Chapter 787 – Ten Seeded Parties

“An offer? What kind?”

Shi Feng’s eyebrow shot up as he met Elise’s gaze, surprised not only by Elise’s proposition but also by the very presence of Demon’s Gate’s undefeated champion.

In Shi Feng’s previous life, Elise never lost a fight against any human player she challenged. Just before she moved her operations from the Eternal Realm to the Twelve Sanctuaries, she even won a duel against a Grand Elder from Demon’s Gate. However, shortly after the all-out war between the human race and the Holy Race began, Elise suddenly went missing, sending the entirety of Demon’s Gate into panic.

At the time, Demon’s Gate had dropped everything it was doing to scour the Twelve Sanctuaries. Even Demon’s Gate’s Nine Great Experts had mobilized in full force to search for Elise. It was a spectacle that spoke volumes of Elise’s importance to Demon’s Gate.

It should be known that even if Demon’s Gate’s Guild Leader suffered a permanent death, the Guild’s Nine Great Experts would not act together to exact revenge. Yet, they were willing to sacrifice large amounts of their time to search for Elise, their actions surprising all powers back then.

Because of Demon’s Gate’s response, many rumors began to circulate. Some speculated Elise was internally designated as Demon’s Gate’s next Guild Leader. Some also speculated Elise possessed information pertaining to the path beyond Tier 6. Hence, even Demon’s Gate’s Nine Great Experts were willing to waste their precious time to search for her.

So, to see such an exalted figure from Demon’s Gate reaching out to him surprised Shi Feng.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, seeing as you are participating in the championship, I presume you are interested in entering the top four.” In an indifferent tone, Elise stated, “My party can help you achieve that dream. As I am sure you have already learned of the main event’s rules from Verdant Rainbow, parties that make it into the main event are allowed to swap opponents with parties of the same race. With your party’s strength, so long as you do not encounter the Divine Fist Party and the Earthen Princess Party, you should have a considerable chance at winning.”

“Are you perhaps offering to fight those two parties for us, Miss Elise?” Shi Feng asked with a smile.

“That is correct.” Elise nodded. “Should you encounter those two parties, my party can take them on for you. In exchange, if my party encounters the two other former top four parties, I will need your party to fight them for me. I believe this is an excellent deal for you.”

Elise’s words tempted and surprised Shi Feng.

Neither Divine Fist Garuda nor Earthen Princess Rin were ordinary characters. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to consider them the strongest player of their respective races in the current generation. Even their party members, though beneath them in strength, were extraordinary experts.

Yet, Elise spoke as if her victory against these two extraordinary parties was only a matter of course, and she was only making him this offer out of reluctance to reveal her full strength before she clashed with them.

“Allow me to turn down your offer, Miss Elise,” Shi Feng said after pondering in silence for a moment.

“Why?” Elise asked, her indifferent voice tinged with a hint of confusion. “Do you find it an obligation to refuse because of Zero Wing’s hostile relationship with Demon’s Gate?”

“No, that’s not it.” Shi Feng shook his head. “I just think that your offer is lacking.”

“Lacking?” Elise chuckled. “Do you mean to say you are confident in entering the top four on your own, Guild Leader Black Flame? I am not trying to belittle you, but do you think you won’t encounter either of those two parties before you enter the top four?”

“No, not at all.” Shi Feng shook his head and smiled. “I merely think that even if my party comes across those two parties, we won’t necessarily lose.”

Elise did not immediately ridicule Shi Feng after hearing his statement. Instead, she paused momentarily before asking, “What are your conditions, then?”action

As if expecting this question, Shi Feng firmly answered, “The Goddess Tablet that is in your possession!”

In his previous life, there was a rumor speculating that Elise had moved her operations to the Twelve Sanctuaries to search for the Goddess of Space’s Legacy. Initially, Shi Feng doubted the rumor’s credibility, but he quickly changed his mind once he learned that Elise was the reason Demon’s Gate was relentlessly persecuting Aqua Rose and forcing her to surrender the stone tablet.

