Chapter 572 — The Divine Ascension War Begins

"Old Lin, so this is the youngster you brought to compete," said the pipe-smoking uncle, eyeing Shi Jin. "He doesn't look very old."

"Don't tell me he's your illegitimate son. You've never paid this much attention to your own descendants, yet here you are bringing him around yourself."

Lin Feng laughed. "If I had an illegitimate son this outstanding, I'd die happy."

"Shi Jin, this is Jiaqi. He and Wang Kong and I are old friends from the Void Battlefield—we've saved each other's lives more than once. Just call him Old Sun."

"And this is his daughter. She's here for the Apotheosis War too. You two are about the same age, so get acquainted."

"Senior Sun," Shi Jin said, understanding now—Lin Feng had run into an old acquaintance. The world was vast, and yet it was small.

"Haha, hello there." Senior Sun said, "This is the first time I've seen young Lin Feng take a junior so seriously. I'll be watching to see what you can do. Your name's Shi Jue, isn't it?"

Shi Zhuo smiled slightly. "Yes."

"Young Lin, how about a meal together?" Senior Sun invited. "Haven't seen you in years—at the very least we have to drink until we can't stand."

"Sure," Lin Feng said. "Shi Jin, you come too."

Shi Li sighed internally—fine, let it be. He was hungry anyway. He wanted to see just how delicious the cooking of a Central Realm chef really was; he'd grown tired of Baby Ginseng's fruits.

Meat! Meat! Meat!

At the table.

Lin Feng and Senior Sun drank merrily, and Shi Jue, who also drank, quietly ate meat on the side.

"Why aren't you two talking?" Senior Sun and Lin Feng, chatting away, noticed the two youngsters had gone the whole time without a word, and couldn't help asking.

"Qiu Jing, talk with someone your own age," Senior Sun said.

"Talk... about what," Sun Qiu Jing said, a girl of few words. She glanced at Cen Yu and felt there was nothing worth discussing.

Shi Jin took another bite of meat. So she was a shy girl—she needed to get out and see more of the world!

"Look at you, cultivating all day—have you forgotten how to chat?" Senior Sun chuckled. "You're both entering this Apotheosis War. You can talk about that."

Sun Qiu Jing looked at Cen Yu and nodded. "Want to compare?"

"Cough." Shi Jin nearly choked. Was that how you chatted?

Senior Sun looked awkward too, but beside him, Lin Feng perked up. "Brother, your girl's competing for the first time too, eh?"

"That's right. But she's very strong—she'd had thorough training on her mother's side before they let her out. I think cracking the top ten thousand should be no problem." Senior Sun was full of confidence.

"How about a bet?" Lin Feng said. "Like your girl suggested—let's see whose rank is higher, her or Shi Ying. We wager something."

Senior Sun's mouth twitched. "What are you scheming after of mine?"

"Cough, that super-god resource you got on the battlefield—you haven't used it yet, have you?" Lin Feng said.

Senior Sun said, "Get lost..."

"If I lose, I'll risk my life to deduce a top-tier divine race evolution path for you. I'll supply all the evolution materials, and you name the target."

Senior Sun suddenly fell silent. "You mean it?"

His heart was moved. He knew Lin Feng's abilities. That super-god resource... precious as it was, he couldn't use it—whereas Lin Feng's evolution deduction would be of great use to his daughter.

Just now, he had actually been modest. Forget the top ten thousand—even the top one thousand would be easy for this daughter of his. She might even make a run at the top hundred. Young Lin Feng probably had no idea what kind of contract divine beast he had found for her.

"That's right," Lin Feng nodded.

"Uh..." Shi Jin's mouth twitched when he saw Lin Feng using him for a bet. If he got no cut of this, he wasn't playing along. What super-god resource could make Senior Lin Feng this fixated... was he gambling for something to give him?

"Good girl, feel confident?" Senior Sun looked at his daughter. This bet... was enormous!!

"Mm." The shy girl nodded, expressionless.

"Hahaha, drink!" Lin Feng roared with laughter.

"Drink, drink, drink. Say, kid, what's your background? Lin Feng dares stake so much on you—one top-tier divine race evolution deduction, and it'll drain him dry, leave him weak for decades." Senior Sun studied Cen Yu closely.

"What background could he have? Just a kid from Wang Kong's and my homeworld—nothing worth mentioning." Now it was Lin Feng's turn to fear Old Sun might poke around and back out of the bet.

Shi Tan better keep his mouth shut.

Shi Jin: "..."

That night, Shi Jin ate extremely well. Honestly, meat really did taste better than cultivation fruits.

...

The Central Realm was stirring, winds rising and clouds surging.

Geniuses from realms great and small had all come to this place, rather than choosing to enter the Apotheosis War in their own homelands.

Because the atmosphere of the competition alone was utterly different.

In the blink of an eye, Shi Yun arrived at the eve of the Apotheosis War's opening.

Across the various realms of King Star, spectators following the Apotheosis War began to keep a close eye on the official website.

By the time registration closed, this year's Apotheosis War had drawn 8,388,609 entrants.

That made it one of the leaner years for sign-ups in recent memory.

The reason the Apotheosis War commanded such attention was that every subsequent match would be streamed live on the official site through separate viewing channels.

Tonight, the matchups for over four million contenders would be randomly drawn and revealed.

The rules of the Apotheosis War were simple elimination: paired duels, the loser out, the winner advancing.

With more than four million channels at the outset, it was naturally impossible for every single match to draw a casual viewer's interest.

What audiences wanted to watch were mostly the bouts of family and friends they knew, or of the powerful contenders who had posted outstanding results in the previous tournament.

"The entrant count is odd—maybe Shi Jin will get a bye."

In the Suspended Realm, Gem Cat Xu had returned to King Star as well, and was now following the Apotheosis War alongside the Dragon God.

The Dragon God had chosen not to register for this Apotheosis War; judging by her current strength, she felt she would not place well, and planned to cultivate for a few more years.

Even after learning that a whole host of Blue Star demigods had successfully broken through, she had not rushed her own advancement.

"Let's hope so." The Dragon God smiled. The Wind of Blessing—could this skill really land Shi Jin a bye?

And it was not only Gem Cat and the Dragon God; many others were wondering who would draw the bye this year.

Soon, Shi Yun reached the moment the matchup list was published!

Whoosh!

The official site's interface refreshed, and a list beyond counting in pages spilled directly onto the screen—the servers' quality was monstrously strong.

At a time like this, naturally no one would scroll through it one by one; everyone made good use of the search function.

"What the hell." In the Suspended Realm, Gem Cat, watching for the bye recipient, was struck dumb.

"Lin???"

The one granted the bye was none other than Lin of the Suspended Realm. For a moment, even the Dragon God fell into a slight silence—had that little cat actually called it?

Out of more than eight million contenders, to be the lucky one to draw the bye and advance without a single match—what kind of luck was that?

"See! I told you!" said Gem Cat.

"No, wait—why isn't it Shi Jin? Why Lin??" Gem Cat was baffled. "Hold on, why is Lin registered as a solo entrant?? What's going on."

The Central Realm.

Inside a luxurious room.

"Holy crap, Lin got the bye." Shi Jin and the whole team were gathered around, watching how the random matchups had fallen for their opponents.

Matchmaking in the Apotheosis War was all down to luck.