Douluo ║ Vermilion Ice Harmony

Morning Match

The knock-out competition would start from today.

But Xue Rui stood in a corner with an unlovable expression.

First of all, yesterday she had to activate their martial soul fusion skill which drained ninety percent of her soul power, Xie Siran, that freak even forced her to workout and practice in the name of her being too weak and almost exhausted her to death before letting her off the hook.

Secondly, with barely sleeping and recovering all her soul power she attended the opening ceremony. But Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were nowhere to be seen. As a result, Teacher Zhou's death daze was on her from start to finish.

While cursing them in her mind, Xue Rui maintained an expressionless face.

The number of participating students from Class 1 was the greatest among the ten classes, and as such, the time needed to register them was also the longest among the ten classes. When it was time for Xue Rui's team to be registered, Xue Rui was the only person who responded. Unexpectedly, nobody responded to the names 'Huo Yuhao' and 'Wang Dong'. Once this occurred, not only was the entire student body stunned, but even the teachers were astonished.

Although this wasn't the first time that a situation like this had occurred in the history of Shrek Academy, it was an extremely rare occurrence. Even if they had already passed the freshmen assessment, it would seem as if they were looking down on the academy if they didn't turn up for the knock-out tournament. As such, they would give an unfavorable impression to all the teachers.

The teacher in charge of the registration paused slightly for a moment before continuing to register the students from the other classes. This went on all the way until Class 6 when Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong finally arrived.

Xue Rui knew that Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong would have tried their first martial soul fusion skill too. The two of them had rushed to the academy, and they'd even slept in the forest overnight. In addition to that, they hadn't even had time to clean themselves up. Without even talking about how dirty their clothes were, there were even traces of mud and dew on their clothes.

After successfully reporting in they breathe a sigh of relief even if they got punishment. They return to stand together with Xue Rui.
"Just wait till Teacher Zhou takes care of you."

"Stop talking. It's all Huo Yuhao's fault!" Wang Dong complained first. They didn't plan to disclose their martial soul fusion skill just yet. They had to wait.

The director of the outer courtyard's Martial Soul Department, Du Weilun, quickly finished taking attendance, and what followed was the drawing of lots. This was only a freshmen assessment, so there weren't too many complicated procedures involved. Huo Yuhao represented his team to draw lots. The sixty-four teams involved in the knock-out tournament were divided into thirty-two areas where they would fight each other.

Yesterday, the students had a half day's worth of rest, and the layout of the Assessment Area had been changed during that day as well. They merely changed the positioning of the partitioning walls, re-dividing the Assessment Area into sixteen areas. This time, the area of every single sub-area was increased several-fold, allowing the participating students to have even more space to utilize.

The rules of the knock-out tournament were very simple; there would be one match in the morning and one match in the afternoon every day, and eliminated teams would have to return to class, while victorious teams would continue to compete. After three days, the top three teams would be decided.

After the lots were drawn, the round of sixty-four immediately started, and thirty-two matches were simultaneously held. This way, they could shorten the time used for the tournament and give victorious students ample time to rest for their afternoon match.

This time, Huo Yuhao's team was sent to the 15th area; their proctor had been changed as well. This time, the proctor in charge of them was a thirty-or-so-year-old female teacher who looked extremely good-natured.

When they drew lots earlier, they only obtained a number. Hence, they didn't even know who they'd be facing. Once they arrived, they were somewhat speechless. Their opponents in the first match were actually a few of their classmates, resulting in this knock-out tournament becoming a civil war.

Their three opponents were people whom Xue Rui's team recognized. One of them had even attempted to challenge Wang Dong. According to Wang Dong, that fellow had been immediately humbled after Wang Dong privately beat him up.

Zhou Yi's judgment was extremely precise. Since she had chosen Huo Yuhao's team as Class 1's seeded team, their strength was naturally something that the other teams couldn't compete against. The match didn't last for long. Although their opponents were extremely resilient, the match was finished within ten minutes due to Wang Dong and Xue Rui working together, along with the assistance of Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection. Thus, Huo Yuhao's team successfully entered the top 32.

When the afternoon bell rang, the freshmen assessment's knock-out tournament's round of sixteen officially began.

When compared to the morning, the number of competing students had decreased by half. Once they drew their lots again, the students immediately headed toward their designated areas to start their respective matches.

The layout of the area hadn't changed, as this match was being held on the same day as the previous match. However, only the first 16 battlefields were used for the matches.

There was a tall stage erected by the northern part of the Assessment Area. This stage was 20 meters above the ground and was supported by six metallic pillars. From the ground, it was impossible to see the number of people the stage contained. However, there were vague figures up there, as if there were people who were watching their matches. On the other hand, a distance of 20 meters from the ground was enough to overlook the entire Assessment Area, allowing the people up there to clearly see the state of every match.

This time all three of them came to the Assessment Area very early to draw their lots.

This time, they were assigned to the eighth arena. By the time they arrived at the arena, the other team who'd been assigned to the eighth arena as well had already arrived.

To Xue Rui's astonishment, their opponents were all girls. Furthermore, they were young ladies who were very pretty.