abcnovels
Chapter 169 - 169: 168: A very tough match!
Chapter 169 - 169: 168: A very tough match!
Chapter 169 - 169: 168: A very tough match!
Translator: 549690339
“Bai Xiaosheng, get me a copy of that video of Du Gang you mentioned before…”
“Sorry, this can’t be bought for your current offer, multiply it by ten!”
“What? You might as well rob me!”
“This kind of information has a different price at different times. If you want to buy it, pay up. If not, hang up quickly. There are many people waiting to buy
Bai Xiaosheng really wasn’t flustered. He had already made back his investment, so any extra was pure profit!
There weren’t too many people buying information about Du Gang, but there were enough who were genuinely curious about how fast Du Gang could go.
After all, out of the ten thousand people who advanced to the finals, only a few dozen had ever fought with Du Gang.
Most people were immensely curious about this man who had dominated the leaderboard for five hours straight!
They were curious about both his speed and his luck!
Online, there was no shortage of rumors that Du Gang was a child of fate.
Du Gang was oblivious to the situation online, and even if he knew, he wouldn’t pay much attention to it.
He had no time for that. Although he had advanced in the competition and had achieved the respectable 1599th place, he found it very uncomfortable.
In the later stages of the fight, he couldn’t defeat most of his enemies and could only rely on his speed to carry him through to the end of the competition. This was something he found deeply frustrating.
His competitive nature made him unable to tolerate this version of himself.
So, as soon as the competition ended, while other finalists were celebrating and even indulging in revelry, Du Gang plunged himself into the Killing Field.
This time, he entered the Killing Field with no intention of winning, but solely to release as many Critical Strike Mysteries as possible in the shortest time.
He wanted to master the Critical Strike Mystery as soon as possible.
Compared to advancing to the finals through luck or dragging out time, he preferred to rely on his real strength.
So, in the Asura Field of the Three Stars, a man appeared, madly attacking in every match, completely disregarding whether he could win or not. Among his opponents were those who had watched the preliminaries and recognized Du Gang, and they were all surprised.
They didn’t expect that Du Gang, who had luckily advanced to the finals, would skip the celebration and run to the Killing Field to train like crazy.
“Indeed, success doesn’t come by pure luck. The success of anyone doesn’t come easily!”
“As they say, the harder you work, the luckier you get. Is Du Gang accumulating his efforts here to increase his fortune?”
Before long, someone recounted the story of Du Gang’s frenzied fighting in the Killing Field.
“Du Gang is fighting crazily in the Killing Field?”
People were somewhat shocked. There were still three days of competition left, instead of resting, he chose to fight in the Killing Field. What was he thinking? Was he hoping to break through to the Third Domain in these three days?
“Isn’t this a last-ditch effort?”
“Hehe, is Du Gang thinking about advancing to the Third Domain and then getting into the ranking competition?”
“What is he dreaming about? There are ten thousand finalists, with more than a thousand of them being from the Fourth Domain. But only a hundred can advance and even those in the Fourth Domain might not make it, how would they spare a spot for him?”
Among those mocking Du Gang, Zhang Bo and his group from the same place were the most vicious.
“This man Du Gang, let me tell you, back in the Milky Way Galaxy, he was an oddball, always out of place, like an idiot…”
“Who does he think he is? None of us from the Milky Way Galaxy respect him…”
Zhang Bo was drunk, or rather, all the hundred-odd people from the Milky Way Galaxy in the virtual universe were drunk.
After missing the chance to become friends with Du Gang and learning that he had become a celebrity in White Dragon Mountain, all they could do was continually tarnish Du Gang’s reputation.
This way, it wouldn’t be too hard for them to accept.
“If we hadn’t accepted the bribe and deceived Du Gang in the first place, would we be sitting together and toasting with him now?” This was the thought that some people were having.
However, those thoughts didn’t last for long as they were temporarily blinded by the fame and fortune they had obtained.
At the present, Du Gang has become a sensation on White Dragon Mountain. He has become the focus of everyone, and people are eager to know more about him.
At this point, the people from the same place, his Milky Way Galaxy townsmen, their unique insights into Du Gang, aroused a lot of people’s curiosity.
