The competition continued. There were simply too many participating teams. Even for the elimination round, there were more than eighty matches in the first round. If time wasn't grasped, the planned three days probably wouldn't be enough to finish.
The subsequent matches could be said to be splendid. Because it was an elimination round, every participating team competed with all their might. There were even some tragic scenes. Participating teams qualified one after another.
No matter what their initial purpose was, once they stepped on this cruel competition stage, they must fully exert their due level. Otherwise, what awaited them might only be defeat and death.
The morning matches lasted until noon before ending. Now ten teams had qualified, and naturally, ten teams were eliminated. Their journey in this competition ended here.
Former Princess Highness Wei Na of the Heavenly Soul Empire and Mu Xue both appeared in a sect called Snow Demon Sect, which was the Body Sect, and successfully qualified with the Star Luo Empire Academy participating team.
On the Body Sect side, Wei Na hadn't played yet, while Mu Xue showed impressive strength. After winning three consecutive matches in the individual elimination round, she voluntarily admitted defeat to ensure she could fight in the subsequent team competition.
Although the Body Sect in this life didn't attack Mingde Hall, due to the sect's stance, it was also inconvenient to participate openly.
And Xu Jiujiu's reappearance triggered quite a heated discussion. After five years, under the accumulation of huge resources from the royal family, she successfully advanced to the Soul Emperor level. Her coordination with teammates was flawless, establishing the prestige of the Star Luo Empire.
However, like Wei Na, while waiting in the competition rest area, her gaze kept looking around, seemingly searching for the figure of a certain guy.
The afternoon matches were similar to the morning ones, lasting until evening. Plus the nine matches in the morning, a total of only twenty-six matches were conducted.
Among them, there were teams with a large strength gap. Even so, there had been no situation of one against seven so far.
Logically speaking, winning seven consecutive matches with the strength of one person was still too difficult after all. Even weaker participating teams had at least several Four-Ring Soul Ancestors. Different soul masters had unique abilities. The difficulty for one person to win seven consecutive matches could be imagined.
The matches of the Tang Sect and the Earth Dragon Gate would both be held on the second day. After watching the matches on the first day, everyone went back and summarized simply, picking out some opponents needing attention for necessary analysis and summary.
"How is it? Any feelings?" Huo Yuhao had been waiting in the conference room for a long time. Seeing Nan Qiuqiu and others return, he asked with a smile.
"If not for your joining, I'm afraid it would be really difficult for us to qualify." Nan Qiuqiu was obviously somewhat dejected. She watched all of today's matches. Among them, there was even a Soul Emperor who, for the sect's subsequent victory, didn't hesitate to risk serious injury to kill the opponent's ace. The two teams almost rushed onto the stage to fight.
"If you can fully exert the power of that set of armor, under Soul Sage, I think you should have no opponent." Huo Yuhao encouraged her, "However, the others in the Earth Dragon Gate..."
Hearing Huo Yuhao hesitate, those Earth Dragon Gate disciples whose cultivation was generally at four rings couldn't help lowering their heads. Yes, they only had Nan Qiuqiu as a Soul Emperor, the vice-captain as a five-ring, and the rest were still just four-ring. Among all participating teams, the overall strength was relatively low.
"Qiuqiu, what are you afraid of? I'll just push all the way." Die Qiu thumped the long spear in her hand on the ground, saying the most domineering line expressionlessly.
Huo Yuhao couldn't help smiling bitterly upon hearing this. How come she had a bit of Wang Qiu'er's shadow?
However, according to normal logic, a Soul Douluo was indeed enough to push through the vast majority of participating teams. Die Qiu saying this wasn't wrong.
"What about you two?" Huo Yuhao turned his gaze to the Lan sisters. Although this pair of twins had little presence, their cultivation was genuinely Soul Sage. Considering joint combat, the power of that Martial Soul Fusion Skill was also comparable to a Soul Douluo.
"Oh my, looked down upon by him, sister."
"Yes, looked down upon by him, Luo Luo."
"You two..." Huo Yuhao instantly had a head full of black lines, "Quite tacit understanding..."
"Oh my, it's a compliment, did you hear, sister?"
