly consumed a significant amount of his spirit power.
"Man Faced Demon Spider..."
Lin Mo's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Another Man Faced Demon Spider?"
It seemed that Tang San's fourth spirit ring was no longer the ten thousand year Earth Burial Spider Lin Mo remembered.
Instead, it was most likely another thousand year Man Faced Demon Spider.
And judging from the power of the Spirit Ability, its cultivation age should have been at least five thousand years.
The discovery made Lin Mo's expression somewhat peculiar.
It seemed that the theories he had originally provided to Bibi Dong, which she had later passed on to Yu Xiaogang, had not truly changed Yu Xiaogang's thinking.
Tang San was still following the cultivation path Yu Xiaogang had originally planned for him.
Otherwise, no matter how he selected his fourth spirit ring, there should have been no reason for him to choose another Man Faced Demon Spider of the exact same species.
What interested Lin Mo even more, however, was the strength of Tang San's current spirit power fluctuations.
The spirit power radiating from Tang San was clearly much stronger than Dai Mubai's.
The last time Lin Mo had accidentally seen Tang San from a distance in the Star Dou Great Forest, they had been too far apart for him to accurately determine Tang San's cultivation.
But now Tang San was fighting at full strength directly before him.
Lin Mo could sense it much more clearly.
"Rank 43?"
"Or Rank 44?"
According to Tang San's normal cultivation speed, he should have reached Rank 42 at most by this point.
So where had these additional ranks come from?
Had Tang San begun cultivating the Clear Sky Hammer?
Or had he started using the devouring ability of the Eight Spider Lances to accelerate his cultivation?
Lin Mo did not know.
Nor did he particularly care.
There was no need to.
Even if Tang San had already attached five spirit rings to both of his twin Spirits, and even if his Clear Sky Hammer possessed an entire configuration of ten thousand year spirit rings, he still would not be a match for Lin Mo and Charizard.
The gap between their strengths had long since grown beyond something that a few additional ranks could overcome.
While Lin Mo was considering this, the battle on the competition stage had already reached its conclusion.
Heaven Dou Team 2 had been overwhelmed from the very beginning.
Their formation had been broken apart.
Their control system Spirit Master had been suppressed at close range.
Their support system Spirit Master had not even been given enough time to fully provide enhancements.
Everything that followed became a one sided defeat.
Dai Mubai charged through their formation like a tiger entering a flock of sheep.
With Tai Long and Huang Yuan assisting him, the four front line Spirit Masters trapped by Tang San's spider webs were defeated one after another.
Meanwhile, Zhu Zhuqing and Jing Ling constantly moved around the battlefield, keeping the remaining opponents pinned down and completely severing the connection between Heaven Dou Team 2's front and back rows.
The entire battle lasted barely a minute.
When the referee finally announced the end of the match, all seven members of Heaven Dou Team 2 were lying on the ground.
Although none had suffered truly severe injuries, every one of them looked miserable.
Their bodies were covered in blood, with broken bones and torn tendons leaving them in an extremely sorry state.
The seven Shrek Academy members remained standing together.
The spirit rings around them had not yet completely disappeared.
At that exact moment, the healing scepter in Jiang Zhu's hand released a gentle glow.
She immediately activated a healing Spirit Ability.
Streams of white light descended upon the defeated members of Heaven Dou Team 2, easing their injuries.
However, in the eyes of the spectators, the scene looked less like mercy and more like humiliation.
"They already won, and now they're showing off their healing Spirit Master?"
"That's going too far! Heaven Dou Team 2 already lost badly enough, and they're still doing this?"
....
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