Chapter 273: Chapter 268: White Pupil Technique

"Ma Bi!"

"Ma Bi!"

"Ma Bi!"

Seeing that the person going up was actually Ma Bi, his fans and admirers immediately burst into cheers. This made Ma Bi, who was walking onto the stage, even more pleased, but what they didn’t realize was that chanting his name in unison sounded more like they were cursing him out.

Ma Bi clasped his hands behind his back and stood by the pile of Original Stones. His opponent was a slender man in white robes. The man’s eyes were bright and full of spirit, but what they revealed more than anything was a sense of helplessness.

"Seeing you in person is more impressive than just hearing the rumors. You must be Ma Bi, the three-time reigning champion of the Spirit Selection Conference?" the man said to Ma Bi. He then added, "My name is Shi Quan, and I’m the representative from a city neighboring Marsburg City."

Ma Bi looked Shi Quan up and down, then said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, "Oh, a pleasure."

After saying this, Ma Bi completely ignored the man, his arrogance on full display. The man named Shi Quan froze, stunned into an awkward silence for a long moment. He had expected Ma Bi to be haughty, but he hadn’t imagined he would be this arrogant.

Shi Quan’s expression gradually turned cold. After the two Spirit Selectors for the match took the stage and Elder Lin Xiao shouted for the timing to begin, Shi Quan immediately activated his Pupil Technique. Two rays of gray light shot from his eyes, instantly covering them.

Mu Chen was slightly startled when he saw Shi Quan’s Pupil Technique on the stage, as it was the first time he had ever seen a gray one. Generally, Pupil Techniques had bright, brilliant colors, symbolizing light and vibrancy; every type was vivid. Shi Quan’s gray Pupil Technique was undoubtedly a mutation. When Elder Lin Xiao caught sight of it, he nodded repeatedly. A mutated Pupil Technique’s power could be even greater than a normal one’s.

At his side, Ma Bi was also briefly stunned by Shi Quan’s Pupil Technique, but then he just gave a faint smile. Mu Chen felt a sudden surge in the Primordial Power fluctuations from Ma Bi’s body, and then two rays of white light instantly enveloped Ma Bi’s eyes. The white was incredibly pure, so much so that even Ma Bi’s pupils turned white because of the technique.

"Another mutation!" Xu Fei gritted his teeth at Mu Chen’s side. He had personally witnessed the power of this mutated white Pupil Technique. He remembered that Ma Bi’s technique hadn’t been white before, but a common light blue. The mutation had occurred right around the time he won his first championship. It was then that Ma Bi’s true edge had been revealed.

Mu Chen’s expression didn’t change. For some reason, when he looked at Ma Bi’s eyes, he suddenly felt a haze cloud his vision, as if something was wrong with his sight. Of course, this was because Mu Chen wasn’t using his Purple Sky Demon Pupils.

"Brother Xu, have you noticed anything strange about Ma Bi’s Pupil Technique?"

Mu Chen’s sudden question surprised Xu Fei. He glanced at Ma Bi’s eyes, then back at Mu Chen, and shook his head. "No, I don’t. Did you notice something?"

Mu Chen looked at Wan Xian’Er, but she also shook her head in confusion. Mu Chen’s expression hardened. ’Could I have been mistaken?’

To test whether he had been mistaken, Mu Chen stared at Ma Bi’s eyes once more. This time, however, he didn’t experience that strange sensation at all. Everything around him was as clear as ever.

"Strange," Mu Chen frowned. ’Did I really see it wrong?’

He didn’t dwell on it, because the match on the high stage had already ended. Mu Chen had already noted that the Spirit Selector named Shi Quan and Ma Bi were both Fifth Grade Spirit Selectors, and both of their Pupil Techniques were mutated. However, there was a significant difference in the number of Original Stones they had picked in twenty seconds. Ma Bi had selected a total of ten, but his opponent, Shi Quan, had managed to pick out fourteen. Based on quantity alone, it seemed very likely Ma Bi would lose—assuming, of course, that Shi Quan hadn’t made any mistakes.

Both matches ended at the same time. Shi Quan glanced at the Original Stones Ma Bi had chosen and sneered, "Seems the three-time champion isn’t all that special."

Shi Quan had said this deliberately to get back at Ma Bi for his earlier slight. Yet, despite the huge disparity in the number of stones, Ma Bi didn’t show the slightest bit of worry. Instead, he wore a confident smile. "Picking more doesn’t guarantee victory. Who knows what the outcome will be until the very end?" As he spoke, Mu Chen thought he saw Ma Bi flash a strange, sinister smile. It was subtle, but Mu Chen caught it.

’What does that smile mean...’

Seeing that smile, the unease in Mu Chen’s heart, which had just begun to settle, returned. He had a feeling there was more to Ma Bi than met the eye.

The Original Stone selection was complete, so the rest was left to the inspectors. Mu Chen recognized the inspector for Ma Bi and Shi Quan’s match; it was the same one who had checked the fatty’s results in the first round. He was a middle-aged man of about forty-five. He glanced at Ma Bi and gave a slight smile as a greeting but said nothing more. He then picked up Ma Bi’s chosen stones to inspect them. Personally, he disliked arrogant people like Ma Bi who flaunted their talent, but he couldn’t deny the young man’s gift.

