vstars Chapter 650 eliminated? Sorry, we're number 1!
Chapter 650 eliminated? Sorry, we're number 1!
Duan Wuliang was the first to react.
He was sitting in the front row of the Fourth Prince's group. When he saw Chen Fan come out, he was stunned for a moment, and then a gloating smile slowly appeared on his lips.
He turned to Song Tianren beside him and whispered, "Fellow Daoist Song, look, Chen Fan is out. It's only been half an hour, right? The Gu Formation Battle gave us three hours, and he came out so quickly, so the formation must have failed."
Song Tianren raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over Chen Fan. A hint of surprise flashed in his dark eyes, which was then replaced by a deeper sense of amusement.
He said calmly, "I've said it before: fighting with Gu worms and fighting with Gu formations are two different things. He has some skill in formations, but Gu formations are not ordinary formations. He left the formation after half an hour, either because he knew he couldn't turn the tide and gave up, or because he failed to set up the formation and was eliminated. Either way, it's good news for us."
On the west side of the stands, Wang Zhenyue sat upright in his seat, his old, calm eyes also turning towards Chen Fan.
His face was expressionless, but the barely perceptible curve at the corner of his mouth revealed a hint of gloating coldness.
Behind him, a guest of the Wang family chuckled softly, "Master, this eunuch made it into the top three in the Gu Insect Competition by luck, but he won't be so lucky in the Gu Formation Competition. He'll be out in half an hour; he probably won't even have time to set up the basic structure of his Gu Formation before he's eliminated."
Wang Zhenyue didn't reply, but simply picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked at Chen Fan for a moment before looking away.
In his view, although Chen Fan's performance in the Gu worm battle was somewhat unexpected, it was ultimately just a matter of taking advantage of a Gu worm with extraordinary talent.
The Gu Formation Battle requires a profound understanding of the Dao of Formations and a long-term relationship with the Gu worms. Neither of these is something a eunuch who has only recently entered the profession can possess.
They went into battle in half an hour. What other explanation could there be but failure?
The discussions among the other cultivators in the stands gradually grew louder.
The Gu cultivators of the Snake Gu Clan were the most gloating, openly mocking, "Isn't this that Grand Elder Chen from Zhao Kingdom? He got lucky and made it into the top three in the Gu Insect Battle by a bye, but there's no such thing as a bye in the Gu Formation Battle. Half an hour has passed, and I doubt he even had time to put his Gu worms into the formation's core!"
"So what if he's first in both alchemy and formations? Gu formations and ordinary formations are completely different things. Does he think that just because he won first place in formations in the Zhao Kingdom's selection, he can come to the grasslands and show off? What a joke."
"This time, the Zhao Kingdom has truly lost face. At least they made it into the top three in the Gu Insect Competition, but they were eliminated in the Gu Formation Competition. I wonder how the Crown Prince will explain this to the King when he returns."
……
Qin Zhan sat on the east side of the stands, his fingers turning slightly white from the force he was applying.
Although he didn't know much about Gu formations, he knew that Chen Fan had won first place in formations during the Zhao Kingdom's selection process.
Although there are differences between ordinary formations and Gu formations, given Chen Fan's mastery of formations, he wouldn't give up after only half an hour.
Could it be that the Gu formation is really too troublesome?
Or is it that the Gu worms provided by the conference are incompatible with Chen Fan's Golden Cicada?
He stood up, intending to walk towards Chen Fan, but then stopped.
He saw that Chen Fan's clean, beardless face still wore that same unchanging, indifferent expression.
Qin Zhan was all too familiar with this expression.
His intuition told him that things were probably not that simple!
On the high platform to the north, the Gu woman sat in the main seat, her insect-shell cane gently tapping the ground.
She saw Chen Fan walk out and heard the mocking voices in the arena, but her face remained expressionless.
She merely tilted her head slightly and gave a wink to a Gu cultivator steward beside her who was in charge of compiling the results.
The steward understood and quietly withdrew from the platform.
Seeing Chen Fan approach, Duan Wuliang deliberately raised his voice: "Elder Chen, why are you out so quickly? You had three hours to set up the formation, and you finished in half an hour. Could it be that you set up a fifth-grade Gu formation?"
He deliberately emphasized the words "fifth grade," which drew laughter from the surrounding demonic cultivators.
Chen Fan walked past him without stopping, not even glancing at him.
This complete disregard caused Duan Wuliang's smile to freeze for a moment, before it was replaced by deeper anger.
He gritted his teeth, about to say something more, but was stopped by Song Tianren's eyes.
"There's no need to argue with him." Song Tianren's voice remained calm, yet carried an undeniable chill. "Once the Gu Woman announces the results of the Gu Formation Battle, he naturally won't be laughing anymore."
Time passed slowly. The three-hour time limit for setting up the formation finally came to an end, and the entrance to the sealed area reopened, with the participants emerging one after another.
Blood Cicada walked calmly at the front, clearly quite satisfied with his Gu formation. Behind him followed Snake Spirit of the Snake Gu Department, whose complexion was better than in the previous Gu Insect Battle, but whose emerald green pupils still couldn't help but contract slightly upon seeing Chen Fan.
Further behind were a dozen or so Gu cultivators from various departments. Some had a resolute expression, some had a solemn look, and some had a numb expression of resignation.
Once all the candidates had arrived, the Gu woman stood up, tapped her insect staff lightly, and the entire square fell silent again.
"The judging of the Gu Formation Battle is complete." The Gu Maiden's voice was hoarse and slow, yet clearly reached the ears of everyone present. "A total of thirty-seven people participated in this Gu Formation Battle. The judging panel scored them based on four indicators: the grade of the Gu formation, its power, its stability, and the compatibility between the Gu worms and the formation. The rankings are as follows..."
She paused, her cloudy old eyes slowly sweeping across the entire arena, before announcing, word by word, "Third place: Blood Cicada of the Blood Gu Clan, Rank 5 Upper-level Blood Gu Formation, score 87."
Xue Chanzi's composure froze slightly before returning to normal.
Third place was barely acceptable to him, since Gu formations were not his forte.
"Second place, Mo Ke of the Corpse Gu Clan, Fifth Grade Peak Corpse Gu Formation, 91 points."
A low murmur rippled through the stands, and the Gu cultivators of the Corpse Gu Clan wore expressions of satisfaction.
"First place..." The Gu woman's voice suddenly rose a few decibels, and a meaningful light flashed in her cloudy old eyes. "Zhao Kingdom's Hall of Worship, Chen Fan. Rank 6, Initial Stage, Spirit Devouring Gu Array, score 98. He set up a Rank 6 Gu Array using standard array flags and array plates, breaking the 300-year record of the Gu Array Battle at the Hundred Sects Tournament."
The entire place fell silent. Even the wind on the grassland seemed to stop at that moment.
Duan Wuliang's face looked as if it had been covered in glue; he opened his lips several times but couldn't utter a single word.
He was just publicly mocking Chen Fan for taking the field in half an hour, but in the blink of an eye, Chen Fan won first place!
Moreover, it is the first time that a three-hundred-year record has been broken.
His earlier words, "They came out in half an hour, so the formation probably failed," still echoed in his ears, but now they felt like a resounding slap in the face.