On the competition stage.
"Match, begin!"
With the referee's announcement, he swiftly retreated from the stage, marking the start of the decisive battle to determine which academy would claim the fifth spot in the Heaven Dou Division qualifiers.
"Second Soul Skill: Charm!"
The moment the match began, as the seven members of Canghui Academy raised their gemstone martial souls in unison, preparing to unleash their Seven-in-One Soul Skill Fusion Technique, Xiao Wu, standing at the forefront of the Shrek formation, activated her second soul ring. A flash of pink light flickered through her eyes.
An invisible yet powerful spiritual force surged forward, crossing a distance of over ten meters and descending upon the consciousness of one of Canghui Academy's shorter team members.
In an instant, that team member's movements stalled.
The Second Soul Skill: Charm was a spiritual control-type ability that confused and delayed an opponent's actions.
Moreover, Xiao Wu was a four-ring Soul Ancestor, while the Canghui team member she targeted was merely a three-ring Soul Elder. The gap in their spiritual power was significant. After being hit, the Canghui member stood frozen in place.
The Seven-in-One Soul Skill Fusion Technique of Canghui Academy required perfect coordination among all seven members to be executed. With one member incapacitated, the technique was immediately disrupted.
If they wanted to unleash their trump card, they would first have to free their controlled teammate. However, it was clear that Shrek Academy would not give them that chance.
While Xiao Wu used Charm to control an opponent and disrupt the fusion technique, the other six members of Shrek Academy launched an all-out assault.
"Third Soul Skill: Spider Web Restraint!"
"Third Soul Skill: White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
"Third Soul Skill: Phoenix Fire Line!"
"First Soul Skill: Ghostly Stab!"
"Third Soul Skill: Devil Ape Golden Body!"
"Third Soul Skill: Heavenly Wolf Transformation!"
A massive Blue Silver Spider Web shot out, ensnaring Canghui Academy's captain—their only four-ring Soul Ancestor. At the same time, Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, Zhu Zhuqing, Tai Long, and Huang Yuan charged forward.
In order to possess their Seven-in-One Soul Skill Fusion Technique, Canghui Academy had selected a team entirely composed of gemstone martial soul users. However, aside from those who specialized in control, most gemstone martial souls were suited for support or healing, making them largely ineffective in direct combat.
Without their fusion technique as a trump card, Canghui Academy's lineup—one Soul Ancestor and six Soul Elders, three of whom were support-type—was no match for Shrek Academy's three Soul Ancestors and four Soul Elders.
In less than a minute from the start, with their Seven-in-One Soul Skill Fusion Technique disrupted, Canghui Academy suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Shrek Academy.
However, despite their devastating loss and yet another failure to advance to the ranking tournament, the seven members of Canghui Academy were still far better off than their counterparts in the original timeline, where they suffered mental backlash and became mindless husks.
Due to the two severe assassination attempts that had taken place early in the qualifiers, Emperor Xue Ye of the Heaven Dou Empire had issued a strict warning to all factions, forbidding any attacks on participating students during the tournament. Furthermore, the demolished Heaven Dou Spirit Hall served as a stark warning. As a result, this year's villain did not dare to target Tang San and had behaved cautiously throughout.
Without a grudge from an assassination attempt, Tang San still held disdain for Canghui Academy due to past conflicts but had no intention of crippling them during the match.
After all, if he had left all seven opponents mentally crippled, the tournament committee would have certainly launched an investigation, making it difficult for Shrek Academy to explain themselves.
Moreover, with a different match order than the original timeline, Canghui Academy's trump card had long been exposed. All these factors combined ensured that while they lost, their fate was nothing more than a simple defeat in battle at the hands of Shrek Academy.
"Round 27 of the qualifiers: Shrek Academy vs. Canghui Academy. Shrek Academy is victorious! Congratulations to Shrek Academy for advancing to the ranking tournament!"
With the outcome decided, the referee stepped forward and announced the results.
There were twenty-eight participating teams, with each round featuring fourteen matches—five in Group One, five in Group Two, and four in Group Three.
However, among the four matches in Group Three, only the battle between Shrek and Canghui was worth watching. The other three were merely weak teams clashing, and regardless of their results, they had no impact on the ranking tournament.
Thus, with the Shrek vs. Canghui match concluded, the top five teams of the Heaven Dou Division qualifiers were officially determined:
Tianshui Academy, with a perfect 27-win record, ranked first.
Blazing Academy, with 26 wins and 1 loss, ranked second.
Divine Wind Academy, with 25 wins and 2 losses, ranked third.
Thunder Academy, with 24 wins and 3 losses, ranked fourth.
Shrek Academy, with 23 wins and 4 losses, ranked fifth.
With the Heaven Dou Division qualifiers officially concluded, the next event was the award ceremony, where the top five teams would receive their ranking tournament qualification certificates and rewards.
Afterward, under the guidance of event staff, all participating teams from the twenty-eight academies lined up in an orderly fashion at the center of the competition stage.
"The award ceremony will now begin. May the captains and vice-captains of Tianshui Academy, Blazing Academy, Divine Wind Academy, Thunder Academy, and Shrek Academy step forward to receive their qualification certificates and prize money."
At the podium, a host holding a voice-amplifying soul device announced in a loud voice.
As Tianshui Academy ranked first, their captain Shui Bing'er and vice-captain Shui Yue'er were the first to ascend the stage. Shrek Academy, ranked fifth, had its representatives Dai Mubai and Tang San step onto the podium last.
While standing silently on stage, waiting for the awards to be presented, Mu Yang suddenly felt a gaze directed at him from a short distance away.
Turning his head, Mu Yang saw Tang San staring at him with a look of deep curiosity.
Seeing this, Mu Yang responded with a gentle smile, inwardly wondering if his plan to manipulate others into eliminating his enemies had been exposed. Otherwise, why would Tang Buddha be staring at him like this?
However, Mu Yang was unaware that Tang San was not thinking about that at all. Instead, he merely felt that Mu Yang was not simple.
Among the ten people on stage, all were either Battle Soul Masters or Control-Type Soul Masters, except for Mu Yang, who appeared to be a non-combat Support-Type Soul Master, making him stand out.
Of course, after witnessing the Blazing Academy vs. Divine Wind Academy match earlier, in which Huo Wu used a profound self-created secret technique to overpower Feng Xiaotian, Tang San had already gained some insight. He had a rough idea of why Mu Yang, rather than Huo Wu or Huo Wushuang, was the captain of Blazing Academy.
Just like himself—Tang San's true strength did not lie in the four soul skills of his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul but rather in his endless array of hidden weapons and the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique using his Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul.
The Soul Master Tournament prohibited the use of external weapons, so his hidden weapons were unusable. However, the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique was still perfectly valid.
While the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique required a hammer, Huo Wu's "Mirror" and "Phoenix" secret techniques could be executed purely through soul power, requiring no external tools.
In Tang San's view, the power of Huo Wu's two secret techniques was comparable to actual soul skills. If Mu Yang also possessed such abilities and had an even deeper mastery of them than Huo Wu, then it was not impossible for Mu Yang—a five-ring Food-Type Soul King—to be the leader of Blazing Academy.
If that were the case, then Blazing Academy had not chosen to be "different" just for the sake of it. Instead, they had followed the "rule of the capable leading the way", with Mu Yang earning the captaincy through sheer strength!