Over these eight days and four matches, although they hadn't made progress in probing the Sun Moon Imperial team, there wasn't no good news: the Star Luo Royal team had defeated the Douling team.
This meant that even if the two teams ended up tied on points, it should be the Star Luo Royal team advancing to the top sixteen.
With this little bit of confidence, Xu Jiawei finally arranged for the Star Luo Royal team to clash with the Sun Moon Imperial team in the fifth match.
For this match, the square was packed to capacity.
Because there were no seats.
Of course, there wasn't a single gap left in the square.
Even the preparation area was filled with all the teams, ready to watch this match properly.
Watching the match was a pretext; collecting information on their opponents was the real goal. Every team that felt they had a hope of entering the top sixteen was now fully focused.
For this match, the format drawn by lottery was—Team Battle!
"For this match, with our team's strength, the possibility of defeating the Sun Moon Imperial team exceeds seventy percent!"
Xu Jiujiu was still giving her pre-battle pep talk.
Based on the abilities the Sun Moon Imperial team had currently displayed, Xu Jiujiu had this confidence.
If they wanted to win, then the Sun Moon Imperial team would have to reveal more of their trump cards.
"Spirit Magic Crystal can amplify elemental power. The Spirit Tool made with it as the core allows me to mobilize fire elements and integrate them into my Spirit Skills. Right now, I am no less than a Spirit Emperor."
The fire element was one aspect; another Spirit Tool allowed her to cause explosions when mobilizing starlight. This was the true source of her confidence.
The Star Luo Empire had obtained a total of seven pieces of Spirit Metal!
In their exploration of Spirit Metal, although the Douling Empire was outstanding, elevating Gu Zhujian's Martial Spirit and assisting him in creating his own sword technique in a short time, the Star Luo Empire was not inferior at all.
If time had permitted, Xu Jiujiu could actually have followed the Douling Empire's approach, consuming another piece of Spirit Metal to forge a Spirit Tool Star Crown that would sublimate her Star Crown Martial Spirit.
At that time, she would be in her true peak state.
"No rush. The team's entry into the top sixteen is basically secure now. There's still time. Continue observing how the Tianhun Empire and Shrek utilize Spirit Metal. When the time comes, I'll see which method suits me better and then rush to produce it."
"For this match, which of you will go?"
Elder Ma looked at Su Ming, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen.
It was time to reveal a bit of strength; otherwise, this match might force them to reveal more trump cards.
Ma Rulong's Level 7 Spirit Tool definitely wasn't suitable for exposure yet.
"I'll go. It doesn't matter if my methods are exposed," Su Ming volunteered.
Elder Ma glanced at Su Ming, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
Methods exposed?
You kid, you haven't even revealed your trump cards in front of us.
That Star Tree Giant might fool others, but it couldn't fool people like Jing Hongchen and Elder Ma, who knew his true Martial Spirit and background.
"Then you take the field. Chen Fei doesn't need to play. For this match, let's go with the Fast Push Strategy," Elder Ma said.
Fast Push Strategy?
Alright.
"Will the members of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy team and the Star Luo Royal team participating in this team battle please take the stage."
On the imperial city wall, Xu Jiawei sat up straight.
He stared intently at the seven members of the Sun Moon Imperial team ascending the stage.
"They sent Su Ming?"
He quickly recalled the various pieces of information about Su Ming from the registration.
"A Spirit Elder?"
A Spirit Elder?
They sent a Spirit Elder onto the field?
Xu Jiawei had never considered that Su Ming would play. In his view, among the seven reserve team members of the Sun Moon Imperial team, only Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and Zhang Wei were capable of appearing in this tournament.
Yet, the Sun Moon Imperial team fielded Su Ming.
A Spirit Elder...
It must be known that the Star Luo Royal team's configuration had actually been exposed during their previous battle with the Douling team.
The Star Luo Royal Academy team—all members are Spirit Kings!
This was also the reason Xu Jiawei was confident about forcing out the Sun Moon Imperial team's trump cards.
Shrek preparation area.
"It's him? Why is he playing?" Wang Yan said, puzzled.
Wang Yan knew of Su Ming's existence through official information but hadn't paid much attention.
Registration didn't require stating Spirit Power level or Martial Spirit, but age had to be reported.
Su Ming was only twelve years old; he couldn't be a Spirit Ancestor.
A Spirit Elder was basically useless in a tournament of this level.
Suddenly, he remembered that Bei Bei knew something about Su Ming and began to ask.
"Bei Bei, what is that Su Ming's strength like?"
Bei Bei said with a grim expression, "Stronger than me."
"A year ago, I couldn't beat him. Now, I still wouldn't dare say I can win against him."
What?
Even Bei Bei, a Spirit Ancestor, couldn't defeat Su Ming?
"Isn't his Martial Spirit a Body Martial Spirit?" Wang Yan exclaimed.
It was generally accepted that Body Martial Spirit Masters were weak in the early stages. Only after the second awakening would Body Martial Spirits begin to become exaggerated.
"Has his Martial Spirit undergone a second awakening?"
Wang Yan guessed.
Bei Bei shook his head.
"No. The second awakening of a Body Martial Spirit isn't judged by performance."
Wang Yan knew too little about Body Martial Spirits, having never seen one himself, nor did he have access to such 'profound knowledge'.
"It's a state, an amplified state. Su Ming's strength was already very strong even without being in that state."
After receiving Bei Bei's explanation, Wang Yan fell silent.
After a long time, he said, his voice slightly hoarse, "So, Zhang Wei hasn't undergone a Martial Spirit second awakening either?"
Zhang Wei, without a second awakening, performed like that?
Bei Bei didn't respond.
However, his silent demeanor indirectly answered Wang Yan's question.
"So it's you."
Xu Jiujiu stared intently at Su Ming.
She became alert inwardly.
The Sun Moon Imperial team suddenly fielding a Spirit Elder couldn't be without purpose.
"Match begin!"
With the referee's command, members from both sides released their Spirit Rings.
The Star Luo Royal team uniformly had five rings each, all with the optimal configuration: two yellow, two purple, one black.
The Sun Moon Imperial team appeared somewhat messy.
Zhang Wei's single white Spirit Ring stood out like a crane among chickens.
Su Ming's three Spirit Rings were even more conspicuously few, yet somewhat dazzling, because his Spirit Rings were unmistakably—Yellow, Purple, Black!
"A ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring!"
At this moment, countless people exclaimed.
A ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring had actually appeared on a Spirit Elder.
The entire audience rose to their feet.
In the preparation area, every Spirit Master from every team was shocked without exception.
Xu Jiawei's hand nearly crushed the armrest of his chair.
"Impossible."
Wang Dong murmured softly.
Huo Yuhao glanced at Wang Dong, profound shock evident deep in his eyes.
Wang Dong, with a thousand-year second ring, was one of only two examples of cross-level Spirit Ring absorption he had ever witnessed.
The other was naturally Su Ming.
But when he last saw Su Ming, Su Ming only had two Spirit Rings.
"His first ring was only a hundred years, he only started cross-level absorption with the second ring, how could he..."
"If the first ring is at most nine hundred years, and the second ring doesn't exceed three thousand years, how could the third ring jump to ten thousand years?"
"It's impossible."
"Impossible!"
Wang Dong calculated over and over, falling into confusion.
Wang Yan was even more so.
Because he was sensitive to data, he knew even more clearly how exaggerated this configuration was.
***
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(Chapter end)