As the little fatty and the students of class zero got familiar, an icy but pleasant voice called out. "Xu Lizhi, how did you run all the way over here? All you know is how to eat. Hurry up and come back."
As they all turned to the voice, they saw the speaker. The speaker was a girl around their age, dressed in the same green exercise clothes as him. In comparison to Xu Lizhi's fat-filled form, her clean-cut silhouette brought out the best in the clothes. Her golden hair was combed up into a ponytail, accentuating her large, bright, blue eyes framed by long eyelashes. Her skin glistened under the light, tender, and white.
Although she was likely their age, her face was a mask of stone compared to theirs, as if she were a little adult.
Upon the sight of her, Xu Lizhi was like a mouse facing a cat. He stood straight and said earnestly, "Big Sister Xinglan, I know I made a mistake but I'm still starving! You know right? If I don't eat enough, then I won't have any strength!"
"Let's go." As the girl was waving Xu Lizhi over she noticed the students of class zero. Disdain colored her words. "Don't just get buddy buddy with strangers! Don't you know how many bad people there are nowadays?"
Xu Lizhi's chubby face twitched for a moment before he swiftly ran off, obediently following the girl.
Suddenly, an announcement was broadcasted.
"Today marks the start of the Skysea Alliance Tournament. We have invited a team specially from Shrek Academy to exchange pointers with last year's champions. Accounting for the gap in strength, this match will be held between different age groups. The contenders are last year's youth division champions of the seven-man team competition and Shrek Academy's seven-man team from the junior division. Now, will both sides please come on stage."
Gloxinia's eyes closed as he kept thinking of his plan and creating back up plans for any accidents. Everything was going according to his predictions. Shrek would beat thhee juunior divison and shock everyone, creating motivation for the youths to improve.
The representatives of the Skysea Alliance arrived on the platform. Since they were the winners of the previous tournament, they were now all over twenty years old and should be placed in the adult division.
There were five men and two women clad in silver team uniforms, standing with confidence and valiance imbued in their hearts. Their synchronous movements illustrated their rigorous training while their eyes shined with excitement.
When the delegation from Shrek Academy arrived, he didn't recognize the frontmost five people. They all wore green sportswear and were about fourteen to fifteen years old. Nevertheless, behind them were two people he could identify. In fact, he just met them not too long ago! It was Xu Lizhi and the blonde girl
"Huh. Hey, it's those two! Why are they up there on the stage?" Naturally, Xie Xie recognized them too.
Dumbfounded, Xu Xiaoyan said, "Our ages are the same, yet the gap between us is so great!"
Even the usually level-headed Tang Wulin couldn't help but admire and envy them. 'No wonder that Xinglan girl was so arrogant. She has the power to back it up! Just how strong are they though?'
The two sides greeted each other courteously. The team of seven from the Skysea Alliance towered over the students from Shrek Academy, a manifestation of their age gap.
After all, there was more than a difference of five years between them!
A fifteen-year-old boy lead the Shrek Academy's team. Though his looks weren't particularly flattering, his temperament held an indescribable quality. He stood tall and astute. Simply by taking a few steps forward, he drew the attention of the whole stadium.
It was seven versus seven, the most common form of team battles. In the last 10,000 years, this formation proved to be the optimal setup for a team of soul masters.
The two groups on stage were the cream of the crop from two different generations, especially the youngsters from Shrek Academy. It was a mystery to all just how powerful they were.
Both teams gave simple self-introductions, revealing the arrogant little girl's name. It was Ye Xinglan, a good name.
An old man served as the referee. With his profound air, after a single glance anyone would know his strength was not shallow.
"Now, let the match begin!"
The stage wasn't particularly large, spanning less area than class zero's arena. There hadn't been enough time to build a grander one and as such it was only fifty meters in diameter. Occupied by only fourteen people, the area didn't seem too crowded. Even so, there wasn't much space to maneuver.
Right as the referee announced the start of the match, Shrek Academy broke into action.
Surprisingly, the first to make his move was Xu Lizhi.
With a wave of his arm, two yellow soul rings appeared under him. Mysterious objects flew out of his hands as his first soul ring lit up. They sort of reeseembled.. steamed buns?
Xu Lizhi's six teammates each consumed one of the objects. The female teammate beside Ye Xinglan roared as three soul rings materialized beneath her feet. Two were yellow and one was purple—the optimal soul ring configuration. Light coalesced in her right hand to form a seven-tiered pagoda. As the first three levels of the pagoda sparkled brilliantly, its glow enveloped the stoic youth spearheading their formation.
The youth released a draconic roar as his body swelled. His arms especially grew thick and solid. Four rings rose from beneath him—two yellow, one purple, and one black. Shockingly, he had a ten-thousand-year soul ring!
Few in the audience saw the whole process clearly. What they did see, however, was cyan light exploding on stage, followed by a baptism of lightning and thunder.
At this time, it was impossible to tell how the fight was going.
Even those with eye-type martial spirits were unable to have their vision pierce through the thunder!
The rumbling storm didn't let up. Instead, it grew more potent! One could see the silhouette of a lightning dragon wreaking havoc within the electric blitz.
The audience saw the dragon and after… there was no "after".
A minute later, the match ended
The seven representatives of the Skysea Alliance collapsed on the stage while the delegation from Shrek Academy stood rooted in their previous formation. Xu Lizhi and Ye Xinglan were stationed in the back. The young girl didn't attack the entire battle and the little fatty was just stuffing his face with the dried fish snack, complimentary of Tang Wulin.
Silence dominated the stands. For a single moment, not a single peep sounded from the audience of 80,000 people.
After bending over in a slight bow, the leader of Shrek Academy's team led his teammates off the stage.
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Words: 1192
Author's Note: Early chapter today because I am tryna play the new vr game, Zenith VR that came out recently. It's really good from what I've seen so I am very excited!
Thank you for so many collections and powerstones!