136: Chapter 136 The Grand Finals Begin! Su Bai's Secret Weapon

The next day. Imperial Capital Central Arena.

This massive structure, covering an area equivalent to three football fields, had been filling up since four in the morning. Sixty-four holographic projection arrays on the dome lit up simultaneously, dyeing the entire sky into a flowing sea of golden light. The surrounding plaza was packed with spectators who couldn't buy tickets; everyone was looking up at a massive suspended screen the size of a football field—it was a super live broadcast screen built by Imperial Capital Magic Media at a cost of 1.2 billion.

Su Bai stood at the entrance of the contestant tunnel. He had an unlit lollipop in his mouth.

"Su Bai. Your heart rate is twelve beats higher than usual."

"Shut up."

"Understood."

Kyubey squatted on his shoulder, its tail sweeping across the back of his neck intermittently.

Zhao Dahai's voice came from the other end of the tunnel. It cracked like a goose with its neck pinched.

"Eight hundred million?! Eight hundred million viewers online?! Su Bai, did you hear that!! Global broadcast!! Eight hundred million!! My ancestors' graves couldn't smoke with this much luck even if they tried!!"

Sweat beads rolled down Zhao Dahai's fat face. He was wearing a new shirt today; the collar was so tight it created a double chin, and the tag on the cuff hadn't even been removed.

Lin Xiao stood next to him, expressionlessly taking a sip of tea from her thermos.

"The tag on your cuff. Cut it off."

"Huh? What tag—oh shit, it really hasn't been cut! Lin, did you bring scissors?!"

"No."

"Then what do I do!! We're about to enter!! We're about to enter!!"

"Tear it off with your hands." Lin Xiao tightened her thermos. "Just don't let the cameras catch it."

Su Bai pulled the lollipop out of his mouth.

"Are you two here to compete or for a field trip?"

"Qin Ye is the one competing, not me! I'm here to be a cheerleader!" Zhao Dahai said righteously, then he paused. "Wait—where's Qin Ye?"

Su Bai tilted his head toward the depths of the tunnel.

———

The center of the arena.

The host platform slowly rose from the ground. A man in a dark blue suit stood on the stage, in his early thirties, with regular features and a smile so precise it could be written into broadcasting textbooks. He was Chief Commentator Lu Ming from Imperial Capital Magic Media, the head host for three consecutive National Competitions.

Chief Commentator Lu Ming opened his arms. His voice, amplified by the magic sound array, spread from the center of the arena like a warm wave of the sea in all directions.

"Global audience—"

"Welcome to the 137th National Competition for Card Creators, the Grand Final!"

The sixty-four holographic projections on the dome exploded simultaneously. Gold and red fireworks effects poured down from the edges of each projection, mixing with the real fireworks, burning the entire sky into a boiling soup of light.

Tens of thousands of people in the audience stood up at once. The wave of sound hit the protective barrier of the arena, causing visible ripples on its surface.

Chief Commentator Lu Ming waited for the sound to drop to a controllable range before continuing.

"This year's tournament has a total of 3,047 Magic Card Masters from 312 colleges and universities across the country. After a month of preliminary rounds, group stages, and knockout matches—"

A giant holographic screen exploded behind him. Over three thousand names streaked across the screen like a meteor shower, eventually condensing into sixteen golden IDs. The Top 16 of the Grand Final.

"The competition adopts a dual-track system. The first stage is a 1v1 duel knockout tournament, with the Top 16 drawing lots for matchups, single elimination. The second stage will only be decided after the first stage concludes!"

Chief Commentator Lu Ming held up a finger.

"The only rule: Every combat card must come from your own Card Creator. Proxy creation, purchasing, and borrowing are strictly prohibited. Violators will be disqualified on the spot and banned for life."

He paused. A professionally calculated arc of suspense appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"So—before the match officially begins, please allow me to introduce the three most anticipated prodigies of this Grand Final."

———

The first spotlight hit the southeast corner of the ring.

It was a young girl. Her jet-black short hair was cropped extremely short, with the ends just covering her earlobes. Her features were exquisite, her jawline sharp, and there was no warmth in her dark gold eyes.

