Chapter 653: Chapter 476: We’ll Take the 3 Spots

Shangjing.

Gathering Star Glory Hall.

This is the main venue of the Juxing Club, located at the core of Shangjing, surrounded by bustling commercial areas. It is an exclusive venue for Glory matches and can accommodate over 200,000 spectators.

Only teams with high performance and popularity are eligible to compete here; regular teams do not enjoy such privileges.

The venue was closed for a period due to the turmoil in the Glory Professional Alliance but has been hosting matches and events daily for the past two to three months.

Tonight, the Gathering Star Glory Hall is bustling with excitement.

Starting at seven and ending at eight, a full hour of entry time, the venue is now packed to capacity, even the aisles are crowded.

The venue is oval-shaped, with the competition area at the center, surrounded by tiered seating.

Above the competition area, four massive light curtains capture the action, with cheers erupting like a tsunami whenever a celebrity or star appears.

As the host’s excited and loud voice echoes, under the spotlight, the two competing teams with their twelve players appear, and the cheers reach a peak.

The two teams are distinguished by the colored ribbons on their arms, divided into the Red Team and the Black Team.

Standing at the front of the Red Team is the former captain of the Juxing Team, All-Star Player of the 17th edition, Chen Junhao, along with the former key player Zhou Shengkai.

The four players behind them are: Xie Yixiao, Xu Qing, Gong Fei, and You Xinghe.

Among them, Xie Yixiao and Xu Qing are openly bound helpers to Zhang Junhao. Xie Yixiao is an All-Star Player of the 18th edition, and Xu Qing was previously Zhang Junhao’s teammate in the Divine Archer profession, with whom they have a very tacit understanding.

Compared to the grey and dejected look six months ago due to an arm injury, Xie Yixiao now seems to be quite spirited.

Zhang Junhao, with 2.73 million popularity votes, ranks third in the popularity list, having already secured a spot for one student in advance.

As his helper, Xie Yixiao can also participate in the King Becoming Plan!

They continue to compete now for two purposes.

The first is to maintain exposure and avoid unexpected incidents.

After all, there’s one opportunity to change the vote.

The second is to help Zhou Shengkai improve his vote count.

Currently, Zhou Shengkai’s popularity vote is 560,000, placing him 33rd on the popularity list; only those ranked 34th or above can obtain a student spot.

With a week remaining, the 33rd position is very precarious and could be overtaken at any moment.

Therefore, he not only needs to ensure exposure but also needs to increase his popularity.

This match is specifically to increase Zhou Shengkai’s popularity.

The Black Team is led by former captain Zhao Zhou of the Thunder Club and former captain Lin Meimei of the Fenghuo Team.

Their four players are: Wang Xiaobiao, Kong Hongxuan, Gong Shangpeng, and Lu Xinghuo.

Among them, Wang Xiaobiao, like Xie Yixiao, is an All-Star Player of the 18th edition.

After introducing the contestants, the match did not start immediately; instead, there was a warm-up.

It was basically showing off skills.

The warm-up took ten minutes before the actual battle commenced.

"This battle seems more and more exciting, but in fact, it’s getting more and more boring."

In the VIP seats, Jiang Jun smiled at the battle on the light curtain, his tone full of sarcasm.

Hearing Jiang Jun’s words, several people nearby smiled and did not take it seriously.

What Jiang Jun said was the truth: laymen watch the excitement, experts watch the art.

Though their skills may not be as strong as those players, as the heads of various club branches, they are certainly the most expert individuals.

This battle is indeed boring!

Compared to previous Glory matches, this battle, which involves twelve players in total, is even more tedious as it solely aims to showcase the abilities of Zhou Shengkai and Lin Meimei.

"Isn’t the Glory League always like this? Haven’t you gotten used to it?"

Jiang Jun frowned slightly and said seriously: "This isn’t the Glory League; this is the King Becoming Plan. What’s the point of such a performance? Will other countries’ students perform with you at that time?"

"It’s not that extreme; this isn’t the World Glory Battle. Also, the King Becoming Plan hasn’t officially started yet; it’s still the popularity vote, and popularity votes look at fame. Naturally, the more spectacular, the better. If it were a real fight, it wouldn’t be as entertaining, with potentially heavy casualties."

Jiang Jun remained silent and did not refute.

Because that is indeed the reality.

The current situation is also like this.

As the end date for popularity voting approaches, those hoping to secure a spot are trying every means to appear in public. Various consortia and clubs are also using their financial resources and channels to build momentum for them.

When someone frequently appears before the public, it unconsciously leaves a deep impression, fostering a sense of recognition and closeness towards the person.

When two players are equal in strength, potential, and popularity, naturally the one who is recognized and familiar receives the votes.

Thus, even impression points can lead to many additional votes.

This is why professional players attend events and matches daily, and even deliberately create conflicts and news stories.

At the same level, professional players, having participated in competitions for years, hold a high impression score among the audience and have many fans, which is an inherent advantage.

Therefore, about ninety percent of the names on the popularity vote leaderboard are Glory players.

"It’s a pity for Yun Tianqi and Ye Xing; with their popularity and strength, getting helpers would be no problem."

Jiang Jun said with some regret.

Although Yun Tianqi and Ye Xing cannot participate in this edition, they will certainly participate in the next one, and very likely as students directly.

It’s just unclear when the next edition will be?

Is there still time?

Moreover, resources are limited.

This time, with the King Becoming Plan, countries worldwide have already brought forth most of their accumulated resources, and it will surely be impossible to gather that many resources again in a short time.

Which means that the resources for the first edition are the most abundant, and the focus is the highest.

If Ye Xing and the others miss this King Becoming Plan, they might fall behind Xie Yixiao.

However, based on Jiang Jun’s understanding of them, they probably disdain such performance matches!

After half an hour of fighting, the battle ended amidst cheers.

This time, the Juxing Team won.

Among them, Juxing’s Zhou Shengkai and Thunder’s Lin Meimei performed the best and became the highlight of this match.

After this match, both of them gained over ten thousand additional popularity votes, and they kept rising.

After this, there are two more matches.

Both are equally spectacular yet boring.

The purpose was to emphasize the strength of certain players.

After the match, six teams took the stage to answer questions from reporters and the audience.

This, too, was a tedious process, filled with mutual praise.

Jiang Jun and the others, after watching the match, prepared to leave early, but just before leaving, a commotion broke out at the venue. Suddenly, many people exclaimed, pulled out their phones, and lowered their heads to check.

The exclamations contained the familiar names of Lin Feng and his small squad.

Jiang Jun, hearing those familiar names, wondered what had happened?

But he knew something significant had occurred, or else the audience wouldn’t be so shocked.

"The Martial Artist Forum!"

A colleague beside him shouted, pulling out his phone and projecting a light curtain for everyone to see.

Jiang Jun quickly leaned in for a look.

On the Martial Artist Forum, a post’s views were skyrocketing at a terrifying speed and was pinned to the top of the homepage only seconds later.

The content was simple.

It contained only one photo.

It was Lin Feng’s squad that had disappeared for over three months. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Eleven people stood in the sea atop a giant whale, looking elegant and confident.

The post’s title was just eight words: "Three spots, we claim them!"