Of course, most of the doubts came from master beast tamers, and many grandmaster beast tamers seemed to sense something was wrong.
It wasn't that the general-level Dark Night Giant was too weak, but that Zheng Dong was too strong!
Li Yang Chuanqi also showed a surprised expression, then explained:
"This pet of student Zheng Dong should have used a combination skill, in addition to the phantom, it also used skills like Eternal Night Illusion. Although it hasn't formed a combination skill ultimate, its attack power can be compared to a general-level undead."
Immediately, the Phantom Emperor repeatedly popped out emoticons of celebration, mockery, and disdain, as if celebrating its vindication.
Facing the Dark Night Giant's attack, Youyou had actually used three skills in total.
First, it unleashed the quasi-divine skill Undead Sovereign, which comprehensively reduced the Dark Night Giant's attack, defense, perception, and other abilities.
Following that, it continuously used the low-level skill Phantom and the ultimate skill Eternal Night Illusion.
The low-level skill Phantom consumed little energy and was cast quickly, making the Dark Night Giant, suppressed by the Undead Sovereign, mistake all the phantoms for real.
Then, Eternal Night Illusion was used. Eternal Night Illusion is an ultimate skill of the undead, dark, and mental elements, possessing strong attack power, which made the Dark Night Giant completely believe it and fall into an endless illusion, dying of fear.
Afterwards, Professor Xue Yin also spoke:
"I know this child Zheng Dong. With his strength, promotion is not a problem at all, and there's no need for him to cheat. Moreover, before today, he had never seen the Phantom Emperor, nor did he know the competition rules, so he couldn't have cheated even if he wanted to."
Many people also nodded. In fact, they also knew that Zheng Dong couldn't cheat, but they couldn't help but question it.
Xiao Lin was very happy. If Zheng Dong successfully advanced and participated in cracking the Qin Emperor's遗迹, their Rongcheng Beast Tamer Association would also receive many rewards and more funding support, allowing them to discover and cultivate more beast taming geniuses in the future.
The preliminaries continued. Zheng Dong didn't know how the other matches were going, nor did he know his ranking. The only thing he could do was to keep clearing levels until the competition ended.
Because there was no rest time during the entire competition, if a pet was too exhausted and couldn't hold on, it would be eliminated.
Fortunately, Youyou mastered the ultimate skill Elemental Control, so continuous combat was not a problem.
As the difficulty of clearing levels increased, many participants were eliminated, and soon only 100 participants remained.
However, Li Yang Chuanqi showed no intention of stopping the competition, seemingly wanting to see who could last until the end.
Xiao Lin also kept an eye out, recording the information of the top-ranked participants to be given to Zheng Dong and others for reference later.
The competition continued until the afternoon, and finally, only three people remained. Li Yang Chuanqi then announced the end of the preliminaries.
Besides Zheng Dong, there were Cao Teng, who ranked second, and Wang Hao, recommended by the Beast Tamer Corps.
Although all three persisted until the end, Zheng Dong completely crushed the other two in terms of the number of levels cleared. Zheng Dong cleared 36 levels consecutively, while Cao Teng only cleared 27, and Wang Hao cleared 26.
As for the Shen Bing and Shen Xue sisters, they were stuck at the 25th and 22nd levels respectively. Fortunately, both of them entered the top 100 and could participate in the finals.
Suddenly, the simulated battlefield in front of Zheng Dong disappeared, and he returned to reality.
Although he had fought for a long time, he didn't feel tired. He rarely took action, only intervening to help Youyou in the last few levels.
As for Xiao Zi, it was not summoned at all.
Because summoning Xiao Zi would change the transcendent creatures in the battles, making them no longer just undead, which would instead weaken Youyou's advantage.
Taking off the mechanical electronic glasses, Zheng Dong noticed many people were watching him.
He paid no attention and walked directly towards Xiao Lin and the others.
