The soul guidance vehicle quickly carried everyone out of Mingdu. The Soul Engineer Tournament finals were jointly hosted by Mingdu's three major underground forces, so the scale was naturally not small.
There were already over a thousand spectators surrounding the entire venue, packed so tightly that not even water could pass through. Although it couldn't compare to the Elite Tournament, it had clearly attracted considerable interest.
Unlike the Elite Tournament, which prohibited betting, as soon as everyone approached, they saw numerous betting stations.
The people from the Common Alliance and the Alto Chamber of Commerce arrived almost at the same time as the Duskwater Alliance. As soon as a few of them stepped out of the soul guidance vehicle, they saw Shangguan Weier and An Litong slowly approaching, surrounded by a crowd, followed by several contestants participating in the finals.
Seeing the Dark Lightning Douluo already walking forward with a smile to greet Shangguan Weier and the others, Huo Yuhao, who was following behind, curiously looked around.
Aside from them, he didn't see any more people from the Duskwater Alliance. According to the previous rules, there should have been a third contestant for the finals, but why hadn't he shown up even now?
Before Huo Yuhao could figure it out, he saw the Dark Lightning Douluo already walking back and approaching Lin Xiao.
"The Vice Sect Master and the Saintess will arrive soon. Tonight, don't hold back, be sure to swallow the Common Alliance and the Alto Chamber of Commerce in one fell swoop."
Lin Xiao looked around. Aside from them, there were already fully seven Titled Douluo present as referees, two from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, and the rest clearly experts sent by the Common Alliance and the Alto Chamber of Commerce.
"I'm afraid they won't obediently submit."
"Hmph, it's not just us who want them to stop meddling in the underground market."
The Dark Lightning Douluo seemed fully confident. Although he didn't say it explicitly, Lin Xiao knew what he meant.
The income from betting in each edition of the Soul Fighting Tournament was no small amount; some even had official support from the great empires behind them.
But in this edition, Xu Tianran suddenly banned such projects. Of course, it wasn't really because Xu Tianran disliked them, but to shift certain people's attention toward the Soul Engineer Tournament.
This match, which appeared to be between underground forces, also had Xu Tianran's support behind it. The Duskwater Alliance, Common Alliance, and Alto Chamber of Commerce represented the imperial family, the nobility, and the military, respectively, the three major forces.
Xu Tianran's desire to swallow the entire underground market wasn't something that had only arisen in the last day or two. Now, with his ascension to the throne imminent and power firmly in his grasp, he naturally could no longer tolerate having to consider the faces of those nobles and the military in the underground market.
Especially with war looming, he needed even more to control the underground market in his hands, preventing certain important items from flowing to the three great empires.
And this Soul Engineer Tournament was merely a way to give the other two forces a somewhat more dignified exit.
"Welcome, everyone, to the site of this edition's Soul Engineer Tournament finals. I am the host of this tournament, Lu Qi."
Seeing that all three sides had taken their seats, a man in a red suit walked onto the central platform of the arena. Although he was just an ordinary person, he showed no trace of fear facing so many soul masters around him.
"First, congratulations to the nine contestants who have passed through numerous trials to reach today's finals. The upcoming matches will test not only the creation of soul guidance devices, but also the ability to use soul guidance devices in actual combat."
"So now, please have the contestants from all three sides step onto the stage!"
As soon as Lu Qi finished speaking, waves of cheers erupted around them. Some contestants had been watched by these spectators all the way to the finals—they had placed quite a few bets on them.
"Go."
The Dark Lightning Douluo raised his hand. Huang Zheng stood up first, leading Huo Yuhao toward the center of the stage.
The light from the illumination soul guidance devices fell on the Duskwater Alliance's position. Many gazes gathered on Merk, after all, in everyone's eyes, the one who looked most like a contestant was Merk.
From afar, Alto Chamber of Commerce President An Litong gave Shangguan Weier a look. Seeing her give a slight nod, he immediately felt relieved.
This Soul Engineer Tournament originally hadn't had such a scale; it was all promoted single-handedly by Shangguan Weier, so she naturally had confidence. An Litong felt a bit more at ease in his heart and, together with the others, looked toward the Duskwater Alliance's direction, waiting for the last contestant to stand up.
Huo Yuhao followed behind Huang Zheng, not particularly worried about the upcoming match. However, just as he approached the stage, an unusual sound suddenly came from the surrounding spectators.
The successive waves of astonished voices made Huo Yuhao instinctively turn back to look, only to see that the person standing up was not Merk, but the "Eighth Elder" who had barely spoken the entire journey.
Merk was already stunned in his seat. Although the Dark Lightning Douluo hadn't let him compete, since he hadn't seen any other disciples along the way, he had thought his teacher was just giving him a warning and that in the end, he would still be the one to go on stage.
Yet he never expected that when it came time for the contestants to take the stage, someone he had never imagined would stand up in front of him.
Huang Zheng's expression, on the other hand, was much calmer; he seemed to have already guessed something.
Although he didn't know the true age of this Eighth Elder in the sect, he had once been ordered to contact Lin Xiao at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and understood that his age was not the same as the other elders; in fact, he was extremely young.
"What is the meaning of this?"
An Litong stared at Lin Xiao, who was enveloped in the beam of light from the illumination soul guidance device, and abruptly stood up.
The Dark Lightning Douluo turned his head leisurely. "Why? Is there some violation on our Duskwater Alliance's part?"
"He is your Duskwater Alliance's elder..."
"That's right." The Dark Lightning Douluo nodded. "President An should still remember the agreement between us. We only stipulated that contestants in the Soul Engineer Tournament cannot exceed thirty years of age; we never stipulated anything about the identity of the contestants, did we?"
"You're saying his age doesn't exceed thirty?!"
An Litong's expression froze, and he could no longer suppress the look on his face.
He turned to look at Shangguan Weier, only to see that she had an expression as if she had expected this all along. She turned toward him, her face carrying a trace of a smile.
"You've set me up again!"
An Litong instantly realized what was happening. In the Duskwater Alliance rest area, the Dark Lightning Douluo also looked somewhat surprised at Shangguan Weier. He saw her reveal a beautiful smile, nod toward the Dark Lightning Douluo, and then stand up.
"President An is joking."
As Shangguan Weier spoke, her soul power surged out to cover their voices. "The Common Alliance could reach its current scale naturally thanks to the various nobles in Mingdu."
"President An might as well think carefully, among all the nobles, who could be more noble than that one? If I, a humble woman, wish to establish myself in Mingdu, naturally, I must find a good backer. I can't afford to be as blind as President An."
The implication in Shangguan Weier's words was not hard to guess. As soon as she spoke, both the Dark Lightning Douluo's and An Litong's expressions changed at the same time.
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