87: Chapter 87 The Kingdom of Incense, Shen Zhao

The moment the countdown hit zero, three thousand world pods lit up simultaneously.

Inside the core control room of the Tianyuan Arena, the eye of destiny projected three thousand pillars of light, each corresponding to a world pod, with the color representing the basic attributes of that world.

Gold represented Martial Arts, cyan represented Immortal Cultivation, crimson represented Zerg, silver-white represented Machinery, and deep blue represented Elements.

Above world pod number 1987, the pillar of light soaring into the sky was grayish-white.

Like a wandering soul seeping out from underground.

"Grayish-white?" The eye of destiny's computing core fluctuated slightly. "A Yin Qi attribute? This attribute hasn't appeared on the Final Selection stage for a long time."

Tian Heng didn't speak, merely watching the light screen displaying the match-up chart.

Three thousand names jumped frantically on the light screen as countless runes intertwined, collided, and reorganized in the void. This was the eye of destiny's core matching algorithm.

It wasn't just random pairing; it was an optimized arrangement based on the contestants' world attributes, historical records, and combat styles, ensuring every duel possessed sufficient spectacle and competitiveness.

Three seconds.

In just three seconds, the match-up chart was generated.

Fifteen hundred matches and three thousand names cascaded down from the top of the light screen like a waterfall of light.

At that same instant, the eyes of the entire Tianyuan Arena, sixty-seven star sectors, twelve thousand four hundred provinces, and thirty-two trillion viewers were fixed on the ninth match.

Because the ninth match was the biggest "asymmetrical duel" of today's first round.

[Match 9]

[Red Side: Su Bai (Tianxuan Star Sector, Qinglin Province)]

[World Type: Yin Qi World (Unpublished)]

[Star Sector Rank: 89]

[World Level: Rank 6]

[Blue Side: Shen Zhao (Kaiyang Star Region, Dayan Province)]

[World Type: Incense Divine Kingdom]

[Star Sector Rank: 32]

[World Level: Rank 6]

[Remarks: Ranked 32nd on the Kaiyang Star Region leaderboard, undefeated with eighteen wins in the Preliminaries, with an average match time of eleven minutes; predicted by twelve mainstream media outlets as a top 300 national seeded player.]

...

Qinglin Province, Chu Family Main City.

The light screens across the entire city flickered simultaneously at that moment.

It wasn't a signal failure, but rather thirty million people doing the same thing at once.

Opening their communication terminals to search for the name "Shen Zhao."

The instantaneous data requests exceeded two hundred million, causing the core nodes of the Qinglin Province communication network to crash briefly.

After the crash, Shen Zhao's detailed profile covered every light screen.

[Shen Zhao, nineteen years old, direct descendant of the Shen Family in Dayan Province, Kaiyang Star Region. The Shen Family is one of the top fifty Creator clans in the Kaiyang Star Region, with a family legacy spanning over eight hundred years; their core world type is the "Incense Divine Kingdom," an extremely rare and powerful world type.]

[The core logic of the Incense Divine Kingdom is "becoming a god through faith": the Creator establishes a religious system within the world, collects the Power Of Faith of believers to condense a godhead, and finally gives birth to a Hero Unit possessing divinity.]

[The Shen Family's Incense Divine Kingdom has been passed down for eleven generations, possessing a complete divine pantheon structure and believer cultivation system; it is recognized as one of the "toughest nuts to crack" in the Kaiyang Star Region.]

[Shen Zhao himself took over the family world at the age of fifteen, raising it from Rank 4 to Rank 6 in four years. He was undefeated in eighteen preliminary matches, averaging only eleven minutes per match, and is recognized as a "high-potential candidate" in this year's Zhuangyuan Hegemony Competition, predicted by multiple media outlets as a strong contender for the national top 300.]

On the light screen, Shen Zhao's photo occupied most of the screen.

He was a handsome young man with delicate features bordering on the feminine, wearing a white ritual robe with a golden incense badge on his chest. His eyes were a rare amber color, and in the depths of his pupils, the faint shadows of countless kneeling believers could be seen.

A faint smile hung at the corners of his mouth.

