At the same time, the Hongchen siblings and Nana also arrived at the Green unripe Hotel. Chen An personally welcomed them at the door of the Green unripe Hotel today. Seeing the three appear, he hurried forward to welcome them.
Today, three powerful soul engineers were sent from above to oversee the competition. There were two Level 6 and one Level 7 soul engineer, forming this referee panel.
The format of today's competition was that the forty-eight people who qualified in the previous round would be divided into twenty-four groups for elimination matches in this round. Every two soul engineers formed a group. The soul tools made were no longer limited.
The competition would provide a variety of rare metals and conventional metals for soul engineers to choose from. Only this time, the time was limited to only two hours.
Two hours later. Soul engineers could only take the soul tool they newly made for on-site testing.
They could observe the opponent's soul tool first without touching it with hands. If finding that their own soul tool was too different from the opponent's, they could choose to surrender. If neither side surrendered, both sides would hold this newly made soul tool of their own and fight in the prepared competition venue without using any other soul tools and soul skills. Whoever won would qualify.
And it was regardless of life or death!
Meng Hongchen curled her lips: "What a regardless of life or death. So today's betting is on who among these people wins?"
Chen An nodded and said: "There are still multiple ways of betting. For example, how many matches will result in qualification today, how many people will die. All these can be bet on. Of course, the core is still the victory or defeat of a single match. The competition will give odds based on the situation of previous matches for reference. The odds will be constantly adjusted with the proportion of bets until the moment before the competition starts."
Xiao Hongchen nodded. Raising his hand, he called Nana over in front of Chen An and said: "One minute before the competition starts, bet one million gold soul coins on each of us."
Hearing him say this, Chen An couldn't help gasping. This was a big gamble!
Moreover, they didn't even know who their opponents were now, yet they placed such heavy bets.
Also, placing bets just before the competition started would minimize the impact on the odds. This behavior was not only confident but also very methodical.
Several people soon entered the VIP lounge. Xiao Hongchen and the others saw Number 96 and Number 98 already sitting in the lounge at a glance.
They came a bit early today, and didn't bring subordinates with them, sitting together talking about something.
Seeing Xiao Hongchen and the others enter, Number 96 nodded to him with a smile. Number 98 appeared much colder, with a trace of disdain faintly in his eyes looking at the three.
"Hello, friend. Can we chat?" Number 96 bowed slightly and greeted Xiao Hongchen with full etiquette.
Xiao Hongchen smiled calmly and said: "Please sit."
"May I ask for your honorable name?" Number 96 sat down on the sofa next to him and asked naturally.
Xiao Hongchen raised his eyebrows and said: "I am Number 35. I also know you are Number 96."
A gleam flashed in Number 96's eyes. The other party clearly refused to tell him his name. He smartly didn't ask again, just smiling and saying: "Number 35, then what do you think of today's competition?"
Xiao Hongchen simply put on his usual arrogant posture: "It's a bit interesting. Confronting with soul tools made by oneself, I think it's very good."
Number 96 chuckled and said: "I also think it's good. It seems we are like-minded. I saw the draw just now. It seems we won't meet in this round."
"Doesn't matter if we meet. Could I lose to you?" Xiao Hongchen's gaze became sharp at once, looking young and frivolous.
"Is that so? Then we'll see when the time comes." Number 96 smiled calmly, stood up, and turned to walk towards Number 98.
At this time, his face also had a bit of disdain. For two arrogant young people, he thought his probing was enough.
Meng Hongchen curled her lips, not even looking at the two. Want to probe us? Then probe slowly.
"Distinguished guests, the competition is about to start." A staff member came in to notify.
Number 96 and Number 98 stood up at the same time. This time they didn't yield, but strode out first.
Meng Hongchen snorted coldly behind the two: "What kind of stuff dares to show off in front of us?"
A fierce light flashed in Number 98's eyes instantly. Just about to flare up, he was pulled by Number 96, dragging him towards the golden hall.
The golden hall was still bustling. And today, the central circular platform could finally accommodate all contestants. Forty-eight soul tool production tables were neatly arranged on the circular platform, forming arcs.
Xiao Hongchen's gaze swept around and immediately felt that the VIP areas hanging like suspended in the air above were all full of people.
The ordinary area in the golden hall was even more packed. What changed was that behind the competition stage, another platform appeared. This rectangular platform was about five meters above the ground, about fifty meters long, almost connecting from one end of the golden hall to the other. It was almost entirely made of metal, suspended in the air by steel cables.
That was naturally where soul engineers competed with each other. Restricting the area to a rectangle was obviously to minimize dodging as much as possible.
Moreover, seeing this competition area, discerning people would definitely make choices when making soul tools.
