The Competition Begins, Hidden Ace Cards

"That's right, I'm the outside reinforcement." Wang Lingling paused, then smiled. "This place is too dangerous for the young miss, so I came in her stead."

"I see."

Lu Yuan nodded, then studied her with curious eyes. "What rank are you at?"

Wang Lingling blinked, a warm smile on her face. "Guess."

"Battle Venerable?"

"Got it in one. You're impressive, Ah Yuan."

Her smile widened.

Lu Yuan stared at her in mild surprise — he'd actually guessed right.

"I didn't expect you to be this strong, Lingling."

"I still have a ways to go compared to you, Ah Yuan."

Wang Lingling laughed modestly, then turned toward Si Tingxue and Rebecca standing nearby. Her expression remained warm.

"Long time no see, Ninth Princess. Miss Rebecca."

Si Tingxue gave a cool nod. "Mm."

Rebecca brightened. "I didn't expect you to be so strong, Lingling! That's amazing."

The last time Wang Lingling had seen Rebecca and Si Tingxue was at the Harvest Day banquet. Given Rebecca's naturally sociable nature, the two had hit it off fairly well back then.

It suddenly occurred to Lu Yuan that Amy had mentioned Gwen coming to the Red Maple Empire on business — could that business have been arranging outside reinforcements?

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. After all, the competition had already been under discussion by then, and the Red Maple Empire was short on top-tier talent, so reaching out for help made perfect sense.

While the others murmured among themselves, Lu Yuan scanned the room.

Some faces he recognized from the Harvest Day banquet. Others were new.

Among them were powerhouses from the Red Maple Empire's military, hidden prodigies from major noble families, and the Lion Empire reinforcements.

One young man — handsome, with tousled dark gray hair — gave Lu Yuan a slight nod. A hint of curiosity and battle-hunger glinted in his eyes.

"I'm Stevenson. Early Battle Venerable. I've heard you're exceptional — when you break through to Battle Venerable, want to spar? Don't worry, it'll be in the Land of Origin's arena. No bad blood."

Lu Yuan blinked, then grinned. "If you still want that spar by then, I'm all for it."

*Though I'd worry he might not be in the mood after this competition wraps up.*

Still, since the man was clearly after a genuine fight with no ulterior motives, Lu Yuan was happy to make a friend. More allies, more options — and anyone who'd cultivated to Battle Venerable at this age was a real talent.

Standing beside Stevenson was a cold-faced blond man who glanced at Lu Yuan, let out a contemptuous snort, and said nothing.

Lu Yuan had seen him at the Harvest Day banquet, and even then his eyes had carried open hostility. Lu Yuan didn't bother acknowledging him either.

While Lu Yuan's group was talking, Elder Yu was briefing Meng Jiang at the front of the conference room about Lu Yuan and Si Tingxue's decision to join the team battle.

Meng Jiang, Li Xinghai, Adams, and the others all stiffened slightly and shot a startled look toward Lu Yuan.

Meng Jiang frowned. "Elder Yu, are you certain? If Lu Yuan enters, the Gnolls will almost certainly target him specifically."

Originally, he had already planned to send other participants to the team battle — win if possible, accept defeat if not.

Li Xinghai's brow knit deeply. "That kid isn't just messing around, is he?"

Adams tilted his head toward Lu Yuan, then smiled faintly. "If Ah Yuan is that confident, perhaps there really is a chance to pull it off?"

Elder Yu smiled wryly. "Lu Yuan was absolutely insistent. Even Tingyu couldn't talk him out of it."

The group exchanged glances. Meng Jiang's expression worked through several thoughts before he spoke.

"Among everyone here aside from the three Battle Venerables, Lu Yuan is clearly our strongest. If he wants to go, we have no reason to stop him."

Si Tingyu said earnestly, "They are Gene Warriors. If they have chosen to compete, we shouldn't stand in their way."

Li Xinghai snorted softly and let it go.

Adams laughed. "If things go sideways, they can always concede the team battle on the spot. With Ah Yuan's quick thinking, he can hold out long enough for that."

"Then it's settled — Lu Yuan and the Ninth Princess will participate in the team battle."

