Chapter 653: Leviathan (Second update, requesting all)

That evening, Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen arrived at the Player Village Office right on time.

Compared to yesterday, the Player Village was noticeably much quieter, because in yesterday's Qualification Tournament, a full two thousand contestants had been eliminated.

Besides the two of them, there were other contestants at the Player Village Office who had advanced to the Group Stage.

They would draw lots here to determine the upcoming group assignments.

Following the rule that "kings do not face kings," the four publicly known Pseudo-Kings automatically became the figureheads of their respective groups and would not meet before the Finals.

Since Li Zhangsheng was ostensibly still Fifth Rank, he naturally did not receive such treatment.

The Group Stage consisted of four groups, with 16 contestants in each group, still utilizing a knockout format where losing a single match meant elimination.

Unlike the Qualification Tournament, the interval between matches in the Group Stage was longer, usually one match in the morning and one in the afternoon, providing sufficient recovery time.

Compared to the relaxed Li Zhangsheng, Miao Yinfeng and Shen Haofei were full of solemnity; whether they could advance to the top eight depended heavily on luck.

If their luck was poor and they encountered a Pseudo-King or a Sixth-Rank Expert in the first round, it would be a disaster for them.

Soon, it was Li Zhangsheng's turn.

After entering the office, Li Zhangsheng handed his Player Token to the staff member.

"Please draw!"

Under the staff member's instruction, Li Zhangsheng randomly drew a small ball from a specially made box and saw the number one written on it.

This meant Li Zhangsheng was in the first group!

The staff member pointed to a button on the side and continued, "Please press the button to draw the field!"

The National Tournament Group Stage had different fields, and contestants would choose suitable Demon Pets and tactics based on the different fields.

Li Zhangsheng pressed the button, and six patterns appeared on the Obsidian Screen to the side, each representing one of the six different fields.

Unlike the Academy Exchange Tournament, contestants did not have the Authority to eliminate fields and could only rely on randomization.

The moment Li Zhangsheng pressed it, a ring of light appeared on the Obsidian Screen and began to spin rapidly across the six major fields.

In the blink of an eye, the ring became very blurry, difficult to see with the naked eye.

When Li Zhangsheng released the button, the ring slowed down and finally stopped on the Water Field.

"You have drawn the Water Field. The match will be held at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. As for your opponent, they will be determined before nine o'clock tonight, and we will send the opponent's basic information to your Player Token in due course. If you have any doubts or difficulties, you can report them to the staff member next to me."

The staff member was very enthusiastic and respectfully returned the Player Token to Li Zhangsheng.

In this place, she dared not offend anyone; if nothing went wrong, every contestant here could potentially become a prominent figure in the Langya Kingdom.

Not to mention Li Zhangsheng, who was recognized as the most promising candidate to become a Stronger in the Langya Kingdom—the kind where you could even drop the "one of."

"No need, thank you!"

After taking the Player Token, Li Zhangsheng responded politely.

Soon, Ning Bizhen also drew her group.

Seeing that Ning Bizhen was in the fourth group, Li Zhangsheng breathed a slight sigh of relief, as this meant they could not encounter each other unless they reached the Finals.

As for Miao Yinfeng and Shen Haofei, the former was in the second group, and the latter, like Ning Bizhen, belonged to the fourth group.

Soon, Li Zhangsheng and the others returned to the temporary courtyard where they were staying and began to attend to their own affairs.

When it reached exactly nine o'clock in the evening, Li Zhangsheng's Player Token flashed with light, disappearing after three seconds; this indicated that the office had sent the basic information related to him to his Player Token.

Li Zhangsheng immersed his Mental Power into the Player Token and instantly received a stream of information.

His brows twitched slightly at first, because his luck was not very good; his first-round opponent was a Sixth-Rank Expert.

However, when Li Zhangsheng saw the seeded player for the first group, he couldn't help but smile.

"Is this a coincidence? Whatever!"

Seeing the name Dou Yuanbin, Li Zhangsheng was overjoyed; if you don't court death, you won't die. He had never seen anyone so intent on courting death; his behavior was no different from sticking his face out for Li Zhangsheng to punch.

Li Zhangsheng knew Dou Yuanbin's strength relatively well; he wasn't Li Zhangsheng, and even though more than three months had passed, at most he would have added one Demon Beast, and it was highly probable he hadn't added any.

The next morning, half an hour before the first match began, Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen arrived at the Yecheng Arena lounge.

By the time he arrived, many contestants were already present, and few were speaking; almost everyone was preparing for the upcoming match, causing the atmosphere in the lounge to be somewhat oppressive.

Li Zhangsheng sat casually on a chair, his eyes scanning the people present, and soon locked onto a young man with a square face.

He was Li Zhangsheng's opponent for the first knockout match—Qin Kun, a direct descendant of the Langya Qin Clan, 27 years old this year, and ranked in the top three among the younger generation of the Langya Qin Clan.

Since learning that his first opponent was Li Zhangsheng, Qin Kun had been in a very bad mood; he hadn't expected his luck to be so poor that he would have to face Li Zhangsheng in the first match.