Soon, the Hongchen siblings were led onto the competition stage by the staff. Nana still watched the competition in the corner.
Soul tool production tables were facing each other in pairs. Opposite each soul engineer was their opponent decided by drawing lots in this round.
As for how the drawing was done, the competition organizer Sunset Water Alliance had no explanation yet. This was a competition held by underground forces, so they didn't need to explain anything.
Xiao Hongchen's opponent, Number 48, was a young man looking twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. His appearance was very ugly, with a collapsed nose bridge, small eyes, a head of messy hair slightly yellowish, and a bald patch in the middle of the top of his head.
His appearance was really unflattering.
However, this person had a pair of very persistent eyes. He didn't look at Xiao Hongchen opposite him at all, but at the various rare metals placed on the competition stage.
All soul tool production tables had an additional three-layer storage grid. Each layer was filled with various metals. The first layer was conventional metals, and the upper two layers were rare metals. There were as many as thirty-two kinds of rare metals alone.
Such abundant preparation was enough even to make a Level 7 soul tool. To test the ability of these soul engineers, the Sunset Water Alliance could be considered quite generous.
And don't forget, the produced soul tools belonged to the soul engineers themselves. Just forty-eight portions of such rare metals were already very precious.
Just then, in front of the competition stage, three small circular platforms rose slowly. An old man stood on each platform. The platforms rose until they were about one meter higher than the competition stage before stopping.
The old man standing in the center said in a deep voice: "Soul engineers, guests, hello everyone. I am the chief referee of this competition. The competition is about to start. Official timing starts after I announce the start of the competition. The time limit is two hours. Within two hours, soul engineers can make any soul tool you can. Your goal is only one, that is to defeat the opponent opposite you. The winner advances."
When he finished this sentence, all participating soul engineers raised their heads coincidentally and looked at the opponent opposite.
Starting from this round, the rewards for winning the competition became very generous.
Xiao Hongchen learned from Chen An long ago that winning this competition would be rewarded with thirty-two kinds of rare metals, two kilograms each, which were the same as those on their competition stage.
For soul engineers, a complete variety of rare metals was definitely more attractive than gold soul coins. And it was said that winning the next round would get five kilograms, and the types of rare metals would increase to forty-eight. Among these rare metals, a large part was embargoed by the Sun Moon Empire, and their value was immeasurable.
When Xiao Hongchen was still in the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, he knew the value of rare metals very well. Only now leaving his hometown to follow Huo Yuhao, his wealth was naturally not as good as in the past.
The yellow-haired soul engineer opposite Xiao Hongchen raised his head slowly, grinned at him, revealing a mouth of scorched yellow uneven buckteeth, "Hello brother, my name is Gao Dalou. Come on, let's have a good competition."
This guy is that Gao Dalou mentioned by Huo Yuhao? Xiao Hongchen remembered Huo Yuhao's previous instructions to them siblings, and instantly became interested in this yellow-haired sloppy soul engineer in front of him.
"Contestants prepare." The chief referee shouted in a deep voice.
Gao Dalou immediately lowered his head. His gaze also became sharp, staring at a piece of rare metal he had already pondered on.
Compared to him, Xiao Hongchen appeared much more leisurely, seemingly not anxious at all.
"Competition begins. Raise soundproof shield." With a loud shout from the chief referee, twelve hourglasses placed in conspicuous positions turned over simultaneously.
When the sand in these hourglasses all leaked out, time would be up.
Today soul engineers were competing on the competition stage, so the soundproof shield could finally be raised, no longer prohibiting the audience from making noise.
All soul engineers got busy at the first moment.
Gao Dalou reached out quickly with his right hand. A piece of rare metal black as ink but with little silver stars on it fell into his palm. Intoxicated light revealed in his eyes. His hands jumped lightly as if wandering on the mountains and rivers of a beauty.
Xiao Hongchen was quite interested in his appearance. Raising his hand to beckon towards the rare metals on one side of the soul tool production table, a piece of rare metal immediately flew towards him too. Its price was not cheap.
Today the Sunset Water Alliance provided so many rare metals, and Chen An was no longer the chief referee. In order not to behave too obviously, Xiao Hongchen naturally couldn't take them all in one go.
So, he could only choose more precious rare metals when making soul tools.
The situation of Gao Dalou opposite was almost the same. In his hand was Star Silver Steel. Among these thirty-two kinds of rare metals, its value firmly ranked first.
This rare metal had extremely high density and super strong affinity for soul power. Any soul power injected into it could release more than double the original soul power through it. It was the best material for making energy gathering arrays. Such a one-kilogram piece placed outside was worth at least one hundred thousand gold soul coins.
