The following day.
The brief period of rest had come to an end, but the oppressive atmosphere in the arena had only grown heavier.
The thirty-two contestants who had fought their way out of the elite ranks had each proven themselves through sheer strength. From this point onward, every match would be a true clash between powerhouses.
An Changsong appeared on the rostrum once more. He swept his gaze across the young faces below, each still burning with fighting spirit, and spoke in a steady, powerful voice.
“Congratulations to everyone on advancing to the top thirty-two.”
“Now, we’ll begin the draw for the top sixteen.”
The instant he finished speaking, the enormous holographic screen behind him flared brightly. The portraits of the thirty-two contestants transformed into streams of light and began racing across the screen.
“Just like in the first round, the pairings this round will also be entirely random. Contestants from the same academy will not be matched against each other.”
The streams of light began to slow, and the names of the first matchup gradually appeared.
“First match: Kamitani Academy’s Takahashi Ken versus Zero Academy’s Ross.”
Over at Zero Academy’s section, Ross looked completely relaxed. It seemed his luck with the draw really was excellent.
In Huaqing Academy’s rest area, the atmosphere was far more relaxed.
Chen Guan leaned listlessly against the back of his chair, his fingers tapping an idle rhythm against his knee. In his mind, he was chatting with Baal, who never seemed capable of staying quiet.
“Heh heh, kid, the youngsters in this tournament are rather interesting. That atom manipulator would have made a decent sorcerer even in ancient times.”
Baal’s voice rang out.
“Too many limitations.”
Chen Guan replied calmly in his mind.
As for why Baal had suddenly dared to come out and start chatting again, according to Baal himself, he had dispersed a batch of his own clones, strengthening the power of the Baal fragment currently residing within Chen Guan.
Thus, this enhanced version of Baal was confident that he could conceal himself while chatting from a whole host of experts.
After all—what ill intentions could a demon god who loved to chat possibly have?
“Tsk. Your standards are getting more and more demanding.”
Baal clearly had no idea what Chen Guan was thinking and continued talking to himself.
One matchup after another appeared, and the atmosphere in the arena gradually solidified.
Bai Huanran had been placed in the second match. His opponent was a poison specialist from Kamitani Academy. Fortune had smiled on him as well, pairing him with an opponent who was not particularly powerful.
The light on the screen began to swirl once more.
Everyone’s eyes were drawn toward it almost instinctively.
One portrait slowly came to a stop.
It was Huaqing Academy’s An Changqing.
His opponent was a powerful body-enhancement specialist from Beishi Academy.
“Go for it, Senior Changqing!”
Shan Heng called out nervously.
An Changqing turned back and gave him a gentle smile before nodding. His calm confidence made it seem as though victory had already been decided.
Su Yuehe’s opponent soon appeared as well—a psychic ability user from Beishi Academy.
For her, as long as she was not facing someone capable of crushing her through pure physical laws, any psychic user would be nothing more than a novice showing off before an expert.
With the exception of that bizarre miscellaneous type.
[Huaqing’s luck with the draw seems pretty good. God An and Little Su both got opponents who aren’t top-tier.]
[Don’t jinx it. Captain Qin Wu didn’t exactly have a happy ending.]
[That was different. Old Qin may have lost, but he lost with honor.]
[Hurry, hurry, hurry! It’s Brother Coffin’s turn. I want to see which poor bastard draws him.]
The barrage of comments was heating up. At the center of the arena, the streams of light on the enormous screen finally slowed to a near standstill, and everyone held their breath.
Everyone knew that the names remaining in the pool belonged to nothing but tough opponents.
Huaqing Academy, Chen Guan.
Kamitani Academy, Hiiragi Aoba.
The moment those two names appeared, countless gazes began shifting uncontrollably between the two of them.
One was the uncrowned king who had dominated his opponent and shattered the sword prodigy’s martial heart.
The other was the chief onmyoji whom Kamitani Academy had fought desperately to protect.
These two were the most overwhelming competitors in the individual tournament so far.
Two top-four contenders had met ahead of schedule.
In Kamitani Academy’s rest area, Hiiragi Aoba leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing. His face appeared expressionless, but the faint trembling of his eyelashes betrayed the turmoil within.
He could feel the gazes focused on him, and he knew the expectations behind them.
He opened his eyes. His gaze crossed half the arena and locked directly onto Chen Guan, who was leaning against his chair as though utterly indifferent to everything around him.
Come on.
Let everyone see who was truly the strongest.
In Huaqing Academy’s rest area, An Changqing stopped maintaining his long sword. He raised his head and stared at the matchup displayed on the screen. For the first time, a solemn expression appeared on his usually gentle face.
“Hiiragi Aoba’s shikigami are very powerful.”
He spoke softly. “Chen Guan, you need to be careful. His methods go far beyond that. Summoning-type abilities are never limited to one or two shikigami. Do you understand what I mean?”
“I understand.”
Chen Guan and Hiiragi Aoba gazed at each other from across the arena, sparks flying between them.
The instant their names appeared side by side on the screen, the tense atmosphere that had gripped the circular arena during the draw was as though a red-hot brand had been thrown into it. It erupted in an instant, then fell into an eerie silence.
The entire audience unconsciously quieted their breathing.
Huaqing Academy, Chen Guan.
Kamitani Academy, Hiiragi Aoba.
No commentary was needed. No embellishment was necessary. The names alone represented the strongest combat power seen so far in the individual tournament of this Four-Academy League, the most brutal domination, and the most mysterious strength that defied common sense.
One was the terrifying scythe wielder who had even cut apart the martial heart of Beishi Academy’s sword prodigy.
The other was the chief onmyoji who had toyed with Zero Academy’s muscle brute through dazzling techniques before ultimately summoning ghosts and gods to secure victory.
On the rostrum, An Changsong’s eyes swept over the two figures facing each other from afar. Even he had to admit that this confrontation had come far too early.
This was supposed to be the script for the finals.
“Come.”
In Kamitani Academy’s rest area, Hiiragi Aoba rose from his chair.
He ignored the tense reminders from his teammates behind him and simply smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles in his kariginu. His posture did not resemble that of someone heading into a deadly battle. Instead, he looked like a noble young master stepping onto a grand stage before thousands of spectators.
He walked toward the center of the arena one step at a time, each step calm and unhurried. His handsome face once again wore a gentle smile.
Only in his eyes, as he looked at Chen Guan, burned a battle intent and hatred so pure they seemed ready to take physical form.
The humiliation of the team competition—he would personally return it to Chen Guan tenfold, a hundredfold.
On the Huaqing Academy side, An Changqing watched Chen Guan rise as well and gave him a firm nod.
“Go. I believe in you.”
Chen Guan reacted as he always did. He gestured to An Changqing, Su Yuehe, and the others, then carried his enormous coffin toward the arena.
The two stood at the center of the battlefield, twenty meters apart.
One was refined and elegant, like a young nobleman about to compose poetry and paint a picture.
The other was taciturn, like a pallbearer who had just emerged from a graveyard.
Two utterly different temperaments collided at the center of the arena, and the invisible pressure made the air itself grow heavy.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
