Seeing that Yu Tianxin's words had the desired effect, Tang San continued, "The defeat in this match is no one's fault but mine. I underestimated Ning Tianchen's strength too much, which led to our tactical disadvantage."
"Here, I sincerely apologize to everyone."
This strategy of taking a step back successfully struck a chord with everyone.
Dai Mubai reached out to steady Tang San. "Xiao San, if it weren't for my recklessness, perhaps you could have had more time to adjust our tactics."
"I'm the captain of the Shrek Seven Monsters. The responsibility for this loss falls heaviest on me."
Tai Long quickly added, "If I hadn't made such a critical mistake during my surprise attack on Ning Tianchen, the team wouldn't have fallen into such a huge disadvantage. I underestimated his reaction speed—I apologize to everyone."
Xiao Wu chimed in, "During the match, I didn't contribute at all and failed to restrain the back row of the Seven Treasures Team."
Peeking from outside the meeting room, Yu Xiaogang was satisfied to see everyone voluntarily take responsibility for themselves.
With Tang San handling things, there was no need for him to worry further.
Tang San smiled faintly and extended his hand.
Seeing this, the other six members of the Shrek Seven Monsters immediately joined in.
"Shrek, we will prevail!"
After this self-motivation session, they couldn't avoid facing the harsh reality.
The strength of the Seven Treasures Team was beyond their reach—at least for now. What would their path forward look like in the upcoming matches?
Tang San swept his gaze across the group and spoke in a deep voice, "In the preliminary matches, we truly had no way to defeat the Seven Treasures Team. But after the preliminaries end, there will be a month-long break. I have a plan to rapidly increase our strength during this period. Please trust me—by the time we reach the finals, we will reclaim our honor."
For Tang San, wielding the Hao Tian Hammer without soul rings wasn't enough to defeat the Seven Kill Sword.
To preserve his trump card, he hadn't revealed his Hao Tian Hammer martial soul during the match against the Seven Treasures Team. Combined with his cautious nature, the other six members of the Shrek Seven Monsters remained unaware that he possessed twin martial souls.
"Xiao San, what should we do?" Dai Mubai, regaining his usual confidence, pressed for answers.
Tang San kept them guessing and simply said, "Teacher has a way to get Tianxin to join us. At that point, we'll become the Shrek Eight Monsters. Fatty, for the latter half of the matches, you'll have to sit out while Tianxin takes your place on the field."
"Even with a full Soul Ancestor lineup, it's still not enough to guarantee victory against the Seven Treasures Team. As for our real trump card, it's inconvenient for me to reveal it just yet. But when the promotion matches begin, you'll find out."
---
As the days passed, the preliminary matches entered their final stages.
The closing match was between the Skywater Team and the Shrek Team.
Having already secured their spot in the next round, the Shrek Team played very casually in this match, even allowing two substitutes to play simultaneously.
As expected, the Skywater Team emerged victorious.
But the members of the Shrek Team didn't feel disheartened. Instead, they eagerly anticipated Yu Tianxin's arrival and the trump card Tang San had mentioned.
After the match ended, neither the Shrek Team nor the Skywater Team left the stage.
With the preliminaries concluded, the tournament organizers followed the standard procedure, presenting qualification certificates, monetary rewards, and verbal commitments to the five advancing teams.
The qualification certificates held only symbolic meaning or were treated as souvenirs, displayed on the academy's wall of honor.
Even if the certificate was lost, it wouldn't affect the team's ability to participate in subsequent matches.
After all, the judges remembered the appearances of all members of the advancing teams. A simple face check would suffice for entry into the later stages.
Before the award ceremony began, the referee announced the list of advancing teams and their rankings.
The Seven Treasures Academy Team, with an undefeated record, ranked first in the preliminaries.
"Seven Treasures Team, Seven Treasures Team!"
At the announcement, the stands erupted in cheers.
"Tch, what's so great about it."
The members of the Shrek Team felt irritated but decided to let the Seven Treasures Team bask in their momentary glory.
When their names were called, the members of the Seven Treasures Team, led by Ning Tianchen, proudly marched onto the stage.
The second-ranked team in the preliminaries was the Skywater Academy Team.
Their strength was undeniable—they had only lost to the Seven Treasures Team.
"Boss, their strength wasn't this formidable during the inter-academy exchange tournament. They were quite fierce in the preliminaries," Chen Huayu whispered into Ning Tianchen's ear.
In the original timeline, the Thunderclap Academy advanced in second place, while the Skywater Academy ranked fifth.
Under Ning Tianchen's influence, the Thunderclap Academy was eliminated, while the Skywater Academy unleashed even greater strength.
"I have a way to deal with them," Ning Tianchen said with a confident smile.
After undergoing ice and fire body tempering, he no longer feared ice or fire-based attacks. Facing the Skywater Team again wouldn't leave him as passive as before.
The third-ranked team was the Shrek Academy Team, having lost to the two teams above them.
The fourth-ranked team was the Blazing Academy Team, having lost to the three teams above them.
The fifth-ranked team was the Godwind Academy Team. After losing Feng Xiaotian, their strength plummeted significantly. Their advancement was purely due to the Seven Treasures Team's excellent "assistance."
With their current strength, entering the finals basically guaranteed an early exit.
Even so, Feng Changlin was still satisfied.
Making it to the finals was better than being eliminated in the preliminaries.
"Next, Chairman Ning Fengzhi of the Tiandou Empire tournament organizing committee and Chairman Salas will present the qualification certificates and tournament rewards to the advancing teams."
Salas and Ning Fengzhi smiled as they descended from the high platform.
Salas handed out the certificates, while Ning Fengzhi distributed the tournament prize money.
As the first-place team in the preliminaries, Salas approached them first.
After shaking hands with each member, he handed the certificate to Ning Tianchen and patted him on the shoulder. "You've done well. We look forward to seeing you deliver an exciting match against the Spirit Hall Team in the finals."
This statement wasn't his own intention—it was delivered on behalf of Xue Qinghe.
Given the crowded setting, he couldn't mention Xue Qinghe's name directly.
"The Platinum Bishop honors us with his praise. We're looking forward to facing the Spirit Hall Team," Ning Tianchen replied with a smile.
Salas didn't linger too long with them and immediately moved on to the next team.
As for the prize money, all five teams received the same amount—one hundred thousand gold soul coins.
This was only the preliminary stage, after all—a small portion of the overall tournament's scale.
If any team managed to secure a top-three finish in the Soul Master Tournament, Emperor Xue Ye wouldn't skimp on the rewards.
After handing the gold soul card to Ning Tianchen, Ning Fengzhi added, "This is the tournament's reward. Given that you've achieved first place, upon returning to the academy, each of you will receive an additional reward of five hundred thousand gold soul coins. Keep up the good work. Achieve better results in the subsequent matches, and the sect will have other rewards waiting for you."
"Long live the Sect Leader!" Everyone clapped enthusiastically.
The Seven Treasures Team consisted of ten people, totaling five million gold soul coins. This amount was negligible for the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect—barely a drop in the bucket.
During this awards ceremony, the Tiandou Empire, the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, and the Spirit Hall reached a rare consensus:
Namely, not to issue any prize money to the Shrek Academy.
When it came to the Shrek Academy's turn, Ning Fengzhi simply skipped over them.
------------------------------------------------------
Thank you to our new Patrons: bwuooq, Mike Foster and miney laster! Your support means the world to me <3 We are up to 'Chapter 290: Two New Killing Gods in the Spirit Hall? Rewards for the First Trial' on Patreon!
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)
Support my writing journey: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
40+ Chapters Ahead Guaranteed.