Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 63 Semifinals, Battle Against Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy

Let's shift our focus back to Xingluo City.

Today's match is the semi-finals, which can also be called the finals, because after this match is over, the highly anticipated finals will begin.

And now, the teams that have survived the trials of the past month or so, from the initial more than 100 participating teams, are all the pride of their respective countries.

Shrek Academy, Royal Soul Masters of the Sun Moon Empire, Imperial Academy of the Heavenly Soul Empire, and National Academy of the Star Luo Empire.

Each team's entry was met with thunderous cheers, and now the pre-match draw was about to take place.

To ensure fairness between the semifinals and the finals, the draw for the semifinals was held on the day of the competition.

The so-called fairness is only relative fairness.

As the sunlight shone on Xingluo Square, a luxurious red carpet stretched from the imperial city gate all the way to the front of the competition stage.

Ten minutes before the draw began, the emperor of the Star Luo Empire, surrounded by palace guards, walked towards the competition stage.

The soldiers responsible for maintaining order, as well as the civilians of the Star Luo Empire, were all shouting "Long live the Emperor!"

The members of the other four teams also stood up and paid their respects to the emperor, showing their respect for the emperor of the Star Luo Empire.

Aside from the guards used as part of the ceremonial procession, the emperor of the Star Luo Empire was surrounded by four elderly men.

These four elders were all titled Douluo level cultivators, and were powerful figures in the Star Luo Empire's Hall of Worship.

This is the Star Luo Empire demonstrating its authority and strength to all the forces participating in this competition, especially to the Sun Moon Empire, which has always been eager to make moves.

Then, the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire stepped onto the competition stage and gave a brief pre-match speech.

An elderly titled Douluo addressed the rest area of ​​the four teams, saying, "Please invite the captains of the four teams to come up on stage to draw lots."

As the old man spoke, an astonishing yet somewhat strange pressure instantly emanated, causing the cheering civilians to fall silent involuntarily.

Huo Yuhao looked at the old man on the stage through his Eye of Truth and thought to himself, "This is the Heavenly Fiend Douluo. His martial soul is strange, but it seems that its composition is indeed somewhat peculiar."

Huang Jinxu, the Heavenly Fiend Douluo, possesses the Heavenly Fiend Lone Star martial soul, which is said to bring misfortune to his relatives and friends, destined to be lonely for life. In order to ensure the safety of the team members of each participating force, he is also the chief referee of this semi-final and final.

Rumor has it that on the day his martial spirit awakened, his mother died from postpartum hemorrhage, and when he was eight years old, his father also died tragically. Countless other misfortunes followed, ultimately causing him to lose all his relatives and friends.

His martial soul should be a mutation of some kind of star-type martial soul. It cannot be said to be a benign mutation, because the Heavenly Fiend Douluo Huang Jinxu affects the people around him because of his martial soul. He usually lives a secluded life, and the price he has paid is not small.

As for calling it a malignant mutation, that's even less likely. After all, in this world, strength reigns supreme. With the cultivation of a level 91 Title Douluo, he can use star power to fight against a level 95 Super Douluo, which shows the strength of the Heavenly Fiend Lone Star Martial Soul.

Based on Huo Yuhao's observations using his True Eye, it seems that due to the influence of his Martial Soul, the magnetic field of this Heavenly Fiend Douluo is completely different from that of a normal person, and is also more aggressive.

Moreover, due to the characteristics of martial souls, they are mysteriously connected with the stars in the sky, which makes the human magnetic field on this Heavenly Fiend Douluo even more strange. Huo Yuhao, who has not studied this much, can only see these things.

However, in this world, the existence of the Heavenly Fiend Lone Star Martial Soul is quite unique.

It even seems that he has already touched upon some higher level, but due to the lack of exploration by predecessors, this Heavenly Fiend Douluo Huang Jinxu will probably never have the opportunity to reach the level of Super Douluo in his lifetime.

However, the other party now seems to be able to consciously suppress the mutation brought about by his martial soul, which may be the reason why he was able to join the Star Luo Empire's Hall of Worship after killing all his relatives and friends in his early years.

After all, the rumors about the other party in the past could affect not only relatives, but also many friends who died inexplicably.

Therefore, compared to others who had already witnessed most of the methods, Huo Yuhao's True Eye was now primarily focused on this Heavenly Fiend Douluo and another person.

