193: Chapter 193 Next... Who else?

The challenge match continued.

Over the next hour, everyone truly saw what was meant by "hunting within the rules."

Except for Sakura Island, the other three teams began to besiege the Dragon Nation...

The atmosphere in the Dragon Nation representative area grew increasingly heavy.

Academic Director Zhao Mingshan sat in his seat, his face so dark it was practically dripping with water.

"This can't go on."

"They aren't competing against our strong points right now; instead, they keep dragging out our rhythm."

"If we take the initiative to challenge, it means the number of battles increases."

"But if we don't, we'll just keep getting called out by them."

This was the most disgusting part of the challenge match.

Just because you are strong doesn't mean others have to go head-to-head with you.

They could avoid Lu Cheng, they could avoid a healthy Gu Changqing, they could attack Tang Zhiwei first, they could exhaust Xu Xinglan first...

If you don't accept, you forfeit.

If you do accept, you get exhausted.

One or two matches are fine.

But after several consecutive matches, no matter how strong a genius is, they aren't made of iron.

Gu Changqing had already gone up three times.

He won two matches and lost one.

As a once-in-a-century sword genius from the Imperial Capital Martial Arts School, his strength was formidable... it was just a pity that he was outnumbered...

In the first match, he used "One Sword Severing the Flow" to forcefully slash through the Source Power shield of a mechanical cyborg from the Eagle Country, forcing his opponent out of the ring.

In the second match, he fought Holder from Northern Europe for seven minutes, relying on his Green Peak Sword Heart to precisely cut off his opponent's three consecutive surprise attack routes, narrowly winning by a single move.

But in the third match, Yun Qi from the Tianlan Ancient Kingdom knocked Gu Changqing out of the ring using a strange bronze compass.

Jiang Xuance was about the same; he won two matches and lost one.

Tang Zhiwei lost another match later on; this time, her opponent was a youth from the Tianlan Ancient Kingdom with fire patterns carved on his body.

Tang Zhiwei's Thousand-Mechanism Poison Bones were very troublesome, but the fire patterns on the opponent's body were like a naturally burning Source Power furnace, constantly burning and suppressing the poison source.

She held out for five minutes, but in the end, she was forced to the edge of the ring by waves of fire.

Xu Xinglan was the same... she lost her first match against Adam.

Now it was her second match... facing Eve from the Eagle Country...

This match was actually very exciting.

Neither of them was purely a melee combatant, but they turned the ring into a battle of deduction.

Xu Xinglan used the Star Track Source Array to lock down the field, while Eve used a battlefield data model to constantly dismantle her array nodes.

At first, Xu Xinglan had the upper hand.

Her Spirit Pupils could see the flow of Source Power, and she almost used the Flowing Light Protective Array to lock Eve's position several times.

But Eve's data updated too quickly.

By the fifth minute, Eve had already calculated the three habitual nodes Xu Xinglan used when setting up the array.

A precise Source Power pulse directly interrupted the array's cycle.

Xu Xinglan was forced to retreat.

The next second, Eve's mechanical prosthetic arm unfolded, and several white beams of light sealed off her retreat.

When Xu Xinglan returned to the Dragon Nation representative area, her fingers were a bit numb.

She didn't speak, just lowered her head and sat down... her mood was somewhat low...

The Dragon Nation team's score was still 0.

However, the scores of the other teams outside the Arena had gone up; in other words, the Dragon Nation team was now in last place.

Lu Cheng looked at her and finally stood up.

"It's about time for me to go up, right?"

Once these words were spoken, everyone in the Dragon Nation representative area looked over.

Lu Cheng loosened his shoulders, his tone very calm.

"Your one-on-many battles have been enough to prove your strength."

He looked at Heavenly King Lin, and then at Gu Changqing, Jiang Xuance, Tang Zhiwei, Xu Xinglan, and Ye Beihan.

"They aren't sure of my strength, so they haven't dared to make a move yet."

"Since that's the case, I might as well end this boring game early."

"Leave the rest to me."

Heavenly King Lin had a medical bandage wrapped around his shoulder, and his face was still somewhat pale.

He looked at Lu Cheng, his eyes filled with a trace of guilt.

If only he were a bit stronger...

If only he could have forcefully dragged Reinhardt down...

the Dragon Nation wouldn't be in such a passive position.

Heavenly King Lin was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice:

"Brother Lu."

"I'm counting on you."

Everyone looked at Lu Cheng, their faces filled with unwillingness...

If only they were a bit stronger, they wouldn't be so pathetic...