Meng Jiang smiled, then raised his voice to address the room.

"Everyone, quiet down. Now that we're all present, let me go over the general outline. The competition will take place in an ice valley between the human and Gnoll encampments. Each side will field twenty prodigies. Some of you may not know each other, so allow me to make introductions."

He went through the names:

"Wang Lingling, Algaibi Family. High-tier Battle Venerable."

"Stevenson, Eastern Guard Corps. Early Battle Venerable."

"Bakula, Dean Family. Early Battle Venerable."

"Si Tingxue, Talent Camp. Peak Battle General."

"..."

Meng Jiang introduced all twenty in turn. Seven came from the Talent Camp; three from the Lion Empire — Wang Lingling at high-tier Battle Venerable, and two peak Battle Generals who had inscribed King Grade genes. The rest came from the Red Maple Empire's various Guard Corps and noble families.

Every participant was advanced Battle General or higher, and all had inscribed at least a Lord Grade Transcendent Gene — each one a top-tier talent by any standard outside this room.

After the introductions, Meng Jiang continued.

"This competition will consist of a duel gauntlet and a team battle. The gauntlet is an elimination format — whoever still has someone standing at the end wins. For the team battle, each side sends five fighters. Our team will be Wang Lingling, Stevenson, Bakula, Lu Yuan, and Si Tingxue."

Wang Lingling turned toward Lu Yuan in mild surprise, still smiling. "Ah Yuan — I hear the Gnolls put the team battle together especially for you. Walking right into their trap?"

The others also looked over, their expressions curious or uneasy. Word about the team battle's nature had quietly circulated, and they understood the implications — which made hearing that Lu Yuan had volunteered all the more startling.

Lu Yuan smiled. "You're so strong, Lingling. I'm counting on you to protect me."

Those nearby exchanged bewildered looks.

*This guy is asking for protection that shamelessly? Then what are you even showing up for?*

Bakula's face darkened with cold irritation. "What a kept man."

Wang Lingling just beamed. "Since you put it that way, Ah Yuan, I'll keep you safe."

Bakula: "..."

His expression curdled.

Meng Jiang ignored the muttering below and pressed on.

"Now, let me go over the Gnoll prodigies. Their strongest is Bloodrage Fang, an Assault Type warrior..."

For the next stretch of time, Meng Jiang walked Lu Yuan and the others through available intelligence on the Gnoll prodigies — known Combat Techniques, estimated power levels, possible Gene Armament effects. He made clear it was incomplete, but even partial information gave them a foothold.

He went over the competition rules and other details, then dismissed everyone to rest.

The prodigies were assigned rooms in the guest quarters — plain single rooms, each with a private bathroom.

Lu Yuan returned to his, lay down, and waited for the morning.

Early the next day, the group assembled and boarded a combat aircraft, departing the defensive base and flying toward the competition site.

The base's defensive shield kept out the wind and snow — cold inside, but livable. Once they cleared its perimeter, Ice Vein Star's true environment revealed itself in full.

The aircraft punched through waves of violent blizzards, strange cold fronts, and hailstorms in rapid succession. The craft held steady through all of it; inside the cabin, not a single tremor could be felt.

Before long, the aircraft descended into an ice valley.

The valley was enormous — roughly four or five hundred meters across, relatively open, with a fierce wind as its only particular cruelty.

Stepping off the aircraft, Lu Yuan and the others immediately spotted a group of Gnolls standing not far away.

At the front was a powerfully built Gnoll in blood-red battle armor. Behind him stood several Gnolls radiating formidable auras, alongside a pack of younger Gnoll prodigies.

Lu Yuan swept his gaze across them and quickly picked out familiar faces — the red-furred Feiba, the black-cloaked Heiming, Zhou Er, and a few others he recognized from the Rankings.

They spotted him at the same moment.

Enemies lock eyes, and old hatreds flare.

Feiba's gaze blazed with savage killing intent, locked onto Lu Yuan like a blade. Lu Yuan had killed him and cost him gods-knew-how-much cultivation time. The murderous rage seething in Feiba's chest was impossible to conceal.

