The second round of the competition came to a successful close.
Twenty-five contestants advanced.
But unlike in previous years, this year’s second round had generated an incredible amount of buzz!
Before the competition even started, everyone’s attention had been focused on a few prodigies.
Among them, besides Cen Yubuo, there was Cong Shuang from the imperial capital, as well as several other powerful rookie professionals.
And quite a few of these individuals actually came from the Tianfu Association!
This only made Lu Ran even more curious about the Tianfu Association.
After all, even Su Ting was a member of the Tianfu Association!
But beyond all that, the one who attracted the most attention—even overshadowing all the other prodigies—was actually Lu Ran!
This necromancer had burst onto the scene with a momentum reminiscent of the mysterious necromancer who had been the subject of much recent discussion, quickly becoming the new king of hot topics.
And the reason? It all came down to one of the necromancer’s signature skills—the Charged Blood Spear!
But even with an eight-second charge, no one had ever imagined that the Blood Spear could be this terrifying!
As a necromancer, Lu Ran’s luck in the first two matches hadn’t exactly been great.
His opponent in the first round was a Xuanjia Berserker—a class that naturally countered magic-based professions, to say nothing of a non-burst class like the necromancer.
And yet, Lu Ran still won.
One Blood Spear—against an opponent with extremely high magic defense—and it was an instant kill!
However, since relatively few people had actually witnessed Lu Ran’s first match, rumors began to spread, which led many to view the situation with skepticism.
So, naturally, the second match drew even more attention to Lu Ran.
And this second match was even more explosive!
Cen Yubuo—a summoner who had been considered a strong contender for the championship—had covered the entire arena with Lava Carnivorous Plants, surrounded herself with layers of Lava Armor from those very plants, and even activated the active protective skill of her ungraded defensive equipment.
And yet—she was still one-shot!
What she faced was the very same Blood Spear that looked almost pitifully feeble!
This round directly set off a firestorm of discussion!
It also made a huge chunk of the skeptical voices vanish in an instant!
After all—
If it were a case of someone using connections to bribe their opponent into throwing the match, that simply could not have happened with Cen Yubuo!
Cen Yubuo of the Cen family—her background and status—the price one would have to pay to even try to buy her off was simply unimaginable!
Finally—
The question remained.
Amid all the heated debate, what exactly was going on with that Blood Spear?
No one knew. No one could even guess.
If the four guild leaders hadn’t been familiar with Lu Ran and seen his stats firsthand, even they would never have been able to figure out why this was happening.
At the Tianfa Alliance headquarters.
Inside the office.
The four guild leaders were sipping tea with great satisfaction.
“Truly worthy of being the candidate jointly recommended by our four guilds—incredibly strong!” Lei Tai said excitedly.
“Don’t just stand there and talk sarcastically. Lu Ran going to compete in this is practically a case of dimensionality reduction. Forget those rookie contestants—even if the four of us went up there, even as a team, do you think we’d have any chance of winning?” Yu Qingcang said casually.
“Hehe, that’s true. No way we’d win. Absolutely no way.” Lei Tai chuckled.
There wasn’t a trace of discouragement or reluctance in his voice—none of that feeling of being a high-tier professional who couldn’t beat a rookie.
Because by now, Lu Ran had truly grown into an insurmountable mountain.
“There really isn’t much we can do about it. It’s just a numbers game. Lu Ran’s undead army from his Sleeve Universe makes him practically unkillable, and if he keeps replenishing them on the fly, then there’s truly no way to put him down for good.” Liu Xinxin shrugged as well.
And that wasn’t even mentioning Lu Ran’s Level 100 Dark Elf Queen, Silulu, the holy artifacts forged by the Dwarves, the Nature Elf army granted by the Elf Wings, and the Yamata-no-Orochi!
Forget rookie professionals—even on a global scale, Lu Ran was a bug-tier existence.
Finally—
Ye Hongyi took a delightful sip of her tea, leaned back contentedly, and said, “My little brother—invincible.”
Just five simple words, yet they conveyed an endless sense of pride and exhilaration.
Lu Ran, on the other hand, remained perfectly calm.
With a clear understanding of his own abilities, he was well aware of where he stood in terms of combat strength.
Coming to participate in the Hundred Cities League really was a bit of a bully move.
Just then—
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Yu Qingcang glanced over and said casually.
Su Ting then pushed the door open.
Because Yu Qingcang had instructed Su Ting that when they were in the office with Lu Ran, no one else was allowed in.
So the visitor could only be Su Ting.
Of course, even if someone else had barged in, it wouldn’t have mattered—there was no longer any need to keep Lu Ran under wraps anyway.
“Someone’s here to hang out with Lu Ran,” Su Ting said, her expression a bit odd.
“Huh? Someone’s here to hang out with Lu Ran? Who?” Yu Qingcang was taken aback.
“Cen Yubuo from the Cen family—Lu Ran’s opponent from today’s second round,” Su Ting said.
“The Cen family…” Yu Qingcang muttered to himself. “The Cen family’s main branch isn’t based in the imperial capital. Back when Cen Yubuo was in the capital, I never had much contact with the Cen family either. They’re quite mysterious. Now that she’s lost and still coming to see you, there’s probably some ulterior motive.”
“What’s there to worry about? Lu Ran, go ahead and have fun. If they have any ill intentions, just handle it yourself. Settle scores however you see fit,” Ye Hongyi said directly.
Uh…
Yu Qingcang let out an awkward chuckle.
He kept instinctively thinking of Lu Ran as a rookie professional and worrying about his safety.
But honestly, worrying about Lu Ran was far less necessary than worrying about themselves.
Lu Ran was in absolutely no danger at all!
“Fair point. In that case, Lu Ran, go ahead and have fun,” Yu Qingcang said.
Liu Xinxin and Lei Tai had no objections either.
Lu Ran recalled Cen Yubuo from the arena earlier that day. As the saying goes, you don’t strike a smiling face. Lu Ran had a pretty good impression of the girl.
Even in defeat, she hadn’t been discouraged.
And when she’d said she’d come find Lu Ran to hang out, it turned out that wasn’t just empty pleasantries—she’d actually shown up!
“I’ll go check it out,” Lu Ran said with a nod.
At the front gate of the Tianfa Alliance.
As Lu Ran approached, he could see Cen Yubuo from a distance, standing gracefully beneath the shade of a tree, bathed in the late afternoon sunlight, gazing in his direction.
She had come alone.
“Hehe… Lu Ran, we meet again,” Cen Yubuo said with a cheerful grin.
“You actually came,” Lu Ran replied.
“Of course I came! Since I’ve already been eliminated, I don’t have any more matches to worry about—I’ve got tons of free time. Wanna go hang out?” Cen Yubuo said, tilting her head playfully.
She naturally stepped up beside Lu Ran and looped her arm affectionately around his.
What a sociable one!
Even when Qin Wuyao had done the same with Lu Ran back then, the two of them had at least known each other for years through academy life.
This was only Cen Yubuo’s second meeting with him!
Lu Ran even felt a little flustered.
And just at that moment—
Another figure suddenly appeared on Lu Ran’s other side and also linked arms with him.
Lu Ran startled and turned to look—it was Cong Yu!
“Lu Ran, didn’t we already agree to have dinner together tonight?” Cong Yu raised an eyebrow, shooting a hostile glance at Cen Yubuo on Lu Ran’s other side.
Their eyes met—sharp and antagonistic!
Upstairs in a building across the street, Cong Shuang was watching the scene unfold, her gaze burning with intensity.
