Zheng Dong's objective was the Heart of Eternal Magnetism.
Of course, he wouldn't mind helping to bring back another team competition championship.
The team competition champion would earn each participant five million prize money.
After a brief mutual introduction, Qi An began to discuss the rules of the competition.
The entire event would last for a month.
After all, club competitions were for promotion and profit, so a longer duration was normal.
The team competition would commence after the individual competition concluded.
This meant the individual competition would only last for fifteen days.
One had to progress step-by-step from regional preliminaries to the national finals.
Each participant had to compete in at least seven matches in Rongcheng, with three points awarded for each victory. Winning four consecutive matches would qualify them for the national competition.
Naturally, the more points accumulated, the higher the ranking in the national competition.
In Qi An's words, they should win as much as possible and accumulate as many points as they could.
In the national competition, each participant would have to fight at least twenty-one matches, with some individuals also eligible for the resurrection round.
After listening to Qi An's explanation, Zheng Dong had a clear understanding of the competition rules.
The ultimate champion would be awarded to the contestant with the highest points and the most popularity.
Points could be earned not only through matches but also through audience votes outside the arena, which would be converted into points.
Thus, popularity was also crucial.
Naturally, Zheng Dong didn't need to worry about popularity.
The club had dedicated staff responsible for promotion.
On January 8th, 4722 of the Yanhuang Calendar, the Master Cup Rongcheng Division officially began.
Zheng Dong was assigned to Group D and was scheduled to compete in seven matches.
Even before the matches started, the internet was already buzzing with hype.
Each match allowed for betting.
These bets included both official and private wagers.
As a newcomer, Zheng Dong was obviously not favored.
Therefore, very few people bet on him to win, and the odds were very high.
In the first match, Zheng Dong's opponent was a relatively well-known contestant, known as Mighty Bear.
Mighty Bear's real name was Xiong Wei.
However, no one remembered his real name; his fans all called him Mighty Bear.
Mighty Bear himself stood at two meters and one centimeter, an intimidating presence. His contracted mechanical spirit beasts were also primarily focused on strength.
Among them, the most popular was the Giant Strength Vajra.
The Giant Strength Vajra's growth level was General, standing fifteen meters tall. When it appeared on the arena, it resembled an insurmountable mountain.
Its two massive red mechanical arms could easily tear apart buildings dozens of stories high.
As Mighty Bear entered the arena and summoned his mechanical spirit beast, the Giant Strength Vajra, the surrounding audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers.
Although Zheng Dong was the Rookie King of Rongcheng before, Rongcheng had a Rookie King every year, and people had long since forgotten him.
However, Zheng Dong paid no mind to this; he was more concerned about how much money he could earn from winning this match.
"Jingjing, how much did we bet?"
"Master, we've bet a total of 55 million Dragon Yuan across fifteen platforms, and we can earn at least 700 million Dragon Yuan," Jingjing replied excitedly.
This speed of earning money was no slower than treasure hunting.
Immediately after, Zheng Dong, accompanied by Jingjing, walked onto the competition stage.
As the two opponents took their positions, the host, dressed in a black suit, spoke,
"Mr. Mighty Bear, do you have anything to say to your supporters or your opponent?"
Mighty Bear seemed to relish his nickname and said with a confident smile,
"Kid, surrender quickly! It's not too late yet! Hahaha..."
Immediately, a wave of laughter erupted from the surroundings.
It seemed everyone was convinced Zheng Dong was destined to lose.
Zheng Dong ignored them and simply looked at the host, saying calmly,
"Can we begin?"
The host was momentarily stunned, but before he could speak, Mighty Bear interjected,
"What are we waiting for? Let's start! I'm already impatient..."
With that, Mighty Bear had the Giant Strength Vajra initiate an attack, unleashing its ultimate skill, Death Charge.
The Giant Strength Vajra stomped its foot onto the ground, causing the earth to tremble and crack open with fissures.
As the Giant Strength Vajra charged forward with increasing speed, massive footprints were left behind on the ground.
If one were to be hit by this charge, even a speeding heavy-duty truck would likely be sent flying.
Facing the Death Charge,
Everyone speculated on how Zheng Dong's mechanical spirit beast, Jingjing, would react.
Dodging would undoubtedly be the primary option.
However, Jingjing did not dodge. Instead, it released the mechanical insects hidden within its mechanical space.
A dense swarm of mechanical insects gathered together, resembling a bizarre black mist.
The black mist churned and surged towards the Giant Strength Vajra.
The Giant Strength Vajra possessed strong sensory energy, and its mechanical eyes could detect the mechanical insects.
Instantly, it sensed danger.
It instinctively tried to evade.
Unfortunately, its speed was too great, and the dense swarm of mechanical insects quickly engulfed it.
