Chapter 669: Shared Champion? Shared Runner-up?

Compared to the morning's finals, the atmosphere of the Grand Finals seemed even more fanatical.

Under the guidance of referee Sun Min, both sides stood in their respective positions, staring at their opponents.

No matter who it was, after reaching this step, there was often only one thought in their hearts, and that was to become the champion.

But these two were clearly different!

As a Pseudo-King, Sun Min's senses were naturally extremely keen; what made her strange was that whether it was Li Zhangsheng or Ning Bizhen, she did not see even a hint of fighting spirit in their eyes.

Either these two had no fighting spirit to speak of, or one or both of them were concealing their fighting spirit; Sun Min undoubtedly leaned more toward the former, because she knew very well the relationship between Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen.

"Who will forfeit? Or are they just going through the motions?"

Sun Min thought to herself, silently watching the audience at the scene, wondering how they would ultimately feel; they must be disappointed.

"Alright, both sides are in position, the match is about to begin!"

While the commentator was speaking, the Rock Arena appeared between the two.

"Positions taken, both sides may use six Spirit Beasts, there is no time limit for the match, and when either side's Spirit Beasts all lose the ability to fight or a contestant voluntarily forfeits, it will be considered a defeat; I declare the match officially started."

After repeating the match rules, Sun Min, acting as the referee, began to announce the start of the match.

Contrary to all expectations, as if they had a tacit understanding, neither Li Zhangsheng nor Ning Bizhen summoned their Spirit Beasts, still silently staring at each other as before.

"Please, both contestants, summon your Spirit Beasts!"

Sun Min had to repeat herself; as long as one of them summoned a Spirit Beast, the championship could be determined.

"I choose to forfeit!"

"I choose to forfeit!"

Almost simultaneously, Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen announced it at the same time, and with the help of Mental Power, the entire arena could hear them clearly.

A single stone stirred up a thousand waves; from the Emperor and the nobility down to the common people, everyone was shocked upon hearing their announcement, remaining speechless for a long time.

For a moment, the entire venue could be described as quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Sun Min looked at the two with hesitant eyes; the rewards for champion and runner-up might not seem to differ much, but the biggest difference between the two was that the champion could go to the Blessed Land of the Dark Night King, Dou Cangqiong, to contract a Spirit Beast, while the runner-up would go to a regular King's Secret Realm to contract one.

The area of a Blessed Land is far larger than a Secret Realm and can raise a greater number of wild Spirit Beasts; especially since the Dark Night King, Dou Cangqiong, is already over four hundred years old, the foundation of his Blessed Land is naturally exceptionally deep, and it is naturally not lacking in Top-tier Spirit Beasts, and there might even be Demi-God Beasts living there.

A Demi-God Beast can reach the Demon King rank once it reaches adulthood, so its value is self-evident; even though it has never been rumored that the Dark Night King, Dou Cangqiong's Blessed Land possesses a Demi-God Beast, who could say for sure that there isn't one inside?

Taking a step back, even if there were no Demi-God Beasts in the Blessed Land, the number of Top-tier wild Spirit Beasts would certainly far exceed those in a regular King's Secret Realm; this is a certainty.

Just based on this point, the champion's reward is much better than the runner-up's.

Yet even with such rewards, why did both of them choose to give up and let the National Tournament championship slip through their fingers?

"Why would they choose to give up?"

It was not just Sun Min who was puzzled; everyone present was also full of question marks.

Ning Bizhen was also full of confusion; in fact, even she had not expected Li Zhangsheng to make such a choice, and then, not knowing what she thought of, a happy smile appeared on her face.

In fact, before this match started, Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen had never communicated about this.

However, Li Zhangsheng could be certain of one thing: with Ning Bizhen's compliant personality, she would definitely choose to forfeit.

As for why he also forfeited, it was not because winning such a championship would be an unfair victory, but because he did not want to put himself in danger.

Entering the Dark Night King, Dou Cangqiong's Blessed Land to contract a Spirit Beast—this reward sounds quite generous, but in reality, it is delivering one's own neck into the hands of the blade-wielding Dark Night King, Dou Cangqiong; life and death would be at the other's whim, no different from a turtle in a jar.

If it were someone else, it would be fine, and the Dark Night King, Dou Cangqiong, would naturally choose to ignore them, but Li Zhangsheng was clearly different.

First, Li Zhangsheng's progress is too fast, far exceeding the scope of a normal person; either he has an Emperor or Sovereign supporting him from behind, or he possesses a great secret, and the latter is highly likely.

Second, in full view of everyone, Li Zhangsheng severely wounded Dou Zhangsheng's most valued son, Dou Yuanbin.

Now that Dou Zhangsheng has become a King, his status in the eyes of the Dark Night King, Dou Cangqiong, can be said to have risen significantly; as long as Dou Zhangsheng says a few words to his ancestor, the consequences can be imagined.

As for Li Zhangsheng becoming the champion and refusing to enter the Dark Night King, Dou Cangqiong's Blessed Land, it might not be up to him by then.

For the sake of safety, Li Zhangsheng chose to forfeit. Moreover, what he valued most was the opportunity to compete for a spot to go to the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

Looking at the happy smile on Ning Bizhen's face, Li Zhangsheng saw through it but did not say it; sometimes, concealment makes it easier for each other to be of one heart.

