Douluo's ice devil Yuhao

Chapter 600 The competition begins

Lingdou City, Tianling Square, under a bright and sunny sky.

A dense crowd gathered around the square, with squads of soldiers maintaining order as they awaited the start of the once-every-five-years Youth Soul Master Tournament.

At this moment, the entire hall fell silent, everyone listening intently to the figure in the center of the imperial city.

He is none other than His Majesty the current Emperor of the Douling Empire, Xue Lingzhao.

The authoritative and steady voice was clearly transmitted to every corner of the square through the amplified soul guide, with a hint of friendliness and welcome.

"I am delighted to personally witness the opening of the most important grand event in our Douluo Continent. After twenty years, the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament is once again being held by the Douling Empire. Here, on behalf of the Douling Empire, I welcome all the contestants who have traveled from afar."

"With Shrek Academy as a representative, you young people are the rising sun of this continent. I wish you all the best in the upcoming competitions and hope you achieve your ideal rankings."

After speaking, Xue Lingzhao smiled and nodded towards the team's preparation area.

Huo Yuhao stood in front of the Mingdou Academy team, gazing at the imperial city like everyone else, but his eyes occasionally drifted towards Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Academy.

These two academies have performed exceptionally well in previous competitions and have been placed in the most central position as star teams, while Mingdou Academy, as a newly established institution, has been placed on the edge of the preparation area.

The Emperor of Douling suddenly emphasized the name Shrek Academy, which piqued his interest.

The emperor's voice continued to come from the amplified soul tool: "Before the competition officially begins, I have a few things I must say."

He paused for a moment, then said sincerely, "I want to thank one of the participating teams, Shrek Academy."

The crowd couldn't help but wonder why His Majesty would express his gratitude to Shrek Academy on such a grand occasion.

"This is a group of young people full of justice. On their way to the competition, they discovered a group of bandits on the border of our country's Tianhe Province."

"This cunning bandit has repeatedly harassed the border, plundered villages and towns, and committed all kinds of evil deeds. They have caused great trouble to my people for many years. I have organized the army to suppress the bandits many times, but the results have always been minimal."

"But fortunately, it was these young people from Shrek Academy who completely wiped out these cunning villains, allowing my people to return to peace and no longer have to worry about being harmed by bandits, thus solving this long-standing problem for me."

"Although wiping out such a band of thugs is insignificant to Shrek Academy, I know the difficulties behind it and I also know that justice has no distinction of importance."

Xue Lingzhao paused again, took a deep breath, and spoke with even greater seriousness.

"I would like to say thank you again to all the young people of Shrek Academy, and also to the teachers who nurtured you. You are role models for all the young people of my Douling Empire."

After speaking, the emperor, who was above all others, stood on the city wall and gave a slight bow towards the Shrek team.

The young members of the Shrek team and their coach seemed to have been prepared, and readily accepted the gift from the Emperor of Battle Spirits, shouting in unison, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

His Majesty's sincerity moved tens of thousands of people in the square. Their already excited emotions found an outlet, and someone suddenly shouted out.

"Shrek!"

Then more and more voices joined his shouts, and cheers and encouragement rang out around the square: "Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!" Xue Lingzhao did not declare silence, but instead smiled and quietly surveyed the square. The rising and falling waves of cheers seemed to be exactly what he wanted.

After a short while, the cheers for Shrek Academy gradually subsided, and Xue Lingzhao finally returned to the main topic of the day.

"I hereby declare the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament officially open."

As soon as he finished speaking, a series of salutes rang out around the square, followed by deafening cheers.

There were no surprises or treacherous plots before the competition, and the tournament started smoothly.

Huo Yuhao looked in the direction of the Shrek Academy team and frowned slightly.

The Shrek Academy's supervisory team has always maintained a low profile with the public, but today's apparent collaboration with the Battle Spirit Emperor left him unsure of their purpose. However, Huo Yuhao didn't pay too much attention and quickly focused on the upcoming match.

To facilitate the competition schedule, the more than 100 teams in this competition were divided into four groups to play the group stage. The four teams with the highest scores in each group will advance to the round of 16 to compete for the final ranking.

The matches in each group are very intense and will last for several days, enough to keep spectators entertained.

There are no matches scheduled for today from Mingdou Academy, but Huo Yuhao did not allow the members of the Mingdou team to leave. Instead, he stayed to watch the first match that was about to begin.

The draw results were pretty good. There were no strong teams like Shrek Sun Moon in the group, and most of the other teams were of average level, so advancing should be no problem at all.

"Looks like we're in luck." Huo Yuhao looked at the group assignments and congratulated his teammates.

"The group stage rankings are determined by points, and you won't play against every single team. To advance, you can only lose two or three games at most."

"You can hold back your strength and let everyone gain experience in this kind of competition. Let the second team's players go first in the first match."

One student hesitated and said, "Team leader, isn't this too risky? After all, the overall strength of Team Two is far inferior to that of Team One. This is our academy's first competition, shouldn't we show our spirit even more?"

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, "Don't underestimate yourselves. Who do you think your opponents are? Most of them are only at the third or fourth level. They're not established powerhouses like Shrek Academy or Sun Moon Academy. Most academies participate in this kind of competition just to go through the motions and treat it as a trip."

“What kind of academy is Mingdou? And what kind of students are you? From the very beginning, Mingdou has been built to be the number one academy on the mainland. You will only be the top students on the mainland. You don’t need to doubt your own excellence.”

Encouraged by Huo Yuhao, the entire Mingdou Academy became increasingly spirited, their eyes brimming with confidence and radiance.

"You guys are the best, do you have confidence?" Huo Yuhao asked with a smile.

"Yes!" The team members raised their right hands in unison.

Huo Yuhao looked at Qianfeng in the front row of the team and patted him on the shoulder: "Get ready, you'll definitely have to show your skills in the last few matches of the group stage."

Qianfeng nodded slightly, a hint of fighting spirit emerging beneath his calm exterior.

Huo Yuhao glanced one last time in the direction of Shrek Academy and fell into deep thought.

(End of this chapter)