The Professional Rankings, in twelve volumes, each bearing the name of my lord.

Who will be crowned the New King of Chinese Talent in the 1000th year of the Gregorian calendar? Let's wait and see!

Beside the ring, the host was giving an enthusiastic commentary.

The entire audience, as well as those watching via live stream, were focused on this duel, the highest level of competition among young people.

The live stream chat was filled with non-stop scrolling comments.

There are those who support Song Gua, a top expert on the Earth Ranking.

There are also those who support Ye Chen, the dark horse who rose from humble beginnings.

The two fan groups are arguing fiercely.

In the waiting area, Tong Zhan bit his thumb, watching the live stream and the arena at the same time. Seeing the comments on the screen, he felt heartbroken.

"The focus of everyone's attention! No, wait, it's at least a hundred million people! The Rookie of the Year competition! I should have been the one showing off! Why am I so unlucky to run into that cheater Song Gua in the semi-finals!"

Longtan comforted her from the side.

"It's all fate!"

"Bullshit! I think I'm cursed with bad luck, I'm incredibly unlucky!"

"Oh? Speaking of fortune, I recently contacted a Buddhist master and asked him to consecrate a batch of jade pendants for me. If I wear them for a long time, I'm sure I'll receive the Buddha's blessing and my fortune will improve. There aren't many, so it's first come, first served. Are you interested, Brother Tong?"

Tong Zhan rolled his eyes at him.

"roll."

Longtan chuckled.

"Business may be business, but integrity is paramount..." he said, glancing at Gou Bi, who was still looking dejected. "Want one?"

On the arena, the battle between Song Gua and Ye Chen has begun.

Song Gua, who always crushes and annihilates his opponents, actually entered a defensive phase when facing Ye Chen.

Back and forth, a clash of skills.

To outsiders, Ye Chen was using incredible combat skills to make up for the attribute gap.

However, Song Gua, who was carrying the second Soul-Devouring Pearl, knew very well that Ye Chen had been using the mysterious power of the Dark Dagger in subtle ways.

He didn't use wide-ranging attacks, or rely on the dagger as a cheat code from beginning to end.

He only uses the Dark Artifact at crucial moments in offense, defense, and movement; his own combat skills are also very strong, and he does not rely entirely on the artifact.

Song Gua's battles must be fought quickly because his talent effects have a cooldown period.

If his current state ends, it will be extremely difficult for him to deal with Ye Chen, who secretly used the Dark Artifact, on his own.

"Old thief, are you even capable? If not, let me try. You can't even take down a nobody like Ye Chen!"

"The opponent didn't even have a second job advancement, and you still couldn't kill them instantly. This old thief is really lame."

"45th on the Earth Ranking, and that's it?"

The clones, always eager for a good show, never miss out on making things worse.

In fact, Song Gua intentionally let the water flow out.

He wanted to know where the Dark Dagger was.

This Ye Chen is an assassin, specializing in daggers, and the weapon he uses is indeed a dagger.

But this dagger is clearly not the Dark Dagger; it's just a piece of equipment.

Song Gua found it strange. Ye Chen was definitely using a dark artifact, but he neither chanted, nor did he display any black mist, and he couldn't even see where the dagger was. How was he using it?

Or is the Dark Dagger special, unlike other Dark Artifacts?

We can find out the answer by asking the two curious guys later.

Now that there's no clear solution, Song Gua decides to end this battle.

"Earth-shattering, mountain-collapsing strike!"

Song Gua pointed his spear at the ground, piercing through the hard arena floor in one strike. With a spin of the spear shaft, a terrifying destructive force spread outwards in all directions from the spear shaft as the center.

"Click click click..."

The entire arena was instantly reduced to ruins, with dust rising everywhere.

The host was unsurprised.

"Song Gua used his signature move: destroying the venue!"

Ye Chen's profession clearly lacks the ability to cause such large-scale destruction. Let's see how he deals with it.

"Oh dear, there's a lot of dust on site. Even our high-speed cameras are having trouble getting a clear shot."

This is exactly the effect that the Song hexagram aims for.

When Ye Chen realized that the people around him couldn't see him and Song Gua clearly, and the cameras couldn't capture them either, he decisively used the Dark Dagger to launch the most ferocious attack.

His bangs fluttered, his eyes changed, from humble to confident, and the corners of his mouth turned up.

"I won this round."

In Ye Chen's hand, the dagger flashed with a cold light and flew out, stabbing towards Song Gua's vitals as if it had eyes.

Yue Sheng, standing on the sidelines, gripped his golden spear, feeling somewhat uneasy.

He took a step forward, intending to step onto the ring and stop the fight from continuing.

But this would be tantamount to declaring the game over; whoever he sides with loses.

Young people are all ambitious and arrogant. If they interfere, they might be able to protect Song Gua, but if they cause him to lose, Song Gua probably won't be happy either.

Just as Yue Sheng hesitated.

Ye Chen flew out from the hazy dust.

"puff--"

He flew backwards, coughing up blood as his equipment fell off in a clatter, its durability depleted and the equipment shattered.

"Bang!!"

Ye Chen crashed into the audience seats, smashing a section of seats.

Judging from the fact that he was able to get up, it wasn't fatal.

The dust on the arena gradually settled.

Song Gua stood tall and straight, spear in hand, and with a wave of his hand, the dust around him vanished.

"It's time to announce the results."

The referee paused for a moment before stepping over the broken pieces of the ring, approaching Song Gua, and raising his right hand.

"The Song hexagram will prevail!"

The host quickly chimed in.

"Congratulations to Song Gua for becoming the new king of the 1000th year of the Gregorian calendar!"

Just now, in that cloud of dust.

Ye Chen has already unleashed his killing move.

However, Song Gua pulled out a small gadget from his backpack—a Soul-Sealing Talisman.

This was brought out by Brother Huozi from the Soul Cultivation Illusion.

After the Soul-Sealing Talisman entered Earth, it was transformed into a one-time consumable item. Its effect is to slow down the flow of soul power when it is attached to the target.

The strange and bizarre abilities of the Dark Artifacts are powered by soul power.

With his diverse and versatile skills, Song Gua easily dodged the attack and took the opportunity to get close to Ye Chen, placing a card on him.

The obstruction of soul power caught the dark dagger off guard. Although it could still be effective, it would be unaffected once the soul-sealing talisman was torn off.

But in the ever-changing battle, Song Gua wouldn't give him that chance, and directly used a powerful move to blast Ye Chen away.

Incidentally, they also removed the Soul-Sealing Talisman stuck to his body, then casually used a fire-type skill to ignite it, causing it to vanish without a trace.

The situation just now briefly obscured the outside world's view.

However, it's impossible to use the Soul Devouring Bead, because the Soul Devouring Bead has a long casting time, and you can't move during that time. Ye Chen won't stay still.

Seeing that Song Gua was unharmed, Yue Sheng breathed a sigh of relief.

When Song Gua walked over, Yue Sheng went up to ask him some questions.

"Are you injured?"

Song Gua shook his head.

"No, Ye Chen's skills are just too good. He can't do any damage to me."

Yue Sheng nodded.

"That's good. The rewards for this competition will be awarded at the grand gala tomorrow, but that's just the official reward. In a few days, someone from the Strategic Department will come to see you. Go with them and meet Chief of Staff Zhang Beihai. You'll gain a lot from that."

"us?"

"The shortlisted candidates are the top five from the Rookie King Challenge. You'll all be going together, and there'll be a special competition waiting for you."