After Blue Tyrant Academy was renamed Shrek Academy, the only people truly surprised were the members of the Seven Treasure Team and a few others. Throughout Heaven Dou City, however, the change caused little reaction.
During its first few years, Blue Tyrant Academy had attracted many talented students and had even reached the finals of the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament.
However, beginning with the previous tournament, Blue Tyrant Academy had steadily declined.
In the end, a newly established academy could not compete with the long-standing prestige of the older academies, and its reputation had gradually faded from public memory.
Early that morning, Wu Qi and the others packed their luggage and gathered at the academy gates.
When Ning Fengzhi learned that they were about to leave for a training expedition, he not only raised no objections but strongly supported the idea.
He prepared a spirit tool carriage for the group and even provided a large amount of travel funds for the journey.
After learning that Wu Qi had invited Dugu Bo to accompany them as protection, he abandoned the idea of sending additional experts. Instead, he supplied them with extensive intelligence regarding the northern regions.
The carriage was spacious enough for everyone to sit comfortably without feeling cramped.
After bidding farewell to those who had come to see them off, the carriage soon departed Heaven Dou City.
Inside the carriage, Sun Buyu sighed with admiration.
"The academy is developing quickly. The first batch of classrooms has already been completed, and student recruitment should begin soon."
"By the time we return, the academy will probably look completely different."
As they were speaking, the carriage stopped outside the city, and Dugu Bo boarded.
"Greetings, Senior Dugu."
The members of the Seven Treasure Team quickly greeted him.
Wu Qi joked,"Old man, I thought you weren't planning to ride with us."
Dugu Bo curled his lips.
"This trip is long, and the north is freezing. If I stayed outside the carriage the entire way, I'd be exhausting myself while freezing to death. Do I look crazy to you?"
His easygoing attitude immediately eased the atmosphere inside the carriage.
After all, the others had little personal connection with Dugu Bo.
Having a Titled Douluo sitting beside them naturally made them somewhat nervous.
Dugu Bo smiled.
"No need to be nervous. Continue cultivating as usual. If you run into any problems during cultivation, feel free to ask me."
The carriage contained a separate compartment.
Now that Dugu Bo was no longer troubled by the poison of his martial spirit, he had resumed his own cultivation.
The compartment had been prepared specifically for him, and most of the time he would remain there rather than stay with the others.
"By the way, kid," Dugu Bo suddenly asked, looking at Wu Qi, "how much do you know about the northern territories of the empire?"
Wu Qi only knew about the Far North. As for the distribution of forces and local power structures, he knew almost nothing.
Sun Buyu had traveled through the north during his youth, but it had merely been for sightseeing. Other than local customs and culture, he knew very little.
Hearing this, Dugu Bo raised an eyebrow.
"The north isn't nearly as simple as you think."
Then he looked at Wu Qi.
"The Shui Clan of Element City has operations in the northern regions. Didn't you ask them about it?"
Wu Qi blinked.
The thought had genuinely never occurred to him.
Besides, the Shui Clan's main base was in Element City. Even if they had some influence in the north, there was no guarantee they knew everything.
Dugu Bo rubbed his forehead.
"Heading north without understanding the situation beforehand is asking for trouble."
"When I was younger, I spent a long time in the north suppressing the poison in my body, so I know the region reasonably well."
"Many hidden sects have relocated their headquarters there. The various powers are deeply intertwined, and there are quite a few strong experts."
"You'd be wise not to offend people casually."
"More often than not, the most unremarkable individuals are the most dangerous."
Ning Rongrong waved the documents in her hand.
"It's fine. Father prepared plenty of intelligence for us."
"We can study it during the journey."
"At least we won't be completely clueless when we arrive."
Dugu Bo did not say anything further.
As long as the group avoided becoming overly arrogant, any problems that arose could still be handled with his strength.
The trip to the Hargen-Daz Kingdom would take at least a month.
It wasn't because the distance was especially great.
Rather, the northern regions were filled with snow-covered mountains, which significantly slowed carriage travel.
Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy.
The academy's administration had now completely fallen into the hands of Flanders and the others.
