Chapter 422

At the same time, Huiyue Empire, Huiyue City.

Today is the day of the finals of the Western Region Artifact Refining Competition. This artifact refining competition that shocked the entire Western Region gathered almost all the most talented artifact refiners in the entire Western Region. After layers of screening, only ten people remained in the square.

Outside the square was a sea of people. The crowd cheered excitedly, and there was a lot of noise below.

In front of the square was a huge high platform. On the high platform sat over a hundred judges from various countries, as well as powerful big shots from all sides.

Sitting at the very front of the high platform were the chief artifact refiners of the ten great empires, but one seat was vacant. The chief artifact refiner of one of the ten great empires was actually absent.

Beside the empty seat, a burly man with flesh all over his body curled his lips and said with little interest: "Feng Gao actually didn't come. It's an unwritten tradition for the Long and Feng clans to gamble as soon as they meet. I wanted to take this opportunity to win some things from him, but it seems there's no chance. It's truly a disappointment."

"In the Alchemy Competition half a year ago, Long Xiaoyao won ten life-bound Gu worms from the Feng Clan's chief alchemist. It truly made me envious!"

Qin Zhan stroked his gray beard, glanced at him, and said: "Long Batian, who doesn't know that the Heavenly Phoenix Empire is being invaded by a mysterious puppet army? Stop talking sarcastic remarks."

"Currently, the territory of the Heavenly Phoenix Empire has fallen by ninety percent under the attack of the puppet army. The Heavenly Phoenix Empire is facing a life-and-death crisis. How could the Feng Clan's chief artifact refiner still come here?"

The topic was brought here. At this moment, all the judges on the high platform revealed solemn expressions and joined the discussion.

"What is the background of this batch of puppet armies? It's as if they fell from the sky. They suddenly appeared without any omen."

"Don't know. It is said that this batch of puppet armies has at least five million. Facing such a terrifying number of puppet armies, the Heavenly Phoenix Empire simply cannot withstand it. In just a few months, it has lost most of its territory and is currently just lingering on its last breath. The destruction is already set."

"The cost of producing such a terrifying number of puppet armies is an astronomical figure. How could it be hidden? But now it has appeared out of thin air. It's simply evil."

"Heard that this group of puppets comes from the Sky Island Ruins, and the one manipulating this batch of puppets is the God of Gamblers who provoked the four nations to gamble their clan luck. Don't know if it's true or not, but the rumors shouldn't be groundless."

"You all shouldn't gloat either. When the lips are gone, the teeth are cold. Who knows if that batch of puppet armies will continue to attack other empires after destroying the Heavenly Phoenix Empire? With such a terrifying number of puppet armies, I think no country can withstand it. We should be prepared to unite early."

The judges on the high platform discussed heatedly, their faces full of solemnity and worry. The mysterious puppet army that suddenly appeared made them feel like they had thorns on their backs.

Wang An frowned tightly, feeling more and more uneasy the more he thought about it.

In his view, the Feng Clan lost half of its clan luck to the Long Clan in a gamble, and soon Heavenly Phoenix City was burned down.

The disappearance of a national imperial city seemed to be an omen. After that, the Heavenly Phoenix Empire had constant bad luck. In less than a year, it had actually developed to the point of being about to perish.

Can losing half of the clan luck really have such a great impact?

He couldn't help but worry. In that high-stakes gamble in the Alchemy Competition, the Huiyue Empire also lost half of its national luck to the Yan Ting Empire.

Could it be that the fate of the Heavenly Phoenix Empire will be the fate of his Huiyue Empire tomorrow, and Huiyue will soon follow in its footsteps?

Thinking this way, he felt even more uneasy and had no mood to preside over the upcoming artifact refining competition.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's start the finals of the artifact refining competition. The time has come, and the people below can't wait."

A highly respected old man spoke at this time. Wang An could only collect his mind and, after looking around, shouted loudly:

"I think everyone already knows the rules of the finals of the artifact refining competition. Simply put, each person refines the most proficient spirit artifact, no limit on the type, and the one with the highest value wins!"

"I now announce that the finals of this Western Region Artifact Refining Competition officially begin!"

As soon as this was said, there was a burst of cheers below, sound wave after sound wave, and every audience member was very excited at this moment.

After announcing the start of the competition, Wang An finally sat down with a heavy heart, his mind clearly not on the competition in front of him.

Compared to him, Long Batian looked to be in a good mood and smiled: "Why don't you guess who will be the final champion? I guess it's that disciple of the Artifact Sect's Great Elder."

"Oh? You mean that Array Maniac?" Qin Zhan turned to look at him and smiled: "Heard that this person is extremely obsessed with artifact refining, but his artifact refining talent is extremely poor."

"Because he knelt in front of the Artifact Sect gate for ten days without eating or drinking on a snowy day, he was finally moved and accepted as a disciple as an exception. Because he was obsessed with artifact refining to the point of madness, he was given the name Array Maniac by his master."

"This person is extremely hardworking and has amazing perseverance. Every day of training, he puts in ten times more effort than his fellow disciples. Relying on diligence to make up for clumsiness, he has today's artifact refining technique."

"In the artifact refining world, there are not many examples of clumsy birds flying first!"

