Chapter 126: Internally Decided Seven Monsters

That evening, in the meeting room belonging to Shilake Academy, the atmosphere was very solemn.

Clearly they had just won a complete victory, yet there was absolutely no celebratory atmosphere.

The reason is simple: their opponent has already been determined.

One of the top eight from the previous tournament, the Dou Ling Royal Advanced Soul Master Academy.

This is also another academy that was placed in the same group as Shilake Academy among the top eight, and can be said to be Shilake Academy's greatest enemy in the knockout stage.

Unlike Zheng Tian Academy, the Dou Ling Royal Advanced Soul Master Academy is a regular among the top eight; unless they meet Shilake or a strong team like Ri Yue in the round of sixteen, they almost always secure a spot in the top eight of each major tournament.

In the previous two matches, they displayed a full five Soul King-level strength; although the team leader, the Gu Zhu Sword, is slightly inferior to Ye Wuqing in rank, he is still a formidable assault-system Soul King at rank fifty-seven, and currently only Huo Yutong in the Shilake team can confront him directly.

It can be said that aside from barely having a chance in team battles, Shilake's win rates in the other two match types have been driven down to a considerably low level.

In the individual elimination tournament, although Huo Yutong possesses absolute strength, her endurance is absolutely a major problem; she can at most win two consecutive matches, and when facing a third opponent she will be unable to continue.

And if we calculate based on her defeating two Soul King opponents, after she steps down the opponent will still have three Soul Kings and two Soul Ancestors left, while Shilake only has Tang Wulin as a quasi-Soul King strength, Bei Bei, Xu San Shi, and He Caitou three Soul Ancestors, as well as Wang Dong and Zhou Sichen two Soul Elders.

Such a desperate gap in strength clearly shows that Shilake has no chance of winning the individual elimination tournament.

And the 2-2-3 format is even more desperate; the opponent can completely forfeit the match against Huo Yutong, pinning their hopes on the other two matches without her, and if the Dou Ling Royal Advanced Soul Master Academy adopts this tactic, Shilake will have no means to respond.

This is also the main reason for the heavy atmosphere on Shilake's side.

After a moment of silence, Wang Yan spoke in a somewhat bitter voice: 'Kids, maybe we should give up; this opponent has already exceeded our limits. After this match, Ling Luochen will be able to recover fully, and later Dai Yaoheng will also quickly recover to a level where he can take the field. This is a round-robin tournament; losing one match will not cause our academy's defeat, we can still afford to lose.'

He indeed has no better solution; after all, he is merely a teacher, and it is the students who go on stage to compete. At most he can only provide some data and equipment in advance, arrange some tactics, and cannot directly influence the course of the battle.

Furthermore, even if he could substitute for the students in battle, his meager strength would be utterly inadequate—not to mention the main squad whose entire lineup is at Soul King level, even the reserve team has Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong, these two monsters stronger than him; the situation has come to this point and he is completely at a loss.

Upon saying that, Dai Yaoheng and Ling Luochen beside him also nodded; frankly, the reason the situation looks so dire is that the Shilake main squad, which should have been fielded as the main force, has collectively collapsed.

If those two could take the field, the addition of one Soul Emperor and one Soul King would greatly ease Shilake Academy's pressure; Dai Yaoheng could take on two Soul Kings, Huo Yutong could take on two, Ling Luochen could take on one, and the remaining two Soul Ancestors—or even Tang Wulin alone—could sweep them all away.

Therefore they feel a certain guilt toward the Shilake reserve team; in their view, this reserve team with an average age of thirteen has already done remarkably well to struggle to this point, and they cannot ask for more.

However, Bei Bei suddenly stood up.

"No, Teacher Wang Yan, we've come this far with great difficulty; we cannot simply surrender, otherwise Shilake's glory will vanish completely!"

Wang Yan's expression was still somewhat torn.

"But you have no chance of winning, the opponent's cultivation is far too high compared to ours." "No, Teacher, you're wrong; we are not without a chance of winning." Unexpectedly to Wang Yan, Bei Bei said seriously: "You think we must lose without doubt because we only have two Soul King-level combat powers, but what if I told you we still have two more?"

"What are you saying?"

Wang Yan widened his eyes in surprise; Bei Bei spoke with such confidence, obviously he had great assurance—could it be that he has some trump card unknown to Wang Yan?

Beside him, Xu San Shi suddenly widened his eyes.

"Hey hey, Bei Bei, really? Is that the case?"

Bei Bei looked at him and said in a low voice:

"Of course it is; if we lose, a scar that cannot be erased will remain in the academy's history, and we cannot retreat."

Xu San Shi said dejectedly:

"But this is our trump card; as the reserve team we are supposed to take the field as the main force in five years. If our trump card is exposed now, what will we do in five years? Besides, you also know my situation is not the same as yours—my control is not as strong as yours, and I cannot use it at will."

Bei Bei said firmly: "It doesn't matter; in five years Wulin and Yutong will have fully grown, and they already possess such strength now. In five years they will absolutely sweep the entire tournament, I have absolute confidence in them, so even if our trump card is exposed it's not a big problem. As for your control issue, I won't insist, but you absolutely cannot continue to hide your abilities; you must give it your all."

"Hmm..." Xu San Shi pondered for a moment, then looked at Bei Bei with a light smile: "Alright, since you're so insistent, brother, I'll accompany you."

Seeing Xu San Shi agree, Bei Bei said to Wang Yan, who was still confused beside him:

"Teacher, you may not know, our situation differs from that of ordinary core disciples; I and San Shi are the internally decided next generation of Shilake Seven Monsters. We receive such treatment from the academy because we have our own trump card; using it, our strength can enter the Soul King realm in a short time."

"Really? That's great!"

Wang Yan was overjoyed.

For the current Shilake Academy, Bei Bei's words were like sending charcoal in the snow, injecting a glimmer of hope into what was originally an unsolvable deadlock.

Bei Bei smiled: "So Teacher, please believe in us; we will surely lead the team to victory in this match, please start helping us arrange tactics."

After Wang Yan and Bei Bei locked eyes for a while, moved by his firm gaze, he took a deep breath and said: "Alright, I understand; I will no longer say discouraging words, you are all great, now let us formally begin planning tactics for the next match."

By the way, when I checked the original text, I found that perhaps because of his identity (Mu En's great-grandson, reserve team captain), Bei Bei's emphasis on Shilake's honor is the highest, even higher than that of Team Leader Wang Yan; Wang Yan has more than once suggested just surrendering for safety's sake, but Bei Bei has always headed it off.

Thinking back to the Xuan Shui Pill incident, Bei Bei was probably the main factor in the active cheating by the Lao Huo Two Teams (although the Xuan Shui Pill proposal was actually made by Tang Ya, Bei Bei did not object).

(End of chapter)