As soon as the Will of Blue Star finished speaking, the powerhouses who chose to join the free-for-all vanished the same way the earlier contestants had when entering the Divine Domain: Forbidden Zone—
wrapped in a pillar of white light, then erased from where they stood.
At the same time, the moment the world learned Dragonia's internal free-for-all had begun, people everywhere erupted.
"Holy— it's starting! It's starting!"
"How many people do you think Dragonia will have in the free-for-all?"
"I'm betting we've got the most in the world…"
"Wait, what are the rules? Does anyone know?"
"It's a free-for-all. Isn't it obvious? Everyone piles in and beats the crap out of each other."
"Damn! Then with Dragonia's population, doesn't that make ours harder than everyone else's?"
"That's not all bad. If that's the case, the last ten standing will be even stronger, won't they?"
While the crowd argued and guessed, the Will of Blue Star obligingly announced the full rules.
[All contestants, pay attention! The following are the detailed rules of Dragonia's Free-for-All!]
[1. All contestants will fight in the same arena!]
[2. Any contestant who loses the ability to fight will be automatically teleported out of the arena. There will be no risk to life!]
[3. The free-for-all will continue until only the final ten remain in the arena!]
[4. Other than that, there are no restrictions. Contestants may use any method to fight!]
[5. Fight to the bitter end to break through the encirclement!!!]
The explanation left the world stunned all over again.
"So if you lose the ability to fight, you're auto-teleported out? That means no one dies?"
"Sounds like it."
"Then nobody has to hold back. They can go all out."
"This rule's perfect! Otherwise some people only have lethal techniques, but they wouldn't dare use them on their own countrymen. With this rule, they don't have to worry about that."
The analysis was spot-on.
There were plenty of monsters among Dragonia's powerhouses—people with terrifying skillsets and techniques made to kill. But facing fellow Dragonia contestants, they would always hesitate, always hold something back.
If that hesitation got them eliminated, it would feel unfair.
Now, with this rule in place, the people who'd spent their lives mastering lethal arts could finally fight without shackles.
A flash of white light swept over Dragonia's chosen contestants.
Their vision blurred. Their bodies felt weightless, as if gravity had been ripped away.
Then, when their senses snapped back into place, they realized they were no longer where they'd been.
"—!"
"Shhk!"
The first contestants to arrive stared at the silhouettes constantly blinking into existence around them, astonished.
A towering man—nearly two meters tall, built like a bear—slowly swept his gaze over the arena.
With a body like that, it was hard to imagine he was Dragonian. Most people from Dragonia weren't built this massively.
But his dark hair and unmistakable features made the truth impossible to deny.
"So this is the free-for-all arena…"
He watched as one figure after another appeared in bursts of white light, his curiosity growing.
The arena looked like it hovered in a starry void, a hundred meters above the world.
The ground itself was plain—hard, gray-white stone.
Overhead, just as described, an endless night sky glittered with stars.
But the edges of the arena…
There was no barrier. No wall. No railing. Nothing.
He hadn't tested the boundary, didn't know what it truly looked like up close, but he could guess.
Beyond the edge had to be a bottomless abyss.
And almost immediately, someone spawned near the rim and confirmed it for everyone: beyond the boundary was pure, immeasurable darkness.
"Ugh… if you fall off there, you're done…"
Even knowing death wasn't a concern in this free-for-all, the contestant still felt his nerves tighten.
Humans feared what they didn't understand—and the abyss, something that looked like it shouldn't exist, pulled fear straight out of the gut.
He didn't hesitate.
He bolted toward the center of the arena, desperate to put distance between himself and the edge.
Meanwhile, the livestream feed successfully connected to the Dragonia Free-for-All broadcast.
And the production team of I Watch the Divine Domain seamlessly redirected their coverage to Dragonia's arena.
Sienna Blake, holding a freshly delivered file, smiled into the camera.
"I'm sure what everyone cares about most right now is Dragonia's free-for-all, isn't it?"
She lifted one finger, teasing the audience.
"Sienna just got her hands on a confidential dossier. Guess what it is!"
The chat instantly exploded.
"Stop teasing us! Sienna, spit it out!"
"Don't leave us hanging!"
"Guy above—bonk."
"Come on! Tell us!"
Dr. Hart chuckled and leaned toward her.
