"Everyone, your opponent today has arrived, it's Godwind!"
In the Emperor Battle Team rest room, Qin Ming pushed open the door and walked in, his expression not looking too good. To encounter the Five Elements Academies consecutively—the Emperor Battle Team's luck was terrible.
Moreover, Godwind was the strongest among this year's Five Elements Academies. Wasn't this kind of manipulation a little too obvious?
At this moment, someone even more annoyed than Qin Ming was Feng Xiaotian. After all, for the Emperor Battle Team, facing Godwind was just a bit more effort than fighting other academies. But for Godwind, facing Emperor Battle Team, their chance of winning was almost zero.
Fortunately, as long as they placed in the top five in the preliminaries, they could enter the advancement round, so losing a match didn't matter. If this were an elimination system, Godwind might as well start packing.
"Godwind, huh? Then, for this match, I'll sit out and let Gu Ran go up," Tianlin suggested.
"What?" Qin Ming was puzzled when he heard this. "Xiao Tian, Godwind is much stronger than Elephant Armored. Why are you choosing to step down against them?"
"This isn't backing down. My soul power has already been displayed in the first match; no one will think I'm avoiding Godwind out of fear. Besides, Gu Ran needs experience. Since reaching Soul King, he hasn't fought anyone, and that's not good," Tianlin explained.
"I know this Feng Xiaotian. He has a positive-variant martial soul, the Gale Double-Headed Wolf, and innate full soul power. If he hadn't spent so much time developing his self-created soul skill, Gale Demon Wolf Thirty-six Consecutive Strikes, his soul power wouldn't have been much lower than Tian Heng's. Even now, his strength is enough to rival a typical high-level Soul Ancestor."
"I hope Gu Ran can reach the level of facing one of the Martial Soul Hall's Golden Generation alone during this tournament. Facing Feng Xiaotian will be a good trial for him."
Qin Ming nodded. "You're right. Everyone is part of the Emperor Battle Team; everyone should have the chance to represent the team. Besides, Gu Ran is already a Soul King. I have no concerns about him replacing you. All right, Gu Ran, you're up."
"Yes, boss, Teacher Qin, I won't let you down!" Gu Ran stood up excitedly. He wasn't able to go on stage last match, and it had frustrated him.
...
The second round of the Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament officially began.
All twenty-eight teams gathered in the arena today. They couldn't afford to take today's matches lightly: one was the currently strongest Five Elements Academy, Godwind; the other, the powerful Emperor Battle Team, strong enough to rival the Martial Soul Hall Academy. This match was bound to draw everyone's attention.
Everyone wanted to see what kind of performance the young Soul King Tianlin would have against Godwind.
But today, they were destined to be disappointed—Tianlin had no intention of going on stage at all. He didn't care much about this tournament anymore; after all, if he went all out, even a Soul Sage might not beat him, and he could easily destroy the souls of the three Soul Kings from Martial Soul Hall.
Rather than waste his own time, he preferred to give Gu Ran and the others more opportunities to gain experience.
Seeing the seven members of Emperor Battle Team step onto the stage, Feng Xiaotian was not relieved, but furious, "What's the meaning of this, Emperor Battle Team? Are you looking down on my Godwind? Where's Jun Tianlin? Let him get up here!"
"Brother, isn't Jun Tianlin going too far? He's not even coming on stage. Does he think Godwind is weaker than Elephant Armored?" Huo Wu was also a bit displeased. Aside from the already-confirmed-to-join Martial Soul Hall's Elephant Armored Academy, the other four Five Elements Academies were always united. She also felt indignant on Godwind's behalf.
Huo Wushuang gripped the railing tightly. "No, I think in Jun Tianlin's eyes, Godwind and Elephant Armored are the same—he doesn't bother with either. He only went on stage yesterday to display his strength and intimidate the other academies."
On the Skywater Academy side, Shui Bing'er made the same judgment as Huo Wushuang. "So, Elephant Armored just happened to meet Tianlin when he was willing to go on stage. It's hard to say if that was luck or misfortune for them."
Hearing the heated discussion from the audience, Gu Ran did not say a word. At this moment, any retort was useless. What he needed was to demonstrate his power.
"Go, Gu Ran, let everyone see the strength of the future Guardian Douluo of our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan!" As his master, Gu Rong naturally supported his disciple unconditionally at this time.
"So noisy. Gu Ran, make everyone shut up!" Tianlin said arms crossed.
Gu Ran's Skeleton Warhorse merged with him, his soul rings appearing one after another—two yellow, two purple, one black. Undoubtedly, he was a Soul King-level powerhouse.
"Impossible! Emperor Battle Team has another Soul King besides the Sword Prince!" This time, Salas was truly shocked.
All their attention in Martial Soul Hall was focused on how to deal with Tianlin. Who would have thought that the usually inconspicuous Gu Ran would overtake everyone, even reaching Soul King ahead of captains Yu Tianheng and Dugu Yan, catching up with their Golden Generation?
"Salas, why so surprised? Sword Douluo's disciple can be a Soul King, but mine can't? Are you looking down on me?" Gu Rong asked, pretending to be indignant.
"Not at all, Your Grace, please don't misunderstand. I was just too shocked for a moment. Your Grace having such a disciple is indeed a cause for celebration," Salas said with a forced smile. Though he was a platinum bishop, he was still just a Soul Douluo. Compared with Super Douluo-level Gu Rong, he was still a notch below in status.
"We underestimated Emperor Battle Team. Even without the Sword Prince, they're still strong. Get ready to fight—leave that Soul King to me." Feng Xiaotian, with the Demon Wolf attached, calmed his anger. Facing such a lineup, he had no right to be angry anymore.
"Then, Yu Tianheng is mine." Beside Feng Xiaotian, a man holding a long sword said softly.
This person was Godwind Academy's vice-captain, but his soul power level was not inferior to Feng Xiaotian's, both at level forty-four. He only lost the captaincy because he lost to the Gale Demon Wolf Thirty-six Consecutive Strikes.
"That sword—isn't it the Wind Sword? Is he from the Wind Sword Sect?" Yu Tianheng speculated, seeing the sword surrounded by a breeze.
Wind Sword Sect was one of the four lower sects of the Douluo Continent, alongside Holy Dragon Sect, Elephant Armored Sect, and Black Tiger Sect. Their martial soul was the Wind Sword, a wind-attribute longsword—not top-tier, but still excellent.
The Shi brothers nodded, "That's right. Didn't expect to meet another of the lower four sects."
Yu Tianheng smiled, "Isn't that perfect? In the last battle, you all took all the Elephant Armored Sect heads, and I was left empty-handed. This time, the Wind Sword Sect's guy is mine—no one fights me for him."
With that, Yu Tianheng's Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul attached to him, powerful thunder and lightning crackling through the arena. Even those outside the field could feel his fighting spirit. He was still riled up from not getting any kills in the last match.