Chapter 1059: The Outcome is Set

Based on the current standings among the male contestants, aside from Tang San, who had already secured his spot in the top three, the remaining two spots would be contested among Xu An'yu, Ning Chen'en, and Jin Anguo.

Ning Chen'en and Jin Anguo were clearly aligned; they were in the same boat, so to speak, and some under-the-table arrangements between them were definitely possible. But everyone has their own ambitions, and no matter how close the alliance, it's normal for personal interest to take precedence. Who knew how things would go?

Right now, Jin Anguo had only one win, while Ning Chen'en had two. If Tang San were to let Ning Chen'en win their upcoming match, Ning Chen'en would have three wins, equaling Xu An'yu's record. Though defeating Xu An'yu in a direct confrontation might prove difficult, he'd still be ahead of Jin Anguo in points. Then, it would all come down to the result of the match between Ning Chen'en and Jin Anguo; whoever won that match would advance to the finals.

Tang San's idea of letting Ning Chen'en win was based precisely on this logic. Now that Li Zhaopeng had withdrawn, Jin Anguo and Xu An'yu were essentially gifted a win each. That tilted things too much in their favor. What Tang San wanted was to force Jin Anguo to directly compete with Ning Chen'en, and... well, may the better fighter win.

So long as the Golden Mammoth Demon Emperor had designs on that Emperor's seat, he would undoubtedly agree to the conditions Tang San had proposed to Ning Chen'en earlier. Obviously, after Tang San's series of victories, who could still claim to beat him with confidence? And on the off chance Ning Chen'en lost to him, he'd fall out of top-three contention entirely.

In fact, Tang San had no intention of participating in his last three round-robin matches. He had no particular desire to fight the Scorching King, and more importantly, he could pretend to give the Sunborne Nymph Emperor face while losing nothing at all. Besides, even if the Scorching King managed to get one more win from Tang San, his overall chances were practically nil. If he'd had the Undying Golden Body himself, maybe he could put up a fight, but without it, he had no chance at all.

On the way back, Tang San had already figured out why the Undying Golden Body ended up with Jiang Chenchou and not the Scorching King. It wasn't just a matter of Jiang Chenchou being the one with more potential; it was also because the Misfortune Pearl was on the male side.

The Undying Golden Body defended against physical and bloodline power attacks, but it couldn't protect against fortune manipulation. Even if the Scorching King had it, he still wouldn't have been able to counter the Misfortune Pearl. Better to give it to Jiang Chenchou and secure a sure spot in the finals through the female bracket.

As for how the Scorching Sunflower clan knew the Misfortune Pearl was on the male side, that was likely due to deals and exchanges among the Emperors.

Tang San's unexpected rise had clearly disrupted many of the Emperors' original plans. For example, the Behemoth clan and the Golden Mammoth clan likely had long-standing plans to have Jin Anguo and Ning Chen'en cooperate and qualify together, then work together to take down Xu An'yu.

The Behemoth clan had demonstrated remarkable strength this tournament. Even if Jin Anguo's score looked unimpressive, that was really just bad luck. He and Lan Moqian were both extremely powerful. Together with Ning Chen'en, they had a solid chance of securing at least one seat.

In contrast, the dragon race had placed their hopes on Radiant Dragon King Xu An'yu and Tenebrous Dragon King Li Zhaopeng, but the two belonged to opposing camps and would never work together. In fact, they were outright rivals.

Among demonkind, the ones in the worst shape seemed to be the phoenix race. Even though the Undying Demon Emperor was the most powerful being in the entire Empyrean Dominion and his clan was also one of the most powerful, his representative had no hope whatsoever of entering the finals.

But all that was just surface-level. No one realized that the Undying Demon Emperor's

actual

representative was not the Immortal Flame Phoenix Great Demon King, but Mei Gongzi. On the surface, it looked like he was avoiding provoking a backlash by giving up on a third phoenix Emperor. In truth, he had been laying the groundwork in secret all along.

Tang San, having some insider knowledge, could roughly infer the dynamics of these power struggles between Emperors. Among them, the most calculating was undoubtedly the Undying Demon Emperor, and Tang San, of course, was not going to ruin his calculations.

On the female side, after Mei Gongzi's performance today, she had virtually no more opponents. Her entry into the finals was practically guaranteed, and as the top female seed for that matter. If she and Tang San both finished in first place in their respective brackets, they wouldn't meet early in the finals, and that would be the ideal scenario.

The finals used a double-elimination format—losing twice meant elimination. As the top seeds of both brackets, if they kept winning, Tang San and Mei Gongzi would only face each other in the last match, and that was the best possible outcome. By then, Tang San would know very well what he was supposed to do.

Everything was proceeding exactly as he wanted.

The next priority was actually defeating Xu An'yu. But to do so, Tang San knew he'd have to show some of his real cards. Only by beating Xu An'yu and sending him to the losers' bracket could he avoid an early clash between Xu An'yu and Mei Gongzi. If Xu An'yu was in the losers' bracket, the odds of anyone else beating Mei Gongzi in the winners' bracket were extremely low.

So in the finals, Tang San couldn't afford to lose a single match—until he faced Mei Gongzi, of course.

With a clear plan laid out, Tang San's expression softened into a faint smile.

Little Mei, wait for me. Once this is over, we will be able to be together again, and this time, out in the open.

***

A while later, round four of the semifinals ended. The most spectacular matches of the round were the first two.

Due to the withdrawal of Li Zhaopeng, Xu An'yu got a free win. Jin Anguo also successfully defeated the Scorching King and notched a victory. Ning Chen'en fought a grueling, hour-long battle against Lü Fuyao. Thanks to his powerful defense, he completely wore down his opponent, forcing Lü Fuyao into defeat.

Both Xu An'yu and Ning Chen'en now had three wins. Jin Anguo had two. Li Zhaopeng also had two initially, but he had been forced to withdraw, so he was out of the equation. The standings among the male contestants had become clear.

On the female side, Mei Gongzi stood alone with four victories. The battles between the first and second brackets had only just begun, so the final top three were still undecided. But one thing was certain: There was no way she would not be in the finals. And with that, her support in the Empyrean Dominion surged.

But no one expected what happened next: The wildly popular Amethystine Warrior, Lord of Skytree City, and leader of the Blue Gold Tree clan...

vanished

.

Yes, Jin Miaolin vanished.

When the next round began—namely, his match against Ning Chen'en—he simply didn't show up at the arena and thus forfeited the round. This greatly disappointed countless fans who had eagerly anticipated what new tricks he might unveil next. Some even began shouting for refunds.

Speculation about his absence ran rampant. The most common theory was that, with his point total already securing him the top spot, there was no need to continue fighting and risk revealing more of his power. It was better to save it for the final rounds.

After all, Jin Miaolin had six wins' worth of points. The only person with a chance to match that would have been Xu An'yu, but since Xu An'yu had forfeited their match, then Jin Miaolin held the tiebreaker. So even if Xu An'yu also finished with six wins, Jin Miaolin would still be ranked first. The remaining matches held no meaning for him.

Other theories claimed he had run out of tricks or reached his limit. Regardless, the audience was deeply unsatisfied. Watching the Amethystine Warrior's matches had become one of their greatest thrills. Now, that joy was gone, and even the enthusiasm for the Battle for the Throne was beginning to dip because of it.