Chapter 65: Chapter 1 ‘Ancient God’ Evolution Path
Rest area.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged.
A holographic screen appeared in front of him, flashing through the profiles of various Evolvers.
These Evolvers had all made it into the top fifty of the tournament.
Even if they weren’t Third Realm, they weren’t far off, and each had their own trump card.
Lin Yuan watched carefully, even pulling up videos of these Evolvers’ previous battles.
With Lin Yuan’s Against-Heaven’s Understanding, even viewing battle videos could give him a certain degree of Sudden Enlightenment.
Of course, compared to a real battle, these videos were just appetizers.
Battle videos, similar to the NPCs in old games.
All their moves and techniques were already fixed.
How could they compare to the vast insights brought by real-time battles and immediate feedback?
“Fang Qing…”
Lin Yuan’s expression was slightly solemn.
He looked at the information displayed in front of him.
The subject of the information was a young man.
He looked harmless enough.
But he was a hot favorite for champion in this tournament.
So far, no one knew the Evolution Path Fang Qing had taken.
Yet each time Fang Qing made a move, he ended the battle in one or two moves.
Even against Third Realm Evolvers.
This was the opposite of Lin Yuan.
In the eyes of most spectators,
Lin Yuan particularly liked to ‘play with’ his opponents.
Even against a First Rank Evolver, he would drag it to overtime.
This induced innate fear in many Evolvers towards Lin Yuan.
Aside from Fang Qing, there were several other Evolvers Lin Yuan needed to pay attention to.
Take Thunder God, for example, who could summon and command thunder. Lin Yuan was not too worried about him.
Only the incarnation as thunder… Becoming thunder meant energy transformation throughout the body, which could immunize against most physical attacks.
There was also a Third Rank Evolver who followed the Poison Evolution Path.
The Poison Evolution Path was a very niche path.
Evolver who practiced this path were extremely rare and scarce.
However, once someone achieved something on this path,
The techniques they mastered would trouble all Evolvers of the same or even higher levels.
Poison did not merely damage the body.
It also affected and could suppress the soul and spirit.
A Third Rank Poison Path Evolver, if willing—
Could effortlessly wipe out a city of millions, even tens of millions of citizens.
Time passed.
Before long, half a day had drifted by.
The Virtual World tournament invited Lin Yuan to participate in the match.
At this point in the tournament, they were down to the top fifty competitors.
Each contender was either a Third Realm Evolver or a Second Layer Evolver with special techniques.
Ordinary Second Layer Evolvers had been eliminated early on.
Currently, among these fifty Evolvers, nineteen were confirmed Third Realm.
In the rest area, Lin Yuan accepted the official invitation from the tournament.
Whoosh!
Lin Yuan’s figure appeared in the center of the arena.
The moment Lin Yuan appeared, cheers like a tsunami suddenly erupted from all directions.
“So many people?”
Lin Yuan looked around and saw that nearly ten million seats surrounding him were already filled.
The tournament had now moved to the most prosperous city arena in the Central Mainland.
As for the number of matches, it had gone from eight thousand matches a day when the tournament began, to just five matches today.
This convergence of spectators resulted in nearly ten million at this match.
Keep in mind, the audience capable of attending in the Virtual World were either Evolvers or citizens of the second rank and above.
As for the ordinary citizens watching the ‘live broadcast’, their numbers were likely over ten billion.
It couldn’t be helped.
Now there were only two matches a day, timed apart.
Audiences wanting to watch the tournament could only opt for this match.
…..
Lin Yuan appeared in the arena.
This caused a huge cheer from the audience.
“Lin Yuan!”
“Lin Yuan has arrived!”
“The Tormentor King Lin Yuan!”
All kinds of cheers.
Though it wasn’t a live match, the Virtual World completely replicated reality.
Everyone’s voices carried through the air, deafening.
Before long,
Lin Yuan’s opponent also appeared.
He was a tall man with a cold gaze, and a strange chill spread from where he stood.
Third Realm Evolver Bingyan.
Following the special Elemental Evolution Path of Ice.
Previous contenders against Bingyan almost all ended up as ice sculptures.
Bingyan’s arrival further incited the surrounding spectators.
Although Lin Yuan had broken into the Third Realm, up to now, he had never shown his full Third Realm power.
Most of his previous opponents had surrendered voluntarily, and those who did not were not strong enough to make Lin Yuan exert his full strength.
Therefore, in the eyes of the spectators, Lin Yuan was just a special Second Layer Evolver.
And Bingyan was indeed a Third Rank Evolver.
On Canglan Star, there were no more than twenty individuals who could step into Third Rank by the age of one hundred.
Bingyan was one of them.
“I’ve seen your match videos.”
“I admit, you’re strong, but meeting me means this is as far as you go,” Bingyan said in an even tone, seemingly devoid of any emotional fluctuations.