The mechanical insects had only one method of attack: rapid decomposition.
They could break down any object into energy or materials they could digest.
Furthermore, they would transfer any undigested energy or materials to Jingjing.
Suddenly, everyone witnessed a peculiar sight.
The Giant Strength Vajra, while running, gradually became smaller as its mechanical body was rapidly decomposed.
By the time it stopped, its external casing had completely vanished.
Seeing this, Mighty Bear was dumbfounded.
"My god, what are you waiting for? Use the Super Gravity Cannon!"
Immediately, the Giant Strength Vajra retrieved the Super Gravity Cannon from its mechanical space.
This was also permitted in the battle.
The Super Gravity Cannon was equivalent to an equipment fitted onto the Giant Strength Vajra, but the elemental energy required to use it had to be supplied by the Giant Strength Vajra's own stored elemental energy.
This was Mighty Bear's trump card for the Giant Strength Vajra.
The Super Gravity Cannon was capable of damaging Monarch-level spirit beasts.
Unfortunately, the Super Gravity Cannon, valued at over two hundred million, was submerged by the mechanical insects before it could even be fired.
Soon, the mechanical insects had decomposed more than half of the Super Gravity Cannon.
Mighty Bear felt a pang of pain in his heart.
This was all money!
"Damn it, I'll fight you to the death!"
Following that, Mighty Bear summoned his second mechanical spirit beast, the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex.
This was also a General-level mechanical spirit beast.
In this scenario, Jingjing was at a disadvantage.
This was also the reason for Zheng Dong's high odds.
He only had one mechanical spirit beast, and no matter how powerful it was, it would be difficult to cope with the multiple mechanical spirit beasts of other contestants.
However, Zheng Dong did not panic.
For Jingjing, who had mastered Mechanical Clone, Mechanical Insect Eggs, and Swarm Control, numbers were not an issue.
Immediately, Jingjing released the Mechanical Clones it had prepared.
Each Mechanical Clone possessed ninety percent of Jingjing's own strength, and coupled with the numerous mechanical insects, it was sufficient to deal with the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Giant Strength Vajra.
Nine Mechanical Clones surrounded the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex and unleashed the ultimate skill, Spatial Cut.
In an instant, hundreds of pieces of the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex's body were dismantled.
This immediately caused an uproar in the audience.
Mighty Bear wouldn't lose, would he?
If he lost, they would lose their bets!
"Idiot, summon all your mechanical spirit beasts!"
"What are you waiting for? Do you want to lose!"
...
The audience members were all agitated, shouting continuously.
Mighty Bear did not hesitate and quickly summoned his other three mechanical spirit beasts.
However, it was of no use.
Jingjing released more Mechanical Clones.
Although Mechanical Clone was only a high-level skill, it was rarely seen, and its proficiency was difficult to increase.
Unless the proficiency reached the level of perfection, the combat power of Mechanical Clones was not very strong.
An entry-level Mechanical Clone had only about twenty percent of the original's combat power.
This caused many beast masters to abandon the idea of having their mechanical spirit beasts learn Mechanical Clone.
But for Zheng Dong, increasing skill proficiency was not difficult.
This also allowed everyone to re-evaluate the Mechanical Clone skill.
Jingjing released a total of forty-eight Mechanical Clones, which, along with the dense swarm of mechanical insects, quickly suppressed all five of Mighty Bear's mechanical spirit beasts.
Mighty Bear lost.
He had not expected to lose so thoroughly.
Dejectedly, he recalled his mechanical spirit beasts into his beast-taming space and left the battle arena without looking back.
He had suffered a great loss this time.
All his mechanical spirit beasts had been stripped bare, and it would cost at least tens of millions to purchase resources to restore them to normal.
As for the stripped mechanical casings, Jingjing could use them to create a batch of new mechanical insect eggs, hatching more mechanical insects.
As Zheng Dong won, the staff of the Wild Bull Club began to heavily promote Zheng Dong, accumulating popularity for him.
As a result, Zheng Dong's odds were no longer as high as before.
However, Zheng Dong did not stop.
Even a mosquito's leg is meat; he reinvested all the money earned from his previous bets.
The subsequent matches were without suspense.
Finally, Zheng Dong won seven consecutive matches, earning 21 points.
Next, he awaited the national competition.
Before the national competition even began, Zheng Dong received a message.
"You took our things, please return them as soon as possible!"
At the end of the message was an image of a flame symbol.
The Fire God Cult!
During this period, Zheng Dong had also learned that the base on Walrus Island belonged to the Fire God Cult.
Yet, the Security Bureau had found no violations, attributing it to an experimental accident.
Moreover, all the berserk and deranged hybrids were subsequently cleaned up.
