Chapter 316: The Beginning of the Tournament

...

"So, there's no problem. Zhuqing can still use her exquisite swordsmanship, it won't affect the strength of our Shrek Team." Xiao Wu said cheerfully.

"These are the general rules. If there are any additional details, I will let you know during the competition." Grandmaster said, picking up a prepared stick and drawing two connected circles on the ground.

"These two circles represent the two major empires." he continued, drawing a small circle that intersected with both large circles. "This represents the Martial Spirit Hall."

"There are nearly 200 advanced Spirit Master Academies in total between the two empires. Each academy has one spot for participation. The two empires, Heaven Dou and Star Luo, have 15 spots for the preliminary finals. Heaven Dou Empire is divided into 5 districts: Heaven Dou City, its five affiliated kingdoms. The Heaven Dou City has 5 qualifying spots and the other five districts each have 2."

"Our Shrek Academy is in the Heaven Dou City, which means we have to compete for one of the 5 qualifying spots in the Heaven Dou City. The situation is similar in the Star Luo Empire."

"There are a total of 30 qualifying spots, in addition to the teams from the imperial families and the Martial Spirit Hall. In the final round, there will be a total of 33 teams. The final match will be held in the Spirit Hall's Martial Spirit City."

When the Martial Spirit Hall was mentioned, Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but feel a bit trance like, thinking of the person who was once there. I wonder how she's doing now?

With these thoughts, Yu Xiaogang smiled mockingly. The person is now the Supreme Pontiff, with an incredibly noble status, above millions of people. Naturally, she would be doing very well, no need for Yu Xiaogang to worry.

"I will explain the later matches in detail at the start of the competition. For now, just remember that in the preliminary matches in the Heaven Dou City, you need to win every match and secure one of the qualifying spots. This is the only way for you to become champions. Without a qualifying spot, it's all meaningless." Yu Xiaogang said.

Ma Hongjun casually said, "Just one qualifying spot. With the strength of our Shrek Team, it'll be a piece of cake."

The others nodded in agreement with Ma Hongjun's words.

Yu Xiaogang glanced at Ma Hongjun and calmly said, "Oh, I forgot to mention one thing to you."

"What is it?"

"In the preliminary matches, only three of you seven can participate. In other words, Tai Long's team will take up the spot in each round, and the remaining three spots will be decided among you seven. Oh and Ning Rongrong is excluded, she cannot participate in the preliminary matches."

"Ah, is that so?"

In the following days, Zeng Yi did not train the Shrek Team. His task was already completed. These days were for them to adjust themselves mentally and prepare for the spirit master competition.

...

Three days later, in the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City.

The Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament began with a grand opening ceremony held in Heaven Dou City.

Zeng Yi, along with his disciple Yan Que and the current Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, Xue Qinghe, arrived at the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena.

This was the main venue of the Heaven Dou City. A month ago, all spirit battles in the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena had stopped for internal renovations. The sub arenas in the field were merged with the main arena to create a tremendously huge competition area.

The renovated Heaven Dou City' Great Spirit Arena could accommodate tens of thousands of spectators at once, which was extremely grand.

Today was the opening ceremony, and Zeng Yi couldn't miss it. Early in the morning, he brought Yan Que and Xue Qinghe to secure seats.

As the Crown Prince, Xue Qinghe naturally had his own connections and managed to secure seats close to the main stage. Of course, he also had an independent VIP viewing room, but he chose to experience the lively atmosphere by sitting with Zeng Yi in the general seating area.

Zeng Yi and Xue Qinghe chatted while waiting for the opening ceremony to begin.

Time flew by unnoticed in this enthusiastic atmosphere, and the opening ceremony officially started.

At the Shrek Academy's side, Ning Rongrong noticed that Zeng Yi was not present and couldn't help but feel unhappy. On such an important day, our instructor, Zeng Yi, is absent? What a joke!

"Dean, where did Zeng Yi go?"

Dean Flender smiled and said, "Well, he's probably sitting in one of the spectator seats. Anyway, it's time for us to enter. Stand tall, everyone, don't let your lack of energy and momentum be seen by your instructor, Zeng Yi. Don't forget, we are the strongest team, the Shrek Team."

Hearing his words, the others felt like they had been punched. They looked like clowns with their current appearance because they had to wear the unique school uniforms designed by Dean Flender as representatives of the academy.

The color of the uniform was already nauseating, and the fact that they had to wear it was already giving Dean Flender face. But little did they know that Dean Flender went even further and put advertisements on the clothes!

How could they face people when they went out wearing such clothes?

If Zeng Yi were here, he would never let this despicable Dean have his way. If Zeng Yi were here, he would certainly use the thickness of the sole of his shoe to measure whether the Dean's face was thicker or the sole of the shoe was thicker.

However, since they were already wearing these clothes, it was too embarrassing to change. They had to bear the humiliation and go out like that.

In the spectator seating area, Xue Qinghe watched as the participating teams entered, and he couldn't help but pull Zeng Yi's clothes.

"Zeng Yi, look, the team you personally trained is coming out."

Zeng Yi looked and burst into laughter at the sight of those brightly colored figures on the stage.

"Hahaha, they really are hilarious! They dare to come out wearing such outfits! Hahaha! Luckily, I didn't come out with them. Hahaha! Oh no, I can't take it anymore. Hahaha!"

Indeed, when the Shrek Battle Team appeared on stage, the audience ridiculed them for their peculiar clothing.

And they couldn't have imagined that the person they were worried about, Zeng Yi, was actually one of them.

After all the teams were on stage, the host introduced each participating team to the audience. Then, the guest speakers of the opening ceremony gave their speeches.

Although Zeng Yi was sitting far away from the main stage in the spectator seating area, he was familiar with some of the people there.

Xue Qinghe introduced to Zeng Yi, "The person in the middle of the first row, that's my father, Emperor Xue Ye of the Heaven Dou Empire. The person on the left is Ning Fengzhi, the Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. I don't need to say more about him. And the person on the right is the Hall Master of the Martial Spirit Hall in Heaven Dou City, Platinum Bishop of the Martial Spirit Hall, Salas. He himself is also a Spirit Douluo expert."

Next was the opening speech, first by the Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, Emperor Xue Ye, inspiring the enthusiasm and passion of the participants. Then Ning Fengzhi gave a speech, followed by Salas, the Platinum Bishop of the Martial Spirit Hall, who spoke to the crowd.

After three consecutive speeches, everyone's enthusiasm was dampened, including Zeng Yi in the spectator seating area, who began to feel a bit sleepy. Not to mention the participants on stage.

At last, with Emperor Xue Ye's final call, the tournament in the Heaven Dou City officially began.

Since it was the opening ceremony, several exhibition matches were prepared for the audience. The first of which involved the second team of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, who were drawn against one of the teams selected from all participating teams.

As the main characters, the Shrek Academy felt lucky that they were drawn right at the beginning. They even wanted to give a big thumbs-up to Platinum Bishop, the High Priest who was in charge of drawing!

Due to their costumes, they faced ridicule from the entire audience and especially the members of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, who mocked them fervently on stage.

Now, they had the opportunity to release their pent-up frustrations against the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy's second team.

The members of the Shrek Team in the audience were rubbing their hands together, eager to show the audience their formidable abilities.