Zhou Er and the others who recognized Lu Yuan reacted differently — their eyes sharpened, then flickered with a trace of something close to dread. The terrifying power Lu Yuan had displayed had never left their memory, quietly festering into a waking nightmare. Zhou Er in particular had been plagued by dreams of a grinning Lu Yuan lunging at him, jolting awake in a cold sweat night after night.

Meng Jiang led the human group forward. Both sides halted roughly several dozen meters apart.

The lead Gnoll swept his gaze across the humans. It carried a razor's edge — Lu Yuan had the unsettling sensation of being physically cut.

"You're on time," the Gnoll said flatly. "Since you're here, no point wasting it. Let's begin."

Meng Jiang's expression was equally cold. These past months of fighting over the Ice Vein Crystals had been grinding — no full-scale war, but endless small clashes. Both sides were barely keeping each other in check. The hatred between them had long since set like stone.

"Then we begin."

A human Battle Sovereign raised one hand. In a single gesture, a glacier hundreds of meters wide — massive as a mountain — was wrenched clean from the valley wall.

Beams of light swept across it, carving it into the shape of an arena platform. The Battle Sovereign swung his arm, and the enormous slab of ice crashed into position between both sides with a thunderous boom.

He touched the surface with one finger. Blue light traced across it in veins, and the entire platform took on a gleam like tempered metal.

The sight left Lu Yuan quietly stunned.

*So this is what a Battle Sovereign can do.* Reshaping the world with a gesture, commanding power on a vast and crushing scale.

He found himself looking forward to the day he stood at that level.

"Hmph. Gauntlet — Zhou Er, you're first."

The lead Gnoll's voice was flat.

Zhou Er had been staring at Lu Yuan with poorly concealed unease. At the command, his body locked up for a moment. He set his jaw, lunged forward in a blur, and appeared on the arena.

His gaze swept the human prodigies. When it hit Lu Yuan, he quickly looked elsewhere and called out coldly:

"Human whelps — come up and die!"

"You bastard. I'll fight you!"

A slim, black-haired youth stepped onto the arena, cold killing intent in his eyes.

Meng Jiang had introduced him earlier: Angus, advanced Battle General, Lord Grade gene inscription — one of the weaker participants in the group of twenty.

Then again, Zhou Er wasn't formidable either — also running Lord Grade.

Neither side sent a heavy hitter first. In a gauntlet format, there was no Spirit Power recovery and no rest. Even the strongest fighters would eventually run dry.

The fight began.

Zhou Er was an Assault Type Battle General. Angus was Elemental Type — ice, the same as Si Tingxue.

Angus might have been toward the bottom of the prodigy spectrum in this group, but the environment worked powerfully in his favor, amplifying his ice output by a significant margin.

From the first exchange, both men came out intent on killing.

Angus swept his Staff and a chain of frost snapped around Zhou Er's ankles, locking him in place. With the same blank expression, he conjured a cluster of jet-black ice arrows.

A volley of dark shafts rained down without mercy.

Zhou Er roared. Power surged through him; a haze of crimson radiance coursed over his body, shattering the frost chains. His war blade swung in continuous arcs, smashing through the arrows as he muscled forward.

Angus swept his Staff again. Billowing ice fog rolled along the cold current toward Zhou Er.

Frost crystals crept across Zhou Er's skin and his movements stiffened.

Then a pulse of white light erupted around him, forming a barrier. The crystals melted. He burst forward, closing the gap in an instant.

Angus's eyes snapped tight. He kicked off the ground — a ring of ice spears erupted from the arena floor, driving toward Zhou Er from every angle.

Zhou Er scrambled sideways, but one spear punched through his thigh. The blood that welled up froze solid before it could drip.

With a thigh full of ice, Zhou Er bellowed in fury and hacked the spear apart. The ring on his finger pulsed with a burst of blood-red light. Angus went pale, his body lurching.

Zhou Er exploded forward.

Nearly on top of Angus now, his blade came straight down — a savage grin on his face.

"Die!"

