166: Chapter 166 Individual Battle, Unveiling

With only three days left until the opening of the Global League, the Dragon Country representative team had arrived at the main venue of the Shattered Archipelago.

This arena, transformed from an ancient ruin, floated above a sea of clouds. It was surrounded by thirty-six sub-arenas, and a crystal monument in the center displayed the rolling list of participating teams—a total of seventy-two national representative teams from across the globe, with nearly a thousand competitors gathered here.

"Individual Battle rules: single-elimination format. The top sixteen will be decided each day, with the finals on the third day."

Principal Gongsun's voice came through a communication talisman, "The top five in the Individual Battle will receive a 'Secret Realm Pass', allowing them to enter the core area of the Shattered Archipelago in advance; the top five in the team battles will have priority in choosing ruins to explore."

Zhang Wen stood in the competitor's passage, his fingertips caressing the sky-splitting startling thunder spear. On the large screen, the list of opponents for the individual battles flashed by continuously.

"Ice Emperor" Andrei of Polar Bear Country, "Mad Fist" Colin of Kangaroo Country, "Poison Princess" Chiyo of Sakura Country, and "star realm battle axe" Arthur of Eagle Country...

Global League Day 1 - Individual Battle, Begin!

The teleportation arrays of the thirty-six sub-arenas lit up simultaneously. On the crystal monument, the names of the competitors from the seventy-two countries flickered like stars, and the first round's match list descended with golden light.

Dragon Country - Zhang Wen (Arena 36)

His opponent was the Eagle Country competitor "Flash Shadow" Bright. This person was famous for his speed, rumored to be able to run a hundred laps around the arena within ten breaths, with his daggers moving so fast that only afterimages remained.

As soon as the referee's whistle blew, Bright transformed into a gray shadow, his daggers piercing toward Zhang Wen's back with a piercing sound.

Yet Zhang Wen seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. As he turned, Lightning Radiance spilled from his fingertips, precisely landing on Bright's wrist—the Myriad Phenomena Return to Ruin Thunder spread along the daggers, actually converting the opponent's speed spirit power into lightning, crackling and popping until Bright's arm went numb.

"Being fast doesn't mean you can dodge."

Zhang Wen flipped his wrist, and the Lightning Radiance coiled along his arm onto Bright's waist and abdomen.

Bright was shocked to find his body suddenly sluggish, as if bound by invisible lightning chains. He tried to speed up to break free, but discovered that the faster he ran, the more intensely the lightning exploded.

"What kind of devilish ability is this!"

Bright broke into a sweat, waving his daggers wildly but failing to even touch the corner of Zhang Wen's clothes. Zhang Wen retreated half a step unhurriedly, watching the other party dodge in a sorry state amidst the lightning: "It can make the fast become slow."

In the end, Bright was tripped by the lightning he had himself converted and fell out of the barrier.

When Zhang Wen withdrew his stance, he discovered that the Lightning Radiance in his palm was actually a bit more solid than before—it seemed that absorbing an opponent's spirit power could also nourish himself.

Dragon Country - Ye Chen (Arena 22)

Facing the Sakura Country seeded competitor, "Poison Princess" Chiyo.

This woman had her ten fingers painted with dark green nail polish and hid countless poison needles beneath her skirt. As soon as the arena lit up, a sweet, cloying fragrance permeated the air, making one dizzy and disoriented upon smelling it.

Ye Chen's black mist had just spread out when it was dyed light green by the fragrance. He let out a muffled groan, feeling his spirit power circulation become sluggish.

Chiyo covered her lips and chuckled: "My 'Drunken Spring Fragrance' can make a person go limp in three breaths; you won't last five."

The black mist surged violently but couldn't block the permeating fragrance. Ye Chen's vision went black, so he simply retracted the black mist and let the poisonous fragrance invade.

The next instant, he opened his eyes wide, and the black mist counterattacked like a tidal wave, actually wrapping up all the inhaled fragrance and surging back toward Chiyo.

Chiyo hadn't expected him to fight poison with poison. She was choked by her own fragrance and coughed repeatedly, collapsing to the ground before she could even throw her poison needles.

"You..."

Ye Chen clutched his aching temples, the black mist glowing with green light; he had clearly suffered a backlash too: "Fighting poison with poison, who doesn't know how?"

However, when the referee checked, they found Ye Chen's spirit power was in chaos, and ruled: "Both sides suffered injuries, it's a draw, requiring a tie-breaker."

Ye Chen gritted his teeth and stood firm, but before the tie-breaker could begin, his vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground—the first battle, a regrettable loss.

Eagle Country - Arthur (Arena 10)

As a seeded competitor for Eagle Country, Arthur's "star realm battle axe" drew gasps the moment it appeared.

