The next morning, the sun was shining brightly as Mu Yang and his team arrived at the Great Soul Arena in high spirits.
Not long after entering the arena, the Blazing Team received good news.
Their opponent, Golden Academy, had directly forfeited. The first round of the preliminaries was won by Blazing Academy without a match.
However, it was understandable that Golden Academy chose to surrender without a fight. After all, their team didn't have a single four-ring Soul Ancestor. Whether main members or substitutes, they were all just three-ring Soul Elders.
Let alone this year's Blazing Team, which was far stronger than previous ones—even if the team followed the standard strength of past years, Golden Academy still had no chance of winning.
Moreover, stepping into the competition ring inevitably meant the risk of injuries. If they got hurt too badly and it affected their performance in later matches, it would be a huge loss.
Since their opponent was the renowned Blazing Academy, surrendering straight away wasn't too disgraceful.
At this moment, it was still early, and the matches had yet to officially begin. All participating teams were resting in the waiting area.
Looking at the matchup list for the first round of the preliminaries, Feng Xiaotian frowned in thought.
After a long moment, he turned to Mu Yang and asked, "Mu Yang, which teams do you think will win their first-round matches?"
Hearing this, Mu Yang was slightly taken aback before asking, "Why do you care about that? In the preliminaries, aside from our three academies, no other teams have contestants at the five-ring level. Your Divine Wind Academy is guaranteed to advance."
Other than facing Blazing and Sky Water, was there any team that could pose a real challenge to Divine Wind Academy? Actually, yes.
That team wasn't the emerging dark horse, Shrek Academy, but rather Canghui Academy.
On paper, Canghui Academy's team wasn't strong. However, Mu Yang remembered that they had a Seven-in-One Spirit Fusion Skill of the mental attribute.
Although spirit fusion skills weren't as powerful as martial soul fusion skills, the fact that seven people contributed to it meant its power was not inferior to an ordinary two-person martial soul fusion skill. Since it was also a mental-type ability, if Divine Wind Academy wasn't prepared in advance, they could very well stumble.
That being said, even if Divine Wind Academy did suffer a loss, counting defeats against Blazing and Tianshui, they would at most lose three matches. With five teams qualifying from the preliminaries, Divine Wind Academy was definitely securing a spot.
"I'm not worried about advancing. It's just that the Great Soul Arena has opened betting pools, and you've got a good eye. Plus, our brothers are a bit short on cash, you know~"
Feng Xiaotian said with a hint of embarrassment.
Who wouldn't love the sight of shining gold coins? At the very least, neither he nor anyone on the Divine Wind Team could resist.
Besides, after the Soul Master Tournament ended, they would graduate and enter society. There would be plenty of expenses to cover, so now that there was an opportunity to make some money, they couldn't let it slip away.
Thinking for a moment, Mu Yang said, "Based on the intelligence our academy gathered, I can determine which team is stronger on paper. But not just me—you should be able to tell the relative strength of the teams as well.
However, once the matches start, the stronger team on paper doesn't always win. Battle experience, strategy, hidden trump cards like martial soul fusion skills, whether someone is holding back their true strength—all of these factors influence the outcome. It's hard to predict accurately.
For example, if Blazing Academy and Sky Water Academy face off, we have three five-ring Soul Kings, while Sky Water Academy has two. Does that mean we have the advantage?
But I'll tell you this—regardless of whether either side has hidden cards, Sky Water Academy will definitely win."
Feng Xiaotian was puzzled. "Why?"
"Because as the team captain, I've decided to forfeit!"
Mu Yang declared without hesitation.
Feng Xiaotian: "…"
Shui Bing'er: "…"
The Blazing Team: "…"
The next moment, the entire Blazing Team simultaneously raised their middle fingers at Mu Yang.
Facing his teammates' disdain, Mu Yang remained completely unfazed.
This was just the preliminaries—as long as they could advance, losing a match didn't matter.
Of course, when it came to the finals, he wouldn't do something like this.
Blazing Academy had a long history. Since its founding, the number of times its team had won the championship in the Soul Master Tournament could be counted on one hand. This year, they finally had such a strong lineup—it would be unacceptable not to take the championship.
More than half an hour later, the first round of the preliminaries officially began.
The Heaven Dou division had twenty-eight participating teams. However, after the opening ceremony yesterday, the Shrek Team had already fought against the Second team of the Heaven Dou, so today, there were thirteen matches in the first round.
Unlike yesterday, the competition stage was no longer just a single arena. Instead, four new stages were built in the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest of the original stage, surrounding it in the center.
With five arenas, five matches could take place simultaneously. Today's thirteen matches, and the fourteen matches per day going forward, were all divided into three groups.
The match between Blazing Academy and Golden Academy was one of the five matches in the first group. However, since Golden Academy had already surrendered, the match was canceled, and Blazing Academy automatically advanced.
Coincidentally, in the second group, Divine Wind Academy was in the rest area preparing for their match when Feng Zhen walked in and announced good news—their first-round opponent had also surrendered.
"How boring~"
With their opponents forfeiting, they lost the chance to perform—especially the chance to show off in front of the Huo Wu Goddess. Feng Xiaotian clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
"Haha~, the tournament is long! There will be plenty of chances for you to show off later."
Feng Zhen laughed and patted Feng Xiaotian on the shoulder.
Divine Wind Academy's first-round opponent was also a background-filler academy. Their highest-ranking team member was merely a three-ring Soul Elder. Facing Divine Wind Academy, a team with all main members at level 40 or higher, surrendering was the most reasonable choice.
Moreover, this wasn't just something unique to this tournament, nor was it limited to Divine Wind Academy and Blazing Academy. In past Soul Master Tournament preliminaries, the Five Elemental Academies often had half of their matches won by default.
Would surrendering in the first round be too embarrassing?
Perhaps, but compared to the potential consequences, a little embarrassment was nothing.
The rules of the Soul Master Tournament aimed to minimize casualties, prohibiting contestants from killing their opponents.
However, the rule only stated that injuries should be "minimized as much as possible." In other words, as long as no one was killed, beating an opponent half to death was still allowed.
If a team encountered a powerful opponent in the first round, and their luck was bad, with the opposing team being hot-tempered, they might end up receiving a full-team severe injury package—in that case, they wouldn't be able to continue the tournament at all.
If there was zero chance of winning, and the risk of serious injury could affect future matches, charging in recklessly was not a wise choice. Surrendering outright was the smartest decision.
For additional chapters....
Versatile mage {40 chapters}
Douluo Dalu:This Soul Master is to Weird {30 Chapters}
Patreon. Com/ALLISWELL123]
From Every Review from now on i will release 3 Extra Chapter