At that instant, white light blazed in Angus's eyes. A torrent of Spirit Power erupted and crashed full-force into Zhou Er.

Zhou Er had no time to react. He was sent flying. Angus's killing intent sharpened; dark ice arrows condensed rapidly and continued firing at Zhou Er mid-air.

Zhou Er twisted desperately to dodge. Most he managed — but three caught him cleanly, punching through his chest.

Then the Gnoll in blood-red armor spoke.

"This round — we concede."

With a flick of his hand, a dome of white light sealed around Zhou Er. The remaining arrows shattered against it.

Meng Jiang allowed himself a thin smile.

"We accept your concession, Dushan."

Dushan's face was stone. He raised a hand, and Zhou Er's battered body floated down from the platform to be carried off for treatment.

"Yuehuang," Dushan said. "You're up."

A Gnoll in black leather armor — silver-furred — stepped forward, a cold glint of killing intent in his eyes. He gave one nod, and his body vanished.

An instant later, he stood on the platform.

That gave Lu Yuan's group pause.

Nothing in Meng Jiang's briefing had matched this Gnoll.

A hidden ace.

Not surprising. The humans had their own cards the Gnolls knew nothing about — prodigies concealed by major families whose identities were barely known even within the Red Maple Empire. The Gnolls were playing the same game.

Angus frowned. He was still slightly pale from the mental blow Zhou Er had landed earlier.

Watching this new opponent, his expression grew serious.

He gripped his Staff in both hands and swept it wide. A swirling barrier of fractured ice crystals formed around him, orbiting slowly.

"Begin."

The word had barely left his lips before Yuehuang disappeared.

Angus's eyes went sharp. He drove his Staff into the ground — a dense forest of ice spears erupted from every direction around him.

In the same breath, a silver blur threaded clean through the spears without so much as a scratch, appearing directly behind Angus.

"What—?!"

Angus spun. Tendrils of ice fog shot toward the silver streak. Runes blazed to life along his robe at the same time — his speed surged, and he threw himself backward.

The silver blur moved faster still. It wove through the fog, closing in.

Angus burned the Combat Technique on his Gene Armament for every scrap of speed it could give, but Yuehuang was still marginally quicker, the distance shrinking with each exchange.

Angus's face turned cold and focused. He fired dark ice arrows as he retreated, trying to create space.

The Gnoll's movements were impossibly fluid. The arrows did almost nothing.

Lu Yuan's group all furrowed their brows.

Si Tingxue said quietly: "That Gnoll inscribed a King Grade gene. A Battle General with Lord Grade genes doesn't move like that. There's a real gap here."

Lu Yuan nodded. "Yeah."

Weili grimaced. "He's only shown two Combat Techniques so far. Hasn't touched his real ace yet. We've got basically nothing on him."

Lu Yuan smiled faintly. "Angus already took one of theirs. He's done his part."

As they spoke, Yuehuang caught Angus.

Arcs of pitch-black sword light slashed toward him.

**Clang — clang — clang!**

Ice shields cracked apart. The dark blades swept in — then, just as they reached Angus, dissolved into wisps of black smoke.

Meng Jiang spoke. "This round — we concede."

Angus's face was pale and unhappy. He gave Yuehuang one last look, then stepped down from the platform.

"Commander, I'm sorry — I..."

Angus was the Garrison Troops' representative prodigy from the Ice Vein Star district. He'd managed one win before going out, and the defeat sat hard on him.

"It's fine. You performed well."

Meng Jiang clapped him on the shoulder.

Then he glanced at Weili. "Weili — you're up."

Weili blinked, gave a firm nod. "Got it!"

Nearby, Weili's father — the Battle Sovereign with close-cropped dark red hair — called over: "Weili — don't you dare lose on me!"

Weili's mouth twitched. He didn't answer.

*Yuehuang is no joke. I'm honestly not that confident.*

Weili was a Guardian Type, fitted out in heavy plate and carrying a tower shield and longsword. He studied the silver-furred Gnoll's expressionless face and steadied himself.

A crimson glow kindled along his body.

"Come on then, you bastard!"

He roared and began advancing — deliberately, without hurrying.

