“Shh!”

A sound akin to a mouse gnawing on something, a “chichi” noise, suddenly echoed through the empty venue.

An old demon, with a bone hairpin on its head and dressed in a red robe, stood still. However, its neck stretched out like a rubber band, instantly extending hundreds of meters, propelling its grotesque head with bulging eyes and an extended tongue straight towards Daiyu.

“Boom!!!”

As a branch-like lightning tore through the sky, a deafening thunderclap reverberated through heaven and earth.

“Sizzle—”

The next moment, the lights in the venue began to flicker on and off, casting everyone’s faces in alternating light and shadow.

For a professional venue that undergoes regular maintenance, this was clearly highly unusual.

Hu Sai frowned, looking up at the huge skylight embedded in the ceiling, only to see the clouds above riddled with a “spiderweb” of cracks, resembling a shattered window.

Through this “shattered window,” he, who had just broken through to the platinum level of mental strength and whose vision was comparable to certain eagle-eyed card spirits, could vaguely see a giant figure with eyes shining blue, overlooking the world.

Perhaps due to the reflection of the lights, his complexion seemed somewhat pale.

Just as he was distracted, Chronicle’s delicate and gentle miss had already stepped forward gracefully.

She slowly extended a fair and delicate hand to the side, and the dull, dark green glowing shovel gathered in her hand in a manner akin to nanoscale reassembly.

Like the blades of a fan, it spun freely, creating a gusty wind.

Under Yan Lou’s astonished gaze, she backhandedly shoveled, striking the old demon’s face hard.

With a “bang,” the old demon’s head was smashed into the wall by the tremendous kinetic energy of the shovel, like a cannonball being fired.

The snake-like neck twisted and coiled during the process, eventually drooping limply to the ground.

“What’s going on?”

Yan Lou was somewhat baffled.

The powerful strike just now felt as if it had hit him in the heart through the air.

As the old saying goes: “A big body does not lack strength.”

Although this saying is often overturned in the world of card games, it often holds true.

Therefore, the image of a slender young girl backhanding a demon into the air was quite shocking to most people.

Yan Lou was no exception.

Fortunately, his composure was outstanding, and after a brief moment of shock, he quickly recovered.

Using his mental strength, he retracted the old demon’s neck and head.

Daiyu, with her natural talent for combat, would not miss this opportunity. She lightly tapped the ground with her toes, like a missile spiraling towards the old demon’s head.

The quality of the venue this time was quite good, even a purple five-star card spirit could withstand the battle here.

Therefore, unlike the usual floor, no cracks appeared.

The shock absorption was actually done very well.

But still, at the moment Daiyu exerted her strength, the ground shook slightly, causing the flickering chandeliers to sway along with it.

This was the effect of the skill “Blossoming Youth”: by consuming spiritual energy, it greatly enhanced physical attributes for a short period.

And Daiyu’s choice this time was her favorite “Strength.”

She cleverly used the material properties of the venue’s floor to transform this surging power into top-tier speed of the same level.

Then, with the sharpened edge of the shovel, she began to cut the neck of the red-robed old demon, which had not been fully retracted.

The sense of power seemed to overflow from the “screen,” and even through the transparent protective shield, it made Yan Lou subconsciously touch his cheek.

He felt as if a “shovel wind” had slashed a bloody gash across his face.

In reality, there was no such wound, but his card spirit was struck by the shovel, with the sharp edge already half-buried in the neck.

At this critical moment, he injected a large amount of mental strength and activated the old demon’s skill “Demon Body.”

This was also a strengthening skill that enhanced physical attributes.

However, its effect was not as strong as “Blossoming Youth,” and its focus was different.

It was somewhat similar to the card-making feedback that “Golden Silkworm” brought to Chronicle, mainly targeting bodily resilience and recovery.

Even though Daiyu had inflicted significant damage, as long as its head was not severed, it could heal.

Daiyu quickly noticed this and, seeing the flesh buds growing on the old demon’s neck, she held the shovel with one hand and pressed the old demon to the ground.

While it was recovering, she used the serrated edge of the shovel to saw back and forth, squeezing and pulling.

Her movements were so skilled, as if she had rehearsed them thousands of times, earning her the nickname “Grand View Garden’s Carpenter.”

“Crack, crack, crack…”

The sharp sound of bone sawing was incessant, making one’s teeth sour.

Even from a great distance and behind a thick protective shield, Yan Lou looked towards Chronicle with a puzzled expression in his eyes: Didn’t we agree that it was mine to take?

Seeing his life-questioning expression, Chronicle thought he was complaining about not going all out.

But the current scene was indeed not suitable for using the skills “Cold Moon” and “Xiaoxiang.”

“Then I’ll just bring out the domain card,” Chronicle thought to himself, raising his hand to summon “Grand View Garden.”

As he exerted his mental strength, a grand garden illusion with flowers, willows, bird songs, and creek sounds emerged out of thin air.

