The Dongzhou Partition tournament was held in Border City of the Yunxia Empire.
Border City is an ancient city with many international visitors.
Currently, besides the Yunxia Empire, there were three smaller countries in the Dongzhou region—Rhein, Xiben, and Beiwu.
The people of the Dongzhou region all looked fairly similar; it was quite difficult to distinguish which country someone was from when walking on the street.
Zero Egg shared the information it gathered from the internet. "Rhein and Xiben are fine; their citizens generally like the Yunxia Empire. However, Beiwu doesn’t submit to the Yunxia Empire. Most of their people prefer the Sanctuary and the Frost Moon Empire, and many have emigrated to Xi Zhou and the North Continent."
Wen Jiang had just gotten off the plane. Although her agent, Ding Ruijie, did not accompany her to this competition, an assistant came with her.
She and the assistant arrived at the hotel arranged by the Association and immediately ran into several Spirit Card Masters from other associations.
The Yunxia Empire alone had hundreds of Card Associations. Aside from the well-known ones, bumping into Spirit Card Masters from other associations was quite normal.
Not to mention, their entourages and overall presentation were far more impressive than Wen Jiang’s.
Most of the Spirit Card Masters participating in the tournament were the cream of the crop from their own associations, already possessing considerable fame online and their own fan bases. They usually traveled with at least two assistants, as well as makeup artists and stylists—hardly any different from entertainment industry stars.
Of course, the status of a Spirit Card Master was far more noble than that of a star.
Someone like Wen Jiang, who had been ’airdropped’ into the competition without going through internal selections and was accompanied by only a lone assistant, appeared quite meager in comparison.
The assistant who came with her, named Xiao Ling, had been arranged by Ding Ruijie. She had a cute, baby face. Having spent some time with the Mount Flower Association, Xiao Ling caught a glimpse of the other Spirit Card Masters’ grandeur and stole a glance at Wen Jiang, worried she might feel uncomfortable.
But Wen Jiang didn’t care about such things.
Instead, when Xiao Ling was handling the check-in procedure, other Spirit Card Masters saw her. At first, they thought she was a competitor from some small association. When they learned she was from the Mount Flower Association, they could hardly hide their surprise.
"Really?" A female Spirit Card Master holding a cat plushie looked at her assistant. "Mount Flower Association, huh? They only sent one assistant with her? They’ve had some issues lately, but it shouldn’t affect them this much, right?"
Her assistant squinted, sizing up Wen Jiang. After quickly scouring the internet, he shook his head. "No information online. Looks like she’s a newcomer."
Hearing this, the Spirit Card Master with the plushie clicked her tongue. "Is the Mount Flower Association starting to slack off now? Sure, they haven’t won the Dongzhou Partition championship, but they don’t need to send a complete newcomer, do they? Seems like they’ve really given up on this competition." True, a competition where they never even made the top three hardly seemed worth the effort.
Moreover, for such large associations, lower-tier Spirit Card Master competitions usually weren’t a priority, especially one with less prestige than the domestic leagues.
Of course, that was just their opinion. The official Mount Flower Association account always updated the participant list whenever there was a competition.
Every association had fans, and the Mount Flower Association was no exception. With high-level Spirit Card Masters like Sheng Hongying anchoring them, it didn’t mean they ignored lower-tier competitions.
Ever since their strongest Spirit Card Master had unexpectedly passed away, the Mount Flower Association had shown signs of decline. The outrageous and unprecedented incident where star player Sheng Hongying was ostracized by four of her teammates had fans storming the official account’s comment sections until they were unrecognizable.
News of Sheng Hongying’s contract renewal had yet to emerge. With numerous upcoming events and seeing that the Mount Flower Association still hadn’t released its Dongzhou Partition tournament participant list, frustrated fans began to vent under the association’s latest post.
- Please, the Dongzhou Partition tournament starts in two days! You’re not going to skip it this year, are you?
- You may not make the top three, but at least you’re usually in the top five! And yet, you haven’t released any information so far this year. Do you really disregard your B-Level and R-Rank Spirit Card Masters that much?
- This is just ridiculous! I know you’ve got a lot on your plates, but doesn’t every organization have unexpected issues? Sheng Hongying’s situation wasn’t resolved, so you just decided to give up on the low-level competitions, is that it?
- Didn’t the Imperial City Pear Blossom Cup team event showcase a new card deck that worked wonders? It feels like the Association hasn’t totally given up. Let’s not rush to slam them...
- This competition really isn’t that prestigious. Mount Flower has never cared much about the lower levels; you all know this isn’t the first time. This year, they might just not participate at all.
It wasn’t just the fans complaining; other associations were also paying close attention. After all, some news about participants would usually leak out every year. This year, however, certain rumors had surfaced, leading other associations to speculate: was the Mount Flower Association truly not participating this time?
Perhaps the fans’ criticism was too harsh. Not long after Wen Jiang confirmed her hotel check-in, the officials finally, albeit belatedly, published the list.
Mount Flower Association official account: The participant list for the July Dongzhou Partition competition is as follows.
B-Level Group Singles Spirit Card Master: Wen Jiang (account link)
A series of names followed. Most were familiar individuals, Spirit Card Masters whom fans expected to compete. However, the B-Level Group list contained an obvious bombshell.
- Holy crap! Who is this Wen Jiang in the B-Level Group singles match? I checked her profile and found out she only signed with the official pro players the day before yesterday?!
- Not only was she airdropped, but she’s also directly entering the tournament? I remember the internal selections alone take a week, right?
- A newcomer in the B-Level Group singles?!!!
- This is outrageous! The official data shows she’s a complete rookie, not even recruited from another association. How incredibly strong must she be to join the tournament directly? Mount Flower, if you don’t give an explanation this time, believe me, you’ll be flamed into oblivion!
- How can this be? Shouldn’t Xiang Yi have been the one with the highest hopes this time? Where did this ’parachute soldier’ come from?!
It was obvious that Wen Jiang was a ’parachute soldier.’ She had caught not only the fans off guard but also the other associations.
Information about most competing Spirit Card Masters was generally available, but a complete newcomer was a tricky prospect.
Not knowing an opponent’s fighting style made it difficult to strategize against them. For a major association to dare field a rookie, she must have been exceptionally strong. Could it be that Mount Flower was about to work a miracle in this year’s Dongzhou Partition tournament?
Some Spirit Card Masters competing in the singles events had always assumed that Xiang Yi, another highly anticipated hotshot from the Mount Flower Association, would be participating. They were perplexed by this last-minute substitution with a ’parachute soldier.’ Could a veteran competitor like Xiang Yi accept this?
Indeed, some fans went to Xiang Yi’s account to ask why a newcomer had taken the tournament spot.
This player, Xiang Yi, was very direct. He replied with just a few words: "She’s very strong."
He had been present when Wen Jiang was tested. Using a single Wolf-leopard Card, she had killed an Armored Bear in under a minute—something he knew he couldn’t do.
So, no one really had any issues with Wen Jiang being directly ’parachuted’ in.
In the world of Spirit Card Masters, strength was the only thing that truly mattered.