Especially, people like Zhang Bo from the Virtual Universe Company, who were constantly speaking ill of Du Gang, were stirring up quite the excitement.
“If one person speaks ill of him, it might be due to prejudice; but if a group of people speak ill of him, I can only say that this person’s character is problematic!”
On the Internet, someone had already stepped forward and made this statement.
Others, after seeing this, found it to be very reasonable.
“It does seem to be so. Over a hundred people from Milky Way Galaxy are all badmouthing Du Gang. How unbearable must he have been normally?!”
Among them, the forty thousand or so who failed to advance to the finals were especially adding fuel to the fire, spending a lot of money hiring Internet trolls to smear Du Gang.
In fact, they were the most indignant. They would not have cared who advanced to the final, because they simply were not strong enough.
But they did mind that Du Gang advanced. They were not convinced because Du Gang was merely a Level Two Domain, and ascended by mere luck.
If you want to count the ones who hate and want to smear Du Gang the most, it would be them.
Zhang Bo and the others, at first, were simply feeling upset and began badmouthing Du Gang in order to feel better.
But when they started making these comments, a lot of eliminated Level Three Domains came after them.
They spent money to hire them to give Du Gang negative reviews, even establishing special interview programs, directly in front of the camera, spitting out dirt about Du Gang.
Honestly, they didn’t have much dirt to dish about Du Gang, the only thing could be considered was that Du Gang kept to himself and never mingled with other external disciples.
This really wasn’t strong material; under normal circumstances, this behavior – Lions do not mix with hyenas – would even be considered a virtue. So after people in White Dragon Mountain listened to this gossip for a while, they became a bit annoyed.
To earn more money, to receive more adoration from fans, and due to their psychological imbalance, Zhang Bo and others, started fabricating stories to smear Du Gang.
Stories like Du Gang stealing the woman of Milky Way Empire’s Governor Zhou Haotian. Secrets that supposedly Du Gang and Zhou Haotian’s wife were forced to hide.
They spouted all sorts of nonsense.
Truth be told though, the Internet bystanders of White Dragon Mountain loved these kinds of stories, regardless of their veracity.
Suddenly, Zhang Bo and the others became even bolder, and they began speaking about all sorts of things.
In this way, the Internet was in a frenzy for two whole days.
But on the third day, unexpectedly, the Virtual Universe Company shut down all the programs related to Du Gang.
And they arrested Zhang Bo and other external disciples from the Milky Way Galaxy, beginning the investigation into the truth of the events.
Eventually, after half an hour of investigation, the so-called truth was forced out from their mouths by powerful interrogation means.
“Everything that Zhang Bo and others said were lies, they were malicious smears!”
“Not only that, it was not Du Gang who betrayed them, but they who had betrayed Du Gang!”
Quite soon, the fact that someone had hired Zhang Bo and others to deceive Du Gang, was exposed.
Suddenly, all of the Internet was in an uproar. “Turns out, these bootlickers had fabricated everything?” “Turns out they were the ones who are rotten to the core?!”
“I can’t believe I wronged Du Gang!”
On the same day, the Virtual Universe Company officially announced the permanent dismissal of Zhang Bo and his associates.
“Creating false facts, maliciously slandering their fellow disciples, these people are not worthy of being disciples of the Virtual Universe Company!”
The Virtual Universe Company did not arrest Zhang Bo and his associates because of these charges, instead, they expelled them.
This issue may seem minor, but in reality, it is an incredibly serious one.
You must know that the area they live in is the Dragon Head Area of White Dragon Mountain, where every inch of land cost a fortune, a place where even breathing costs money.
How could a group of penniless, powerless, and background less people without a home, who have been permanently expelled by the Virtual Universe Company, survive?
No company would dare to hire them!
Taking them in would be tantamount to opposing the Virtual Universe Company, who would dare?!
Moreover, considering their real characters, wouldn’t taking them in mean inviting a pack of wolves into your home?!
It’s easy to imagine the fate of Zhang Bo and his gang.
For those overproud fellows who paid Zhang Bo and others to create a show, people are not too hard on them.