Willows by the embankment borrowed three shades of green, while flowers on the opposite bank shared a thread of fragrance.

Sensing the release of a domain card, the venue, which itself was transformed from a special domain card, quickly changed.

If someone were to pass by the venue at this moment, they would think everything was normal, and the battle card arena was as usual.

Even those waiting outside, like Gao Sheng, Ren Wang, and Ginger Tea, would not notice anything unusual.

But Chronicle and Yan Lou, who were in the battle zone, felt the world spin, their bodies forcibly shifted countless kilometers away by a powerful force from beneath their feet.

By the time they regained their senses, the room designed for battle had expanded many times over, becoming a small world unto itself.

Even with their extraordinary vision, they could not see each other clearly.

Fortunately, card masters could open a Shared Vision with their card spirits by consuming a large amount of mental strength.

The two could still command their card spirits to fight in a “VR” format.

The current scene, for Yan Lou, was like a horror movie.

He watched from a first-person perspective as a beautiful girl with a melancholic and ethereal air used a weapon that could hardly be considered an accessory to saw at his head.

Dark green blood spurted like a fountain before his eyes.

The visual impact was… indescribable.

For Chronicle, however, the scene was like an exorcism action movie.

After using the “Demon Body” skill, the old demon’s body underwent a transformation, its face revealing bark-like patterns.

There were even holes that looked like they had been pecked by some long-beaked bird, with disgusting, wriggling tree worms emerging from them.

Yet such a monstrous creature seemed utterly defenseless, being pinned to the ground with one hand in the first-person view.

The shovel scraped and sawed.

And all this took place in the rainy, misty gardens of Huaxia.

Under such stark contrast, everything that happened seemed quite sensational.

“Damn, I’ve been infected by the ghostly atmosphere of Qing Shan and Land of Peach; I’m turning into a bad guy,” Chronicle thought to himself, shaking his head and snapping his fingers to move the scene to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

Under the fine rain, the bamboo pointed straight to the sky like spears.

Guided by mental strength, they slowly tilted their heads and suddenly sprang forth.

Like sharp long spears, they pierced through the old demon’s demon body in an instant.

But Chronicle frowned at this moment, realizing that despite the long battle and Daiyu seemingly having the upper hand, she had not inflicted any fatal wounds on the red-robed old demon.

After all, those who had made it this far were no slouches.

Not to mention, Yan Lou had ranked fifth in the previous round of competition.

His card-making ability was excellent.

“If it weren’t for me, he would probably be the first of Land of Peach this year.”

“Just like Ziliang brother.”

“Truly terrifying.”

Chronicle thought to himself, his face turning serious. This earnestness also affected Daiyu, causing her to strike even more fiercely.

Seeing the old tree demon continuously resisting, she delivered two heavy cannon punches to that bark-like face, shaking the domain with each blow.

Yan Lou couldn’t help but smack his lips: Damn, it’s me who’s being pinned down and beaten, why are you so anxious?

While thinking this, his consciousness stayed on the images transmitted by the red-robed old demon, trying to find Daiyu’s flaws.

As he watched, he frowned.

He had already gone all out, maximizing the state of the red-robed old demon, but that delicate hand that seemed only fit for holding a pen remained immovable like a hundred thousand mountains.

And the reason for this was his own cleverness backfiring.

“Grand View Garden” was just a “farming” type of domain card, with no combat-oriented special skills.

The only thing that could be used for battle was the various items within the domain itself, as well as the rules that suppressed male card spirits and strengthened female card spirits.

And Yan Lou, a native of Land of Peach.

He could have created a female tree demon according to his habitual thinking, but he was led astray by the Land of Peach mindset and created a male tree demon in a red robe, with a bone hairpin, and heavy makeup.

Although the contrast was maxed out and incredibly ghostly, it was destined to be suppressed to death in Grand View Garden.

Gradually, he realized this and decisively pulled out a newly made domain card.

Accompanied by a blue-black light, it collided wildly with Grand View Garden amidst the rain.

In the sky above the venue, electric arcs crackled faintly.

The fully manifested domain flickered like the screen of an old black-and-white TV, bright one moment and dark the next, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

In the end, Chronicle’s skill prevailed, forcefully retaining Grand View Garden.

Yan Lou also took the opportunity to tear open a corner of the venue, summoning his domain card: “Baofu Old Locust Tree Funeral Temple.”

It was a small temple, not very large.

Its area might not even compare to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

Even including the shadowy locust forest with “human figures” moving about, it was only equivalent to a small corner of Grand View Garden.

But the quality of this domain card was not low, and it was very much in the traditional style of Land of Peach:

A moss-covered, mottled courtyard wall, a robust old locust tree hung with blood plaques, and a sinister and gloomy “Baofu Tree Immortal” stone sculpture.

Fat, filthy rats scurried on the broken stone slabs, knocking over jars filled with white ash.

A dozen or so dilapidated coffins swayed gently in the rain.

In Qing Shan Land of Peach, this was the path of righteousness.