God of Illusions

A bitter smile formed on Zhao Ziyun’s face when he heard Hu Xian’er.

“You win. But there is one thing I don’t understand. You have obviously exhausted more origin energy than me. Why aren’t you tired at all?” Zhao Ziyun asked, feeling aggrieved by this result. He had originally believed he had a shot at being the champion. Alas, Hu Xian’er was truly too strong.

“I’m already at Level Three Master Rank so my origin energy is probably twice as much as yours. It is not surprising that you aren’t my match.”

As Hu Xian’er spoke, a clump of pure origin energy gushed out of her wrist and slowly formed a sword. At the sight of it, Zhao Ziyun thoroughly accepted his defeat. What she had just shown proved that she had been holding back while fighting him. After all, Level Three Master Rank puppet masters were capable of summoning origin energy armor to defend themselves. If Hu Xian’er had done that, Zhao Ziyun’s defeat would have arrived even sooner.

Little did Zhao Ziyun know that the so-called Level Three was merely Hu Xian’er’s cover. The only reason she had won was because she was a magical beast. Magical beasts had always been able to defeat all human opponents of the same rank. The main reason for this was due to their origin energy being far denser than the origin energy of humans. Of course, this was something she could never make known.

Having completely accepted his defeat, Zhao Ziyun slowly put away his puppets. Under everyone’s gazes, he cupped his fists and saluted Hu Xian’er as he said, “I will congratulate you in advance. If my guess is correct, your class will probably be the champion of the New Student Tournament.”

Zhao Ziyun’s tone carried an apparent envy. The Newcomer Kings had all been defeated, and he couldn’t think of anyone still in the tournament who could defeat Hu Xian’er now. She, however, said something that stunned everyone.

“Don’t bother congratulating me. I am not going to be the champion. This title is meaningless to me,” Hu Xian’er said in complete disregard.

“Meaningless? Do you know what the Babel Merchant House has offered? Any class other than the Savage Class will be rewarded 50 billion Amethyst Coins for winning! Is that also meaningless to you?” Zhao Ziyun was so astonished he accidentally blurted a secret unknown to many. 

Before Hu Xian’er could even reply, the spectators descended into chaos. Fifty billion Amethyst Coins? What kind of money was that? This was a sum of money one might not get even in one’s dreams! Had the Babel Merchant House gone crazy?

Sounds of discussion erupted, pulling the focus away from the ring. Fifty billion Amethyst Coins were way too shocking.

Hu Xian’er gazed at Zhao Ziyun and said something that shocked everyone once again, “It’s only 50 billion. You guys have all underestimated this tournament. Time for you to leave the ring. If you keep staying here, I don’t mind continuing the fight.”

Hu Xian’er spoke with an unwavering tone, her gaze one that allowed no room for discussion. She had no intention to continue answering Zhao Ziyun’s questions. 

He smiled awkwardly and cupped his fists again before voicing his surrender to Luo Xi. Surprisingly, his surrender invited no response from the spectators. Everyone was still stunned by the “only 50 billion” Hu Xian’er said.

What had they missed? Was there a special reward for this tournament unknown to them? Everyone was confused. As for the deputy presidents of the Babel Merchant House, their faces fell.

“If I recall correctly, this girl is one of the two who didn’t accept our bounty, right?” Old Tong gripped his cane tightly and wore an extremely unsightly expression.

“Yes. I investigated her and found that her relationship with that brat is much closer than it seems,” Zhuang Ming said. He was as shocked as Old Tong.

“Uncle Ming, didn’t you mention that you got a solution after visiting the Ethereal Pavilion? Is this your so-called solution?” grumbled the young man in a suit. 

“The Ethereal Pavilion was receptive at first, but when I told them my target was that brat, they changed their mind and kicked me out of the building,” Zhuang Ming explained. He had been planning to keep this a secret, as it was too embarrassing, but he could no longer keep hiding it.

“Why hadn’t you told us something this major? What should we do now? Four trillions of money is on the line. If the headquarters find out about this, we will receive a demotion of at least two ranks!”

“What’s the point of yelling at me now? Why would I have increased the reward to 50 billion otherwise?” Zhuang Ming countered. It was clear that his patience was running thin as well.

“What should we do now?” asked the guy in a suit through clenched teeth.

“Replace our losses with some treasures in order to buy us more time,” suggested Zhuang Ming after a long thought. Old Tong and the guy in a suit sank into silence when they heard his suggestion. Replacing their losses with treasures was against the rules of the Babel Merchant House. Moreover, to replace a loss worth four trillion would probably require them pulling out their secret stash. And the moment they were caught doing that, they would suffer a fate far worse than getting demoted.

“They won’t be able to catch us doing that so easily anyway,” Zhuang Ming continued convincing them as he was aware of what they were hesitating about. 

Meanwhile, on the ring, Bai Xiaofei’s turn had arrived.

Apart from a few people, very few people were looking favorably on the Savage Class. This was understandable, as not many people in the Savage Class were capable of turning the tides of war. Although Lin Li was strong, her performance earlier was not powerful enough to make people believe that the Savage Class could be the final champion.

And as usual, Bai Xiaofei’s choice was something out of everyone’s expectation. He sent only one person to the ring, Qi Wei. She was sent only to directly surrender. The spectators started jeering, but Bai Xiaofei wasn’t the tiniest bit bothered. With Qi Wei’s surrender, the turn of Luo Han’s class arrived.

Only four people were left in class 121. Therefore, they had very few choices. Even so, they still decided to continue their struggle. They sent a Support Stream puppet master onto the ring to surrender. After all, class 121 had the highest number of points currently. If they survived longer, they might stand a chance at getting a better final placement in the tournament.

Next, Bai Kai from Hu Xian’er’s class went onto the ring, but it made no difference if he was on the ring or not. 

Once again, the turn of Zhao Ziyun’s class arrived. At a glance, their class was the strongest apart from Hu Xian’er’s class. They still had three Support Stream puppet masters, one Transformation Stream puppet master, one Energy Stream puppet master, and two Ranged Stream puppet masters.

However, due to the pressure they were feeling from Hu Xian’er, they made the same choice as Bai Xiaofei: they sent a Support Stream puppet master to surrender. This scene was practically a repeat of when Yuan Kun was on the ring. All classes were exhausting their remaining members to avoid dealing with the person standing on the ring.

The difference this time was the fact that nobody off the ring had any chance of victory against Hu Xian’er. Of course, this deadlock did not last long.