Xu Tianhao didn't spare another glance at the Shrek group as he turned and walked off the Soul Fighting Platform.
At the same time, cheers erupted from every corner of the audience.
"Xu Tianhao is awesome!"
"Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy is awesome!"
"He won against seven by himself! Shrek Academy, go home and plant sweet potatoes!"
"Shrek is really finished. Could that Ma Xiaotao be a hidden Evil Soul Master?"
"What? Shrek Academy is training Evil Soul Masters?"
"Bullshit! Shrek is so noble; it's clearly Xu Tianhao's doing!"
"Tsk, Shrek bootlicker. If you say it's Xu Tianhao's doing, then why are the others fine?"
Listening to the cheers of these shills, Xu Tianhao's face was beaming with smiles.
He was very satisfied with this battle. By guiding Ma Xiaotao's corruption, he had secured victory without breaking a sweat.
The only pity was that Yan Shaozhe acted too quickly; otherwise, he could have pocketed the Spirit Bone that dropped from Dai Yueheng.
With Ma Xiaotao corrupted, Dai Yueheng's arm severed, Chen Zifeng's leg broken, and Yao Haoxuan dead...
Shrek's current generation was basically ruined.
Upon returning to the rest area, Ye Guyi and the others immediately gathered around him.
Meanwhile, in the Mingluo Sect's rest area, Huo Yuhao had been keeping a close eye on Xu Tianhao.
Xu Tianhao's performance this time was enough to surprise even Huo Yuhao.
Even Bibi Dong, within his spiritual sea, was full of praise for Xu Tianhao's methods.
Bibi Dong observed Ma Xiaotao, who had transformed into a Black Phoenix, and even felt a spark of interest.
Such a powerful Black Phoenix would be a perfect enforcer for her.
Besides Bibi Dong, Cult Leader Zhongli Wu's gaze toward Ma Xiaotao was filled with undisguised covetousness.
The corrupted Ma Xiaotao reminded him of his wife, Feng Ling, and he felt that Ma Xiaotao's Black Phoenix was even more powerful than his wife's Evil Phoenix.
If trained well, Ma Xiaotao would be at least a rank ninety-eight Super Douluo.
Cult Leader Zhongli Wu wouldn't have even considered the former Ma Xiaotao, but now that she was corrupted, he was itching to go up and snatch her right away.
With Saint Huo Yuhao already here, and now Holy Maiden Ma Xiaotao, the day of the Holy Spirit Cult's great prosperity had arrived.
Cult Leader Zhongli Wu didn't know yet that within Dou Ling City, their Holy Spirit Cult had just acquired another top-tier dark Bloodline.
After Bei Bei left for the tournament, Tang Ya had spent many days and nights in deep thought before finally choosing to face her path alone.
Returning to the old site of the Tang Sect, Tang Ya went on a direct killing spree.
The dark Bloodline of her Blue Silver Grass was released without reservation, and she was then discovered by a powerhouse from the Holy Spirit Cult...
If Cult Leader Zhongli Wu knew that the Holy Spirit Cult was about to have a Blue Silver Holy Maiden, he would definitely be incredibly excited.
One Saint and two Holy Maidens—the Holy Spirit Cult had worthy successors.
Cult Leader Zhongli Wu stared at Ma Xiaotao with fervent eyes, his mind already beginning to ponder how he could take this future Fire Phoenix Holy Maiden back to be properly nurtured.
Shrek Academy also dared to call itself the continent's number one academy?
They couldn't even properly train such a top-tier Black Phoenix. If she were given to him, Cult Leader Zhongli Wu, he'd give her a hundred thousand year soul ring in five years and make her a Super Douluo in ten!
The interlude passed, and the competition continued.
In the quarter-finals, the Mingluo Sect's opponent was the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's lineup of one Spirit Emperor and six Spirit Kings was formidable, but compared to the Mingluo Sect, it was completely insufficient.
The match ended with one dead, one crippled, and five severely injured from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
If the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect hadn't surrendered quickly, they might have all ended up dead.
The tournament proceeded, and the top four list soon emerged.
Clear Sky Sect, Mingluo Sect, Tianlong Gate, and Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
Among the final four, only the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy was an academy team; the other three were all Sect teams.
This caused the other academy teams to feel a flush of embarrassment.
Many people even began to secretly badmouth Shrek Academy.
What continent's number one academy? Bullshit.
Losing to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy in the last tournament was one thing.
But in this tournament, they didn't even make it into the top four.
Failing to reach the final four was bad enough, but the key was that their entire team was wiped out by a single person.