Lu Cheng waved his hand and turned to walk toward the ring.

Under everyone's gaze, Lu Cheng stood in front of the amplification array and looked up at the representative areas on all four sides.

"Calculating back and forth one by one, aren't you tired of the trouble?"

His voice clearly spread throughout the entire Arena.

Lu Cheng grinned.

"Let's keep it simple: just me!"

"I'll fight all of you!"

The whole place went silent instantly.

Then, the uproar almost blew the roof off the Arena.

"What?!"

"Is he crazy?"

"Fighting everyone?"

"Lu Cheng is too arrogant!"

The people from the several representative teams looked at Lu Cheng as if they were looking at an idiot.

In the Eagle Country representative area, someone even laughed out loud.

"Are the Dragon Nation people crazy?"

"Does he really think he's a War King?"

At the commentary desk, Sister Bai looked at Lu Cheng standing by the edge of the ring, her heart skipping a beat for no reason.

The young man stood under the gaze of thousands, with the Dragon Nation representative area behind him and powerful enemies from all four sides in front...

Hehehe...

Sister Bai quickly reacted, cleared her throat, and maintained her professional commentary tone.

"Ahem."

"According to the competition rules, this challenge match does not allow direct one-on-many battles."

"If a contestant wants to engage in multiple consecutive rounds of combat, they can choose to hold the ring."

Lu Cheng nodded.

"Then let's do a ring-holding match."

After saying that, he walked onto the ring.

The 100-meter by 100-meter black alloy ring appeared empty and cold under his feet.

The energy barrier all around slowly rose.

He stood in the center of the ring, hands in his pockets, and looked up at the representative areas on all four sides.

"Who's coming up first?"

The teams below didn't move for a moment.

The rewards for holding the ring seemed tempting.

But the person who went up first faced the greatest risk.

Because no one knew exactly how much strength Lu Cheng was hiding.

Especially his outburst in the last thirty seconds of the puppet performance match, which had made everyone realize that this guy was definitely not an ordinary Meridian Opening Realm practitioner.

The silence lasted for over ten seconds.

Finally, in the Eagle Country representative area, a strangely built cyborg stood up.

He wasn't as burly as Logan Steel-Skull.

His body was rather thin, and his skin was a sickly grayish-white.

On both sides of his neck were fine gill-like slits, his arms were a section longer than a normal person's, and beneath his cuffs, things that looked like fleshy tentacles could be seen wriggling.

Academic Director Zhao Mingshan glanced at the information and began to introduce him.

"Eagle Country team contestant, Francis Moore."

"Genetically modified human, mid-stage Meridian Opening Realm."

"According to records, he once killed a mid-stage Hua Hai Realm exotic beast."

"His body has been strengthened with the genes of deep-sea exotic beasts, so his limb extension ability, regeneration ability, and constriction control ability are all very strong."

When Francis walked onto the ring, his mouth curled into an exaggerated arc.

His tongue was thin and long, and as he licked his lips, he carried an uncomfortable, sticky feeling about him.

"Lu Cheng of the Dragon Nation."

He said with a smile.

"You are too arrogant."

Lu Cheng glanced at him.

"Are you the first?"

"Yes."

"Referee, has the match started?"

Lu Cheng looked at the referee, who nodded.

Francis let his arms hang down.

The next second, his cuffs burst open.

Dozens of grayish-white tentacles emerged from his arms and back, writhing in the air like living things.

"I will wrap you into..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

Lu Cheng moved.

No Holy Dragon Armament.

No Flame Demon Transformation.

Just the most ordinary step.

Bang!

A spiderweb crack exploded on the floor of the ring.

Lu Cheng's figure instantly appeared in front of Francis.

Francis's pupils constricted violently.

His tentacles were just preparing to retract for defense.

Lu Cheng's fist had already landed on his chest.

Boom!

A dull thud.

Francis looked as if he had been hit head-on by a high-speed airship; his body bent like a shrimp, and the tentacles on his back instantly lost control, flailing wildly.

The next second, he flew backward, crossing half the ring, and slammed heavily into the energy barrier.

The barrier rippled with a huge circle.

Then, he slid down along the barrier to the outside of the ring.

The whole place was deathly silent.

The referee was silent for a second.

Then he announced:

"Francis Moore, out of bounds."

"Lu Cheng of the Dragon Nation, ring-holding successful."

The score on the big screen jumped.

[Lu Cheng ring-holding successful: +2]

Lu Cheng stood in place, not even moving a second step.

He looked up at the representative areas on all four sides, his tone still very calm.

"Next."

"Who's next?"