Finally. After a long wait of over ten minutes, the referee's voice rang out again: "Next, representative of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy!"
"It's here!" Xuan Zi sat up straight abruptly, not even caring about the wine flask in his hand, his eyes wide as copper bells, staring fixedly at Liu Yuan as he slowly walked onto the high platform.
Liu Yuan's pace was steady, and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy uniform worn on him looked upright and slender.
Facing the gaze of tens of thousands of people, he still wore that calm and indifferent expression on his face, as if he hadn't come to draw a lot that would determine his fate, but rather to take a stroll.
This unhurried demeanor made Xuan Zi even more furious.
"Pretend! You just keep pretending!" Xuan Zi cursed viciously in his heart: "Once you draw Number Six, let's see if you can still smile!"
The moment Liu Yuan's hand reached into the lottery box, Xuan Zi's heart rate reached its peak.
In his heart, like a madman, he kept screaming frantically: "Number Six! Number Six! Number Six! Draw Number Six for me! It must be Number Six!"
That intense resentment seemed to materialize, interfering with the result of the draw.
On stage, Liu Yuan seemed to sense something; the corners of his mouth curled slightly into a playful arc, and he casually grabbed a numbered ball and handed it to the referee.
The eyes of the entire audience focused on that small ball at this moment.
The referee looked at the numbered ball in his hand, paused slightly, and then announced loudly: "Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, draw position..."
Xuan Zi's breathing stopped. "Number One!"
As the referee's voice faded, a line of striking characters instantly jumped out at the very top of the massive spirit tool screen: [First Round, First Match: Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy VS Heavenly Spirit High-Rank Soul Master Academy]
"Boom—" The whole venue was in an uproar. The first match is the Sun Moon Royal Team? This is the opening match!
Meanwhile, Xuan Zi below the stage, upon hearing the words "Number One," instantly went limp in his chair like a deflated ball.
"Damn it!" Xuan Zi couldn't help but curse under his breath, slamming the chicken bone in his hand onto the ground.
"How is it Number One?! Why isn't it Number Six?!" His face was extremely ugly, filled with disappointment and anger.
It was so close! It was just that close, and he could have crushed this ant with his own hands in the first round!
"They actually escaped a disaster!" Xuan Zi glared indignantly at the match-up table on the screen, gritting his teeth: "Consider the kid lucky that he didn't run into us right at the start."
"But it's just a difference between dying early or dying late! I don't believe you can keep hiding forever!"
Meanwhile, on the other side, Liu Yuan walked down from the high platform with a calm expression and returned to the ranks of the Sun Moon Team.
"Phew..." Seeing the result, Ma Rulong and the other team members breathed a long sigh of relief.
Although they had previously shouted about getting revenge for Liu Yuan and slapping Shrek in the face, that was strategic contempt; but tactically, they still attached immense importance to Shrek.
If they really ran into Shrek in the first round, it would definitely be an extremely brutal bitter battle. It was better to wait until they had, according to plan, collected more information on Shrek and manufactured more spirit tools to counter them.
Therefore, drawing Number One now, with the unknown "Heavenly Spirit High-Rank Soul Master Academy" as their opponent, was undoubtedly an excellent start.
"Great, it's a top-tier lot." Xiao Hongchen waved his fan, looking relaxed: "I've never even heard of this Heavenly Spirit Academy; it's probably some second-rate stuff, perfect to use as practice and a warm-up for us."
However, Meng Hongchen, standing beside Liu Yuan, had a slightly pale face, and her hands were unconsciously twisted together.
"But... Brother, Brother Liu Yuan." Meng Hongchen looked at the words "First Match" on the screen, feeling somewhat nervous: "We are the first match..."
"That means, as soon as the opening ceremony ends, we'll be on stage immediately? This... this is too fast, right? I haven't fully prepared myself mentally yet."
After all, it was her first time participating in such a top-tier continent-wide event, and it was the highly anticipated opening match, so as a girl, Meng Hongchen inevitably felt a sense of nervousness and pressure.
Seeing Meng Hongchen's uneasy appearance, Liu Yuan smiled gently.
He reached out and patted Meng Hongchen's shoulder very naturally, his voice gentle and magnetic: "Relax, Meng. It's just a normal match; there's nothing to be nervous about."
Liu Yuan's gaze swept over the somewhat nervous Meng Hongchen, then looked at the teammates around him who were relaxed but still somewhat tense, and said indifferently: "The opponent's strength is not strong; with our strength, we can easily win."
Speaking of this, Liu Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly, his voice lowered a few notches, carrying a trace of calm strategy: "However, since it is the first match, the eyes of the entire continent are on us, especially..."
Liu Yuan glanced meaningfully in the direction of Shrek in the distance: "That old guy over there is staring with wide eyes, wanting to see through our bottom line."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
"Therefore." Liu Yuan held up a finger and instructed in a calm tone: "For this match, in order not to expose too much of our strength, it is best not to go all out as a team."
He turned his head, his gaze falling on Ma Rulong and Xiao Hongchen: "Rulong, and Xiao. This match is left to you two."
"You two go all out, finish the fight in the fastest way possible, and show off the prestige of our Sun Moon Team!"
Ma Rulong and Xiao Hongchen's eyes lit up at the same time upon hearing this. "No problem!"
Xiao Hongchen excitedly closed his folding fan, his eyes flashing with eagerness: "I've been about to burst; it's perfect to use them to test my newly researched spirit tool tactics!"
Ma Rulong also nodded steadily: "Don't worry, Captain. Leave it to us; we will definitely win beautifully."
Liu Yuan nodded with satisfaction, then looked at Meng Hongchen, Mi Jia, and the other team members: "As for the others... after you get on stage, you just need to go through the motions, or cooperate with the defense."
"Try to use conventional spirit tools as much as possible and hide your core Spirit abilities and trump cards."
Wisdom flashed in Liu Yuan's eyes, and a cold smile curled at the corners of his mouth: "Doesn't Xuan Zi want to see? Then let him see. Let him think this is our full strength."
"Only in this way... when we encounter Shrek in the round-robin or the finals later, we can give them a fatal blow at the critical moment and catch them off guard!"
After listening to Liu Yuan's arrangements, admiration appeared in everyone's eyes. This was their core; not only was his strength formidable, but this strategy of remaining calm in the face of danger and looking three steps ahead was what made people feel most at ease.
"Understood!" The nervousness in Meng Hongchen's eyes dissipated a lot, replaced by a cunning smile: "Hee hee, Brother Liu Yuan is really bad, setting a trap for Shrek. But... I like it!"
"Alright." Liu Yuan adjusted his collar, casting his gaze toward the competition stage already bathed in sunlight: "Get ready to go on stage. Let the entire continent see the glory that belongs to the Sun Moon Royal."
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