“It’s settled, it’s settled! We’re in the clear now!”
“That was incredible!!!”
“Even the worst-case result now is four wins, four losses, and one draw. At least we won’t lose any Mind Power!”
It was no wonder the human spectators were so excited. Gilal’s victory had dispelled their greatest concern.
Of the three remaining participants, she had been the one everyone worried about most.
By contrast, Guan Tong and Han Qiu were much more familiar to the public, who had greater faith in their ability to win.
Now that Gilal had secured a victory, as long as Guan Tong and Han Qiu could win one more match between them, the overall win-loss record would be even.
If they both won, then this rule challenge would be a complete success!
If they both lost... That possibility never even entered the public’s minds.
In their eyes, since Dragon Soul and Gilal had both managed to secure victories, there was no reason Guan Tong, who was even more famous and stronger than they were, couldn’t win his match.
So everyone took it for granted that he would win. The only real suspense was Han Qiu’s match.
“Congratulations to Gilal, competitor from the Tianshui Star Civilization, on her victory! She will receive a fine gift provided by the hosts.”
The commentator’s announcement carried little regret this time. It seemed the commentator hadn’t had much faith in L from the Stone-Crystal Civilization to begin with.
That lack of faith was well-founded. Apart from using its highly durable body to crash into opponents, or firing pieces of itself at them from a distance, the creature had few options.
Those attacks might work against other Ascendants, but they were ineffective against Gilal, who could control her blood to form both offense and defense.
What’s more, the power of her “Blood Saw” was enough to slice through L’s highly durable body. That left little suspense in the match. As long as she performed normally, all she had to do was win before she ran out of blood.
The intermission soon ended. The eighth match, and the second-to-last match for humanity from Tianshui Star, was about to begin.
Humanity had only two participants left: “Shadow” Guan Tong and “GM” Han Qiu. Both of them were the focus of widespread attention.
No announcement was needed. As soon as their matches came around, large numbers of Tianshui Star Ascendants who hadn’t been watching before entered Spectator Mode through their Terminal Panels.
Before long, many empty Myriad Sense Net Bubbles had spectators inside. Their excitement, anticipation, and nervousness seeped out of the bubbles, seeming to form a vast field of emotions circling the arena.
Inside one of the bubbles, a spectator greedily twitched its nose.
“Human emotions... as rich as ever...”
“Too bad they don’t really suit my taste. Hmm...”
This spectator seemed able to distinguish and feed on emotions, choosing what it wanted from the countless feelings drifting through the emotional field.
“And I’m not imagining it, am I?” The spectator let out a low chuckle. “There’s actually a trace of the essence of pain in this sector. I wonder who it’s on...”
Just then, the commentator’s voice rang out.
“Now, a new Sandbox arena is being generated.”
Under the gaze of countless spectators, a layer of grayish-white stone ground spread out, resembling a dried-up riverbed.
The ground was riddled with tiny cracks, from which a faint, pale-blue mist seeped.
A canal encircled the entire arena. Beyond it flowed a viscous white liquid, in which vague shadows flickered in and out of sight.
The eerie arena scene made many human spectators break out in goosebumps, deeply unsettling them.
Even the commentator seemed wary of the newly generated arena. Its tone grew cautious.
“The environment generated this time is... the Ferry Crossing of the River of the Dead!”
The Ferry Crossing of the River of the Dead. The name alone made the spectators’ scalps prickle. It was clearly a highly dangerous environment.
“The Ferry Crossing of the River of the Dead is an extremely rare environment. It’s a place where members of a particular race arrive after death.
“According to legend, when individuals of this race die, their bodies are buried beneath the stone slabs of the crossing. The mist drifting out of those cracks is the aura of their deaths.
“As for the souls of the dead, they are drawn into the River of the Dead encircling this place. The souls that enter the river will exist forever in a phantom form.”
The commentator’s explanation made the human spectators tense up.
With corpses beneath their feet and a river all around them that could drag in their souls, the pressure on the competitors had to be enormous.
As for this “eternal life of the soul,” no one believed it. Judging by the phantoms that occasionally appeared over the river, it definitely wasn’t immortality as humans understood it.
Once the arena had finished generating, the teleportation light pillars began to move.
With only two people left for the Tianshui Star Civilization, the light pillar didn’t appear where Guan Tong was at all this time.
Sure enough, the next moment, Han Qiu appeared on the arena.
“First to appear is GM Han Qiu, competitor from the Tianshui Star Civilization.”
As soon as the commentator finished speaking, Han Qiu bowed to the spectators in greeting.
“Dear spectators, thank you for coming to watch my match. For the sake of hope for the Tianshui Star Civilization, I’ll do everything I can to fight for victory. I hope you’ll cheer me on.”
The spectators were all taken aback.
It had to be said, none of the competitors in the first seven matches had spoken to the audience after taking the stage. They had all stayed silent and focused on fighting their opponents.
Han Qiu was the first to thank the audience after taking the stage. Even the well-traveled commentator was quite surprised.
“This competitor from Tianshui Star certainly seems to have plenty of time on his hands.”
Clearly, in the commentator’s eyes, it was rare for someone about to enter a fight to the death to still have time to interact with the spectators.
Thanks to the extensive support he had gained through his earlier social media work, Han Qiu had a large number of fans watching. At his words, they excitedly cheered him on.
“Han Qiu, you’ve got this! We believe in you!”
“Show those snobs who look down on you just how good you are!”
“I’ve supported you one hundred percent from the start! You’re the number-one Awakened One in my heart!!!”
Inside a Myriad Sense Net Bubble, Lü Tianci watched Han Qiu take the stage and unconsciously clenched his fist.
“Chairman, you have to win!”
Ever since the day he chose to follow Han Qiu, he had believed the latter could make it to the end. Now, no one else could help him through this trial. Han Qiu would have to face it alone.
At that moment, another teleportation light pillar appeared on the far side of the arena.
“Let’s take a look at the other competitor. It is...”
When the light faded, a translucent white, mist-like shape appeared.
Its form was never fixed, constantly shifting. Only the vortex spinning in its center remained unchanged.
“Gji...” The commentator paused mid-introduction, apparently surprised and caught off guard.
“...The opponent of the Tianshui Star Civilization’s competitor is the Soul Predator, Whorl, from the Soul Devourer Civilization.”
The Soul Devourer Civilization? A Soul Predator?
The human spectators all looked bewildered when they heard the introduction. They had no idea what sort of race this was.
But from the name alone, it clearly wasn’t an easy opponent.
The commentator continued, “To be honest, the appearance of a Soul Predator really surprises me.
“This is an extremely unusual race. They exist at the boundary between life and death, appearing only at the instant another living creature dies, when they tear into its departed soul and feed on fragments of other creatures’ souls.
“But...”
What the commentator said next made the human spectators understand why its tone had sounded so strange.
“But Soul Predators cannot attack living creatures. They can only ‘wait’ for death to occur.”
At that, the human spectators were suddenly covered in question marks.
???
It couldn’t attack on its own and could only wait for death. Didn’t that mean Han Qiu was already guaranteed not to lose as soon as the match began?