The long night in the vast desert, the cold wind howling like a demon.

On the open sandy ground, two groups of riders spread out their formations.

Led by a scrawny wandering soul in a straw raincoat, riding a donkey and wielding a pitchfork as a weapon, they launched an assault on the armored polar bear legion, headed by a penguin youth.

Scythes flew and pitchforks thrust, beaks clashed with bear claws, the battle fiercely intense.

Or rather, it was quite a spectacle.

Bleached and weathered bones of men and beasts were slightly buried in the sand, occasionally burned to dust by the pervasive yin energy.

Then, mixed with the flying sand, they were viciously hurled against people’s cheeks by the piercingly cold night wind.

Li Baitian, covering his right cheek, grimaced in pain.

Having been slapped by sand and bone dust, he felt as if his face was being sliced by knives.

“Brother Bo, are you sure this method really works?”

He glanced at the red marks on the back of his hand, made by the fine sand, then grabbed the scythe that Liu Bo was raising and lowering, and said with a pained expression:

“Can we really catch someone? It’s been almost ten minutes, and not even a ghost’s shadow has appeared. Haven’t we been transported to some particularly remote place?”

“No way,” Liu Bo confidently smiled and said: “That guy from the Dao Research Institute, who looks only a few years older than us, even if he can use an orange-grade domain card, it must be of low strength and small range.”

“Under such circumstances, there must be someone within a kilometer of us, and it’s highly likely they’ve already discovered us.”

“The reason they’re hiding and not attacking is that they want to secure two flags first, to ensure a baseline, and then take advantage of the last two minutes when we’re ‘exhausted’ to launch a surprise attack.”

“This shameless dog act is also an old tradition of Qing Mountain. Just relax and play along with me here, someone will ‘voluntarily’ bring us flags later.”

“Worst case scenario, we still have one flag.”

“From what I know of this kind of competition, at least twelve out of thirty-two participants won’t last until the end and will be eliminated.”

“Among those remaining, there will be a few who end up with nothing. All things considered, one flag should be enough!”

“Don’t worry, if we can’t lure anyone in, I’ll let you pass!”

Hearing this, Li Baitian chuckled and said: “Then let’s let you pass, Brother. With my level of skill, going any further would just be a waste of a spot… Eh, Brother, when did you put away our flag?”

“Huh?” Liu Bo was startled and turned to look where they had hidden the small flag, his pupils dilating instantly: “Didn’t I tell you to put it away just now?”

“No, Brother, you said to leave the flag there because it’s better for fishing, don’t you remember?”

Li Baitian, realizing something was wrong, swallowed and said with a trembling voice.

“I… I…”

It was like a bolt of lightning had struck his mind.

Liu Bo’s body shook, and he tumbled off the donkey, grabbing a handful of sand from the ground and throwing it into the air, only to have it blown back into his mouth by the wind.

“Damn it!!!” A piercing wail tore through the night sky, the trembling in his voice indicating he was about to cry: “Damn you, Old Six, I hate, I hate this!”

What truly pained him wasn’t the loss of the match, but the fact that after a long analysis, thinking they were guaranteed success, the flag was stolen.

“If you had just attacked and knocked us down before taking the flag, we could have accepted it!!! But stealing the flag, what does that mean?!”

Liu Bo roared in his heart.

Since when did such shameless players start appearing among the Card Craftsmen?

Watching two people “fighting to the death,” exposing weaknesses, yet still resisting the urge to steal, instead directly taking the flag…

This almost instinctual ability to mess with people’s minds was terrifying and too shameless.

“Li Baitian, let’s just take the standing tickets back to Cloud Summit later. The people of Qing Mountain are too bad, we can’t play with them… Let Gao Sheng and Ren Wang stay here to fight with them.”

“Got it, Brother…”

After speaking, the two sat down in the sand, looking at each other.

After the flag incident, their spirits were completely deflated, and they had no intention of finding two more flags in the remaining time.

“I’ll never come to Qing Mountain again.”

Liu Bo was saying this with a bitter face when suddenly a lazy voice cut through the sky and echoed across the desert:

“The competition is about to end, please pack your belongings and get ready to leave.”

About half a minute later, like a giant hand violently smudging a painting, the sandy sea quickly dissipated.

In the blink of an eye, everyone was back on the desolate and dilapidated ground.

