Sheng Feilong deliberated on his next course of action for quite a while. She Meixiao's suggestion to drop out of the tournament was a feasible decision. Although the Netherworld Putrefaction Demon had calmed down, there was no confirmation that it wouldn't wake up again.
On the other hand, Sheng Feilong would lose out on the possibility to obtain another Soul Bone. Although he didn't know what kind of Soul Bone it would be and guessed that it would most likely be a rather common one, no older than 1.000 years, it was still a treasure.
Moreover, even if he didn't intend to use it himself, he could give it Song Weihan for his research; The latter would surely be delighted. Then, there was the fact of gaining fame through winning the tournament, not just for himself, but for the whole of the Douluo Continent.
He talked with She Meixiao about his choices and concerns for a while. She understood his point, but was still of the impression that he should quit the tournament as it wasn't worth the risk, though she wouldn't force his decision. Eventually, he agreed with She Meixiao.
The two of them informed the organizers of the tournament about the decision that 'She Feilong' would no longer compete in the tournament and returned to the hotel.
The next day, the matches continued without delay. A few great battles were fought, but one truly surprised the audience; She Feilong, who defeated their Star Luo Empire's princess in his last match, was set to fight against the captain of Shrek Academy's team.
However, instead of She Feilong ascending the arena, an announcement was made that he had retired from the tournament due to personal reasons. As the announcement didn't explain the situation, many people started to complain, calling She Feilong a coward who backed out of a fight against Tang Wulin, while other insinuated that he only planned to insult the royal family from the beginning.
Many of those rumours quickly spread, but Sheng Feilong just brushed them off; He didn't care about the opinions of those people, that were against him from the start, in the slightest. Tang Wulin and the other Shrek students were just as surprised as the audience, though; Sheng Feilong hadn't told them about his decision beforehand.
Still, having seen his state from yesterday, they understood his decision. They didn't know what was going on exactly, but even a powerful Titled Douluo could do nothing but watch him when the strange grey gas appeared, so it could be guessed that he faced a dangerous situation.
The person most infuriated by this announcement was probably princess Dai Yun'er herself. She had gone on a total rampage in the waiting area. She hated both, Sheng Feilong and Tang Wulin, and really wanted to see those to claw at each others throats.
The matches of the day continued without delay, though. Tang Wulin more or less obtained a free pass for this round and his mood was rather good. He had spotted Sheng Feilong in the spectator's area before, sitting on the pedestal with the Star Luo Empire's nobility and his Master, She Meixiao.
A handful of matches passed with Yuanen Yehui winning her fight easily, entering the final sixteen, just like Tang Wulin. Xie Xie also entered the top sixteen, making it a total of three students from Shrek that stood toe to toe with the greatest talents of the Star Luo Continent, despite their ages being way younger.
The next day, the round of sixteen began. People were once again incredibly hyped for the matches, especially since two of the eight matches would be held between students from Shrek Academy and students from Monster Academy; Xie Xie would fight the Wind King, Lin San, while Tang Wulin would fight His Highness, the Fourth Prince and Tiger King, Dai Yueyan!
The first few matches went by quietly, as expected. Yuanen Yehui advanced with some minor problems in her fight as was the first to enter the quarter finals. Another powerful Soul Master with a Soul King ranked cultivation base and a finished Battle Armour was the next to advance. Following him, were Long Yue and another powerful Soul King expert.
Next, it was Xie Xie's match. He was facing Lin San, the Wind king of Monster Academy. Both of them were agility type Soul Master, however, despite Xie Xie's desperate struggles, Lin San was superior to him in nearly every aspect; Be this combat techniques, cultivation base or even his mentality in battle.
Even though he lost, Xie Xie gave it his all, earning the respect of his opponent. Even the audience acknowledged this match with applause for both parties. Lin San was apparently the least talented member of Monster Academy's Eight Heavenly Kings, but the most hard working. His strength had been forged with his own blood, sweat and tears.
Despite being completely exhausted, Xie Xie didn't miss the opportunity to take liberties with Yuanen Yehui. Normally, the latter would just tell him to scram, but seeing his achievements today, she didn't retort.
The next, and last battle for the day, was finally the fight between Tang Wulin and Dai Yueyan; Shrek's team captain versus His Highness, the Fourth Prince! Everyone was on edge to see this fight play out in front of them; And they were right to do so!
As soon as the match began, Tang Wulin and Dai Yueyan clashed head on, comparing their physical strength in the purest of confrontations! With the Dai family's heritage Spirit Essence, the White Tiger, Dai Yueyan's strength was naturally immense. Even so, the much younger Tang Wulin could keep up with him using his Dragon bloodline!
The fight soon escalated to incredible degrees; Both of them were still fighting using their raw strength as their preferred combat method, but Tang Wulin soon started using his Bluesilver Emperor Spirit Essence. As the real name was only known to a handful of people, the announcer naturally didn't recognize it and referred to it as a mutated Bluesilver Grass.
Soon, they competed all out, using every method at their disposal; Tang Wulin using his Battle armour pieces and all of his strength as well as Soul Power, while Dai Yueyan donned his complete One Word Battle Armour while simultaneously using multiple Soul Skills to boost his power further.
In the end, Tang Wulin came out as the winner; He used greathammers that were usually used by Mecha's to fight. Making use of his incredible strength, he nearly crushed Dai Yueyan in the end, forcing the referee to intervene in order to save the latter. Thus, it was Tang Wulin's win by default.
The audience went wild once again. They had expected the Fourth Prince to finally lay an end to Tang Wulin's winning streak, but even he failed to do so. With this, Tang Wulin advanced to the quarter finals as well!
The day ended with that match, but the next day would result in matches just as exciting to watch; They were finally coming close to the end of the competition!
Today's pairing were a bit special; Out of the eight remaining contestants, two were from Shrek Academy, two form Monster Academy and the remaining four from different smaller influence of the Star Luo Empire.
Long Yue and Lin San, the Monster Academy students would be facing one of the smaller influence's students, while Yuanen Yehui and Tang Wulin would face each other; Only one of the, would continue into the semi finals!
Unexpectedly, however, Yuanen Yehui forfeited the match, giving Tang Wulin his second free pass in this tournament. Long Yue and Lin San obviously finished their matches without much problems; There opponents, although strong, weren't on the same level as them at all.
In the semi-finals, the strength of Tang Wulin's opponent was also very strong. However, he had fought frantically in his previous match which resulted in his Battle Armour being seriously damaged. Tang Wulin exploited a weak spot and ended the battle in ten minutes. Thus, he entered the finals of the competition!
Long Yue and Lin San fought a grand battle; possibly the greatest of all the tournament had shown thus far. The crowd was continuously roaring and cheering for them and even after over an hour of fighting, there was still no clear winner. However, after another few minutes, Lin San suddenly admitted defeat.
He didn't saw anymore, but from Long Yue's relatively relaxed appearance, Sheng Feilong guessed he was still holding back. In fact, from their prior match of strength while they shook hands, Sheng Feilong knew that he was stronger than what he had shown today. Moreover, Long Yue had yet to reveal his Battle Armour in this tournament.
The next day would be the last of the solo competition. With only two competitors, Monster Academy's Long Yue and Shrek Academy's Tang Wulin remaining, there was only the finals waiting to be fought.