Chapter 996: Jin Miaolin's Rating

As the matchmaking tournament approached, the atmosphere in the Ancestral Court became lively once more.

As the saying goes, sharpening your spear the moment before battle is better than no sharpening at all. Almost a gross of the strongest beings alive had already gathered in the Ancestral Court to prepare for the competition. The streets began to bustle again.

After a few quiet days, the White Tiger Grand Hotel returned to full capacity. Even so, the Blue Gold Tree clan flaunted its wealth and dominance, booking an entire floor of the hotel for all of its elders.

Tang San, naturally, was staying in the largest suite on that floor.

In the past few days, he had only met Mei Gongzi once. The sword intent of the Asura Sword had fully merged with the Shadowfiend Sword, so the Asura Shadow Sword now fully deserved its new name. Mei Gongzi now needed time to adapt to the new weapon. Mastering the significantly enhanced sword wasn't easy. Melding its power with her own cultivation and wielding it effectively required practice. But even so, the fusion had also caused her strength to grow dramatically, pushing her cultivation near the peak of the eleventh order. Moreover, it had also intensely stimulated her White Tiger bloodline, enhancing its power and the God-Killing Domain.

Tang San remained at the White Tiger Hotel to cultivate as well. His cultivation was far more complex, requiring constant adjustment and balancing of multiple bloodlines, fusing their powers and refining his combat techniques. He also needed to continue nurturing the two divine weapons he had obtained for use in the tournament.

Ten days passed in a flash.

The long-anticipated moment for the people of the Ancestral Court had finally arrived—the start of the matchmaking tournament was here.

Early in the morning, the Grand Elder of the Blue Gold Tree clan waited beside their new carriage.

One thing was for certain: After the auction, the Blue Gold Tree clan's status in the Ancestral Court had clearly risen. Though other clans still regarded them as unfit for combat, no one could deny their overwhelming wealth. While they weren't necessarily the biggest profiteers of the auction, they were certainly the most extravagant.

So in recent days, the Blue Gold Tree clan's elders had enjoyed a much higher level of courtesy in the Ancestral Court. After all, who would turn away a walking treasure chest?

Outside the White Tiger Hotel were not only the Blue Gold Tree clan's carriages, but those of other powerful individuals as well. But in terms of scale, the Blue Gold Tree clan's convoy was by far the largest. Second to them was the Peacock Demon clan's convoy. The other great cities' contestants had their own quarters and their own carriages waiting elsewhere.

Mei Gongzi, accompanied by her two mothers, was the first to leave the hotel and board her carriage. As the central figure of the tournament, she had to arrive early and appear at the opening ceremony.

Tang San deliberately waited until Mei Gongzi's convoy had departed before leaving the hotel with Jin Miaosen and boarding his own carriage.

Ever since Mei Gongzi had expressed how much she wanted to beat the living daylights out of Jin Miaolin, Tang San had carefully avoided bringing out that identity in front of her. He kept Jin Miaolin out of her sight as much as possible—for survival's sake. Understandably, he felt that it would be preferable to be alive by the time the tournament was over.

The streets of the Ancestral Court weren't crowded. The carriage ride was smooth until they neared Council Mountain, where things became more lively. The Ancestral Court guards maintained order, allowing contestant vehicles direct passage. As a city lord, Tang San enjoyed even more privileges; his carriage used a special route to enter directly.

The large plaza before Council Mountain now hosted the newly built tournament venue, sprawling across an enormous area. It could accommodate ten times as many spectators as the Grand Auction Hall. Halfway up Council Mountain, a special viewing platform had been built for the Emperors. Near the base, close to the mountain, viewing pavilions stood high above the ground. These were designated for the city lords and their entourages.

For this tournament, not even first-tier bloodline clan leaders were qualified to sit in a private room; only city lords were. This showcased the elevated status of the city lords. The only exception was Radiant Dragon King Xu An'yu; since Crystal City did not have a city lord just yet, he was serving as a temporary representative.

Tang San's convoy reached the mountain base. This time, pavilion assignment was not based on wealth and status, but on presumable strength. As the weakest of the Solstice Empire's cities, Tang San's pavilion was furthest to the right. Mei Gongzi, representing Kali City, was furthest to the left. The two pavilions were at opposite ends.

Tang San led the elders up a wooden staircase to their VIP pavilion. It was rather similar to what they had enjoyed during the auction; although it was not impressively large or luxurious, having been built in a very short time, it was still quite comfortable and had all necessary amenities.

Through the crystal screen in front of him, Tang San had a clear view of the enormous arena outside.

The battle platform was surrounded by towering hundred-meter pillars, each inscribed with defensive arrays.

Battles between eleventh-order powerhouses wouldn't be confined to the ground; they could easily shift to the skies. Naturally, the shockwaves of their clashes could be devastating. Thus, when building this venue, the greatest amount of money and effort was put into ensuring that spectators remained safe from such destructive energies.

Tang San didn't even need to think to know that the referees for the tournament would be Emperors. Only they would be strong enough to maintain control over such a chaotic battlefield.

Though the tournament had technically no restrictions on participants, every contestant represented their respective races' top talents. Naturally, losing any of them would be a significant blow to the Ancestral Court as well. Thus, the Ancestral Court treated the tournament with utmost seriousness. Despite the underlying rivalry between major clans and even the two countries, security had been thoroughly ensured. Even though they were expected to fight to the death if the situation so warranted, measures were in place to ensure that they wouldn't, as much as possible.

The platform stood about five meters above ground and had a diameter of one kilometer, a tremendous construction. Around the platform, temporary seating had been constructed in tiered layers. The highest level was just a meter below the VIP pavilions.

The venue could accommodate hundreds of thousands of spectators. Of course, an admission fee was charged.

Even the cheapest tickets cost ten naturae coins each, yet even so, they were selling out fast. The funniest part was that they weren't even tournament tickets; they were

day passes

. The tournament, obviously, wouldn't finish in one day, so Tang San could only imagine how much money the Ancestral Court was once again raking in just from ticket sales alone.

By this point, betting pools had long since opened. Every contestant had odds assigned to them. But when Tang San asked the Grand Elder what his own odds were, the elder stammered for a long while before finally squeezing out an answer.

It turned out Tang San had

overestimated

his position.

He had originally assumed that among the male contestants, he would be ranked around 80. But when he compared the betting odds, he discovered that he had the worst odds among all 133 contestants. Yes, even lower than the female contestants.

He had passed the city lord evaluation; at least the Emperors of the Solstice Empire had seen his Life Deprivation Domain and other such. And now he had been given the lowest odds? That basically meant they had already assigned him a ranking—133rd place. Dead last.

Even someone as composed as Tang San couldn't help but be frustrated. This was an outright dismissal of his ability. After all, for better or for worse, he was still a city lord. Moreover, he might be in a different body disguised as yet another different body, but there was one thing a God King always kept: his pride!