Chapter 48: The Exchange Meeting Begins

"I hereby declare that the Five Elements Academy Exchange Tournament is now officially open!"

Following Feng Qingcang's resounding words, thunderous applause erupted from the spectators below.

Feng Qingcang raised his hands, signaling for the crowd to quiet down. Once silence was restored across the venue, he continued, "The Five Elements Academy Exchange Tournament is held once every three years. It is a stage for the students of our five academies to interact and learn from one another. I hope you will not hold back, but rather display your true brilliance. Do not fear failure; as long as you can make progress through defeat, this journey will not have been in vain."

With that, Feng Qingcang swept his gaze across the audience and noticed a burning fire in the eyes of many students. A slight smile touched his lips as he said, "Very well. I can feel your fiery passion. Able to join our Five Elements Academies, you are all undoubtedly geniuses in the outside world. So, who would be willing to step forward first and start today's inaugural soul duel?"

"Since the Dean has put it that way, allow me to cast a brick to attract jade!"

With these words, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth dressed in gold-and-red attire and possessing ordinary features leapt onto the stage. He gazed intently at the crowd below and shouted, "Huo Wushuang of Blazing Flame Academy, Martial Soul Horned Fire Dragon, thirty-sixth-rank power-attribute battle soul elder! I wonder who is willing to fight me?"

Although he was the first to take the stage, Huo Wushuang was not worried that a soul ancestor would suddenly pop up to defeat him. It was not because he believed the Five Elements Academies lacked soul-ancestor-level students, but rather that such matches only had meaning when the opponents were of comparable rank. Otherwise, what would be the point of holding this event? They could simply rank everyone by soul power instead.

"Haha, truly my son, bold enough!"

Seeing Huo Wushuang take the stage, Huo Yangyan immediately arched his eyebrows at the few people beside him. However, those around him were well aware of his personality, so no one bothered to pay him any mind.

"I will fight you!"

After waiting for a moment, an exquisite beauty of about sixteen years of age, draped in aquamarine long hair, leapt onto the stage.

Standing face-to-face with Huo Wushuang, the beauty cupped her hands toward him and said, "Tianshui Academy, Shui Bing'er, Martial Soul Ice Phoenix, thirty-sixth-rank control-attribute battle soul elder. Please advise!"

"Ice Phoenix?!"

Upon hearing Shui Bing'er's words, Huo Wushuang's pupils shrank violently, and his internal vigilance spiked to its maximum limit.

Meanwhile, high on the spectator platform, the smile on Huo Yangyan's face vanished instantly. He looked at Shui Yuruo beside him in utter disbelief and asked, "Your academy actually managed to recruit an Ice Phoenix martial soul?!"

The expressions of the other three also shifted dramatically, and their gazes toward Shui Yuruo carried a mixture of shock and uncertainty.

Phoenix martial souls were the absolute pinnacle of beast martial souls. Regardless of the type, as long as it had even the slightest connection to a phoenix, its tier would never be low. And the Ice Phoenix was one of the purest phoenix martial souls in existence.

If it weren't for the fact that the soul master community lacked deep research into this type of martial soul and could not optimize every step of its cultivation, its pure martial soul intensity would actually surpass the Blue Electric Tyrant Dragon, which was renowned as the number one beast martial soul under heaven.

Faced with the probing gazes of the others, however, Shui Yuruo merely smiled faintly and replied, "My little sister was simply lucky enough to cross paths with this Ice Phoenix martial soul holder during one of my travels outside."

Hearing this explanation, the other four could only roll their eyes. If Ice Phoenixes were that easy to stumble upon, their academies would already be overflowing with all sorts of top-tier martial souls.

However, seeing that Shui Yuruo had no intention of elaborating, they did not press further. The Ice Phoenix martial soul was indeed powerful, but it was not something they could acquire, and poaching students wasn't realistic either.

Down on the stage, Huo Wushuang and Shui Bing'er had already begun their battle.

