Huh?
Admit defeat?
Everyone thought they had misheard. They rubbed their ears, wiped their eyes, and looked again at the arena in front of them.
Electric lights were still flickering.
Li Yu voice seemed to still linger in their ears.
They hadn't misheard.
The long-awaited final battle that would determine the outcome between Blazing Academy and Thunder Academy, and Qianyu Academy actually admitted defeat!
They gave up the top spot in the rankings just like that!
This…
Wasn't this a bit too rash?
Sure, water can conduct electricity—but not like that!
Not only the spectators were stunned.
Even the Thunder Academy team in the arena were frozen in place.
Ad... admitted defeat?
Just like that?
We... we won?
They looked at each other, eyes full of disbelief.
Their captain, Yu Tianxin, was even more so.
Of course he wanted to win, but this victory… felt too humiliating!
It was obvious that Li Yu let them win!
Anyone could see that!
And yet, Li Yu didn't choose to forfeit before the match. He waited until the battle started, then chose to admit defeat!
This…
What was he thinking?
Yu Tianxin's heart was in turmoil.
What he didn't know was that Li Yu thinking was actually very simple.
Weren't all of you so eager to surrender when facing us?
Fine, then I'll surrender too.
Just thinking about Huo Wushuang's smug face made Li Yu annoyed.
So he'd become the hitman for Huo Wushuang's Blazing Academy!
Everyone surrendered to him, letting him fight Thunder Academy, beat them, and secure Blazing Academy's advancement!
That meant...
Qianyu Academy would become nothing more than a tool.
And someone actually thought they could use him, Li Yu, like that?
No way. Absolutely not.
If that's how it was going to be, then he'd just surrender outright. Let them fight it out themselves!
And so...
This was the scene that unfolded.
While everyone was still stunned, and even before the referee had recovered from the shock, Li Yu had already led Zhu Zhuying and the others off the stage.
Meanwhile, on the other arenas, most matches hadn't even started yet.
For example...
The arena of Blazing Academy.
"Huh?"
"This woman is truly vengeful!"
Huo Wushuang was dumbfounded.
"Tsk, I actually liked her before. Now look at this!"
Huo Wu stared hatefully at Li Yu departing figure, her heart filled with conflicting emotions of love and hate.
The love came from the aura of comfort Li Yu naturally emitted.
The hate... wasn't born of true animosity, but rather frustration at the current situation.
Immediately after—
She took it out on Huo Wushuang: "See! I told you not to act so smug! Now look what happened, we have to do a tiebreaker match with Thunder Academy!"
As she spoke, she pinched Huo Wushuang's waist.
"Hiss~"
Huo Wushuang gasped from the pain, looking extremely aggrieved: "How was I supposed to know Her Highness the Crown Princess held such a grudge! Besides, didn't all the other elemental academies also surrender? Why is she only targeting us!"
"Still your fault!"
Huo Wu wouldn't listen and pinched even harder.
At that moment on the central arena, the referee finally reacted and announced the result:
"Qianyu Academy vs. Thunder Academy — Thunder Academy wins!"
"Qianyu Academy: 26 wins, 1 loss, final score: 26 points!"
"Thunder Academy: 22 wins, 5 losses, final score: 22 points!"
The crowd erupted in noise.
Everyone's gaze instinctively turned toward Blazing Academy's arena.
Naturally, the audience had been tracking the points and knew that with this one-point gain, Thunder Academy would likely have to do a tiebreaker match with Blazing Academy.
The battle began...
Huo Wushuang couldn't lay a finger on Huo Wu.
So his anger was redirected at their opponents.
The opposing team immediately sensed something was wrong, but as soon as the referee's starting signal fell—
Before they even had a chance to surrender, they were already being savagely beaten by Huo Wushuang and his teammates.
The fight ended in barely a dozen seconds.
Not because they were that weak.
But because only after those dozen seconds did their team leader finally come to his senses and call out surrender.
Otherwise, things might have ended very badly…
"Blazing Academy: 22 wins, 5 losses, final score: 22 points!"
Since it was the last round, the referee also declared each team's final point totals.
For most academies—
They knew they had no chance of ranking in the top five.
However, the ranking in the preliminaries was still an important advertising slogan for recruiting students.
So in this final round, they gave it their all to showcase their strength.
Some matches even dragged on for more than half an hour due to closely matched teams.
And because the final rankings were about to be announced, Li Yu did not leave this time. He stayed in the lounge with his team to wait.
Once all matches ended—
The platinum bishop of the Spirit Hall, Salas, spoke:
"All participating teams, please gather on the central arena!"
Moments later—
The 28 teams, led by their captains, stood in a line on the central stage.
And within that short time…
The Emperor Xue Ye, Ning Fengzhi, and other high-ranking figures, who hadn't shown themselves at the start of this round, all appeared.
Just like during the opening ceremony a month ago.
After the teams gathered, a different host announced the final rankings:
"The Tiandou Regional Preliminaries of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament have successfully concluded!"
"Now, I will announce the final scores!"
He paused slightly, his tone becoming more solemn:
"Qianyu Academy, Shrek Academy: 26 wins, 1 loss, 26 points — tied for 1st place!"
"Godwind Academy: 25 wins, 2 losses, 25 points — ranked 3rd!"
"Skywater Academy: 24 wins, 3 losses, 24 points — ranked 4th!"
"Blazing Academy, Thunder Academy: 22 wins, 5 losses, 22 points — tied for 5th!"
"Xiangjia Academy: 21 wins, 6 losses, 21 points — ranked 7th!"
"…"
The rankings were quickly read out.
Then his voice grew firm again as he declared:
"The Heaven Dou Empire consists of four kingdoms and one principality, along with the Tiandou City sub-region — a total of six preliminary divisions!"
"The other five divisions each have only two qualifying spots!"
"Our Tiandou City division, however, has more academies and stronger soul masters — so it gets five qualifying spots!"
"Now, the first four spots are confirmed!"
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the members of Blazing Academy and Thunder Academy:
"Next, the remaining twenty-six teams will move to the spectator seats to witness the birth of the final qualifying team!"
As he finished speaking—
Soldiers appeared in front of each team to lead them to their designated locations.
It was at this moment that everyone noticed—
The front rows of the audience seats had been cleared.
Clearly…
This situation had been anticipated, and the Tiandou region had made all preparations in advance.
In the spectator seats—
Li Yu, now the captain of Qianyu Academy, was seated with his team.
At this moment, he was feeling a bit emotional.
In the original plot, even without Qianyu Academy, the rankings weren't like this.
But he understood.
After all, if the same match is played twice, no one can guarantee the same outcome.
Moreover, his arrival had already changed many things.
Invisible, but the biggest change was in the understanding of soul ring absorption age limits!
Because of that—
Although the colors of the soul rings might not look much different,
Li Yu could sense the difference in quality.
The soul rings' ages had clearly improved significantly!
After all, a 9,999-year ring is still a thousand-year ring!
Especially people like Huo Wushuang, Huo Wu, Shui Bing'er, and Feng Xiaotian—
Their improvements were even more noticeable.
This might also be one reason why the results had changed.
But that didn't really matter.
Li Yu didn't see them as enemies, and they posed no threat to him.
Very soon—
He sat down and turned his gaze to the two teams in the arena, now already in position.
And just then...
[Level: 78]
[Reward Settlement: You have received 3,500 years of freely allocatable ring age!]
[Total Freely Allocatable Ring Age: 231,000 years]
[Spirit Schedule: 6/10]
Li Yu was momentarily dazed.
Another month had passed...