"Yes, it's a compliment, I heard, Luo Luo."
For the convenience of cultivating in the Dragon Realm, the Lan sisters cut their original blue long hair into short hair. Their delicate small faces were rosy, still looking very cute, seemingly a bit younger than Huo Yuhao.
"By the way, why are you in maid outfits?" Huo Yuhao noticed the clothing on the two girls and couldn't help asking.
"Not good, sister was treated very strangely in Yuhao's mind just now."
"Not good, Luo Luo was treated very strangely in Yuhao's mind just now."
The Lan sisters leaned together, holding each other's four hands, showing a panicked appearance.
"Don't tease this King, you two. One day on a whim, I might turn you into my toys." Huo Yuhao looked up and down at the Lan sisters and threatened with an evil expression.
"Being able to understand your boring lines, really don't know if it's lucky or unlucky." Meng Hongchen beside said helplessly.
"What, you eat from the bowl and look at the pot?" Zhongli Yu leaned against the door frame with arms crossed, a dangerous luster faintly refracting in her beautiful eyes, "Susu and Luo Luo were dressed like this by me to confuse the opponents."
"Do I look like that kind of person?" Huo Yuhao spread his hands.
"No, you are!" Zhang Lexuan couldn't help complaining too.
"Then can you look at the pot more?" Yu Mengdi popped her head out and asked weakly.
"..." Everyone fell silent instantly.
Just then, a hurried footstep approached, interrupting everyone's communication. It was Nana who went out to collect intelligence.
"Lord Demon King, there's a clue!"
"Just in time!" Seeing the savior arrive, Huo Yuhao rushed out of the room with her in one stride.
"W-wait! What happened?" Nana was dragged by Huo Yuhao running wildly, inevitably confused.
Huo Yuhao curled his lips obscurely. What else could happen? The backyard caught fire.
Nana got news here that several big shots came to the underground world. One of them was the leader of the Ordinary Alliance, Shangguan Weier, right in the Green unripe Hotel.
Huo Yuhao instantly became energetic, directly taking Nana to activate spiritual simulation and drilling into the Green unripe Hotel. As long as he had been to the underground world once, the route would be recorded in his spiritual sea.
With his current spiritual realm, as long as Huo Yuhao didn't want to show himself, no one on this continent could ferret him out from the invisible state.
"They are probably meeting in the place with the tightest guard in the underground world." Nana reminded.
"Got it." Huo Yuhao directly expanded Spiritual Insight to the entire underground. He remembered the description of Shangguan Weier in the original text.
Without spending too much time, Huo Yuhao found the target of this trip through a wide metal door.
It was a woman wearing a large red long dress, looking extremely beautiful from a distance. A head of chestnut long hair was tied high into a cloud bun. Walking, she swayed with every step, graceful and elegant. Her figure was enchanting, but her face was full of sacred color. Truly a stunner in the world.
It was said that this woman was very powerful. Unknown how many strong men had fallen under her pomegranate skirt. Don't look at her so enchanting and moving, but actually, as early as forty years ago, she was already the person in charge of the Ordinary Alliance.
No one knew Shangguan Weier's true age. Her cultivation was even above the person in power of another force, the president of the Ordo Chamber of Commerce. Behind the Ordinary Alliance was the great noble class of Mingdu.
Among the other two, one was someone Huo Yuhao had seen in the Holy Spirit Cult, the Second Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, Heaven Centipede Douluo, Nangong Wan.
As for the other person, presumably, it was the president of the Ordo Chamber of Commerce, An Litong.
What the three of them were negotiating at this time was naturally the final profit distribution issue of the Mingdu Soul Engineer Elite Competition.
For these three major underground forces, what was the biggest benefit of this competition? That was the right to control the smuggling of a large amount of rare metals.
At the national level of the Sun Moon Empire, rare metals were strictly prohibited from trading. Because of this, the price of rare metals remained high.
This could be said to be caused by the artificial control of the Sun Moon Empire. Royal family, military, nobles, who didn't want to take a bite of this huge cake?
Under this circumstance, smuggling rare metals became an extremely profitable way to amass wealth. Although money couldn't be earned openly, and the quantity of rare metals used for smuggling absolutely couldn't be much, it had to be earned.
