Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock…

Huge raindrops fell from the sky, striking against the hundred thousand verdant mountains.

The sky was dim, and the rain was incessant, days passing in the blink of an eye.

On the afternoon before the competition, Chronicle, accompanied by Mountain Ghost, arrived at the artificial lake.

Watching hundreds of fish swimming in the emerald green water beneath the ripples, he subconsciously wanted to call out to Seven Brothers.

“No, that’ll cost money.”

He sighed softly to himself and looked up at the overcast sky.

Raindrops fell straight towards his cheeks but were blocked by an invisible barrier less than half a centimeter away, splattering onto the stone pavement.

Pitter-patter, the sound of water droplets echoed.

During this process, his mental strength was also slowly improving.

“Too slow.”

Chronicle shook his head lightly, then patted Mountain Ghost, who was skimming stones by the water, and returned to his room.

After a quick tidy up, he rushed towards the competition venue with Ying Tai by his side, riding on the mythical beast.

Upon arrival, several people were already waiting there.

They all looked different from before.

For instance, Gao Sheng and Ren Wang no longer had their previous spirited appearance, their eyes bloodshot and filled with fatigue.

Yu Anran, on the other hand, seemed very relaxed, clearly, crafting a domain card was not a difficult task for her.

“What a pity… such a nice girl, who knows what she shouldn’t have seen, got a sty in her eye.”

Seeing the rich loli with twin ponytails smiling sweetly and raising her eyebrows at him, Chronicle felt something was off.

“Hm?”

Suddenly, he felt a tug on his wrist. Looking down, he saw Ying Tai pulling at his sleeve.

“What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

Ying Tai pursed her red lips and scrolled her phone to the chat interface with Teacher Cat.

“She sent you another red packet, huh…”

Chronicle had barely spoken when his phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

He took it out subconsciously and saw that Ying Tai had transferred twenty thousand yuan to him.

“Ah, you girl, didn’t I say that money was to be your little treasury?”

Chronicle patted the young girl’s head and accepted the money.

“I’ll keep this money for you for now, to buy accessories later.”

“I’ve been having some stomach discomfort lately, I’ll use this money to buy some soft food to nourish my stomach.”

Saying this, he picked up Ying Tai and summoned Dai Yu to stay by his side.

In a short while, when it was time, a young man in a black leather jacket rode his motorcycle straight to the venue.

The subwoofer welded to the back seat was wrapped in colorful lights, and the cheerful song played: “I am the suave brother, cards make me happy…”

The severely distorted DJ song was deafening, making people’s hearts pound.

The ghostly young man squeezed through the revolving door the moment it opened a gap, “swooshing” into the venue, leaving a long trail of muddy water marks on the clean floor tiles.

“I am the suave brother, I have forgotten loneliness~”

Humming the song, he took off his helmet, looked at the mud prints on the ground, and swallowed subconsciously.

But when he turned to look at Chronicle and the others, he still had an air of nonchalance, even his pompadour seemed to nod along:

“I am the referee for this match, call me Hu Sai.”

“Let’s get the ugly talk out of the way first, no sneaky tricks during the match, it’d be embarrassing to get caught.”

“Alright, that’s all I have to say, let’s check the list.”

Saying this, he pulled the list tied to the subwoofer, shaking off the rainwater.

After unfolding it, the handwriting on the parchment was still clear.

Chronicle stepped forward to take a look and found that he was matched against Yan Lou, so he subconsciously glanced at his opponent.

Yan Lou also looked at him at that moment and returned a bitter smile.

“What bad luck, to be matched against this ancestor?”

He couldn’t help but sigh, but then he thought of the benefits he had promised before, and figured that Chronicle, no matter how bad, would put on a show and leave him some dignity.

So, his mood eased a bit, and he nodded with a smile.

Seeing his reaction, Chronicle took it as him being ready for a full-on battle.

“Good, I admire such a tough guy.”

“We people from the Land of Peach must have such courage!”

Thinking this, Chronicle couldn’t help but give Yan Lou a knowing smile.

Yan Lou, seeing this, was so happy his eyes crinkled, just extending two fingers and giving them a flick, meaning: Chronicle Brother, you’re really something.

Chronicle grinned, feeling the same way.

And so, after a series of different frequency mental communications, Yan Lou walked into the field with his head held high and composed.

“Knowing he’s going to get beaten up later, yet he’s so relaxed, Yan the squad leader is worth befriending! A real man!”

Chronicle praised in his heart, looking forward to the upcoming manly showdown.

“Come on.”

Yan Lou threw his coat over the railing and loosened his shoulders.

Chronicle, on the other hand, shook his hands and sent Dai Yu into battle.

As the poet Cao Gong once said: She moves in quiet grace, like a lovely flower reflected in the water, her actions gentle as a willow in the breeze.

The young girl walked forward, seemingly frail and delicate, as if a gust of wind could blow her away.

“No way, Chronicle Brother is so generous to give me a free win?”

Yan Lou was surprised.

Then he remembered the phrase from the “Card Craftsman’s Code”: Do not judge a card spirit’s level by its appearance, and he became serious, scrutinizing carefully.

“Those thin arms and legs, obviously lacking strength… could it be… even the ‘Land of Peach’s Great Ghost’ made a mistake?”

“Land of Peach’s Great Ghost” was the nickname given to Chronicle by the top students of Land of Peach after unified training.

As the old saying goes: Humans fear ghosts, but ghosts fear Chronicle.

By progression, the words “Great Ghost” perfectly suited someone more terrifying than ghosts.

“Still, I can’t be careless!”

Yan Lou thought to himself, smelling the scent of grass and wood in the air, his eyes suddenly brightening: “A plant-type card spirit?”

Looking at the frail girl in front of him and thinking of the “monster” he had crafted, the thought “maybe I can win” planted itself like a seed in the young man’s heart, quickly taking root.

It even made him momentarily forget the terror of the “Land of Peach’s Great Ghost.”

“Come on!”

Facing Chronicle, he took a deep breath, his eyes sharpening, and threw out a card.

A flash of blue light, and an old lady with bone-carved hollow hairpins, a dark red robe, a hunched back, and a fierce face appeared on the field.

Then, under Yan Lou’s mental power, she gradually became younger, her back no longer stooped, and her face took on a look that combined male, female, old, and young—uncomfortable to behold.

“A fan chart, huh?”

Chronicle couldn’t help but comment.

The next moment, he saw the ghostly young man with a bright red slap mark on his face, holding a mop and walking in.

“The match begins,” he said, tilting his head, trying not to let Chronicle and Yan Lou see his current predicament.

Chronicle and Yan Lou exchanged glances, too busy to care about the unreliable referee, and commanded their cards to charge.

The subscription group has been set up, and all the big shots can come and play, I’ll be giving out red packets on Lantern Festival to show my appreciation.

To not affect everyone’s reading experience, this match will be updated tomorrow, and the following two matches will also end quickly.

However, the finals, in a strict sense, mark the beginning of a major storyline, which will likely be very long.

But don’t worry, I’ve carefully designed that part of the story, with a non-stop pace and continuous excitement.

It’s also from this storyline that the foreshadowing laid out before will continue to explode, marking the first major event of the book.