His spiritual power had only reached the Spirit Sea realm recently. The Spirit Sea rank was not considered very high for his six-ringed cultivation base. En Ci ordered that he was strictly not allowed to leave the room unless he had achieved a cultivation base of Spirit Abyss.
Long Yue understood his teacher’s intentions well, so he knew that this was all due to pressure from above. Such uncontrollable power was so terrifying that even the empire was avoiding him like a taboo.
He would, of course, need to put more effort into controlling himself, yet he was feeling slightly troubled at the thought of this rigorous cultivation. For him spiritual power cultivation was very difficult compared to the tremendous pace he could hone his soul power and bloodline.
The group match was carried out as planned. Monster Academy also passed through the first round with ease, to nobody’s surprise.
The second round was no more suspenseful than the previous. Shrek Academy sent out the trio of Ye Xinglan, Yuanen Yehui, and Yue Zhengyu to the competition stage as usual, while Yue Zhengyu and Yuanen Yehui participated in the two-on-two match as well. Although the opponents were slightly more powerful than Sky Academy’s team, the battle was still settled after four matches with the result of five to nothing. Shrek Academy wiped out the opponents such that they did not even advance to the group match stage.
The situation was the same on Monster Academy’s side. These two great academies charged into the final four of the group category together.
There was no doubt that they were destined to fill the final team slots. What sort of sparks would be kindled in the confrontation between Shrek Academy’s group without Tang Wulin and Monster Academy’s squad? As Tang Wulin’s replacement and their strongest fighter, was Ye Xinglan capable of resisting Long Yue’s awesome strength? These were the matters that the audience was anticipating.
The semifinal went smoothly. The Shrek team’s situation remained the same as before, only that the sequence of their contestants was slightly changed so that Ye Xinglan finally got to fight against the most powerful opponent.
Five – nil!
They advanced to the next round with three consecutive rounds of five to nothing. There was utterly no suspense in that.
Monster Academy’s team also did not disappoint. They relied on the Dai Yueyan, Su Mu, Lin San and the pair of Hua Lantang and Ye Zhi. They pushed forward to the final with the same score of five to nothing.
The competition would rest for one day before continuing with the final group battle between the teams from Shrek Academy and Monster Academy.
The group category went from not being taken seriously to becoming a topic of heated discussion immediately. The price of admission skyrocketed.
Everyone was anticipating the two great academies’ ultimate confrontation.
Shrek’s team was receiving fewer curses compared to the atmosphere in the individual category. They were still capable of regrouping for the battle after their captain was severely injured and achieved such honorable results. This was a group of only fifteen-year-old youths! They had already fought their way with Shrek Academy’s graceful bearing and displayed Shrek’s capabilities to the entire Star Luo Empire.
Imagine what could happen if this battle group were to face the Monster Academy’s battle group in a fight five years later?
Who would dare to say no one among them could ever achieve Long Yue’s magnificence?
Thus, though the common people’s initial response to them had been fueled by nationalism, their mentality had gradually begun to change seeing as how powerful opponents could match the powerful fighters on their own side. They were glad to have Long Yue as the mainstay in Monster Academy because it was highly possible that the situation before their eyes would be different without his presence.
Even so, they were still anticipating both parties’ confrontation. Within the eyes of many sensible people, there was no need to determine the victor and loser of this competition any longer, but even more significantly this was possibly the most exciting group match in centuries. They could only witness such a competition once in a lifetime and still remember this with great relish for decades to come!
In the Grand Star Luo Hotel, there was still no information about Tang Wulin, and he had still not returned. It was as if he had completely vanished. There was utterly no news about him or Mu Ye.
The group had noticed that Elder Cai and Wu Zhangkong would leave the hotel early in the morning and return very late every day. However, they still did not bring back any information related to Tang Wulin.
Gu Yue stood outside Wu Zhangkong’s room every night and waited for his return. He shook his head at her before she went back to her room quietly.
He had yet to return if he was alive, and there was no corpse if he was dead, but there was still hope at the very least.
“We need to have faith.” Xie Xie suddenly broke the silence of his companions as he sat at the dining table during dinner.
The group’s gaze shifted toward him in unison.
