Chapter 125: Individual Arrangements

Xiao Yu glanced at Huo Wu and said, "You will not be the first to take the stage this time."

"Why?" Huo Wu asked, clearly unconvinced.

Xiao Yu said in a deep voice, "You have already started so many times in a row. Tomorrow, Shrek will certainly take it for granted that you will lead again. By suddenly changing our first player, we can catch them off guard. Furthermore, you have fought so many consecutive matches that your soul skills and abilities are essentially exposed to the opponents. Sending you out first now would make you an easy target."

Huo Wu said dismissively, "Is it really necessary to go through all this trouble? Shrek doesn't even have a single soul master who has broken through level forty-five. Although our intelligence indicates that Ning Rongrong, the next successor of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, is at Shrek Academy, she is a support-type soul master. If this were a team battle, the presence of the world's number one support martial soul would indeed elevate the team's strength to a new level, and we should be cautious. But this is the qualifying round for singles matches; the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda cannot play any role here!"

Ning Rongrong had not appeared in the preliminary rounds as Yu Xiaogang's trump card, but as the young mistress of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, her movements could not be hidden from the eyes and ears of the Nine Stars Palace, even without Xiao Yu's knowledge of the original plot.

"Underestimating the enemy is a cardinal sin in warfare!" Xiao Yu said earnestly. "Do not look down on Shrek Academy. Aside from Ning Rongrong, the others are not simple, especially Tang San. Don't forget, he is Tang Hao's son and possesses twin martial souls!"

Huo Wu had been on the scene when Tang Hao attacked Xiao Yu outside Soto City, so Tang San's background and the secret of his twin martial souls were no longer secrets within the Nine Stars Palace. Likewise, Huo Wu had a general understanding of the conflict between Tang Hao and the Spirit Hall. "With such deep hatred between Tang Hao and the Spirit Hall, would that detestable little thief Tang San really dare to use the Clear Sky Hammer in the tournament?"

Believe it or not, he actually would.

Xiao Yu said solemnly, "The Spirit Hall may be at irreconcilable odds with Tang Hao, but the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan and the Heaven Dou Imperial Family would find ways to protect him. Most importantly, Tang San himself does not fully grasp the depth of the hatred between Tang Hao and the Spirit Hall. If things go poorly during the qualifiers, it is not impossible for him to use the Clear Sky Hammer. Besides, Tang San's advantages are by no means limited to his twin martial souls!"

In Xiao Yu's view, Tang San's greatest advantage was his Mysterious Heaven Skill. His Mysterious Jade Hands, Purple Demon Eye, and hidden weapon techniques played a role in combat that even surpassed the world's number one tool martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer. Just as in the original story, it was his Tang Sect hidden weapon technique—the Bat Wing Reincarnation—that ultimately decided the outcome in the final against the Spirit Hall Academy team.

Huo Wu seemed to want to argue further, but Xiao Yu glared at her. This crazy girl was becoming arrogant from her string of victories; if he didn't knock her down a peg, she would truly think she was invincible.

The usually easygoing Xiao Yu displayed a captain's authority for the first time: "I am the captain of the Nine Stars team. As a team member, your duty is to follow orders! Don't think that just because you've achieved a few 'one-versus-seven' victories, you are invincible. You know very well the actual strength of those teams that qualified from the kingdoms and duchies. Ask yourself: if you were to face the Wind God, Thunder, and Heavenly Water academies—who qualified from the Heaven Dou division alongside Shrek—how many rounds could you last? The Elephant Armored Academy only lost because they pursue an extreme style, and their entire team shares the same martial soul, which fell completely under your control."

Seeing Xiao Yu's stern face, Huo Wu sat back down, disgruntled.

"Now, I will arrange the order for tomorrow!" Xiao Yu tapped the table and began his plan. "Iao, you will be the first to take the stage tomorrow."

According to Xiao Yu's analysis, if Shrek operated under the assumption that Huo Wu would start, and since they lacked water-attribute soul masters to counter her fire-attribute, and Tang San—having lost the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well—no longer possessed immunity to ice and fire, Yu Xiaogang would likely choose the agility-type "cannon fodder" Jing Ling and Huang Yuan to exhaust Huo Wu's soul power first.

As for the third soul master, Xiao Yu speculated it would likely be Ma Hongjun, followed by Zhu Zhuqing. If Zhu Zhuqing were the third to appear, her role would be consistent with Jing Ling and Huang Yuan, using her speed to drain the opponent's energy. However, Xiao Yu doubted they would sacrifice three soul masters just to exhaust one, so he deemed Ma Hongjun the most probable third candidate.

Why? Because Shrek lacked water-attribute counters, deploying Ma Hongjun, who also possessed fire-attribute, was their best choice for a decisive battle. Having lost the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower and instead consuming a mid-quality elixir funded by Ning Rongrong, Ma Hongjun's current soul power was around level thirty-seven or thirty-eight.

Although his soul power was nearly ten levels lower than Huo Wu's, logically speaking, Ma Hongjun's phoenix martial soul should possess greater flame intensity. Without the "cheat" Xiao Yu had secretly provided for Huo Wu, that would indeed be the case. Following Yu Xiaogang's strategy, after the exhaustion caused by Jing Ling and Huang Yuan, deploying Ma Hongjun—whose flame quality surpassed Huo Wu's—should be enough to eliminate her. Of course, that was only...