There were many teams, most of them members of the Special Class.
The ordinary class teams were still outside signing up, and quite a few people were looking at the big screen.
It would display the teams matched against each other after the draw—in other words, the teams they would fight.
The Canglan Tournament also had individual matches, but hardly anyone signed up for them. It was extremely easy to be matched against one of the top-ranked participants, which would be no different from going out there to humiliate yourself.
Team battles were much more popular.
Li Chen held an illusory slip bearing his draw number, which was also his team number.
[Team eight, participants...]
He looked at the big screen and saw that number eight had been placed at the end. The teams had yet to be assigned opponents because many teams had not been entered yet.
"Chen-ge, what number are we?" Su Zhe asked curiously.
"Number eight."
Su Zhe looked at the team list already displayed on the big screen and was a little surprised. "Huh? We're that close to the front?"
They had arrived so late, yet they were still that close to the front. It really was a little absurd.
Jianping paused, then said, "Maybe it's because we're in the Special Class."
The Special Class naturally enjoyed more privileges than the ordinary classes.
After pondering for a while, Li Chen said, "Now that we have our number, the next announcement should appear on our Student Badges. Let's go. It's time to prepare for the Canglan Tournament."
After all, they had somehow ended up taking part in the tournament. Everyone else had prepared to some extent, while they were completely lost.
Shenzhou City
In a small room, several people in strange clothes seemed to be talking about something.
"Blood Charm, is Poison Ghost dead?" asked a man with a terrifying scar running across his entire cheek.
Blood Charm, wearing a pair of black leather gloves, toyed with a bone knife in his hand and seemed to have heard him.
He sneered. "That's right, that guy's dead. Maybe the Special Affairs Bureau has already packed up his body and cremated it by now."
"It's just a shame I never got to dissect his body."
A woman in a leather jacket and leather pants snorted and said indifferently, "You're disgusting. Wasn't Poison Ghost your companion?"
"Hahahaha, companion? Spider, ask yourself honestly: have you ever considered anyone here a companion?"
The woman was the one called Spider. Looking embarrassed, she said no more.
Suddenly, an authoritative voice rang out.
"Quiet. I don't want your souls burned to ashes by me at today's meeting."
A man wearing an illusory mask sat on the sofa, an illusory cigarette at the corner of his mouth. Terrifying screams came from it every now and then.
He was the one who had just spoken.
"Lord Ninth Seat." Blood Charm lowered his head slightly.
But the Ninth Seat did not seem to regard him at all. Instead, he took a drag of the Soul Smoke and blew out a smoke ring before slowly saying, "Pandora's Box. Why didn't you bring it to me?"
That single, casual remark put Blood Charm under tremendous pressure. He hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "Lord Ninth Seat, the Special Affairs Bureau took Pandora's Box from me. Poison Ghost was already dead by then, and I couldn't resist them on my own, much less—"
Before he could finish, the Ninth Seat's eyes turned cold, and he removed the cigarette from his mouth. "What I want is Pandora's Box, not your explanation."
Cold sweat poured down Blood Charm's face. He knew the Ninth Seat was now thinking of making a move against him.
The woman who had confronted Blood Charm earlier sneered and said, "Lord Ninth Seat, it's even possible he was the one who handed Pandora over to the Special Affairs Bureau."
"You!" Blood Charm gave the woman a cold look.
But the Ninth Seat said nothing. An image of a skull appeared in his palm and flew swiftly toward Blood Charm.
A trace of fear appeared in Blood Charm's eyes. He knew what it was and hurriedly said, "Lord Ninth Seat, nearly all of us died trying to deliver Pandora to the location you specified. We could never have betrayed you!"
What he said was true. Nearly all the God-Binding Cult servants hiding in Magic City had died in that battle a month ago, and Blood Charm was the only one who had managed to come before him alive.
That made the Ninth Seat ponder for a few seconds before he said, "I don't want you lying to me. But Pandora was lost on this mission, and you must pay a price."
"And that price is..." The skull hovering before Blood Charm opened its enormous maw and bit down on his head.
A dark flame seemed to be bitten off his head. It was Blood Charm's Soul Flame.
Holding Blood Charm's Soul Flame in his hand meant controlling Blood Charm's life.
The Ninth Seat nodded in satisfaction and continued, "We are about to release a second Pandora in Shenzhou City. When that happens, it will be the day we make our move."
Blood Charm's face was deathly pale. Having his Soul Flame taken was no pleasant experience, but at least his life had been spared.
The woman beside him seemed to be sneering.
Inside the Secret Realm
Li Chen and the others had gathered.
It was the same place as before, but now there were no threats left in the Secret Realm. They had thoroughly beaten the Tree Demons into submission.
"Li Chen, what's going on? Linlin and I didn't sign up for the Canglan Tournament!" Meng Xi said, sitting on a tree trunk.
Li Chen said seriously, "Do I look like the kind of person who'd take part in this boring tournament?"
"Instructor Yu?" Luo Lin seemed to have thought of something.
Li Chen nodded slightly.
Su Zhe spoke up timidly. "Then what tactics did we come here to work out today? Our abilities don't seem to go together at all, do they?"
Li Chen, Luo Lin, and Meng Xi were practically mages, while Jianping was a swordsman. Su Zhe seemed to be the only pure melee fighter.
Jianping raised his head and asked, "Do we need tactics?"
Indeed, in his eyes, tactics were of no use.
Li Chen remained silent. He didn't know what use tactics were either, and he didn't seem to be good at fighting in a group.
"Uh..." Meng Xi gently rubbed her forehead. Just what kind of team is this?
They had somehow ended up entering the tournament, only for it to turn out to be a team battle. She and Luo Lin were the only ones who had some coordination; the other three seemed to fight entirely on their own.
Of course, that didn't include Su Zhe. He would probably take the worst beating, since there was only one person on the front line.
Luo Lin frowned. "Why don't we all go home and see what happens when the tournament starts?"
They nodded in unison. They might as well forget about tactics; they couldn't work together.
Besides, there wasn't enough time. It would start in a few days.