"Currently, his total score is tied with four others. Whether he can truly defeat the geniuses whose talent is ten times better than his by relying on his own efforts is really hard to say."

"Hmph! Clumsy bird flying first, my ass! Effort is simply worthless in front of talent!" Wang An said disdainfully: "The reason he can achieve today's achievements is that his terrifying financial resources have contributed significantly."

"Others have limited resources and cannot use a large amount of precious materials to practice."

"Unlike him, his financial resources seem to be inexhaustible. He wants to use as many precious materials as he wants without knowing how to save. He doesn't know how many golden mountains and silver mountains he has lost while learning artifact refining techniques."

"Limited by financial resources, his fellow geniuses only have one chance to practice, but he can practice a hundred times. How can this be compared?"

"With so many artifact refining materials smashed down, even a pig could fly. It's not surprising that he can reach the finals of the artifact refining competition, but it should be attributed to financial resources, not his effort."

Perhaps because he was in a bad mood, Wang An's tone was somewhat unkind.

Before, the Huiyue Empire lost half of its national luck to the Yan Ting Empire. In order to win back the national luck, the Huiyue Empire gambled another game in this artifact refining competition.

Because the Yan Ting Empire didn't have any artifact refining geniuses who could be brought out, the two countries gambled on whether the Wang Clan's artifact refining genius could win the championship of this artifact refining competition.

If the Wang Clan's artifact refiner could win the championship of this artifact refining competition, they could win back half of the national luck.

If the Wang Clan's artifact refiner couldn't win the championship of this artifact refining competition, even if it was just the runner-up, they would lose another half of the national luck to the Yan Ting Empire.

If the Huiyue Empire lost another half of its national luck, then the national luck would be gone, and the national luck of the Huiyue Empire would be zero.

No one dared to imagine what terrifying things would happen if a country's national luck was zero.

So this artifact refining competition, the Huiyue Empire must win, even at all costs.

He naturally wouldn't have a good face for the biggest competitor of this Wang Clan artifact refining genius.

At this moment, the ten artifact refining geniuses in the square had already started refining artifacts. Due to the exhaustion of heaven and earth spiritual power, the artifact refining world also had a situation where it was difficult for artifact refiners to become Fourth-Grade Artifact Refiners at the age of fifty.

However, the situation in the artifact refining world was much better than in the alchemy world. At this moment, there were five Fourth-Grade Artifact Refiners and five Third-Grade Artifact Refiners standing in the finals, far exceeding the two Fourth-Grade Alchemists in the Alchemy Competition.

At the number one position, the Array Maniac revealed a look of pride. Although his actual age was much older than fifty, his human body age after transformation was indeed younger than fifty. He successfully caught a not-so-small bug by special means, which allowed him to successfully obtain the qualification for this competition.

The Array Maniac looked at his old master in the crowd. The master nodded at him with a smile. Beside him, the beautiful senior sister also waved her fist at him, her small mouth slightly opened, and she playfully shouted: "Junior Brother, come on!"

The Array Maniac grinned, and love flashed in his eyes. This shout of "come on" gave him even more motivation.

He clenched his fists, his eyes became firm. Winning the championship of the artifact refining competition had always been his dream. He had been working tirelessly for this, and today was the day he realized his dream.

"The championship of this artifact refining competition belongs to me, Array Maniac. I want to return to the Artifact Sect with endless glory, slap those elders in the face, and tell them that Master's choice to accept Array Maniac as a disciple back then was correct!"

The Array Maniac roared in his heart and finally didn't hesitate anymore. He took out a large piece of black-colored metal from his storage ring. Under the manipulation of his soul power, the black metal stayed in the air, and a cluster of colorful flames abruptly appeared under the metal, burning violently.

As soon as this fire appeared, the temperature in the square rose sharply. The flames of the other contestants around him went out one after another. In just a few breaths, all the contestants' flames were extinguished.

In the entire Huiyue City, except for this cluster of colorful flames, there was no other fire burning anywhere.

All the Gu cultivators in the arena were shocked, and the judges on the high platform stood up one after another.

"This is..."

"Colorful flames. This form of flame should only be the nineteenth-ranked Peacock Facing Heaven Fire on the Heavenly Fire List!"

"It's actually Heavenly Fire! He actually has the legendary Heavenly Fire!"

"Never expected that I would be lucky enough to see Heavenly Fire in this artifact refining competition. Can a Gu King truly subdue the nineteenth-ranked Heavenly Fire?"

The judges on the high platform were all uncomposed, their expressions full of shock.

"Can anyone see what kind of metal he is melting? Under the power of Heavenly Fire, this piece of metal actually hasn't melted for so long."

Long Batian looked at that piece of black metal, his expression extremely solemn.

Qin Zhan shook his head, moved, and said: "I have recognized all the metal materials in this world, whether they are extinct or not. But this kind of metal material is something I have never seen before. It is simply unheard of. I don't know where this Array Maniac picked it up."

"Mysterious metal... Heavenly Fire..." Wang An clenched his fists, his face looking increasingly ugly.

This combination made him feel pressure, and the uneasy feeling in his heart became heavier and heavier.

(End of chapter)