"Alright, Sienna. Everyone's begging. Don't hide it—just say it."
Sienna finally stopped playing around.
She stuck out her tongue and spoke quickly.
"I just received some confidential info. We can't be one hundred percent sure the people on it are joining this free-for-all… but considering how active they were during the Nation Gate disaster, there's no way they're sitting this out."
Right as she spoke, the camera seemed to respond, locking onto a man in a pale blue-and-white robe with long, dark hair.
A breathtakingly beautiful man.
Beautiful enough that people could mistake him for a woman at first glance.
The livestream detonated.
"Holy— he's gorgeous!"
"Hey, beautiful!"
"Uh… that's a guy."
"Huh? A guy?"
"…I mean, a guy's not impossible either."
"Humanity is doomed."
"I know him! Before, in that one country, he wiped out every Divine Domain creature there by himself. That's a real monster."
"No, no— he erased two countries' Divine Domain creatures. Absolutely insane."
"Listen— people can do anything. At least try!"
Even Sienna blanked for a second.
This might have been the most beautiful man she'd ever seen.
But she quickly recovered, glanced down at her file, and realized it was his profile.
She didn't hesitate.
"This contestant is extremely mysterious. The info I could get is very limited. I only know his name is… um…"
She blinked, frowning.
"Infinity?"
She murmured under her breath, baffled.
"That's such a strange name… Is it an alias?"
The chat didn't care.
"Ahhh! Infinity—"
"AAAAAA—"
"Infinity, marry me!"
"That face is illegal!"
Infinity, of course, couldn't hear any of it.
Infinity stood with his hands behind his back, calm as still water, watching contestants appear around him without the slightest shift in expression.
Then the feed cut again.
This time, the camera settled on an elderly man.
He wore a long black robe with a gray-white inner layer—clearly Taoist attire.
His hair and beard were white as frost, but what stood out most were his eyebrows: long, heavy, almost unreal.
He looked like an immortal out of a painting.
Yet his body was thin, and his age was obvious.
The chat immediately started talking over each other.
"My god… he's that old and he's still joining this kind of fight?"
"Did he hit the wrong button?"
"Could be. People get old—misclicks happen."
"Why'd they switch the camera?! I want Infinity!"
"Yeah! Who wants to watch some old geezer?! He won't die anyway—just get eliminated already!"
Sienna, unlike the chat, nearly dropped her file.
Her eyes widened, shock flashing through them again and again.
"Everyone—! Everyone, everyone!"
Dr. Hart frowned, confused.
"What is it, Sienna?"
Sienna swallowed hard.
"This old man's background is huge! He's the current Celestial Master… Zhang Zhiwei of Longhu Mountain!"
"Zhang Zhiwei?" Dr. Hart repeated, brows knitting as he sank into thought.
Sienna rushed on, speaking faster.
"Celestial Master Zhang is known in the circles as 'the Absolute Peak'! His strength is unfathomable! People say he's the kind of summit you can't climb past. But he hasn't appeared in public for years. I never imagined he'd show up for this free-for-all. Now this is going to be worth watching!"
The chat froze—then went wild.
"Celestial Master?! For real? That's insane!"
"'Absolute Peak'… like number one in the world?"
"Probably! You really can't tell just looking at him."
"Still, he just looks like a normal old man."
"You don't get it. This is called returning to simplicity!"
Zhang Zhiwei, like Infinity, couldn't hear the world's chatter.
He stood there, eyes half-lidded, amused as he studied the arena.
"Heh… this is impressive."
After Sienna's introductions—and with people already hearing rumors from the Nation Gate disaster—more names began to stick in the public's mind.
For example: Master Fahai.
A mysterious employee from a Dragonia delivery company, Feng Baobao.
A genius Taoist from Wudang Mountain, Wang Ye.
And others.
At that moment, the Will of Blue Star finally spoke again, the voice reaching every contestant in the arena.
[All contestants, pay attention! The free-for-all is about to begin! Prepare for combat!]
Every contestant tensed.
They didn't have to fear death.
But anyone who chose to join a free-for-all wasn't here to be eliminated without a fight.
No one in this arena had come to be someone else's stepping stone.
Then, the Will of Blue Star gave the final command.
[Fight!]
The instant the word fell, the arena exploded into motion.
"Shhk!"
In the first heartbeat, someone sprang up and struck at the nearest opponent.