They had done so before. But as time went by, after Crown Prince Xu Tianran came to power, he immediately discovered this long-standing dirty thing. Three-party smuggling caused the loss of rare metals to far exceed the range controlled by the Sun Moon Empire. As a result, Xu Tianran died halfway.
In this competition, whoever could win the final victory would exclusively control the smuggling of rare metals.
Of course, this family must also hand over the territory originally controlled by themselves to be distributed to the other two parties. This method was considered as fair as possible.
Compared to other industries, the huge profits from smuggling rare metals were really too attractive. The three parties fought for every inch of land, which was why there was a heavy prize for this competition.
For the royal family of the Sun Moon Empire, this was an opportunity to regain control of the underground forces. Of course, the ownership of rare metals must also be grasped in their hands.
Due to the decline of the Sunset Water Alliance, the royal family naturally targeted the other two relatively stable forces. Once any of them won the final victory, the royal family would inevitably take the initiative to contact and obtain cooperation.
These were all carried out in secret. Huo Yuhao, standing from a god's perspective, naturally knew all this.
A smile curled at the corner of his mouth. Huo Yuhao walked through the gate without thinking and directly sealed this room with spiritual power.
Just as the three were negotiating in full swing, two figures appeared in their sight without warning.
"Whose subordinates are you? What are you doing here? Is this a place you can enter?"
Nangong Wan hadn't realized the seriousness of the matter yet and scolded immediately.
The other two also frowned, wondering whose subordinates were so ignorant of propriety.
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao raised his eyebrows: "Second Elder, after a year, you actually don't recognize this King?"
Ordo Chamber of Commerce President An Litong was old and cunning. He instantly noticed the motionless gate, and a chill instantly went from his spine to the top of his head.
"You..." Nangong Wan was about to say something more, but when he saw clearly that matured handsome face, he couldn't help trembling all over.
"This cake of interests in the underground world, this King also wants a share. Oh, no, it should be said that the Sunset Water Alliance is the property this King inherited."
Huo Yuhao walked to Nangong Wan's side, smiled grimly, and patted his shoulder.
"So it's Lord Demon King Huo Yuhao arriving. This President failed to welcome you from afar. Hope the Demon King forgives." The president of the Ordo Chamber of Commerce immediately put on a low posture, stood up, and bowed slightly to Huo Yuhao.
Graceful Shangguan Weier's heart trembled, carefully observing the handsome young man in front of her. Could this kid be the Demon King Huo Yuhao himself famous on the continent?
This old boy is quite sensible? Huo Yuhao sneered, simply opening his mouth wide like a lion: "In that case, then for the profit sharing of this competition, please President An Litong give up thirty percent."
"This..." Hearing the huge word thirty percent, An Litong was instantly unsettled. Just as he wanted to say something, he was interrupted by Huo Yuhao again.
"It seems President An is not very happy about this. Then forty percent."
"Lord Demon King, this..."
"Then a bit less, fifty percent! Lest Lord President finds it hard to do..." Huo Yuhao took out two divine tools from somewhere, Rakshasa Scythe in one hand, Angelic Holy Sword in the other, waving casually in front of him.
As soon as the two divine tools appeared, a terrifying oppressive feeling instantly arose in the room, causing the faces of the three big shots at the negotiation table to change drastically.
"O-Ordo Chamber of Commerce obeys Lord Demon King's instructions!" An Litong regretted it so much at this time. If he had readily agreed when Huo Yuhao just asked for thirty percent, how could he be forced to give up half of the profits?
Nangong Wan knelt down directly. These high-level officials of the Holy Spirit Cult had long been hit by Huo Yuhao's King's Power, with spiritual brands forcibly planted in their minds. Where was the chance to resist?
"This old man failed to recognize Mount Tai and didn't recognize Lord Holy Son at the first moment. Hope for forgiveness!"
This old goods is really a veritable spineless coward! Huo Yuhao despised him in his heart but nodded on the surface.
"Very good. Then you take my servant to handle the handover of rare metals. After the competition ends, I personally want half of the profit sharing. The rest, you use for operation yourselves, as operating funds for the Sunset Water Alliance."
