Master of Nine Stars

The next morning, the four of them were gathered in their hotel room, watching the final lottery ceremony.

Although the finalists had already been decided, the venue still had to be chosen. To pad the runtime, the broadcast even aired a highlight reel of this year’s Soul Martial competition before the lottery ceremony.

All sorts of contenders appeared one after another. After all, it was a highlight reel; no matter how ordinary your performance was, they could still clip a few seconds of an "epic moment" from your matches.

Besides, some contestants had highlights in almost every single match...

Yang Chunxi, who had been feeling conflicted, was now completely engrossed. Every time Rong Taotao appeared on the screen, she would feel both nervous and excited.

"Tsk, tsk..." Beside them, Xia Fangran grinned and muttered, "Who edited this thing? It’s pretty damn hype."

Even in a montage that mixed clips from the solo, duo, and trio events, Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei appeared frequently, a testament to just how many highlight-worthy moments the two had!

More than half of the ten-minute-plus highlight reel had passed, and Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei had already appeared twice.

Just then, the Magma Soul Martial Artist Li Zi appeared on screen, grabbing her opponent’s arms with her small hands. Her body was like a stretch of scorched earth, with molten lava flowing through its cracks.

She tilted her small face up, her wide eyes staring at her flustered enemy as she uttered a single word: "BOOM~"

"RUMBLE..."

Blast waves surged as smoke and dust filled the air.

The editing transition was "million-dollar" quality. From within the smoke and dust of Li Zi’s self-detonation, an illusory Patterned Mask charged out. The background music suddenly quieted, replaced by the signature, horrifying scream of a Frost Fearful Face that made one’s skin crawl.

"WHIIIINE~ HISS!!!"

The illusory Patterned Mask shot straight at the camera as if it were about to burst out of the TV and attack the audience.

The moment the Patterned Mask pierced through the lens, Gao Lingwei, who was also wearing an illusory mask behind it, thrust her Heaven-piercing Halberd forward!

But compared to the Patterned Mask that seemed to fly out of the screen, Gao Lingwei’s sharp gaze and the Long Halberd thrusting toward the camera were even more terrifying.

"CLANG!" With a sharp ring, Gao Lingwei’s Long Halberd collided violently with a two-handed greatsword. She was sent staggering back more than three steps.

And with every step she took backward, the three home fields—Starfield, Ocean, and Snow Realm—flashed in succession.

Her final step landed on the Ocean field, and at that very moment...

"FWOOSH!" A Water Flow Whip wrapped around her wrist, immobilizing her. In front of her, Baishan suddenly appeared, clad in Water Rhinoceros Armor, furiously gathering a Sharp Water Blade in one hand.

But in the next second, as if they had heard something, both the attacking Baishan and the struggling Gao Lingwei suddenly looked to the side.

At the far edge of the field, Rong Taotao finally appeared. He was holding a girl whose head was bowed and whose gaze was unfocused, and he slowly drew one hand across her neck...

"SCREEECH!!!"

The Ocean and Starfield arenas flickered rapidly. Even though Rong Taotao had never undergone the baptism of the Phoenix Group, under the rapidly shifting scenery, the hundreds, even thousands of phoenixes released by Wanqi Yan rained down on him as he performed the "throat-slitting ceremony."

"RUMBLE..."

The field instantly exploded, engulfed in flames and surging heat waves.

"PFFT..."

A gap was torn open in the sky, and the Nine Heavens Great Waterfall poured down, instantly extinguishing all the flames on the field.

This was a student Rong Taotao didn’t recognize, likely a contestant from the solo or trio events. He was standing proudly with his right fist raised high, but a figure wielding a two-handed axe suddenly shot out from behind him!

On screen, the young man’s pupils constricted. He whipped his head around to see the giant axe bearing down on him...

"BAM!"

The axe-wielding youth didn’t succeed. His forward momentum was broken by a Snow Ghost Hand from below, and a Snow Fist sent him flying into the sky!

