On the evening before the match, the official organizers of the Shenzhou Cup issued an announcement.
[Former commentator Zhang Li will be absent due to illness. The Shenzhou Cup finals will be jointly commentated by gold-medal commentator Li Ming and the passionate new commentator and battle analyst, Huang Bozhong.]
Of course, such a minor matter didn’t attract much attention.
At most, people sighed a few times and casually expressed some doubts about the new commentator’s professionalism.
In comparison, the “Quarterly Financial Report” just released by the Nine Palaces Chamber of Commerce was clearly more eye-catching.
In this report, the Chamber’s revenue for the quarter not only hadn’t decreased in the slightest due to the half-month impact of the Epidemic Poison, but had instead reached an unprecedented high!
After investigation by various financial experts of the Human Clan, the real reason for this abnormally positive financial report was quickly discovered—just two days before the revenue settlement, an astronomical order in the tens of billions single-handedly saved the Nine Palaces Chamber of Commerce from a revenue crisis, forcefully turning what should have been a loss-making green figure into a massive profit.
People couldn’t help but suspect if this was some secret weapon left in the mortal world by the Immortal Realm, specifically deployed to provide large-scale emergency relief at such critical moments.
For a time, that extravagantly generous patron who saved the day with a massive investment was even hailed as the “Light of the Human Race.”
However, that very night, while the entire Nine Palaces Chamber of Commerce headquarters was busy handing out red envelopes to celebrate this windfall, a faint glimmer of light flickered gently outside the Supreme Treasure Vault.
The man cultivating in the fire-attribute Dragon Vein room opened his eyes, looking somewhat surprised at the location of the light, but unfortunately, he didn’t detect anything.
He shook his head, closed his eyes, dismissing it as an ordinary spiritual power flare, and didn’t pay it any mind, continuing his cultivation.
But… was it an illusion? Why did it seem like the Dragon Vein spiritual power was becoming thinner…
No, impossible. The spiritual power of the Dragon Vein is immense! Even a Honored One cultivating here would find it difficult to disturb its total volume.
It was probably just a common anomaly caused by changes in the earth veins.
Outside the Supreme Treasure Vault, a faint little paw print appeared on the rune-covered lock.
The paw print scratched angrily at the runes on the lock, but unfortunately, to no avail.
After a while, a little light bulb of wisdom suddenly appeared in the air!
However, seemingly afraid that the light bulb would expose its position, the little paw appeared on the bulb, frantically switching it off.
Silence returned outside the Supreme Treasure Vault, except that the Yin-attribute Dragon Vein power also seemed to have been bitten by a celestial dog, suddenly missing a large chunk.
The figure cultivating within the Yin-attribute spiritual vein also opened its eyes, sensing its surroundings in confusion.
‘An illusion? But I should still report this to Master…’
This seemingly calm night witnessed many events.
Jiang Ke’er had naturally just returned from outside the Nine Palaces Chamber of Commerce’s Supreme Treasure Vault.
Although she ultimately failed to open the vault’s door, she still gained something.
That door would be opened one day.
After all…
“This is the first time I’ve seen someone set a public teleportation point inside their own treasury,” Jiang Ke’er shrugged.
Qiao Xiaoxian possessed a Dragon Vein Teleportation technique, allowing her to teleport to any location where a Dragon Vein existed.
Therefore, ever since learning that the Nine Palaces Chamber of Commerce was situated atop a convergence of Dragon Veins, Jiang Ke’er had been eyeing the place.
It was a pity she couldn’t open the Supreme Treasure Vault’s door for the time being; her Unlocking Technique level wasn’t high enough… but she had already thought of another method, which she could execute immediately after the match.
Heh, as I said before, the word “buy” doesn’t exist in the dictionary of me, Thief Jiang Ke’er…
Originally, I thought I’d move the Nine Palaces Chamber of Commerce’s Supreme Treasure Vault before I died, so even if I died, I wouldn’t leave it for those guys!
Unfortunately, I underestimated that vault’s Victory Gate.
Now, I have one more reason I absolutely must survive.
I have to win! How can I let these treasures be buried in the hands of the Nine Palaces Chamber of Commerce!
But, sigh… the finals…
Worrying.
Although the sky was already growing light, with less than four hours remaining until the uncertain, life-or-death Shenzhou Cup finals, Jiang Ke’er still lay in bed and entered the System Space.
“Summon a Four Symbols Realm System Dummy.”
This time, she didn’t summon a Five Elements Realm System Dummy, but a Four Symbols Realm one.
She stared intently at the System Dummy’s movements.
She simply couldn’t understand why every single movement of the System Dummy could be executed with perfect control and release.
Even though the spiritual power reserve and operational capacity within this Four Symbols Realm dummy were almost identical to her own current state, when she moved at high speed, she had to deal with issues like being unable to retract her moves in time and excessive stamina consumption due to high air resistance.
Yet, this System Dummy didn’t seem hindered in the slightest, as if neither air resistance nor inertia could affect it at all.
As a result, it could always perfectly utilize its speed to launch the most streamlined and efficient attacks, while she, despite having comparable power, couldn’t deploy it perfectly… Naturally, she got utterly thrashed.
But Jiang Ke’er truly couldn’t discern any clues.
She had died too many times already, even transforming into her fox form and constantly using Appraisal Technique on the opponent to investigate, only to be shown “Cannot Appraise.”
The opponent’s skill had surpassed the scope of what the Appraisal Technique could appraise; she had to judge and comprehend it personally.
With her sensitivity to air currents, Jiang Ke’er vaguely guessed that all of this was related to airflow.
The airflow in the air always seemed to be in a state detrimental to her and beneficial to the opponent…
In other words, every one of the opponent’s sword strikes was with the wind, while hers were against it, naturally getting completely outclassed in speed and power.
Not only that, whenever the opponent wanted to retract their momentum, the tailwind would instantly become a headwind, helping them overcome inertia, as if… they could effortlessly control the direction of the surrounding airflow to make themselves as nimble as a fish in water.
But Jiang Ke’er was well aware that would require consuming a massive amount of spiritual power, yet the opponent didn’t show the slightest bit of spiritual power depletion.
Jiang Ke’er couldn’t comprehend this phenomenon and even suspected the System was giving the dummy cheats.
Observing the dummy made Jiang Ke’er’s head throb and left her utterly exhausted.
Unfortunately, even as the match was about to begin, she still hadn’t managed to see through the principle behind the dummy’s wind control.
With a sigh, Jiang Ke’er terminated her cultivation state and left the Refining Space.
When she woke up, she found Qiao Xiaoxian sitting cross-legged beside her, eyes closed in cultivation, as if quietly guarding something.
“Awake? Then let’s go. Everyone is waiting for us.”
There was half an hour left until the match began.
Jiang Ke’er pushed open the door to the rest room. Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn and Jieshui Amiao were both waiting here. The atmosphere in the corridor was somewhat heavy.
They seemed to have been discussing something, but the conversation stopped abruptly the moment Jiang Ke’er and Qiao Xiaoxian emerged.
“Something you need to hide from us?” Jiang Ke’er asked, puzzled.
“No,” Jie Shui hurriedly shook his head. “We were just discussing… making a few calls…”
Jiang Ke’er saw right through Jie Shui’s guilty conscience. This guy was clearly hiding something from her.