Some contestants reacted too slowly and were eliminated almost immediately.
And the ones who moved first… none of them were saints.
They went straight for vital points—no hesitation, no restraint.
Even so, some contestants struck back after the fact.
They lost the initiative, but their raw strength was overwhelming enough to reverse the ambush.
For example—
"Bam!"
"Thud!"
Wang Ye sank his stance and shoved the attacker who had lunged at him.
The attacker felt like he'd punched into a wad of cotton—his force dispersed, useless.
Before he could process it, Wang Ye sent him flying with a brutal, effortless push.
Not only that—
the airborne body slammed into other contestants behind him, knocking them down like bowling pins.
In a single move, Wang Ye turned the immediate area into chaos.
Wang Ye rubbed his wrist, expression full of disgust, lips pursed in complaint.
"What's wrong with you people? What's wrong with you? You don't say a word and you go straight for my face. Where's the honor, huh?"
The contestants nearby stared, shaken.
This guy…
He's strong.
That thought spread through the cluster. They exchanged looks, as if reaching the same conclusion, and nodded hard.
Then—
the contestants around Wang Ye actually joined forces and rushed him together.
Wang Ye rolled his eyes.
"Seriously? I'm getting targeted before we've even started. Lucky me."
He complained, but his hands didn't slow at all.
Facing the swarm, he showed no fear.
He lowered his stance again, hands crossing and opening as he settled into a posture as steady as a mountain.
The livestream chat erupted.
"Wait— is that Taiji?!"
"Wudang Taiji!"
"That's real Taiji?! That's sick!"
"One melon cut in half—you take one, I take one—"
Just as they said, Wang Ye was using orthodox Wudang Taiji.
And his talent lived up to the title.
He hadn't trained from childhood. He only went up Wudang in his teens and entered the sect then.
Even so, his gift was terrifying. In a matter of years, he surpassed his seniors and became the top of his generation.
More than that—through inheritance and comprehension, he became the sole successor of the legendary Fenghou Qimen.
Not even thirty, and already unbeaten across Wudang.
The contestants who'd rushed Wang Ye finally closed in, attacks flying from every angle.
Wang Ye didn't panic.
Against their messy, uncoordinated strikes, he either slipped away with agile footwork or used Taiji Cloud Hands to neutralize everything he couldn't dodge.
His movements flowed—smooth, continuous, effortless.
His attackers looked like amateurs flailing in comparison.
The difference was obvious at a glance.
The chat went wild again.
"Damn— he's brutal!"
"One versus ten— no, more than ten! And he's not even sweating!"
"This is Taiji?! Since when is Taiji like this?"
"Of course it is. You think Taiji is just old guys doing health exercises? Real Taiji was made to kill."
"Okay, 'kill' is a bit much…"
The contestants circling Wang Ye finally understood the gap between them.
The smarter ones quietly withdrew—some to fight elsewhere, some to hide and watch.
The stubborn ones stayed, clinging to the fight.
But no matter how they tried, they couldn't break through Wang Ye's Taiji.
The camera only stayed on him for a moment.
Before anyone could fully react, the feed cut again.
A hooded black-haired man appeared on screen.
Tall, lean, wearing a dark navy coat.
In his hands, a black-and-gold ancient blade flashed up and down.
Every swing brought blood.
From Sienna's earlier intro, everyone knew his name: Zhang Qilin.
But like Infinity, Zhang Qilin was shrouded in mystery. Beyond his name, Sienna couldn't provide anything solid.
That didn't stop the fangirls.
"Ahhh! Qilin is so handsome!"
"Again? Can you all calm down for five minutes?"
"Qilin's not even worse than Infinity. He's right there with him."
"Hi everyone, I'd like to introduce my husband."
"Guy above—bonk."
Unlike Wang Ye's "soft" dominance, Zhang Qilin's battlefield was drenched in violence.
If the audience hadn't known nobody could truly die in the free-for-all, they might have been terrified out of their minds.
But…
Even without death, pain was real.
And being eliminated still felt like dying—blackness, terror, and then the violent yank of teleportation.
Anyone who'd felt it once wouldn't forget it.
As the contestants fell screaming under Zhang Qilin's black-and-gold blade, the others watching him advance toward them felt their courage disintegrate.
Where was the will to fight?
