I will eventually become a divine being through accumulating constantly

At two o'clock in the afternoon.

Inside the room, Xue Jing waved his hand, causing the Oxygen-Absorbing Tree and Spider Plants to reverse-grow, shriveling back into seeds, while the sawdust and broken leaves on the floor gathered together without any breeze, forming a small mound.

Dark streams of air emerged from the shadows, condensing into a wisp of Dark Flame at Xue Jing's fingertips. With a flick, he propelled it toward the mound of sawdust and broken leaves.

The Dark Flame floated down onto the mound, suddenly expanding and burning fiercely. In a short while, it silently annihilated the mound into nothingness.

"Teacher Wan, I'm going to compete. Will you come with me?" Xue Jing looked towards Miao Miao sprawling lazily on the soft bed.

The latter yawned indolently: "Nope, I'm sleeping."

Xue Jing picked up the Crouching Rabbit Sword beside him and remarked casually, "Then I'm off. Don't open the door for strangers while you're alone in the room, okay?"

"Do I look like a kid to you?" Miao Miao retorted.

Xue Jing smiled, said no more, stood up, went to the door, opened it, and left.

Taking the elevator to the hotel lobby, he saw that a few familiar figures were already sitting in the resting area.

Yin Muhu, with his burly and strong stature... as well as the Xuanjiao Club members seated far from her, the short-statured Du Mingluan, Xiahou whose shoulder Xue Jing had crushed, and the middle-aged man Li.

The knockout competition would officially start at four in the afternoon, and the competitors like Xue Jing needed to arrive in advance, ready to depart.

The arrival of Xue Jing provoked a variety of expressions from those present.

Du Mingluan's youthful and delicate face tensed, his gaze lingered on the Crouching Rabbit Sword in Xue Jing's hand for a while.

Xiahou, on the other hand, instinctively avoided Xue Jing's gaze when their eyes met, unable to face him directly, his hand unconsciously touching his right shoulder.

Yin Muhu was the most natural of all; when she saw Xue Jing, her muscular face broke into a slight smile, and she greeted him with an incongruously sweet girlish voice,

"Xue."

Xue Jing also smiled and nodded at her: "Shady Girl."

"Aren't your matches not until tomorrow? Are you going to the venue to watch today?"

Yin Muhu replied, "Definitely. Everyone participating in this knockout competition is an expert. Even just watching can teach you a lot. Some things can only really be experienced on-site; you can't get that from a video."

"My agent, Wei, will be driving over to pick me up later. You can ride with me," Xue Jing offered with a smile.

Yin Muhu thought for a moment. She didn't have any other plans and was going to take a taxi anyway. Since a ride was available, there was no reason to refuse, so she nodded and agreed.

While they were conversing, Xue Jing's phone rang.

He pulled his phone from his pocket, glanced at the screen, and saw it was Jiang Siwei calling. He pressed the answer button.

"Hello, Wei."

"Have you reached the entrance? I'm coming out now."

After hanging up, Xue Jing said to Yin Muhu, "Let's go, Shady Girl."

Yin Muhu stood up, walked beside Xue Jing, and the two of them headed out the door together.

At that moment, Du Mingluan suddenly spoke up.

"Xue Jing."

"Hmm?" Xue Jing stopped and turned slightly, glancing at him curiously.

"We'll see each other on the field... don't lose halfway through," Du Mingluan said solemnly, looking at Xue Jing.

During yesterday's draw, he had drawn the eighth match, while Xue Jing's sixth match was in the same part of the draw.

This side of the draw would ultimately determine two advancing players. If both he and Xue Jing won the first two matches, they would meet in the third.

Only one of them could advance.

As last year's most valuable young prodigy of the Outer Ring, there were few participants in the Maple City knockout competition he deemed worthy of notice.

Xue Jing was one of them.

Since the draw result, he had considered Xue Jing his only adversary in this knockout competition.

Xue Jing glanced at him, simply nodded, and said with a smile, "Good luck to you, too."

Yin Muhu, however, had a peculiar expression on her face.

Once they left the hotel, Xiahou Shen looked towards Du Mingluan and commented with a clicking of his tongue,

"A fated rival in your youth, huh? How very youthful."

"But why do I feel like he doesn't take you seriously at all?"

Du Mingluan sneered: "You're the one with the huge mental shadow, aren't you? Did he crush your eggs and shoulder together?"

His gaze followed Xue Jing's retreating figure, his youthful face reflecting gravity and confidence:

"I will win."

Xiahou Shen just shrugged, "Just don't get cut down midway so you don't even have the chance to face him."

...

Maple City Stadium.

This was one of the largest sports arenas in the Fifth Urban Circle's Outer Ring, capable of accommodating nearly twenty thousand spectators.

A deep red sedan slowly stopped in the parking lot outside the stadium.

The back door opened, and Yin Muhu extricated her large frame from the car with some difficulty, taking a breath of relief:

"Finally here!"

With her size, getting into a car was always torturous, only able to squeeze in by bending and curling up the entire time.

On the other side, the front passenger door opened, and Xue Jing, carrying the Crouching Rabbit Sword, emerged and looked around.

The stadium doors were already open, with long queues at the entrance, steadily admitting the orderly stream of entrants.

The square outside of the stadium was also packed with spectators who had come to watch the matches in person.

After parking the car, Jiang Siwei walked up with a briefcase in her hand, smiling:

"Let's go. First, head to the main entrance. There's an internal staff passage there, and we can go straight through."

Yin Muhu looked at the large entrance congested with people and asked, "How are we going to get through? Using Qinggong to step over their heads?"