Chapter 656: It Is Time to Show My True Strength (First Update, Seeking Votes)

Unlike before, the National Tournament quarterfinals test the comprehensive strength of the contestants even more, with the number of allowed Demon Pets no longer limited to three, but a full six.

If one only has one or two powerful Demon Pets, it is difficult to secure hope for advancement, and it is also easier to avoid the possibility of an underdog victory.

Perhaps it is for this reason that Dou Yuanbin specifically chose to face Li Changsheng at this time.

Li Changsheng was not the least bit careless; he continued to constantly collect and study information about Dou Yuanbin, preparing for tomorrow's match and readying a big gift for Dou Yuanbin.

Under these circumstances, time quickly arrived at the next morning, a day that was also critical for the eight contestants to see if they could advance to the finals.

Besides Li Changsheng and the four overt Pseudo-Kings, there were also two Sixth-Rank Experts and Shen Haofei.

For them, advancing to the final four was crucial, because only by advancing to the final four could they represent the Langya Kingdom to compete against contestants from other countries and obtain the qualification to enter the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

The Heavenly Dao Secret Realm contains countless secret treasures, not lacking in Heaven and Earth Rare Treasure or even World Wonder level items; it is rumored that there are even the corpses or eggs of Divine Beasts.

It is for this reason that among the Monster Tamers who have entered the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, many have become Kings, Double-Character Kings, or even Supreme Beings.

The next morning, the Yecheng Arena once again welcomed countless spectators; one hour before the match, the crowd was surging, and most of the audience was already in place.

Many spectators who could not buy tickets could only linger outside the venue, either buying scalped tickets at high prices or watching the Obsidian Screen outside.

Just as it was about to turn nine o'clock, Li Changsheng and Ning Bizhen arrived at the Player Rest Room together.

This rest room was much smaller in area, but it was more exquisite and luxurious, and an Obsidian Screen was hung on the wall, which could be used to watch the matches.

By the time they arrived, the other contestants had already arrived.

Not far away, Liu Xuguang was communicating with Dou Yuanbin.

"Brother Dou, how is it? Are you confident?"

"Rest assured, he is only Fifth Rank after all; even if he is strong, it is impossible for him to contend with a Pseudo-King."

Dou Yuanbin appeared full of confidence; as if imagining the scene of crushing Li Changsheng in a moment, he could not help but reveal a wild smile.

Fearing that Dou Yuanbin would underestimate the enemy, Liu Xuguang could not help but remind him: "I am relieved to hear Brother Dou say that, but, after all, one must still be a bit careful."

"Hmm, I will go all out and strive to make him embarrass himself in front of the national audience!"

"Then I will wish Brother Dou a flying start in advance!!"

When Dou Yuanbin and Liu Xuguang were communicating, they did not avoid the other contestants at all, giving the feeling as if they were deliberately saying it for Li Changsheng to hear.

Their purpose was self-evident: they wanted to disrupt Li Changsheng's state of mind and make him perform poorly.

Unfortunately, from beginning to end, Li Changsheng ignored these two clowns and just chatted with Ning Bizhen about some topics of interest on the side.

Just as the match was about to arrive, the atmosphere in the room became increasingly dull; most began to close their eyes and rest, trying their best to adjust their mindset to the best state.

This time, the match between Li Changsheng and Dou Yuanbin became the finale, so they would be the last to take the stage.

Just as the first match was about to begin, Dou Yuanhua and Shen Haofei left the rest room and entered the player passage on the side.

In the rest room, the other six contestants looked at the screen one after another, watching the battle between Dou Yuanhua and Shen Haofei.

Although Shen Haofei's strength was not bad, at most he could barely contend with an ordinary Sixth-Rank Expert, so naturally, there was a large gap between him and Dou Yuanhua.

Even though Dou Yuanhua's Demon Beast did not appear, he still easily suppressed Shen Haofei, winning with a score difference of 6 to 2 and successfully advancing to the finals.

After the match ended, only Dou Yuanhua returned to the rest room; as for the eliminated Shen Haofei, he could only collect his quarterfinals reward and leave.

The matches continued, and after half an hour, Ning Bizhen and Liu Xuguang also easily advanced to the finals.

Until this moment, it was finally the turn of Li Changsheng and Dou Yuanbin's match.

Li Changsheng had a confident smile on his face; after greeting Ning Bizhen, he turned and entered the player passage.

On the other side, Dou Yuanbin entered another player passage.

As soon as the two walked out of the passage, the entire arena was filled with the fanatical cheers of the spectators.

What made Dou Yuanbin frown was that Li Changsheng's supporters were not only not fewer than his, but actually even more.

At this time, the arena was already packed, with not even a place to stand.

The two stood on their respective command platforms, staring at each other; the air between them seemed to spark, and they did not hide their disgust for each other in the slightest.

"Dou Yuanbin, you really thought your scheme succeeded? It is time to show my true strength!"

At this moment, Li Changsheng no longer disguised himself, and the aura belonging to a Pseudo-King was fully released.

There were no Kings watching the matches during the group stage, but when it came to the finals, Kings would naturally come to oversee the venue, so even if he wanted to hide it, he could not.

As for why Dou Zhangsheng did not notice Li Changsheng advancing to Pseudo-King during the National Tournament opening ceremony, it was mainly because there were nearly two thousand contestants at the time, so how could he specifically pay attention to Li Changsheng.