Weili made no attempt to sprint in. He knew that as a Guardian Type, trying to match Yuehuang's speed was a losing proposition. Better to plant his feet and grind.

Yuehuang's face hardened. He vanished and attacked — appearing behind Weili, short sword thrusting for his neck.

Weili turned and raised his shield as if he'd seen it coming. The blade rang off.

*Ding!*

One strike, no result. Yuehuang disappeared and struck from another angle.

Again, the shield rose in time.

The arena became a storm of silver motion. Yuehuang circled Weili in a relentless cycle of attacks while Weili stood like a fixed point — unmoving, methodical, blocking from every angle with flawless shield technique. The constant ring of steel on iron filled the air like a strange, steady melody.

Both fighters pushed deeper into their reserves. Cards were played on both sides. The minutes passed.

After barely ten minutes of that brutal exchange, both had burned through more than half their Spirit Power and stamina.

Yuehuang's speed began to drop. Weili, too, was pale and breathing hard, covered in shallow cuts — none serious.

*Ding!*

Another deflection. Something savage crept into Yuehuang's eyes, and a faint trace of blood-red light seeped into his aura.

Blood-fire blazed along his body. Speed spiked. He reappeared behind Weili.

Weili sensed the strike coming from behind — but he was too depleted to spin fast enough.

His expression hardened. He wrenched sideways, just barely clearing the sword aimed at the back of his neck. The blade carved a deep gash along his throat instead.

Blood sprayed.

Weili bellowed and brought his tower shield around in a blazing white arc, faster than it had any right to be.

**BOOM!!**

The shield connected flush. The crack of breaking bone was audible. Yuehuang was launched clean off the platform and hit the ground hard.

Weili stood above, throat drenched in red.

Weili's father's expression shifted in an instant. He was on the platform and pulling Weili down before the echo had faded.

A healing-type Battle Sovereign who had been waiting on standby moved immediately, sealing the wound at Weili's throat.

Color returned to Weili's face. He let out a long, unsteady breath.

"I actually thought I was done for."

His father watched him recover, quietly exhaled — then his expression went ice-cold. He rapped him on the forehead with a fist.

"Fool! The Kane Family's shield technique — you might as well have fed it to the dogs. You had at least three clean openings to counterattack and squandered every single one. Extra drills when we get home."

Weili clutched his forehead, and what little relief had shown on his face crumpled into misery.

Standing nearby, Lu Yuan offered him a silent moment of sympathy.

*Rough.*

The competition continued. Gnoll and human prodigies stepped up one after another. Both sides wanted blood — but with Battle Emperor-level figures watching, skirmishes between mere Battle Generals were like children scuffling. Stopping them was trivial.

People were badly hurt. Nobody died.

Lu Yuan and the others had anticipated exactly this.

On the whole, the Gnolls were clearly the stronger side.

The math was simple: one was drawing from the best of an entire planet; the other had assembled prodigies from two empires — one of which clearly hadn't sent its full effort.

The gap showed.

By the time five human participants remained, the Gnolls still had ten.

The five still standing were Wang Lingling, Stevenson, Bakula, Lu Yuan, and Si Tingxue.

Lu Yuan looked at the ten across from him.

He mostly identified them by fur color — their faces honestly blurred together from this distance.

He could pick out the red-furred Feiba, the black-furred Heiming, a black-and-white-furred one as Bopo, a blood-red-furred one as Bloodrage Fang, a white-furred one as Wenlin at early Battle Venerable, and a blue-white-furred one as Shuiji, also early Battle Venerable.

The remaining four — Lu Yuan mentally sorted through the kill-list photos from Meng Jiang's briefing. After careful comparison, he matched one: a peak Battle General named Stone. The other three drew a complete blank.

His memory was sharp enough to register fine photographic details, and he had gone through every image with care. These three were genuinely unaccounted for.

More hidden aces on the Gnoll side.

Lu Yuan filed the observation away. Meng Jiang and the others had noticed as well — he caught the subtle shift in their gazes as they looked at the same three figures.

A boom rang out from the arena.

Flames bloomed across the ice platform. A human prodigy, body scorched and smoking, was blasted off.

