Chapter 566 - 556: The Highest Level Faction Cycle Battle

Chapter 566: Chapter 556: The Highest Level Faction Cycle Battle

With a slight smile, Mu Chen looked at the students in the White Camp, a hint of mischief in his voice. On the way to the registration desk, Chu Aoqing had explained all the different competition modes in the arena. One of them was perfect for him, and he was about to use it to gather enough Cultivation Resources to cover his penalty.

With that thought, Mu Chen turned and walked to the registration desk, calling out to the clerk, "I’m signing up for the King-of-the-Hill Cycle Battle! I’m applying to be the King, fixed at twenty matches. Codename: Calamity!"

"The King-of-the-Hill Cycle Battle? For a fixed twenty matches?"

The female clerk’s mouth fell open. She stared blankly at Mu Chen, speechless for a long moment. It wasn’t just her—even the Yun Sisters, Yun Yue and Yueyun, who were standing right beside him, were looking at him in utter disbelief.

The King-of-the-Hill Cycle Battle was a rather niche event in the arena. According to the rules, one person would sign up to be the first "King." There were no requirements to apply, but before the cycle began, the King had to set a base prize. This amount had to be between ten and twenty.

For example, if you entered a one-match Cycle Battle, you would have to put up ten days’ worth of Cultivation Resources as your stake, which would also be the final prize. The Attacker challenging you would have to put up the same amount. In this single-match cycle, whether the Attacker or the defender wins, the victor would get the other person’s stake and take back their own.

If there were three fixed matches and the King put down a ten-day stake, should the first Attacker fail, the prize pool would increase to twenty days. If the second Attacker also failed, the prize pool would grow to thirty. If the third Attacker failed as well, the King would win the entire accumulated prize pool of forty days.

However, if the second Attacker were to defeat the King, they would become the new defender, and the prize pool would continue to accumulate as before. If this new defender then successfully held the ring until the end of the third match, they would be the one to claim the forty days of Cultivation Resources. But if they too were defeated, the entire prize pool would go to the person who won the third and final match.

Therefore, the King-of-the-Hill Cycle Battle was essentially a Double-Edged Sword. After all, there was always someone stronger out there. Powerful experts who encountered these battles often wouldn’t join immediately. Instead, they would wait for others to build up the prize pool, only to appear in the final match and snatch away all the accumulated Cultivation Resources in one fell swoop.

As such, only those with extreme confidence in their own strength would ever participate. In the three-plus years the two sisters had been in the Inner Mountain, they had frequented the arena a fair number of times, yet they had seen fewer than five of these Cycle Battles. Of those, four had been for three matches, and only one had been for five.

And in the end, the person who had attempted the five-match challenge was defeated in the final round by another powerful student, forced to dejectedly hand over the prize he had painstakingly built up over four consecutive wins.

’And yet, this guy, codenamed Calamity, just asked for twenty matches right off the bat! Even with the minimum ten-day base stake, the final winner would get two hundred days’ worth of Cultivation Resources. If he could actually last until the end, he could indeed make back the amount for his penalty all at once. But if he lost even a single match, not only would he lose the entire accumulated prize pool, he’d forfeit his own stake as well. Does he really think all the students here are on the same level as those guys from the alleyway?!’

But Mu Chen didn’t have time to notice the sisters’ expressions. He was starting to get creeped out by the clerk’s staring. Exasperated, he tapped the registration counter. "Is there something on my face?"

The clerk snapped out of her daze. She looked very seriously at the red markings on Mu Chen’s black mask and replied with great certainty, "Yes."

Mu Chen was floored. He had no desire to keep bantering with this airheaded clerk. "Could you just register me, please?" he said, his voice laced with exasperation.

The clerk eyed Mu Chen suspiciously. She reached out and touched his forehead, then touched her own. "You don’t have a fever," she announced loudly. "So why would you choose the highest-level Cycle Battle? Twenty matches! Ever since the arena was established in the Inner Mountain, not one person has ever chosen this level. Are you sure you’re not joking?"

Mu Chen’s voice suddenly turned cold. Mindful of the time, he said with icy calm, "Do you think I have time to be joking around?"

The clerk’s expression finally changed, but it quickly settled into one of extreme composure. She had been a clerk at the arena for a long time, and in that time, she had seen all kinds of students and situations. Yet, she had never met a newcomer as unpredictable as this one. He had literally just arrived today, and he’d already left a profound impression on her. But as an outsider, it wasn’t her place to say more. She cooled her expression and asked matter-of-factly, "Do you know the rules for the King-of-the-Hill Cycle Battle?"

