389: Chapter 324: The Birth of the Top 100, the Third Stage: One-on-One

Inside Xinghai University's preparation space, time quietly slipped away in a heavy atmosphere and a race against time for recovery.

Lin Zhou knelt on the ground, holding the still unconscious Su Yueyao as if guarding the world's most precious and fragile item. The Fire of Civilization nourishing Divine Power he had been channeling into her had continued for nearly an hour; this wisp of power was gentle yet resilient, like the finest drizzle under the warm spring sun, slowly but steadily soaking into Su Yueyao's nearly depleted Bloodline and damaged Divine Soul. He could feel that the "emptiness" and "dead silence" inside Su Yueyao's body, caused by burning her Origin and resembling the aftermath of a storm, was being forcibly halted by this nourishment, even if the repair speed was negligible. Her heartbeat remained weak, but it was no longer flickering like a candle in the wind; instead, it had a trace of extremely faint, tenacious rhythm, like a seed buried deep underground.

[Su Yueyao Status (Continuous Nourishment):]

- Vital Signs: Extremely weak but stabilizing (out of the most critical period).

- Bloodline Activity: 2% (extremely low, slow recovery).

- Divine Soul Integrity: Approx. 85% (15% permanent damage, consciousness still in a deep self-protective sleep).

- Current Treatment Effect: Fire of Civilization nourishment can only maintain basic life and delay deterioration; it cannot achieve effective repair. Requires higher-level treatment (Divine-Grade Medicinal Pills, Origin-repairing divine items, or intervention from a high-ranking deity proficient in Life or Moonlight Rules).

- Estimated Natural Awakening Time: Unknown (could be as long as several years or even longer, and there may be severe sequelae after waking up).

The situation remained unoptimistic, but at least the worst-case risk of "immediate falling" was temporarily eliminated. Lin Zhou felt slightly relieved and carefully laid Su Yueyao down on the floor mat Qin Qing had prepared—covered with soft fabric and inscribed with simple Tranquil Soul Runes—while continuing to maintain a minimum level of Divine Power nourishment. He looked up at Qin Qing, who was sitting cross-legged nearby; her face was still pale, but her aura had stabilized significantly, and the unique sense of Order from her Law Divine Power was reconsolidating around her.

"She's stabilized for now," Lin Zhou's voice was somewhat raspy, tinged with exhaustion. "But conventional methods won't work to wake her up and restore her. We must find a way as soon as possible."

Qin Qing nodded, her cold eyes filled with worry and determination. "After the tournament ends, we can use all our resources and connections to inquire. Su Yueyao is a successor of the Moon God Bloodline; the Su Family might also have a way. Additionally... there might be treasures capable of repairing one's Origin in the tournament rewards and exchange list."

Lin Zhou nodded silently, listing this as one of the most important matters at hand. Then, his gaze turned toward the center of the hall, where the [Team Resurrection Token (Weak)], emitting a soft white light, was suspended.

Li Mo's projection had stabilized a lot. He pushed up his glasses, and a light screen expanded before him, listing detailed information on the thirteen fallen team members.

"Captain, based on the current situation analysis, the choice for resurrection should prioritize two aspects: first, the person should be able to immediately fill the team's shortcomings or form immediate combat power to deal with the upcoming Phase Three knockout matches; second, their own potential and long-term value to the team." Li Mo's voice returned to its steady electronic synthesis. "Comprehensive assessment recommends: Zhang Jun."

"Zhang Jun?" Wang Meng had finished treating his fractured left arm (using a precious [Bone Remodeling Potion] of rare quality) and looked up upon hearing this. "That short guy whose divine Domain is 'Rune Goblin' and who's good at setting up various Formation barriers?"

"Correct." Li Mo pulled up Zhang Jun's data. "Zhang Jun, Divinity Level LV148, divine office [Rune], core followers are [Rune Goblin Engineers] (rare units, level LV35-LV40, attributes focused on Intelligence and Perception, skills: [Basic Rune Inscription Lv.4], [Simple Barrier Deployment Lv.3], [Energy Node Optimization Lv.3]). His divine Domain characteristics lean toward defense and support, and he possesses a special building [Rune Resonance Tower] (rare grade, can increase the effect of all rune-type skills within the divine Domain by 15% and reduce deployment costs). In previous team dungeons, he was responsible for helping reinforce parts of the defensive line nodes, performing steadily."

