1467 Entering the Battlefield
Outside the evaluation room, Wu Zao asked the others, "How did your evaluations go?"
"How? It was much simpler than I'd anticipated. As for whether it's reliable or not… I don't know." Wang Bingbing shrugged.
"I cannot imagine it being that effective. Anyone can easily purposefully act weaker than they are in reality to get their techniques approved."
Chairman Lee smiled bitterly and said, "Honestly, it's really hard to accurately gauge a person's strength and determine whether it's truly safe or not for them to use any technique. Our technology is simply lacking for this subject due to how new cultivation is in our world, so it's mostly up to our judges' judgment. However, give it a few more years, and we should have enough experience and information about cultivation to accurately gauge a cultivator's strength."
"With that being said, once the formation is completed, we will no longer need to evaluate people to determine whether they can use a martial technique or not."
An hour later, the door opened, and Yuan casually walked out of the room.
"How did it go? Did you get any techniques approved?" Shi Lang asked him.
He nodded, "Yes."
"How many techniques did you get approved?"
"That's a secret," he said with a smile.
"Eh?!"
Chairman Lee looked inside the room and saw the judges' weird expressions, causing him to raise an eyebrow.
'Why do they look disappointed?' he wondered inwardly.
He decided to ask them later and said, "The Faction War between Demon Sealing Faction and Fiery Locust Swarm will begin shortly. Let's get the participants prepared."
"Okay."
While Chairman Lee led them to the dressing room to get changed, the three judges muttered to each other.
"That was it? He's a lot weaker than the rumors."
"Right? None of his techniques were that powerful."
"Haaa… I was expecting something amazing since he dared to challenge the Fiery Locust Swarm with a dozen members."
"Hm? Wait a minute. Is that it? We've only evaluated four people. What about the rest?"
"Either they don't plan on using any martial techniques, or they won't be participating… Surely, it's the former, right?"
Meanwhile, the Fiery Locust Swarm was already prepared for the Faction War and began gathering on the battlefield.
"It's the Fiery Locust Swarm!"
"Please teach those arrogant bastards from the Demon Sealing Faction a thing or two!"
"I have bet all of my savings on your victory today! Don't disappoint me!"
The crowd went crazy the moment the Fiery Locust Swarm started appearing.
The audience area had enough space to accommodate ten million spectators, and every single seat was filled. Not to mention the tens of millions of individuals sitting in anticipation before their television.
Yuan and the others had just finished changing into their uniforms, which were plain white and devoid of any design, unlike the Fiery Locust Swarm's, which sported red and black colors and an emblem.
"Since you guys don't have your own uniform, this will have to suffice." Chairman Lee said to them.
"We need to design our own uniform, huh?" Yuan muttered.
"We can think of something later," said Meifeng.
"Here. Everyone besides the ruler will be wearing this green badge. The ruler will be wearing a golden badge." Chairman Lee showed them a basket of badges.
Everyone besides Meifeng took the green badge and wore it around their waist.
"Also, here are the weapons you requested."
Everyone picked their weapon.
"You're going to use three weapons?" Bai Lianhua looked at Yuan with wide eyes.
"A zither…?" Xia Jingyi glared at the zither with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"You may enter the arena now if you want to familiarize yourself with the field and start preparing for the match, but you are forbidden from crossing the red line before the match begins, or you will automatically be disqualified."
Like the Fiery Locust Swarm, Yuan and the others decided to enter the field early.
"Good luck, Brother Yuan! Give 'em a good beating!" Yu Rou cheered.
"Show the world your prowess, Yuan." Bai Lianhua smiled.
"Good luck…!" Xia Jingyi said in a bashful manner.
The Demon Sealing Faction entered the battlefield.
"Look! It's the Demon Sealing Squad!"
"You mean the Demon Sealing Faction?"
"Huh? Wait a minute… why are there only five of them?! I thought they had a dozen members!"
"Hahaha! Did more than half of them oversleep?"
"Perhaps they all quit after learning that they had to fight 40,000 players with just a few of them."
"If a faction's member count dips below 10 for over 30 days, they are required to disband, correct?"
"Is the Demon Sealing Faction already ending before it could even begin?"
"I don't understand their method of managing the faction. It had so much potential, but they didn't seize their chances for whatever reason."
"They probably thought nobody was worthy enough to join their elite ranks, hence why they have only accepted two members since their founding."
Countless people in the audience started mocking the Demon Sealing Faction when they appeared. It was a spectacle that wasn't unexpected but still surprising, especially given how popular Yuan was.
"Young Master, you should know I had invested much in our victory." Meifeng suddenly said.
"Huh? Invested? How?"
"You know how people in horse races bet on the winning horse? Well, I am betting on our victory. Due to how many people are betting against us, we'll easily make a fortune if we win." Meifeng spoke with a calm smile on her face.
"And what if we lose?" Yuan chuckled.
"Then I'll lose all of my money. Surely, you won't let me suffer such a fate, right?" Meifeng glared at him.
Yuan merely smiled in silence.
He turned to gaze at the sky, where a timer was ticking down to the start of the match.
[12:20]
[12:19]
[12:18]
He then used his divine sense to examine the Fiery Locust Swarm located on the opposite side of the battlefield.
"41,982 of them, huh?" he muttered with a calm smile, unfazed by their overwhelming number, which vastly outnumbered his team by 10,000 to 1.