After all, they did this because they had lost in the contest.
But Zhang Bo and his associates are different, they are utterly wicked. People unanimously chose to express their disgust for these bad guys.
Suddenly, the public opinion on the internet began to turn around once again, transforming from unfavorable towards Du Gang to a favorable one.
As for these matters, Du Gang was completely unaware, as he was deeply immersed in his comprehension of the Critical Strike Mystery. Finally, a minute before the start of the contest, Du Gang awakened.
“The contest is about to start!”
At this moment, Du Gang’s eyes were bloodshot, his face was full of tiredness, he looked as if he was crazed, “Just a little more, just a little more…” “Du Gang, are you alright? The contest is about to start!!!”
After being called out again, Du Gang slowly began to recover… After a while, his eyes finally returned to a clear state.
“Phew!”
His cultivation had gone too far, he’d almost gotten bewitched. Luckily, it hadn’t lasted too long, or he would’ve definitely turned into a demon! Du Gang rubbed his face, asking, “Did anything happen over these three days?”
“Yes!”
Bala Bala said, “You don’t know, Zhang Bo and his gang have been slandering you non-stop these days… Fortunately, Minister Yan Xiong finally ordered an investigation on them, clearing up your name. You have no idea how hateful those guys are…”
“Elder Brother Yan Xiong?”
Du Gang nodded, “I see, I’ll remember this favor!”
Although he didn’t care too much about his reputation, being slandered was unpleasant. Since Yan Xiong took the initiative to uncover the truth for him, he should express his gratitude.
With this in mind, he said, “Connect me with Elder Brother Yan Xiong!”
“Alright!”
Soon, Yan Xiong’s hologram was transmitted over.
“Hahaha, Du Gang, you finally came out!” Seeing Du Gang for the first time, he laughed out loud.
Du Gang nodded and said, “I just came out and also learned about the situation on the internet. Thank you, Brother.”
“You’re welcome. After all, we are brothers. As your elder brother, how could I just stand by and watch you getting framed by villains!”
Yan Xiong was quite pleased with his actions. He had already learned from Fan An that Du Gang was a descendant of the Ancient God.
The term Ancient God, Fan An didn’t understand, even if you put it in front of the whole White Dragon Mountain Universe Nation, no one would know the significance.
But he did!
As someone with an eternal-level master who had been to Pangu Continent, he was very familiar with the term Ancient God…
It was a god-level bloodline, destined to become an eternal existence in the future.
Therefore, the favor of Du Gang was very valuable!
Even Yan Xiong himself couldn’t ensure that he would definitely attain eternal rank in the future, that’s why getting along with Du Gang was essential!
As for what he said about them being brothers, Du Gang understood that if it was just for this reason, then Yan Xiong was also brothers with Zhang Bo and his gang. Moreover, he had even more disciples.
Therefore, he understood that Yan Xiong saw his potential and deliberately wanted to befriend him. However, he held no objections.
Once he has risen to power in the future, he will naturally repay these favors!
“Alright, Du Gang, you should hurry into the Virtual Universe now. The finals are about to begin!”
Your observation that Du Gang attaches great importance to repaying favors made Yan Xiong feel relieved.
Aside from that, he had also promoted Fan An, arranging for him a job that didn’t require travelling, a position to stay in the Dragon Head Area.
You must know that for universe-level employees like Fan An, they usually have to travel abroad their whole lives.
For them, even though they could earn money once every five thousand years, their life span was genuinely decreasing.
Being able to stay in the Dragon Head Area of the White Dragon Mountain was simply a piece of outstanding news for him.
Similarly, he also understood who brought him all this.
After Yan Xiong inquired about Du Gang from him, he arranged all this, it was enough to explain the problem.
So, the identity of that Ancient God has a significant background!
If the competition hadn’t been about to start, Fan An would have already called Du Gang to express his gratitude.
In the waiting area.
Ten thousand contestants all gathered on a continent.
In contrast to his previous obscurity, this time, as soon as Du Gang appeared, he was immediately surrounded and observed by a crowd.
“This guy is Du Gang!”
