What greeted him, however, were the angry gazes of everyone from .
Realizing what was going on, immediately coughed lightly and said, "Registration is already complete. Pull yourselves together—you're a team aiming for the championship."
But just as his words fell, a slightly mocking voice sounded not far away.
"The championship? That's hilarious. You think you're worthy?"
Hearing this, everyone from Shrek turned angrily toward the source of the voice. They saw a group of Spirit Masters dressed in moon-white uniforms, with the words "Canghui" embroidered on their shoulders.
They were from one of the advanced Spirit Master academies, . Due to previous conflicts with Shrek, they were deliberately provoking them now.
"What did you say?"
Immediately, a gorilla-like figure from Shrek's team rushed out and began arguing with them.
The commotion between Shrek and Canghui Academy quickly attracted the attention of other academies in the viewing area. Many people revealed expressions of anticipation, eager to see the two sides fight.
Although Spirit Masters' spirit skills were not exactly secret, they were not something casually exposed either.
Especially in this medieval-like world where information spread slowly, most academies only had a vague understanding of their opponents.
Now that a conflict might break out, it was naturally a good thing for them—they could gather some intelligence in advance and avoid suffering losses in future matches.
Even Shui Wuhen glanced over slightly, looking toward Shrek and Canghui Academy. However, what he was curious about was the level of students from the other academies.
Although he had gained a general understanding of their strength in recent days, seeing was believing, and information was not always accurate.
Shui Wuhen had not forgotten what was often written in web novels from his previous life—those who revealed themselves early were usually not the true geniuses. More powerful ones often appeared later, like the angelic girl he had once encountered.
Unfortunately, the two sides ultimately did not fight. Seeing this, Shui Wuhen lost interest and closed his eyes to meditate.
After an unknown amount of time, the opening ceremony finally began!
On the platform above the competition area, the host held an amplification soul tool and continuously introduced the participating teams to the audience.
"Next to enter is the Tianshui Team from . Tianshui Academy is famous for only recruiting beautiful women, but this year, there is actually a man on their team. Could it be that Tianshui Academy has finally relaxed its admission requirements?"
Upon hearing this, most of the audience looked toward Tianshui Academy in unison. When they saw the stunning beauties, they erupted into the loudest cheers ever heard.
Hearing this, many people from other academies curled their lips, and some even muttered, "So what if they're popular? In the end, it all comes down to strength."
However, to others, this sounded like sour grapes.
Of course, quite a few people stared viciously at Shui Wuhen standing in front of the Tianshui girls, their jealous gazes seeming ready to devour him.
But Shui Wuhen paid no attention. At this moment, his gaze had already shifted to the VIP seats.
There weren't too many people in the VIP section, but not too few either. From their clothing and the aura they exuded, it was clear they were either wealthy or powerful.
Among them, the most eye-catching were the three people seated at the very front.
At this moment, Shui Yue'er beside him noticed his gaze and explained softly, "Wuhen, the people in the front row of the VIP seats are no ordinary figures. From left to right, they are Platinum Bishop , His Majesty , and ."
"So it's them."
Hearing this, Shui Wuhen understood. He was naturally familiar with these names.
Ning Fengzhi was the sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, one of the top three sects, and was known as the number one support Spirit Master on the continent.
As for the Platinum Bishop, it was an extremely high position within the , second only to the Pope and the elders, and they were all close to the level of Title Douluo.
As for Xue Ye, there was no need to elaborate—he was the emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, one of the two great empires of the Douluo Continent.
The fact that all of them attended the opening ceremony showed just how much importance the continent placed on the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament.
After about half an hour, all the academy teams had entered. Shui Wuhen counted—there were twenty-eight teams in total.
According to the rules, the Heaven Dou division only had five advancement spots, meaning the remaining twenty-three teams would be eliminated.
Next came the classic opening speeches. However, to Shui Wuhen's surprise, the speeches from these three were all very brief, ending in just a few minutes.
In his previous life, speeches from leaders like this would never end in under half an hour.
After the speeches, the host smiled and said, "Thank you to His Majesty Emperor Xue Ye, Bishop Salas, and Sect Master Ning for their remarks. Next, Bishop Salas will conduct the draw for the first round of the preliminary matches."
As his voice fell, Platinum Bishop Salas, guided by palace attendants, slowly walked to the host's side, placed his hand into the box, and began drawing lots.
"First round of preliminaries: Blazing Radiance Academy versus Oakland Academy!"
"First round of preliminaries: versus Ska Academy!"
...
"First round of preliminaries: Tianshui Academy versus Nuosi Academy!"
Hearing that their opponent was Nuosi Academy, Shui Yue'er couldn't help but smile. Among all the advanced Spirit Master academies, this academy ranked on the weaker side and was no match for Tianshui Academy.
...
"First round of preliminaries: Heaven Dou Imperial Academy versus Shrek Academy."
Upon hearing this matchup, all the academies looked at Shrek Academy in surprise. This was because the opening ceremony only featured one match to boost the atmosphere, and it would be between the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy and their opponent.
However, many audience members were dissatisfied. They believed this was favoritism toward Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, deliberately assigning them an obscure opponent.
In response, Platinum Bishop Salas said indifferently, "Are you questioning the ?"
With that single sentence, the entire venue fell silent.
The words "Spirit Hall" held an almost sacred status across the continent.
After all, the vast majority of people on the Douluo Continent had their martial souls awakened by Spirit Hall officials.
Only a very small portion were awakened by their own families or factions, and these people made up less than one percent of the total population.
Shui Wuhen held a favorable impression of Spirit Hall, because both his and his sister Shui Bing'er's martial souls had been awakened by them.
It was precisely because they awakened excellent martial souls that the Shui family—and his marquis father—completely changed their attitude toward them.
Otherwise, even if the siblings had died outside, the Shui family wouldn't have spared them a glance. After all, there were far too many illegitimate children among nobles like them.