"KILL!!!" A rough, incredibly impassioned voice boomed, echoing through the arena and shaking everyone to their core.

In an instant, the earth trembled and the Fire Camels stampeded!

The montage seemed to have a bit of a plot. The ocean-attribute student had it rough; he had just helped Rong Taotao deal with the field of fire when he was ambushed by the axe-wielding youth, which in turn angered Wanqi Wu.

Instantly, Wanqi Wu, clad in Flame Armor and wielding a Heavy Cavalry Flaming Long Spear, charged straight at the ocean-attribute student with a massive army at his back.

Behind him, Wanqi Yan rode a Fire Camel, her long hair flying. With one hand raised to the heavens, she advanced with the army, also charging toward the fallen Rong Taotao in the distance...

Rong Taotao lay on his back, kicking his legs to scoot backward while waving his hands above his head like an orchestra conductor...

A long Snow Ghost Hand suddenly burst from the snow. In the field alternating between Snow Realm and Ocean, Gao Lingwei, with the hand wrapped around her waist, nocked an arrow to her bow and circled in the air, rapidly firing down at the massive army below.

For a moment, Star Wave Streams and Cross Slashes flew everywhere, while Blast Flames and Water Dragon Tornados filled the screen.

Before the thundering torrent of thousands of Corpse Fire Camels, the various contestants, who should never have been on the same field together, all unleashed their signature skills.

Rong Taotao’s blood boiled with excitement as he watched, and he couldn’t help but say, "They edited Wanqi Wu to look like the final boss!"

Gao Lingwei: "Mm..."

As they spoke, the camera pulled back. On the front lines of the battlefield, three ant-like figures suddenly merged, and a giant pieced together from water mist abruptly rose from the ground!

Amidst such a magnificent scene, at the very moment the thousands of Corpse Fire Camels crashed into the group, the screen suddenly went black.

Rong Taotao: "..."

’It’s, uh... that’s it?’

’I looked a little pathetic at the end there~’

’Even though conducting while lying down looked cool, editing it like that would make anyone think I was about to be trampled to bits by the thousands of Corpse Fire Camels, right?’

The next moment, a sliver of light appeared on the pitch-black screen, but only a sliver.

Faintly, a teal butterfly seemed to be dancing, fluttering in the air.

The teal butterfly flew past one fallen figure after another—clothes tattered, wounded and bleeding, unable to get up. Because the scene was rather dark, the silhouettes were blurry, lending the shot a somewhat tragic and heroic air...

Finally, the butterfly slowly flew back into someone’s hand, which was shown in a close-up.

"Oho~" Rong Taotao’s eyes widened. ’What does this mean? I didn’t die?’

On the television screen, as the hand slowly pressed against a chest, the image brightened a little more, and the camera pulled back to show the whole person.

In the dimly lit shot, Rong Taotao could be seen smiling, one hand on his chest as he gave a slight bow. Was he saluting?

Then, the screen went black again.

Large characters faded onto the screen: "2011 National Soul Martial Competition Finals—Opening Tomorrow!"

Rong Taotao: "..."

’So, I’m a final boss too, right?’

Gao Lingwei turned to look at Rong Taotao. There was no smile on her face, but a strange light flashed in her eyes.

"Uh." Rong Taotao scratched his head. "What’s up?"

"No." Gao Lingwei shook her head. "It’s nothing."

"The organizers really are placing a lot of importance on the duo teams this year." Yang Chunxi was filled with pride as she glanced at Rong Taotao beside her. "They designated two duo matches for the opening ceremony, and the promo for the finals also ended with you two duo teams."

Rong Taotao shrugged. "The solo and trio finals are still the same old formula, right? Starfield versus Ocean for the crown. Maybe they wanted to see something different."

The four of them discussed it for a while before the lottery ceremony finally began.

To fill out the program’s runtime, it seemed there would be expert analysis and predictions after the lottery ceremony, but that wasn’t the main event. The main event was...

