53: Chapter 53 The Eye of Radiant Gold

As soon as those two words left his lips, the crowd in front of the interview stage seemed to be frozen simultaneously.

The Competition Media Station host, who had been jostling for a better position, instinctively pulled the microphone back half an inch. The Merchant Alliance signing officers nearby all stopped their pens. Even the Competition Deacons guarding the inner field glanced over.

Someone whispered a name.

“Young Master Pei Tiange.”

Once that name was spoken, the surroundings grew even quieter.

The top-seeded leader of this year's Bei Yue Divine Academy.

The true heir of the Pei family.

The number one ranked person on the zone's betting odds from start to finish.

He himself had long reached the perfection stage of an Apprentice God Realm Controller, and was only a single step away from becoming a Divinity User. Among his peers, he was already at the very forefront.

Lu Jin looked at him, his expression unchanged.

Young Master Pei Tiange was also looking at Lu Jin.

He wasn't carrying a long weapon; instead, he held a palm-sized thin gold Judgment Seal. Its surface was smooth, with a ring of extremely fine Sun Patterns etched along the edge. The core of the Sun Gold Judgment line relied on these types of seals. Positioning, suppressing weapons, and locking down resources—it all depended on the seal's judgment. The more accurate the strike, the more stable the suppression.

Young Master Pei Tiange took two steps forward and stood in the center of the interview stage.

“That calling card from Senior Student Pei Zhaoting—you burned it quite quickly.”

The entire audience understood instantly.

That Sun Gold Calling Card from before hadn't just been a whim of Senior Student Pei Zhaoting's.

Behind that line, as expected, stood the true power.

The host's eyes lit up. Just as he was about to interject, Young Master Pei Tiange didn't even look at him; his gaze remained fixed on Lu Jin's face.

“You said at the time that the card wasn't enough.”

“Now I am here. You can finish what you were saying.”

As these words fell, a wave of low, sharp intakes of breath erupted below the stage.

This was no longer a simple probe.

Young Master Pei Tiange was calling someone out in front of the entire home stadium of the competition zone.

Ning Yanqiu stood by the edge of the stands, her gaze tightening instantly.

Wen Zhao said in a low voice:

“This guy really dares to exert pressure.”

Meng Huichao didn't look away, only replying indifferently.

“When he pressures people, he never needs to shout.”

On stage, Lu Jin set the bottle of water in his hand aside.

“I already replied to that card.”

“Since you came in person today, surely it isn't just to make me repeat myself.”

Young Master Pei Tiange looked at him and suddenly smiled.

The smile was faint and very calm.

“Of course not.”

“I came today only to see one thing clearly.”

“Whether this path of yours is just a bit of excitement in the competition zone, or if you can truly keep moving forward.”

He didn't speak quickly, but every word was steady.

“You played that Sky Island match beautifully. Locking the island with bone chains, cutting bridges with carriages, hiding the chamber beneath the island, and burning vines in the backfield. Among your peers, that kind of adaptability is enough to put you at the front.”

“But your line has a very obvious flaw.”

“In every match you win, you have to gamble your soldiers, city, Sacrificial Fire, and Breeding Nest together.”

“You turn things around quickly, and you grow quickly. But as long as one prediction is wrong, or one layer of your line breaks, what you lose won't just be the points from this one match.”

By the time he reached this point, no one below the stage was interrupting anymore.

Because his words were too accurate.

Lu Jin had indeed fought fiercely and quickly throughout his journey.

But every time he turned a situation around, he used real resources and burned his actual foundation.

Young Master Pei Tiange looked at him and continued.

“Academies will like a contestant like you, the media will chase you, and the Merchant Alliance will put you on the trending lists.”

“The Military Court will also watch you.”

“But the more people watch you, the more people will want to dismantle you. At this stage, the path in your hands is no longer just for you to walk.”

This was no longer just about pressuring the stage.

It exposed the deeper things hidden behind the competition zone.

Popularity, resources, order, and screening.

Whoever was popular would be the first to be seen through.

Whoever was seen through would be the first to be dismantled.

The host finally found a gap and quickly interjected.

“Young Master Pei Tiange, do you mean to say that you think very highly of Lu Jin?”

Young Master Pei Tiange finally turned his head slightly, his tone still flat.

“I value useful people.”

“He is now worthy of a glance from me.”

The sentence was very flat.

But its weight was terrifyingly heavy.

To be singled out publicly by the zone's top seed—this was worth more than any trending list.

The crowd below broke into another layer of chaos.

“Young Master Pei Tiange personally acknowledged him?”

“Lu Jin's betting odds are going to jump again.”

“The people from Beiyue Academy usually have their eyes on the top of their heads. For them to be willing to come down and take a look means they're truly impressed.”

Lu Jin, however, didn't catch any of this external hype.

He looked at Young Master Pei Tiange and only replied with one sentence.

“I already know the things you see.”

“I've known from the beginning that this path is difficult.”

“So, are you here today to warn me, or to set a price for me in advance?”

When those words came out, even some people at the Competition Media Station couldn't help but look up.

