Chapter 373: Meeting an Old Acquaintance

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In the Imperial city of the Heaven Dou Empire, within the Great Spirit Arena, the final match of the preliminaries is currently taking place.

Shrek Academy Team vs. Skywater Academy Team.

Both teams are incredibly powerful and have the absolute strength to advance. The competition between these two teams is highly anticipated, and it will be the perfect ending to the preliminaries.

At the moment, both teams have already secured enough wins to advance. This battle won't decide much, so everyone is encouraged to enjoy the fight to their heart's content.

Both teams appeared on the Great Spirit Arena, ready and waiting for the referee to announce the start.

The audience's enthusiasm was high, and in the spectator stands, there were fans from both teams cheering and encouraging them.

The cheers reverberated throughout the venue, igniting passion in almost everyone.

On the Great Spirit Arena, Tang San observed the seven beautiful and delicate girls standing opposite him, his expression serious. Despite their perfect winning record, he did not underestimate them just because they were girls.

Because this team, composed entirely of female spirit masters, only lost one match in the preliminaries and dominated all the other battles.

Even their sister team, the other four elemental academies, couldn't defeat them.

The only team they lost to was the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Second Team.

Yes, even without Zeng Yi's participation, the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Second Team remained formidable.

After Zeng Yi's departure, the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Second Team added a group of unfamiliar teammates.

This was unfamiliar to Tang San, but not to Ning Rongrong, the young miss of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Those people were all her senior sisters.

It could be said that the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Second Team had transformed into a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect team.

Led by Hong Jie, the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Second Team won every subsequent battle in a dominant fashion.

Tang San felt fortunate that they faced the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Second Team as their first opponents; otherwise, it wouldn't be easy to maintain a perfect record.

Even facing the Skywater Academy Team, Tang San felt immense pressure.

Due to the requirement of their seniors, Shrek Academy couldn't field their entire strength and could only choose three out of the six members other than Ning Rongrong, while the other four substitute players would participate.

This naturally added pressure, and Tang San couldn't guarantee victory against the Skywater Academy Team.

Shui Bing'ers gaze fixed on Tang San. She knew that he was the core of the Shrek Academy team, and if they could eliminate him, victory would be within their grasp.

Facing this man, Shui Bing'er was cautious, but her face still wore a relaxed smile as she asked, "I heard Zeng Yi studied at your Shrek Academy for a while?"

Tang San was taken aback by the tone in Shui Bing'er's words. She seemed to know Zeng Yi.

Tang San nodded, "Yes, Brother Yi graduated from our academy. Do you know him?"

Upon hearing this, Shui Bing'er smiled faintly, "It seems like you're his junior. I'll have to be careful then."

Tang San wore an awkward but polite smile, "No need to hold back. Give it your all. Otherwise, you won't win against our Shrek Academy team."

"Oh, I'm really looking forward to it." Shui Bing'er narrowed her eyes as she stared at Tang San. When Zeng Yi was training them at the Skywater Academy, he mentioned the Shrek Academy team. He said that they would be their toughest opponents in the Spirit Master Tournament.

At the time, she didn't pay much attention, but those words had turned out to be true.

Regardless, Shui Bing'er still had absolute confidence in the Skywater Academy Team she led.

If they could defeat the team from Zeng Yi's academy, it would definitely be a sight to behold compared to that guy's expression.

Shui Bing'er couldn't help but think of that guy's face as she lifted her head and scanned the spectator stands, seemingly searching for his figure.

He should be somewhere among the audience, watching this match!

Shui Bing'er withdrew her gaze, realizing that it was difficult to find the person she wanted to see in such a large venue. She could only hope in her heart.

Tang San also noticed Shui Bing'er's momentary distraction and immediately guessed that her relationship with Zeng Yi was not as simple as he had thought. Perhaps they had some conflicts or an indescribable relationship.

Tang San wasn't clear when Shui Bing'er had met Zeng Yi, but considering his frequent wandering, it wasn't surprising to encounter such things.

Unlike himself, other than his childhood village, there was only Nuoding City and Shrek Academy in his life.

Since she was Yi-ge's friend, he would go easy on her.

Thinking like this, Tang San didn't know that Shui Bing'er had the same thought.

With the referee's command, the battle was about to begin.

In an instant, a layer of chilly frost formed on the hundred-meter-wide Great Spirit Arena, while snowflakes drifted down from the sky, rapidly reducing the temperature throughout the venue.

Furthermore, the Great Spirit Arena, akin to a glacier, sprouted Blue Silver Grass, with roots extending like twisting and resilient snakes, breaking through the cold ice layer.