She was wearing a heavy dark gold full-body armor that contrasted sharply with her physique—the armor plates were layered and engraved with dense furnace patterns. Every line seemed to be breathing, and the heat emitted caused the air within three meters to shimmer and distort. From a distance, she looked like a Persian cat stuffed into an iron can.

Her right hand gripped a double-edged battle axe taller than herself. Nine magic cores of different colors were embedded in the axe face.

"The first one—Imperial Capital Military Academy, Wei Xiaoyu!"

Chief Commentator Lu Ming's tone went up a full octave.

"Equipped with the Titan Forge System heavy armor personally forged by Venerable Qi Yuan of the Truth Sanctuary! The entire set of armor is nested with thirty-seven layers of folded space, capable of withstanding a direct bombardment of a Tier 6 forbidden spell! Paired with the nine-core furnace battle axe, she can switch between nine elemental enchantments at any time during battle—when at full power, the energy output peak is equivalent to a small tactical nuclear bomb!"

Wei Xiaoyu slammed the battle axe onto the ground. Three tiles on the ring cracked. She didn't smile, didn't wave; she just scanned the audience with those amber eyes. Her chin was slightly lifted, as if confirming whether any of her opponents today were worth taking seriously, which apparently, none were.

The audience exploded.

"Wei Xiaoyu!! Wei Xiaoyu!!"

"Armor sister, step on me!!"

"Is the guy in front sick?!"

———

The second spotlight. The northwest corner of the ring.

Lightning. Real, genuine lightning. High-voltage electric arcs, silver-white and scorching the air, erupted directly from within that person's body. He stood motionless, but the density of the current wrapped around him had already burned a circle of scorched marks on the ring beneath his feet.

His left arm was mechanical—a complete replacement, with the entire structure from the shoulder joint replaced by a silver-white alloy skeleton. Every metal fiber bundle was emitting a low electrical hum.

"The second one—directly under the Dragon Nation military, biochemical cyborg, Thunder God Xiao Juehan!"

Chief Commentator Lu Ming's voice was almost out of control.

"A strategic single-soldier weapon built by the military at a cost of 3.7 billion over four years! The left arm is equipped with a Star-Destroying mechanical core card, capable of converting all body magic power into a directional lightning storm within one second—at maximum power, the attack range covers the entire arena! Since the completion of the modification surgery, all of Thunder God Xiao Juehan's combat data has been rated SSS! He is known as—the walking natural disaster!"

Thunder God Xiao Juehan raised his mechanical arm. He spread his fingers and clenched them, a crackling arc of electricity pulling between his joints.

He grinned.

There was no kindness in that smile.

The cheers in the audience dimmed a beat. They were scared.

———

The third spotlight didn't hit the ring. It hit the sky.

To be precise, it hit a person slowly drifting down from the sky. He was wearing a washed-out cyan Taoist robe, the cuffs frayed, and his cloth shoes still had a few blades of grass on them. He carried a wooden sword on his back. Just a sword carved from wood, without even a single magic pattern on it.

But when everyone saw him, their breathing lightened.

Because of his eyes. Those eyes reflected the entire depth of the starry sky. The lights of the arena were compressed into a circle of extremely faint, almost invisible phantoms in his pupils.

"The third one—the 72nd generation direct disciple of the Hidden Taoist Sect, the ceiling of mages, Profound Shadow, Master Mage Chen Taixu!"

Chief Commentator Lu Ming took a deep breath. His voice was uncharacteristically low, as if afraid of disturbing something that shouldn't be disturbed.

"Master Mage Chen Taixu has not brought any physical Armament Cards to this competition. He is equipped with a system card that has been lost for four hundred years—the Myriad Element User Magic Card. The function of this card is very simple: it directly converts the user's Mental Power into any element. Fire, water, wind, thunder, light, dark—as long as it is a basic element existing in nature, he can complete the full conversion within 0.03 seconds. No restrictions, no cooldowns, no consumption!"

Chief Commentator Lu Ming paused for a full three seconds.

"Four hundred years ago, the last holder of this card single-handedly blocked the second battlefield of the Abyss's seventh large-scale invasion, all by himself!"

The whole arena went quiet.

Master Mage Chen Taixu landed on the ring. He sat cross-legged, placed the wooden sword horizontally on his knees, and closed his eyes. It was as if he had just come to attend an afternoon meditation session—it just happened that the location was the Grand Final ring.