The following evening, the members of the Seven Treasure Team arrived as scheduled.
Inside the waiting room, Sun Buyu had bought a basket of fruit for everyone.
"I didn't buy much. Have a little to fill your stomachs first."
A Spirit Battle was an intense physical contest. Eating too much beforehand would inevitably affect their performance.
Besides, they knew that challenge matches usually started earlier than normal. If they ate too much, they wouldn't have enough time to digest it.
Wu Qi glanced at the fruit basket and suddenly picked up a yellow fruit.
"Teacher Sun, where did you buy this?"
Sun Buyu hesitated.
"At the market. Is there a problem?"
After hearing that, everyone looked carefully at the fruit in Wu Qi's hand, and the corners of their mouths twitched.
This yellow fruit was unique to the Douluo Continent and looked almost identical to another fruit called the Lala Fruit.
The latter, however, was practically worthless.
Some dishonest vendors mixed the two together, and anyone who wasn't paying close attention would have a hard time telling them apart.
Realizing something was wrong, Sun Buyu cursed angrily.
"That old man really has no integrity."
The rest of the fruit was fine. Only this single Lala Fruit had been mixed in.
Of course, if someone ate it, they'd make a complete fool of themselves once they stepped into the arena.
Wu Qi said,
"The vendor is old, so maybe it was an honest mistake. But this is still a warning for us. From now until the tournament is over, we shouldn't eat outside anymore."
"Rongrong, tell Uncle Ning to arrange a personal chef for the team."
"If someone gets food poisoning during the tournament, it'll definitely affect their performance. We also can't rule out the possibility of someone deliberately poisoning our food."
Normally, academies assigned a dedicated chef to their tournament teams precisely to avoid problems with outside food.
Since everyone had recently been eating out frequently, Wu Qi felt it was necessary to remind them.
Returning to the main topic.
As everyone ate fruit, they listened to Wu Qi explain the battle plan.
There wasn't really much strategy involved, only the assignment of opponents.
"I'll take Yu Tianheng," Changkong said with a grin. "I'm going to show him exactly how hard reality hits."
Huo Wushuang shook his head.
"Leave him to me. We both have dragon Spirits. I want to see which one is stronger."
"No way." Changkong refused immediately.
"I've been wanting to teach him a lesson for a long time. Back at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, he never missed a chance to look down on me."
Watching everyone argue over opponents, Wu Qi could only sigh helplessly.
"Enough. Stop fighting over him."
"I'll handle Yu Tianheng myself."
"Wushuang, you take Dai Mubai."
"Changkong, go after that rabbit."
"And don't forget that Tang San has hidden weapons. When the time comes."
Compared to the Seven Treasure Team's careful preparations, the Shrek Seven Devils appeared far more relaxed.
They had just finished dinner before arriving at the Grand Spirit Arena.
Ma Hongjun rubbed his bulging stomach and let out a loud burp.
"Third Brother, should I switch positions with Xiao Wu?"
"Wu Qi and Feng Xiaotian are both agility-type Spirit Masters. If I'm the only one guarding the back line, I don't think I can hold them off."
Tang San had considered the same issue and agreed to the switch.
At the very least, Xiao Wu's Instant Teleportation Spirit Skill allowed her to barely keep up with Wu Qi's and Feng Xiaotian's speed. If necessary, she could protect Oscar.
In Tang San's plan, Oscar was a crucial piece and couldn't be eliminated easily.
As soon as the Hour of Xu began, the Grand Spirit Arena's announcement echoed throughout the venue.
"Would the Seven Treasure Team and the Shrek Team please proceed to Central Arena Number One for your Spirit Battle."
The moment the announcement ended, Wu Qi and his teammates, already fully prepared, immediately headed toward the competitors' passage.
On the Shrek side, however, everyone looked surprised.
"What? Aren't team Spirit Battles usually held after midnight? Why is today's match starting so early?"
Tang San frowned.
"It's fine. Whether it's earlier or later doesn't matter."
"Everyone, stay focused and prepare for the match."
They had already finalized their tactics the previous day, so they weren't caught off guard.
The pressure of today's match was enormous. No one had much of an appetite before the battle, so it wouldn't affect their performance.
Only Ma Hongjun couldn't control himself and had eaten like he hadn't seen food in days.
Tang San didn't mind.
If Ma Hongjun ended up vomiting during the fight, it might disgust the opponents enough to become an unexpected advantage.
The Seven Treasure Team and the Shrek Team emerged from opposite sides of the passage and stepped onto the arena.
As the two teams' final showdown before the Spirit Master Tournament, the match had attracted tremendous attention.
More importantly, many spectators hoped to use this opportunity to gauge the true strength of both teams.
As a result, despite the Grand Spirit Arena doing very little promotion beforehand, every ticket for the match had sold out.
On the arena, Wu Qi smiled faintly.
"Tang San, I didn't expect we'd meet again so soon."
Tang San sneered.
"Wu Qi, stop pretending to be friendly."
"Back then, I trusted you far too easily, and because of that, everyone nearly lost their lives in the Sunset Forest."
"Today, I'll settle that score and wash away my previous humiliation."
Seeing Tang San acting as if he were completely justified, Changkong couldn't help but mock him.
"Tang San, cut the act. We never considered you our friends. Everything was just wishful thinking on your part."
"And another thing, you tried to trick Senior Dugu, only to end up getting taught a lesson yourself. What does that have to do with us?"
"So sharp-tongued." Yu Tianheng had already experienced Changkong's verbal skills firsthand.
"Enough talking. Let's settle this with our fists."
Changkong laughed coldly.
If Wu Qi hadn't chosen to fight Yu Tianheng personally, he would have liked to find out whether Yu Tianheng's strength was as solid as his confidence or if he was just all talk.
Seeing that both sides were fully fired up, the referee immediately announced the start of the match.
Tang San quickly issued his orders.
"Everyone, follow the formation we practiced before the—"
Before he could finish speaking, the members of the Seven Treasure Team made no attempt to form a battle formation. They charged straight at their opponents.
This approach had never crossed the Shrek Seven Devils' minds, nor had they prepared for it.
Caught completely off guard, they had no choice but to engage immediately, leaving them with no formation whatsoever.
Below the arena, Grandmaster stroked his chin with a faint smile.
"This works out well. At least our tactical system won't be exposed."
Flender, however, looked worried.
"Xiaogang, won't this kind of chaotic melee put the children at a disadvantage?"
On paper, the individual strength of the Shrek Seven Devils was clearly inferior to that of the Seven Treasure Team.
In a free-for-all, where no one could properly support one another, the situation favored the Seven Treasure Team.
Grandmaster remained completely confident.
Since he had already decided to let Tang San use his hidden weapons, he saw no way they could lose.
Yu Tianheng snorted.
"Hmph. Since you've come looking for me yourself, don't blame me for showing no mercy."
"First Spirit Skill—Thunder Dragon Claw!"
As he activated his Spirit Skill, his arm completed its Dragon Transformation.
Facing Wu Qi, he chose to attack with everything he had.
He would defeat the opponent Yu Tianxin couldn't overcome and he would do it decisively, proving his strength to everyone in the family.
Wu Qi, on the other hand, already understood how much stronger Dragon Transformation made Yu Tianheng.
As a result, he handled the assault with remarkable ease.
While effortlessly defending against Yu Tianheng's all-out attacks, he also kept a close eye on the rest of the battlefield.
His ability to divide his attention between two tasks had been pushed to its absolute limit.
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