But unlike their initial neat appearance, those who had changed into thick winter clothes to adapt to the cold desert night now looked somewhat bloated and disheveled.

Some had down jackets cut by arrows, some were covered in sand, and some had cotton coats torn open by curved blades…

Only a few people, including Chronicle and Gao Sheng, still maintained their neat and tidy appearance.

“Heh…”

Looking at the group before him, the referee named Wang Yan chuckled with interest and began to call out names:

“Liu Bo, Li Baitian, Xiao Ning, Dai Bai, Lin Changtian, Shi Yi, Li Shuiwang…”

“The sixteen students whose names I just called can go back and rest.”

“Thank you for your excellent performance in these matches, showing us the style of Qing Mountain’s younger generation.”

“Here, I wish you all a bright future and soaring achievements.”

The referee with dark circles under his eyes spoke nicely, but he yawned continuously, his head swaying, making people worry he might fall off the fitness equipment.

“Oh, right, don’t forget to collect your rewards before you leave.”

As if suddenly awakened, he stopped the sixteen disheveled people who were about to leave.

Under everyone’s expectant gaze, he announced the rewards for the top thirty-two of this competition:

“The reward is that all your food and lodging expenses, as well as travel costs during this period, will be covered by us, the organizers. Just pack your bags and leave without any extra payment.”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone couldn’t hold back and let out disdainful “tsk” sounds, turning around to leave.

The young referee then revealed a mischievous, triumphant smirk before turning to the sixteen who had successfully advanced and said, “Congratulations to everyone for passing this round and moving one step closer to the championship. Now, I will announce the ranking…”

“First place, Chronicle, thirty-nine flags…”

As his words fell, the remaining sixteen people’s eyes widened in shock.

Especially Gao Sheng, standing next to Chronicle, who showed an incredulous expression.

But this guy had a different temperament from his peers. In just two seconds, he quickly calmed his emotions and even pushed his glasses up in a concealing manner.

“Second place, Gao Sheng, seventeen flags.”

The pale-faced youth heard this, his eyes flickered slightly, and he still wore a smile, albeit a cold one.

“Third place, Yu Anran, fifteen flags.”

The girl with a bun in her hair, sucking on a lollipop, laughed foolishly while tilting her head and casting her gaze in Chronicle’s direction.

The rest of the people, although they didn’t gasp for air like the extras in the background, contributing to the alleviation of the greenhouse effect on Blue Star, still expressed their shock in various ways.

—The number of flags collected by the first place was more than the sum of the second and third places.

Although such competitions are pyramid-shaped, with the higher you go, the more you eat, such a large gap was unexpected to everyone.

“Neighbors hoard food, I hoard guns, neighbors are my granaries.”

Chronicle yawned.

With his current level of mental strength, being able to sustain the high-intensity battle of Yan Yun’s Eighteen Riders for fifteen minutes was already his limit.

Although he had some surplus mental strength at the beginning when he played the role of Old Six for a few minutes, that was just enough to prevent him from collapsing on the ground, but he was still very tired inside.

Therefore, when everyone looked at him, even though he seemed a bit serious, the lazy air between his brows never went away, as if he was accustomed to such results and didn’t care at all.

Seeing this, not only did no one feel any dissatisfaction, but they also felt that he had a great temperament and was worth befriending.

The world of Card Craftsmen is like this.

Although each one is proud and arrogant, as long as they feel they can never catch up to you, they will hold you in high esteem.

Whatever you say becomes the golden rule, the ultimate truth.

Even if you ask “What’s for dinner tonight?” someone will seriously consider if there’s any deeper meaning in it.

Even if you fart, everyone will inhale deeply, believing it helps to broaden their minds and assist in cultivating mental strength.

Although the example is a bit disgusting, that’s basically the idea.

Anyway, Chronicle didn’t dare to move rashly now.

People from Qing Mountain are a bit crazy.

He just stretched a bit, and these folks looked at him as if they had seen some cultivation secret, their eyes glued to him.

If it weren’t for the referee with dark circles watching, they would probably be measuring the angle of his bending with a ruler.

“Fourth place, Ren Wang, fourteen flags.”

The long-haired youth, whose name had a similar ring to “Li Baitian,” frowned slightly, his arms crossed as he leaned against the fitness equipment.

