Chapter 173: Team Battle Opens

Huo Yutong could see Dai Hao, and Dai Yaoheng, who was standing at the front of the team, naturally saw him too; his eyes involuntarily ignited with the flame of excitement as he looked at his father gripping his fists tightly on the distant city wall.

Dai Hao merely gave him a slight nod, his eyes showing a hint of encouragement, then he no longer looked at him, but just that glance filled Dai Yaoheng, who had always taken his father as a role model since childhood, with fighting spirit, dispelling his previous nervousness entirely.

Xu Jiawei saw that both teams' members had already entered the rest area, a faint smile appeared on his face, and he nodded to Dai Hao beside him as a signal.

"Silence! The match is about to begin, please Your Majesty speak."

Dai Hao shouted in a deep voice; he did not use the Amplified Soul Conductor, yet his voice carried far away, and a resonant, powerful iron-blood aura actually spread from the city wall.

Xu Jiawei smiled and said:

"The last time I witnessed the final of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duel Tournament in Star Net City was twenty years ago; back then, whether it was me or your younger brother Dai Hao, we were merely youths. Times have changed, and twenty years later today, I am already the ruler of a nation, and Dai Hao, your younger brother, has become the empire's supreme commander. We are about to witness a showdown of the continent's strongest youngsters; my heart is greatly excited, and I hope both teams will present a splendid match for every spectator."

"According to convention, the winning side of this final will receive three soul bones and a reward of one million gold soul coins; I have already selected ten soul bones from our nation's treasury for the eventual champion to choose from. I originally wished to have Dai Hao, your younger brother, personally preside over today's match, but since the Shilake Academy side has a main combat team member who is his eldest son, to avoid conflict of interest, the referee for this match remains the Heaven Slaughter Battle Spirit."

"No more words; please everyone join me in watching this showdown that will surely be recorded in history."

As Xu Jiawei's words fell, a flash of light instantly streaked from the city wall, and in the next moment appeared at the center of the competition platform—none other than Heaven Slaughter Battle Spirit Huang Jinchu.

But the instant he landed on the competition platform, his body slightly trembled, and his gaze unconsciously turned toward the rest area, falling on the Shilake Academy team.

At some point, a disheveled old man holding a wine gourd appeared behind the Shilake team; seeing the gaze of Heaven Slaughter Battle Spirit sweep over, he merely raised his eyebrows slightly.

Huang Jinchu hastily shifted his gaze, somewhat flustered, finding it hard to believe.

"Glutton? How did this old thing come here? Why isn't he dead yet? Because of the referee's gaze, everyone from Shilake Academy and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy noticed the arrival of this disheveled old man."

Seeing him, the team leader teacher of the Sun Moon squad on the other side kept changing expressions; he naturally knew Xuanzi, and in the investigation of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, this Glutton Battle Spirit's cultivation had already surpassed level ninety-seven Soul Power, making him Shilake Academy's strongest; everything concerning the Sea God Pavilion in Shilake Academy is too secret, so they had only investigated this much.

Huang Jinchu on the platform quickly regained his composure, and in a deep voice said: "This Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duel Tournament final begins; I, Huang Jinchu, am the final referee; now I announce the final match rules."

"The final consists of three competition formats: team battle, individual elimination, and 2-2-3, played as best-of-three. In the team battle, each side sends seven members onto the field; after the team battle ends, each side has one chance to substitute a competing member, but only this once. In the subsequent individual elimination and 2-2-3 matches, both sides may only field the fixed seven participants, with no further substitutions of any kind; the side that wins two of the three matches becomes champion."

"During the match, both sides may act freely; the safety of the competitors is my responsibility. If I detect a situation that could be lethal for either side, I will intervene and disqualify the benefiting party. However, because the match changes moment by moment, I cannot guarantee the absolute safety of the participating competitors; I hope both sides exercise self-restraint during the match."

"Now both sides prepare; the team battle participants will take the field in one minute."

With the announcement of the match rules, the atmosphere of the entire Star Net Plaza suddenly became tense.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens fell utterly silent at this moment, merely waiting quietly; everyone widened their eyes, and even though the match had not yet begun, they were unwilling to miss any change on the field.

Wang Yan stood up, facing his own students.

"Everything is proceeding according to the original plan; come on, teacher believes in you!" "Victory!"

Everyone responded in unison.

On the other side, the members of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy had also all risen, listening to the team leader teacher make the final arrangements.

One minute quickly passed.

"Both sides' team battle participants appear."

Huang Jinchu strictly timed it, not extending by even a second.

The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy side immediately had seven people step out; at the very front was their captain Ma Long, followed closely by Xiao Hongchen, then Meng Hongchen, then the fifth-rank Soul Engineer Mi Ka seen in previous matches, and the three behind him were also fifth-rank Soul Engineers. Based on each person's appearance, the Shilake crowd could name them: respectively Xia Xiaofeng, Chen Fei, and Lin Xi, all male except Meng Hongchen.

Seeing these seven appear, the Shilake team had no surprise, because this matched exactly what Teacher Wang had predicted.

The fact that Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen are the trump cards was already thoroughly confirmed by Wang Yan; thus they will definitely appear in the final, and his task was to calculate which two would be squeezed out.

Obviously, his calculations encountered no problem.

From the first match of this tournament onward, Wang Yan had been silently observing the situation of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy; just yesterday, he carefully recounted to the Shilake team the compiled data he had analyzed in detail, and had made meticulous deployments; whether today's battle can achieve victory over the stronger side hinges on strategy and tactics.

And the personnel Shilake fielded also did not exceed the expectations of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy; it remained those seven.

Dai Yaoheng, Tang Wulin, Huo Yutong, Bei Bei, Xu San Shi, He Caitou, Ling Luochen.

There's no way; sending out the remaining two would be like serving up dishes, no matter how varied the tactics, you can't play like that; deploying such a surprise force would only make the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy overjoyed.

Personnel from both sides walked onto the platform, forming two rows standing to the left and right of Huang Jinchu.

"The match rules I just announced need no further repetition; both sides retreat, prepare to begin, and the match ends when one side has no one able to continue fighting."

The team members slowly retreated; the originally nervous Xiao Hongchen's eyes began to show excitement, for he is naturally a competition-type member, the more tense his mood, the greater the explosive combat power; being able to participate in this final as a reserve member, he and his sister Meng Hongchen have already proven their formidable strength.

Both sides' spirits were in a state of high concentration; just as they reached the edge of their respective competition platforms, accompanied by Heaven Slaughter Battle Spirit Huang Jinchu's loud shout "Match begins!", the first battle that will decide the ultimate ownership of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duel Tournament championship finally commenced.

By the way, we have finally reached the final; this tournament is finally going to end.

In the previous book's tournament arc, I only wrote two matches the whole way, and the protagonist appeared in just one, to the extent that I basically couldn't write matches; writing them was agonizing, but now it's finally ending.

(End of chapter)