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Chapter 138: Tang San's First Defeat
🕑 Added 2024-12-26 17:51:52 +0000 UTCIn the following days, Heaven Dou Team Two faced rather average opponents, not seed-level teams, and there were no Spirit Ancestors among them—at most, one per team.
For Heaven Dou Team Two, it was as simple as slicing through melons and vegetables. After a streak of consecutive victories, they tied for first place with Heaven Dou Team One.
However, Heaven Dou Team One faced a slightly tougher schedule, already encountering one of the traditional powerhouses, the Elephant Armor Academy.
Heaven Dou Team One dispatched four Spirit Ancestors for this match: Ning Heng, Tang San, Yu Tianheng, and Bai Xiaofei.
Elephant Armor Academy was a traditional powerhouse, often grouped with elemental academies because of their mastery of earth-element techniques. Their defensive prowess made them one of the toughest bones to crack.
Bai Xiaofei's martial soul, the Sharp-tailed Swift, possessed incredible flight speed. Even though his offensive power was slightly lacking, his ability to harass the members of Elephant Armor Academy was highly effective. Moreover, Bai Xiaofei had been training his physical strength alongside Yang Podi for a long time, making his attacks more than capable of applying pressure.
In the end, after a hard-fought battle, Heaven Dou Team One achieved a resounding victory. During this match, Tang San demonstrated the tactical use of his Meteor Hammer technique, fully showcasing his control abilities. Yu Tianheng, with his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul, exhibited sheer dominance. Under similar spirit power levels, he completely overpowered Elephant Armor Academy's captain, Huyan Li.
Even after Huyan Li revealed a skull spirit bone, he was no match for the combined assault of Tang San and Yu Tianheng. The match ended disastrously for him, with severe injuries. When he exposed the skull spirit bone, the team targeted his head specifically, nearly costing him his life.
In the spectator stands, Huyan Zhen of the Elephant Armored Sect was so enraged he almost fainted. His outburst provoked Ning Fengzhi, who responded with a sarcastic retort, leaving Huyan Zhen humiliated and defeated both in competition and in spirit.
Coincidentally, or perhaps intentionally, after Elephant Armor Academy's loss to Heaven Dou Team One, they were immediately drawn to face Heaven Dou Team Two.
Compared to Heaven Dou Team One, Heaven Dou Team Two appeared even more ferocious. Confronting the towering, 400-pound Huyan Li, Team Two directly opted for a head-on clash.
Although Huyan Li boasted strong defense and immense power, Niu Meng of Heaven Dou Team Two seemed superior in every way—defense, strength, and even speed. Niu Meng was practically a stronger version of Huyan Li.
On the stage, Huyan Zhen nearly spat blood in anger. Both the Elephant Armored Sect and the Defense Clan excelled in defense, making them rare defensive spirit master factions on the continent. However, Huyan Zhen now realized the gap between his grandson, Huyan Li, and Niu Gao's grandson, Niu Meng.
Despite possessing a skull spirit bone, Huyan Li suffered a crushing defeat against Niu Meng in their one-on-one clash. Meanwhile, the other members of Heaven Dou Team Two quickly dealt with the rest of Elephant Armor Academy's students, then stood aside to watch the duel between Huyan Li and Niu Meng. What should have been a team battle turned into a single duel.
After defeating Elephant Armor Academy, Heaven Dou Team Two faced Thunderclap Academy just two days later. Thunderclap Academy's captain, Yu Tianxin, possessed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul with lightning attributes, slightly countering Dugu Yan's poison abilities. However, the overall strength of Thunderclap Academy was far inferior to that of Heaven Dou Team Two. After several exchanges, Thunderclap Academy suffered a complete defeat.
As the tournament reached its halfway point, both Heaven Dou Team One and Heaven Dou Team Two maintained perfect records, with no losses. Both teams achieved total victories against their opponents, with minimal injuries among their members.
The difference, however, lay in their approach. Heaven Dou Team Two used the same lineup throughout, relying on overwhelming strength to suppress their opponents.
Heaven Dou Team One, on the other hand, showcased a variety of strategies, with Tang San and Yu Tianheng as core players while rotating the other members. Their tactics were dazzlingly diverse, particularly Tang San's exceptional control abilities, which earned universal admiration.
The least utilized members were Tai Long, Dai Mubai, and Ning Heng.
Tai Long, Dai Mubai, and Yu Tianheng shared similar abilities as assault-type spirit masters, with little difference in their strength. Yu Tianheng became the primary pick for matches, leaving Dai Mubai with fewer appearances and Tai Long yet to step onto the stage.
