The scale of this exchange activity between Douluo Continent and Star Luo Empire was unprecedented. The delegation sent by the Federation covered various fields, including military and political affairs, diplomacy, Spirit Masters, soul tool technology, and cultural education.
After yesterday's grand and lengthy collective reception by the Star Luo Imperial Family, the Federation delegation split into many "small groups" according to the pre-planned itinerary, starting to connect with exchange activities related to their respective fields.
However, behemoths that spanned all three continents, like the Spirit Pagoda and the Tang Sect, were naturally not within the scope of such routine exchanges. After all, the Star Luo Continent already had branches of the Spirit Pagoda and the Tang Sect.
It was precisely because of this that both the Spirit Pagoda and the Tang Sect only sent a few young juniors this time, treating it as an all-expenses-paid trip to broaden their horizons, without arranging any substantive exchange tasks.
Although Huo Yuhao had refused to participate in the youth Spirit Master tournament on the Star Luo side, this did not mean he did not want to watch the competition.
Cultivating was certainly important, but one could not lock themselves in a laboratory or cultivation room all day for hard training; balancing work and rest was the long-term way to go.
The youth competition that Sima Lanxiao mentioned was officially called the "Star Luo Continent Youth High-Rank Spirit Master Elite Tournament," which was one of the largest and most influential grand events in the Star Luo Empire, and the venue was set at the Star Luo Stadium.
The third day after the Federation delegation arrived in Star Luo City was the day the tournament officially began.
Early in the morning, the streets surrounding the Star Luo Stadium were already packed with spectators who had come from all directions. The three hundred thousand seats inside the venue were completely filled, and the cheers and shouts echoed throughout the sky.
Fortunately, the organizers of the tournament had specially arranged a VIP passage for the Federation delegation, allowing Huo Yuhao and his group to avoid the terrifying crowd and successfully reach the exclusive box located on the middle level of the venue, which offered the best view.
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass of the box, Xu Xiaoyan could not help but exclaim, "What a place that makes one's blood boil."
Xie Xie and Tang Wulin, who were by her side, nodded in deep agreement. Xie Xie placed his hand on Tang Wulin's broad shoulder, his gaze sweeping over the huge central ring below, and a glimmer of eagerness flashed in his eyes.
Except for that Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition a few years ago, they really hadn't participated in any decent large-scale competitions.
If Shrek Academy hadn't had an incident, at their age, they would have been able to catch the Federation's All-Continent High-Rank Spirit Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, which was a tournament that had continued for Ten Thousand Years.
Unfortunately, now that Shrek Academy was gone, they had no chance to participate.
Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue were sitting on a sofa not far behind them. A huge soul tool broadcast screen was hanging above not far away. After the competition officially started, every detail on the ring below would be presented on this screen in real time.
Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze from the three people in front and glanced casually to the right.
On the other side of the box sat three more people, who were the three Students sent by the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy for this exchange.
Although Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue had refused Sima Lanxiao's invitation to compete, the people from the Tang Sect and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy had not refused.
Therefore, in this VIP box, apart from him and Gu Yue, the other six people would all go down to compete.
Among the six, Long Chen, Xue Liushuang, Weng Daimin from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, and Tang Wulin were all Spirit Kings, while Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan were high-rank Spirit Ancestors, not far from becoming Spirit Kings.
Because there were not enough people, they could not put together a standard seven-person team and could not participate in the seven-person team competition.
Fortunately, the Spirit Master culture on the Star Luo Continent had always advocated individual heroism, and the interest in team cooperation was far less enthusiastic than the worship of individual martial strength.
Therefore, the individual competition was the core event of this tournament, and the most valuable Spirit Bone prize of the tournament was also specifically reserved as a reward for the individual champion.
In the end, Tang Wulin and Long Chen signed up for the individual competition, while Xie Xie, Xu Xiaoyan, Xue Liushuang, and Weng Daimin each formed teams to participate in the two-person team battle.
The number of participating contestants was extremely large, but it was unknown if it was deliberately arranged by the Star Luo Empire, as these contestants from the Douluo Federation were all scheduled to compete shortly after the tournament began.
The morning passed in a flash. All six people's matches were successfully completed, and without exception, they all achieved victory.
