“Burjia!” 

The massive magical beast looked almost powerless in front of the tall, magnificent mecha. Wu Yi curved his lips into a smile and tapped the air. The First Sun Mecha was immediately activated. 

The mecha’s eyes glowed bright red. Though it was massive, it moved with surprising agility. 

Burjia flapped its wings, trying to take advantage of its aerial mobility to launch attacks from multiple angles, but its movements were precisely predicted by powerful calculations. With a swift motion, the First Sun Mecha reached out and grabbed one of Burjia’s wings. 

Eee—eee—!

The captured beast let out a shrill cry, struggling with all his might but unable to budge the mecha’s mechanical arm. 

Ji Yanxi quickly realized the gravity of the situation. 

He had expected something like this to happen. With O’Neill’s nature, he would never miss any chance to suppress his opponents. 

However, O’Neill couldn’t directly intervene, so Wu Yi became his weapon. All O’Neill had to do was casually toss a card his way, and he’d get the result he wanted. 

Ji Yanxi’s eyes sharpened, his expression turning cold. 

In this situation, he needed to stay calm. 

This wasn’t an unsolvable situation. 

If his opponent had been someone else, he might have been uncertain, but he knew Wu Yi fairly well. 

Even though O’Neill had given him an S-level card, and even if the card was powerful, the one using it was still Wu Yi—and that limited its potential.

Wu Yi used to be his “sidekick.” From that time, Ji Yanxi could tell that Wu Yi, though talented, was someone who liked to “cut corners.” 

He had potential, but his foundation wasn’t solid. He understood Illusion World in a rushed, shallow way, focusing on the card itself rather than its connection to the world’s story. 

Ji Yanxi had pointed this out to him before, but Wu Yi never took it seriously. 

“Hey, as long as the card works, who cares! I can still win!” 

Wu Yi had gotten this far thanks to O’Neill’s support and his decent talents. 

But his limited understanding of cards had always held him back. This wasn’t obvious in the Star Realm lower-tier matches, but the higher the level of the competition, the more glaring the issues became. 

This was especially clear when it came to using S-level cards. 

Cards below S-level might still work with a shallow understanding, but an S-level card required the user to have a deep, solid understanding of Illusion World. Otherwise, its full potential couldn’t be unlocked. 

Wu Yi was struggling to use the S-level card, and it was a familiar problem for him. 

This was Ji Yanxi’s chance. He immediately pulled a transparent card from his Star Moon Stone belt and held it in his palm. 

Yes, he was going to use this one second to craft a card. 

Everyone’s gaze shifted from the massive mecha to Ji Yanxi’s hand. They were all curious about the card he was about to craft. 

The next second, a green, silver-lined card appeared. 

“It’s the A-level function card Magnetic Field Interference Card from Star Thief! I didn’t expect Ji Yanxi to stay calm under pressure and quickly think of a counter-strategy!” 

“But this is only an A-level card. Can it really change the tide of battle against an S-level attack?” 

The commentator voiced the question on everyone’s mind. 

But Ji Yanxi had never planned to defeat an S-level card with an A-level one. His goal was simply to delay. 

“Unlock!” 

Green light flashed, and the A-level card became a beam of light that quickly crossed over the arena before disappearing. 

To the naked eye, it seemed like nothing had happened, but the next second, Wu Yi panicked. 

After the magnetic field interference, the First Sun Mecha lost its signal. No matter how much he called out, there was no response.

The massive mecha, which had been moving, suddenly stopped mid-step and remained motionless. 

“Burjia, attack!” 

Ji Yanxi couldn’t afford to relax for a second. He knew that the magnetic field interference, being only an A-level card, would have only a slight effect on the First Sun Mecha. This meant he had only a few seconds to act. 

He had to act quickly. 

Whoosh! 

The audience saw two figures, one human and one beast, turning into shadows, rapidly charging toward Wu Yi’s position. In the blink of an eye, all that was left was Wu Yi lying on the ground and Ji Yanxi, clearly the victor. 

“???” 

“What just happened?” 

In those final seconds, Ji Yanxi maximized his physical abilities and used two acceleration cards. 

Before anyone could react, he had already defeated Wu Yi. 

It happened so fast that even Wu Yi didn’t have time to respond before he collapsed. 

“Woooahhhh!” 

“Ji Yanxi! Ji Yanxi! Ji Yanxi!” 

The crowd erupted in deafening applause and cheers. Many people began chanting his name spontaneously. 