At this moment, everyone’s body was void of strength, but even so, they still flocked around Du Gang in a tight circle.
At first, Du Gang was a bit uncomfortable with being surrounded and watched by so many people, but after a while, he got bored.
Therefore, he didn’t want to pay any attention to them, and directly closed his eyes, silently recalling his insights into the Critical Strike Mystery.
His Critical Strike Mystery, after one month of cultivation and these three days of demon-like practicing, had made significant progress and reached 95% of its completion. Only 5% more progress, and it would be perfectly complete.
Therefore, he still had a chance!
Du Gang thought, once he stepped into the third Domain, he might actually be able to advance to the Arena Ranking Con test.
As for now, with the strength of his second Domain, it would be very difficult to advance!
You must know, there were over 1500 contestants who had reached the Fourth Domain. Fighting for a spot among the top hundred with these opponents would be too difficult!
Whether he could succeed or not, he didn’t know. All he could do was to keep striving, pushing himself to the limit!
Half an hour passed in a flash.
All the competitors disappeared instantly. Ten thousand people were divided into a thousand groups. Each group had ten people, dueling in pairs.
At this moment, Du Gang had already appeared in a separate space containing five fighting arenas.
Right now, he was standing on one of the platforms with another man, and the remaining four platforms also had two opponents each.
[The cumulative points match system is about to begin. There are ten competitors in this group. In the first round, the player with the most points among the winners will advance directly. The player with the least points among the losers will be eliminated directly. The remaining competitors will commence the second round of battles until there are no people left in the group.]
After the explanation of the rules ended, a countdown began in the space.
This time, there was no chance for Du Gang to make the first move.
However, he wasn’t flustered. Even though his opponent was a Tri-Domain user, conveniently, he was a Wood Tri-Domain user.
Metal conquers Wood!
Moreover, on Killing Field, he had already killed countless Wood Tri-Domain users, so he wasn’t worried at all!
“Hahaha, Du Gang, I didn’t expect that you would encounter me!”
The opponent, dressed in a long robe with a slicked-back hairstyle, was very pleased when he realized that he was facing Du Gang. He couldn’t help but feel excited.
Slicked-Back Hair was unaware that Du Gang was capable of defeating Wood Tri-Domain users.
After all, all the Tri-Domain users who had lost to Du Gang had chosen to keep it a secret.
Naturally, it wasn’t something to be proud of for Tri-Domain users to lose to Duo-Domain users.
Even though Du Gang was a famous and legendary figure, they did not want to be a stepping stone to increase his legend.
Therefore, this Wood Tri-Domain user had no idea what he was up against!
After taking a glance around, Du Gang noticed that all the competitors in this group were Tri-Domain users. This meant that their points were lower than his. Therefore, as long as he won this match, he would move directly to the next round.
The countdown in the sky quickly came to an end.
[The competition begins!]
As soon as the system voice prompt appeared, all the competitors could move.
At the first moment that he was able to move, Du Gang used his Third Transformation to launch an attack at the opponent.
“Swish, swish!”
“Boom, boom!”
The first attack was unsuccessful as the opponent was prepared and managed to block the attack.
However, it was not over yet. Du Gang was not sneaking around anymore. Instead, his real strategy when facing Wood Tri-Domain users was to attack continuously!
“Swish, swish, swish!”
In no time, Du Gang’s movement filled the entire stage.
Every time he attacked, he used the Critical Strike Mystery to increase the chances of activating a critical strike as much as possible to kill his opponent instantly.
He was incredibly fast.
Slicked-Back Hair could only construct a wooden shield in his domain for protection.
Little did he know, this was precisely what Du Gang was aiming for.
As long as Du Gang attacked his opponent at a thunderous pace from all directions, the opponent would surely establish a defensive line out of caution to figure out his patterns.
However, this was exactly what Du Gang wanted. This would allow him to increase his attack frequency at the fastest pace, ultimately triggering a critical strike.
“Swish, swish, swish!”
The entire fighting platform, which was a thousand meters long and wide, was full of Du Gang’s figures. It was as if he had infinite clones moving around and attacking continuously.
“What the hell!”
