The competitors in the arena couldn’t hear the information revealed by the commentator.
So even after it explained the Soul Predators’ traits, their opponent, Han Qiu, remained completely unaware.
As for the audience, after learning that the Soul Predator race never initiated attacks, they all found it strange.
Some thought Han Qiu would win without lifting a finger, but others felt things couldn’t be that simple.
Guan Tong looked at the arena. He didn’t think Han Qiu had already secured an invincible position.
The fact that Soul Predators didn’t attack first didn’t mean they lacked passive attacks.
Besides, the environment of this “Ferry Crossing of the River of the Dead” was clearly dangerous in itself. That much was obvious from the commentator’s tone.
If this Soul Predator, Whorl, made use of the environment, it might be able to kill Han Qiu without lifting a finger.
But that raised another question.
Han Qiu’s ability was to return from the dead. If he died in this River of the Dead environment while facing an enemy that preyed on souls, what would happen?
It was impossible to predict.
On the arena, the countdown ended, and the match officially began.
Without a word, Han Qiu first pulled out an item grenade and threw it.
“Nice! Crash, crash-”
The explosion combined a blinding flash, sharp shrapnel, and a small cloud of deadly poison gas. From physical to chemical damage, it was practically as if every kind of destructive force had been crammed into a single grenade.
This was a perfectly reasonable test. A weaker enemy would definitely have been injured.
However, when the dust cleared, Han Qiu saw Whorl still standing perfectly unharmed and motionless. He knew the test had failed.
Did physical attacks not work? Did this thing have no physical form?
Han Qiu took out a grappling gun and fired it at Whorl. The hook and rope passed right through its body, then clanged against the ground.
That confirmed his guess, as well as what the commentator had said earlier: “It only appears when a living creature dies.”
However, Han Qiu didn’t know that.
All he could judge for now was that this Soul Predator had no physical form.
“In that case...”
Han Qiu took another item out of his Storage Box. It was actually a talisman seal.
As he infused it with Mind Power, the talisman seal burst into flames and transformed into a blue longsword, which shot through the air toward Whorl.
Some audience members knew about the Soul Predators’ traits and thought Han Qiu was certain to win, so they watched the match in a relaxed mood.
When they saw Han Qiu take out a talisman item and turn it into a flying sword, they found it quite amusing.
“Now we’ve got flying swords made from talismans? Is he trying to cultivate immortality?”
“This guy sure has a lot of items.”
“Looks like he realized physical attacks don’t work. That flying sword should be a mental or spiritual attack, right?”
Unlike the spectators who were just there for the excitement, the top Ascendants were more interested in Han Qiu’s own power.
“Why isn’t he using his exclusive ability?”
“If his ability really is returning from the dead, using it would be exactly what the enemy wants.”
“The flying sword went right through!”
The flying sword Han Qiu had made from the talisman passed through the vortex in the Soul Predator’s seemingly substantial yet ethereal form, but still had no effect.
Han Qiu furrowed his brow slightly.
This Spirit Talisman Sword Control was an offensive item he had once obtained from a high-grade Survival Chest. The flying sword formed from the talisman could damage an enemy’s mind and will.
Since it had no effect, that meant Whorl not only lacked a physical form, but seemingly had no mind either.
Was that possible?
He couldn’t help wondering whether a life form without a physical body or a mind could really be considered an intelligent life form.
But what puzzled him most was that the enemy had stood motionless in place ever since the match began.
Its stillness was different from that of Tucker, the Oxes Beast Dragon Soul had faced earlier. Tucker had closed its eyes to sleep, but still reacted when attacked. Whorl, on the other hand, didn’t interact with anything at all.
Han Qiu rested one hand beneath his chin and began to think. He didn’t use any more items and waste his Mind Power.
He didn’t think for long before he felt something strange happening to his body. It had become sluggish in a way it shouldn’t have.
It was as if something were sticking to him. He immediately grew wary, suspecting that Whorl had launched some unknown attack.
But after carefully checking his Defensive Items, he found that none had reacted.
That was strange. He had plenty of Defensive Items, covering everything from Mind Power defense to physical and mental defense.
If there was an attack capable of ignoring and penetrating all those items, then...
Han Qiu suddenly realized something and looked down.
The faint blue mist seeping endlessly through the cracks in the gray-white ground beneath his feet was gradually penetrating his body.
Was it an environmental hazard?
The commentator outside the arena spoke up just then. “Countless corpses lie buried beneath the flagstones at the crossing. Their souls have entered the River of the Dead, and because the corpses possess immortal souls, they continuously emit a deathly aura.
“This deathly aura seeks out nearby living creatures and burrows into their bodies. Its purpose is to turn the living into the dead, just like them... The competitor from Tianshui Star faces a hopeless situation.”