Anyone could hear that this was now a direct confrontation.

There was no retreat.

Nor was there any following along to flatter him.

The calm in Young Master Pei Tiange's eyes finally flickered slightly.

“That question of yours is decent.”

“It's both.”

“I'm warning you because your path has value. I'm setting a price because it has value.”

He lifted the thin gold Judgment Seal in his hand, his tone as steady as if he were discussing something very ordinary.

“When the Pei family looks at things, we first see if they can be used, then see if they are worth keeping.”

“Your current path is already qualified to be placed on this table.”

“But the rules at the table aren't something you can change just by becoming the new king at Zhuixing Academy.”

Many people from Zhuixing Academy in the audience instantly understood the weight of those words.

Someone like Lu Jingyao could at most block your quota and face for a while.

But for Young Master Pei Tiange to speak to this point, what was pressing down was the table, the rules, and the entire resource line behind them.

Lu Jin didn't even avoid his gaze.

“I can look at the rules on the table one by one.”

“But whoever wants to set a price for me first has to ask if I'm willing to sell.”

As he spoke to this point, his voice remained very steady.

“I didn't accept Senior Student Pei Zhaoting's card.”

“Now that you've arrived in person, my answer is still the same.”

“If you want to watch, then keep watching.”

“If you really want to dismantle me, wait until we're scheduled for a match, and I'll wait for you on the stage.”

After this last sentence fell, the area in front of the entire interview stage went completely silent.

Even the group that had been whispering earlier seemed to have suddenly forgotten how to speak.

Meng Huichao, standing in the back, finally showed a faint smile in his eyes.

“That's enough.”

Wen Zhao took a soft breath.

“He really doesn't give an inch.”

Ning Yanqiu didn't respond to that, only staring at the two people on stage.

She saw very clearly that Young Master Pei Tiange hadn't come here just to casually pressure the scene.

He was truly observing if Lu Jin's line was worth him personally taking action later.

On stage, after hearing Lu Jin's words, Young Master Pei Tiange didn't get angry.

He looked at Lu Jin for two breaths, then nodded.

“Fine.”

“You're steadier than I thought.”

“Then I'll keep watching.”

After he finished speaking, his gaze slowly moved down from Lu Jin's body, finally stopping on the Black-Silver Team Token Lu Jin had just received on his wrist.

“One more thing, I'll tell you in passing.”

“The scent of Sacrificial Fire on you is too heavy.”

“Many people only see you winning now, but later, people will be watching how deep you burn.”

After saying this, he didn't stop.

Young Master Pei Tiange turned and walked down, and the group from Beiyue Academy followed him, making way. Throughout the entire process, not a single person spoke more than necessary, and no one dared to speak before him.

The silence in front of the interview stage only slowly dissipated after he walked down the main passage.

The host was the first to react, his voice half a pitch higher than before.

“That segment just now—keep all of it!”

“Switch the main mirror to the full-field replay, and push it to the top of the trending list!”

The people from the Competition Media Station went completely wild.

They knew all too well.

A scene like this, once released, would be the biggest source of hype in Zone E-7 today.

The zone's top seed publicly calling someone out.

The new king of Zhuixing Academy responding head-on.

Not a single word was soft, not a single word was evasive.

The betting odds jumped almost immediately.

[Zone E-7 Real-time Trending List]

[First: Lu Jin]

[New Hot Topic: Direct Confrontation with Young Master Pei Tiange]

[Zone E-7 Real-time Odds]

[Second: Lu Jin, Zhuixing Divine Academy]

Another low exclamation rose from the stands.

“Second place already?”

“In just this short while, he's jumped up another spot?”

“It's not that the Merchant Alliance suddenly thinks highly of him; it's that this storm has already begun.”

Instructor Gu Pingchuan walked onto the stage then, pushing back the microphones from the media that still wanted to be shoved forward.

“That's all for today.”

“Zhuixing people, follow me back to the living quarters.”

Just as he finished speaking, the Black-Silver Main Mirror above the stadium suddenly lit up.

The Competition Deacon's voice boomed down from all sides, audible to the entire Zone E-7.

“Zone E-7 Temporary Announcement.”

“Influenced by the Military Court Joint Training Agreement, the second round's format will be intensified.”

“The winner of the next match will directly receive priority qualification for border military training.”

As soon as these words fell, the entire stadium fell silent for a moment.

Then, a wave of sound even larger than before erupted.

Priority qualification for border military training.

To put it bluntly, it meant getting onto the actual battlefield training list a step ahead of everyone else. There were no academy referees there, only military regulations, missions, and dead people. But as long as one could get in, the path ahead would widen significantly.

More importantly, the doors to the Military Court had truly opened.

Lu Jin looked up at the main mirror, his gaze gradually darkening.

Regarding his father's line, the Sealed Star Map was one door.

Military training qualification was the next.

He hadn't planned on taking things slowly in this competition zone anyway.

Now, there was even less of a way back.

The light from the Black-Silver Main Mirror fell into his eyes, shining with a cold brilliance.

The next match would no longer be just about high or low scores.