Xie Xie spoke with a deep voice, “The captain will certainly return safely if we can become the champions tomorrow.”
This was a leap of faith and also wishful thinking, yet everyone nodded in unison.
He would certainly return safely.
Gu Yue inhaled a deep breath and spoke with a deep voice, “Let’s make plans for tomorrow’s strategy. We need not only luck but also skill to defeat the opponents. Xinglan, Yuanen and I will be participating in the one-on-one round. We must win the other two matches which Long Yue is not participating in. We will take the initiative by having a result of two – one. Yuanen and Zhengyu will be in the two-on-two match. If Long Yue is participating on the opponent’s side, forfeit the match and don’t compete with them. We shall accomplish the victory at one stroke in the final group match. Long Yue…”
She paused for a moment at this point, then she spoke with a tone that was unusually determined, “Leave him to me.”
“I’ll be distracting him as best as I can. All of you must defeat the rest of the opponents as soon as possible during that period of time. Then, we will combine our forces to deal with Long Yue. As for the specific tactics we’ll be using, we’ll do this…”
When the first gleam of sunlight penetrated Star Luo City in the morning, it had already bestowed a sunny day with a warm breeze.
The radiant sunlight brightened the blue sky as snowy-white clouds floated by occasionally. The refreshing weather gave a carefree sensation that cleansed the people’s minds.
On the other hand, Star Luo City was extraordinarily busy. Not many people were on the streets as most were staying in their homes or hotels awaiting the group match hailed as the battle of the century.
The dozens of streets surrounding the Star Luo Coliseum were already so overcrowded with people that even a drop of water couldn’t leak out.
Some of the onlookers gathered around the Star Luo Coliseum only hoping to listen to the sound of cheering. There were even some rich people holding handfuls of cash in an attempt to buy an expensive entrance ticket even for a standing spot on the inside!
There was no doubt that the competition was extremely successful this time for the Star Luo Empire’s government as they had managed to make huge profits through the influx of money from tourism, the lottery industry, and the entrance tickets.
Even the royals were filled with excitement for today’s match. It was an extremely difficult task even for the royal family members to acquire entrance tickets in such a short time if they had not done so earlier.
The entrance tickets were priceless!
Dai Tianling was feeling as if his blood was boiling with righteous indignation as he sat on the audience platform. He could not help laughing in spite of himself. He was feeling glad that as the emperor, there was always a seat reserved for him whether he had a ticket or not.
This was the advantage brought by power and authority! He truly wished that Shrek’s team was capable of performing even better today. Shrek Academy had truly proven itself to be what it claimed. He could only imagine the power of Shrek Academy just by witnessing the strength of these fifteen-year-old youths.
He wished to return to his hometown to take a look at the original Star Luo City and the Douluo Continent if possible. He also desired to visit the number one academy in the Douluo Continent that was known as Shrek Academy. Perhaps it was even the best academy on the entire Douluo Planet. Monster Academy was still lacking in achievements and purity when compared to Shrek Academy!
The academy president, En Ci, had arrived earlier. He appeared extremely calm today, but his gaze would occasionally shift towards the direction of the waiting area. He was still very worried about Long Yue. He was not worried if Shrek’s group was weak, because then there would be no need for Long Yue to focus his power and the match would go smoothly.
However, the power of Shrek’s battle group had far exceeded any estimation. It was impossible that Long Yue could defeat this opponent without utilizing his power, but Long Yue could possibly lose control once he devoted all his effort and transformed into the absolutely terrifying Madman Long. If something were to happen to Shrek Academy’s team again, then it would perhaps cause a direct confrontation between the two great academies.
He was more worried about Shrek Academy than the issues between the Douluo Continent and the Star Luo Continent.
After all, the two continents were situated at a distance. Even if the Douluo Continent was infuriated by the diplomatic mission this time, they would still need more time to prepare for any action they wished to take. It was a great trouble for anyone to go to war from across the great sea.
However, it was different for Shrek Academy. There were many powerhouses there to take action in case of this situation. Then, Monster Academy would be facing an extremely grim trial from a group of students standing at the peak of the world’s pyramid!
Hence, he had already prepared himself to immediately intervene if Long Yue lost control of himself in this match. En Ci would never again hesitate like he did the other day.