In the afternoon, Lin Huang made a breakthrough from the 46th to the 48th checkpoint at the Stairway Tree five and a half hour ago. Soon, he returned to the human foothold on the 46th checkpoint.
The rule of the Stairway Tree was that the checkpoints that they had cleared would not be reset as long as one did not die and leave the Stairway Tree. Therefore, he would not be able to go through the checkpoints he had already cleared again regardless of whether he was climbing up or down the tree.
Lin Huang only found out about this after he heard about it from Zhao San so his plan to return to the previous checkpoints to practice Army Attack Tactics under extreme conditions would not work. He would only be able to restart his progress from the first checkpoint if he was killed or if he exited the Stairway Tree so it did not take him too long to return to the 46th checkpoint.
At 5.45p.m., Lin Huang appeared where to promised to be at this afternoon.
His appearance caught the attention of many people because the crowd thought he would not have the guts to show up.
There were quite a number of immortal-level rank-6 people on the 46th checkpoint. Those who were at immortal-level rank-6 in the Genius Union were capable of going against ordinary immortal-level rank-9 monsters. Some of them even managed to kill the immortal-level rank-9 monsters they went up against.
Lin Huang's combat strength was only on the blue flame-level but many of them doubted it since he dared to provoke those at immortal-level rank-6. Most of the people present figured that he had a trump card but nobody knew what it was.
The people discussed this among themselves. "Lin Xie actually had the guts to show up. I wonder what he has on hand."
"I've heard that he's taken control of a powerful demigod relic though I'm unsure if it's true."
"Even if he's able to control it, he can probably only use it to attack once. To control a demigod relic is difficult, even for those on the imperial-level. With his combat strength as a blue flame-level, the fact that he could even use it a single time was amazing. If he managed to kill the first challenger with his demigod relic, what about the rest of the challengers? Wouldn't it be beneficial to them? I don't think he has a demigod relic as a trump card. Perhaps it's a skill he can use repeatedly."
Despite there being people who disagreed with it, most of them who were present felt that Lin Huang had a demigod relic up his sleeves.
When it was almost six in the evening, the man with piercings from the Divine Alliance and the rest of the challengers arrived.
The few of them finally managed to collect eight million points after putting in quite a large amount of effort.
They knew very well that Lin Huang probably had something up his sleeves since he had the guts to show up so they prepared themselves well before they came.
Lin Huang's invitation to fight them attracted everybody's attention, not just those on the 46th checkpoint. Many of the people in different checkpoints knew about this battle because those who were present did not only post it in the Genius Union's forum, they even started a live video of the battle.
Wang Zhong had logged out after entertaining Lin Huang in the afternoon, and it was already 6.p.m when he found out about this. He immediately logged in to Genius Union and rushed to the battle.
"Lin Xie, I've told you this morning specifically not to accept anyone's challenge. Why can't you control yourself?" Wang Zhong frowned. There were a few live videos now but he had no choice but to stop the fight since he promised Chan Dou that he would take good care of Lin Xie.
He turned back and looked at the man with piercings. "Punk, how dare you! An immortal-level rank-6 group teaming up to bully someone at the blue flame-level? Doesn't the Divine Alliance feel embarrassed? If you actually want to fight him, I'll entertain you instead!"
The man with piercings did not bother with Wang Zhong at all. Instead, he smiled at Lin Huang. "I didn't know that this was your intention. You pretend to invite us and then ask this guy named Wang to stop us."
"You're thinking too much. Since I've accepted your challenge, I'm naturally capable of sending you back to the first checkpoint." After uttering those words, Lin Huang looked at Wang Zhong and said, "Brother Wang, avoiding them is not the way to solve this problem. Killing them is the only way I know of that can solve this matter. The chief once said to never insult the Heaven Alliance. Anybody who dares to extend their claws and attack the Heaven Alliance will have to face us as we chop off their claws to teach them a lesson."
After listening to what Lin Huang had to say, utter shock flashed through Wang Zhong's eyes. Then, as his face turned serious, he asked, "How confident are you to win this fight?"
"I'm 100% confident!" Lin Huang grinned.
"I know that they're prepared for this." Wang Zhong was still worried.
"I know they are." Lin Huang nodded. "Brother Wang, please do me a favor and be the judge."
"Hey! Isn't it unfair to let someone from the Heaven Alliance be the judge?" The man with piercings shouted when he overheard their conversation.
"There are so many people here, and there are live videos as well. Moreover, it's a battle to the death. Won't the one who survivor and the one who dies be clear?" Lin Huang laughed. "I asked Brother Wang to be the judge so that he can verify your strength to see if you're qualified to challenge me. Also, he can be a witness to the signing of the agreement for our battle to the death."
"I've said this before, anyone who has eight million points can challenge me. Brother Wang, please check if these few challengers have enough points. Otherwise, send them right back to the first checkpoint." After listening to Lin Huang, two men standing behind the man with piercings immediately walked back to the crowd.
Wang Zhong glanced at the two of them but held his tongue. He began checking the points for the remaining four challengers. The page where their points were recorded popped up in front of him. They had more than eight million points and their four names were indeed on the leaderboard. They were ranked from the third to sixth place respectively.
After the check was complete, Wang Zhong nodded his head at Lin Huang and said, "There's no problem with their points."
"Let's start signing the agreement then."
Wang Zhong projected the agreement in front of them. It contained within it the basic provisions of the Stairway Tree's agreement for a fight to the death. There were no additional rules. After showing both parties the provisions and confirming that there were no other problems, both parties signed their name and put down their fingerprints.
"Who's going to be the first one to challenge me?" After signing the agreement, Lin Huang looked at the four of them with a smile.
Four of them exchanged glances with each other. All of them looked hesitant.
The first one to challenge him would be exposed to a higher risk since nobody knew what Lin Huang had up his sleeves. Despite the fact that the four of them had prepared themselves earlier, they were still unwilling to be the first one to challenge him. However, they knew that if the first person won the fight, the rest of the challengers would have no chance of challenging him since Lin Xie would be sent back to the first checkpoint after his death. As this thought ran through their heads, the four of them struggled with making a choice.
"Hey! The person with earrings on his nose. Aren't you're the one who was shouting in excitement this morning? Don't you have the guts to go first?" Lin Huang teased. "Just admit defeat if you don't want to fight. I'll just take four million points and you won't be sent back to the first checkpoint. Isn't it a win-win situation?" Lin Huang insulted, causing the crowd to burst into laughter.
'Damn it! It's not a win-win situation, and these aren't earrings!' The man with piercings thought to himself.
Since Lin Huang insulted him, he had no choice but to stand out from the rest since the battle was broadcast live. The people in the Genius Union would definitely laugh at him if he was afraid of Lin Huang at this moment.
"Hmph, sharp-tongued boy! I'm interested to see if your abilities are as strong as your mouth!"