Chapter 157: The School Uniform Controversy

The night passed without incident, and early the next morning.

The Shrek group took advantage of the lack of people to board their carriage early.

Besides the hotel, the Empire had also arranged special carriages for each team to transport them from the hotel to the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena.

Both the opening ceremony and the Preliminary Round matches were to be held at the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena.

"So many people."

Shi Quan and the others also arrived near the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena by carriage; before they even stepped down, they could already hear the sound of the bustling crowd outside.

"Of course. The Spirit Master Tournament is one of the greatest events in the Spirit Master world. Besides commoners, there is no shortage of royalty, nobles, and mainland Spirit Master factions coming to watch."

Yu Feng chuckled and winked at the Shi brothers, "And there are plenty of beauties, too."

The Shi brothers couldn't be bothered to pay Yu Feng any mind.

"Look, look, are those people from the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy? How could their school uniforms look like that? This is just too hilarious, right?"

The Shrek group in front kept their heads buried; they had wanted to use their arms to cover the pattern on the right, but unfortunately, the pattern was too large to be covered at all.

"Cough, cough." Flender gave a light cough to hide his embarrassment, "Well, since we're here, let's just stay here."

"Calm down, calm down, calm down..." Hiding in the center of the team, Ning Rongrong kept comforting herself, but even so, she still felt the anger in her heart growing. If it weren't for her father, Ning Fengzhi, advising her to stay in Shrek for the time being, she would really want to quit the team and leave right now. There was no help for it; it was just too embarrassing.

The rest area was very large, with thousands of seats divided into individual sections to provide space for the various Spirit Master students to rest and wait.

Everywhere they went, people on both sides pointed and whispered.

As soon as Shi Quan and the others arrived outside the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena and got off the carriage, they heard many people staring at the people in front and discussing them.

"For the next match, no matter what, I am not wearing this uniform. It ruins my heroic image too much," Ma Hongjun was the first to complain.

"Are those people from the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy? How could they be dressed like this?" If they were ordinary students, they might just mock them a bit, but the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy represented the royal family; dressed like this, it was inevitable that people would discuss it.

Before long, Flender strolled over with a look of surprise on his face, "Eh, why did you all run off to such a remote corner?"

Tang San was also helpless and comforted them, "After the exhibition match ends today, we will discuss it properly with the Dean to see if we can shrink this image a bit."

However, this did not stop him from quickening his pace; after all, he did not want to be surrounded and watched by the crowd like Tang San and the others.

They had arrived relatively early, and there were not many competing teams in the rest area, but they were still noticed by most.

So they could only bury their heads and walk quickly toward the inside of the Soul Arena.

"Keep your voice down, that's the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, the royal academy; it's not something we can make fun of..."

"It does look fine from the back, but I don't know about the front. Since people are discussing it, there must be something wrong with their uniforms," Shi Quan looked and then said.

The group immediately looked over with unkind eyes.

"It's that group from the Shrek Team." Dugu Yan curled her lips in disdain. Looking from behind, she didn't see anything special about their uniforms, "Their uniforms don't look like there's anything wrong with them. Why do they all look like they've seen something strange?"

Before long, as the team entered the Great Soul Arena, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Moreover, Flender had specifically reminded them to show the pattern so that others would know of Shrek's existence.

Everyone nodded in unison, then followed Tang San to the rest area specifically provided for competing students within the main arena, found a corner, and waited.

Flender was naturally very happy to see this scene; what he wanted was for everyone to discuss it, so that he could make Shrek's name famous.

"The registration work is done. Later at the opening ceremony, all of you better be spirited; don't lose face for our Shrek."

Just as they were communicating, Shi Quan and the others also arrived at the rest area.

After a sweep of his eyes, he quickly saw the Shrek group in the corner.

When everyone saw their team uniforms clearly, their expressions were varied.

"They actually changed their team uniforms to look like that? Hahaha, it's killing me." Dugu Yan directly let out a mocking laugh.

"This Flender must be crazy about wanting to make a name for himself." Seeing this, a hint of a smile appeared in the depths of Shi Quan's eyes.

In the original work, Flender and the others traveled all the way to the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy covered in dust, which was enough to show their lack of importance for the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy and their disdain for the nobility; even when facing a Prince, Flender and the others had wanted to take action multiple times.

These uniforms for Tang San and the others were most likely designed and modified by Flender himself. These uniforms represented the face and identity of an academy, not to mention an academy run by the royal family like the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. Even if the Three Great Education Committees were stupid, they could not possibly have handed such team uniforms to Shrek, especially in a tournament of this continent-wide scale.

"Flender is courting death," Shi Quan said with a faint smile, then led the group to find a seat and sat down.

As more competing teams arrived at the rest area, the rest area gradually became lively.

