The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament officially began. In their first battle, Fang Chang and his team faced an academy from the Sun Moon Empire as well—Kuishui Academy.
This academy wasn't particularly well-known on the continent, but as their opening match, Fang Chang's team remained on high alert.
"Kuishui Academy mainly recruits students whose martial souls are water-related. They're good at coordinated defense and offense. Although their overall strength is below yours, you must remain cautious," their leading instructor reminded them, apparently having gathered considerable intel in advance.
"Yu Nantian, your martial soul is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, which happens to have lightning attributes that counter theirs perfectly. You must fully capitalize on your advantage in this match."
With the help of a Soul Ascension Fruit, his soul power had just broken through to the sixtieth level, making him the third Soul Emperor in the team.
After speaking, the instructor looked toward the two agility-type attackers. "Xu Qing, Lu Wuchang, the two of you must assist Yu Nantian as best as you can. Help him break their coordinated defense."
"We will," the two replied in unison. "That's our job, after all."
Satisfied, the instructor nodded, then turned his gaze to Fang Chang. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he swallowed his words.
Even the dean and the Grand Elder didn't dare assign Fang Chang anything. How could he presume to?
After the strategy session, it was time for both teams to enter the field.
The instructor led the team to the base of the arena and watched them go on stage. He then escorted Ning Wan'er, who looked visibly troubled, to the stands, consoling her while watching the match.
The battle stage was a rectangular plaza about twenty meters long and fourteen or fifteen meters wide. By now, a sizable crowd had gathered on both sides.
They stood in their respective academy uniforms, pointing and whispering about the two teams on the field. Most of them were likely other tournament participants.
At that moment, their opponents—Kuishui Academy's team—entered the stage as well.
Their team was predominantly female—six girls and just one boy—drawing a fair amount of envy from the surrounding crowd.
As soon as they stepped onto the field, they released their martial souls. Almost all of them were aquatic-type beast martial souls, reminiscent of Sea Soul Masters from long ago.
Among them were four Soul Kings and three Soul Ancestors, clearly weaker than the Spider God Academy's team by a wide margin.
With their strength, most of them wouldn't even make it into the inner courtyard of the Spider God Academy.
Even so, Fang Chang couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion. Back in the day, Hu Liena and the others from Spirit Hall were praised as the "Golden Generation" just for reaching Soul King level at their age.
But now, the average strength of participants in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament had clearly taken a big leap forward.
Not to be outdone, Fang Chang's team also released their martial souls, creating a standoff with Kuishui Academy.
On their side stood three Soul Emperors and four Soul Kings—a full tier stronger than Kuishui Academy.
"Whoa, which academy is that? That's insane! Three Soul Emperors? Who could beat that?" someone in the crowd exclaimed.
"What are you thinking? That's Spider God Academy, the number one academy on the continent when it comes to martial soul studies," someone quickly responded.
"Though their soul tool department sucks. It's not even as good as a second-rate academy from our Sun Moon Empire."
"Oh, so it's them. No wonder," people nodded in sudden understanding.
Fang Chang and the others stood facing Kuishui Academy for about three or four minutes before the referee lazily walked onto the field.
"Quiet, everyone," said the referee, a skinny old man. He looked at both teams. "Do either team have any questions? If not, I'll announce the start of the match."
After about two minutes passed without any objections, the old man cleared his throat. "Then I hereby declare the opening match of this year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament officially underway."
"The two sides are: Spider God Academy's representative team," he pointed to Fang Chang and his group on his right, "and Kuishui Academy's representative team," he said, shifting his hand to the left.
"And now, the match begins!"
As his voice fell, the crowd erupted into thunderous cheers.
Fang Chang's side took the initiative. Agility-type Soul Masters Xu Qing and Lu Wuchang charged into the opponent's half in an instant.
But Kuishui Academy wasn't some ragtag group. They had been carefully selected. All seven activated soul skills simultaneously, unleashing a variety of water-based defensive techniques.
Some summoned a translucent water screen over their team, others a water wall directly in front of them, and still others used a spiraling water tornado to defend through offense, sweeping their half of the arena.
Xu Qing and Lu Wuchang had just stepped into enemy territory when they were stymied by the layered defense. After multiple failed attempts to break through, they had no choice but to retreat.
"Yu Nantian, this isn't working. Hit them head-on—we'll look for a chance to flank," Lu Wuchang shouted from the front.
"And you—Fang Qi, right? You come too. Use that move you showed in the Battle Arena last time."
They found Fang Chang mysterious, but unlike the instructors, they didn't know just how terrifying his strength was. In this urgent moment, they had no time for hesitation.
In the rear, Nangong Yue flicked a glance at Ning Wan'er in the stands. She opened her Eight-Avian Umbrella, releasing five avian-shaped projections that bathed her entire team in beams of light.
Zhu Zhu exchanged a glance with Fang Chang. "I'll go up front. You cover me."
As a beast-type control Soul Master, her advantage lay in her ability to engage in close combat while soul beast-possessed. She could even temporarily function like a weakened power-type Soul Master.
But the drawback was obvious—her control range was far smaller than that of most tool-type martial souls. With the main battlefield on the enemy's side, her support would be limited.
Fang Chang nodded with a sigh. He really hadn't wanted to strike at these juniors. His strength was simply too overwhelming. Holding back without hurting anyone was no easy feat.
Yu Nantian was even more direct. It was his first battle after becoming a Soul Emperor, and he went all in. He immediately activated Martial Soul Possession—blue lightning surged over his body as he charged at the enemy.
With his thunder-based attacks, their tight defenses quickly crumbled.
His sheer power already surpassed any of their opponents, and the elemental advantage only widened the gap. With a single strike, he seized the momentum.
Xu Qing and Lu Wuchang, who had been waiting for an opening, exploited the breach, slipping into the enemy formation and launching a surprise attack on their support-type Soul Masters.