That was Xu Jiujiu, the captain of the Xingluo National Academy team.

The Star Crown Martial Soul, like that of Huang Jinxu, the Heavenly Fiend Douluo, also relies on the power of starlight, but it is more stable. Huo Yuhao was able to gain a lot of new inspiration and enlightenment from Xu Jiujiu through the Eye of Truth.

However, at this moment, the captains representing the four teams had already taken their places on the stage.

They are Gongyang Mo from Shrek Academy, Ma Rulong from Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, Jiang Peng from Di'ao Academy, and Xu Jiujiu from Star Luo National Academy.

Under the watchful eyes of four Title Douluos, the four walked up to the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire.

Emperor Xingluo smiled slightly: "It is a pleasure to see so many outstanding young people like you. I hope you can uphold the principle of friendship first and competition second to complete this competition."

"I will throw out four balls with their positions marked on them later, and you will all try to grab them at the same time."

The four of them said they were ready. Then, almost no one noticed how the Star Luo Emperor made his move. Four golden lights rose into the sky at the same time.

Unlike the other three who each displayed their skills in the competition, Xu Jiujiu simply waited for the last ball to fall before leisurely reaching out to catch it.

"I am number one." Xu Jiujiu glanced at the small ball in his hand, and then spoke.

"Number One," Jiang Peng from Di'ao Academy then chimed in.

In this semifinal, the draw rules stipulated that teams with the same number would compete against each other in the same region.

The remaining Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy are naturally number two.

It could be because, unlike in the original story, the weaker support-type Soul Master Gongyang Mo took to the stage to compete, or it could be for some other reason.

In short, Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, who were originally supposed to face off in the finals, have now met in the semifinals.

The Shrek Academy members below the stage all wore solemn expressions, as the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy was probably the strongest of the other three teams.

The semi-finals will follow the same rules as the previous knockout rounds, and will still be held over two days. However, this competition is somewhat different from the previous ones.

Both teams must win both matches to advance. If each team wins one match, a tiebreaker match will be played, best of three.

Moreover, to increase the difficulty, the finals were held in only one day, unlike the semi-finals which were held over two days. This put both teams to the ultimate test of their ability to fight continuously and their endurance.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing that we've encountered the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy this time," Wang Yan comforted everyone. "If we had met in the finals, the Sun Moon Empire would definitely have provided every member of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy with a baby bottle."

"In a prolonged battle, we will inevitably be at a disadvantage compared to our opponents. However, if we can eliminate them here, our biggest rival will disappear, making the upcoming finals much easier."

"Furthermore, we drew position number two, which means we have two days of rest. Everyone should seize this opportunity to maintain our strength and strive to defeat the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy in top form!"

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement, showing their strong support for what Wang Yan had said.

However, Wang Yan was secretly having a headache at this moment, because the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy had Soul Emperors, and the only Soul Emperor in his team, Ma Xiaotao, was in a very unstable state.

Whether or not to send her into battle, and what the consequences would be if she were sent into battle.

Wang Yan sighed. He was quite conflicted at the moment, but the team battle between the Xingluo National Academy team and the Di'ao Academy team had already begun on the stage.

This competition was different from the previous ones, and Wang Yan had some guesses about Xu Jiujiu's appearance.

After all, the change of power in the Star Luo Empire's royal family had a significant impact on the history of the continent.

As a scholar, he naturally knew what the inherited martial spirit of the Xu family, the current royal family of the Star Luo Empire, was.

If that's really the case, even if they manage to defeat the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, the Star Luo National Academy team in the finals will still be a big problem for the Shrek Academy team.

The two-day battle between the Star Luo Empire and the Imperial Academy quickly came to an end.

Although Jiang Peng, the captain of Di'ao Academy, was exceptionally strong, they were completely outmatched by Xu Jiujiu, who possessed a Star Crown Martial Soul, in terms of team battle strategy.

The Star Crown Martial Soul is renowned, but the Xu family of the Star Luo Empire has always kept a low profile. However, today's display has reminded everyone of the Star Crown Sect, which once dominated a region on the Douluo Continent.

With its powerful and comprehensive support capabilities, and the ability to enhance its martial soul with star power, allowing it to unleash the power of its soul skills beyond its current level, it can only be said that the Imperial Academy's defeat in this team battle was well-deserved.