So unlike Wang Ye's side of the arena—
Zhang Qilin's opponents fled at the first hint of danger, scattering like birds.
None of them had the nerve to face him head-on.
Zhang Qilin, for his part, showed no emotion at all.
The fallen meant nothing to him, as if what was happening had nothing to do with him.
And he didn't bother chasing the runners, either.
He simply kept walking forward at an unhurried pace.
The feed cut again.
This time, a man in an eye-catching purple robe filled the frame.
A black-purple long blade hung at his waist—dangerous at a glance.
He looked stylish.
But his behavior…
could only be described as shamelessly slippery.
From Sienna's intro, the audience knew his name: Wu Liuqi.
Even the name got roasted.
"Why do these contestants have weirder and weirder names?"
"Is that even his real name? Sounds like an alias or a code name."
"He's actually handsome—what a waste."
"And that outfit is so over-the-top. Is he some kind of cosplayer?"
The chat could joke.
The contestants around him didn't.
Seeing Wu Liuqi's attire and weapon, they assumed he was a dangerous powerhouse.
And like always, people wanted to gang up on the strongest first.
They attacked in a pack.
Wu Liuqi didn't respond like Wang Ye or Zhang Qilin.
The moment he saw the crowd charging him, he panicked.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?!"
"Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!"
The attackers ignored him, surrounding him completely.
And then—
the next scene left everyone speechless.
"Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!"
Just when the audience expected a hidden expert to explode with power—
Wu Liuqi… dodged.
Not with elegance.
With the most absurd, slippery, humiliating body contortions imaginable.
He twisted, ducked, folded, and slipped through the gaps while yelling the entire time.
"Waaaah! Don't! Don't! Don't do that!"
The chat went dead silent.
Then—
"So he really is a cosplayer?"
"Okay… I did not see that coming."
"Wait. Do you guys realize an 'ordinary person' can't stay completely unscathed under a siege like that?"
"Damn… when you put it like that…"
"Yeah, the moves are embarrassing, but that's not normal."
"How do I say this… he's stronger than me, and I hate it."
"@Kung Fu Chubby—get over here."
Back inside the Divine Domain: Forbidden Zone—
While the Dragonia free-for-all raged in the real world, the Divine Domain itself felt strangely quiet.
Maybe because of the massive aftermath of the Nation Gate disaster.
The ferocious beasts throughout the Domain seemed to have thinned out.
In any case, Adrian Vale and Raven Shaw hadn't run into anything particularly dangerous along the way.
As for where they were heading—
That went back a few hours.
After a brief rest, they'd discussed their next move.
"Discussed" wasn't really the word, though.
It was Raven Shaw deciding, unilaterally, while Adrian Vale stayed silent the whole time.
While the two were idly recovering, Raven Shaw suddenly seemed to remember something.
She looked at Adrian Vale.
"Hey, kid. Remember that treasure map we got from the centipede nest?"
Adrian Vale glanced at her.
"I remember. Why?"
Raven Shaw reached into her coat and pulled out the scroll they'd obtained earlier.
She spread it open, studying it carefully as she spoke.
"I can tell this isn't an ordinary item. And since we don't have anything urgent right now… how about we go check the place marked on it?"
Adrian Vale didn't answer.
Raven Shaw, as if noticing something on the map, continued.
"Hm? Looks like we have to go, no matter what. From the marking, it shouldn't be far from us."
She compared the map to the surroundings, scanning as if confirming direction.
The livestream chat immediately chimed in.
"Damn! I thought you'd forgotten the treasure map!"
"Treasure map? What treasure map? When did you get that?"
"No way someone forgot."
"It's the scroll the Thousand-Handed Centipede clan guarded for generations!"
"Oh! Right, I remember! Wasn't it an SSS+ item?"
"SSS+?! That's insane, that's the point."
"Alright, enough. Boss Raven Shaw, just go already! What are you waiting for?!"
As if responding to the chat, Raven Shaw finished confirming direction and started walking toward the location marked on the map.
She called over her shoulder as she went.
"Yeah. This should be it. Let's move, kid."
She didn't wait for Adrian Vale to reply.
With her eyes on the map, she headed forward.
Watching her walk away without looking back, Adrian Vale felt a surge of helpless disbelief.
But he didn't argue.
He simply followed her footsteps and went with her.
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