Chapter 74: This Arena, If It Can't Be Held, So Be It! Can't I Just Forfeit?!

There were still four hours until the arena refresh time, and many experts had begun making their challenges in these final hours.

Although over these past twenty-plus days, Lu Zheng had not shown his face at Zhennan University at all.

But as the first-place finisher in the alliance examination, the first-ever level-100 examinee in history, and a second-class peak professional possessing holy-tier combat power, he was practically a household name, known to one and all.

Moreover, though he had been absent these days, Song Shiyu had constantly used him to inspire the students and teachers of the summoning department.

And those gathered here were basically all summoners.

How did that saying go?

Though I'm not here, my legend still lives on in this place.

Thus, the moment he appeared, he immediately drew widespread attention, and the crowd's endless chatter filled the air.

"He's finally shown his face! The man of legend!"

"He really is more handsome in person than on screen, but whether his combat power is truly that strong, you'd have to see with your own eyes to be sure."

"What, you want to test yourself against him?"

"Now that he's here, could he be planning to challenge the arena? On the level-100 arena, as long as he deploys his divine pet with holy-tier combat power, won't he hold the champion's seat long-term? Who would dare compete with him?!"

"Don't be ridiculous! He'll probably take this month's championship, and then graduate after his third class advancement next month."

"Hurry up and start! I can't wait to see what the divine pet looks like!"

Lu Zheng walked up to one of the arenas, preparing to launch his first challenge.

At that moment, a voice came from not far away.

"Boss! Finally seeing you again! All these days, you've been like a dragon whose head is seen but whose tail is never found — you, who don't even attend classes, are busier than those of us who do. It's way too hard to get a glimpse of you! I missed you to death!"

Wang Jun darted out swiftly and exaggeratedly threw himself to the ground, grabbing hold of Lu Zheng's leg.

The way he looked, anyone who didn't know better would think he was a young wife abandoned by a faithless man! Lu Zheng was about to say something when he noticed Mu Yunlan, Tantai Mingyue, and the others walking over together, but the one walking ahead of the group was Ji Zirou.

"Looks like I arrived right on time! Let me see with my own eyes what this legendary divine pet actually looks like."

Hearing this, Lu Zheng replied with a smile:

"You'll get to see it very soon."

After saying that, he greeted Yang Dong and the others as they walked over, then continued: "I'm going in. If you want to watch, come along!"

【You have entered the Summoner Arena instance 'Glory of the Summoned Beasts'. Your profession has been detected as Summoner. You may challenge any arena.】

【Note: Within this instance, summoned beasts that are killed can be resurrected directly, and are considered to have been defeated.】

After entering the instance, he appeared on a floating high platform. The platform was like a series of discs stacked from small to large, forming ring upon ring of steps that could serve as spectator seating.

Below the high platform were ten arenas of varying sizes, all with the same environment — a grassland.

It was just that arenas with different level restrictions had different surface areas.

The instance prompt indicated that Lu Zheng could choose six of the arenas to challenge — the six arenas with maximum level restrictions of 100, 150, and 200 respectively.

For each arena, at most one summoned beast could be deployed.

Right now, the summoned beasts defending the six arenas were respectively: the level-109, five-star rare beast pet 'Lightning Marten', the level-112, two-star immortal-grade spirit pet 'Blood-Eyed Flying Tiger', the level-158, three-star immortal-grade spirit pet 'Vajra Earth Dragon', the level-159, four-star rare beast pet 'Ghost Nether Wolf', the level-206, one-star immortal-grade spirit pet 'Black-Ringed Golden-Crowned Python', and the level-207, four-star rare beast pet 'Frost Cold Demon Silkworm'.

Among the summoner community, a primary battle summoned beast's level was generally quite a bit higher than the summoner's own level, but not by too much — basically around 10 levels.

Defending an arena wasn't something just anyone could do. These arena champions had all met the conditions for class advancement but had not yet advanced.

Therefore, their beast pets' levels were all higher than the level restriction for summoners. Zhennan University truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier institution — the defenders were either high-quality rare beast pets or immortal-grade spirit pets.