The moment Li Changsheng released his aura, Dou Yuanbin's originally confident smile instantly became stiff.

Dou Yuanbin never expected that the scheme he and Liu Xuguang had meticulously planned would ultimately still fail to stop Li Changsheng from advancing, and that the other party had directly skipped the Sixth Rank and advanced to a Pseudo-King.

When Li Changsheng was at the Fifth Rank, he could defeat a Sixth-Rank Expert across ranks; now that he had become a Pseudo-King, what level would his strength reach?

Thinking of this, while Dou Yuanbin was filled with regret, he was even more thrown into chaos.

In just a few breaths, the experts present looked at Li Changsheng in unison, all filled with shock.

"First, let me introduce the contestants of both sides of the match. My God, contestant Li Changsheng is actually a Pseudo-King..."

The commentator who was about to introduce both sides suddenly exclaimed; because he was too shocked, he forgot to commentate for a moment.

Even so, when the spectators learned the news that Li Changsheng was already a Pseudo-King, countless people widened their eyes and even opened their mouths unconsciously, unable to hide the shock in their hearts.

The 18-year-old Li Changsheng had actually advanced to a Pseudo-King; even those who thought highly of Li Changsheng had not expected such a thing to happen.

In this way, Li Changsheng easily broke the record for the youngest Pseudo-King in the Langya Kingdom, previously held by the Butterfly King Luo Qingning, and pushed this record forward by more than two years; how could this not be shocking?

In the Player Rest Room, Liu Xuguang had a livid face; Li Changsheng advancing to a Pseudo-King was naturally the worst possible news for him.

He had anticipated that Li Changsheng might advance to a Pseudo-King this year, but he just did not expect it to be at this time, which completely disrupted his and Dou Yuanbin's deployment.

"Take your positions. Both sides can use six Demon Pets. There is no time limit for the match. When either side's Demon Pets all lose their combat ability or a contestant forfeits, they will lose their qualification for advancement. I announce the match officially begins."

The referee showed good professionalism; after reacting, he immediately announced the start of the match!

Dou Yuanbin took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the unease in his heart, and summoned his first Demon Pet along with Li Changsheng.

Accompanied by the emergence of a purple and a red hexagram, Aixi and the Red Flame Flying Dragon appeared on the field.

This was a Superior Quality Red Flame Flying Dragon, possessing a High-level Leader Species and at the Lord 9th Rank realm.

This match requires six Demon Pet slots; although Dou Yuanbin naturally possesses better Demon Pets, he is not Li Zhangsheng and does not have so many high-quality Demon Pets.

As for why Li Zhangsheng summoned Aixi, it was mainly to teach Dou Yuanbin a lesson, ideally achieving a one-versus-six sweep to make him lose face in front of everyone, suppressing Dou Yuanbin's influence, reputation, and prestige as much as possible.

The two's field is a Rock Field, which is a field suitable for most Demon Pets to exert their full strength, except that it has a large number of two-to-three-meter-high rocks, which have good blocking or shielding effects for small Demon Pets.

During the ten-second observation time, Dou Yuanbin stared at Aixi with an ugly expression; he naturally could sense that Aixi was a Demon King-level Demon Pet.

In the time it took for two or three breaths, the ten-second observation time passed.

At the first moment, Aixi turned into streaks of Residual Shadow, appearing behind the Red Flame Flying Dragon with ghostly speed.

The Red Flame Flying Dragon realized Aixi's position, but its body could not keep up with its consciousness at all; before it could react, Aixi jumped up, opened its mouth to reveal fangs like swords, from which a foot-long shimmering golden light extended, and bit fiercely toward the Red Flame Flying Dragon's slender neck.

The Red Flame Flying Dragon could not dodge at all, only having time to let out a sharp scream before its neck was bitten by Aixi's fangs.

Crack!

Accompanied by a crisp sound of bone shattering, the Red Flame Flying Dragon's scream came to an abrupt end; Aixi flicked its head, and the Red Flame Flying Dragon's head detached from its neck, flying not far from Dou Yuanbin.

The headless Red Flame Flying Dragon fell heavily to the ground, its headless body twitched a few times, and it directly entered death.

Similar to the Academy Exchange Tournament, except for the Life-Bound Demon Pet, all others can be killed; unless there is deep hatred or a life-and-death struggle, few people will take the initiative to kill, because it is very easy to offend people this way.

Li Zhangsheng and Dou Yuanbin have irreconcilable hatred; he naturally would not let go of this opportunity, looking for chances to kill Dou Yuanbin's Demon Pets as much as possible, as only in this way can he effectively reduce Dou Yuanbin's strength and potential.

Looking at the Red Flame Flying Dragon's Longyan, which died with eyes wide open, Dou Yuanbin swayed his body, his face turning slightly pale.

Dou Yuanbin is a Pseudo-King after all, and he suppressed the turmoil in his Consciousness Sea relatively easily.

However, Dou Yuanbin still took a Soul Stabilizing Pill, which is a type of high-level Alchemical Pill specifically used to soothe shocks in the Consciousness Sea.

"The Red Flame Flying Dragon is dead, please have contestant Dou Yuanbin summon the next Demon Pet!"

The referee also did not expect Li Zhangsheng to be so ruthless, actually killing the main Demon Pet of the Third Prince Dou Yuanbin directly; however, these were all within the rules, so he could not say anything and proceeded directly with the announcement.

Today's goal: three, pigs, proof!

(End of this chapter)