The Special Operations Bureau was very concerned about the matter, but they had not yet uncovered anything useful.
As for the beast masters who died due to the accident, compensation was provided by companies controlled by the Fire God Cult.
In this manner, the items Zheng Dong acquired within the experimental base were, in name, still the property of the Fire God Cult.
Of course, it was impossible for him to hand over those resources and potions based on a single message.
Zheng Dong ignored the sender and instructed Jingjing to trace the origin of the message.
Soon, the result was obtained: it was from a participant in the Master Cup, a very famous individual known as Hu Maoxue, a genius of the new generation of mechanics.
Hu Maoxue was around Zheng Dong's age, but he had already become a Master-level beast master a year ago. He had contracted three mechanical spirit beasts, each of which was very powerful and capable of fighting opponents of higher levels.
Because of this, he was also known as the Mechanical Prince.
What was this guy's connection to the Fire God Cult?
"Master, I've also investigated his background. He's an orphan. It seems the person who adopted him was a high-ranking official of the Fire God Cult, but the specific name couldn't be found.
However, this Fire God Cult is truly formidable; much of the information about them online has been blocked or deleted.
It was only with great difficulty that I managed to find information on Hu Maoxue."
Zheng Dong frowned.
The Fire God Cult was troublesome.
A few days later, Zheng Dong received another message.
"You don't have to hand them over, but you must participate in our experiments. Also, you must want to know news about your parents, right!"
This surprised Zheng Dong.
Could his unfortunate parents still be alive?
Zheng Dong again asked Jingjing to investigate the source of the message.
As before, it was sent by Hu Maoxue, but through a different virtual number.
"Master, don't worry. I've just calculated that there's a high probability of you encountering Hu Maoxue in the national competition. You can ask him directly then," Jingjing said.
Zheng Dong nodded.
The items were in his possession, so he wasn't in a hurry. As for the news about his parents, he wondered if Hu Maoxue was trying to trick him.
The Master Cup National Competition commenced.
Each match was a battle.
There were a total of three rounds of battles, comprising twenty-one matches.
After each round of battles, there was a one-day rest.
It wasn't until the first match of the final round that Zheng Dong encountered Hu Maoxue.
Hu Maoxue was not tall and appeared very ordinary, someone who would be easily overlooked in a crowd.
His eyes were small, and as he looked at Zheng Dong, he revealed a benevolent smile.
Zheng Dong did not know Hu Maoxue's intentions and did not respond.
However, he noticed a flash of blood-red light in Hu Maoxue's eyes.
It was fleeting, and no one noticed it except Zheng Dong.
Hybrid!
Was this guy doing it on purpose?
Zheng Dong was certain that Hu Maoxue was also a hybrid, possessing the bloodline power of some extraordinary creature. Otherwise, his eyes wouldn't have emitted such an eerie blood-red glow.
At this moment, Hu Maoxue actually used his mental power to initiate communication with Zheng Dong.
"Zheng Dong, you must know that you possess the bloodline power of the Azure Dragon, right? Do you want to become even stronger? In fact, the experiments conducted by our Fire God Cult are aimed at creating gods! Humans should have their own gods!"
Zheng Dong was stunned.
He was very surprised.
However, he couldn't determine if Hu Maoxue was telling the truth.
Creating gods!?
Those who conduct experiments with such a goal must be lunatics.
"I just want to know about my parents!"
"I can tell you, but only if you participate in our future experiments.
Also, aren't you curious? Why can you obtain the Azure Dragon's bloodline power when others cannot? And why did you suffer from an incurable disease since childhood, while others did not?" Hu Maoxue continued.
Zheng Dong hadn't expected Hu Maoxue to know so much about him, even knowing about his illness.
This suggested that his parents might have worked for the Fire God Cult before.
"Actually, you don't need to harbor such great animosity towards me. The history of the Fire God Cult can be traced back to Emperor Yan; it was Emperor Yan who founded the Fire God Cult. Otherwise, do you think any random organization could produce so many bloodline resources?"
Emperor Yan?
Zheng Dong found it unlikely. Emperor Yan was the greatest beast master after Emperor Qin, who founded the Yan Dynasty, the second dynasty in Yanhuang history primarily led by human beast masters.
However, regardless of what Hu Maoxue said, he would never participate in hybrid experiments.
He had finally managed to suppress the Azure Dragon bloodline and had a chance of clearing it. He would not go and strengthen or enhance the Azure Dragon bloodline.
As the two communicated through mental power, the battle also began.
Hu Maoxue summoned a General-level mechanical spirit beast, the Mechanical Asura Spider.
This was also a mechanical spirit beast of immense size, with a black body and eight red mechanical legs, covered in sharp metal barbs, giving it a ferocious appearance.
"If you agree, I can let you win!" Hu Maoxue said.