The tour group's main focus in the Holy City was its profound and ancient religious culture.
Consequently, their accommodation was in a luxurious hotel in the Spring Grass District, near the inner city. Upon arrival, Wen Wen, Tao Qingqing, and Si Fuermo immediately left all the tourists to explore on their own.
Although the Church of Radiant Glory was currently at odds with the Hunter's Association, and Wen Wen and the others were planning to cause trouble in the Summer Bamboo District, the low-level demon hunters here would not encounter any danger.
In fact, the Church of Radiant Glory would provide them with high-level protection. They would not dare to let touring demon hunters meet with misfortune on their territory, as the hooligans of the Hunter's Association would make them pay a much higher price than those demon hunters.
However, Wen Wen and the others had no safety guarantees here, as the competition for the Cup of Divine Blood was certain to take place within the city limits. Once the fighting occurred within the city, the Church of Radiant Glory would be in the right.
After leaving the hotel, Wen Wen and Tao Qingqing parted ways with Si Fuermo. With less than an hour remaining until the Cup of Divine Blood competition, Si Fuermo did not wish to be with Wen Wen during this time.
Without Si Fuermo's hindrance, Wen Wen and Tao Qingqing reached the Summer Bamboo District in less than fifteen minutes.
As for Si Fuermo, he would likely only reach the border line in the last minute.
It was strange, despite Si Fuermo's hopelessly poor sense of direction, he always managed to arrive precisely on time for important events...
The Summer Bamboo District was located southeast of the Spring Grass District and was part of the outer districts of the Holy City. Besides these two districts, the Holy City also had the Autumn Leaf District and the Winter Wood District.
These four districts surrounded the inner city of the Holy City, and each district was roughly the size of an ordinary city.
Moreover, each district had its own unique style. For example, the Summer Bamboo District was filled with various kinds of bamboo.
This was originally supposed to be one of the tourist attractions, but Wen Wen was in no mood to sightsee now, as the Cup of Divine Blood competition was about to begin.
Before it started, Wen Wen had something to do.
He quickly rushed to the center of the Summer Bamboo District, found a secluded spot, and extended his hand to release a chain.
A moment later, a surveillance point was set up.
This way, any superhumans in the Summer Bamboo District, unless they deliberately concealed their aura, could not escape Wen Wen's notice.
Furthermore, Wen Wen had already dispatched several monsters to lie in wait here, allowing him to quickly turn the Summer Bamboo District into his home turf if he wished.
Through the surveillance point, Wen Wen saw dense clusters of glowing dots on the holographic projection of the Summer Bamboo District.
After filtering out those below the Disaster level, the interface became much clearer, but it still took a lot of time to place markers on each one individually.
"Release the bats. Investigate all the points I've marked... Be discreet. Investigation is all that's needed."
Tao Qingqing nodded. Her energy surged, condensing into small black bats that looked exactly like natural bats.
Then, under Tao Qingqing's command, these bats scattered and flew towards the locations marked by the surveillance point.
Time passed, and the bats flew back one by one. Tao Qingqing's face looked a bit weak. The bats had consumed a lot of her strength, and half of them were killed before they could even find their targets.
This was also normal. The targets the bats were searching for were all creatures with at least Disaster-level strength, making them easily discoverable and consequently killed immediately.
Among the Hunter's Association tour group, Wen Wen found Ye Wen and Li Natuo. Lin Zheyuan and the Wandering Swordsman were nowhere to be seen. As for Si Fuermo... he likely hadn't arrived in the Summer Bamboo District yet.
To Wen Wen's surprise, the bats spotted five young priests in white uniforms. These five priests were in different locations within the Summer Bamboo District, seemingly searching for something.
Most importantly, they bore similar markings on their hands to Wen Wen.
"It seems they are the other contestants. Judging by the size of the runes, the markings of these five individuals combined should be able to form the complete rune for the Cup of Divine Blood."
"But these guys are too weak. Although they've all barely reached the Assimilation realm, their strength looks very nascent. They probably haven't experienced much actual combat..."
"Besides, all five of them have been discovered by me. At least one of them should have sensed Tao Qingqing's bats."
"If it were a war of attrition, Li Natuo alone could handle all of them."
"They should be from the Church of Radiant Glory. This is their territory, so they probably have some backup plans."
...
After waiting for a while longer, another Upper Sequence aura appeared on the surveillance point, indicating that Si Fuermo had finally entered the Summer Bamboo District.
Just a few seconds after he entered, the marking on Wen Wen's hand began to heat up. Then, a faint crimson glow appeared on the marking, which had previously looked like a tattoo, as if it were alive.
This signified that the Cup of Divine Blood competition had officially begun.
At this moment, not only had the markings on their hands changed, but the environment had also undergone some alterations. A faint scent of blood appeared in the air.
Wen Wen was certain that this scent was harmless to superhumans, but he was unsure of its implications for ordinary people.
A faint red membrane appeared on the border of the Summer Bamboo District. This membrane was invisible to ordinary people, and even to most superhumans.
Only contestants with markings on their hands could clearly see this red membrane.
This red membrane was not meant to block contestants but rather acted as a large monitor.
Any contestant with a marking on their hand who left the area within the red membrane, for whatever reason, would immediately trigger the curse of the marking, transforming them into monsters like Lao Shi Ren and others, and then forcing them back into the Summer Bamboo District to compete.
However, none of this was very important to Wen Wen at the moment because, after the Cup of Divine Blood competition officially began, the Gloves of Calamity reacted once more!
This time, it was Wen Wen's left hand that triggered the reaction.
The marking had previously been on Wen Wen's hand, but the containment facility had shown no reaction.
Now that the Cup of Divine Blood competition had started, and the marking had displayed its unique power, it had become appealing in the eyes of the containment facility.
Wen Wen tried placing his right hand on his left hand and immediately felt a powerful suction force emerge from his right hand. The shape of the marking on his left hand began to destabilize, as if it were about to be absorbed by the power of his right hand.
As the pattern blurred, Wen Wen immediately stopped.
He knew that having the ability to remove the marking was enough. He did not want to lose his qualification for the Cup of Divine Blood competition prematurely.
Then, Wen Wen turned his gaze to Tao Qingqing, wondering if the Gloves of Calamity could absorb other people's markings.