Up to now, Lin Yuan’s most notable achievement was that he had managed to last more than half an hour against a Third Rank Evolver.
But that Third Rank Evolver was a rare Dream Evolver, skilled in soul and spirit attacks.
If Lin Yuan had some accomplishments in soul and spirit, enduring that long wouldn’t be surprising.
Based on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of normal evolution paths,
Evolution paths that specialize in soul and spirit inevitably have weaknesses in physical matter.
The ice evolution path, which Bingyan specialized in, was best at freezing everything, including the physical body.
That was why Bingyan was very confident.
…
Up in the spectator stands,
At a middle seat, there sat a young man who appeared gentle and harmless.
He looked down at the battleground below with a somewhat bored expression.
“Teacher, these two contestants, one has yet to reach Third Rank, the other follows an ordinary evolution path. Watching their match isn’t as good as spending more time cultivating in the rest area,” he said.
The young man was named Fang Qing, and he was a popular favorite to win this tournament.
“Fool,”
A palm-sized, white-bearded old man appeared on Fang Qing’s shoulder.
This white-bearded old man was ethereal in form, visible and perceptible only to Fang Qing.
“Have you failed to see the special aspect of that ‘Lin Yuan’ Evolver?” the white-bearded old man glanced at Fang Qing.
“Special aspect?”
Fang Qing was slightly taken aback.
“The embryonic form of a domain?”
Fang Qing ventured a guess.
The strongest technique Lin Yuan had displayed was the embryonic form of a domain.
This power was something Fourth and Fifth Rank Evolvers hoped to master.
Yet, the embryonic form of a domain was enormously difficult for other Evolvers to access.
But to someone of the Ancient God lineage like him, it was just so-so.
If Fang Qing wanted, he could also quickly master the embryonic form of a domain.
“It’s not the embryonic form of the domain that’s special, but the power that evolves it,” the white-bearded old man rolled his eyes.
“Furthermore, our old master once dominated dozens of Star Domains, overlooking everything. It was only in the end that he was surrounded and killed by a Different Species plot because of his arrogance. As the Successor to our old master, even though you follow the ‘Ancient God’ evolution path, if you continue to be complacent and underestimate your enemies, you will eventually follow in the old master’s footsteps,” the white-bearded old man couldn’t help but say.
Once upon a time, the old master was glorious, but he died like a snuffed-out candle, and everything ceased to exist.
“I understand,”
Fang Qing’s expression became serious as he began to watch the fight below intently.
“If my guess is right, that ‘Lin Yuan’ has probably already reached Third Rank,” the white-bearded old man continued.
“Already Third Rank?”
Fang Qing looked alarmed.
…
On the battlefield,
As soon as the host announced the start of the match,
Bingyan immediately took action.
Though confident, he did not take the slightest chance and exerted his full strength right away.
A terrifying chill spread rapidly.
But in the next moment,
An invisible fluctuation enveloped the area.
The Taiji Field at the Third Layer level, being more refined, imposed greater constraints on the enemy.
Facing an opponent at the Third Layer, Lin Yuan had no intent to hide his skills, and he used the Taiji Field to suppress his opponent.
“What is this?”
Bingyan’s expression changed slightly.
In previous matches, Lin Yuan had also displayed the Taiji Field, but it shouldn’t have been this powerful, otherwise he wouldn’t have been overwhelmed by that Third Rank Dream Evolver.
“Have you already reached Third Rank?”
Bingyan’s expression grew solemn.
Such a level of suppression could only be achieved by the embryonic form of a domain at the Third Layer.
“However, defeating me won’t be so easy,”
Bingyan charged towards Lin Yuan, transforming almost into a thousand-year iceberg, crashing down fiercely.
Despite being restrained by the Taiji Field, Bingyan’s speed reached an astonishing level, approaching a thousand meters per second.
Boom!
The two clashed fiercely.
…..
“See that?”
“That Lin Yuan isn’t simple, is he?” the white-bearded elder, sitting on Fang Qing’s shoulder, observed the battlefield below with interest.
“Indeed, he’s not simple…”
Fang Qing nodded slightly.
He could see that the power Lin Yuan wielded was not just of one kind, but two completely opposite forces.
These two diametrically opposite forces, in Lin Yuan’s hands, had reached a certain balance and fused perfectly together.
“If I were to fight Lin Yuan, I reckon I’d use the ‘Ancient God’ True Body, then suppress him within ten moves, and defeat him within two hundred moves,” Fang Qing reasoned.
The reason it would take two hundred moves was because Fang Qing could see that the combining forces Lin Yuan mastered were particularly adept in defense, capable of converting an enemy’s attack into his own.
“Fusing powers, that’s something Sixth Rank individuals have the capability of doing. Without relying on the ‘Ancient God’ evolution path, under the same conditions, you aren’t as good as this Lin Yuan,” the white-bearded old man glanced at Fang Qing.