Li Mo paused and continued his analysis. "Reasons for choosing Zhang Jun: First, Phase Three consists of one-on-one knockout matches. We are likely to encounter various types of enemies. Having a teammate proficient in quickly deploying defensive, jamming, or auxiliary barriers can greatly enhance tactical flexibility, especially when you, Captain, need to focus on frontal confrontation. Second, Zhang Jun's divine Domain development path has a certain complementarity with my Mechanical Divine Domain and the Captain's Civilization Divine Domain. In the future, we can attempt to combine runes with machinery, and runes with Hundred Schools Formations; the potential is significant. Third, compared to other members who lean toward heavy attacks or specializations but are difficult to form effective combat power in the short term after resurrection, Zhang Jun's rune support ability can take effect immediately after resurrection, even if his status is poor (the Weak Resurrection Token will cause the resurrected to be heavily injured), such as by setting up a simple early-warning or delay barrier."

Lin Zhou listened carefully, his gaze scanning the information of other fallen team members on the light screen. There was a Flame Mage divine Domain proficient in heavy attacks, a Shadow Dancer divine Domain specializing in stealth assassination, and a Knight divine Domain focused on large-scale legion combat... each had their strengths. But just as Li Mo analyzed, in the upcoming, unknown one-on-one knockout matches, a runemaster who could flexibly provide field support was indeed the most cost-effective choice.

"Agreed," Lin Zhou made a decision. "Resurrect Zhang Jun. Qin Qing, Wang Meng, do you have any objections?"

Qin Qing and Wang Meng both shook their heads. They trusted Li Mo's analysis and Lin Zhou's judgment.

"Good. Execute." Lin Zhou no longer hesitated. With a thought, the suspended [Team Resurrection Token (Weak)] turned into a streak of milky-white light, shooting into the light screen in front of Li Mo and locking onto Zhang Jun's name and his last life-mark coordinates remaining in the tournament System.

Buzz!

In a corner of the preparation space, space distorted slightly, and a complex small Formation emerged, emitting dense fluctuations of Life and Soul Rules. The light gathered, gradually outlining a slightly thin figure wearing a rune robe covered in dust and scorch marks, with a face as pale as paper and eyes tightly shut—it was Zhang Jun!

The Formation light lasted about ten seconds and then slowly dissipated. Zhang Jun's body swayed, and he slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was initially dazed, but it was quickly replaced by intense pain and weakness. He groaned and slumped directly to the ground, gasping for air, his forehead instantly covered in cold sweat.

[Zhang Jun Status (After Weak Resurrection):]

- Divinity Level: LV148 (unchanged, but stability is extremely poor).

- Divine Power Reserves: 50/5,000 (severely depleted).

- Divine Domain Status: Suffered moderate impact (the resurrection process caused rule instability), followers have fallen into brief panic, some low-level buildings are slightly damaged.

- Personal Status: Heavily injured (multiple damaged Meridians throughout the body, Divine Soul shock, rule adaptability temporarily disordered); estimated full recovery will take at least one week (with sufficient auxiliary resources).

- Current Combat Power: Approx. 15% of normal state (can only perform minimum divine Domain operations and extremely simple rune deployments).

Although his state was extremely poor, the person was indeed back! And he retained his Divinity Level and most of his memories! The effect of this Weak Resurrection Token had already exceeded expectations.

"Zhang Jun, welcome back," Lin Zhou's voice came. "Don't move yet. Do your best to stabilize your divinity and recover your Divine Power. Qin Qing, give him a bottle of [Starlight Life-Prolonging Liquid]. Li Mo, allocate a batch of resources to stabilize his divine Domain from his own reserves, prioritizing calming the followers' emotions."

"Yes, Captain!" Zhang Jun responded weakly but excitedly, struggling to sit up to give thanks, but he was held down by Qin Qing, who fed him the potion.

