Quan Yi gazed at the Emperor of Heaven Dou, but he saw the forced smile Xue Ye was putting on.
Such a celebratory day, yet the Emperor seemed somewhat unhappy.
Fortunately, he didn't show it too obviously.
However, this wasn't surprising, since most of the participating academies present didn't have direct ties to the Heaven Dou Empire.
Apart from the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, the advancement of other academies didn't offer any substantial benefits to the Empire.
But in the end, Xue Ye still had to encourage all participating Soul Masters in the name of the Emperor and the Empire to unleash their strength and achieve excellent results.
Following His Majesty the Emperor, the Master of Ceremonies invited Ning Fengzhi to deliver a speech.
Quan Yi was also extremely curious about the number one support-type Soul Master in the Soul Master world.
Ning Fengzhi's speech was nothing new.
He spoke of how Soul Masters were the noblest profession and how their growth required much tempering.
However, at the end of his speech, Ning Fengzhi emphasized the importance of the Empire.
"I hope you can win glory for the Empire and for your academies.
The stronger the royal family, the narrower the sect's living space and the greater the constraints it would face.
However, it seemed that the Heaven Dou royal family and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School had a deeper connection now.
"Sect Master Ning, you are the strongest support-type Soul Master. May I ask which of the twenty-eight participating teams in this preliminary competition you are most optimistic about?"
At the Master of Ceremonies' question, Ning Fengzhi slightly restrained his smile and pondered for a moment.
"This year's participating teams can be described as full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Besides the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's main team, many other academies have emerged as strong contenders, which has greatly subverted my expectations.
However, I can say with certainty that the champion team of this year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament is very likely to emerge from the Empire."
In fact, Ning Fengzhi had a favorite team before the competition, but after seeing the brilliance of the Blazing Academy and the Wind Spirit Academy, his internal choice wavered.
However, regardless of the outcome, the overall quality of the Heaven Dou Empire this time was very high, and it was entirely possible to compete for the championship.
"Although it's a bit of a pity, we can indeed understand Sect Master Ning's difficulty in making an easy choice.
However, this also means that the level of the Empire's participating teams this year is very high, which may be a happy problem for us."
The Master of Ceremonies subtly praised Heaven Dou's strength and then invited Platinum Bishop Salas to conduct the drawing of lots for the first round of the preliminary competition.
Salas acted very arrogant. Each time he drew a pair, he directly had the Master of Ceremonies convey the information.
Today was the opening ceremony, and only one match would be held in the first round of the preliminary competition.
That was the performance match between the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's deputy team and another academy.
And the list of match-ups began to be announced one after another.
The name of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy appeared prominently in the third group.
"In the first round of the preliminary competition, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy will face Shrek Academy."
As soon as this lottery result came out, the arena was filled with boos.
"Cheating, cheating, cheating."
It's no wonder these spectators were jeering. Shrek Academy had left too deep a negative impression on the audience. This looked like picking on the weak.
Salas ignored them and continued drawing lots at a steady pace.
The name of the Blazing Academy appeared in a very late position.
Their opponent was called the Mars Academy.
Judging from the name, one could guess that this academy was similar to the Blazing Academy, consisting of Soul Master teams composed of fire-attribute Soul Masters.
However, in terms of the academy's overall quality and strength, it was completely inferior to the powerful Blazing Academy.
It could be said that this academy was a lower substitute for the Blazing Academy.
Hearing the opponent's academy, Quan Yi was neither sad nor happy. No matter who the opponent was, it made no difference to him.
However, when their match-up was announced, a sigh of pity echoed throughout the arena.
This was a victory or defeat even more obvious than the Heaven Dou versus Shrek match.
The gap in strength was too obvious, only provoking the audience's pity.
The members of the Mars Academy, located in the back row, also accepted this unfortunate fate with bitter faces.
The drawing of lots ended quickly.
Salas, who had been silent all along, finally spoke in response.
He first swore in the name of the Spirit Hall's honor, stating that the drawing of lots was absolutely not false.
Then, he actually stood in front of the Heaven Dou Emperor and openly poached the Soul Master academies.
"All participating students who can enter the finals will be exceptionally allowed by the Spirit Hall to join the Spirit Hall's Holy Palace."
These words were extremely attractive to the vast majority of Soul Masters present.
There were only two Spirit Hall Holy Palaces in the entire continent. Being able to enter one was equivalent to students being admitted to Tsinghua and Peking University in the original world.
For Soul Masters, they could not only receive the highest level of treatment and cultivation funding but also gain honor.
Salas's words directly stirred the hearts of the Soul Masters in the arena.
Quan Yi immediately paid attention to Xue Ye's reaction.
Obviously, such a performance that didn't take the royal family seriously naturally made Xue Ye's face darken.
However, Ning Fengzhi shook his head gently to signal Xue Ye to endure it.
Through the subtle reactions of these three, Quan Yi seemed to see a microcosm of the continent's situation.
The three people in the front row of the VIP seats represented the Empire, the Sect, and the Spirit Hall, respectively.
From Salas's performance, it could be seen that the contradiction between the Spirit Hall and the Empire had been intensified to an irreconcilable degree.
He didn't even want to make any pretense in public, blatantly recruiting outstanding Soul Masters.
And the reactions of Xue Ye and Ning Fengzhi also made Quan Yi realize that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School seemed to have chosen the Empire between the Empire and the Spirit Hall.
Sects and royal families didn't get along very well. Standing in the royal family's position, seeing powerful forces within the territory that were not under control, of course, they would be unhappy.
Standing in the sect's position, while maintaining independence, the existence of the royal family would sometimes become a restriction.
However, the fact that two forces that didn't get along very well could come together showed how great a threat the Spirit Hall posed to them.
A routine opening ceremony allowed Quan Yi to see many interesting scenes.
It was fortunate that he came; otherwise, he might not have discovered these subtle changes.
A storm is brewing.
Seeing this opening ceremony, Quan Yi had such a feeling in his heart.
The things he was worried about might be closer than he imagined.
"The first match of the first round of the preliminary competition is between Heaven Dou Royal Academy and Shrek Academy.
Please have the other academies leave the arena. The match will officially begin in half an hour."
Except for the two opposing sides, the other academies were led to a special spectator stand for contestants. The Blazing Academy rightfully stood in the front row with the best view.
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
In the open space, a towering cylinder with a diameter of more than thirty meters and a height of ten meters stood tall.
This was the dedicated arena for the preliminary competition.
