62: Chapter 62 How is that possible?

"Dark Horse of Cangnan City, I acknowledge your strength and foundation," Lu Zhou spoke indifferently, his tone calm and solemn, without a shred of arrogance, brimming with the rigor of facing an opponent squarely. "To fight your way out of Cangnan City and reach the top five, you are certainly no mere name. Whether it is tactical thinking, trump card reserves, or cross-tier combat power, it is enough for me to treat you with my full strength."

"However, my Star Clan legion has been formed for many years. The Star Formation is both offensive and defensive with uncrackable crowd control, and the linkage of two thousand vassals is my greatest reliance. I will bring out my full strength to duel with you and see just how much capability the darkest horse of Cangnan is hiding."

What he said was not false.

The eight hundred and sixty-seven humanoid vassals of the Star Clan stood tall and straight, their bodies wreathed with fine, brilliant starlight spots. Every single one possessed precise secret techniques of Star Shooting, Star Shield, and Star Imprisonment. Under cluster combat, they could deploy the Star Formation, integrating offense and defense with maxed-out crowd control.

Coupled with four leading A-grade vassals of different attributes and top-tier combat power acting as overall commanders, while the remaining auxiliary, reconnaissance, and assault vassals made up for any shortcomings, the entire lineup was completely flawless with maxed-out fault tolerance.

Facing Lu Zhou's aggressive pressure and the audience's pessimism, Lin Ye's expression remained calm, without a shred of fluctuation: "Whether we can win or not, we definitely have to try it out!"

No one knew that he was no longer what he used to be.

His subordinate combat system had long completed an all-rounded transformation. Aside from the successfully advanced S-grade Shahun Hound and S-grade Soul-Devouring Owl, there was also the Iron-Bone Turtle's ultimate absolute defense, the Demonic Blood Python's deadly venom and terrifying constriction, and the Plague Seed Mosquito's uncrackable area-of-effect plague, making his entire combat power system achieve an almost perfect closed loop.

And he knew very clearly in his heart that there was no protection mechanism in the State Competition arena; if a vassal died in battle, it meant complete extinction and inability to revive.

This was also the cruelest rule of the State Competition. Every vassal he had painstakingly nurtured was hard-earned and must never be wantonly consumed.

Therefore, Lin Ye instantly finalized his battle lineup, dispatching only three of the safest, lowest-loss vassals sufficient to crush the opponent into battle.

"Then it will be the Shahun Hound, Iron-Bone Turtle, and Shadow Fox!"

"Are both sides ready?!"

"I will remind you once again: this battle is a real battle, and the death of a vassal is a true death!"

"If one side concedes, the other must stop immediately. I will disconnect your link within three seconds!"

"Neither side is allowed to attack the other's Divine Kingdom core. Anyone who dares to strike the Divine Kingdom core will be heavily punished without exception!"

"Did you all hear and understand?!" A high-tier True God referee walked up to the two and said.

"Understood!" Both nodded simultaneously.

Soon, the referee brought the two to the battle positions and even took out a card flashing with spiritual light.

"This card is called the Divine Kingdom Link Card. After linking, a battleground with a radius of 500 square kilometers will be generated between the two of you, with a random battle environment. After I say start, you can command your vassals to head to the battleground. The passage will be completely retained, and you can mobilize vassals to support your own at any time, or even attack the opponent's Divine Kingdom through the passage. Is everything clear and understood?!"

The two nodded simultaneously once again.

The referee directly stuck the Divine Kingdom Link Card onto the two of them. In an instant, a passage suddenly appeared in Lin Ye's Divine Kingdom, at the end of which was a vast wasteland.

With a thought from Lin Ye, the passage opened!

"Shahun Hound, Iron-Bone Turtle, Shadow Fox, enter the battle!"

Rumble—!

Monstrous ink-black baleful aura instantly swept across the entire wasteland, and a biting, tyrannical fierce aura exploded with a bang, forming an extreme contrast with the arena's mild spiritual energy. An aura far surpassing A-grade, a supremely pure S-grade ferocious beast pressure, overbearingly swept across the entire venue!