After handling the resurrection matters, Lin Zhou finally had time to focus on himself. He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to look within.

Within the Sea of Consciousness, the light of the Temple of Civilization was slightly brighter than before. The gray patterns on the temple's body that had been corroded by Annihilation Rules had faded significantly after absorbing part of the Mother Empress's Origin and the "Ancient Civilization Spark" imprint; they were being slowly burned and repaired by the Fire of Civilization. Inside the sanctuary, the river of civilization flowed endlessly, with an extremely faint purple glow added to the river water—this was a change brought by the [Void Divinity] that was being slowly digested and absorbed. The river as a whole appeared "deeper" and "wider," as if it could accommodate more.

Within the Divine Domain, the changes were even more obvious. The [Void Membrane], which covered the entire Divine Domain and was so faint it was almost invisible, had stabilized. It was not a physical entity but more like an "adaptability coating" on the rule level. Lin Zhou tried to mobilize a wisp of Divine Power to simulate a weak spatial cutting fluctuation to touch the edge of the Divine Domain; he could clearly feel the existence of that membrane. It "slid away" or "absorbed" most of the spatial disturbances, with only a very small amount of power able to penetrate. The effect was exactly as described: the defense against spatial attacks increased by about 10%.

Meanwhile, the environment within the Divine Domain damaged by the fight against Annihilation was slowly being repaired under the continuous feedback from the river of civilization and the efforts of the followers. The cracks in the sky had closed by about 5%, and the area of the pale gold civilization glow had expanded slightly at the edges of the gray-white "rust" regions on the ground. The repair of core buildings would require a large amount of specific resources and Divine Power, which could not be accomplished in a single day.

[Lin Zhou Personal Status Update:]

- Divine Power Reserves: 52,000/200,000 (natural recovery + slow conversion of civilization points + faith supplement).

- Divinity Level: LV500 (Mid-Tier Divine Power threshold), potential has slightly increased due to absorbing the "Civilization Gift Crystal" and the Mother Empress's Origin (specific values will take time to manifest).

- Divinity Durability: 86% (slight repair).

- civilization points: 580,000 points (consumption and acquisition are basically balanced).

- Divine Domain Stability: 75% (continuing to slowly rise).

- Newly Acquired Abilities/Traits: [Void Membrane] (Divine Domain), [Ancient Civilization Spark Imprint] (Personal).

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Just as Lin Zhou was initially sorting out his own situation and preparing to further study the newly acquired [Star Gazing Platform] blueprints and that [Divine Potential Enhancement Crystal]—Boom!

Throughout the entire tournament, all preparation spaces, rest areas, and spectator platforms simultaneously rang with a majestic, grand, and unquestionable bell toll! Immediately after, that familiar supreme will belonging to the tournament organizers descended once more, its information directly branded into the consciousness of every top 100 contestant and simultaneously projected onto all public light screens.

[All-Universe Academy Championship — Stage Two "Watching the Fire" Team Instance, has successfully concluded!]

[Based on the final point rankings of the second stage, the list of the top 100 academies advancing to the third stage "Road to Kings" one-on-one elimination tournament is now announced!]

On the light screen, the names, emblems, affiliated galaxies, and final stage two points of one hundred academies lit up one by one like stars, shining brilliantly. Ranked at the very front were still those thunderously famous top institutions: Honghuang Academy, Eternal Divine Court, Abyss Contractor Academy, Holy Light Hall, Element Circle, Mechanical Divine Domain (Main Team)... The name of Xinghai University was prominently listed in the 15th row, its pale gold font standing out strikingly against the silver-white background.

[The top 100 have been born! Congratulations to the above academies for earning the qualification to compete for the highest academy honor in the Universe!]

[Rules for the third stage "Road to Kings" announced:]

1. Format: Traditional one-on-one Divine Domain battle elimination tournament. One hundred teams will determine their opponents through a draw, engaging in a single-match knockout. The winner advances, and the loser is eliminated.