Many people noticed the Shrek group in the corner.

Everyone who noticed them discussed it, but no one dared to mock them to their faces because they were backed by the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy; even if they mocked them, it was only done in secret.

However, in less than half an hour, the entrance ceremony began.

The tournament staff quickly entered the rest area and began organizing the students to enter.

The first to enter was naturally the Heaven Dou Team led by Shi Quan.

Entering the venue.

Surrounding the huge and open plaza were countless cheering and shouting spectators. Directly in front of the central field was a rostrum with a golden background, and behind the rostrum was the renovated VIP area.

The wide field was over one hundred and fifty meters in diameter. As the first team to enter, the emcee on the rostrum immediately stirred up the atmosphere of the scene.

On the VIP platform, everyone sat upright. In the middle, Xue Ye looked at the upright figures of the seven from Heaven Dou, his face full of smiles.

"Sect Master Ning, what do you think of this year's Heaven Dou Team?" Xue Ye asked, looking at Ning Fengzhi beside him.

Ning Fengzhi replied with a faint smile: "They are capable of achieving final victory!"

Hearing this, Xue Ye laughed loudly.

The Platinum Bishop Salas opened his eyes slightly and looked at Shi Quan and the others below the stage, hiding disdain in the depths of his eyes.

It could be said that the Spirit Hall held absolute confidence in this year's tournament; otherwise, they would not have brought out three soul bones as rewards.

"Next, let us welcome the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy's Tiandou Second Team, the Shrek Team..."

Under the emcee's introduction, the Shrek Team, as the second team of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, appeared second.

As the Shrek Team entered, the originally lively scene suddenly fell into a moment of silence. It was unknown who suddenly let out a laugh, and the audience in the stands immediately burst into successive roars of laughter, with jeering sounds rising one after another.

"The Shrek Team's attire is unique, just as outstanding as their strength..." The emcee had cold sweat on his forehead, trying his best to help smooth things over for the Shrek Team below the stage.

However, the emcee's words could not affect the laughter of the audience below the stage at all.

"Damn it, I can barely hold it in anymore," Dai Mubai said, clenching his fists as he walked forward.

"Boss Dai, endure a little longer. Once we reach the arena, we'll use our strength to make them shut up," Tang San said in a low voice.

Only then did Dai Mubai take a deep breath, suppressing the fire in his heart, and continue walking forward.

On the VIP platform, the expression on the face of Emperor Xue Ye had already turned gloomy, and anger flickered in his eyes.

Beside him, the Platinum Bishop Salas even spoke up mockingly: "What a maverick display, hahahaha."

Hearing this, Emperor Xue Ye looked at the Shrek members below the stage, his anger flaring up even more, and he cast a gaze filled with fury toward Xue Xing, Meng Shenji, and the others behind him.

Xue Xing hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this Shrek Team was accepted by the three Education Committee Members including Meng Shenji together. Although I knew of this matter, I did not participate in it at all; it was all decided through the joint discussion of the three Education Committee Members including Meng Shenji."

Xue Xing immediately distanced himself completely, leaving only Meng Shenji to explain with an unsightly expression: "Your Majesty, the team uniforms I provided them were not like this. I think there must be some misunderstanding."

"What kind of misunderstanding could there be? Education Committee Member Meng Shenji, as the person directly responsible for the academy, you couldn't even handle a small matter like team uniforms, and you actually let the Empire lose face in front of so many people."

Meng Shenji clenched his fists tightly, his expression exceptionally embarrassed; although he did not know what was going on, he had guessed something.

Seeing this, Emperor Xue Ye glanced at Meng Shenji and said indifferently: "Education Committee Member Meng Shenji, I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer as soon as possible. If you can't, then just have this Shrek Team withdraw immediately."

"Your Majesty, this matter was indeed handled poorly by your subordinate, but please rest assured, the strength of this Shrek Team will definitely make your eyes light up."

"It had better be so," Emperor Xue Ye said in a cold voice, devoid of any emotion.

Meng Shenji also stood up in annoyance and walked toward the spectator stand.

"Dean, something must have happened with the school uniforms," Qin Ming said, his gaze fixed on the VIP seating area.

These school uniforms were much as Shi Quan had expected; the uniforms originally provided by the academy were the same as the ones they were wearing, but Flender felt the Shrek logo was too small, so he had privately changed the uniforms into their current appearance.

When Flender changed the uniforms, Qin Ming had already warned him that the uniforms represented the academy after all, and changing them privately might lead to blame from the Education Committee.

Flender was completely indifferent to this; in his view, as long as the competition began, the Shrek Team would be able to conquer everyone with their strength, and small matters like clothing were not a problem at all.

"It's fine, I'll handle it," Flender said with his head held high and chest puffed out; since he dared to change them, he was already prepared to deal with the consequences.