The Great Master said calmly, "That's exactly right. Although your Blue Silver Grass is immune to both water and fire, it cannot be immune to lightning. Your control ability will be somewhat suppressed when facing a lightning-type Martial Soul. That's because your Blue Silver Grass cannot avoid conducting electricity entirely. I imagine you already discovered this problem back when you faced my nephew, didn't you? If you lose today and get injured, then both your mental state and your combat strength will be weakened. If our luck with the draw is poor tomorrow and we end up facing Divine Wind Academy again, do you think we can keep winning?"
A flash of light crossed Tang San's eyes. "Teacher, you mean for me to be held back to deal with Divine Wind Academy."
The Great Master nodded. "With your team's strength, going all out against Thunderbolt Academy shouldn't be difficult. The key is that in one of our upcoming matches, there's a fifty-percent chance we'll face Divine Wind Academy. I've carefully observed Divine Wind Academy's strength — among the Five Elements Academies, they are undoubtedly the strongest. To deal with them, you'll need to give everything you have. Trust your teammates in today's match against Thunderbolt Academy. I'll now announce the lineup. The first to take the stage will be Tai Long, followed by Jing Ling, Huang Yuan, Xiao Wu, Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ma Hongjun. Any questions?"
"No!" the group answered in unison.
"Let's do this, brothers!" Tang San clenched his fist.
Dai Mubai's gaze met his in midair, and a wave of invisible dominance radiated from him. "Relax, Little San. Leave this one to us. When it comes to Divine Wind Academy, that'll be all you."
"Deal." Tang San raised his hand and slapped it against Dai Mubai's palm, then the two clasped hands firmly. The others piled their hands on top, and the group roared three times in unison. In that moment, the hearts of all eleven competing students from Shrek Academy were completely bound together — they were a true whole.
The matches began shortly after. Tang San sat quietly below the stage. Trusting his teammates was his only choice. Forfeiting two matches during the preliminary rounds had cost Shrek Academy the top ranking, which remained a regret for Tang San. Although the advancement tournament was the least important segment of the entire competition series, Tang San had already made a silent resolve — he would never lose again.
Thunderbolt Academy's strength was formidable. The offensive power of their all-lightning-attribute Soul Masters was beyond question, especially their explosive burst capability. Their attacks were also filled with a violent, ferocious aura.
Thunderbolt Academy had a total of four Soul Masters above level forty, the same as Divine Wind Academy. Although Blazing Fire Academy had caught up in this regard, those candidates had only recently reached the threshold, unlike the more seasoned fighters from these two academies.
Thunderbolt Academy clearly took this match seriously as well. All four of their level-forty-plus Soul Masters were positioned in the later slots. They were willing to sacrifice morale in order to first determine Shrek Academy's lineup order.
In the first match, to everyone's surprise, the pure-strength Tai Long defeated his opponent. What carried him to victory wasn't his terrifying offensive power, but rather his extraordinary ability to take hits.
Pure-strength Soul Masters didn't possess particularly powerful attacks, but the sheer magnitude of their strength granted them absurdly high physical defense. Tai Long relied on his cockroach-like refusal to stay down, stubbornly enduring wave after wave of attacks until he drained his opponent's Soul Power and claimed victory.
Before facing Thunderbolt Academy, the Great Master had given the students some targeted tactical guidance for the first time. His instruction to Tai Long was a single word: stall. Stall until the opponent's Soul Power was completely drained.
After researching Martial Souls for so many years, the Great Master might not claim to be able to identify every Martial Soul in the world, but he understood the strengths and weaknesses of every type with absolute clarity.
The defining characteristic of lightning-attribute Martial Souls was their terrifying offensive power and overwhelming burst strength. But everything had its balance. Beneath that fierce exterior of raw attack power, lightning-attribute Martial Souls also harbored their own weaknesses.
Powerful burst attacks were unquestionably devastating, but at the same time, the burst consumed more Soul Power than other attribute types. Although Tai Long didn't engage in direct exchanges, that didn't mean he never dodged. And his opponent, in the desperate attempt to finish him off, burned through Soul Skills one after another. While plenty of attacks landed on Tai Long, they certainly weren't all of them. And so, after knocking Tai Long to the ground time and again — even after his hair stood on end and his clothes were torn in multiple places — when his opponent believed he could finally put Tai Long away, he was shocked to discover that his own Soul Power had run dry.
In the group battle format, Tai Long served as an absolute tank. Under the Great Master's guidance, his defensive ability had grown even further over recent days. The surface-level dishevelment contrasted with the true victory, and a genuine smile broke across his rugged face. After all, he had defeated an opponent from Thunderbolt Academy!