On the arena, a brown-furred Gnoll stood panting, nearly drained.

The Gnoll was a fire-type Elemental fighter — a clear disadvantage in this environment. Even so, he had held his own. Rebecca herself used fire techniques and had been born Innate Chief Grade; she'd pressed her advantage in Combat Technique skill to take down one opponent before running out of steam. This Gnoll had managed roughly the same.

Meng Jiang watched the human prodigy being treated, a faint furrow in his brow — but his expression stayed neutral. The others were equally composed.

Yes, they were down two to one in numbers. But they knew what Lu Yuan could do. Against Battle General-tier Gnolls, they had no doubts. He could take on as many as came.

And Si Tingxue was Innate Lord Grade, devastatingly powerful, with the environment squarely in her favor.

Si Tingxue glanced at Meng Jiang. He gave her a small nod. "Ninth Princess — if you would."

Si Tingxue nodded, pushed off the ground, and stepped onto the arena.

The exhausted brown-furred Gnoll looked her over and sneered. He was just starting to speak when ice spears materialized in front of her.

*Shick — shick — shick!*

A dense barrage of spears blurred forward, trailing bone-deep cold, all converging on the Gnoll warrior.

The sheer weight of it drained the color from his face.

He had no time to raise a defense before they were already at his throat.

Across from the platform, several of the Gnoll Battle Sovereigns and Battle Emperors let brief frowns cross their faces.

The spears halted in midair, then dissolved.

Dushan studied Si Tingxue for a long moment.

"We concede."

The Gnoll warrior shot her a cold look. "If I weren't so depleted — if this environment weren't working against me — it wouldn't necessarily end this way."

He stepped down.

"Bopo," Dushan said quietly. "Your turn."

Bopo climbed onto the arena.

Something complicated crossed Lu Yuan's face.

*This guy got demolished by Si Tingxue last time, and now they're sending him back to her?*

Bopo's expression was rigid, the unhappiness carefully controlled. He'd made bold promises last time about teaching Si Tingxue a lesson — and now here he was, same environment, same opponent staring back at him with those cold, flat eyes. His jaw tightened.

He adjusted his goal: stop trying to win. Drain her Spirit Power as much as possible.

He'd fought her before and knew the gap between them wasn't total — wearing her down was at least achievable.

With that in mind, Bopo raised his voice. "Human! Let's finish what we started!"

Wind condensed along both swords.

Si Tingxue watched him without expression. Ice shards materialized and flew.

Bopo snorted. Wind surged; his blades swept wide, cutting through the barrage.

*Hsss — hsss — hsss!!*

The gale shattered most of the shards — but a fraction punched through anyway and drove toward Bopo. Worse, the ones that scattered sent brutal cold radiating outward in every direction.

"What?!"

The shout came out before he could stop it.

*Last time she wasn't doing this — how has she grown this much in so short a time?!*

He scrambled to dodge the ones that got through, already on the back foot.

And the cold kept building. Within moments, a bone-deep chill was sinking into him everywhere at once.

Si Tingxue's strength had risen by a full order of magnitude since their last meeting. A King Grade Staff had come into her possession, and the Heavenly Spirit Pills had been working. She had been growing fast.

In no time at all, the relentless waves of ice shards had Bopo with nowhere left to go. Stalling was no longer on the table. His body stiffened, the wind along his swords went quiet, and ice crystals crawled across every surface of him.

The next wave of shards halted just short of landing.

Dushan's voice came through flat and cold.

"We concede."

"Xiao Xue is incredible!"

Rebecca latched onto Lu Yuan's arm and shook it with enthusiasm. She was still spattered with dried blood from her own earlier fights — the wounds had been healed, but the evidence remained.

Si Tingxue looked down from the arena at the Gnolls below.

"Next," she said flatly.

The Gnolls exchanged glances, something cold and deliberate settling over their faces.

Heiming vanished from where he stood and appeared on the platform. A vicious smile cut across his face.

"What — you think beating some nobody like Bopo means anything? Aside from that Lu Yuan, none of your Battle Generals are worth a damn."