If the first half of the competition saw Heaven Dou Team One and Heaven Dou Team Two neck and neck, the latter half saw Heaven Dou Team One's dominance wane significantly.
Their first challenge came against Blazing Academy.
Blazing Academy had only two Spirit Ancestors, but all their members wielded fire-attribute martial souls, naturally countering Tang San, the core of Heaven Dou Team One.
When the match began, Tang San employed his Meteor Hammer strategy. However, after the Blazing Academy members activated their spirit abilities, the arena was engulfed in flames, reducing the Blue Silver Grass to ashes.
Despite Tang San's impressive rank of 45, he was completely suppressed by the fire-attribute users. Even his most significant ally, Yu Tianheng, struggled to gain an advantage against Huo Wushuang.
Amidst the intense battle, Huo Wu unleashed her fourth spirit ability, Fire Dance Radiance.
A massive fireball emerged, taking out three members of Heaven Dou Team One, including a Spirit Ancestor—Bai Xiaofei.
Although Bai Xiaofei's Sharp-tailed Swift martial soul gave him a speed advantage, it was nullified by Blazing Academy's four fire crane spirit masters. His lack of offensive power left him restrained by their Spirit Elders.
After a long struggle, Heaven Dou Team One narrowly secured a victory. However, this match marked a turning point, exposing the team's greatest weakness: Grandmaster's strategies overly relied on Tang San. Thus far, Tang San was the only member to participate in every match.
Tang San himself displayed a glaring weakness—his Blue Silver Grass martial soul was highly vulnerable to fire. After this battle, every team facing Heaven Dou Team One began fielding fire-attribute spirit masters to counter Tang San, throwing the team into disarray.
If the Blazing Academy match was a hard-fought victory, the match against Sky water Academy was a complete loss.
Sky Water Academy was not exceptionally strong, with fewer Spirit Ancestors than Heaven Dou Team One. However, Heaven Dou Team One underestimated their opponents and fielded only three Spirit Ancestors.
The audience initially believed Heaven Dou Team One would win. To everyone's surprise, Shui Bing'er demonstrated incredible power. Her first spirit ability was a group control skill with instant activation.
Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu then unleashed their martial soul fusion ability, Ice and Snow Blizzard. The entire stage was engulfed in ice and snow, manifesting as a colossal ice phoenix. It was Shui Bing'er's first use of the fusion ability, and its overwhelming power shocked the spectators.
Tang San, for some reason, chose not to retreat and instead confronted the ice phoenix with his Clear Sky Hammer martial soul. This marked the first time Tang San used his Clear Sky Hammer in a match.
However, at his current rank of 45, Tang San lacked the physical strength and endurance he would later gain through ice-and-fire body refinement in the original timeline.
Despite Shui Bing'er's repeated pleas for surrender, Tang San stubbornly charged forward with the Clear Sky Hammer.
In the end, the hammer clashed with the ice phoenix, but failed to break it. Tang San himself was frozen solid, along with the rest of the team, who were turned into ice sculptures.
Heaven Dou Team One suffered their first defeat due to misjudgment and underestimation of Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu's martial soul fusion ability. Tang San sustained frostbite, requiring immediate treatment from healing spirit masters to avoid severe injuries.
Thus, only three teams remained undefeated: Heaven Dou Team Two, Tianshui Academy, and Godwind Academy. Heaven Dou Team One, having suffered their first loss, temporarily ranked fourth.
The audience erupted in debate. Some questioned why Team One and Team Two didn't merge their elite members to form a team of one Spirit King and six Spirit Ancestors, capable of sweeping the competition.
Tang San's abilities also faced scrutiny. His rank 45 spirit power remained top-tier, but the vulnerability of his Blue Silver Grass martial soul to fire sparked doubts. Many teams sought to counter Tang San with fire-attribute spirit masters, dimming his former glory.
A detailed evaluation of the tournament's participants emerged.
In the Heaven Dou division, the most notable control system spirit masters were Shui Bing'er, Dugu Yan, and Tang San. However, skepticism around Tang San grew.
The best defensive spirit master was Niu Meng, widely accepted without question, followed by Huyan Li.
The strongest attack-type spirit masters were Yang Ping'an, the sole Spirit King in the division with his powerful Breaking Soul Spear, and Yu Tianheng and Feng Xiaotian, both possessing top-tier beast martial souls.
As for the best support-type spirit master, it was undoubtedly Ye Lingling. Heaven Dou Team Two remained injury-free after most matches, often aiding even their opponents with healing. Ye Lingling stood unparalleled among healing spirit masters.