Tai Long's "surprise" for Thunderbolt Academy wasn't over yet. In the second match, having devoted his Soul Power and Soul Skills entirely to defense, he once again drained his opponent to exhaustion in the same manner.
Lightning attacks were powerful, but they lacked the piercing precision that wind-attribute Martial Souls possessed. It wasn't until the third opponent that Tai Long finally conceded, having exhausted most of the rival's Soul Power before admitting defeat and stepping off the stage.
Jing Ling, the second to appear, gave his opponent an even bigger headache. His Martial Soul wasn't particularly impressive, but as an agile-attack-type Soul Master, Jing Ling's speed was beyond question. His opponent was a fierce-attack-type Soul Master. The Great Master's instruction to him was also a single word: dodge.
No matter how powerful a Soul Skill was, it had to hit the target to do damage. Jing Ling was noticeably faster than his opponent. Lightning was fast, but before it was unleashed, there were always telltale signs. Jing Ling relied on his keen judgment to evade his opponent's attacks multiple times, forcing his rival into using wide-area Soul Skills. But when the opponent prepared to unleash a sweeping attack, he discovered that his Soul Power had fallen into a crisis just like the two teammates before him — the toll of defeating Tai Long had been too great.
And so, with a single Soul Skill, Jing Ling defeated his opponent, drawing out Thunderbolt Academy's final four members.
The gap between a Soul Ancestor and a Soul Venerable was fundamental. Although Jing Ling employed the same strategy, Thunderbolt Academy's guiding teacher had clearly seen through his purpose. The fourth student to take the stage gave him no opportunity whatsoever, unleashing two consecutive wide-area Soul Skills that blasted Jing Ling right off the field.
A one-time Soul Power expenditure was far better than a drawn-out struggle that steadily drained reserves. Lightning-attribute Soul Masters should have been leveraging their thunderous, overwhelming characteristics all along.
Shrek Academy's third combatant was Huang Yuan. He had neither Tai Long's defensive capability nor Jing Ling's speed. But possessing the Lone Wolf Martial Soul, his advantage lay in balance. As a fierce-attack-type Soul Master with a balanced offense and defense, he ultimately fell to the fourth opponent's overwhelming attack — but not before successfully draining the vast majority of his rival's Soul Power.
The Shrek Seven Devils were finally about to take the field. Shrek Academy's fourth combatant was Xiao Wu.
Although Xiao Wu hadn't yet reached level forty, she was already at level thirty-nine. Her opponent's Soul Power had been more than half depleted, leaving him unable to unleash powerful Soul Skills. After a few rounds of agile skirmishing and one decisive assault from Xiao Wu, he was defeated.
Thunderbolt Academy's fifth student took the stage.
Lei Tian — a level forty-two fierce-attack-type Battle Soul Master. His Martial Soul was the Thunder Eagle.
There were no secrets left between the two sides. Thunderbolt Academy had been observing Shrek Academy for more than just a day or two. Even they hadn't expected to be on the back foot throughout today's matches, when their opponents had only been sending out Soul Venerables in the thirties.
The Great Master's lineup arrangement appeared casual on the surface, but perfectly countered the opposition. By exploiting each opponent's characteristics, Shrek Academy had seized the upper hand. If Tang San hadn't been absent from Shrek Academy's roster, the gap in morale alone would likely have already caused problems for Thunderbolt Academy.
The combatants currently sent out by both sides were not their strongest, but Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun had each achieved the feat of sweeping through seven opponents in previous matches. Their strength was beyond question. At the very least, Thunderbolt Academy's captain and vice-captain had no certainty of defeating them. Therefore, in these earlier attrition matches, whichever side gained the advantage naturally seized the initiative.
Although Xiao Wu had expended some energy in the previous round, she was only the fourth person to take the stage, while her opponent was already the fifth. The advantage clearly lay with Shrek Academy.
Lei Tian stared coldly at Xiao Wu. In this moment, she wasn't a beautiful girl to him — she was an opponent. Outsiders didn't know Shrek Academy's internal rankings. After the matches already completed, anyone who had studied Shrek Academy knew that their three most dangerous members were Tang San, Dai Mubai, and Ma Hongjun. Although Xiao Wu had achieved many victories, with only three Soul Rings, she naturally drew less attention. The title "Shrek Seven Devils" was merely their internal designation. So in Lei Tian's eyes, Xiao Wu was no different from the previous combatants — she was just here to drain their strength.
The match had reached an extremely critical juncture. Lei Tian knew that he absolutely could not lose this fight, and moreover that he needed to defeat Xiao Wu while consuming as little strength as possible. He wasn't confident about the next match against Dai Mubai, but he still needed to wear Dai Mubai down for the final showdown.