Next, Wang Yan took charge of gathering intelligence and discussing battle tactics with the team members.
For example, he needed to clearly understand each member's Spirit Abilities in order to arrange the most suitable lineup.
After all, the Spirit Master Tournament consisted of three formats:
individual elimination matches, two-two-three battles, and team battles.
Matching suitable teammates through the characteristics of their Spirit Abilities—that was Wang Yan's role.
Su Yunlin and Wang Dong formed one pair.
Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi formed another.
Jiang Nannan, Chen Zifeng, and Huo Yuhao formed the final group.
As for Xiao Xiao…
the little mascot only needed to cheer from the sidelines.
After finalizing their pre-battle arrangements, everyone gradually left the meeting room.
Su Yunlin and Wang Dong planned to go out for a walk.
After all, neither of them felt any sense of pressure.
At the staircase entrance, they encountered a pair of siblings.
The first was a handsome young man with bright blue eyes. His figure was tall and slender.
The second was a young girl with silver hair tied into a ponytail draped over her right shoulder. Her watery blue eyes and delicate features gave her an especially pure and adorable appearance.
"You're called Su Yunlin, right? My name is Xiao Hongchen. I—"
"Wow! Big Brother, those two are so handsome!"
Xiao Hongchen's carefully prepared speech was instantly interrupted by his younger sister, leaving him awkwardly frozen.
Su Yunlin and Wang Dong both tilted their heads slightly, utterly baffled.
This girl seemed a little airheaded.
"Meng! I'm talking right now! Can you stop interrupting me?!"
"Oh, come on, Xiao, don't be so serious. Handsome guys, my name is Meng Hongchen. You can just call me Meng."
Su Yunlin looked at the eccentric siblings speechlessly.
Then he grabbed Wang Dong's hand and left.
If he stayed any longer, he felt his intelligence might actually drop.
"Waaah~ Such cold and handsome guys.
"One is like a cool, dark night prince, and the other is like a handsome clear blue sky.
"How am I supposed to choose?
"Can't I just have both?
"No, no… getting attacked from both sides might be too much for me to handle."
Smack! Smack!
"Wah! Big Brother, why did you hit me?!"
Xiao Hongchen directly smacked his lovestruck little sister twice on the head.
"Meng! Are you even thinking straight?!
"They're from Shrek Academy! They're my enemies!
"How can you act this infatuated?!"
Meng Hongchen covered her head indignantly.
"You're just jealous! You're allowed to look at pretty girls, but I'm not allowed to look at handsome guys?"
"I-I've never looked at pretty girls!"
"You totally have! Last time at the Illustrious Virtue Hall, you were staring at—"
"Stop talking!"
…
"Yunlin, those two just now…"
Wang Dong recalled the sibling pair from earlier.
They did not seem particularly bright.
"No idea. Judging from their clothes, they're probably from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
"Their cultivation isn't weak though.
"Both of them are Spirit Kings."
Wang Dong froze.
"That lovestruck girl is also a Spirit King?
"Tch. How come even a lovestruck idiot has higher cultivation than me?
"This makes me feel completely useless.
"We're not going out anymore.
"Yunlin, I need your help cultivating!"
"…What?"
Wang Dong immediately dragged Su Yunlin back toward the hotel.
She wanted dual cultivation.
She wanted to become stronger!
…
After intense competition, the elimination rounds had finally ended.
Next came the round-robin stage.
"Shrek Academy versus Cloud Luo Academy.
"The match format will be one-on-one individual elimination battles."
On Shrek Academy's side, Wang Yan sent out Xu Sanshi.
His goal was for Xu Sanshi to exhaust as many opponents as possible.
That way, they could preserve the team's overall strength while quickly eliminating Cloud Luo Academy.
Xu Sanshi did not disappoint.
He directly bulldozed through Cloud Luo Academy by himself.
Though as for the process…
that bastard turtle was truly shameless.
"No wonder Senior Sister Jiang dislikes Xu Sanshi so much. Tch. I dislike him too."
Su Yunlin commented casually.
Jiang Nannan nodded furiously.
At last, she had found someone who understood her pain.
"Come on, Brother Su, if you keep saying things like that, my image in Nannan's eyes is only going to get worse."
Xu Sanshi said while pretending to cry dramatically.
"Still pretending?
"With your personality…
Forget it. I won't say more.
"I'm afraid I'd hurt your self-esteem."
Su Yunlin chose to stop speaking.
After all, Xu Sanshi truly embodied the phrase:
when shamelessness reaches its peak, one becomes invincible.
Afterward, everyone returned to the hotel.
However, the seven reserve team members silently made their way to the top floor together.
Su Yunlin took out several binoculars so everyone could watch the matches from afar.
"Tch. Does Teacher Wang really not trust my strength?
"A few Spirit Kings who can't even achieve the optimal Spirit Ring configuration are enough to make us struggle?