It took less than ten seconds for the white-robed inspector to nod. "Not bad. All ten are Spirit Crystal Ores. Very accurate."

After saying this, the inspector turned and walked over to Shi Quan. But when he saw the Original Stones on Shi Quan’s table, he immediately frowned. "Are you doing this on purpose? Or are you trying to show off your evaluation skills in some twisted way?"

Shi Quan was taken aback, as if he hadn’t heard the inspector correctly. "What?" he asked, confused.

"If you wanted to show off your evaluation skills like this, I would have gladly welcomed you to demonstrate at the Spirit Selection Guild in the Imperial Capital. But this is the Spirit Selection Conference! It’s a competition! What you’re doing is an insult to the conference!"

The inspector’s sudden outburst left Shi Quan completely baffled. He didn’t even know what he had done. Only Mu Chen, watching from below, sensed something strange. Driven by this suspicion, Mu Chen opened his eyes wide, activating his Purple Sky Demon Pupils. Six blue, snowflake-like marks began to spin rapidly around his pupils as he fixed his gaze on the fourteen Original Stones on Shi Quan’s table.

But when Mu Chen saw through all fourteen Original Stones, he was suddenly stunned. His mouth fell open as he murmured, "This... how could this be...?"

"What’s wrong?" Wan Xian’Er asked, thoroughly confused. Even Xu Fei couldn’t help but turn to look at Mu Chen.

Mu Chen said in astonishment, "Of the fourteen Original Stones that Fifth Grade Spirit Selector Shi Quan picked, not a single one contains a Spirit Crystal...."

Xu Fei exclaimed, "What? That’s impossible!"

One had to understand what a Fifth Grade Spirit Selector was capable of. They could easily determine whether an Attribute Spirit Crystal was hidden inside an Original Stone with over ninety percent accuracy. If they could do that with Attribute Spirit Crystals, what was their success rate for regular Spirit Crystals? It was nearly one hundred percent. To have a Fifth Grade Spirit Selector pick over a dozen Original Stones without a single one containing a Spirit Crystal was a feat more difficult than having them evaluate a higher-grade stone. And this was a competition!

"Inspector, what exactly did I do?" Shi Quan finally voiced the question burning in his mind.

The white-robed inspector snorted. "What did you do?! You managed to pick out exactly fourteen Fake Original Stones from this massive pile! Even I couldn’t do that in twenty seconds. The fact that you did proves your evaluation abilities are far superior to mine. But this is a competition! Why are you playing this kind of joke?"

Shi Quan’s mouth fell open, a tickle in his throat. "How is that possible? All fourteen are Fake Original Stones?!"

The inspector sneered, "You’re telling me you didn’t know?" With a wave of his hands, he gathered Primordial Power in his palms. He ran his hands over all the stones, and in the next moment, they all burst apart, crumbling into a pile of dust. Among the debris, there wasn’t a single Spirit Crystal. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"This..." Shi Quan stared, dumbfounded, at the dust covering the long table. "This is impossible... How did this happen?!" he murmured.

Ma Bi smiled faintly, kicking the man while he was down. "What did I say earlier? More doesn’t necessarily mean victory, right? See? I was right." After speaking, Ma Bi shrugged and casually walked off the stage, as if he hadn’t just been in a competition but had simply been out for a stroll.

Ma Bi’s words sent Mu Chen into deep thought. He connected what had just happened with the hazy sensation he’d experienced earlier. If this was really Ma Bi’s doing, then the man was far more terrifying than he appeared.

"Spirit Selector number forty-three from the first major group is the winner!"

With the announcement from the other inspector, both matches of this round came to a close. Ma Bi had smoothly advanced to the top eighty. Unless he experienced it firsthand, Mu Chen couldn’t be certain what had truly happened. The Spirit Selection Conference wasn’t significantly disrupted by this little incident. The crowd didn’t know who Shi Quan was, but they were all paying close attention to Ma Bi. In their eyes, losing to Ma Bi was the most natural thing in the world. The competition continued to press forward.

The eighty matches were quickly drawing to a close. Mu Chen, who had been on the verge of dozing off, finally perked up. The next person to go on stage was him: number one hundred fifty-nine.

"Final match! Numbers one hundred fifty-nine and one hundred sixty! And numbers three hundred nineteen and three hundred twenty!"

Elder Lin Xiao also seemed tired from watching, his voice no longer as booming as it was at the start. Mu Chen stood up from his seat, stretched his body, and walked briskly toward the stage. He didn’t pay attention to his own opponent, because his focus was drawn to one of the contestants in the other match. That’s right, Spirit Selector number three hundred twenty was the fatty who had been next to Mu Chen during the first test. The fatty looked extremely cautious, his hands clenched into tight fists, appearing very nervous.

Little did he know, his appearance on stage was about to provide some amusement for the crowd...