Douluo; Zhongli Adventures in Mortal World with Paimon

The three of them were stunned, their eyes twitching slightly.

Someone as formidable as Her Holiness the Pope actually speaking about luck, it was truly difficult to comprehend.

After all, in their eyes, Her Holiness was akin to a god.

Even though rumors outside claimed that the Martial God was the strongest in the world, they still firmly believed that Bibi Dong's strength was not much weaker than Zhongli's.

In just a moment, the three left the Pope's palace.

On the way back to their residence—

"Nana, once we finish absorbing our soul bones, combined with your and Xie Yue's Martial Soul Fusion Skill, we are not entirely without a chance at the championship."

"As long as we hold off Xiao Fei for a bit and take down the others first, then..."

Yan's words made Hu Liena and Xie Yue stop in their tracks. The two exchanged glances before Hu Liena finally spoke: "Let's follow the teacher's instructions. We must eliminate the other teams first if we want to have a chance."

Bibi Dong had made it clear, they had no chance of winning.

But they were the Golden Generation of Spirit Hall. How could they possibly accept such a verdict?

The more others looked down on them, the more they wanted to prove themselves, defeat their opponents, and make others look at them in a new light.

Of course, having confidence was a good thing, but they also needed to be fully prepared.

"We must not disappoint Her Holiness the Pope. She only said that to make sure we don't feel pressured," Xie Yue said expressionlessly. Although he hadn't seen Bibi Dong many times, he felt this was what she truly meant.

Otherwise, how could soul bones be bestowed so easily?

Yan scratched his head. He understood Hu Liena and Xie Yue's reasoning, but he still felt uncomfortable.

Before the Body Sect appeared, whether it was the elders or the Pope, they all regarded them as once-in-a-century geniuses, the hope of Spirit Hall.

But who could have imagined that in such a short time—

That hope would be completely shattered.

"Let's go, absorb the soul bones, and train hard."

"Yeah."

The location of the promotion tournament was in a mountain range outside Heaven Dou City.

Hidden here was one of the strongest forces of the royal family, the Royal Knights.

The Royal Knights consisted of 50,000 men, and equipping just one soldier required about 10,000 gold spirit coins.

Even though they weren't soul masters, their combat strength was considerable, making them the elite of the Heaven Dou Empire.

The reason for holding the promotion tournament here was to allow the Royal Knights to witness soul master battles, thus training their courage.

If they ever had to face soul masters in battle, the Royal Knights would be able to charge forward without fear.

However, this reasoning seemed somewhat foolish.

After witnessing battles between genius soul masters, the Royal Knights being human would naturally feel fear too!

Of course, this approach had both advantages and disadvantages. It truly could train the knights' courage.

As for the downsides, the royal family had considered them but ultimately chose to ignore them.

Upon witnessing the strength of Soul Kings, many teams immediately gave up on trying to compete for first or second place.

As a result, the matches became incredibly dull and uninteresting.

After all, with only two qualifying spots available, fighting for them was futile.

If not for the need to showcase their strength before Emperor Xue Ye and the others, many would have outright surrendered.

As time passed, the tournament quickly reached its halfway point, and the two teams possessing Soul Kings finally faced off.

"Who do you think will win?"

"Based on overall strength, Shrek is clearly weaker than the Heaven Dou Royal Team Two."

The Heaven Dou Royal Team Two had one Soul King, seven or eight Soul Ancestor, and a group of Soul Masters—a truly terrifying lineup.

Such a team had rarely been seen in past tournaments.

On the other hand, Shrek Academy had only Tang San as a Soul King and just one officially known Soul Ancestor, Dai Mubai.

Ma Hongjun had already broken through to the Soul Elder level, but they had kept it a secret.

At this moment, the members of the Shrek team looked solemn, as they only had seven members, two of whom were support-type soul masters.

In a one-on-one arena battle format, this was a significant disadvantage.

"For the first match, Huang Yuan will go up. His goal isn't to win, but to drain the opponent's soul power."

"The second match will be Jing Ling, with the same goal."

"Dai Mubai will go third, Ma Hongjun fourth, and Tang San fifth."

As for Oscar and Jiang Zhu, they had no combat ability. If Tang San also lost, they would have no choice but to surrender and end the match.

"Do you have confidence?"

To be honest, when Liu Erlong asked this, the team didn't feel particularly confident.

But when they thought about Tang San being their final contender, they gained a little hope.

"Yes!"

Tang San's mindset remained unchanged.

At this point, he no longer cared about competing with his peers.

His goal was that lofty Pope, that Martial God who stood at the pinnacle of the world.

With such a goal, his mentality had undergone a complete transformation.

"Teacher Erlong, rest assured, we will win."

Tang San spoke calmly, as if he didn't regard the Heaven Dou Royal Team Two as a threat at all.

And truth be told, he really didn't.

After all, to him, someone like Dugu Yan was nothing more than a defeated opponent from the past.

On the Heaven Dou Royal Team Two's side, the atmosphere was much more relaxed.

Even if they only relied on attrition, they could exhaust Tang San to defeat!

A team full of Soul Elders, along with a Soul King, there was no logical way they could lose, even if Dugu Yan's soul rings weren't as terrifying as Tang San's.

"I'll go up first. Make sure Tang San sees all of you!"

Yu Tianheng spoke with great confidence.

After absorbing a soul bone, his soul power level had increased again, making him even stronger than before.

As long as he wasn't facing a Soul King, he had nothing to fear.

"Boss, go for it!"

"I will!"

In just a short while, it was time for both teams to enter the arena.

On the Royal Battle Team Two's side, Yu Tianheng was the first to enter. Their strategy was simple: if Tang San came out first, they would use their many Soul Elders to exhaust him before he could even face Dugu Yan.

If Tang San came out last, then by sending Yu Tianheng first, they could eliminate some weaker opponents and deplete Tang San's energy before letting Dugu Yan finish him off.

After all, Tang San was a Soul King and deserved to be taken seriously.

When Yu Tianheng saw Huang Yuan enter, he nodded slightly, this confirmed that their strategy was working.

As long as he went first, their tactics would be successfully executed.

This was the advantage of being strong, the weaker side was forced into a reactive position.

"Match, begin!"

With the referee's announcement, both Huang Yuan and Yu Tianheng simultaneously activated their martial souls.

Huang Yuan, at only thirty-fifth rank, was merely a Soul Elder. Facing Yu Tianheng, who was at the forty-seventh rank, he felt an overwhelming pressure just from his opponent's aura.

"This won't do. For the sake of the academy, I must not back down!"

Steeling himself, Huang Yuan gritted his teeth and charged forward, seemingly making up his mind.

His martial soul was similar to Su Yuntao's, a lone wolf, which was quite decent among commoners.

Seeing Huang Yuan rush forward, Yu Tianheng was momentarily surprised.

He hadn't expected that this "weakling" would dare to attack first!