"You confirm it's just a meeting, and nothing else will happen, right?"

She was an exceptionally beautiful woman, and only those two words could describe her.

Some women's beauty is like a bouquet, a bird in a cage.

Some have an intellectual beauty, like a museum,

But on her, there was a unique, dangerously mysterious aura more powerful than a "keep away" sign.

Like a difficult-to-decipher symbol.

Not being an adventurer, she didn't make it to the "Annual Goddess Manual". The guild wanted to promote their blockbuster, but she remained an uncrowned queen, consistently topping other guild lists outside the female adventurer rankings.

The star of Evgeny Consortium's musician management company, Qili.

"I also... don't know."

The assistant looked troubled. She had consulted the company's top management yesterday, but Qili still wanted to see if there was a way to refuse, and the answer was no.

The Pope of the Eternal Sect, aside from large national ceremonies, could only be seen at the Continent Martial Arts Competition, one of the few occasions for ordinary people to approach him.

The company's top management replied that the Pope had explicitly mentioned this matter, and everyone had to do their utmost to make it happen.

This left Qili distracted from her performance tonight. She specifically asked someone to investigate, it was likely due to the conflict between the Royal Court and the Sect; they couldn't afford a messy fallout at home, so they started in Mulong.

It seemed the Church gained the upper hand, and this was considered a reward.

They mentioned a deputy of a formation, belonging to the Religious Court within the Church, and Qili immediately thought of those individuals over two meters tall clad in heavy armor.

Given Qili's high commercial value, unlike ordinary musicians, even without a patron, she was overwhelmed with endorsement deals, and resources flowed to her naturally.

Apart from the company executives, she didn't have to heed anyone.

Today was the first time.

Theoretically, individuals at the pinnacle of power in the Western Continent, like the Pope, would never have any relation to her.

This deputy, from Qili's perspective, shouldn't have a high status, and maybe they did achieve a significant and decisive victory in Mulong.

Her guess was correct.

After annihilating the Eighteenth Formation of the Time Sword, under Fen's manipulation, the news sent back to Aran was that the Eighteenth Formation fought fiercely, and even though the Evil Dragon Judges were all killed, this dragon-slaying battle was extremely difficult. Only a few survived, but they completed the mission and returned the Dragon Corpse home.

This narrative was too devout!

As the ultimate paranoid, the Pope, noticing the recent rise of inexpensive energy industries available to civilians, went crazy seeking validation.

This challenge to the Emperor at the Continent Martial Arts Festival seemed to be the antidote to his psychological issues, hence, it was heavily emphasized.

Simply put, the gist is, isn't it just about killing a dragon? Those who don't know might think you wiped out all the Thirteen Holy Spirits.

"You don't know..."

Qili pondered for a moment; neither did she understand.

Does the company management not care? This could lead to a terrible public relations crisis, impacting future various businesses.

Later, the event organizers will come to consult about the recital, coordinating the program order with other performers.

It had to be temporarily set aside; it's not her first time, and she was well-practiced.

Usually, the one performing first has an advantage, as the industry avoids repetitive visual fatigue. Organizers have money to burn, and only the top-tier talents can participate.

Or they're currently trending, like a girl group that's very popular west of the Narrow Sea.

But Qili didn't mind, order was irrelevant; she hoped to gradually fade from the public eye, but the company management wouldn't allow it.

Meanwhile.

The interview site for the top sixteen competitors.

The congestion was anticipated by the organizers, so the location was outdoors, a garden plaza fragrant with flowers, with temporary scenery set up.

It was midsummer in September, hot weather, yet numerous journalists and editors charged like mad dogs. Only with the Royal City Army maintaining order was it not chaotic.

As it was a four-person group interview.

Ghost Eye Mad Blade, Orphan Maker, Corpse Collector, and Sky Prisoner were grouped together.

Clearly, the organizers were skilled in hyping attention, putting together four women for topic relevance, while Saleret's group was truly hard to evaluate.

It was entirely a rotten group; besides Corpse Collector emerging from nowhere, the other three were long-established names.

Sky Prisoner Daniel, long active in Yalan South Province's Suspended City, owed a great debt to the Lord of the Suspended City, and served as a substitute fighter, handling all those wanting to challenge him.

Thus called the Sky Prisoner.

His bad reputation likened to a snow leopard, most people only dared engage in verbal criticism behind his back, using a puppet as a target, a substitute, creating a deconstruction phenomenon.

The catch is, he's very handsome, and accepted the organizers' arrangements to spruce up a little.

Astute reporters asked about relationship issues.

Corpse Collector Calvin was extremely introverted, the type with a brain disorder, answered off the wall to any question, a complete psychopath, exhibiting extreme cruelty in martial arts with no survivors or whole corpses, thus placed in the bad group,

Ivanovic was an even bigger heavyweight.

"Is the live detector real? Do you truly use the rumored method to search for survivors?"

A reporter asked the question everyone wanted to know.

Orphan Maker, as the name suggests, was exceedingly kind-hearted, never annihilating whole families.

"Of course that's fake. People nowadays love to embellish. Most of the time, I was tricked and caught in setups by others, and had no choice but to act in self-defense, to... humanely deal with those guys."

Ivanovic squinted with a smile, scratching the back of his head, appearing honest, attending the Continent Martial Arts Competition to clean his record and start fresh from today.

But some things can't be faked, never practiced fake smiling, facial muscles twitching like cramps, bulging veins at the temples, and one eye was a magic energy industrial prosthetic with terrifying scars around it, definitely didn't look like a good guy.

Annihilating families...

Here it is.

"Why is Ghost Eye Mad Blade not here?"

A reporter asked.

Because Saleret was absent, leaving only an empty seat.

The organizers could only reply that he was actively preparing for battle.

In reality, Saleret was paranoid, convinced that crowded places must have thieves lurking, refusing to come no matter what.

"It's solid! According to every classic trope, the ones who don't show are surely the best! One of the original champion candidates got killed by him, and now he's a popular pick! Betting on him to win tonight is a sure thing, definitely winning without a doubt!"

A reporter from the adventurer's guild wrote frantically.

Meanwhile on the other side.

Disguised as a reporter, Ben also arrived at the garden plaza where the ladies' interviews were happening.

Finding the congestion unbelievable, even standing at the back he heard the hottest topics ahead.

"Miss Kai Deng, are you really made of neodymium copper? It's alright, you're listed as our guild's independent goddess candidate, with countless adventurers supporting your choice!"

"Does the Overlord Descendant truly exist, how much truth was in last night's paper?"

"Where is Alicia now?"

These questions nearly overwhelmed Kai Deng, feeling great to be the focus, but she could only follow Diaz's script.

Despite how attention-grabbing the four ladies' outfits were, Kai Deng's topics of discussion were too prominent, all focused on her.

Sword King's apprentice, Highway Ranger, Lady of Golden Land, all gazed at her, attracted by this tidbit of gossip.

"At that time, I was indeed eliminating a threat to the people, searching for Liszt's treasure..."

Before Kai Deng could finish.

Ben, with more vigor than usual, easily pushed to the front row amidst shoving.

Anyway, Mr. Li was going to die tonight, everything about Kai Deng would be laid bare, might as well choose the most explosive way to go out.

"Diaz, he's collecting pieces of the Netherworld Stele! He's collected many! I heard, you're the collector this one."

Ben shouted at the top of his lungs, laying the groundwork for what's to come next.

The crowd was in an uproar!

Ace against ace!

"You motherfucker!"

Kai Deng stood straight, who the hell did this idiot think he is?

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