Wiped out by one person aside, their captain Ma Xiaotao even freaking corrupted and killed her own teammate.
In short, Shrek Academy's reputation had taken a severe nosedive.
If not for the fear of Shrek's authority, people would likely have been openly bashing them already.
Yan Shaozhe naturally received these reports, but other than his hatred for Xu Tianhao deepening, there was nothing he could do.
Now that Shrek hadn't even made the top four, Yan Shaozhe had no face left to stay and watch the matches.
Coupled with his urgency to save Ma Xiaotao, he led everyone out of Star Luo City and back to Shrek Academy as soon as the match ended.
Although he possessed a Light Spirit, he could not purify Ma Xiaotao's Black Phoenix.
The only thing Yan Shaozhe could think of now was to rush back and ask his teacher, Mu En, to take action.
Otherwise, Ma Xiaotao would truly be ruined.
There had been no news of Zhang Lexuan until now; it was very likely she was already gone.
Ma Xiaotao was currently the number one person among Shrek's younger generation, with hopes of taking over in the future.
If even Ma Xiaotao was gone, there would truly be no one left in Shrek's younger generation.
Bei Bei was decent, but in the future, he would be a Titled Douluo at most.
Even if he became a Super Douluo, he would still be a long way from the goal.
Shrek had truly reached a precarious state.
The younger generation was meeting with accidents one after another, the older generation's Mu En was in his twilight years, and Xuan Zi had given up on himself.
All of this left Yan Shaozhe deeply worried.
Shortly after Yan Shaozhe led the team out of Star Luo City, the Mingluo Sect announced their surrender in the semi-finals.
The reason given by Cult Leader Zhongli Wu was quite reasonable: their members were "severely injured" and unable to continue with subsequent matches.
The most dramatic part was that when the Mingluo Sect surrendered, the semi-final matchups had just come out.
The Mingluo Sect's opponent was none other than the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
Since the Mingluo Sect surrendered without even fighting, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy didn't even need to play the semi-finals and cruised straight into the finals.
This dramatic turn of events left countless people feeling regretful.
They had really wanted to see the Mingluo Sect and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy tear each other apart.
Regarding this result, Xu Tianhao merely smiled.
Entering the grand finals without a fight was certainly something Xu Tianhao was happy about.
As for why the Mingluo Sect surrendered, Xu Tianhao had already guessed.
It was most likely because Cult Leader Zhongli Wu didn't want to let the corrupted Ma Xiaotao go.
He wanted to take advantage of the fact that only Yan Shaozhe was leading the team to directly kidnap Ma Xiaotao.
Cult Leader Zhongli Wu had his own plans, but someone was also watching him.
Xu Jiawei had been keeping a close eye on Cult Leader Zhongli Wu.
With his sister currently unconscious, he dreamed of killing Cult Leader Zhongli Wu and Huo Yuhao.
Now that the Mingluo Sect had taken the initiative to surrender, their next step would definitely be to leave Star Luo City.
Xu Jiawei had already secretly summoned ten Titled Douluo, waiting for Cult Leader Zhongli Wu to leave Star Luo City before making a move on him.
However, what Xu Jiawei couldn't understand no matter how hard he thought was that Cult Leader Zhongli Wu and the others hadn't even passed through the city gates before they simply vanished within Star Luo City.
He had sent a Titled Douluo to watch them, yet they still evaporated into thin air.
How could Xu Jiawei know that since Cult Leader Zhongli Wu dared to openly participate in the tournament, he had naturally come prepared.
Otherwise, Cult Leader Zhongli Wu wouldn't have been willing to bring Huo Yuhao along to take such a risk.
Inside the palace, Xu Jiawei was in a towering rage.
"Eight living people just vanished right under your noses?! How is that possible!"
The Star-Shattering Douluo had a look of grievance on his face: "Your Majesty, I have been secretly watching them. As for when they disappeared, I truly do not know."
Xu Jiawei was incensed: "If they have this kind of ability, does that mean if they sneak into the palace one day, none of you will notice?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the other Titled Douluo all remained silent.
This was the first time they had seen Xu Jiawei so furious, but the people had indeed vanished, and they were helpless.
After a long while, Xu Jiawei forcibly suppressed his anger and said coldly: "My dear ministers, I do not wish to say more about what has already happened."
"From this day forward, within the borders of the Star Luo Empire, I do not want to see a single trace of any Evil Soul Master."
"Uproot all Evil Soul Masters within the Empire's borders at any cost! Annihilate them all!"
The Star-Shattering Douluo led the response: "Yes."