Death… And Me

Chapter 3871: Close

Why the attacks? Wasn’t survival a priority? Well, let’s not forget that everyone in this gathering was part of the top disciples and the big geniuses of their own organizations. That said, many of them were bound to be carrying a lot of valuables. It was definitely worth it to attack, kill, and take their Spatial Rings away. They weren’t like the twins’ group, who could put their things inside their Pocket Dimensional Realms. Such a thing only became available at the Void Tempring Realm.

Of course, there were also more fights due to other reasons, like powers at odds for whatever reason. Or maybe the participants just wanted to test their strength before the next event of the gathering, confident they could survive ten hours and also fight at the same time.

Now and then, the twins’ group would bump into some unlucky individuals who thought they were good prey. Rean and the others were only in the ’Nascent Soul Realm Middle Stage,’ after all. At least that’s what it looked like in everyone’s eyes.

---

As the hours passed, the gathering was transmitted live to the whole Surute Region. Of course, it was only available in the Surute Region. If you were outside of that area, you couldn’t watch it. The official website didn’t even open for you. Anyway, if you were there, you could literally access the official website and select a specific cultivator, demon beast, or spirit to follow them closely. It was a good way to promote one’s organization, especially those who relied heavily on recruitment.

And, as one could expect, the various online forums and chats ended up finding their own favourite participants. Little by little, those who stood out received more and more live views, thanks to their performance.

Of these, the participants with the biggest number of followers were mainly those in the Soul Transformation Realm. It made sense since they had higher cultivation, so they looked more flashy, and their fights for survival were more interesting.

There were exceptions, of course. The top one, the one with by far the highest number of live viewers, was a certain Black and White bird. And yes, 99% of those viewers were female. Who else could it be if not The Great Kentucky?

How did it end like that? The reason was actually pretty simple. It all started with The Great Kentucky Fan Club! Basically, the majority of the girls back in the Liantrel Sect joined together to spread the word in the Werdlem Network.

It goes without saying that someone who has already started the gathering with a higher number of viewers would attract more attention in the network earlier. So, as more girls connected to Kentucky’s kind of live stream, the more devotees Kentucky acquired.

Did Kentucky know about it? You can bet he did! He purposely put on great displays, showing all his good sides while fighting and surviving in the midst of the storms. The elders and other leaders who took a look couldn’t help but wonder if that Demon Beast knew the meaning of danger at all.

But then again, it was easy to check Kentucky’s information, so they understood Kentucky was a Minokawa, a Divine Demon Beast famous for its impressive defense. Even better, Kentucky was strong! He beat down everyone who came after him... including a few male members of his own sect.

He was constantly hit by attacks, too. He couldn’t possibly avoid everything, or that would be too ridiculous in everyone’s eyes. But he relied strongly on his enormous defense, which was the obvious thing to do if you were a Minokawa like him.

Every time a new enemy appeared, the Surute Region’s Werdlem Network exploded in comments of angry girls cursing everyone who dared to try to hurt their beloved Kentucky.

Without a doubt, Kentucky was destined to be the member of the twins’ group who made the biggest name for himself.

’So, how am I doing, Sister Orb?’ Kentucky asked through their connection.

[Well... you sure know how to attract a lot of attention... I guess Roan will be satisfied.]

Roan’s mouth twitched. ’That wasn’t the kind of name I wanted him to build for himself, you know?’

’Hehe!’ Kentucky didn’t care. ’I can’t help it. My beauty and charm... they can’t be restrained. I’m just a force of nature.’

’More like a force of futility. Hahaha!’ Rean, on the other hand, was loving the entertainment.

’Hmph! You guys are just jealous!’ And then, he cut his connection, not willing to hear them anymore.

’I just hope all this shit will be of some use later when we manage to cultivate again,’ said Celis. The Demon Tree actually had a few viewers of his own, the reason being that Demon Plants were a lot rarer, so the very few that appeared in this gathering just got that attention by default. Of course, Celis’s own display of strength also helped. He was definitely the Demon Plant doing the best job at the moment.

---

Leaving The Great Kentucky aside, the various leaders, elders, and such still paid close attention to the gathering as a whole, singling out the best prospects for later.

As one can expect, everyone in the twins’ group was marked. Foliana had a substantial number of followers, largely because she was at the Middle Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, rather than the Peak Stage. The fact that she was winning her fights or managing to flee every time a group ganged up on her definitely helped.

Zangeshu was quiet and pretty much refused to leave the position where he appeared. His mind was actually in the runes of formations. Even now, he was still working on them in his mind. At the start, he drew many runes using nothing but the materials on the ground and a few Divine Stones to create a simple Concealing Formation. That formation did not hide him from the storms’ attacks, so he wasn’t breaking any rules, but it definitely worked on the other participants.

He accomplished two objectives with one action. First, his skills with formations attracted the attention of organizations that specialized in such areas, given his ’youth.’ The elders of his Liantrel Sect were especially proud since he was their disciple. Second, very few participants came to bother him since you would need to get very close to see through the concealing formation Zangeshu built.

Last but not least, there was the green jelly! Everyone who looked at Tanxan always had the same thing in mind. Physical attacks truly worked badly against him. On the other hand, elemental attacks seemed to do pretty well. Too bad the Jelly knew how to deal with them, and could beat down anyone who tried anything.

Of course, Tanxan made it look like that. Truth be told, Tanxan wasn’t really bad or good in any of the two. He wasn’t even a fighting type being, but more of an intellectual one instead. The fact that he was the head of the research sector back in the Ruins of the Stars Spaceship showed that much. If we were to talk about pure fighting strength, Tanxan was definitely the weakest in the twins’ group at the moment, and by a significant margin.

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Nine hours of the ten passed quickly, and of the four hundred thousand sent into the Infernal Plains, less than ten thousand remained. It was as Bugel said before the gathering started. The Infernal Plains would drastically reduce the number of participants.

Of those who failed, 70% exited the Infernal Plains by using their CDs. As for the other 30%... they died before they had that chance.

The losses caused great pain to some of the powers taking part in the gathering, but most didn’t mind. The gathering was always like that, and considering how a lot of the participants were still kids, they believed that was an excellent opportunity for them to learn about the harshness of the cultivation world.

And thus, ten hours later, the first event came to a close.