Everyone in the spectator stands fixed their gaze on the dazzling and intense battle taking place on the stage.

Huo Wu watched the battle from below, clenched her teeth, and a sense of unwillingness appeared in her eyes.

She led the Blazing Academy and lost to Zeng Yi, lost to the Shrek Academy team, lost to Tang San. Not only that, they also lost to the Skywater Academy and even to their lifelong rival, Shui Bing'er.

She couldn't believe that Shui Bing'er, who was originally on par with her in terms of strength, had widened the gap in just over a year.

It was all thanks to the Godwind Academy; otherwise, she wouldn't even have made it to the top teams.

Huo Wu clenched her fists, feeling powerless, and looked at Shui Bing'er, who resembled an Ice Phoenix with anger in her heart.

As the battle reached its intense stage, facing the perfect cooperation from the Skywater Academy Team, the extreme ice attribute energy, and the Martial Spirit fusion skill of Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu, except for Tang San enduring with the protection of Blue Silver Grass, the other teammates succumbed to the violent ice and snow storm.

"Tang San, surrender! Even though your Martial Spirit has strong ice resistance, you are ultimately a control system spirit master. Besides this ice attribute, how can you withstand our explosive energy alone?" Shui Bing'er swung her beautiful ice wings behind her, flying in the air while observing Tang San, who was protected by Blue Silver Grass below.

Tang San resisted the cutting ice in the storm, revealing a helpless bitter smile on his face.

Indeed, what Shui Bing'er said was not wrong. His ice resistance was high, so the cold was negligible to him. But what about his teammates?

Facing someone as powerful as Shui Bing'er, who could even fly, Tang San felt helpless.

He couldn't make Blue Silver Grass carry him into the air, and he couldn't use hidden weapons either. His strength was significantly reduced.

Moreover, Shui Bing'er was right. He was just a control system spirit master, and his attacks using only Blue Silver Grass were simply insufficient.

In fact, Tang San had noticed this problem a long time ago, the issue with his cultivation path. Was a control system spirit master truly the strongest?

Numerous times, Tang San began to doubt himself. He even felt that if he used his Clear Sky Hammer Martial Spirit, the battle would end faster.

Undoubtedly, with the use of Blue Silver Grass, he possessed incredibly strong control abilities. It allowed him to easily defeat weaker opponents. But what about against strong teams that were equally powerful as the Shrek Academy team? He felt a sense of powerlessness rising within him.

Now, hearing Shui Bing'er's words, Tang San once again fell into self-doubt.

He had a feeling that he had reached the limit of his cultivation with Blue Silver Grass and that he would become even stronger by using his other Martial Spirit.

Clear Sky Hammer!

"We surrender!"

In the end, Tang San surrendered, not allowing the Shrek Academy team to enter the elimination round with an undefeated record.

Of course, they were also careless. If all of the Shrek Seven Devils were present, Tang San could be certain that they wouldn't lose.

As this match ended, it signaled the end of the preliminaries for the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament.

The five teams from the Heaven Dou Region that advanced were the Shrek Academy team, the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Second Team, the Skywater Academy Team – all three teams had the same score, with only one loss each – and the other two teams, the Godwind Team and the Blazing Team, from the Five Elements Academies.

The Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, Emperor Xu Ye, personally presented the awards to the teams and offered his blessings, hoping that these five teams would achieve good results in the elimination round and bring glory to the empire.

Five days later, the teams from the Heaven Dou Region, as well as the teams from other kingdom regions, would gather together for the elimination round of the tournament.

That place was the holy land of spirit masters, the most majestic and prosperous city in the Douluo Continent.

The City of Spirit Masters!

"Bibi Dong! You will regret this!"

Inside the Vatican Hall, a furious shout resounded, followed by a middle-aged man stepping out of the hall's gate.

Today, Zeng Yi left his residence early to avoid Hu Liena's pesterings and casually wandered alone in the Spirit Hall.

From afar, Zeng Yi saw a familiar figure quickly approaching him and asked, "Oh? Isn't this Grandmaster? What brings you to the Spirit Hall?"

Zeng Yi fixed his gaze and noticed that it was Yu Xiaogang. Finally meeting a familiar face in the Hall of Spirit Masters, Zeng Yi couldn't help but feel a surge of tears. With a flash, he appeared in front of Yu Xiaogang.

"Zeng Yi?"

Keeping his head lowered, Yu Xiaogang, whose face showed signs of anxiety, heard the familiar voice and raised his head to look. Seeing Zeng Yi standing in front of him, his tightly knitted brow relaxed.