Yet, right from the start, Huo Wushuang felt an extreme sense of grievance. Although his Horned Fire Dragon was not a top-tier martial soul, it was still a standout among high-level martial souls.

In regular combat, even when facing soul masters with water or ice attributes, he never flinched. But against Shui Bing'er's Ice Phoenix, it felt as though his level was being suppressed, making the fight agonizingly difficult.

Simply melting Shui Bing'er's first soul skill, Ice Seal, required a tremendous amount of effort. And just as he finally managed to close the distance to Shui Bing'er, a single Rejection Ring of Ice from her directly knocked him back to his starting position. How was he supposed to fight under such conditions?

Thus, after fighting for roughly a quarter of an hour, Huo Wushuang had no choice but to surrender, bringing the exchange's opening match to an end.

"You flatter me!"

Following Huo Wushuang's surrender, a faint smile appeared on Shui Bing'er's face as she cupped her hands toward him.

As for Huo Wushuang, his expression was unsightly. After returning the salute to Shui Bing'er, he hastily walked off the soul duel stage.

If possible, he never wanted to fight Shui Bing'er again. Being controlled to death and outmaneuvered to death made for a truly miserable combat experience.

Watching this match, Mo Hui furrowed his brow slightly.

Well... how should he put it? While their skill level was indeed much higher than that of ordinary students, in Mo Hui's current eyes, it was merely mediocre.

Finding it uninteresting, Mo Hui retrieved a book on soul ring mechanism research from his soul tool and began to read.

"This kid Mo Hui!"

On the high platform, seeing Mo Hui pull out a book, Feng Qingcang couldn't help but feel a bit helpless. Mo Hui was good at everything, but perhaps because he was simply too exceptional, he couldn't quite find common ground with his peers.

With the battle between Huo Wushuang and Shui Bing'er setting an example, the subsequent proceedings went much smoother. Outstanding students from various academies stepped forward one after another. At the height of the excitement, all four duel arenas were packed to capacity. Dazzling fluctuations of soul power surged and a variety of soul skills flashed incessantly, drawing continuous praise from the observing students and teachers.

During this period, Feng Xiaotian also stepped onto the stage several times and emerged victorious in every match.

There was no helping it; Feng Xiaotian's current rank was approaching the forty-third level, making him arguably the strongest among the student body. Moreover, after being defeated by Mo Hui, Feng Xiaotian had diligently honed his combat skills and mastered the multi-in-one air blades, greatly enhancing his soul power control. Leaving aside students of his own rank, even some veteran soul ancestors might not necessarily be able to defeat him.

For him to fight these students who had just broken through to the soul ancestor level was truly a case of dimensional reduction.

However, somewhat to Mo Hui's surprise, Feng Xiaotian did not take this opportunity to challenge him. Whether it was to keep things confidential or to avoid exposing him remained unknown.

After all, if Mo Hui were to fight, he would undoubtedly have to use the multi-in-one air blades and the cutting wind wheels. Without these two self-created soul skills, relying solely on Mo Hui's wind blades—which lacked overwhelming offensive power—would drop his combat capability by at least half.

Yet, Mo Hui could never have guessed that the only reason Feng Xiaotian chose not to challenge him was simply out of fear of losing to him in front of so many people once again.

Feng Xiaotian could care less about anyone else, but today, the object of his deepest affection, Huo Wu, was present. Wouldn't losing in front of her be entirely too humiliating?

Time flew by, and before long, noon arrived. Just as Mo Hui assumed nothing else concerned him today, an unexpected turn of events caused him to pause slightly.

Over on the side of Blazing Flame Academy, after listening to something whispered by a student from Divine Wind Academy, Huo Wu's lips curled upward. She then leapt onto the soul duel stage, pointed directly at Mo Hui, and shouted,

"I, Huo Wu of Blazing Flame Academy, challenge Mo Hui of Divine Wind Academy!"