Among the people present, he was the only one not wearing winter clothes.

He wore only a black tank top, with his jacket tied around his waist like a skirt, and a pair of knee-length shorts below.

This outfit made one wonder if he would transform into a Kamen Rider in the next second.

“Fifth place, Yan Lou, twelve flags.”

Yan Lou, no longer hiding his strength, pushed his glasses up and looked towards Gao Sheng not far away.

And this top dog of the middle school was staring motionlessly at Chronicle’s cheek at the moment.

It was just like the saying: You watch the scenery on the bridge, and the person watching the scenery is watching you from the building above.

So don’t urinate anywhere when there’s no one around, as it’s easy to be seen by Old Six on the bridge or in the building above.

…

The ranking continued:

“Fourteenth place, Li Baitian, two flags.”

“Fifteenth place, Zhang Tao, one flag.”

“Sixteenth place, Ginger Tea, one flag.”

Just as the pre-match flag had predicted, Li Baitian and Ginger Tea successfully made it to the next round.

But their victory wasn’t due to some “quantum entanglement” fluke; they owed their thanks to Brother Zongzi.

If it weren’t for its few big bites, turning the bandits of the Bloody Black Wind Stronghold into corpses with astonishing defense and the ability to spew Zombie Poison, Li Baitian’s unexpected performance and results in the legion card aspect would have far exceeded her imagination.

Not to mention bringing Ginger Tea along to advance, she herself would have had to take the 404 bus back home to go to school.

“Strengthening through breathing, leveling up while lying down…”

“The weakest in the team, turning the tables with a cheat…”

“An unintentional act from long ago suddenly erupts with effect…”

“There may indeed be ‘children of destiny’ in this world, but they are definitely not the scions of noble families, fallen geniuses, or mythical card craftsmen, but an old Zongzi who eats well and sleeps well.”

After learning the truth, Chronicle couldn’t help but complain in his heart: “Buying coffins, feeding Glossy Ganoderma… Why do I feel like I’ve become Brother Zongzi’s golden finger? Weird.”

“Alright, students, that’s the ranking situation.”

“Those [Qing Mountain Reinforcement Tiger Pattern Flags] will be given to you as rewards.”

“When you find suitable materials later, you can use them to expand your forces.”

“A card spirit squad of hundreds is enough to get you through the entire high school period.”

“As for this competition, that’s all I have to say.”

“Now let me talk about the upcoming matches.”

“I believe everyone has heard about the [4 to 2 Semi-Finals] and the [Final Secret Realm Anchor Battle], and your schools and training teams have also made specific preparations, so I won’t say much here.”

“Let’s talk about the [16 to 8] and [8 to 4] matches.”

“These two matches are actually connected.”

“Before this series of matches begins, we have to do one thing.”

“This thing, I believe the students from Land of Peach are quite familiar with, scientifically called [Material Acquisition], or in your Land of Peach terms, ‘ghost catching.’”

“However, the variety in our Qing Mountain secret realm is not as singular as that of Land of Peach. There are plant spirits, mountain demons, zombie ghosts, fierce beasts, flying birds… everything.”

“What you need to do is to collect materials within the designated outer layer of our secret realm within the set time.”

“Attention!”

The referee with dark circles suddenly clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention:

“The materials you brought with you can be used normally as long as you register them with me.”

“However, you are not allowed to continue obtaining materials from outside through other means, violators will be directly eliminated!””Oh, right, this is also the only opportunity for you to gather materials in the upcoming races.”

“So, please make sure to give it your all and get everything you need during this stage, to avoid any rush later on.”

“Once the materials are collected, we’ll start making cards.”

“For the ‘Top 16 to Top 8’ round, you are required to create one summoning card and one mini-domain card. You will use these two cards as your hand to engage in the most classic 1V1 match battles, where the loser stops here, and the winner moves on.”

“However, take note, these two cards are not to be made carelessly!”

“In the ‘Top 8 to Top 4’ round, you will need to use these two cards as a foundation, combined with the materials you have, to create a ‘Field Card’.”

“Referee, didn’t you say before the match that we could just bring a set of field cards? Why are we now required to make them on the spot?” Ren Wang complained loudly.

“This is also to prevent some students from getting help from their elders, creating something that lacks real value,” Wang Yan replied bluntly.