Although many had doubted Ji Yanxi’s ability to win at the beginning, it didn’t mean they didn’t want him to. Wu Yi had initially looked down on players from the lower-level tournaments, and Ji Yanxi, as their representative, had just slapped him in the face. 

It felt so satisfying! 

“Ji Yanxi!” 

Ji Yanxi had gained a wave of fans without even realizing it. Meanwhile, on the other side, Wu Yi lay on the ground, wishing he could crawl into a hole. 

But he couldn’t do that—he couldn’t even get up! 

So humiliating! 

“Hey, anyone… help me…” 

Wu Yi’s weak voice was quickly drowned out by the intense cheers from the crowd. 

No one cared about the fate of the loser. 

No matter how arrogant Wu Yi had been before, in the end, he, like last time, was dragged off the stage in defeat and hurriedly left the venue. 

Meanwhile, in an unknown room somewhere else, O’Neill watched the live broadcast on a holographic screen. The image was frozen on Wu Yi’s face, twisted with pain and humiliation after his defeat.

O’Neill’s cold, malicious gaze flickered for a moment before he waved his hand to turn off the screen. His hand instinctively clenched into a fist, letting out a cold grunt. 

As expected, he shouldn’t have placed any hope in that useless fool. 

All he ever did was screw things up. 

O’Neill walked to the large floor-to-ceiling window in the room. From here, he could look down on the entire central district beneath him. 

He liked this feeling. 

One day, he would defeat Ji Yanxi with his own hands and crush him beneath his feet, too. 

◇◆◇ 

After the match ended, the contestant exchange meeting was also wrapping up. 

Su Liqian wasn’t in the mood to make friends, so after collecting her betting winnings, she headed straight back to the hotel. 

Ji Yanxi, whose restless nature usually kept him busy, had become unusually quiet for once. Overall, the exchange meeting had gone smoothly. 

After returning to the Sixth Star District, the next important task was preparing for the upcoming finals. 

To ensure the advancing players could focus on their training, the school even arranged special classes for them and provided the privilege of skipping school with prior approval. 

Su Liqian’s routine didn’t change much, though. Her days consisted of attending classes, studying match videos, learning card crafting knowledge, and occasionally training with Ye Zilan and Sen Ya, all in preparation for the finals. 

Everything had to take a backseat when it came to the Star District Card Finals. 

Su Liqian, Sen Ya, and Ye Zilan were the first students from this batch to make it to the finals in their first attempt. They were also the future stars of Lanxi, with the whole school eager to provide them with all the resources, hoping they would achieve great results and turn things around for the school. 

But the teachers of Lanxi dared not put too much pressure on the players. All they could do was offer support and encouragement; everything else had to be left to the players themselves. 

Once Star District Finals began, the schedule was no longer just limited to weekends. 

The finals had a tight schedule, with matches held almost every day. In the end, they would select one hundred people from the thousands of participants to represent their Star District in the Star Realm competition, followed by the Planetary and Interstellar competitions. 

Su Liqian checked her match schedule on the official website. Her opponents were all unfamiliar names, but after looking them up, each one seemed to have their own special skills. 

Her first match was scheduled for Monday afternoon, so she took the day off and arrived early at the venue. 

Although the final venue hadn’t changed, the atmosphere felt completely different. Just the fact that she arrived early yet could only find a spot in the very back row showed how intense the competition was. 

The Star District Finals was a major event for every Star District, with the government heavily promoting and reporting on it, while the public’s enthusiasm was through the roof. 

These could be the future star card masters representing their districts, and smart people had already “placed their bets” and joined fan groups. 

Though Su Liqian ended up sitting in a corner of the last row, the massive 360-degree screen still allowed her to clearly see everything happening on the stage. 

With some time before the match officially started, the stands were already packed. The air was buzzing with conversation as everyone eagerly discussed the upcoming match, speculating about certain highly anticipated card masters, or what would make today’s competition stand out. 

To her surprise, Su Liqian happened to overhear someone mention her name. 

“Hey, who are you here to support?” 

“Of course, I’m here for Master Kuo Zuo! He’s the coolest card master I’ve seen in action! What about you?” 

“Me?” 

The person raised their head proudly, “I’m a fan of Su Liqian! You know her, right? The youngest Dream Caster in Interstellar history!” 

“Oh, now I remember! I think I’ve seen a few of her matches. She’s pretty impressive!”

“Right? She’s my top pick for rising star! So, what do you think? Want to root for her with me? No regrets joining early!” 

“No way, I’m not switching teams!” 

“…” 

Su Liqian quietly shrank back, trying to make herself less noticeable. 

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