88: Chapter 88 Contest

After arriving home, Gu Han dove into his room, locked the door, and immediately operated his handheld device. Only when he saw the green prompt box pop up on the screen saying "Upload successful, competition qualification confirmed" did Gu Han collapse into his chair and let out a long, weary sigh.

Today was truly too close for comfort.

If he had been even half an hour later, the system would have disqualified him for forfeiting.

After catching his breath, Gu Han opened his personal account. Looking at the cold, hard numbers, he realized his biggest source of income was completely cut off.

He could sell the Female Six-Winged Beasts in his Divine Kingdom, but those White-Feathered Six-Winged Beasts that hadn't been harvested yet would likely all end up stuck in his hands.

Gu Han casually opened the Xianyu trading platform. His backend messages were empty, and the hybrid alternative spirit plants he had listed earlier hadn't even gained many views; they remained completely ignored.

As expected, playing by the rules really didn't make much money. Gu Han rubbed his temples; there was no point in dwelling on it.

There was only one way out now: take the championship in tonight's arena defense match.

This wasn't just for the "spirit root network" to change the cultivation aptitude of his Ant-men legion; it was also for his grand plan to get rich.

Twelve o'clock sharp.

The carnival of Jiangcheng City's underground black market tournament officially began!

Opening the software, the most prominent spot on the homepage featured a livestream entrance that took up more than half the screen. The title was extremely eye-catching: "Fight to the death! Who is the number one person under the Demigod level?"

Gu Han clicked into the livestream room.

On screen, a man wearing a clown mask stood in the center of a massive virtual arena, holding a microphone and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Welcome, everyone, to the scene of the Jiangcheng City number one person under the Demigod level tournament!"

"I am your old friend, commentator Joker! Tonight's match will absolutely make your adrenaline soar to the limit!"

Joker snapped his fingers, and a dense list of IDs instantly scrolled across the giant screen behind him.

"Let me explain tonight's tournament format! A total of one hundred and fifty top-tier Divine Lords have finally signed up to participate in this arena defense match!"

"In the first round, we will have one-on-one duels. Half of the one hundred and fifty people will be eliminated, selecting seventy-five powerhouses! The system will randomly select one person from the seventy-five who advanced to be the initial arena defender!"

"The remaining seventy-four people will compete for the right to attack the arena through the arena-seizing port!"

"Contestants who fail, voluntarily forfeit, or fail to seize the arena will all be eliminated! The first to defend the arena for ten consecutive wins, or whoever completes five full matches, will be the champion tonight! The arena defender has no surrender button, there is only five minutes of rest and adjustment time between rounds, and challengers are not allowed to use field resource cards..."

The bullet comments in the livestream room exploded instantly.

"Holy crap, is this year's tournament format too perverted?"

"Doesn't that mean if your internet speed is bad and you don't seize the arena, you're basically directly eliminated!"

"Getting picked as the arena defender isn't good either; unless you win the championship, you're destined for your Divine Kingdom to collapse!"

"This is completely a contest of foundation and military strength! This is the true way!"

"Exciting! I love watching this kind of brutal competition. Only such a champion can be called the number one person under the Demigod level! The War God Professional League is weak!"

This tournament format was indeed brutal. The requirement for the arena defender to fight five full matches was also to prevent people from intentionally surrendering.

If one entered the top seventy-five, they would either have to be selected as the arena defender and win the championship with a perfect record, or successfully seize the arena and then fight ten full matches.

Looking at it this way, if one could be selected at the start, it would be the luckiest outcome provided they had sufficient strength; otherwise, they would have to face the risk of failing to seize the arena.

"Now, will all contestants please prepare; the first round of elimination matches is about to begin! Afterward, our livestream will broadcast from the perspective of the challengers."

The countdown ticked down rapidly.

Gu Han closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into his Divine Kingdom.

This round of matchmaking wouldn't be livestreamed yet, so he had to decide the outcome as quickly as possible to conserve his strength.

The countdown reached zero.

Space twisted, and Gu Han's consciousness appeared above the Divine Kingdom battlefield.

Gu Han didn't even bother to check what his opponent's ID was. His entire army bore battle runes, and two hundred thousand Hidden-Armor Ant-men spread across the battlefield at maximum speed, with an army of one hundred thousand Ant-men launching a fast assault.

The moment the opponent showed their head, the two hundred thousand Hidden-Armor Ant-men made the opposing army feel as if they had fallen into a sea of lightning; electric nets intertwined like flickering filaments, dancing like crazed electric snakes.

The lightning converged in an instant, and the stench of scorched flesh exploded. When the army of one hundred thousand Ant-men arrived, they were all charred, stiff, and numb, unable to dodge in time.

A one-sided slaughter unfolded. The opponent's skill was likely meant to increase the attack effects of their believers, but it was completely useless at this moment.

It wasn't that the opponent wasn't strong; on the contrary, they had twenty thousand believers, five hundred of whom were Level 4 Transcendents. Five days ago, this would have definitely been a formidable enemy.

But at this moment, the configuration of the Ant-men army was not what it used to be. It could only be said that facing the Ant-men army operating at full firepower, they were caught off guard.

In just five minutes, the slaughter was over.

Congratulations to [Riding Grandma Across the Road] for advancing. We have randomly drawn number 7 for you from among sixty-three numbers. Please wait patiently for other contestants to advance.

So fast!

Gu Han came to his senses and realized that twelve people must have already advanced ahead of him, and he immediately felt immense pressure.

He stared at the livestream room in a daze. Under Joker's guidance, the audience was frantically betting on numbers. The winning number was the one that would be drawn in a moment from the seventy-five to determine the arena defender.

At this moment, Gu Han felt a suffocating sensation as if his windpipe were being crushed, like an invisible hand was gripping his heart. He was incredibly excited, hoping in his heart that he would be drawn as the arena defender in the first round, as this would reduce the chances of encountering those twelve strong opponents.

Half an hour later, fate ultimately did not grant Gu Han's wish. The first arena defender drawn was number 17, a Divine Lord named [Hell Messenger].

No matter; the probability of being drawn was not high to begin with. Gu Han decided to watch the livestream first to observe his opponents.

This was also a particularly bad point about watching the livestream: the arena defender's believers' strength, skills, and tactics would all be exposed. Challengers could completely study countermeasures through the livestream, or even wait until the arena defender's believers were mostly exhausted before attacking.

At the very least, he could wait for the second match before making a move to seize the right to challenge.

As expected, the Divine Lords who could advance to the end were not weak. The screen followed the challenger's perspective into the Divine Kingdom of the arena defender [Hell Messenger]. It was a typical active volcano landscape, with magma flowing everywhere.

The challenger brought thirty thousand elves and could be said to be completely countered by the terrain, yet they still fought back and forth with [Hell Messenger]'s Lizardmen, decisively choosing to forfeit when they had suffered minor casualties.

[Hell Messenger]'s ability was somewhat special; it could place four rotating shields on all believers. If all four shields were broken, it would also generate a recoil force to stun nearby enemies.

This skill could be said to be very powerful, possessing both defense and area-of-effect crowd control. If Gu Han's Ant-men army were to face it, they might get stunned in large numbers due to their high quantity. It was slightly tricky, but since the opponent's believers had also suffered some losses, it was completely winnable.

Just at the moment the match ended, the livestream room returned to the scene of Joker hosting the next betting round, while Gu Han frantically clicked the yellow button to seize the arena on his contestant interface.