Covered in dark red markings with baleful energy condensed into substance, the Shahun Hound stepped out. Its body was burly and ferocious, and every step it took caused the runes of the arena to tremble slightly. A bloodthirsty and tyrannical beastly aura hit people directly in the face, crushing the entire venue!

Heavy as a mountain, the Iron-Bone Turtle, whose tortoise shell was covered in layers of defensive divine patterns, slowly emerged. It steadily guarded the rear, spreading out an ultimate defense aura to build a solid foundation of invincibility.

Countless black afterimages hid in the void. The Shadow Fox concealed itself in the region intertwined with baleful aura and shadows, silently waiting for the opportunity to assassinate.

At this moment, the entire venue fell into dead silence!

Above the stands, the pupils of the top five from Cangnan City shrank sharply, their faces filled with disbelief!

Ye Feng's entire body stiffened. All the mockery, disdain, and excitement on his face instantly solidified, his mind went completely blank with a roar, and the obsession and self-confidence deep in his heart shattered by more than half in an instant!

Last night when Lin Ye said he was "enhancing his strength," Ye Feng only took it as an excuse for the other party to put up a stubborn front, considering it self-comfort from an F-grade Divine Kingdom!

But at this moment, the solid, unmasked S-grade ferocious beast pressure hit him right in the face, completely impossible to fake!

The Marrow-Eating Demon Hound... actually advanced again! It actually broke through the shackles and transformed into an S-grade vassal!

How could this be possible!

In just two days and nights of recuperation, a trash-god Divine Kingdom with a mere F-grade rating had actually forcefully nurtured an S-grade main combat vassal!

Ye Feng clenched his teeth tightly, his palms gripping so hard his knuckles turned white. Monstrous waves surged in his heart, and extreme grievance and panic swept across his entire body.

His proudest trump card, the S-grade Hell Three-Headed Hound, was no longer his reliance. Lin Ye's trump card was far more terrifying than he imagined by a hundred times!

Beside him, Xiao Qingwu's typically cold and rippleless eyes also stirred with a faint ripple at this moment. Her gaze locked firmly onto the Shahun Hound on the arena, her eyes full of astonishment and solemnity.

She had long overestimated Lin Ye, yet she hadn't expected that the other party was still endlessly concealing his strength, shattering everyone's cognition with every move.

Wan Tianlu and Jiang Mingliang also had shocked expressions, staring blankly at the all-encompassing baleful aura, completely subverting all their previous understandings of Lin Ye.

Meanwhile, the complete scene of Lin Ye's Divine Kingdom was also thoroughly exposed to the entire audience's view along with the summons of the vassals.

That was a boundless ink-black baleful aura Divine Kingdom. Between heaven and earth, it was filled with the pure, tyrannical, black-and-red origin of baleful spirit Qi. There was no spiritual light or auspiciousness, no starry grandeur, no vegetation vitality, only endless killing, annihilation, and fierce baleful Qi lingering and churning.

No one had ever expected that such a desolate, tyrannical, destruction-filled baleful aura Divine Kingdom could actually nurture such a top-tier, terrifyingly powerful S-grade ferocious beast vassal, shattering everyone's inherent understanding of Divine Kingdom cultivation!

Ordinary Divine Kingdoms had gentle spiritual energy that nourished vassals and allowed peaceful advancement, but Lin Ye's baleful aura Divine Kingdom actually used slaughter to nurture combat power and tyranny to forge fierce bodies, forcefully tempering uncrackable fierce beasts!

After a brief shock, the top university tutors of the Federation, military high-ranking officials, and core government officials in the VIP seats all reined in their contempt, furrowing their brows tightly with increasingly solemn expressions.

They were knowledgeable and experienced, instantly recalling a few tragedies in Federation history caused by baleful Qi origins and fierce baleful Divine Kingdoms.

Such Divine Kingdoms were extremely rare, with heaven-defying growth potential and cross-tier combat power that could be called uncrackable. However, they were also the most dangerous, extremely prone to breeding endless murderous intent. Once control was lost, it would be a catastrophic disaster capable of destroying cities and exterminating land. The Federation had always been researching them, yet had no way to master and control them.

Therefore, this baleful Qi was a taboo Divine Kingdom type that the Federation had always focused on and strictly guarded against!