The male student who stood in the middle of the first row reveled in his own achievement when he suddenly felt an immense force acting on his body. He was sent flying before the big and tall man occupied his original spot.
Just like that, all the spots were slowly occupied after a series of intense fights. For a time, hares leapt and foxes pounced on the lake’s surface. The strong soul power waves also sent ripples out on the lake’s surface.
Relatively speaking, the fight on the female students’ side was not as intense. They students even politely gave each other chances. They dropped onto the lotus leaves and stood still.
They were all inner court disciples and all had extremely powerful strength. For a time, all of them showed their special skills and claimed a spot for themselves.
Currently, it was only after all the students had claimed a lotus leaf that they were able to determine the total number of participants in this year’s Sea God Fated Date Festival. Similar to the one held in previous years, the number of female students were noticeably lesser than the male students. This was the legendary phenomenon of ‘the wolves are plenty, but meat is scarce’. This could not be helped. Males were, on overall, more talented than females in the matters of becoming a soul master. Naturally, this was also the case in Shrek Academy.
There were a total of fifty-one male students. Usually, many of them who were of the right age and were not married would participate in the date festival. There were as many as thirty-one female students taking part as well. For a time, on Sea God Lake, the lotus leaves under their feet were lit up by the lights which shrouded their bodies in beautiful light. Around them was the sparkling waters of Sea God Lake, and under their feet were columns of light. With their appearance, a huge patch of light shone brightly under the water’s surface all around them. Currently, the surface of Sea God Lake was their shiniest stage.
Today, many among them would find their one true love here. Maybe, just maybe, they would find the partner with whom they would spend their lives with.
Lan Muzi smiled. He crossed his arms in front of himself. “Alright, that should be everyone. If you guys can still recognize each after even in these costumes of yours, then that’s true love for sure. But, I think that such a possibility is very low. At least, I wasn’t able to do that back then.”
Truthfully, it was very difficult to recognize people in the crowd who were wearing the same costumes. With most of them having their bodies covered only made it harder. They could only try to identify the people before they stepped onto their respective lotus leaves but at that moment, everyone was fighting for a spot. Few of them would be interested to observe the happenings on the other side.
Although everyone on the female students’ side wore long dresses, most of them had sylphlike features. Other than the differences in height and body size, it was virtually impossible to differentiate them from one another. Besides, they were also covered by those large bamboo hats so any distinguishing features would remain unseen.
Lan Muzi smiled. “According to the tradition of the Sea God Fated Date Festival, the first segment is called Match Made in Heaven but although the name sounds nice, it’s quite a difficult segment. The thirty-one female students will stand in a single row a hundred meters from you. Then, each of them will be wearing a bamboo hat with a veil hanging from it so you won’t be able to see their faces. Simply put, for you male students, this contest requires you to work together. The fifty-one of you can strike out one by one and attack the female students with your own methods. You can attack one, or many. Your aim is to remove the bamboo hats from their heads. If you can’t even see them, how can you choose your girlfriend, right?
“This segment is also the time where you will display each of your strengths. Without a doubt, the more bamboo hats one can remove, the more powerful the person is. The female students aren’t allowed to help each other in this segment, and you cannot attack the male students. You can only passively defend yourselves and try your best not to let the bamboo hat on your head fall off. Once the female student is sent into the water by an attack, she will also be eliminated from the festival. But, generally speaking, in this segment, the male students will show restraint in their attacks. After all, if all the girls have already fallen into the water, how are we going to find our partners?”
The outer court students by the shore were holding their breaths now. The date festival had finally begun. Not only were they required to be in love with each other, they also had to be strong enough. Those who could end up together in the end would first and foremost prove that they were strong enough.
The first segment, Match Made in Heaven, was not simple. The girls could defend themselves. Naturally, there were more generous girls. They would naturally cooperate with their loved ones and give up on their bamboo hats if they were willing. However, those who were unwilling or had no intentions of looking for a partner in the first place would work hard to defend their own bamboo hats. This segment involved a contest of wit, courage, strength and fathoming what the other person was thinking about. The situations of Match Made in Heaven for every year’s Sea God Fated Date Festival were different, making it extremely interesting.
Lan Muzi’s voice barely faded when the lotus leaves under the female students’ feet began floating up all on their own. They arranged the girls who were initially in two rows into a single row.
Lan Muzi looked at the boys in the first row and smiled. “Alright, now’s the time for all of you to show your manliness. I’ll call you out to attack by your numbers. Before you make your move, you have the option of removing your mask or keeping it on. Then, make your move on the female students. On the other hand, the thing that you must take note is that the girls cannot remove their bamboo hats of their own accord in this segment. That’s why, if you guys don’t figure out a way to knock their bamboo hats off, I’m afraid it’ll be difficult for you to determine their identities.”
The rules of the date festival were not too complicated. Most of the students had already learned about them before they took part in the date festival. Naturally, they came prepared.
Lan Muzi called out, “Male Number One, you can choose to reveal your face, or keep your mask on.”
Male Number One was not the first boy who stood on the front row, their numbers were assigned to them before the segments began. Currently, this student stood in the second row.
This boy obviously knew about the related rules even before this, He said without hesitation, “I choose to reveal my face.” As he said this, he raised his hand and removed the mask from his face.
In truth, during this first segment, most of the participants would choose to reveal their faces in the previous years. The reason was simple, the boys wanted to let the girls see who they were so it would be easy for them to choose! Unless the boys did not intend to date in the first place, they would reveal their faces in the first segment.
This was a tall and big young man. He looked ordinary but his figure was tall and straight with sparkling eyes.
Lan Muzi made an inviting gesture. “You may begin.”
The young man smiled and said to the girls on the opposite side, “Please excuse me, dear beautiful ladies.” As he said this, he tapped the lotus leaf with the tips of his toes lightly leaped into the air.
He made a circle with his arms in front of him. Then, he suddenly pushed outward. Five light rings immediately rose from his body — two yellow and three purple. It showed that he had a cultivation base of a Soul King.
In truth, a five-ringed cultivation base was practically the basic rank of the inner court students. From the look of his soul rings, he was definitely not one of the exceptionally outstanding ones in the inner court. If this was not the case, he would not have been in the second row.
A wisp of green wind burst forth before him before it swiftly transformed into a mass of green light, blowing in the direction of Sea God Lake.
As it flashed, billowing waves instantly surged on the lake’s surface which went straight to the girls’ side.
These waves would not only knock their bamboo hats off but once the lake water hit their bodies, they would be instantly wet! This boy dubbed Male Number One had some balls indeed!
Among the girls on the other side, one who stood in the middle snorted. Her figure floated but she did not leap. instead, her body was levitated. She hit out at the air with her right hand and as many as seven soul rings rose from under her feet. Two yellow, three purple, and two black. The billowing wave did not manage to reach her as it was already frozen in mid-air. Then, a miraculous scene appeared. The third soul ring on her body shone as she pointed with her right index finger, causing the lake water that froze in the air to swiftly condense before surprisingly taking the form of a ferocious tiger. Then, it turned around and pounced straight toward Male Number One.