Liu Erlong spent her days attached to Yu Xiaogang and paid little attention to academy affairs.
The former Blue Tyrant Academy had possessed a tournament quota of its own, so naturally it already had an academy team.
In fact, they had even prepared reserve members.
After taking over the academy, Flanders unsurprisingly disbanded the entire team.
Part of the reason was personal bias, but the more important factor was that the team's strength simply wasn't impressive.
The strongest among them, Tai Long, was only Level 37, and he was considerably older than the Shrek Seven Devils.
Later, some dissatisfied students complained to Liu Erlong.
However, they were mercilessly turned away.
Most of Blue Tyrant Academy's students came from ordinary backgrounds and lacked powerful backing.
How could they possibly afford to offend people like Flanders and the others?
In the end, they had no choice but to accept the loss.
On the training grounds.
With Yu Tianheng joining the team, the Shrek Seven Devils now had two powerful assault-type Spirit Masters.
Dai Mubai was currently Level 38, while Yu Tianheng was Level 39. By the time the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament began, both of them would certainly have broken through to the Spirit Ancestor level.
As for the other members, they would likely only have a chance to reach the Spirit Ancestor level during the latter half of the tournament.
In Yu Xiaogang's plans, the combination of Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng as dual front-line fighters would be enough to handle most teams.
By the time they reached the finals, if Tang San and Xiao Wu could also break through to the Spirit Ancestor level, the team would have four Spirit Ancestors. Combined with their Spirit Fusion Skill, they would be capable of achieving a respectable result.
As for the entire team reaching the Spirit Ancestor level, Yu Xiaogang did not even dare dream of it.
Had this been one of the previous two tournaments, a team composed entirely of Spirit Ancestors could have secured a top-three finish as long as they avoided major mistakes.
The Shrek Seven Devils were still very young. Even the tournament after next would still be within their eligibility range. Therefore, their goal for the upcoming tournament was merely to reach the final stage.
As for the tournament after that, Yu Xiaogang believed they would undoubtedly astonish the entire continent.
One thing worth mentioning was that Dugu Bo had never come looking for them. As time passed, Xiao Wu gradually relaxed and regained her usual cheerful and energetic personality.
After that day's training session ended, Yu Xiaogang nodded in satisfaction.
"You all performed well today. Remember this feeling. In a few days, I'll arrange for the teachers to spar with you."
Tang San and the others took a short break, confident smiles appearing on their faces.
However, before long, Yu Tianheng suddenly let out a bitter laugh.
"It's not enough. Not even close. We're no match for the Seven Treasure Team."
The words immediately caught everyone's attention.
Back when he was still at the Royal Team Academy, he had already noticed the rapid improvement of Wu Qi and the others.
Later, he had also watched several of their matches at the Grand Spirit Arena.
At present, the Seven Treasure Team had five Spirit Ancestors.
Ning Rongrong and Changkong were slightly weaker in terms of Spirit Power, but one was a support-type Spirit Master who did not need to fight directly. Combined with the overwhelming support abilities of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, her effectiveness was comparable to that of an ordinary Spirit Ancestor-level support Spirit Master.
The other possessed the ability to defeat opponents above his own level.
Strictly speaking, it would not be an exaggeration to call them an all-Spirit Ancestor team.
More importantly, Feng Xiaotian had already reached the high-level Spirit Ancestor stage. By the time the tournament began, he might even break through to the Spirit King level.
One Spirit King and six Spirit Ancestors.
Such a lineup was comparable to many of the championship teams fielded by Spirit Hall throughout history.
Not to mention that Wu Qi's combat strength could not be judged solely by his Spirit Power level.
Hearing this, the members of Shrek were stunned.
Tang San asked in disbelief, "That's impossible. When Wu Qi and the other two left Soto City, they were only low-level Spirit Elders and Spirit Grandmasters. It's only been a little over half a year. How could they have already broken through to the Spirit Ancestor level?"
Not only Tang San even Yu Xiaogang, who prided himself on being a master of Spirit Master theory, found it impossible to believe.
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