Ye Zilan got lucky this time—his two opponents weren’t that strong, so his matches in the afternoon went pretty smoothly. 

Sen Ya couldn’t be there to cheer him on because of her injury, but she stayed glued to the livestream from the hospital and sent him her congratulations right after the match. 

With that, the challenge matches officially came to an end. 

Su Liqian had been nervous the past couple of days, but after watching how her matches played out, she figured she had a good shot at making it to the finals. That thought helped her relax a little. 

She earned 30 points during the regular matches, and another 30 points from beating two players with 3-2 records. That gave her a solid total of 60 points—more than enough to qualify for the Star District Finals. 

 Ding ding ding.

Her communicator buzzed several times in a row. It was the group chat she shared with Sen Ya and Ye Zilan, cheekily named “The Training Squad.” 

Sen Ya: Aaaahhh!!! Guys!!! I made it past the cut-off line!!! 

Sen Ya: Waaah! I never thought I’d make it to the Star District Finals in my entire life! 

Sen Ya: My parents are over the moon—they’re even starting to doubt if I’m really their daughter, hahahaha. 

Sen Ya: But I know I couldn’t have made it this far without you two. Nope, I’m treating you both to a meal! No saying no! 

Ye Zilan: Congrats, congrats. I made it through too. 

Ye Zilan: You earned this yourself. 

Ye Zilan: But it looks like our training paid off. Let’s keep it up next time. 

Sen Ya: Huh? Zilan, you’re so heartless! You two are scarier than most of the other contestants! 

Su Liqian, who had been quietly worried about Sen Ya this whole time, finally felt her mood lighten. She smiled and joined in the teasing. 

Su Liqian: Looks like the training actually worked. We should ramp it up before the finals—I propose we do a hardcore training camp. 

Ye Zilan: I’m in. 

Sen Ya: “…” 

Sen Ya: You two are devils, aren’t you!!! 

Just as they were chatting, a notification from the trading platform popped up on Su Liqian’s screen. 

WishfulBeliever: Boss! Boss! I advanced!!! 

WishfulBeliever: Thank you for the lifesaving card set, Boss! 

WishfulBeliever: Boss, I’m buying out your entire card shelf! 

Su Liqian: Congrats. 

Su Liqian: But try to spend rationally. 

She sent over a laughing emoji. 

WishfulBeliever: Don’t worry, Boss. I’ve never been this rational in my life! Your cards are my lucky charm! I haven’t made it to the finals in years! 

Su Li smiled slightly as she saw all the cards on her shelf being bought, and in her mind, she raised this “big customer” a few ranks higher. 

The Star District Semifinals had officially wrapped up. Out of nearly ten thousand competitors, only a thousand made it to the finals. 

And before the finals begin, according to tradition, the official Card Tournament will also hold a grand contestant exchange meeting in each Star Realms. 

Usually, invitations to these events are reserved for the top-ranking players in each district. So Su Liqian was honestly a little surprised when she got one too. 

She opened the silver-white envelope made of special materials. Inside was a single plain white piece of paper that read: 

◇◆◇

Dear Contestant Su Liqian, 

Greetings! 

First of all, congratulations on successfully advancing to the District Finals. Thank you for your continued support of the Interstellar Card Tournament. This year’s Zhouyi District Card Tournament Contestant Exchange Meeting will be held on the third floor of the Zhouyi Tower in the central district of the sector, and we cordially invite you to attend. 

—Interstellar Card Tournament Committee 

◇◆◇

After tucking away the invite, Su Liqian hopped onto the forums to see if anyone had posted more details about the exchange meeting. 

Sure enough, the top thread on the page was exactly about that: 

[Contestant Exchange Meeting Invites Are Out! Any guesses who this year’s special guests will be?]  

1L: What? They’re being sent already? Don’t tell me I didn’t get one again?! 

2L: I didn’t get one either! I ranked pretty high this year too—why wasn’t I selected! I’m gonna throw a fit! 

3L: Whoa, I think I got one! I’ve never attended this exchange meeting before—any experts here to explain it? 

4L: The Contestant Exchange Meeting is basically an event for card tournament players to meet, chat, and spar. Usually, those who perform really well in the semifinals get invited. But the main highlight? Every year, a star player is invited as a guest to guide the contestants. Last year, the guest at the Huiyan Sector’s meet was Mu Xixi. 

5L: What?! Goddess Xixi! Aaaahh I wanna be coached by her too!!! I’m so jealous of those of you with invites! 

6L: Seriously?! I heard Zi Lian showed up one year too! Could we hope for something like that this year?! 

7L: Doesn’t look like there’s any news yet this year. 

8L: I’m dreaming of Chu Shen this time! 