Huo Yuhao patted Nana's shoulder and transmitted a spiritual control technique to her, "If the Second Elder intends to be disrespectful to my special envoy, she can decide your fate on her own."
"Yes... yes!" How dared Nangong Wan refute? He kowtowed repeatedly in agreement.
Nana was already dumbfounded at this moment. Unexpectedly, as soon as Huo Yuhao took action, he directly made two of the three giants of Mingdu's underground bow their heads and submit.
"Go." Huo Yuhao patted her head and said lightly.
"Mmm!" Nana's eyes were full of small stars of worship, which made her more determined to follow Huo Yuhao.
Watching Nangong Wan and An Litong take Nana out, Huo Yuhao turned his gaze to Shangguan Weier.
"Lord Demon King came in person. Weier's reception was inadequate. Hope Lord Demon King forgives..."
With the precedent of the other two, Shangguan Weier didn't even need to consider. As long as Huo Yuhao opened his mouth, she planned to offer half of the profit sharing.
Rather than being humanely destroyed here, it's better to cater to his likes. Doesn't you, Huo Yuhao, just want benefits? If half of the profits of a competition can be exchanged for Demon King Huo Yuhao as a backer, that's also a sure-profit business.
"Hehe, Alliance Leader Shangguan is indeed as amorous and incomparably beautiful as rumored." Huo Yuhao sat down, tapping his fingers lightly on the table, "Since they both went out, this King won't waste words. Coming here this time, this King's purpose is exactly Alliance Leader Shangguan."
Purpose is myself? Shangguan Weier's face was full of astonishment. Little did she know, Huo Yuhao didn't notice the serious ambiguity in his words.
Although Shangguan Weier was ashamed and annoyed, Demon King Huo Yuhao was indeed as philandering as legendary. This time he actually targeted her.
"Wonder what Lord Demon King is looking for this humble woman for? If it's about the profit distribution of this competition, the Ordinary Alliance doesn't mind making the same choice as those two."
If Huo Yuhao were just an ordinary Titled Douluo or even Super Douluo, or even Ultimate Douluo, Shangguan Weier might resist extremely. But if it changed to this veritable number one prodigy of the continent, the strongest in ten thousand years of Douluo, her mind became active.
Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes slightly, not intending to be polite with her, "This King came here for a person from the Ordinary Alliance."
"Hehe, Lord Demon King, don't tease this humble woman." Shangguan Weier chuckled, moved her lotus steps slightly, walked gracefully, and actually sat directly on Huo Yuhao's thigh.
This time it was Huo Yuhao's turn to look astonished. Although he knew from the god's perspective that this woman had some means, he didn't expect she wanted to take him down on the first meeting.
Just as Huo Yuhao wanted to speak, the unique fragrance on Shangguan Weier's body rushed to his nose. He couldn't be more familiar with this special smell. It was exactly that almost insoluble Ten Thousand People Drunk.
Those three years of secret room life made Huo Yuhao unforgettable every night—
No wonder this woman was not afraid of being alone in a room with those two at all. It turned out she was covered with that stuff.
The effect of Ten Thousand People Drunk was fatal to any soul master, but it had no effect on Huo Yuhao who had exercised powerful resistance.
Looking at the swaying snow-white things in front of him, Huo Yuhao sneered in his heart. Shangguan Weier, oh Shangguan Weier, you delivered yourself to the door.
"Lord Demon King, why don't we change a room... hmm?" Shangguan Weier was breathing like orchids, releasing the Ten Thousand People Drunk fragrance to Huo Yuhao, but unexpectedly a pair of tiger pincers climbed onto her body unknowingly.
Five Tiger Generals swept unscrupulously, while Five Good Generals permeated everywhere.
He... why wasn't he charmed by this old lady?
Before Shangguan Weier exclaimed, Huo Yuhao's eyes were as cold as a ten-thousand-year mysterious ice cave, "This King came here for one person. Unfortunately, it's not Alliance Leader Shangguan."
"That trump card of your Ordinary Alliance, the Holy Angel who specifically counters Evil Soul Masters, this King wants to borrow her for a use."