All the contestants on the other four stages couldn’t help but get distracted by the situation on Du Gang’s stage.
They were seeing this situation for the first time. They had seen opponents who had cloning techniques, but having the entire stage filled with his figure merely by speed was terrifying!
“This guy’s speed is indeed awesome!”
The contestants on the four stages had a brief moment of awe, but quickly refocused on their opponents and began their battles.
But Du Gang’s opponent simply smiled lightly, “Du Gang, how impactful can your speed be? Can you really kill me?”
Du Gang did not respond. He continued to weave through his attacks. Every gun shot had the amplification of the Sharp Gold War Gold domain and carried the Critical Strike Mystery.
Though he seemed to be circling around his enemy launching attacks, he never actually ventured deep into the opponent’s domain but retreated immediately after each touch.
After all, a Tri-Domain user had one more domain than him and owned the authority of Laws. If he plunged too deep and let his opponent react and suppress him, it would be a point of no return for him.
Hence, when he attacked his enemy, he was merely launching ranged attacks frequently, never going too much into his domain.
“Forest Arrival!”
After waiting for a few seconds and confirming that Du Gang could not penetrate his defenses, Slicked-Back Hair eased up and started planning his counter-attack.
He knew he couldn’t single out Du Gang with his attacks, because Du Gang was too fast for his eyes to keep up with.
So, he could only restrict Du Gang with a broad-scale tactic before launching a counterstrike!
With a loud shout, huge trees suddenly began to grow at an insane speed from the ground of the stage.
These trees, appearing alive, continually waved their branches and reached out towards Du Gang.
Even though they moved slowly, they were essentially restricting Du Gang’s movement space.
“Heh, heh!”
Seeing this, Du Gang did not panic. Instead, he sneered.
“Lance and Spear Eighth Kill!”
While the Spear and Lance Nine Kills had only reached its limit at the perception stage, the techniques it possessed could still be used.
The Eighth Kill of the Spear and Lance was a type of area-of-effect attack. Though it wasn’t lethal, after combining with the Sharp Gold War Gold domain and the Critical Strike Mystery, its power was considerable.
Of course, the main reason Du Gang deployed this spear technique was to increase the number of attacks and accelerate the activation rate of the Critical Strike Mystery.
As the Eighth Kill of the Spear and Lance was deployed, a million spear shadows appeared on the field and stabbed towards the trees all over the place.
“Hahaha! ”
Slicked-Back Hair let out a resounding laugh, because Du Gang had revealed his whereabouts while deploying his attack. Seeing this, he quickly raised his domain and rushed towards Du Gang.
He believed that once Du Gang was trapped within his domain, he would be dead for sure!
Yet, unknown to Slicked-Back Hair was Du Gang, standing amidst the trees, his face beaming with a brilliant smile.
The Critical Strike Mystery had been activated, and the next strike was ready to be unleashed.
“Tree Binding Eternal Burial!”
With confidence, Slicked-Back Hair rushed towards Du Gang, deploying a powerful secret technique at the same time.
In an instant, all the trees, even the dead ones, came to life and twisted towards Du Gang’s location.
“Critical Strike Spear Technique!”
Du Gang’s attack was often this straightforward, a regular spear technique.
“Whizz, whizz, whizz!”
A lightning-fast spear shadow shot directly towards slick-back hair.
The corners of slick-back hair’s mouth curled upwards slightly, and with a cold snort, he said, “Insignificant skills!”
In a flash, he controlled his domain and sealed it off.
However, what he did not expect was that his usually impenetrable domain was ineffective this time!
No, it didn’t fail; the enemy’s attack was too powerful and forcibly tore apart his domain.
A pitiful scream rang out; suddenly, the slick-back hair, who had been standing on the stage, turned into a white light.
“Zzzap!”
When he opened his eyes again, he was already on the side of the stage. In the sky on this side, the word “loser” was written.
The scream from slick-back hair abruptly stopped. He was now standing embarrassingly under the stage.
After all, anyone would scream just before dying; however, the problem was that after his scream, he realized that he hadn’t left this space.