Lu Zheng's first challenge was the Lightning Marten, and the summoned beast he deployed was the level-128, one-star immortal-grade spirit pet Howling Moon Gray Wolf! This was the weakest among all his immortal-grade spirit pets.

The Lightning Marten's most outstanding trait was its extreme speed. By channeling the power of lightning, it could not only launch attacks rapidly, but nearly every strike carried a paralysis effect.

This was indeed a very fine summoned beast.

But it was, after all, only rare-quality, with base attributes far inferior to those of an immortal-grade spirit pet, and the Howling Moon Gray Wolf's level was nearly twenty levels higher than its own!

When the Howling Moon Gray Wolf activated the skill 'True Form of the Wolf King', its defense and speed increased dramatically. Combined with its flight skill 'Treading the Moon', it easily found an opening to unleash 'Sky-Rending Claw' — a single skill took half the Lightning Marten's life.

Immediately after, blade after blade of 'Moon Blade' flew out, slicing the Lightning Marten to pieces!

An announcement rang out within the instance.

【Summoned beast 'Howling Moon Gray Wolf' has killed summoned beast 'Lightning Marten'. Arena challenge successful. It has become the new arena champion!】

Facing the two-star immortal-grade Blood-Eyed Flying Tiger was the three-star immortal-grade spirit pet, the level-129 Cloud-Sorting Crane! The Cloud-Sorting Crane appeared to be a very gentle summoned beast, but the method Lu Zheng had taught it for manipulating clouds and mist was extremely volatile.

The moment Cloud Burst Art appeared, explosions went off in succession, blowing the Blood-Eyed Flying Tiger to death!

That scene was truly wretched.

The Cloud-Sorting Crane became the new arena champion!

These two positions, no one else had any hope of contesting.

Aside from Lu Zheng, there was no summoner under level 100 who actually possessed two immortal-grade spirit pets nearing level 130. No one could challenge them.

The crowd had little expectation for those two arenas.

What they truly anticipated was what came next — they wanted to see Lu Zheng's divine pet.

But they were still disappointed next: for the level-150 arena, Lu Zheng once again deployed two immortal-grade spirit pets.

The four-star immortal-grade spirit pet, the level-130 Cave-Nether Azure Serpent, faced the level-159 Ghost Nether Wolf. Although the latter had reached the fourth-class advancement tier, the quality gap was too great, and it was instantly killed by a single Blood-Nether Divine Light from the Cave-Nether Azure Serpent! The five-star immortal-grade spirit pet, the level-135 Three-Tailed Spirit Fox, faced the level-158, three-star immortal-grade Vajra Earth Dragon.

This battle was indeed not an easy one.

The Vajra Earth Dragon's quality was not low, its level had reached the fourth-class advancement tier, its defense was high, and it could burrow underground. At first, the Three-Tailed Spirit Fox really had no way to deal with it.

But Tushan Jiaojiao was very clever. After revealing an opening to lure the Vajra Earth Dragon out, she activated the skill 'Charm' to take control of the Vajra Earth Dragon's consciousness, leaving it defenseless for a brief period, then unleashed an uninterrupted combo that emptied its health bar! With that, Lu Zheng had taken down four arenas.

The next match: challenging the level-207, four-star rare beast pet 'Frost Cold Demon Silkworm'.

Beside him, Yang Dong chuckled: "Boss, now you can bring out the divine pet and broaden the brothers' horizons, right?"

Seeing everyone's gazes focused on him, Lu Zheng gave a light laugh.

"As you wish!"

The next moment, a nine-headed phoenix with a wingspan of nearly one hundred fifty meters, its entire body wreathed in dark red flames, appeared. The powerful aura left everyone present feeling awestruck.

And this was not yet over.

Appearing alongside the Nine-Headed Undying Bird was also a black giant beast over a hundred meters tall, with a sheep's body and a human face, eyes beneath its arms, tiger's teeth and human claws — it was none other than the Taotie!

The two Level 200 arena defenders, who had still been harboring thoughts of luck, saw that two divine beasts had actually appeared in the world, and an idea could not help but surface in their minds.

"Forget defending this arena! Can I just forfeit!?"

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