The second week of the card competition arrived as scheduled. 

After a week of being tormented by school life, Sen Ya finally managed to have a Saturday without a competition and decided to lie down at home to rest. 

Su Liqian walked into the familiar venue alone and casually found a seat. 

She had two matches today. Sen Ya’s matches were scheduled for tomorrow. 

The format was almost identical to last week, even the commentators and hosts were the same familiar faces. 

Su Liqian’s match was scheduled fairly early. After watching two matches, she headed to the preparation area to get ready. 

Compared to the nervous anticipation she felt last time, Su Liqian was much calmer this time around. 

But staying completely relaxed was impossible. 

“Next, let’s welcome the competitors!” 

The regular host’s voice rang through the arena, and a staff member nodded at her, signaling she could go on stage. 

Su Liqian walked down the passage on the side of the arena, and a flood of sunlight poured onto her. 

“Today’s match features Su Liqian from Lanxi High School versus Peng Yi from Beili High School!” 

“The name Su Liqian sounds familiar!” 

“Oh right! I remember now! She’s the one who used a mysterious card to defeat the star player Ji Yanxi from Xingqi University last week!” 

“It looks like this match is going to be exciting! I’m looking forward to seeing if Su Liqian can continue her winning streak today! Let’s watch closely!” 

The two commentators went back and forth, drawing the crowd’s attention to the girl standing in the center of the stage. 

“The match begins!” 

With the signal, Su Liqian was the first to take out a B-level Illusion Card, The Starry Sky She Watches Over, from her Star Moon Stone belt. 

“Unlock.” 

“Unlock.” 

The two unlocked their cards almost simultaneously. 

As the sparkles faded, Su Liqian felt her whole body fill with gentle water-element energy, and she launched her first attack right away. 

On the other side, Peng Yi was not to be outdone. Seeing his opponent use a powerful card, he also quickly drew his strongest card to fight back. 

It was a clash of mecha and elemental forces—every strike stirred up waves of energy. 

But it was clear Peng Yi wasn’t a match for Su Liqian, and he was soon defeated. 

She won this round fairly easily. 

There wasn’t much time for a break—the second match followed immediately. 

This time, her opponent had a somewhat familiar face. 

From a distance, Su Liqian looked at the boy standing across from her and suddenly remembered—he seemed to be the one who sat beside her during the entrance exam. 

His slightly long bangs partly covered his eyes, making it hard to read his expression. 

Chu Yunxuan stood with one hand in his pocket, seemingly unmoved by the cheers and noise around him. 

He stared straight ahead, poised and ready for the match to start. 

“The match begins!” 

Su Liqian stayed on guard and once again used the same B-level illusion card to start the attack. 

Chu Yunxuan, however, was clearly on another level compared to her previous opponent. Even though he only used a C-level card at first, he didn’t fall behind at all. 

He was different from any opponent Su Liqian had faced so far. 

She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but during a brief moment when their eyes met, she saw a kind of intensity in his cold, emotionless gaze—something that felt far too fierce for someone his age. 

Every move he made felt like a desperate gamble, like he was fighting without fear of injury or defeat. 

Armed with nothing but a simple light sword and a C-level weapon card, he gave off a strong sense of pressure. 

Su Liqian pulled back again, her mind racing with strategies. 

It was the first time she had faced someone like this, and handling the fight alone was proving difficult. 

With a new idea in mind, she swiped across her Star Moon Stone belt and drew the B-level summoning card The Great Magician. 

“Unlock.” 

Su Liqian raised the card between her hands and waved it in front of her. The black-and-gold card turned into a glowing orb in the air. 

“Su Liqian has drawn another card! It’s a summoning card!” 

“It’s the Great Magician! She used this illusion card before. I’m really curious to see what creature this card will summon!” 

“Huh? A small flying beast? Kinda looks like a long-eared cat!” 

“Since Su Liqian summoned that creature, Chu Yunxuan’s offense has clearly slowed down! Looks like dealing with two attackers at once is starting to take a toll!” 

“But the fact that Chu Yunxuan has held on this long with just a C-level card is impressive too! Oh! He’s drawing a new card!” 

The commentator stood up to get a better look at the scene shown on the big screen. 

Chu Yunxuan, clearly drained after battling both Su Liqian and the summoned beast, finally drew another card from his belt. 

“Another C-level card!” 

“It’s a function card that temporarily boosts attack power! Looks like Chu Yunxuan is planning to go all in and try to win this with a strong offense!” 

Su Liqian frowned as she watched the exhausted Chu Yunxuan not far away. 

He already had visible wounds, but he still forced himself to stand and kept using power-boosting cards to fight. 