"Looks like Teacher Wang only understands theory, not my strength."
Su Yunlin spoke helplessly.
Even with him present—and with Chen Zifeng capable of stepping onto the stage at any moment—Wang Yan still lacked confidence in Shrek Academy's team.
Bei Bei stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Should we show Teacher Wang what we're really capable of?
"After all, with Junior Brother here…"
He glanced at Su Yunlin.
"…and with the Martial Soul Fusion Skill between him and Junior Sister, that's our greatest trump card.
"We can fight boldly without holding back.
"If we keep acting timidly, we'll only end up suffering more setbacks."
Bei Bei's proposal was quickly approved by everyone.
After all, everyone present was a core disciple of Shrek Academy.
If students from Shrek couldn't fight opponents above their level, then what kind of monsters were they supposed to be?
"Fight however you want. I'll back you up.
"Xiao Xiao, do you want to participate too?
"I can give you a pretty powerful soul tool.
"If it hits a Spirit Ancestor, they'll definitely get blasted out of the arena."
Su Yunlin spoke casually.
"A soul tool? But Class Monitor, didn't you say I was just supposed to be the mascot?" Xiao Xiao looked confused.
"It's fine to go up and play around a little.
"Even if you lose, it doesn't matter. Think of it as gaining experience.
"If anyone dares criticize you, I'll punch their head crooked.
"Oh right, all of you come to my room too.
"I'll gear you up a bit."
Su Yunlin led the reserve team members to his room.
He took out several storage soul tools and began emptying their contents one by one.
Soon, a massive pile of soul tools appeared before everyone.
There were melee soul tools, ranged soul tools, defensive soul tools, and even flight-type soul tools.
"This is basically my entire stash.
"I'll pick suitable ones for each of you.
"You only need to familiarize yourselves with operating them.
"The soul tools I make are so simple even idiots can use them."
Su Yunlin began selecting suitable soul tools for his teammates.
"First, Senior Brother Bei.
"Your Martial Soul is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, and you also possess the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's dragonification secret technique.
"In terms of strength and offensive power, you're already flawless.
"Unfortunately, your lightning attribute interferes with most soul tools.
"So I'll give you these Class 5 electric-energy boots.
"You can release electricity to accelerate yourself. Your speed depends on the amount of electricity you output.
"You'll need time to adapt to them, but once you do, your speed will reach the level of agility-type Spirit Masters.
"As for defense, just keep using that Class 6 defensive soul tool from before.
"There's no rule saying we can't use them."
Su Yunlin handed the electric-energy boots to Bei Bei.
Next came Jiang Nannan.
"Senior Sister Jiang, these are Class 4 jet boots and a thigh exoskeleton enhancer.
"You specialize in kicking techniques, so these can compensate for your lack of raw strength.
"You only need to inject Spirit Power to activate them.
"You can test their power on Senior Brother Xu later. His skin is thick enough that it shouldn't matter."
Xu Sanshi's eyelid twitched violently.
"Also, this women's soft armor…
"My father originally made it for my mother, but the size was too small, so she couldn't wear it and passed it to me instead.
"Later, I modified it a little.
"This armor can absorb a certain amount of kinetic force.
"In other words, it absorbs impact power and stores it within the armor.
"Then you can release it actively later.
"I can even connect the inner armor with the thigh exoskeleton enhancer.
"That way, you can absorb your opponent's strength and return it to them through your kicking techniques."
Su Yunlin handed the three soul tools to Jiang Nannan.
"Thank you. But Junior Brother… what if I accidentally break them?"
Su Yunlin waved dismissively.
"If they break, then they break.
"It's not like I'm lacking money.
"They'd just gather dust sitting around anyway.
"If they break from use, then so be it."
Then came Xu Sanshi.
"Senior Brother Xu… forget it.
"There's nothing suitable for you."
Xu Sanshi instantly panicked.
"Don't do this, Junior Brother!
"You can't treat me differently!
"They all got something! Why don't I get anything?!"
Su Yunlin spread his hands helplessly.
"The main issue is that you're already pretty complete.
"Your defense is absurdly strong, so you don't really need soul tools to compensate for weaknesses."
"Come on, Junior Brother! Brother Su!
"I'm begging you! Just give me something!"
Xu Sanshi looked moments away from hugging Su Yunlin's leg and begging.
Su Yunlin scanned the pile carefully before finally locking onto a glove.
"Found one.
"Senior Brother Xu, this is a Class 5 Shockwave Explosion Glove.
"It'll have unexpected synergy with your Xuanwu Displacement ability.
"During team battles, you could switch positions with an enemy team member and suddenly appear inside their formation.
"Then slam the ground with this glove.
"It'll release a shockwave carrying both Spirit Power and spiritual force.
"If your opponents get hit unexpectedly, they'll definitely reveal openings."
The glove's effect suited Xu Sanshi perfectly.
A disgusting, nuisance-style fighting method.
...
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