2. Rounds: A total of four rounds will be held (100 to 50, 50 to 25, 25 to 13 (one bye), 13 to 7 (one bye), 7 to 4, 4 to 2, and finally the grand final). This will continue until the final ten teams are determined to advance to the final championship bracket.

3. Competition Venue: Independent, reinforced standard Divine Domain battle spaces. The environment is relatively neutral (basic terrain may exist), rule suppression is weakened, and fair duels are guaranteed to the maximum extent.

4. Judgment of Victory/Defeat: If one side's divine domain core is destroyed, the deity voluntarily admits defeat, or the deity loses consciousness (falls), they are judged to have lost.

5. Preparation Time: From the release of this announcement, all top 100 teams have 48 hours of standard Universe time to rest, prepare, and gather intelligence. After 48 hours, the first round draw will take place, and the first round of matches will begin within 24 hours after the draw.

6. Special Rules: Use of all rewards obtained during this tournament (including but not limited to cards, items, etc.) is allowed, but the use of any external force from outside the tournament that exceeds the specified limits (such as Divine Artifacts gifted by a Family that exceed one's own Rank, scrolls for summoning high-level external aid, etc.) is prohibited. The tournament monitoring System will supervise the entire process.

One-on-one! Elimination tournament! 100 to 10!

The rules are simple yet cruel, leaving no room for trickery; it is a pure contest of hard strength! Any single failure means the premature end of the tournament journey!

Pressure instantly pressed down on the hearts of every top 100 team like a mountain. Especially for those teams ranked lower who had scraped through to advance, they were likely already breaking out in cold sweat.

Inside the Xinghai University preparation space, the atmosphere grew heavy. Although ranking 15th seemed decent, the variables in a one-on-one elimination tournament were too great; no one knew what kind of opponent they would draw. It could be a weaker team that they could easily defeat, or they could crash directly into one of the monsters in the top ten!

"48 hours..." Lin Zhou stood up, his gaze sharp. "Time is tight. Li Mo, immediately utilize all intelligence networks, especially Chen Hai's side. Collect as much core intelligence as possible on the top 100 teams, especially the top thirty teams—their habitual tactics, characteristics of their kin, and divine office powers! Focus on those opponents with strange styles and special abilities!"

"Qin Qing, Wang Meng, Zhang Jun, continue to recover with all your might. You must adjust your state to the best before the match begins. If resources are insufficient, draw from the team reserves or use tournament honor points to exchange for them!"

"We need to formulate several basic tactical plans targeting opponents with different styles..."

Lin Zhou issued instructions rapidly, his brain working at high speed. Just then, the tournament communicator on his wrist vibrated again, and a pre-notification marked with a bright red "High Risk" targeted at Xinghai University popped up:

[Xinghai University team, based on initial big data matching and analysis of past performance, among potential opponents for your team in the third stage first round (100 to 50), the one with a higher probability (approx. 17%) is: Abyss Contractor Academy (Overall ranking 11th). Please make appropriate preparations in advance. This prompt is for probabilistic reference only; the final opponent will be based on the draw results.]

Abyss Contractor Academy! Ranked 11th!

Seeing this name, Lin Zhou's pupils contracted slightly. This academy's reputation, even among top institutions, was known for being "strange," "dangerous," and "unscrupulous"! Most of their students had signed contracts with powerful entities from the Abyss plane, exchanging sacrifices (kin, resources, or even parts of their own Soul or divinity) for terrifying Abyss power enhancements. Their combat style was often violent, chaotic, and full of unpredictability. Their explosive power was extremely terrifying, but correspondingly, their power stability was very poor, and they were prone to backlash.

"Well, really... speak of the devil." Wang Meng grinned, revealing a fierce smile. "Abyss brats? Perfect, my Behemoth claws have been wanting to tear a few Abyssal Lords apart for fun!"

Qin Qing frowned deeply: "Abyss Contractor Academy... their source of power comes from the Abyss, chaotic and filthy. It has a certain restraint against our Order-side power, but it is also easily purified by highly ordered and holy power. The key lies in how to deal with their short-lived but over-spec explosive power gained through sacrifice."