The light from his blade came down with increasing force each time. 

This match was turning out to be much tougher than she had expected. 

Chu Yunxuan used only the most common cards from the Mecha Storm series, yet he was stronger than many card players she had seen. 

Perhaps it was his deeper understanding and mastery of the Illusion World, or maybe it was the inexplicable courage within him that made him unwilling to lose. 

But Su Liqian didn’t want to lose either. 

After all, she was using two cards that were of a higher level than her opponent’s. If she lost now, how could she continue moving forward? 

Maybe it was the challenge from her opponent that stirred her. Su Liqian, who usually maintained a relaxed attitude and adhered to the “it’s all about participation” philosophy, felt her heart pounding for the first time. 

It was just like being the main character of a youthful, action-packed anime, as if an exciting BGM had started playing from behind her. 

She, too, wanted to win! 

The cheers of the audience reached her ears, and Su Liqian felt as if she had returned to the moment when she first found a career she loved. 

The water stream in her hand condensed into a long ribbon. After Chu Yunxuan sliced through the water curtain with his sword, the ribbon reformed and quickly coiled around his waist. 

“Zhi Zhi, use the Illusion Sound Magic!” 

The cat-like summoned beast, sensing its owner’s thoughts, flapped its wings and flew toward Chu Yunxuan. 

Waves of sound waves, designed to disorient her opponent, came from Zhi Zhi’s mouth, surrounding Chu Yunxuan. 

Unable to escape from the water ribbon, Chu Yunxuan lost consciousness from the sonic attack and collapsed. 

Without a doubt, Su Liqian had won again. 

As the commentators voiced their admiration, Su Liqian left the competition venue, only to bump into a woman in professional attire. 

“Hello, I’m Nixie, a reporter from Xingwen Entertainment. Would you be available for an interview?” 

The woman pulled a business card from her pocket and handed it to her. 

Su Liqian instinctively stepped back and pointed at herself. 

“Me?” 

“Yes, that’s right.” 

The reporter smiled gently. 

“You performed exceptionally well in both last week’s and this week’s matches, even defeating the star player Ji Yanxi. I believe you have the potential to become a future star.” 

Su Liqian understood the situation. 

It was probably the “defeating Ji Yanxi” part that was the key. 

Seeing Su Liqian hesitate, the reporter chuckled and said, “Just a few simple questions. It won’t take up much of your time.” 

Su Liqian glanced at the flying camera behind her and nodded. 

“Alright then.” 

“First, congratulations on your double win this week. I noticed you used the Illusion World card called The Great Magician in your last match, but there are no records of this card on Star Net. Could you tell us more about this Illusion World card?” 

The reporter wasted no time in getting to the crucial question. 

Since Su Liqian had agreed to the interview, she was naturally prepared with her answers. She composed herself and replied, “Actually, both The Great Magician and Journey to the West card I used in previous matches are Illusion Worlds that I tried to craft myself.” 

Even with her strong professional training, Nixie couldn’t help but look surprised. She instinctively asked, “You mean… you crafted these Illusion Worlds?” 

“To be precise, I did craft these cards, but the stories of these Illusion Worlds have existed for a long time,” Su Liqian said calmly, looking directly at the camera. 

“I’ve always been interested in researching ancient civilizations, especially collecting information about Blue Star. Journey to the West comes from the Chinese civilization on Blue Star.” 

“It’s actually a story from the ancient civilization? That’s from millions of years ago! I heard the ancient civilization has long been lost—who would’ve thought we’d get to see its illusion world revived today?” 

“I was lucky to stumble upon a fragment of an ancient civilization’s legacy.” 

Su Liqian gave the explanation she had prepared in advance. 

She had found a single recorded case online where an interstellar citizen had randomly inherited some ancient knowledge. Though it had only happened once, this mysterious story made the perfect excuse. 

With this explanation, it would be much easier to introduce new Illusion World cards in the future. 

After a few more simple questions, the interview ended, and both parties had achieved their respective goals. 

Just as Su Liqian was about to head home, she was suddenly bumped into by someone rushing towards her, nearly causing her to fall. 

The person was wearing all black, with a large hood covering their head. 

The shadow flashed past her, and in that instant, their eyes met. Su Liqian immediately felt a sharp pain in her head. 

“Ugh…” 

A blurry memory slowly became clearer. 

“Is this the thing that can boost spiritual strength?” 

“Of course…” 

In the memory, Su Liqian was hiding in a corner, and these conversations unintentionally reached her ears. 

She saw the person in black pull out a small bottle and offer it. 

The scene shifted, and Su Liqian happened to pick up that bottle, leading to the series of events that followed.