Chapter 344

"First, I want to congratulate everyone here for making it into the top eight of this tournament. As everyone knows, this is the first time the tournament has included sect participation, making the competition much fiercer than before..."

The host's voice echoed in the hall, making the eight team captains feel somewhat drowsy.

They are the top eight of this tournament, and they have come here to draw lots to determine the upcoming match schedule.

Just yesterday, the final round of the round-robin stage ended, and this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament has now reached its final stage.

Among the qualifying teams, those ranked first are Shilake Academy, Snow Devil Sect, Holy Spirit Sect, and Heavenly Dragon Sect.

The reason Tang Sect is absent is that when they faced Shilake Academy, they decisively chose to forfeit, thus breaking their perfect-win record.

The remaining four teams are Tang Sect, Overbearing Sword Sect, Star Net National Academy, and Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy.

Poor Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, having been placed in the same group as Shilake Academy and Tang Sect, ultimately failed to even reach the top eight, being repeatedly defeated by those two teams and eliminated in the round-robin stage.

At this moment, several team captains watched Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong, who represented Tang Sect and Shilake Academy in the lot draw, and their feelings were extremely complicated.

In the round-robin stage, these two's performance could only be described as exaggerated; they went through the entire process without sustaining a single injury, and even now, no one knows where their limits truly lie.

Just thinking about having to face these two monsters in the upcoming quarterfinals made their hearts feel incredibly heavy.

As for Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong, who were the focus of their attention, they were silently communicating with each other in their hearts.

"Yutong, what cultivation level is the captain of the Holy Spirit Sect team?"

The one representing Holy Spirit Sect this time is a slender young man; if Tang Wulin remembers correctly, his name is Yan Feng.

Just by standing there, he emanated waves of chilling aura, causing Muxue and the captain of Star Net National Academy standing beside him to frown.

Yet they dared not speak, for both were individuals who had some knowledge of the Holy Spirit Sect's existence, and they greatly feared Yan Feng.

Extreme Douluo

Original Body Sect

Ilex

Upon hearing that answer, Tang Wulin immediately made up his mind.

Yutong, no matter who of us encounters the Holy Spirit Sect, we must not hold back; if we can kill one, that's one.

Understood.

Originally, a Soul King–level Death God's Harvester had harmed people numbering in the thousands; Tang Wulin didn't want to think about how many people a Soul Saint–level Evil Soul Master had harmed.

This has nothing to do with whether we compete or not; letting any of these people escape is a disrespect to ordinary human life.

He slowly exhaled, then changed the subject, asking: "Right, when will we go participate in the underground tournament again?"

Since the last time they left, Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong have never again participated in the Mingdu Soul Master Elite Tournament.

Mainly because an Evil Soul Master at the Limit Douluo level is simply too terrifying; before they are fully prepared, they cannot take risks.

And after these few days of buffer period, not only have reinforcements from Shilake Academy and the Origin Sect arrived, but more importantly, Huo Yutong, with Ilex's help, has created an exclusive summoning magic.

According to Huo Yutong, she originally wanted to summon the two Dragon Kings, which would require chanting at least five small sections of incantation to open the half-plane of the dead.

But now it's different; as long as she is willing, she only needs to chant a single section of incantation to summon the dragon bones of the two Dragon Kings.

There are drawbacks, of course; it is said that the soul power and mental power consumption of this summoning magic is ten times that of normal summoning, but considering the benefits, Tang Wulin believes it is all worth it.

With two Limit Douluo–level enforcers as backup, plus Xuanzi, a ninety‑eighth‑rank bodyguard secretly protecting them, they finally dare to face the Holy Spirit Sect's members with confidence.

After Huo Yutong gave it some thought, she said:

"Wait two more days, then go after the finals."

We must create an illusion for the Holy Spirit Sect that they are exerting all their strength to resist the restriction, but ultimately still fail.

And to achieve this goal, they cannot be too impatient; the longer they stay hidden, the higher their value in the eyes of the Holy Spirit Sect.

This brings many benefits to their subsequent actions.

At this moment, the host on the podium finally finished the pleasantries and began to get to the point.

"Next we will conduct the quarterfinals draw ceremony; this draw not only determines your upcoming opponents, but also determines your later battle scope, which should help your preparations. The rules are as follows."

"We will first ask the four first‑place teams from each group to come on stage and draw lots separately, dividing them into upper and lower halves; then each first‑place team will draw one second‑place team, with the sole rule being not to draw a team that was in the same group during the round‑robin. The teams drawn will be the quarterfinal opponents. After the grouping, the two teams that win in the upper and lower halves of the quarterfinals will proceed to the semifinals, and the winner will go on to the final."