Even though Li Zhangsheng was only "Fifth Rank," Qin Kun did not have the confidence to win; he had watched last year's Academy Exchange Tournament and had witnessed Li Zhangsheng's power.

Li Zhangsheng had first defeated Princess Dou Niwan, then defeated the Ninth Prince Dou Yuansheng, and finally defeated the Sixth Prince Dou Yuanhua, whose strength was not much different from his own, and he had appeared to have strength to spare, which made Qin Kun feel immense pressure and put him in an extremely foul mood.

It wasn't just Qin Kun; some contestants who had also encountered tough opponents in the first round were in equally poor spirits, especially those facing the four Pseudo-Kings.

Of course, the draw seemed fair and just, but in reality, there were tricks; for example, the opponents of most experts were often weaklings, with only two or three groups being matchups between experts to "lure" the audience.

In the first round of the knockout tournament, Li Zhangsheng and Qin Kun were one of the most watched matchups.

Li Zhangsheng did not know what Qin Kun was thinking, and even if he did, he would only smile.

Unless the opponent was a Pseudo-King, they posed no threat to him in this kind of one-on-one knockout tournament.

When it reached exactly nine o'clock, the first group of contestants began to take the stage in turns.

Because they were in the first group, Li Zhangsheng and Qin Kun's match was quite early, and they were scheduled for the third match.

After just a quarter of an hour, it was finally time for Li Zhangsheng and Qin Kun's match.

The two stood up from their chairs and signaled to each other; Li Zhangsheng had a fairly good relationship with the Langya Qin Clan and was acquainted with Qin Fangxin, Qin Xiaoxin, and Qin Danxin.

Among them, Qin Danxin was even his junior at the Academy.

At this time, the two entered their respective player tunnels.

As they emerged from the tunnel entrances, a deafening roar of noise erupted as they arrived at a Water Field in the arena.

When the two appeared, enthusiastic cheers and boos rang out in the arena, and their names echoed throughout the venue.

Both had supporters, but the number of Li Zhangsheng's supporters far exceeded Qin Kun's; the numbers were not even on the same level.

There was no helping this; Li Zhangsheng had consecutively broken the records for the youngest breakthrough in the Langya Kingdom, and coupled with leading Yuanling Academy to cause a massive upset, as well as his overly outstanding appearance, it would be strange if his supporters didn't explode.

Li Zhangsheng stood in his position, his expression calm, with absolutely no intention of letting his guard down, silently watching Qin Kun standing opposite him.

Qin Kun was, after all, a Sixth-Rank Expert.

"Hello everyone, the match in the Water Field is about to begin! The two sides are contestant Li Zhangsheng and contestant Qin Kun; I believe everyone has been waiting with bated breath..."

Unlike the Academy Exchange Tournament, the National Tournament had professional commentators to explain the matches, striving to stir up the audience's enthusiasm.

"Take your positions. Both sides have a quota of three Demon Pets; changing Demon Pets during the match is not allowed. When all of either side's Demon Pets lose their combat ability or they voluntarily forfeit, they will lose the qualification to advance to the next round. I declare the match started."

After both contestants were ready, the referee immediately announced the start of the match.

The moment the match began, two Blood-colored Hexagrams emerged, and two aquatic Spirit Beasts of different forms appeared on the Water Field.

Due to the Water Field, Li Zhangsheng chose Datou in his Giant Whale Kun form.

Li Zhangsheng had originally wanted to let the Black Dragon enter the field, but thinking about it, doing so would be too insulting and easily incite hostility.

On the other side, Qin Kun summoned Leviathan.

Leviathan was also a super-large Water Element Spirit Beast, similar in appearance to the Giant Whale Kun, possessing hard scales, sharp teeth, and Sharp Spikes under its belly, making it awe-inspiring.

This was a powerful Spirit Beast with a cold, ruthless, violent, and bloodthirsty personality, having almost no natural predators in the ocean.

This Leviathan was large, a full twenty-plus meters in length, but compared to Datou in his Giant Whale Kun form, it was undoubtedly much inferior.

Looking at it from the perspective of volume, Datou was almost twice its size.

Fortunately, this Water Field was spacious enough to allow these two behemoths to let loose.

Just like in the Academy Exchange Tournament, both sides had ten seconds of observation time.

At the first opportunity, Li Zhangsheng obtained the data on Leviathan.

【Spirit Beast Name】: Leviathan (Mature Stage, Top-tier Exotic Beast)

【Spirit Beast Realm】: Lord 9th Rank

【Spirit Beast Race】: High-level Monarch

【Spirit Beast Quality】: Superior Quality

【Spirit Beast Bloodline】: None

【Spirit Beast Attribute】: Water Attribute

【Spirit Beast Status】: Healthy

【Spirit Beast Weakness】: Earth

In Li Zhangsheng's eyes, this was a very ordinary Leviathan, one could say it was unremarkable; under the absolute gap in quality, it could not possibly be Datou's opponent, and even because their styles were similar, he feared it wouldn't last a few moves.

"So big!"

Qin Kun was also observing Datou in his Giant Whale Kun form; his first impression was that it was huge, and his Leviathan was practically the difference between an adult and a child in front of it.

(End of this chapter)