9L: Ugh! We who didn’t get invites are sitting here chatting away with no hope of going! 

10L: Rumor has it O’Neill is coming to this year’s meet. 

11L: Huh? Really? O’Neill’s coming? Which district? If it’s Zhouyi, then… 

Su Liqian stopped reading at that point. Her eyes landed on that familiar name, and her brow furrowed slightly. 

O’Neill? 

That name rang a bell. 

Wait a second…

She suddenly remembered. 

Wasn’t he the Card Master who clashed with Ji Yanxi before? 

No way… Could this O’Neill really be the guest at their Star Realm’s contestant exchange meeting? 

Just as that thought crossed her mind, her communicator buzzed with a new message. 

It was from Shi Yue—someone she hadn’t heard from in a long while. 

Shi Yue: Hey Junior! Mind doing me a favor? 

Since returning from the First Star District, she hadn’t kept in touch with Shi Yue, so receiving a message from him now seemed like something important. Su Liqian quickly replied. 

Su Liqian: What happened? 

Shi Yue: You got an invite to the Contestant Exchange Meeting too, right? 

Su Liqian: Yeah, I did. But my ranking isn’t that high. I still got picked? 

Shi Yue: You’re a Dream Caster—you guys have special slots. 

Ah, that made sense. She nodded to herself. 

Shi Yue: This time, the guest at the Zhouyi Star Realm’s meet is O’Neill. 

Shi Yue: You’ve probably heard a bit about what happened between Ji Yanxi and him, right? 

Su Liqian: “O’Neill? It’s really him? That’s such a coincidence. 

Shi Yue: It is a coincidence. 

Shi Yue: The thing I’m most worried about is Ji Yanxi’s personality; he’s too impulsive. I won’t be able to accompany him this time, and I’m afraid something might happen if no one is there to keep an eye on him. That’s why I’m asking you for help. 

Su Liqian: Don’t worry. You’ve helped me a lot before, so I’ll make sure to look out for him. 

After a brief exchange with Shi Yue, Su Liqian quickly messaged Ji Yanxi, suggesting they attend the Contestant Exchange Meeting together for mutual support. 

Naturally, Ji Yanxi was all for it. He even enthusiastically started recommending cool spots in the Star Realm’s central area. 

He seemed way too cheerful, which made Su Liqian wonder—maybe he hadn’t heard the news yet. 

But that wasn’t her main concern right now. 

Getting into the finals wasn’t the endgame—it was just the beginning. 

The competition was going to be tougher, with stronger players. If she didn’t level up, getting eliminated was only a matter of time. 

To improve fast, she had two options: train hard to get better in real matches, and craft more cards to stack up her deck. 

Actually, Su Liqian already had a decent number of cards, but powerful ones? Not so much. 

She had attempted to complete that unfinished S-level card before, but even after channeling her spiritual strength, the only noticeable change was the design becoming slightly clearer. Nothing significant.

As she mulled things over, she pulled out a transparent card. Time to craft a card from the Illustrated World Notes and maybe try creating an original one too. 

She knew the story of Illustrated World Notes like the back of her hand. 

In such an undisturbed state, card crafting was often more focused and effective than in a competitive setting, increasing the chances of creating high-level cards.

Su Liqian closed her eyes and visualized the world of Illustrated World Notes. The transparent card floated in her palm, softly glowing. 

The title Illustrated World Notes splashed across the back in vibrant colors. As she poured in her spiritual strength, the image on the front started to appear— 

A fiery red rose took center stage, blazing like a fireball. 

Green vines covered with thorns framed the edges, and from each blooming rose, tiny flames danced in the center. 

She had successfully crafted a special A-level weapon card—Flame Rose Vines. 

This weapon card didn’t take on a specific form when used; instead, it attached to the user, becoming an ability.

In other words, the Flame Rose Vine gave the user the ability to control the vines, which could move according to thoughts, shrink, or disappear at will. 

This was a rare weapon card from Illustrated World Notes, and Su Liqian was lucky today. 

Without missing a beat, Su Liqian pulled out another transparent card. 

This time, she wanted to craft a card from Oracle’s Legacy.

The world in that story was massive and complex. Crafting during a match carried risks, but experience had proven that more intricate worlds often led to stronger, more varied cards.

So while she had this window of peace, she was determined to give it a shot.

Her memory of that story felt distant, but once she started recalling it, the floodgates opened.

All those long days and sleepless nights she’d poured into it, the coffee that went cold again and again, the thrill of launch day…

It all came rushing back, so vivid it felt like it had just happened yesterday.

After all, this wasn’t just any story.

This was the story of a person becoming a “god.” 

And it was a story she had once been part of…

---

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