After listening to the host finish explaining the rules, Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong exchanged a glance, both looking somewhat helpless.

According to this rule, they still might meet each other in the semifinals.

But this is unavoidable; if this is a sign that the Ri Yue Di Guo is preparing covert manipulation, then no amount of complaining will help, and if they merely happen to meet due to luck, they can only blame their own bad luck.

Next, the team captains began to draw lots, first for dividing into halves.

The first to draw was Shilake Academy, after all, they were last year's champions and a legendary powerhouse in the tournament.

At this moment, no matter how much the Ri Yue Di Guo dislikes Shilake Academy, this face must still be given.

Naturally, the one stepping up to draw was Huo Yutong; her expression was very calm, showing no trace of nervousness.

"Shilake Academy, lower half."

Then the powerful and mysterious Holy Spirit Sect came up to draw: "Holy Spirit Sect, upper half."

Then, immediately after, the one representing the Snow Demon Sect to draw lots was Muxue.

As soon as she saw the result she had drawn, her expression immediately turned ugly.

"Snow Demon Sect, upper half."

She actually ended up in the same zone as the Holy Spirit Sect, which means the Origin Sect could possibly clash with the Holy Spirit Sect in the next match; no wonder her expression is so painful.

Finally, the captain of the Sky Dragon Sect shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't need to go up again, right?"

The host nodded and directly announced: "Sky Dragon Sect, lower half."

"Next we will conduct the quarterfinals draw, with Shilake Academy drawing first."

Huo Yutong casually drew a lot; upon seeing the result, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in amusement.

Seeing her expression, all the team captains felt a tightening in their hearts; none of them wanted to face Shilake Academy in the quarterfinals, as that would be hardly different from being eliminated outright.

Huo Yutong handed the slip to the host, who glanced at it and also looked somewhat helpless.

"The opponent of Shilake Academy in the quarterfinals is Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy."

Tang Wulin blinked, and immediately understood what Huo Yutong's reaction just now meant.

In the quarterfinals of the previous competition, Shilake Academy's opponent was also Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy.

Last time, Shilake won in an almost crushing fashion, so it seems this time will likely be the same.

The captain of Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy couldn't help but reveal a wry, helpless smile.

Objectively speaking, this is truly a bad draw among bad draws for them.

However, speaking again, given Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy's strength, they probably would find it hard to win no matter who they drew.

In that sense, drawing Shilake Academy could be considered a pleasant relief? She tilted her head, thinking optimistically.

And as Shilake Academy finished drawing their opponent, the next to draw was the Holy Spirit Sect.

Seeing Yan Feng go on stage again, everyone's attention focused on him.

Aside from Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong, probably no one present wanted to face this team entirely composed of Evil Soul Masters.

Like Huo Yutong, Yan Feng showed no trace of nervousness on his face; he casually drew a lot, didn't even look at it, and handed it to the host.

"The opponent of the Holy Spirit Sect is Star Net National Academy."

Immediately, the hall filled with the sound of many people letting out a sigh of relief.

Anyway, they temporarily don't have to face the Holy Spirit Sect.

The captain of Star Net National Academy, however, was different; his complexion at this moment could be described as extremely bad.

Originally they had come aiming for the championship, but they didn't expect to encounter such an opponent in the first quarterfinal match.

Now not to mention the championship, they probably can't even make it to the semifinals.

On the contrary, Tang Wulin appeared somewhat gloomy.

Not being able to directly eliminate these Evil Soul Masters in the quarterfinals left him feeling extremely regretful.

Next up was Heaven Dragon Gate; unlike the previous two captains who drew lots, his expression was very solemn.

The reason is simple: Tang Sect hasn't been drawn yet.

In other words, with this draw, there is a full fifty percent chance that Heaven Dragon Gate will stop at the quarterfinals.

How could he not be nervous?

Fortunately, luck is on his side.

"The opponent of Heaven Dragon Gate is Arrogant Sword Sect."

Hearing the host's announcement, the captain of Heaven Dragon Gate wiped his sweat, and his expression visibly improved.

This result is far better than facing Tang Sect.

At this point, six teams have already determined their opponents, so the remaining two teams naturally need no further explanation.

Tang Wulin and Mu Xue locked eyes, and then he gave her a faint smile.

He believed that the true captain of the True Body Sect would certainly be very happy upon learning this result.

Tang Sect will ultimately have to face the True Body Sect; after two years, Tang Wulin will soon battle Long Aotian again, and that fighting maniac must have been eagerly awaiting it for a long time.

Judging from Long Aotian's previous battle with Huo Yutong, he should not let Tang Wulin feel disappointed.

By the way, these two chapters of 3k characters will count as the third update.

There will be more later.

(End of chapter)