The smile seemed gentle and harmless, but upon closer inspection, one would find those amber eyes held no warmth at all.

In the combat analysis room of the Qinglin Province Creator Association.

"It's over." An analyst slumped in his chair, his face pale. "Our guy ran into a seeded player from the Kaiyang Star Region in the very first round? What kind of rotten luck is this?"

"Incense Divine Kingdom..." Another analyst took off his glasses and rubbed his brow forcefully. "This kind of world counters the Yin Qi attribute too much. The core of the Incense Divine Kingdom is Power Of Faith, and Power Of Faith is essentially an aggregate of spiritual energy from living beings, which has a natural purification effect on Yin Qi-type ghosts. It's like sunlight shining into a basement; nothing can stay hidden."

"Furthermore, Shen Zhao is a direct descendant of the Shen Family, with eight hundred years of family legacy and the accumulation of eleven generations. His Incense Divine Kingdom has at least three to five Rank 6 'Deity' units, and his believer count is conservatively estimated to be over two million." The third analyst flipped through a thick dossier, his voice growing heavier. "Although Su Bai's world is also Rank 6, he built it himself from scratch, without family legacy or historical accumulation. How many Hero Units does he have? His strongest Ghost King is Rank 6, but the 'Deity' units of the Incense Divine Kingdom naturally counter Yin Qi. In a Rank 6 versus Rank 6 match, his Ghost King might not even be able to exert fifty percent of its strength."

"The rank gap is too large." The first analyst shook his head. "32 versus 89; this isn't a duel on the same level."

"But Su Bai was also undefeated in the Preliminaries," someone whispered.

"Undefeated?" The analyst chuckled bitterly. "Is his undefeated record the same as Shen Zhao's? Shen Zhao played eighteen matches, and every single one was a crushing victory, with the fastest taking only six minutes. Su Bai may have more wins, but how many of his opponents were truly strong? The only ones with any weight were the Sword Emperor and Zhao Wuji. The Sword Emperor's Dao Heart was shattered by him, but that was because the Sword Emperor was overconfident and didn't take Su Bai seriously from the start. Zhao Wuji was a life-and-death battle, and Su Bai won, but that was because Zhao Wuji's Blazing Sun World wasn't top-tier to begin with, and Su Bai used almost all his trump cards."

He paused, his voice dropping even lower.

"Shen Zhao is different. Each of his eighteen victories was a frontal crushing victory; he has never been pushed to a desperate situation. No one knows his trump cards."

The analysis room fell into a deathly silence.

After a long while, someone asked softly, "Does Su Bai still have a chance?"

No one answered.

Because everyone was well aware of the answer in their hearts.

The Provincial Capital Observation Deck.

This was a circular platform floating three hundred meters above Qinglin Province, constructed by a Rank 6 Space Creator using the "Void Solidification" authority. It was two hundred meters in diameter and cast entirely from transparent crystal, making it nearly invisible from the outside, but providing a full view of the entire Qinglin provincial capital from within.

Sitting on the observation deck were all the prominent Creators and dignitaries of Qinglin Province.

In the front row sat Chu Zhentian.

Behind him were the mayors of the twelve prefecture-level cities in Qinglin Province, the Vice President of the Creator Association, and the heads of various major clans. Further back were hundreds of low-to-mid-rank Creators who had traveled from all over.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the giant light screen in the center of the observation deck.

On the screen, the match information for the ninth duel was scrolling.

Chu Zhentian's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest, the rhythm steady and unhurried.

But Chu Kuangren, sitting behind him, knew his father only made this movement when he was extremely nervous.

"Dad," Chu Kuangren lowered his voice, "Su Bai..."

"Shut up." Chu Zhentian didn't even look back. "Watch the match."

Chu Kuangren opened his mouth, then closed it again.

In his hand, he gripped a communication terminal already soaked with sweat. On the screen was a message he had just sent to Su Bai:

[Bro, I sent you Shen Zhao's info, did you see it?]

The message status was "Read."

But there was no reply.

Chu Kuangren didn't know if Su Bai didn't have time to look or if he had seen it but felt no need to reply.

He only knew one thing.

That madman Su Bai probably didn't care who his opponent was at all.