On the television screen, a man in a sharp suit held a small ball and slowly twisted it open.

On the cross-section of the hemisphere, three large words were written: Molten Rock Field.

Yang Chunxi’s breath caught in her throat. !!!

Rong Taotao & Gao Lingwei: "..."

Xia Fangran sighed softly and muttered, "It’s over. This time, it’s really over."

Ever since Rong Taotao started competing, he had never once encountered a Molten Rock field. He never expected to run into the one field he wanted to avoid most in the grand finals!

Of course, just like with the Ocean and Snow Realm fields, the event organizers couldn’t exactly drag a lake of lava into the stadium...

While there wouldn’t be actual lava, the grassy field would be turned into scorched earth.

It wouldn’t be hot enough to burn someone, but the most crucial factor was that the field’s temperature would be very high!

On a Snow Realm field, the ground is covered in a thin layer of snow, and the temperature is extremely low. People who normally wore short sleeves in Imperial Capital City would have to bundle up in thick down jackets the moment they entered the field.

The Molten Rock field was the same, except the temperature wasn’t lowered—it was raised.

An ordinary person could tolerate a temperature of 35°C, but performing strenuous exercise in that heat was another matter entirely.

In fact, this was already a concession to non-Molten Rock contestants. After all, a true Molten Rock field could easily exceed 50°C, a temperature where even breathing might become extremely difficult.

Even Magma Soul Martial Artists had to rely on the Molten Fire Contract to fight in such an environment; forget about combat for Soul Martial Artists of other attributes.

This was a huge blow for Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei. It wasn’t just that they were Soul Martial Artists of a different attribute; they were specifically from the Snow Realm.

Normally, the two of them were supposed to live in a -30°C environment. To others, this would be an extremely harsh climate, but for Snow Realm Soul Martial Artists who possessed the Heart of the Snow Realm, negative thirty degrees was nothing.

Things like the cold, stiff limbs, or frostbite simply wouldn’t happen. Xia Fangran could even get by just wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

And now... the finals venue was cranked up to 35°C?

What was the total temperature difference between the two extremes?

More importantly, in this temperature, their Ice and Snow attribute Soul Skills would inevitably be severely affected!

The longevity of their Shuangxue would be drastically reduced. Any frost or ice would melt, to say nothing of changing the terrain...

’I’m speechless~’ Rong Taotao couldn’t help but complain to himself. ’They just gave me a huge promo in the highlight reel, and now this draw is basically screwing me over completely...’

The carrot wasn’t sweet, but the stick hit hard!

’It’s just, ugh... this sucks!’

"Chunxi," Rong Taotao said, turning to Yang Chunxi.

Yang Chunxi didn’t look too pleased either. "What is it?"

Rong Taotao: "Do we have any other competition uniforms? Like, short sleeves and shorts?"

Yang Chunxi: "Just take off your jacket."

Rong Taotao: "But I don’t want to wear long pants either."

Yang Chunxi: "Just bear with it. Twenty minutes will pass quickly."

’Besides, this final match might not even last twenty minutes...’

Of course, Yang Chunxi didn’t say this out loud, keeping the thought to herself...

A match lasted a maximum of twenty minutes. If no winner was decided by then, the competition committee would determine the victor.

"It’s not as difficult as you think," Xia Fangran suddenly said.

"How so?" Rong Taotao asked, turning to look at Xia Fangran.

Xia Fangran explained, "In a match that’s at most twenty minutes long, you don’t need to worry about a battle of attrition. As long as you manage your Ice and Snow Soul Power rationally, you can use Shuangxue to cool yourselves down.

"To put it bluntly, it’s only 35 degrees. This so-called Molten Rock field is already making major concessions to other Soul Martial Artists. Just like the Snow Realm field, the temperature hasn’t been adjusted to a level that other people can’t tolerate.

"Of course, if your opponents set you on fire, that’s another matter entirely..."

Rong Taotao: "..."