"Does she think she will lose?"

"Maybe she feels that participating, given her reputation in the martial world, might seem like bullying the younger generation?"

"Nonsense! The chief disciples from other major schools have also participated!"

Ultimately, the news that emerged was that Han Xi had become the head of the Emei school. As per the Martial Arts Association's rules, the leaders of the major schools don't compete.

"So, should we address her as Leader Han from now on?"

"Haha, you can also call her Master Han!"

"It feels odd to address the beautiful Han as an elder when she's only in her thirties and still so stunning."

"Woe is me, my bet was refunded. I heard the association returned millions in bets, must've hurt them."

"They should be relieved. Had those millions won, they'd be on the hook for tens of millions!"

"Without Han Xi, the championship might indeed fall into the hands of House Master Gu. Hurry up and place your bets!"

Gu Zhou probably doesn’t even realize he's suddenly become the most popular choice for champion. However, he's confident that even if Han Xi had participated, she might not have been a match for him.

Before leaving, Zhou You meticulously disguised himself. Watching him apply makeup, thickening his eyebrows, darkening his skin, adding a mustache, altering the shape of his eyes, and styling his hair to appear older, Shao Qi commented that he indeed looked around forty.

"Master Zhou Shan, are you planning to win the championship looking like this? I wanted to have a photo with the champion," Shao Qi lamented.

Zhou You glanced at him, "If the championship trophy were presented by you, I might consider revealing my true identity. But people might not believe it."

"Haha, you're overthinking. Believe it or not, after a couple of rounds, everyone will see through your disguise." There aren’t many spiritual controllers with deep internal skills. Zhou Shan might be an unknown, but Zhou You is renowned everywhere.

Zhou You changed into a white practice suit. The finals allow participants to wear armor and carry weapons, but Zhou You felt it was unnecessary for now.

Before setting off, he looked at Shao Qi's fair and delicate face, asking impatiently, "Are you really coming out with me looking like that?"

"Yeah, why? Don’t I look handsome?"

"You do, but with you by my side, I doubt my disguise will last even two rounds."

Shao Qi's face remained unchanged, his skin was too fair and smooth, making him look very young. With one looking mature and the other so youthful, outsiders might mistake them for father and son.

"With a hat and mask on, nobody will recognize me."

Shao Qi pushed him out the door, started an inconspicuous small car, and had to get off when they reached the stadium's perimeter.

"There's so much traffic, they started controlling it from this far out," said Shao Qi, parking in the designated spot and then walking in with Zhou You.

One held a competitor's ticket, while the other had a judge's ticket, drawing curious glances from the ticket checkers.

Only then did Zhou You realize that he was a judge for the competition. Once inside, he whispered to him, "How dare you sit there? Aren't you afraid people will use the incident of your martial skills being crippled against you?"

Shao Qi laughed, "It's just a fight. Victory or defeat is clear for all to see. What can a judge do? At most, they're just a slightly more attractive idol. They invited me to maintain order."

Zhou You looked at him skeptically, "They invited you to keep the peace?"

Shao Qi pointed to the soldiers on duty in the arena and said, "With so many of my men here, don't I deserve a seat on the judge's panel?"

Zhou You scanned the crowd and eventually called Xuan Wei and Zhou Yichen over, asking them to assist Shao Qi.

Xuan Wei and Zhou Yichen didn't mind; being assistants to a judge meant they got to sit in the front row. Why wouldn't they be pleased?

However, Shao Qi wasn't too thrilled. Did he really need protection from two youngsters?

Despite being the finals, the number of contestants was vast, with more than two thousand participants from bases nationwide. Thus, the first two days of the finals were massive battles. After four rounds of elimination, the last hundred contestants officially entered the grand finals.

The name Zhou Shan had already become famous in Dawn City. During the preliminary rounds, few people noticed him, but tales of his exploits circulated among the martial artists.

Now, everyone knew him. A contestant who had never made a move, every time he went up to the stage, his opponents always ended up thrown out of the ring.

Some believed in his strength, placing increasing bets on him.

Others suspected him of cheating, but the organizers issued a statement saying they had investigated, and he had no signs of cheating.

"Is he a god or something?"

"How does he make his move? Can a psychic controller be that powerful?"

"My master is also a psychic controller, and I can confidently say that they aren't this strong. Could he be using some advanced weapon?"

"Who cares? If he can keep this up until the last match, I'll be impressed."

"Hasn't anyone noticed the judge in the hat and mask?" While most of the crowd's attention was drawn to Zhou You, some noticed the odd one out among the judges.

This person came every day wearing a hat and mask, with very fair skin showing, appearing very young.

Of course, there were many young people among the judges, but only he kept his face completely hidden.

The judges indeed didn't have much to do; they just had to sit there like mascots, as the audience wasn't there for them.

However, whenever the camera panned over the judges, everyone was curious about the identities of these influential figures.

Everyone else can be easily looked up, except for this mysterious man in the hat. Are there certain individuals the audience isn't entitled to know about?

But no matter how much they pressed the association for answers, they remained tight-lipped, drawing even more attention to him.