The match hadn’t even started yet.
The noise from the crowd below was already rising and falling in waves.
“Arena Twelve—Lu Ran is on Arena Twelve!”
“Awesome! Let’s see how that nepotism hire handles this one!”
“His opponent is Cen Yinuo? I think she’s from Jialong City.”
“That’s right, Cen Yinuo—a provisional member of the Red Garment Pavilion!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk… With Cen Yinuo’s combat power, no matter how much of a connection-fueled hack that Necromancer is, he’s done for this round.”
…
Doubt upon doubt.
Up on the stage.
The four guild leaders watched with relaxed amusement.
“Hear that? That’s quite a storm of skepticism,” Yu Qingcang remarked with a hint of wonder.
He’d never seen such an overwhelming wave of doubt directed at a single contestant.
“No worries. Lu Ran will prove his abilities,” Liu Xinxin said with a gentle smile.
“That’s what makes it so satisfying! My little brother is going to use his actions to show that all this doubt is just clown behavior!” Ye Hongyi said excitedly.
“Why are you so happy? Lu Ran’s opponent happens to be one of your Red Garment Pavilion’s provisional members,” Lei Tai remarked casually.
“Oh, Cen Yinuo. I remember that girl. Her contracted beast is the Lava Carnivorous Plant, right?” Ye Hongyi recalled.
If even Ye Hongyi, the guild leader, remembered her well, then Cen Yinuo’s abilities were obviously beyond question.
“She’s good, no doubt. Unfortunately for her, she ran into Lu Ran. I’d say that’s just bad luck on her part,” Yu Qingcang said with a shrug.
At the same time.
Down in the reserved seating area.
The Cong family had already taken their places.
Cong Yu was eagerly staring toward Lu Ran’s arena, completely ignoring her sister Cong Shuang.
Even Cong Jixian couldn’t help but glance over at Arena Twelve.
“Since we’re this close, might as well watch. That kid should have something to him,” Cong Jixian muttered thoughtfully.
Ever since learning about Lu Ran’s background,
Cong Jixian’s opinion of him had quickly become much more favorable.
But that was just politeness for now. He still wasn’t ready to form a definitive judgment—he needed to see more of Lu Ran’s actual combat performance.
“I didn’t expect Lu Ran’s opponent to be Cen Yinuo,” Cong Yu said, a hint of worry in her voice.
“Cen Yinuo of Jialong City has quite a reputation. Her Lava Carnivorous Plant can provide her with a lava shield, and it can bloom all over the place. Given the size of the arena, it’s enough to cover the entire area. She’s strong on both offense and defense. For a Necromancer, there’s almost no way to beat her,” Cong Jixian analyzed thoughtfully.
Background connections were one thing.
But in this kind of fight, it was almost a foregone conclusion!
Then again, he thought back—
In the first round, the match between Lu Ran and Wang Yan had seemed just as one-sided, hadn’t it?
And yet, in the end, Lu Ran still won—and he was the very first contestant among all fifty arenas to claim victory!
Before long—
“The match begins!” After the host’s usual opening remarks, the battle was officially underway!
Shwoosh~
In an instant, barriers rose around all the arenas.
These were to prevent skills from spilling beyond the arena and harming the spectators.
But the contestants themselves were unimpeded.
If they got knocked off, they got knocked off.
And this was the only real way Lu Ran could possibly lose the match.
Lu Ran immediately focused on his opponent.
With a single thought, he prepared his Blood Spear!
Just like Cen Yinuo had said—don’t hold back. Go all out!
Cen Yinuo didn’t seem to realize how serious the situation was.
But since word of Lu Ran’s first-round instant victory had spread like wildfire,
she was still taking this Necromancer opponent very seriously.
She dashed forward, accelerating to the center of the arena.
The next second—
Crack~
A massive, three-meter-tall carnivorous plant suddenly appeared behind Cen Yinuo.
It then wrapped itself entirely around her.
The plant’s lava-like petals enclosed Cen Yinuo completely, forming a small molten fortress.
Leading with a defensive stance—she was clearly taking this seriously.
Su Ting, watching from below, was startled.
“A Lava Carnivorous Plant!” she exclaimed in surprise.
That thing was no joke!
No wonder she could participate in the Hundred Cities Tournament as a Summoner—her abilities were truly impressive!
Then—
Crack, crack, crack~
One after another, carnivorous plants began bursting through the arena’s stone floor, blooming and covering the ground in a dense, spreading carpet!
They surged toward Lu Ran!
With this density and range, Lu Ran had nowhere to dodge!
Of course,
the arena was still fairly large. Under normal circumstances, Cen Yinuo’s plants could cover it entirely.
But that required her to keep moving.
Because even for Cen Yinuo, the coverage range of her summoned plants was only a few dozen meters.
And this arena was two hundred meters long and wide—definitely not small!
Now that Cen Yinuo had rooted herself in place for defense, she naturally couldn’t cover the entire arena.
“Lu Ran, fall back! Get out of the plant’s coverage area, then defend against its ranged attacks!” Su Ting shouted urgently from the sidelines.
That wasn’t against the rules—other contestants had advisors and mentors guiding them from below too.
But Lu Ran didn’t budge an inch.
Cen Yinuo, on the other hand, was a bit curious. This guy—why was he just standing there like an idiot? Why wasn’t he running?
Not that it made much difference to her whether he ran or not.
She had come to the center for exactly this reason. By locking herself down in defense, she couldn’t cover the entire arena.
But the plant’s ranged attacks could extend her reach even further!
Then she’d react based on her opponent’s movements.
What she never expected, though, was that her opponent wouldn’t move at all.
Truth be told, Lu Ran was just curious.
That plant looked pretty imposing. He wondered what its attack methods were like and how effective they’d be.
So, rather than rush to use his Blood Spear, he simply stared at the approaching plants with an amused smile.
Though there seemed to be many plants,
they were all part of one entity, sharing a single health pool.
Suddenly—
One of the plants appeared right in front of Lu Ran, opened its gaping maw, and swallowed him whole.
“Uh… the plant’s Devour ability deals high damage, but it’s easy to dodge. Why didn’t this guy even try to move? Is he just feeding me a free kill?” Cen Yinuo was completely dumbfounded.
Here she was, locking down in defense and playing it safe, and her opponent turned out to be an idiot?
How the heck did this guy even win the first round?
Could the rumors be true—was he really just a nepotism hire who bought off his opponent?
Just as she was thinking that—
Ptooey~
The plant suddenly spat Lu Ran back out.
By now, Lu Ran was covered in sticky goo, with spike-like things—probably the plant’s “teeth”—sticking all over him.
He already regretted it.
Damn it, that thing had chewed him up good!
And now he was drenched in what felt like snot—absolutely disgusting!
“Yep, curiosity killed the cat. Time to end this quickly,” Lu Ran muttered in exasperation.
He’d lost all interest in seeing what other attacks the plant had.
He simply raised his hand toward Cen Yinuo.
A Blood Spear materialized in front of him.
Then—
Lu Ran grinned.
The spear shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, streaking straight toward Cen Yinuo!
