Chapter 238: The Battle of the Advancement Tournament
The fact that people who should have belonged to Blazing Academy had suddenly appeared on Godwind Academy's team did not surprise anyone.
The 10 teams from the 4 kingdoms and 1 duchy did not know about the changes in Godwind Academy's lineup, since the preliminary rounds were not held in the Heaven Dou Empire. As for the teams that qualified from the Heaven Dou Empire preliminaries, Yu Tianlin and his group naturally already knew. Blue Tyrant Academy also had Ning Rongrong and Yu Tianxin as sources of information, so they had learned some details about the transfers and team reorganization as well.
At this moment, the first match of the advancement tournament had already begun.
What surprised everyone was that the first person sent out by Godwind Academy was actually Huo Wu. It was obvious she wanted to start strong, rack up a high score, and seize the first win of the tournament in dominant fashion.
With Yu Tianlin's sharp senses, he could naturally detect Huo Wu's changes. Over the past month, she had broken through once, and her Spirit Power had risen by 1 level to level 44.
It should be known that Feng Xiaotian, Godwind Academy's captain, possessed innate full Spirit Power and was about 5 years older than Huo Wu. Yet their Spirit Power levels were now the same, which was enough to show just how outstanding Huo Wu's talent was.
The advancement tournament was a one on one format, so there was no need to consider team cooperation. The only thing that mattered was the individual strength of the Spirit Masters.
Huo Wu was already very strong, and as a control type Spirit Master, she had a natural advantage in one on one combat. She easily defeated Fabia Academy's members one after another. Only after taking down 5 members in a row did she finally collapse, pale faced, due to exhaustion of her Spirit Power.
1 against 5 was already an excellent record.
In Yu Tianlin's view, if Huo Wu faced Botany Academy instead, she would have an overwhelming attribute advantage. As long as she managed her own Spirit Power consumption carefully, defeating 7 in a row would not be impossible.
On the first day of the advancement tournament, in the very first match, Huo Wu achieved a brilliant record of defeating 5 opponents in a row, immediately making herself stand out among all the participating teams.
After that, Godwind Academy sent out one of its original members from before the reorganization, and he had also reached the Spirit Master level. He used a few methods to defeat Fabia Academy's last 2 members and successfully secured the first round victory for Godwind Academy.
Although Fabia Academy was one of the weakest teams in the tournament, they had still fought their way through the previous qualifiers. Yet Godwind Academy only sent 2 people and swept them clean. That alone showed how powerful the alliance between the 2 academies had become.
Because of this, after winning the first match, Huo Wu looked toward Yu Tianlin and his group with a provocative expression. She looked extremely confident, without the slightest trace of fear.
Yu Tianlin only found it amusing.
Even though it was a union of 2 academies, Skywater had defeated Godwind in the preliminaries, and Thunder Academy had defeated Blazing Academy. That clearly showed the strength gap. He really did not know where Huo Wu's strange confidence came from.
Perhaps the wind was feeding the fire.
Yu Tianlin's thoughts stirred, and he roughly understood Huo Wu's reasoning.
Perhaps Huo Wu believed that her fire attribute worked far better with the wind attribute, while lightning and water had some degree of restraint against each other, making the Godwind and Blazing combination more efficient than Thunder and Skywater. That was probably the source of her confidence.
After thinking for a moment, Yu Tianlin continued watching the advancement tournament.
The next noteworthy match was Blue Tyrant Academy versus Cryptid Academy.
Yu Tianlin's expression turned a little strange when this match came up, because he knew people on both sides.
Knowing Blue Tyrant Academy was one thing. The real issue was that Meng Yiran, whom he had met before, was on Cryptid Academy's team.
When Yu Tianlin had gone to the Star Dou Great Forest with the Shrek Seven Devils, they had happened to run into the Dragon Serpent couple and Meng Yiran. Back then, Zhao Wuji had stopped Dragon Duke, while Yu Tianlin had dealt with Snake Granny. In the end, the Shrek Seven Devils had taken the chance to capture Meng Yiran alive. There was a grudge between them, so Blue Tyrant Academy and Cryptid Academy meeting this time could truly be called enemies meeting on a narrow road.
As expected, both academies were very cautious in this advancement tournament. Each side sent out its vice captain first, clearly hoping to secure the opening victory and build momentum.
Cryptid Academy's vice captain was Meng Yiran, while Blue Tyrant Academy's vice captain was Dai Mubai.
Dai Mubai had suffered mental trauma from Shi Nian, but after more than a month of recuperation, he had fully recovered. This battle was his chance to announce his return.
Meng Yiran's match against Dai Mubai was practically a tragedy.
During their previous clash in the Star Dou Great Forest, she had been level 30 while Dai Mubai was level 37, just 1 Spirit Ring behind, and she had been completely crushed.
Now she was level 37, but Dai Mubai had reached level 42, once again only 1 Spirit Ring ahead.
So after only a brief struggle, Meng Yiran was still defeated by Dai Mubai.
Within Cryptid Academy, even Meng Yiran, the vice captain, was only level 37. This meant that only their captain had reached the Spirit Master level, while the rest were all Spirit Elders.
Dai Mubai defeated 2 people in a row, including the opposing captain, before he had to leave the field due to exhaustion of his Spirit Power.
After that, the rest was simple.
Yu Tianxin did not even need to step onto the stage for Blue Tyrant Academy. He only had to send out Tai Long and Huang Yuan to clean up Cryptid Academy.
Blue Tyrant Academy's 3 man lineup defeating 7 opponents was not as eye-catching as Godwind Academy's 2 man sweep, but it was still an excellent result.
After watching these 2 matches, the teams from the kingdoms and duchies that had advanced could not help but grow serious. They finally understood that the teams that qualified from the empire truly deserved their reputations. Their strength was indeed formidable.
Because of this, they paid even more attention to Thunder Academy, which had yet to appear.
After all, Thunder Academy had qualified as the number 1 team in the Heaven Dou Empire, so its strength should be even greater. They were already prepared to carefully observe Thunder Academy's match and gather as much information as possible.
The 3rd, 4th, and 5th matches that followed were extremely close, because neither side could completely suppress the other.
It was rather dull to watch. One side would win a match, then lose the next, and the pace dragged on endlessly. Yu Tianlin was almost falling asleep.
By the time those matches finally ended, it was already close to evening.
At last, it was time for the 6th and final match of the day, Thunder Academy versus Botany Academy.
"Finally, it is our turn. They really know how to drag things out." Yu Tianlin yawned, then looked at Shui Bing'er, who had been sitting beside him, and encouraged her, "Bing'er, now it is your time to shine. Good luck."
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