Unless Elise knew that the stone tablet in Aqua Rose’s possession was a Primordial God Tablet, Shi Feng found it hard to imagine why someone of Elise’s stature would go to such lengths to acquire it.

However, under normal circumstances, it should be impossible for others to know that the tablet in Aqua Rose’s possession was a Primordial God Tablet. Even Aqua Rose herself wasn’t aware of the stone tablet’s actual identity, while Shi Feng only recognized it thanks to his past life’s knowledge. In a situation where one lacked the ability to interpret the tablet, most people would only assume the stone tablet contained a God’s Legacy, which could only be considered insignificant for the likes of an apex power like Demon’s Gate.

Yet, Elise was adamant in acquiring this supposedly insignificant stone tablet in Aqua Rose’s possession.

This led Shi Feng to believe that Elise knew Aqua Rose possessed a Primordial God Tablet. Moreover, she likely knew that the tablet was linked to the Goddess of Space, and the reason she knew this was because she, too, had a “Goddess Tablet” of her own. After all, there existed more than one Goddess Tablet, and without having a Goddess Tablet of her own, how could Elise possibly know of the existence of other Goddess Tablets?

“You seem to know a lot.” Elise raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t necessarily need you to transfer ownership of the Goddess Tablet to me,” Shi Feng added. “I only need you to lend it to me for a while.”

The Dark Moon Mana Technique recorded in Aqua Rose’s Goddess Tablet had three stages. If players wished to fully master it, they would need to be able to fully exert the strength of all seven elements. However, Aqua Rose’s tablet only contained detailed information about the Law of Space, while the information available on the remaining six elements was only enough to scratch the surface. In such a situation, it would take Shi Feng ages to master Dark Moon fully.

If he wanted to accelerate this process, he would have to get his hands on more Goddess Tablets.

“You are still not qualified to negotiate conditions with me,” Elise bluntly stated. “Since your party doesn’t want to compete for the top four, just pretend this conversation never happened.”

After saying so, Elise disconnected the call, giving Shi Feng no opportunities to negotiate further.

“So you think I can’t compete for the top four?” Shi Feng chuckled as he looked at the disconnected call. “Let’s see which of us will be more qualified to compete for the top four, then!”

He wasn’t in a rush to acquire more Goddess Tablets. After all, he wasn’t without alternatives.

If it was before he acquired the Tower of the Abyss, he might have tried to negotiate with Elise more seriously. However, now that he had the Tower of the Abyss, he could more than likely rely on it to perfect the Dark Moon Mana Technique.

…

Meanwhile, after Elise ended her call with Shi Feng, Phoenix Flame promptly approached her to inquire about the outcome.

“How did Black Flame respond, Your Highness?” Phoenix Flame asked, feeling a little surprised when she noticed the slight frown on Elise. In her mind, Elise would remain calm and indifferent when dealing with most matters, and very rarely would she express anger.

“He’s nothing more than a megalomaniac,” Elise said as she flicked her sleeves. Then, she instructed Phoenix Flame, saying, “Proceed according to the original plan. If we encounter the other two top four parties, it’s fine to reveal the majority of our cards.”

“Understood.” Phoenix Flame nodded.

…

Following the conversation between Shi Feng and Elise, the Continental Championship’s preliminaries progressed rapidly. After six hours, the battles in the 120 miniature worlds concluded, and all 420 participating parties were assigned their respective scores. Among them, the 32 parties with the highest scores would advance to the main event, while everyone else was disqualified.

While inspecting their scores on the scoreboard, the various parties couldn’t help but be shocked when they saw the parties ranked among the top 32.

Although everyone already knew the participants this time around were stronger than the last championship’s participants, they hadn’t expected that only 12 out of the former top 32 parties would make it past the preliminaries this time. Even more shocking was the change to the preliminaries’ top 10 parties.

th place – Eight Paths Party – 87 points

th place – Star Maiden Party – 96 points

th place – Verdant Rainbow Party – 104 points

…