Shrek Academy's opponents fielded four soul ancestors and three soul elders—a decent lineup among the 130 teams but still worlds apart from Shrek.
Faced with Shrek's reputation and the thundering cheers, whatever courage they had was shattered.
Under such overwhelming pressure, even standing their ground was admirable.
After all, all the contestants were under twenty, rarely having experienced such grand scenes.
Even Shrek's reserve team—Ma Xiaotao and others—were stunned by the fervor.
Shrek Academy remained as dominant as ever.
With two soul emperors and five soul kings, their glowing soul rings lit up the entire arena like a blade stabbing into the hearts of other teams, shattering their confidence.
The opening match ended amid raucous cheers, and the tense elimination rounds began.
Soon, it was St. Freya Academy's turn for their first match, with Zhang Lexuan and Keqing leading five backups onto the stage.
Most of the audience had never heard of St. Freya Academy, nor had their opponents.
So both the crowd and the opponents looked at St. Freya with thinly veiled contempt.
However, Shrek's Ma Xiaotao, Han Ruoruo, as well as Xu Jiujiu and Weina, were paying close attention to this unknown academy.
Zhang Lexuan and Keqing exchanged a knowing look and nodded in tacit understanding.
At the referee's crisp "Begin!" a bright silver moon slowly rose in Zhang Lexuan's hand.
Its soft glow instantly drew all eyes and made Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's coach, Bai Xu, freeze in shock.
"Huh? Silver Moon Martial Soul?"
Bai Xu, martial soul Thousand Machine Umbrella, Titled Douluo "Thousand Machine," level 93, and a rank-nine soul engineer, was head of Illustrious Virtue Hall's Tactics Department and the team's coach.
As an Illustrious Virtue Hall elder and direct disciple of Silver Moon Douluo Kong Deming, he was intimately familiar with the Silver Moon Martial Soul.
The moment Zhang Lexuan released her martial soul, he recognized it—it was identical to his teacher Kong Deming's, one of the Sun Moon Empire's three royal martial souls.
If two people both possessed a top-level martial soul, there must be some blood connection—unless, in rare cases, it was a new mutation. But the Silver Moon Martial Soul was not such a case.
Thinking of this, Bai Xu's gaze grew complicated; he knew he had to report this to his teacher, Silver Moon Douluo Kong Deming.
Silver moonlight fell, then a sudden thunderclap boomed—a brilliant purple lightning bolt struck. Unnoticed, Keqing held a grand, ancient longsword.
Dragon in the Box, an eighth-level melee soul tool, paralyzed with each attack and boosted thunder attribute power—a perfect match for a thunder soul master.
Lu Jingming had arranged for Herta to custom-make it for Keqing since her martial soul was a thunder element—they complemented each other perfectly.
Normally, eighth-level soul tools required a Soul Douluo to wield, but Dragon in the Box was tailored for Keqing, so even at rank 71, she could use it freely.
Amid lightning and moonlight, seven soul rings glowed on Keqing—two yellow, two purple, and three black. Powerful soul power surged out from her like a tidal wave, stunning the audience.
At the same time, Zhang Lexuan, standing beside her, also lit up with seven soul rings of the same configuration. Bathed in lightning and moonlight, the two girls seemed like descended goddesses.
For a moment, the whole arena fell silent—everyone stared, stunned, at the two girls, their eyes full of shock and awe, as if time had stopped.
By comparison, St. Freya's other five students, with their Soul Ancestor cultivation, seemed dim and unnoticed under the brilliance of these two Soul Sages.
But the five didn't mind—they hadn't come for fame, but to complete their mission, chasing hope, with clear goals unaffected by outside attention.
In Shrek's rest area, Yan Shaozhe watched Keqing and Zhang Lexuan with a headache.
From the moment they emerged, he'd sensed something, and Dragon God Douluo Mu En's judgment confirmed his suspicions.
When he heard from Ma Xiaotao that Keqing and Zhang Lexuan were also competing, a sense of foreboding had haunted him—and now, it came true, making him even more uneasy.
He glanced back at the equally stunned Han Ruoruo, Wu Ming, and others, and sighed helplessly.
One Soul Sage might be avoided since the tournament was a seven-person team event, which somewhat limited individual strength.
But now, with two Soul Sages, it was almost impossible—whether in single elimination, 2v2, 3v3, or team battles, their combination was nearly invincible.
Yan Shaozhe could already foresee the outcome: Shrek's unbeaten legend, passed down for millennia, would likely be broken this year.
Thinking this, his eyes filled with frustration and regret, wondering if things would have been different if he'd made other choices in the past.
"Sister Ruoruo!" Shrek's Hua Yao, Gu Fan, and even Wu Ming looked at Han Ruoruo, their eyes anxious and lost.
Han Ruoruo's face was grim, but she forced herself to comfort them: "It's okay. We'll do our best. Besides, their teammates are weaker—we might not lose."
PS; This book now labeled as R18. You know what that means.