The individual competition that followed was even simpler. Although the Star Luo National Academy team did not have any Soul Emperor-level experts, they had the support of the nation's strength, plus Xu Jiujiu's identity.

The Imperial Academy, originating from the Heavenly Soul Empire, which is the most hostile to Soul Masters and unwilling to use Soul Tools, was completely overwhelmed by the Star Luo National Academy team.

It's true that the Soul Emperor is very capable, but this is not a one-man battle. Jiang Peng's strength is not enough to defeat all seven opponents on his own when targeted by soul tools.

In the end, Jiang Peng was defeated after single-handedly defeating the first three members of the Xingluo National Academy team.

His teammates were no match for the Star Luo National Academy team, and the Star Luo National Academy team successfully advanced to the finals.

Xinghuang Hotel, conference room.

Wang Yan is making final tactical arrangements; tomorrow is the match between Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy.

However, unlike before, Ma Xiaotao, who had always been independent and unrestrained since the start of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament, also came to the conference room.

Beside her was her friend Gongyang Mo. It was clear that it was under Gongyang Mo's persuasion that Ma Xiaotao refrained from doing anything outrageous this time.

This was also at Wang Yan's request to Gongyang Mo, and in the end, he still decided to send Ma Xiaotao to fight.

After all, Ma Xiaotao's combat power was too strong, and the pressure from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy was also very severe, so he had to be cautious.

"The first match tomorrow is a team battle, which is very advantageous for Soul Masters," Wang Yan said calmly.

"So my plan is for everyone to conserve their strength as much as possible in this competition, and save their fighting power for the individual elimination rounds the day after tomorrow."

"The Soul Masters of the Sun Moon Empire are accustomed to using various drugs to increase their strength, but as a result, most of them have weak Soul Power and are weaker than Soul Masters of the same level."

"Their martial soul quality is relatively low, and their soul skill selection is mostly focused on amplifying soul power. Only by relying on soul tools can they compete with the strong from various countries."

"Soul tools are indeed very advantageous among low-level soul masters, but we are different from ordinary soul masters."

"We are Shrek Academy, and every student in our school is an elite among elites."

"Among those of the same level, their combat strength is formidable. In a fair fight, the people from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy would never be a match for any of you."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement. Huo Yuhao also understood where Wang Yan's confidence came from. However, what Wang Yan did not know was that while the three kingdoms of the original Douluo Continent were making progress, the Sun Moon Empire was also making progress.

The gap in the inherent qualities of Soul Masters has long been narrowed through the Sun Moon Empire's millennia-long efforts to catch up.

The old-school Soul Masters' belief that Soul Masters are weak in combat is no longer realistic; it's just that the Sun Moon Empire has always been hiding its strength.

I won't go into too much detail about the tactics for the individual elimination rounds.

"Ma Xiaotao, Ling Luochen, and Xixi, you'll lead the first three matches." Wang Yan frowned slightly, then gritted his teeth and said, "Make sure you eliminate as many members of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy as possible in the individual elimination rounds."

"Only in this way can we gain more advantages in the subsequent 2-2-3 format."

"In the subsequent 2-2-3 team division, Ma Xiaotao and Gongyang Mo, you two will be in a team. You two are the strongest, so I won't give you any more instructions."

"Xixi and Beibei, both of your martial souls are lightning-attribute, one is a strong attacker and the other is an agile attacker. You two form a team and pay attention to the synergy between your attributes."

"The final three-person team: Xu Sanshi, Ling Luochen, and Jiang Nannan. You three must buy time for Ling Luochen. If you have to, drag it out, wear down the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy!"

"Okay, Teacher Wang." Gongyang Mo nodded, understanding what Wang Yan meant.

Beibei nodded in agreement.

"The team battle lineup will remain the same as the lineup arranged during the round of 16." Wang Yan looked at Ma Xiaotao with a hint of worry in his eyes.

Ma Xiaotao replied indifferently, "Yes, I will be careful."

After the meeting, everyone went back to their respective places, adjusted their mindset, and soon the team battle of the next day began.

The sun was shining brightly and the weather was clear.

Both sides are very popular in this competition, but Shrek Academy has a good reputation while Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy has a bad reputation.

After all, thousands of years of education have instilled a hostile mindset towards the Sun Moon Empire into the hearts of every citizen of the original three kingdoms of Douluo Continent.

(End of this chapter)