Shen Xue, standing beside Xiao Lin, said with envy,
"Zheng Dong, your Youyou's racial level wouldn't be Overlord level, would it? It's so powerful!"
Shen Bing's lips twitched slightly, but she didn't say what was on her mind. She thought it was at least totem level.
Zheng Dong smiled, neither admitting nor denying.
Youyou's racial level was quasi-divine. Ordinary detection instruments could not accurately determine it, and at most, they could only confirm it was above Overlord level.
At this moment, Li Yang Chuanqi spoke:
"Congratulations to all the students who have advanced. The finals will begin tomorrow. This is a competition for supremacy! There will be 24 badges in the competition. At the end of the competition, students holding badges will earn a spot to enter the Qin Emperor's遗迹.
Each student is only allowed to hold one badge at the end, but they can help others compete for badges during the competition."
The detailed competition rules were also distributed to Zheng Dong and other advancing participants.
The finals would be held on a mountain. From the foot of the mountain to the summit, there were 24 golden badges hidden.
Participants needed to find these golden badges. Once found, the holder's name would be revealed, and other participants could compete for the badge. Whoever held the badge at the end of the competition would earn a spot to enter the Qin Emperor's遗迹.
This meant that teaming up to compete was allowed.
As for why the rules were like this, Li Yang Chuanqi did not explain.
However, Zheng Dong guessed it might be related to the trials within the Qin Emperor's遗迹.
With one hundred people competing for 24 badges over 6 hours, the competition immediately felt a bit crazy.
It would be difficult to determine the winner until the very end.
Xiao Lin immediately looked at Zheng Dong and the others.
"The three of you, do you need me to help you find teammates?"
Although only Zheng Dong, Shen Bing, and Shen Xue from Rongcheng had advanced to the finals, they had all made it.
In other cities, some were lucky enough to have one person advance, while others were unlucky and all eliminated. Therefore, if Zheng Dong and the others wanted to team up, many people would be willing to join.
However, neither Zheng Dong nor Shen Bing and Shen Xue liked to team up with unfamiliar people.
Moreover, teaming up meant that the number of badges to compete for would increase, and they might even end up sacrificing themselves.
This was because the competition rules did not prohibit teammates from competing against each other.
At the last moment, someone might even turn on their own teammates.
Thus, Zheng Dong and the others tacitly shook their heads.
As for the other participants, they were overjoyed upon hearing these competition rules.
This meant that everyone had a chance to qualify for the Qin Emperor's遗迹.
Not far from Zheng Dong, Cao Teng glanced at him.
Zheng Dong's performance was far superior to his, making him feel a strong sense of crisis.
He felt that if Zheng Dong entered the Qin Emperor's遗迹 and underwent the trials, his chances of obtaining the Qin Emperor's inheritance would be very low.
Furthermore, he knew more about the trials within the Qin Emperor's遗迹 than Zheng Dong and the others.
His grandfather had once qualified to enter the Qin Emperor's遗迹 and knew that the trial rules were even more brutal than the competition for badges.
Ultimately, only one person could win, undergo the final trial of the Qin Emperor, and if recognized by the Qin Emperor, would receive the Qin Emperor's inheritance of infinite evolution.
Therefore, Cao Teng was considering how to form a team for a strong alliance to eliminate Zheng Dong in advance.
Many people had the same idea as Cao Teng.
Of course, Cao Teng himself was also a target for others to eliminate. His second-place ranking also made many people feel a sense of crisis.
After all, Cao Teng was not the only one who knew the rules of the trials within the Qin Emperor's遗迹.
Zheng Dong didn't think too much about it and relaxed completely, wandering around the small town.
In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.
The Phantom Emperor transformed into a giant mechanical eye, flying in the air, ready to broadcast the competition live.
Zheng Dong and the other participants arrived at the foot of a large mountain.
This mountain was a usual tourist attraction, with beautiful scenery.
But soon, a fierce battle might break out, inevitably causing severe damage.
