Aside from the captain, the other six members formed a hexagon, their wary eyes fixed on the seven members of Shrek Academy.
Tai Long burst into laughter and couldn't help himself. "Does Canghui Academy really have no one left? One of them doesn't even have an optimal Soul Ring configuration."
At this point, even Dai Mubai felt that Tang San had been overly cautious in sending Zhu Zhuqing out. The opponents from Canghui Academy's team were, if anything, weaker than some of the relatively inferior advanced Soul Master academies they had faced before. This battle seemed utterly devoid of suspense.
The only one who hadn't let his guard down was, most likely, Tang San alone.
The moment both teams had walked out of the rest area, he had already become fully alert—because he discovered that among the seven Canghui Academy members taking the field today, four of them had never appeared in any previous match.
That was vastly different from the lineup roster the Great Master had given him. Among them was precisely that member with the non-optimal Soul Ring configuration.
Four people swapped out at once? What did that mean? There were only two possibilities. One was that Canghui Academy was preparing to forfeit this match. The other was that they had been deliberately concealing the bulk of their strength in earlier rounds. From the aura emanating from the seven Canghui Academy members as both teams took the field, Tang San immediately ruled out the first scenario. That left only the second.
Right now, although the seven opponents appeared extremely cautious and seemed almost fearful of them, Tang San could not detect a shred of genuine fear in their eyes. With the Purple Extreme Demon Eye, his powers of observation far surpassed those of anyone else. He would not overlook a single detail.
"Gather up," Tang San commanded in a low voice.
Though the Shrek Academy members didn't understand why he issued such an order, they still moved swiftly to cluster around him. Six waists tightened as familiar Blue Silver Grass wound itself around their bodies.
"Third Young Master, couldn't we just charge in and finish this quickly?" Tai Long's temperament was the most straightforward, and he couldn't keep the question bottled up.
Tang San said nothing, but the Soul Power within his body had already surged to its peak. And their opponents, at that very moment, had not moved either.
Five matches began simultaneously. The other four bouts had already erupted into fierce exchanges, yet on the central main stage, the fight remained in a stalemate. Both sides simply stared at each other, and neither made the first move.
Seeing that the Shrek team had not launched a direct assault, the captain of the Canghui Academy team was visibly taken aback. Tang San clearly caught a flicker of disappointment deep within the man's eyes.
Tai Long didn't understand why Tang San wouldn't let them attack outright, but neither Xiao Wu, Dai Mubai, nor Zhu Zhuqing raised any objections. They had fought together for so long now. When it came to Tang San's command, they placed absolute trust in him. To this day, Tang San had never made any serious mistakes in directing the team.
At this moment, on Shrek Academy's side, Dai Mubai stood in front of Tang San. Flanking Dai Mubai on either side were Tai Long and Huang Yuan. Beside Tang San stood Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing, with Jing Ling guarding the rear.
"Both teams, please begin the match," the referee's voice rang out.
Even the commentator in the VIP section couldn't help but speak up. "What's going on? Why hasn't the Shrek Academy team attacked yet? Could they possibly be afraid of an opponent like this? Canghui Academy is clearly far inferior—a few casual Soul Skills and it should be over."
Seated in the front row of the VIP section, Emperor Xue Ye leaned toward Ning Fengzhi and asked in a low voice, "Sect Master Ning, in your view, why haven't they engaged yet? Both sides seem excessively cautious. Their respective strengths shouldn't even be comparable."
Ning Fengzhi offered a faint smile. "Appearances don't necessarily represent the whole truth. I imagine Tang San must have noticed something amiss, which is why he didn't rashly order his teammates to act. This child's mental composure truly isn't what you'd expect from someone only…" He paused instinctively at that point, the smile still on his face, but said nothing further.
Beside them, the Platinum Bishop Sallas was listening with rapt attention. When Ning Fengzhi suddenly stopped at such a critical moment, a flash of irritation crossed the depths of his eyes, though he gave no outward reaction.
Under the referee's warnings and the jeers of tens of thousands of spectators, the teams on the central stage finally moved.
The first to act was not the Shrek team, but the Canghui Academy team.
The Canghui Academy captain seemed to have finally abandoned all pretense. His waist and back straightened with sudden fluidity, his feet shifting subtly as he retreated a full meter, sliding precisely into the center of the hexagonal formation formed by the other six.
As he fell back, the other six members each took a simultaneous step outward. The compact hexagon instantly expanded by a ring. Remarkably, though the formation had grown, the hexagonal shape showed not the slightest sign of disarray—the six of them had each taken steps of exactly the same distance. And the position the Canghui Academy captain retreated to was precisely the center of this formation.
It was clearly a formation they had rehearsed for years. Immediately after, the members of Shrek Academy clearly saw all seven Canghui Academy members raise their right hands in unison.