Of course, for Mingdu with at least tens of millions of people participating in gambling now, this was small money.
Xiao Hongchen looked at the intoxicated face of his opponent Gao Dalou, speechless in his heart. Has this person never seen Star Silver Steel before? So obsessed because seeing it for the first time.
Gao Dalou didn't fondle it for too long. About a minute later, his face began to become cautious. He carefully fixed the Star Silver Steel on the production table in front of him, then wiped his right hand from his back waist and took out a carving knife.
Xiao Hongchen wasn't in a hurry to make his own soul tool now. He had a strong foundation in soul tool production. Making soul tools was much faster than other soul engineers.
Moreover, Huo Yuhao also requested that he couldn't expose all his strength too quickly, so naturally he wouldn't make the strongest soul tool. Of course, he absolutely couldn't lose the competition either.
Therefore, Xiao Hongchen decided to observe the opponent first, see what soul tool the opponent made, and then formulate corresponding strategies.
Gao Dalou seemed not to care about Huo Yuhao's observation at all. After getting that carving knife, he immediately started production.
An expert knows if there is skill as soon as he makes a move. As soon as Gao Dalou made the first cut, Xiao Hongchen's heart tightened.
The carving knife in Gao Dalou's hand looked completely dark and unremarkable, but cutting into the Star Silver Steel known for hardness seemed effortless.
The sharp edge of the carving knife trembled three times consecutively, carving three uniformly sized arcs on the Star Silver Steel. This kind of carving was called One Cut Three Tremors, which required years of hard practice to complete.
On rare metals like Star Silver Steel, ordinary people absolutely dared not use such techniques to carve easily. Once carved badly, this piece of rare metal would be wasted. At least it would be impossible to make the core array he originally planned.
Gao Dalou didn't pause at all. After one cut, the carving knife in his hand seemed to come alive. The speed wasn't fast, but winning in that every stroke was particularly stable, absolutely without any mistakes.
He shouldn't have just been appreciating just now, but more like probing the structure of this Star Silver Steel. Otherwise, the speed absolutely couldn't be fast to this extent.
Gao Dalou completed the carving of the entire core array in only a quarter of an hour. A rectangular form small metal block with many fine magic patterns and nodes appeared.
Under the foil of the little silver lights of the Star Silver Steel itself, it appeared increasingly soul-stirring, dazzling to the extreme.
This guy is indeed a talent! Xiao Hongchen thought in his heart...
—
Star Dou Great Forest Core Area.
Bang!
A huge spider completely black crashed to the ground. Although not dead, it temporarily lost the ability to move.
"Thirty-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider. Isn't there any higher one?" Huo Yuhao sighed and turned to look at Xiong Jun aside.
Not long ago, he took Bibi Dong and followed the route guided by Di Tian, coming directly to Xiong Jun's jurisdiction, finding a certain bear working hard to make little bears.
Then Xiong Jun reluctantly took him to an area where Man-Faced Demon Spiders often appeared and hid his own aura. After all, with a fierce beast level Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear here, even the Man-Faced Demon Spider famous for ferocity dared not approach rashly.
This was the fourth Man-Faced Demon Spider Huo Yuhao encountered. Currently, it was the highest age they encountered.
"These guys are extremely vicious and extremely good at hiding. They don't obey our management at all, specifically picking weak soul beasts to torture and kill. If not for fearing the extinction of this species, Old Bear I wish I could slap one to death whenever I see one." Xiong Jun looked at the fainted Man-Faced Demon Spider and said hatefully.
Huo Yuhao was speechless. Can you not be so cruel? Previously, the Thunderclap Nether Vine was almost exterminated by you. Do you plan to change to the Man-Faced Demon Spider this time?
Bibi Dong pulled the corner of his clothes: "How about choosing this one? Ninety-thousand-year or even hundred-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spiders are probably not so easy to find."
"No." Huo Yuhao rejected decisively, "You should have the inheritance of the God of Love. If the foundation is not laid well before becoming a god, it will probably be difficult to move an inch later."
Saying that, Huo Yuhao came to this Man-Faced Demon Spider, reached out and poked its abdomen a few times, asking casually: "Old Bear, is this guy male or female?"
Hearing this, Xiong Jun looked at Huo Yuhao with somewhat strange eyes, but still leaned over: "Let me see..."
Bibi Dong found it extremely funny and couldn't help scolding charmingly: "What? Could it be you want to stuff Little Huo in to try?"
Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched wildly instantly. He turned his head awkwardly: "I wouldn't go so far as to attack non-humanoid creatures, right? Do I look like that kind of person?"
"You don't look like, you are!"