However, no one cared about that now; they were all speculating about who would find the first badge.
Xiao Lin was confident in Zheng Dong. With Xiao Zi's abilities, finding a badge wouldn't be difficult. He was only worried that Zheng Dong might find all 24 badges and anger all the participants.
As Li Yang Chuanqi gave the order, the competition began, and all participants summoned their pets.
Zheng Dong also summoned Xiao Zi.
Xiao Zi looked around excitedly, finally getting its chance to shine.
It used its treasure-hunting skill and quickly sensed the location of a badge, leading Zheng Dong towards it.
There were a total of 24 badges. Fewer were placed at the foot of the mountain, only one or two, and the higher up, the more were placed.
Zheng Dong's idea was simple: find one badge and rest there; he couldn't be bothered to climb the mountain.
As for the Shen Bing and Shen Xue sisters, they didn't need Zheng Dong's help at all.
They were competitive and sought their own badges. With their strength, as long as they didn't encounter too many people teaming up against them, they wouldn't suffer.
Soon, Zheng Dong, following Xiao Zi, arrived at the location where the badge was placed, hidden in a tree hollow of a large tree.
Xiao Zi burrowed into the tree hollow, retrieved the golden badge, and handed it to Zheng Dong.
Instantly, the news of Zheng Dong obtaining the badge was publicly announced by the Phantom Emperor, and all participants received the information.
Cao Teng's lips curled up as he prepared to make his move.
He had already rallied many people, primarily geniuses from the capital.
He had also formed alliances with others, intending to work together to eliminate Zheng Dong in advance.
Unfortunately, Wang Hao, who ranked third, did not agree to his proposal.
Otherwise, his chances would have been even greater.
Soon, Cao Teng and others found Zheng Dong.
Zheng Dong was lying on a thick branch resting when he saw forty to fifty people gathering towards him.
Besides Cao Teng and his group, there were also geniuses from major cities like Modu, Shendu, and Qindu.
Among them, the geniuses from Modu were led by Jiang Zi'an.
Although he was recommended by the Modu Beast Tamer Association, he had enrolled in Imperial Capital University, so he was acquainted with Cao Teng.
Similar to Jiang Zi'an were Ma Yang from Shendu and Lu Qu from Qindu.
With so many people present, Cao Teng confidently said:
"Zheng Dong, hand over the badge you found, or don't blame us for being rude!"
Zheng Dong glanced at Cao Teng.
Cao Teng wore glasses and looked refined, but he exuded a sense of hypocrisy.
Zheng Dong didn't take Cao Teng's words to heart at all. With so many people coming for him, it wasn't just about the badge; they also wanted to incapacitate him and eliminate him from the competition.
Since that was the case, Zheng Dong had no intention of letting anyone present off the hook.
Originally, he didn't want to cause trouble.
But now, he decided to find all the badges and keep them until the end before distributing them.
As for Cao Teng and his group, they would never get a badge.
So, Zheng Dong stood up and sneered:
"If you want the badge, come and get it!"
As he spoke, he took out the badge from his chest and provocatively waved it.
A hint of ferocity flashed in Cao Teng's eyes.
"Then we won't be polite. If we don't hold back, you'd better shout for help quickly!"
With that, Cao Teng summoned his pets: the Wind Lightning Tiger Vulture, the Thunderfire Sprite, and the Thunder Prison Vajra.
All three pets had reached the Lord level in growth. Among them, the Wind Lightning Tiger Vulture had a wingspan of over five meters, looking incredibly majestic and imposing.
The Thunderfire Sprite resembled a ball of lightning and fire, playfully leaping on the Wind Lightning Tiger Vulture.
As for the Thunder Prison Vajra, it was enormous, like a small mountain. Its stomps shook the ground, and lightning flickered all over its body from time to time, giving off an aura of "stay away," inspiring fear.
