"Long Chen?"
Long Chen had just entered when he heard a startled exclamation from the other side.
"Boom!"
Immediately after, a loud explosion sounded. Runes lit up on the ground, and earthen walls appeared, layer upon layer surrounding Long Chen.
"Hahaha, Long Chen, today you'll stop at this qualification tournament."
The man laughed heartily, and as he laughed, the earthen walls rapidly closed, forming inverted pot bottoms that sealed off hundreds of layers in succession.
The man sneered, suddenly spitting out a mouthful of blood. His hands instantly turned blood-red as he slammed his palms against the ground.
On the Thick Earth Shield, countless chains of blood-red runes appeared, sealing the entire arena completely shut down.
"What champion of the Dao Debate Tournament? Nonsense! You've ruined our future. Today we'll let you go out, and tomorrow, we'll leave you with your corpse exposed in the wilderness." The man's face was covered in a ferocious grin. His bloodline power surged wildly, and the thick earth prison above the earth grew even more solid.
This person was an earth-element cultivator. Although his talent was decent, among the many contestants, he was only above average.
However, this person used a secret self-destructive technique, using his own essence blood as a guide to activate the sealing technique. Even a top-tier expert would have no chance of breaking through in a short time.
He was exactly the kind of pawn Luo Xue spoke of, who specialized in stalling others. Whenever he encountered Long Chen, his first thought was to stall Long Chen, hoping that when the time was up, he could be eliminated together. His intentions were extremely malicious.
These people are pawns being cultivated. If he can hold off Long Chen, it would be like achieving a remarkable feat and receiving astonishing rewards.
You have to understand, Long Chen is a thorn in the side of some people—a thorn in their flesh. Whoever can hold him back can gain both fame and fortune. So from the start, that person unleashed his self-destructive ultimate move, giving Long Chen no chance at all.
"Hahaha..." The man seemed to see countless riches beckoning to him, growing even more proud.
"What's so funny? Why not just tell me so I can be happy for you too?" A large hand patted his shoulder behind him and said calmly.
The man was shocked. He turned around and saw Long Chen looking at him with a half-smile. At some point, Long Chen had come out of his cell, and he hadn't noticed at all.
"You ...," the man opened his mouth and uttered only one word.
"Bang"
Suddenly, his whole body exploded, turning into a cloud of blood mist. Long Chen had already known this would happen and had already moved aside.
"Silly child, you don't know how to use forbidden techniques. You need to stay focused and avoid distraction, or if you lose control, your body might explode and die."
"Buzz"
Long Chen had just finished muttering when he was teleported out. By the time he left, everyone else had already returned, leaving only Long Chen alone.
Seeing Long Chen return, Luo Bing, Mu Qingyun, and the others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, thinking Long Chen had encountered some terrifying opponent or something had happened.
"The opponent is strong?" Bai Shishi couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Not strong, it's the kind of tough meat Luo Xue mentioned. It's a rare opportunity. I watched his performance for a while before killing him." Long Chen said.
Only then did everyone realize that Long Chen had encountered someone who specialized in dragging people down. They were also curious and couldn't help but ask about the man's moves. Long Chen briefly explained.
"That's ruthless. Burning such a large amount of essence blood will delay at least three years of cultivation." Someone exclaimed in surprise.
"Their talent is mediocre to begin with, basically death warriors trained by the sect. Once they achieve merit, they can basically retire quietly, marry several wives, have children every day, and pin their hopes on their children." Lu Mingxuan said, seemingly quite familiar with people like this.
"Just a reminder: in the preliminary round, if you can defeat your opponent in one move, you absolutely won't use a second move. If you can kill your opponent, that's fine, but if you can't, everyone will know your technique.
Because on the arena, some people, after losing, immediately compile information about their opponents—including their attributes, fighting style, strengths, weaknesses, and so on—and then sell them at a high price. Lu Mingxuan said seriously.
"With such a fast-paced elimination match, is this data really useful?" Someone couldn't help but ask.
"Of course it works, because they're not selling now. They wait until the shortlist is out before they start selling the materials.
If you make the shortlist, there will definitely be people who specifically buy information about your competitors, especially strong players like Long Chen, Shishi, and Young Master Changchuan, who will pay high prices.
Think about it: if everyone fighting you survived and each had access to some information, wouldn't you become invisible when the real battle came? What secrets could there be? Lu Mingxuan said to the man.
The man was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but smile wryly: "I'm just worried about the sake of the carrot. After hearing Senior Sister Mingxuan explain, I was actually worried about someone else recording my information." "
After the man finished speaking, many of the War God Hall's experts burst into laughter. People like them were simply too lazy to bother to remember.
"I just exchanged more than thirty moves with that person and barely won in one move. After all this is sifted through the sand, future strong fighters will likely become less and stronger with less and less inflated quality. The chances of trying to break through to rankings by luck will only get lower." Another expert from the War God Hall said.
"That's right. The first opponent I faced wasn't particularly strong, but the second time I encountered him, I already felt exhausted. I don't know how many more rounds he can hold." Another person couldn't help but sigh.
Those who can come here are all experts, but upon arriving here, they realize how insignificant they are.
"Don't be afraid. We have Long Chen. When he gets tough, he can hold up half the sky." Lu Mingxuan comforted everyone, though her words always sounded a bit strange.
"I was saying, can you be a bit more pure, not so filthy?" Long Chen felt like he was about to cry. Although these words sounded fine on the surface, coming from Lu Mingxuan's mouth, it didn't sound very kind.
"I was once pure too." Lu Mingxuan said somewhat aggrievedly.
"You were pure too?" Long Chen was a bit skeptical.
"Yes, a long time ago, in my understanding, chrysanthemums were still a kind of flower." Lu Mingxuan sighed.
Long Chen rolled his eyes directly, and Luo Bing, Bai Shishi, and the others clearly didn't understand what Lu Mingxuan meant, but they knew this filthy woman would never say anything nice.
Soon, the draw bucket kept rolling. The third elimination round began. Long Chen's opponent was a woman. Before she could act, Long Chen unleashed a lightning strike, knocking her out from behind and securing victory once again.
This time, Long Chen was the first to return, followed by Bai Shishi, Bai Xiaole, Young Master Changchuan, and others. Bai Xiaole possessed spatial power; his opponents didn't even notice him before being knocked unconscious—it was practically cheating.
Lu Mingxuan, Luo Bing, Luo Ning, Luo Xue, Luo Qing, Mu Qingyun, and other powerhouses also returned one after another, followed by the War God Hall's strong warriors coming back.
"Whew."
Suddenly, a divine light flickered. A figure had just appeared and collapsed to the ground. It was a powerful warrior from the War God Hall, already dead. A dagger was stuck in his forehead, and on the dagger was engraved an immortal script—Chu!
"The Chu family"
Everyone was instantly shocked and furious.