The match had only just begun, yet the commentator had already judged the outcome. This time, however, the audience couldn’t argue.
If the commentator was telling the truth, the deathly aura would continue to affect Han Qiu. As time passed, he would have no choice but to die!
In contrast, the Soul Predator Whorl remained untargetable until a death occurred, and the deathly aura couldn’t affect it at all.
This put Han Qiu at an even greater environmental disadvantage than Shi Jingyi and Dragon Soul had faced earlier.
The lava in Shi Jingyi’s match could at least burn the Face-Seeking Owl to death, and the gravity in Dragon Soul’s Weight-Bearing Cavern had eventually killed Tucker, the Oxes Beast.
But the harsh environment at this River of the Dead crossing only affected Han Qiu and had no effect on Whorl. Many human spectators simply couldn’t accept it.
“This is way too unfair!”
“Why are Tianshui Star Civilization’s competitors always put in an environment that disadvantages them? The matches are rigged!”
“You can tell something’s wrong from the commentator’s bias. This absolutely needs a thorough investigation!!!”
“Could the organizers be behind this? Why isn’t the Fire Thief doing anything? Aren’t these the Doomsday Rules it created?”
Whether they liked Han Qiu or hated him, everyone admitted he was facing an unfair match.
If the outcome affected only Han Qiu, those who hated him would naturally be glad, thinking he deserved to die.
But the result of this match directly determined whether humanity would retain its chance to successfully challenge the rules. That affected every human on Tianshui Star, making it an entirely different matter.
But no matter how much the human spectators protested, the competition continued.
After realizing that the mist rising from the cracks in the floor was affecting his body, Han Qiu immediately moved to a corner to reduce the area of contact.
Then he took out an item tarp, spread it over the ground where he stood, and stuffed its edges into the cracks around the floor, trying to stop the mist from spreading.
His efforts had some effect, but the changes in his body continued to worsen.
It felt as if a force were pulling his body and mind in opposite directions, trying to separate them.
Han Qiu glanced at the shadows that occasionally appeared on the River of the Dead. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he felt those creatures were waiting for him to join them.
This environment is too dangerous. I’m in a terrible position.
After thinking for a moment, Han Qiu took several items from his Storage Box. They looked like trigger mines.
He placed the mines around the motionless Whorl, one in front, one behind, one on the left, and one on the right. They would go off as soon as Whorl took physical form and moved.
Then he returned to the tarp he had spread on the ground and sat down. The glow of Mind Power flowed over his skin.
“...He’s even circulating his Mind Power.”
Guan Tong watched and saw that Han Qiu had a very proficient grasp of Mind Power Flow, far better than the outstanding students at the academy.
Sitting down to circulate his Mind Power at a time like this was undoubtedly a plan to fight a war of attrition against the Soul Predator, to see which of them could last longer.
But with the deathly aura pressing in, Han Qiu couldn’t possibly outlast Whorl. Every audience member who had heard the commentator’s explanation knew that.
Unless a miracle like Dragon Soul’s happened, and Han Qiu broke through to become an Awakened One at the critical moment, turning the tables with the power of Authority.
But Guan Tong doubted that even if such an opportunity arose, Han Qiu would be willing to seize it.
Not everyone could break through in a short time like Dragon Soul. And if Han Qiu entered the Awakening Trial in full view of the audience, the commentator would likely notice.
Once the commentator said it aloud, everyone would know that Han Qiu’s long-standing claim that he was an Awakened One had been a complete lie.
Then the fans he had painstakingly deceived over all those days would turn against him entirely. The more they supported him now, the more they would hate him when they discovered they’d been fooled.
As Guan Tong was thinking this, Han Qiu stopped circulating his Mind Power before long and rose to his feet with a grim expression.
The match had now been underway for three minutes. The Soul Predator Whorl hadn’t moved at all, while Han Qiu’s skin had grown increasingly sickly and waxen yellow.
The audience could all see that Han Qiu was nearly done for.
The commentator added, “The erosion of the deathly aura is silent and imperceptible. It makes the living wither rapidly, and the process is irreversible, no matter...!”
The commentator suddenly fell silent. Han Qiu had made an extremely aggressive move, pulling out a dagger and driving it backward into his own heart!
“Has he gone mad?” the commentator asked, unable to understand. “Or has the pressure finally broken him?”
Han Qiu hadn’t gone mad, nor had the pressure broken him. He had simply realized that his vitality was rapidly fading, and begun using his exclusive ability.
At the instant he died, the water in the River of the Dead began to flow, while the “vortex” at the center of the Soul Predator Whorl’s form stopped spinning.