Chapter 296 - Dungeons

"GUYS! Let's go watch the big fight in the arena!" an enthusiastic young man shouted while almost jumping up and down in anticipation.

Three people were standing in front of him with wide grins.

"Way ahead of you! We already booked the seats, let's go quickly!"

And they along with hundreds of thousands of others made their way to the already crowded arena in the City of Fortuna.

The same scene could be seen playing out all over the two Kingdoms in almost every major area. Gigantic holographic screens were projected in the middle of cities and towns to showcase the entirety of this upcoming fight.

And it was even broadcasted to the Empires that were backing them as they also held a vested interest in the matter.

The fight between the best and brightest of Mei and Jia was not a small matter in any sense of the word.

It was blown out of proportion by the respective kingdoms and marketed as the 'event of the century'.

Some of these new heroes would rise to become the very protectors and leaders of their Kingdoms, and the others would be scouted by foreign powers to join them.

Both the overseeing Empires were keeping a very close eye on the event.

A week after the 'competition' started, a petition was created that was signed by over 20 billion people in less than 5 days across the two kingdoms.

It asked that the competition be opened to all the cultivators belonging to the two kingdoms.

At first, it was ignored by the higher-ups but when the news reached the empires, they thought it would be a great idea. This would not only help chose potential candidates for new leaders but also help uncover hidden geniuses.

Which is why each Empire personally gave out several treasures that were hidden in the middle of the arena.

****

Now, a little over two months had passed.

There were 15 dungeons created within the boundary of the area where the competition was taking place. Each dungeon held some kind of a treasure that could be taken by anyone.

There 7 dungeons on the side of Mei, 7 on the side of Jia, and the biggest one was smack dab in the middle of them all.

This 15th dungeon held the two biggest and the most valuable treasures that were provided by the Empires along with hundreds of other resources.

The only problem was that each dungeon was protected by a virtual army of beasts and anyone that tried to get to the treasure would have to not only fight off the beasts, but also the opposing army.

The battle that was taking place today was for the 15th dungeon. 10 of the others had already been claimed.

7 by the Jia and 3 by Mei.

Countless people were sitting in front of their TVs, computers, many had chosen to go out and watch the fight unfold with their friends in arenas and such.

Every single business was showing the exact same broadcast right now.

***

In the new Khan residence, the entire family including Maaz who had taken the day off were sitting in the living room. Usually, Mr. and Mrs. Khan did not allow the children to watch such violent things but for some reason, they had made an exception this time around.

They didn't say why but they wanted everyone to watch it together and were even cheering for someone, which surprised the kids.

The Ninth Captain of the Red Legion was their favorite champion, for whatever reason.

***

In the Den, the entire staff was sitting in front of a massive hologram.

At the back were two absolutely stunning ladies that sat there hand in hand. It wasn't obvious whether others were avoiding them or they were avoiding the other staff members, but no one bothered them.

"Is it him again?" one of them asked the other one mischievously.

"Mhm," the other, blonde one, nodded somewhat shyly.

*Sigh*

The first girl glanced at the blonde one pitifully.

She had been hoping to catch a glimpse of the man that didn't even come see her once after they met for the first time all those months ago.

He had probably completely forgotten about her and moved on, yet this stupid girl was still looking for him everywhere. She had lost so much weight that she could barely even stand up on her own.

But as her friend, what else could she do other than just being there for her?

***

In First's house, Anya was sitting in front of the TV while cutting up some vegetables for dinner.

Next to her was Xu Qing who was holding on to little Xin Qiye while he drooled all over her while playing with her hair.

Anya glanced at the TV every now and then and smiled when the announcement came on.

"It's about to begin. Your 'man' will be coming on anytime now," she said teasingly.

Xu Qing acted like she didn't hear her and continued playing with Xin Qiye, but the blush going down her cheeks said otherwise.

***

In a restaurant that was completely booked out, two people sat in the back having a drink.

One of them was Yangdi, while the person next to him was Rade, the Royal guard that Hao Xuan met while running away from the pit.

"Why is he even participating?" Rade asked while one-shotting the entire glass.

Yangdi took a small sip and put the rest down before smiling.

"I have absolutely no idea. I only handle his assets. What he does and why, your guess is as good as mine."

Rade sucked his teeth while looking at the screen, "It does look like fun though."

Yangdi shook his head, "I wouldn't know. I don't usually partake in these kinds of things," he said looking at the screen that was showing a top-down view of an absolutely massive old temple.

It was at least 20 kilometers square in size and was covered in old vines and tree roots. There were thousands upon thousands of beasts in and around it.

Some as small as a few inches, others several hundred meters in size.

But the one thing common in between them was that they all looked like various mutations of the scorpions from earth.

Some had 10-15 legs with tails that were 4 times the size of their entire bodies.. While others were so colorful that they looked like someone had made them out of clay.