Mu Chen nodded. The clerk took a deep breath and looked at him. "Even so, I have to go over the specific regulations. For the Cycle Battle, participants cannot have a Cultivation level at or above the Venerable Realm. No single-use external Treasure Artifacts are permitted. No killing intent. No Forbidden Level Secret Techniques. However, you *are* allowed to use Magical Beast partners. Do you understand all of this?"

Mu Chen nodded again. ’It’s precisely because of these rules that I dare to take on this challenge!’ Based on his earlier fight against the nineteen Emperor Realm Martial Artists, he estimated his current strength was enough to perform Tier Jumping and challenge an ordinary Eighth-Ring Martial Emperor. But that wasn’t his real trump card, the one that guaranteed his victory. His true ace in the hole was... Xiaohai!

The clerk quickly wrote the name "Calamity" on the Engraving Crystal, then asked, "Tell me the stake you’re putting down."

"Fifteen days."

This time, the clerk wasn’t surprised or stunned. It was as if she had already grown accustomed to Mu Chen’s antics. She simply held out her right hand to him.

Mu Chen paused, taken aback. He gave the clerk a confused look, and after a moment’s hesitation, asked, "Are you sure?"

The clerk’s expression soured. "Of course!"

"Alright, alright." Resigned, Mu Chen placed his right hand on top of the clerk’s, his gaze drifting up toward the ceiling of the passage.

The clerk nearly fainted from rage. She snatched her hand back and smacked the back of Mu Chen’s hand. SMACK!

Mu Chen recoiled his hand in pain. "What was that for?!" he asked, confused.

"I meant give me the Cultivation Resources!" the clerk snapped. "What are you giving me your hand for?!"

Mu Chen was dumbfounded. He rolled his eyes. "You didn’t say anything! You just stuck out a paw. How was I supposed to know what you wanted?"

"You’re the one with paws!!"

The clerk’s chest heaved. She swore to herself that this was the most emotionally volatile day of her entire life, and the source of it all was this completely unreliable newcomer standing right in front of her!

Taking the golden bracelet Mu Chen handed over, the clerk stared at it for a long moment before looking up at him with an odd expression. "I didn’t realize you had this kind of... preference. Using a women’s Resource Meter."

Yun Yue let out a laugh at the comment, but it died in her throat when she remembered that the fifteen days’ worth of Cultivation Resources in that bracelet were about to be gambled away. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it was what she and her sister had painstakingly saved up for a whole month. She was more than happy to let Mu Chen use it to pay off his penalty, but seeing him use it as a gambling stake made her heart ache.

Yueyun seemed to sense her sister’s mood. She reached out with her small, pale hand, squeezed Yun Yue’s tightly, and shook her head, signaling for her not to worry. Resigned, Yun Yue let it go, releasing the knot of anxiety in her heart. Now, she found herself becoming curious about Mu Chen’s decision. She couldn’t understand what kind of confidence a person must have to utter the two words, "twenty matches."

The application process for the King-of-the-Hill Cycle Battle was originally quite complicated, but because the event had become the most unpopular in the arena, applying was now exceptionally simple and smooth.

Ten minutes later, the clerk handed the bracelet back to Mu Chen and nodded. "The application is complete. You’d better not wander off for the next few minutes. Since you’re the first student this year to apply for a Cycle Battle—and for the highest level of twenty fixed matches, no less—the arena has decided to notify everyone present via voice transmission. If all goes well, the battle should start within five minutes."

Mu Chen was pleasantly surprised. The sooner, the better, as he was quite looking forward to the so-called Camp Battle. He took the golden bracelet and immediately offered it back to Yun Yue. "Thanks for lending me these Cultivation Resources," he said apologetically. "I’ll pay you back in full shortly. Here, take this back."

The expression behind Yun Yue’s mask was one of resignation. She took the golden bracelet, only to place it back in Mu Chen’s hand. "Do you even have a Resource Meter?" she asked.

Mu Chen froze for a second, then scratched the back of his head. "Now that you mention it, I guess I don’t."

Yun Yue shook her head and pushed the golden bracelet back to him again. "Since you don’t, you should just hold onto it for now. The chances might be slim, but on the off chance you actually win this Cycle Battle, how would you transfer the Cultivation Resources without one?"

Hearing this, Mu Chen gave Yun Yue a grateful look. "Thanks. But let’s head to the rest area. It feels weird just standing here."

Yun Yue and Yueyun both nodded and followed Mu Chen out of the passage. Just then, a clear, pleasant voice echoed from within the arena, ringing in the mind of every person present...