Xue Liushuang and Weng Daimin, who had just finished their matches, walked into the box one after another. Xue Liushuang, who entered first, had a tall figure and beautiful features, but exuded an air of cold detachment, her face as calm as if she had not just participated in a match.
Weng Daimin, who entered after her, was much more petite, with a head of playful blue short hair, and looked soft and weak.
However, her face was beaming with the joy of having just won, and as soon as she entered, she could not help but chirp excitedly, "The strength of the Star Luo Empire's contestants isn't that great, Sister Liushuang! I think we have a chance to go for the championship this time!"
Xie Xie, who was on the side, immediately curled his lips upon hearing this and could not help but say, "If you want to win the championship, you have to get past us first."
Weng Daimin turned her head to look at Xie Xie and said in a low voice, "You two are both Spirit Ancestors, but Sister Liushuang and I are Spirit Kings."
Xie Xie stood up, unconvinced, and said, "So what if we are Spirit Ancestors? Haven't you heard of fighting above one's rank?"
Obviously, although they were unconvinced by each other, neither of them took the native contestants of the Star Luo Empire seriously.
Long Chen glanced at the two sides bickering with each other and said, "Confidence is a good thing, but since the Star Luo Empire dared to take the initiative to invite us to participate, it's impossible that they would let us outsiders make a name for ourselves in Star Luo."
Xie Xie glanced at Long Chen, his tone becoming more serious, "It seems there is still someone who understands. Since the Star Luo Empire dared to grandly invite the Federation to send people to participate, they naturally have their own trump cards. Without real ability, who would do such a thing of making wedding clothes for others?"
He paused, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Tang Wulin and Long Chen, and then continued, "I heard that the Star Luo Empire has a Monster Academy, which was established by imitating the model of Shrek Academy, and its tenet is also to only accept monsters and not ordinary people."
"There are some Eight Heavenly Kings in this Monster Academy, and it is said that their strength is not weak."
"So you two must not be too careless in the individual competition. The strong ones among these Eight Heavenly Kings are definitely aiming for the individual championship."
Although Shrek Academy and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy had long-standing grievances, their open and secret struggles had never really stopped for tens of thousands of years.
But at this moment, facing the common "foreign enemy" of the Star Luo Continent, these teenagers from the Douluo Federation decisively set aside their internal conflicts and united against the outside.
Upon hearing this, Long Chen's expression also became much more serious, and a glimmer of solemnity flashed in those cold eyes.
As the strongest Genius of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, his goal for this competition was naturally the individual championship.
No matter if the opponent was the Eight Heavenly Kings or the Nine Heavenly Kings, he would not retreat even half a step.
Tang Wulin turned his head to look at Huo Yuhao, who was sitting on the sofa, and could not help but grin, "It's only because you, Yuhao, aren't participating; otherwise, no one could take this championship away."
Long Chen, who was on the side, also subconsciously looked at Huo Yuhao. For this legendary figure who had firmly occupied the top spot on the Young Genius List since the day he appeared on it, Long Chen had not been convinced before.
After all, after joining Shrek Academy, Huo Yuhao had almost never made a move in public, so outsiders naturally had no way to judge his strength.
Therefore, during the two-plus months on the cruise ship, Long Chen had challenged Huo Yuhao more than once due to his youthful vigor.
In the end, Huo Yuhao was really impatient, which was why he agreed to fight him.
However, it couldn't really be called a fight, since neither of them could be considered to have truly exchanged blows.
Because Huo Yuhao just raised his eyes and glanced at him indifferently, and Long Chen's vision went black, and he fell straight down.
After waking up, he lay on the bed in the infirmary, staring at the ceiling and spacing out for a full hour, racking his brains but unable to figure out how he had fainted.
But there was one thing he was absolutely sure of, and that was that he was far from being Huo Yuhao's match.
Since that time, he was truly convinced by Huo Yuhao.
Therefore, regarding Tang Wulin's words, he felt it was a matter of course from the bottom of his heart.
And at this moment, Huo Yuhao just smiled and did not say anything, but in his heart, he had developed some interest in the Eight Heavenly Kings of this Monster Academy.
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A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.