The eight people on the other four stages were still fighting, whereas Du Gang was on the other side of the stage where the word “winner” was written in the sky.
At this moment, he wanted to ask Du Gang how he did it, but he couldn’t make a sound or move.
Obviously, the organizing committee was worried that they would interfere with the people on stage after their matches, so they restricted their speech and movement.
However, Du Gang received a notification of points being credited. [Time taken 1 minute 11 seconds, defeated enemy, gained 82 points]
[Your remaining points are: 3770]
So, after the other four pairs finished their fights, winners and losers appeared on both sides of the stages based on their status.
“Thunk! Thunk!”
Just as everyone was wondering why they were still in this space, suddenly, music started playing.
Then, a row of luxurious seats materialized in the mid-air on the winners’ side. From left to right, there were five seats.
Du Gang’s figure vanished in an instant, and when he reappeared, he had already reached the first seat.
[Du Gang, as the person with the highest score in the winners’ group, is the first person to advance to the next round! ]
[Wang Liang, as the person with the lowest score in the losers’ group, is eliminated!]
Just as everyone was curious about who Wang Liang was, suddenly, a crack appeared beneath one of the five people in the losers’ group.
Wang Liang screamed as he fell into the crack.
From the gradually lowering volume of his voice, it was clear that the crack was deep…
The crowd was speechless. This organizing committee was taking it too far. It wasn’t enough for those in the losers’ group to just leave. They had to leave in such a dramatic fashion.
“Boom, boom, boom!”
Just as everyone was wondering how the next round of matches was going to start, one of the original five stages suddenly disappeared, leaving only four.
Meanwhile, the eight people who had been standing on either side of the stages were paired up and reappeared on the four stages, ready to challenge each other.
[The second round is about to begin!]
Then, a countdown appeared once again in the sky.
As for Du Gang, he sat quietly on the throne on the high platform like an observer, looking down at the four groups of people fighting below.
“So that’s how you advance!”
Du Gang suddenly understood. He thought that after the fight ended, he would directly fight the opponent in the next round.
It seems that they have to wait for a group of people to finish fighting before the next round of matches can begin.
Thus, while Du Gang was waiting, the four groups of people below once again determined the winners and losers.
Just like before, the winners stood on one side of the stage and the losers stood on the other side.
Then, following an announcement by the system, one of the four winners suddenly disappeared and appeared on one of the thrones next to Du Gang.
A crack also opened up under one of the four losers, swallowing him up.
However, the person who fell this time did not shout. He stayed silent and got eliminated.
Then, the remaining six players, divided into three groups of two, ascended the three stages and began the third round of fighting.
Five full rounds, with one person advancing and one person being eliminated at the end of each round.
Like Du Gang, with the highest score, he only fought one round, whereas, the fifth person to advance, despite having the lowest score, fought five rounds.
From the changes in his score, Du Gang could see that all five matches added points to that person’s score.
His eyebrows furrowed instantaneously.
This meant that the points earned in the preliminaries weren’t fixed.
These people with fewer points would also slowly increase their points by continuously winning, becoming people with more points.
This meant that when the fight got to the last stages, he might not necessarily advance!
“Of course, the organizing committee still values fairness! ”
Soon, when five people were eliminated and five people sat on the throne, their group’s match was over.
Then, with a flash in front of everyone’s eyes, they disappeared and reappeared in the waiting space.
This meant that the first round of their group’s match was over, and they are waiting for the first round of the other groups to end before they can progress to the match-up for the second round.
With more and more groups finishing their matches, more people appeared in the waiting space.
Finally, when all the group matches ended, the system gave a countdown of one minute before entering the second round of matches.
At this moment, Du Gang looked around and found that the number of people standing here had already halved.
This meant that five thousand people were eliminated in the first round!
And the remaining five thousand were all winners of the first round!
The fewest, perhaps like Du Gang, advanced by only winning one round. The most fought five matches before advancing.
Similarly, those with fewer points in the preliminaries due to bad luck could gain more points in the finals as their matches increased.
“The competition is getting tougher.”
Du Gang realized that after the first round of screening through five stages, everyone remaining was a strong contender.. Each round was going to get extremely tough!