A hoarse female voice drifted in from the doorway, causing everyone to startle and instinctively turn their heads.
Tang Sui, clad in pajamas, yawned, her black hair a messy halo, her blue eyes shimmering with natural moisture. Her large, dewy eyes reflected the stunned expressions of everyone present.
"Sui Sui!" Xiao Wu sprang up from the sofa like a coiled spring and dashed to Tang Sui's side, pulling her into a tight embrace. She rested her chin on Tang Sui's shoulder and gently, yet lovingly and exasperatedly, thumped Tang Sui's back. "You ungrateful little thing, you're finally awake!"
Tang Sui patted Xiao Wu's shoulder reassuringly. "Sister Xiao Wu, I want water. I'm so thirsty."
Ning Rongrong immediately went to the teapot on the table and poured a full cup of warm tea.
Zhu Zhuqing shifted to the side, making space. Tang Sui didn't stand on ceremony, sitting down next to Zhu Zhuqing. She then took the tea from Ning Rongrong and gulped it down in one go.
"Rongrong, I want more," Tang Sui said, holding up her empty cup and looking expectantly at Ning Rongrong.
Ning Rongrong lifted the teapot and poured another full cup for Tang Sui.
By the time Tang Sui had finished the remaining half-pot of tea, Dai Mubai stood up, voluntarily took the empty teapot, and went to a corner of the room to pour fresh water from the thermos. However, the water in the thermos was scalding hot and needed to cool.
While waiting for the water to cool, Grandmaster, unable to wait any longer, asked, "Sui Sui, did anything unusual happen while you were unconscious?"
"Unusual?" Tang Sui paused, then shook her head. "No. I just felt like I had slept for a very long time and was extremely tired."
"How are you recovering now? Do you feel unwell anywhere else?" Xiao Wu asked, looking at Tang Sui with concern. Everyone else also stared at her nervously, as if they would rush out to find medicine at the slightest hint of discomfort.
"I'm fine. A little rest will do me good. By the way, did the Dean just say we drew Blazing Academy again in the first round?" Tang Sui changed the subject.
Flander adjusted his glasses, a smile widening on his lips. "You haven't even asked me what the good news is yet."
Grandmaster glanced at his old friend and asked knowingly, "Flander, what is the good news?"
Flander chuckled. "The good news is, Blazing Academy has forfeited the finals, they've voluntarily withdrawn."
The Shrek team, who had been on edge, fell silent.
"Ah! Dean, you really scared me! I thought we were going to have to fight Blazing Academy again," Oscar said, patting his chest to calm himself. As easy as their promotion match had been, the qualifiers had been a tough ordeal for them. Although Blazing Academy wasn't strong enough to stop their progress, facing a near-top team in the very first round was not a good draw, perhaps even a bad one. Even if they could win, they didn't want to reveal their full strength in the first round.
"Grandmaster, since Sui Sui is awake, should we change our combat lineup back?" Dai Mubai asked Grandmaster.
Grandmaster looked at Tang Sui, who was holding her teacup and cautiously sipping the hot tea, appearing very thirsty. He made up his mind. "No changes for now. Let Sui Sui rest a bit longer. We'll have her participate in the finals."
The others had no objections.
The finals did not have the grand opening ceremony they might have expected. Everything was simple. A cardinal from the Spirit Hall announced the start of the finals, along with the match pairings and bye lists. The competition began under the direction of referees specially chosen by the Spirit Hall.
The first match ended quickly. The second match was between Divine Wind Academy and Star Luo Empire's Dragon Herb Academy. However, when the Shrek Academy team saw the lineup for Divine Wind Academy, they all rose from their seats in shock. This was because among the Divine Wind Academy's participants were four unfamiliar yet familiar faces. The unfamiliarity stemmed from them not being students of Divine Wind Academy, while the familiarity was that they were from Blazing Academy.
The dozen or so academies from the Star Luo Empire, who were unaware of the situation, reacted calmly. However, the other academy teams from the Heaven Dou Empire erupted in hushed whispers, questioning how Blazing Academy members could be in Divine Wind Academy's lineup. Flander, feeling this was a targeted move, couldn't sit still. He immediately got up to question the Grand Competition Referee Committee for an explanation. The response he received was that it was within the proper regulations and did not violate any rules. In essence, Blazing Academy had exploited a loophole in the competition rules. While competing academies could not change their participants mid-tournament, it didn't mean that academies whose records had already been submitted couldn't temporarily switch affiliations. They had used this loophole to form a more powerful and targeted team.
The Shrek team, as the targets, did not look pleased. Especially Tang San and Tang Sui, the siblings who had faced off against Huo Wu, were left silent by the taunting gestures made by the powerful new Divine Wind Academy after they KO'd Dragon Herb Academy in less than a minute.
"Grandmaster... this... I feel like we might need to re-draft our lineup again," Qin Ming said to Grandmaster with some difficulty. The teammates' gazes all fell upon Tang Sui, who had previously battled Huo Wu to a standstill. Tang Sui silently took a step back, hiding behind Xiao Wu. "Why are you looking at me? I'm not scheduled to play in the early rounds." She refused to be drawn into conflict again. Lazing around was much better, and her demonic power hadn't even fully recovered yet.