Whoosh~

Only at this moment did more and more of the audience react; their reactions varied, but most were filled with shock and disbelief.

Such a special scene was simply something never seen or heard of before!

Acting as the referee, Sun Min fell into a dilemma; she couldn't help but look at the Emperor, Dou Zhangsheng, on the podium with difficulty, and then had to repeat again: "Are you sure you want to forfeit?"

"Forfeit!"

"Forfeit!"

Without hesitation, the two repeated it again, and as if by tacit agreement, they both left their positions and stood at the edge of the arena, holding each other's hands.

In this way, even if the Emperor, Dou Zhangde, designated Li Zhangsheng as the champion, Li Zhangsheng would have sufficient reason to decline.

Besides this, the couple's relationship would not only significantly appease the audience's anger but also greatly deepen the impression of them, likely becoming a beautiful story.

In this way, their reputations would not only not be suppressed but would instead rise to a higher level.

At this time, the Emperor, Dou Zhangsheng, on the podium stood up, and the chaotic noise in the arena was swept away.

"That you can make concessions for each other is very moving; in view of your special circumstances, I have decided to let you two share the championship!"

Upon hearing Dou Zhangsheng's decision, Li Zhangsheng could only describe his feelings with an expletive; just from this one sentence, he was certain that Dou Zhangsheng was plotting against him.

No one would break the rules for no reason and give up more benefits, not even a saint, let alone Dou Zhangsheng as an Emperor.

Immediately, Li Zhangsheng gave a look to Xu Wenhua and Zhang Kaishuo.

Seeing Li Zhangsheng's gaze, Xu Wenhua was not afraid of Dou Zhangsheng at all and bluntly remonstrated: "Your Majesty, this must not be done; once the rules are broken, how can you convince the public in the future? What if others scramble to follow suit?"

More than four years ago, the Yuanling Academy was severely damaged and did not receive much compensation from the state at the time, which is why it appeared increasingly dilapidated.

Xu Wenhua had heard some rumors that back then, for his own selfish interests and to advance to King, Dou Zhangsheng had secretly used a large amount of supplies to trade with neighboring forces for precious resources to break through to the Demon King rank; it was impossible for him to give the Yuanling Academy large compensation, which was how he advanced to King.

According to Xu Wenhua's investigation, the authenticity of these rumors was very high, which also made him dislike Dou Zhangsheng.

"Yes, Your Majesty, these rules really cannot be broken!"

Zhang Kaishuo was a step slower, but he also hurriedly echoed the sentiment; as a veteran high-level official of Yuanling Academy, he was also in the know, and his impression of Dou Zhangsheng was naturally extremely poor.

The opinions of the two Pseudo-Kings naturally received the agreement of many people, and crucially, many felt that this precedent really could not be set.

At this moment, Ning Bizhen began to send a voice transmission to Sun Min.

More than half a year ago, following Li Zhangsheng's instructions, Ning Bizhen had given Sun Min a Red Fire Dragon Scale Fruit, which not only made Sun Min neutral at the time but also secured a promise from her.

This time, as the chief referee of the National Tournament, Sun Min already had a high degree of authority in this regard, and her status as the Principal of the Royal Academy and a Pseudo-King only added weight to that authority.

Many of the nobles present had graduated from the Royal Academy, so many would certainly stand on Sun Min's side.

Sun Min was caught in a dilemma and could not help but smile bitterly; she had not expected that Ning Bizhen would use her promise in this place.

However, she still decided to comply.

"Your Majesty, in order to avoid others following suit later, such a rule truly cannot be broken. However, while sharing the championship is not possible, sharing the runner-up position should be acceptable, and no one would go on to imitate that!"

Dou Zhangsheng revealed an expression of surprise; he had never expected that Sun Min would follow Xu Wenhua and Zhang Kaishuo in remonstrating. Let alone him, the vast majority of the nobles present were also stunned.

Had Yuanling Academy not just snatched the throne of the top academy from the hands of the Royal Academy? The conflict between the two sides should have been quite large, so how did the Principal of the Royal Academy suddenly turn to support Yuanling Academy in the blink of an eye?

However, after reacting, Sun Min's proposal still caused many hesitant nobles to decide their stance and follow her in agreement.

Dou Zhangsheng suddenly felt a massive headache; if it were only Xu Wenhua and Zhang Kaishuo, he could still suppress them, but now that was impossible. If he continued, his prestige would also suffer a great blow.

"Since all you ministers have said so, then let them share the runner-up position!"

Even though he was unwilling, Dou Zhangsheng ultimately chose to compromise; he felt that as long as he was still sitting in this position, there would be plenty of such opportunities in the future.

"The Emperor is wise!"

Soon, Sun Min announced the final result.

In view of the fact that Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen both forfeited during the Finals, the National Tournament Organizing Committee unanimously determined to let them share the runner-up position.

In other words, this edition of the National Tournament was the only one without a champion.

Even in the history of the Fairy World, such a situation had never occurred; this could be considered creating a rather strange historical record, and it is unlikely that such a situation will ever appear again in the future.

Today is Chapter 666, truly a 6!

Today's goal: Three, pigs, proof!

(End of this chapter)