The sky has collapsed!
This was the first reaction of the Qing Tian Academy team when they saw Zhu Zhuqing and the others reveal their spirit rings.
And immediately after—
Before Wang Changzhi, the leader, even made a move,
Zhu Zhuqing, positioned slightly behind him to the right, had her fourth spirit ring already gleaming!
In the next moment—
Zhu Zhuqing's figure suddenly split into seven identical clones, and in the blink of an eye, they swept past the seven contestants from Qing Tian Academy.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The sound of flesh being pierced echoed the next second, followed by the pained screams of Qing Tian's seven students.
None of the seven were even at the Soul Sect level; how could they possibly be Zhu Zhuqing's match?
With a single skill from Zhu Zhuqing, they were all seriously injured.
Her fourth spirit ability remained the same — Nether Shadow Clone.
However, with the spirit ring now reaching ten-thousand-year level, the power of the ability had increased by an unfathomable degree.
In short—
She was already holding back.
Otherwise, with her current speed and her other unreleased abilities, the seven members of Qing Tian Academy wouldn't have just been seriously injured — that would have been the best-case scenario.
"We concede!"
With that single strike—
The seven on stage didn't even have time to develop any emotional response before their team leader had already surrendered on their behalf.
With no Soul Sect among them, Qing Tian Academy's strength was already among the lowest tier, not to mention facing a team like Qian Yu Academy.
There was no chance of victory from the beginning.
Hence, they acted decisively.
Rather than let their students suffer a crushing defeat on stage, it was better to end this hopeless battle voluntarily.
And so the entire arena fell silent.
This match was even faster than the one against Shrek.
"Winner: Qian Yu Academy Representative Team!"
The referee, stunned for a few moments, finally made the announcement.
At this moment—
In the VIP seats, Prince Xue Xing suddenly stood up and pointed at "Xue Qinghe" angrily:"So you really never planned for Li Yu to participate in the tournament? Zhu Zhuqing is the one you were relying on?"
Zhu Zhuqing had once paid a visit to the Eastern Palace to see "Xue Qinghe".
Prince Xue Xing knew about this.
But—
Back then, Zhu Zhuqing hadn't demonstrated any particularly outstanding power or talent.
After all, in her duel with Li Yu, both she and Xiao Wu had been taken down immediately upon getting close, only managing to release a single Nether Thrust.
Moreover, Zhu Zhuqing was originally from the Star Luo Empire.
Prince Xue Xing never believed Zhu Zhuqing could be Xue Qinghe's hidden ace.
But now…
He had been wrong. Completely wrong!
Zhu Zhuqing actually possessed such strength!
What a pity…
The tournament had already started. Now, it was too late for anything.
Xue Qinghe, upon hearing this, merely cast a faint glance at Prince Xue Xing and said,"Your Highness thinks too much."
Then—
He helped Li Yu to his feet and bowed slightly toward Emperor Xue Ye:"Royal Father, Yu'er isn't feeling well. Now that the tournament is well underway, I'll take him back to rest."
"Mm."
Emperor Xue Ye simply let out a light hum, offering no further reaction.
Xue Qinghe didn't mind, and truly left with Li Yu.
Everyone related to the Heaven Dou royal family stared at the backs of Xue Qinghe and Li Yu as they departed.
So loving…
No—so cunning!
Just as Prince Xue Xing suspected—
They too had believed Li Yu would be Xue Qinghe's trump card, and had been closely watching which team he would ultimately appear on.
After all—
With Li Yu's displayed talent, as long as he put in some effort, relying on just the superior quality of his spirit rings, it wouldn't be hard for him to reach the finals, if not win the whole thing.
And in this era, that would be a major political achievement!
At that point—
It would be the final push Xue Qinghe needed to secure his place on the throne!
But now…
Thanks to Prince Xue Xing's outburst, they all finally realized—
Zhu Zhuqing had already been secretly recruited under Xue Qinghe's command.
And she had such incredible potential!
So Li Yu… is really not competing?
Even Ning Fengzhi appeared a bit dazed at this moment.
He had known about Zhu Zhuqing's enrollment in Qian Yu Academy long before—Even before Dai Mubai and the others caused trouble.
However—
He had never connected this to Xue Qinghe.
Because based on what he knew of his student, Xue Qinghe would never play his cards openly like this.
But this time…
Xue Qinghe had seemingly done the exact opposite, playing his hand right on the table.
This was entirely unexpected.
What boldness!
Even Ning Fengzhi couldn't help but marvel.
Yet unlike others—
Ning Fengzhi still believed that Li Yu would eventually participate.
Others may have been deceived by Li Yu's apparent spirit power level, but even if he couldn't see through it clearly, he refused to believe that was all there was.
Should he visit Xue Qinghe again and try to place Rongrong into Qian Yu Academy?
Ning Fengzhi began to consider.
He had hinted at this to Xue Qinghe, both openly and covertly, before—
But Xue Qinghe had rejected him outright every time.
Still, Ning Fengzhi didn't blame him.
Because what Xue Qinghe lacked was precisely this final piece of leverage.
And before laying it on the table, that final card must be protected at all costs.
Any premature exposure could ruin everything!
After all, while Xue Qinghe had garnered support from some of the most powerful forces, he had still not officially ascended.
And his opponent…
Seemingly Xue Beng, but in truth it was Emperor Xue Ye himself.
Therefore—
Caution was essential.
But now, things had changed.
The final card had been revealed—any under-the-table tricks were now useless.
The only way to stop him now was to publicly smash that final piece!
However—
Given the quality of that card, even a team like Shrek, with rumored secret backing from Emperor Xue Ye, would have a hard time destroying it.
So—
Ning Fengzhi felt compelled to "persuade" Xue Qinghe once more.
There was no longer any risk of exposure.
Beside him, Sword Douluo Chen Xin was also deep in thought.
During the incident at Qian Yu Academy, he had sensed someone secretly observing the commotion caused by Shrek and the others.
But at the time, he'd merely glanced and assumed it was a teacher from Qian Yu.
After all, the aura he sensed wasn't particularly strong.
But looking back now—
Could that person in hiding have been one of Xue Qinghe's?
Meanwhile, Platinum Bishop Salas of the Spirit Hall, who was responsible for the tournament draw, wore a strange expression.
He had thought that with the strength of the Spirit Hall's representative team, there was no way any surprises would occur.
But now—
Just within the Heaven Dou Empire, three monstrous talents had appeared!
A fourth spirit ring of ten-thousand-year level!
Even the Golden Generation of Spirit Hall had never achieved that!
Still—
They were already Spirit Kings, so in the end, there should be no surprises, right?
Salas reassured himself while also reporting the power levels of the Heaven Dou division teams to headquarters.
Meanwhile.
Li Yu and Qian Renxue had already returned to the palace.
The Heaven Dou Grand Arena was not far from the royal palace to begin with.
Though they didn't use Spatial Teleportation due to public visibility, the return journey still didn't take long.
As for the tournament…
With the combined strength of Zhu Zhuqing, Xiao Wu, and Wang Changzhi—
Until the finals, he really didn't need to pay any attention.
Today, he had only come along because of the opening ceremony—Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to show up at all.
And as soon as they returned to the exclusive quarters of the Eastern Palace,the two of them immediately became quite busy…