His opponent was the "Ice Giant" Ivan of Polar Bear Country, whose entire body was covered in ice armor. The battle axe struck the ice armor, only sending ice shards flying. Ivan laughed wildly: "Your axe isn't hard enough!"

Arthur remained expressionless, his battle axe suddenly glowing with silver light, and the trajectory carved by the axe blade showed subtle spatial ripples.

The next axe strike fell, seemingly hitting the same spot, yet the ice armor cracked silently—he had actually used spatial power to bypass the surface of the ice armor. Ivan froze in place, looking at the crack on his chest: "This is... cheating!"

Arthur withdrew his axe: "This is called winning within the rules."

Kangaroo Country - Colin (Arena 8)

Facing the "Sand Witch" Hadi of Pharaoh Country. This Pharaoh Country competitor was wrapped in a brown headscarf, and gold sand constantly flowed from the hourglass in his hand, which was said to be able to turn everything it touched into sand.

As soon as Colin stepped into the arena, he saw Hadi flip the hourglass, and waves of sand instantly surged from the ground, encroaching toward his ankles.

"Kid, taste the feeling of being buried by yellow sand." Hadi grinned wickedly and formed seals; the sand waves suddenly transformed into several sand snakes, opening their fangs to bite at Colin's calves.

"Is that all?" Colin grinned, his muscles suddenly expanding, and his bronze skin glistening with oil—this was his "Mad Fist" secret technique, which could increase his strength and defense by thirty percent for a short time.

He didn't dodge or evade, letting the sand snakes wrap around his calves, and then he stomped his foot violently.

"Bang!" Amidst the deafening muffled sound, the arena floor cracked, and the sand snakes wrapped around his legs were actually shattered into powder.

Colin took advantage of the momentum to charge forward, his sand-pot-sized fist carrying the sound of breaking wind, smashing directly toward Hadi's hourglass.

Hadi hurriedly raised his arms to block, the gold sand condensing into a shield in front of him, but it was blasted by the fist until it trembled violently, and the surface of the shield was instantly covered in cracks.

"Your sand isn't hard enough!" Colin didn't let up after gaining the advantage; his left fist shattered the shield, and his right fist followed closely behind, grazing past Hadi's ear and shaking the feathers on his headscarf into the air.

Hadi was blown away by the force of the fist, crashing into the barrier, and the hourglass slipped from his hand and rolled away, the gold sand inside spilling all over the ground.

Colin stood where he was, rotating his sore wrists, and watched Hadi struggle to crawl up: "Still fighting? My fists are a bit itchy."

Hadi looked at the gold sand all over the ground that couldn't be recovered, his face turning pale—the core of his sand domain relied entirely on the hourglass; now that the hourglass was damaged, his spirit power was less than one-tenth of its original state. He gritted his teeth and finally shook his head: "I lose."

This duel was won cleanly and efficiently; Colin hadn't even used his full strength, breaking the Pharaoh Country's pride-and-joy sand domain technique with brute force alone.

On the crystal monument, Kangaroo Country's name shot up suddenly. When Colin walked off the arena swinging his fists, he still had a disdainful smile on his lips: "All that flashy stuff isn't as useful as a hard fist."

Dragon Country - Su Qing (Arena 3)

In the second round, she encountered the Maple Country "Blizzard Mage" Logan, who could summon blizzards. The arena was instantly covered in snow, and the temperature plummeted.

Su Qing's Thunder Fire Sword had just been unsheathed when it was covered in a thin layer of ice. She gritted her teeth and swung the sword, the Thunder Fire flickering in the wind and snow, barely slicing open the snow screen, but she was grazed on the shoulder by Logan's ice cone, drawing blood.

"You lose." Logan's ice cone attacked again.

Su Qing watched the blood beads on her shoulder spread out on the snow, and suddenly smiled—the Thunder Fire exploded in her palm, actually spreading along the bloodstains, burning a path of fire in the snow that headed straight for Logan's feet.

When Logan realized what was happening, the flames had already leaped onto his trouser legs. In his panic, he forgot to form seals and was sent flying by Su Qing's sword.

"Bleeding doesn't mean I'll lose." Su Qing covered her shoulder, blood dripping onto the Thunder Fire Sword, causing it to glow with red light.

The first round of the first day of Individual Battles ended. Dragon Country's record: three wins (Zhang Wen, Su Qing, Xiao Zhan), one draw (Lu Yan fought hard against a Rhino Country competitor until time ran out), and one loss (Ye Chen).

Meanwhile, all seeded competitors from Eagle Country and Sakura Country advanced, while Polar Bear Country saw two players eliminated in upsets.

As twilight descended, the crystal monument updated the rankings. Zhang Wen was temporarily ranked third, Su Qing seventh, and Xiao Zhan tenth.

As for Murong Wu and the others, they still had to wait for the next day's battles.