Because Cao Teng's beast taming talent was the Blessing of Thunder, the pets he contracted were all thunder-element pets.
The Blessing of Thunder allowed the beast tamer and their pets to be immune to lightning damage, doubling the combat power of all thunder-element pets and enhancing all their attributes.
At the same time, Jiang Zi'an, Ma Yang, and others also summoned their respective pets.
This scene was also broadcast live by the Phantom Emperor onto the large screen in front of the main stage. Xiao Lin's brow furrowed, feeling that Zheng Dong was being targeted.
Unfortunately, the opponents were not violating any rules, so he had no right to protest.
Instead, the team leaders from cities like the Imperial Capital and Modu showed satisfied smiles.
If Zheng Dong was eliminated, their recommended candidates like Cao Teng would have a better chance.
As for Li Yang Chuanqi and Professor Huang Cheng on the main stage, they had no intention of intervening. Instead, they became interested, wanting to see how Zheng Dong would handle this.
Although Li Yang Chuanqi and Professor Huang Cheng didn't know Zheng Dong well, they had learned about the events at the Shendu Ancient Battlefield through Professor Xue Yin and believed that Zheng Dong would not be eliminated so easily.
As the pets were summoned, Cao Teng did not hold back at all and launched the first attack.
He used his beast taming talent, the Blessing of Thunder, to fully enhance the Wind Lightning Tiger Vulture, the Thunderfire Sprite, and the Thunder Prison Vajra.
Instantly, the Wind Lightning Tiger Vulture unleashed the ultimate skill Thunderstorm, with bolts of lightning pouring down like a torrential downpour. If struck, even a rock would be shattered.
Furthermore, the Thunderfire Sprite used the combination skill ultimate, Thunderfire World, seemingly turning the surroundings into a terrifying inferno of lightning and fire.
The Thunder Prison Vajra also unleashed the ultimate skill Thunder Roars Heaven and Earth.
All the attack power was locked onto Zheng Dong and Xiao Zi.
Of course, all of this was just the beginning.
The pets summoned by Jiang Zi'an and others were still charging up, preparing their attacks to deliver the final blow to Zheng Dong at any moment.
Facing all this, stubbornly confronting them head-on would definitely be unwise.
Zheng Dong also chose to evade the attack immediately.
He used the combination skill ultimate Earth Vein Leap to distance himself from the attack range of the Wind Lightning Griffon and other pets.
Xiao Zi used Spatial Teleportation, staying close to Zheng Dong.
Spatial Teleportation was an ultimate skill. Although Zheng Dong coveted it, he couldn't imprint it yet, otherwise, dealing with Cao Teng and the others would be even easier.
Subsequently, Zheng Dong chose to summon Youyou and merge with Youyou, unleashing the ultimate skill Eternal Night Illusion.
Eternal Night Illusion was an area-of-effect attack skill. Although Youyou's execution of it was not as powerful as the Dark Night Empress, pets whose growth level had not reached the Lord level would also fall into an illusion and struggle in pain.
In this way, over ninety percent of the surrounding pets would lose their combat effectiveness.
Unless they had skills that countered Eternal Night Illusion, or Lord-level pets with special healing skills to awaken them one by one.
However, Zheng Dong would not give them that time.
As Eternal Night Illusion erupted, the pets around them that were preparing to attack suddenly faltered, falling into painful struggles.
Some pets even unleashed skills unintentionally, friendly firing their own beast tamers.
This comical scene made Cao Teng and the others unable to laugh. They were all somewhat panicked, and even many beast tamers with weak mental strength fell into an endless illusion.
After all, even their strongest pets were only at the Lord level, and their mental strength had not reached the intermediate level.
Even the pets of top geniuses like Cao Teng and Jiang Zi'an fell into painful struggles, although they quickly recovered.
But this was not the end.
When these recovered pets, enraged, were about to attack Zheng Dong again, countless Samsara Karma Fire surged forward like a tide.