Lin Zhou nodded and was about to speak when Li Mo sent over the preliminary intelligence summary on the Abyss Contractor Academy that Chen Hai had sent back through special channels. The speed was astonishing.

[Intelligence Summary (Abyss Contractor Academy, current main participating team, Captain: Blood Curse · Delaka):]

- Captain Divine-Grade: Estimated LV540 - LV560 (Mid-Tier Divine Power, Middle Stage).

- Core divine office: [Contract] (Main), [Pain], [Blood].

- Kin Composition: Primarily mid-to-low-tier Abyss creatures such as [Abyssal Minor Demons], [Pain Succubi], and [Blood Imps]. The quantity is vast but individual quality is average, excelling in war of attrition and suicide attacks. Possesses a small number of elite units [Abyssal Tyrants] (LV50+) and hero units [Abyssal Priests].

- Combat Style Characteristics:

1. Early stage: Consumes opponents with massive amounts of low-tier kin and negative status effects (fear, pain, bleeding, curse).

2. Mid-stage: Suppresses through summoning Abyss projections (such as Abyss tentacles, Pain Domain, blood rituals) by sacrificing some kin or their own life force.

3. Key Finishing Move: [Abyss Descent] — Through large-scale sacrifice (possibly including their own Divine-Grade Origin), briefly summons and fuses with part of the power of a powerful Abyss entity (usually a Demon Lord or Evil God), allowing themselves or their hero units to gain terrifying explosive power far exceeding their own Rank for a short time (usually 3-5 minutes), but falling into severe backlash (weakness, chaos, kin mutiny, etc.) after it ends.

- Known Weaknesses: Extremely dependent on sacrifice and contract power; the main body and core kin have low resistance to high-purity Order, Holy, and purification-type powers; [Abyss Descent] status is unstable, duration is short, and the risk of backlash is extremely high.

- Recent Record (Within Tournament): In the second stage group match, once used [Abyss Descent] to instantly defeat a team ranked 35th, but had to rest for three full days after the battle to recover some combat power.

Looking at this intelligence, Lin Zhou's gaze calmed down.

Sacrifice in exchange for explosive power... Unstable but terrifying Abyss power...

This is indeed an extremely difficult opponent. We cannot fall into their attrition rhythm; we must establish an advantage before they complete their large-scale sacrifice and activate [Abyss Descent], or... find a way to interrupt or interfere with their sacrificial ritual.

"Abyssal contracts are essentially a form of 'trade' and 'loan'." Lin Zhou spoke slowly, eyes flashing with thoughtful light. "Exchanging sacrifices for Abyss power. So, what if we could interfere with this 'trade', or make the 'sacrifice' ineffective?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Qing's eyes lit up: "Legalist art — 'Define Illegal'? Or, School of Names sophistry to disrupt the logic of the contract?"

"Both are possible." Lin Zhou nodded. "There is also the Mohist 'Non-Aggression' barrier, which might be able to block their first wave of explosive power. The Confucian 'Vast Righteous Qi' has a natural restraint against the chaotic power of the Abyss. But how to combine them specifically requires detailed deduction. Li Mo, combine this intelligence and immediately start tactical simulations to deduce several response plans. Qin Qing, you are responsible for researching how to interfere with the 'contract' from the level of Law. Wang Meng, your Behemoth Legion is the key to dealing with their early-stage massive consumption by low-tier kin; you need to formulate efficient clearing tactics. Zhang Jun, if you can recover some strength before the match starts, your rune barriers might be used to set up an environment that interferes with the sacrificial ritual."

One by one, the instructions were clear and precise. Everyone immediately accepted their Orders and got busy. Although the opponent was powerful and strange, there was no fear in the eyes of the Xinghai University group, only burning Battle Intent and calm analysis.

Lin Zhou took one last look at the scarlet characters "Abyss Contractor Academy" on the light screen, then turned back to look at the still-sleeping Su Yueyao, and clenched his fists.

Third stage, one-on-one, Road to Kings.

No matter who the opponent is, he must win all the way!

For the honor of Star Sea, for the departed companions, and also for... waking the person in his arms.

48-hour countdown, start.