Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

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"Very well, you've done well! Both Croatia's Magic Association and government have expressed their gratitude, and the Parthenon Temple no longer needs to pay any extra tax for the Black Rhododendrons from Croatia!" The Hall Mother was absolutely radiant in the hall, and her gaze at Xinxia was totally different from before.

The Black Rhododendrons had always been a material that the Parthenon Temple desperately needed, and Croatia would usually charge them an expensive fee. However, Croatia happened to have the best Black Rhododendrons. As such, the sum spent on acquiring the Black Rhododendrons each year was absolutely shocking. To the Hall Mother's surprise, the government of Croatia was willing to exempt them from paying the taxes as a reward for resolving the plague, saving lots of money for the Parthenon Temple.

It had only been possible because of the new candidate that was being picked on, Ye Xinxia. Not only did she resolve the plague, she also earned quite a reputation in Croatia!

The Parthenon Temple had eight Candidates, but now, with Xinxia officially becoming a Candidate, there were nine in total. The other Candidates were trying to earn their reputation at other places, and the competition would decide the person that would become the Goddess in the end. Once a Candidate had earned the support of the whole world, she would not be far from being respected and loved by the world, like establishing a new faith as a religion!

That being said, the candidates had merely earned the support of the people. Their trust in the Candidates was not deep-rooted yet.

Xinxia was basically a nobody in the Hall of the Goddess, but somehow, she had suddenly received support from a few places, including those that had fought the war against the undead in Egypt, and those that were involved in the plague in Croatia...

She had turned out to be the key person in resolving both incidents, and now, her identity as a candidate had been made public, too. Both the people of Egypt and Croatia immediately supported the decision of making Xinxia the ninth Candidate!

Even though the support was nothing compared to the influence that the other Candidates had, Xinxia was starting to establish her own influence.

"I believe everyone now agrees with my decision of making her a Candidate?" the Hall Mother asked as she looked at the members in the hall.

"Her contributions are still far from enough to make her a Candidate. The two countries are only supporting her by blindly following the crowd," Great Muse Mellaura immediately disagreed.

"It's fairly difficult for a Servant that has recently been promoted to let the people remember her name and earn more respect for our Parthenon Temple..."

Xinxia looked at the Hall Mother. Somehow, she had a strange feeling.

Despite her outstanding performance of achieving something that many Servants would never be able to achieve, the Hall Mother was still going overboard with how impressed she was. Wasn't the Hall Mother supposed to focus more on the Candidates and the Muses? What she did was actually not as impressive compared to some other achievements that the Candidates had...

Xinxia was not really passionate about climbing the ranks in the Parthenon Temple, unlike the other Servants. However, the Hall Mother kept on showing her intention to promote Xinxia. In addition to her astonishment, Xinxia was also feeling uncomfortable.

First, Xinxia did not know the Hall Mother's true intentions. Second, Xinxia was a Psychic Mage, thus she could easily sense the hostility from the gazes of the members in the Hall of the Goddess!

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Venice, the City of Canals...

After returning to the city, Mo Fan realized that the crowd on the streets had grown bigger. Some of the narrower streets and canals were fully jammed. It felt like water transportation in Venice would suffer a breakdown if more people came to Venice!

"Brother Fan, can you really run around like that when you're representing the country in a tournament?" Zhang Xiaohou was utterly impressed by Mo Fan. The other national representatives were nervously preparing themselves for the upcoming matches, and were afraid to go anywhere else, worried they would not be able to perform well in the tournament. Meanwhile, Mo Fan was insane enough to simply pay a visit to Croatia!

"Of course I'll be here when there's an important match," Mo Fan said.

"I believe our country is competing this afternoon, let me see who our opponent is..." Zhang Xiaohou took his phone out.

Lingling replied straight away, "It's Spain."

"Spain?" For some reason, Mo Fan was having a bad feeling.

"Is there any problem? Are they a strong opponent?" Zhang Xiaohou asked.

"That goes without saying. I think they were ranked thirteenth in the last tournament," Lingling said.

Mo Fan turned and looked at Lingling with her little ponytail and asked, "How old were you when the last tournament took place? How did you even remember a detail like that?"

Lingling suddenly fell silent, as if she had remembered something unpleasant.

Mo Fan had no idea what he said wrong, thus he was not too bothered by it. He told Lingling and Zhang Xiaohou, "I'll bring you two to the resting zone, and you can watch the match from there. You won't be able to get a good spot if you try to buy a ticket now!"

Coming back to Venice, they were running short on time, and it was quite a nuisance trying to get to their destination due to the traffic congestion. Zhang Xiaohou was subconsciously worried that Mo Fan might be late to the match.

Besides, old man Feng Li even called and asked what the asshole Mo Fan was up to, since he had still not shown up at the match.

There was no way Mo Fan would say he had paid a visit to Croatia for a few days. He simply told the team that he was cultivating in seclusion, thus they should not call him unless it was an emergency...

---

"Brother Fan, why do I feel like it's quite empty here? Is the match between China and Spain really not that popular?" Zhang Xiaohou asked as they arrived at the place.

Lingling too lifted her gaze. She remained silent looking at the empty place.

Mo Fan was confused too. Did everyone already go inside the stadium? Even so, there should be lots of people outside still. The World College Tournament was one of the remaining official tournaments in the world, and most people would only be able to watch a magic battle during the World College Tournament...

"Mo Fan, why aren't you here yet? We are starting soon!" Zhao Manyan called and demanded in a panic.

"I've arrived at the entrance of Torunto Stadium. Something isn't right, why don't I hear any noise from it?" Mo Fan said.

The other end fell silent for a few seconds.

"Did the water of the rivers in Venice fill up your f**king brain? The match today is at the Dragon Fangs Dueling Ground!" Zhao Manyan roared into the phone. Mo Fan could even feel his saliva spitting out from his phone.

"Holy crap, no one told me about it!" Mo Fan was astounded.

"Feng Li is most likely going to kick you off the team. Send me your location, I'll fly to you now!" Zhao Manyan said.

"Oh, oh, I'm heading in your direction, we'll meet between the two places!" Mo Fan answered.

Mo Fan briefly told Lingling and Zhang Xiaohou about it and sprinted along the canals using the Dark Noble Mantle without carrying about the rules in Venice...

Both Lingling and Zhang Xiaohou watched Mo Fan hurriedly disappearing into the distance like they were looking at an idiot.

"I feel sorry for the national team for recruiting Brother Fan."

"In the end, we still have to buy our own tickets," Lingling complained in displeasure.

---

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The Dragon Fangs Dueling Ground was one of the oldest magic stadiums in Venice. It was not a temporary establishment, but made of stone formations that standing as firmly as dragon fangs.

The slopes varied in height; some were only a few meters tall, like a bunch of fake hills scattering across the place like a maze. Some were incredibly tall, thirty to forty meters in height, as tall as the towering buildings in Venice!

The venue of the match was right here where the mountains of dragon fangs stood in lines.

From the resting zone for the participants, Jiang Yu exclaimed while staring at the mountains."It seems like Earth Mages are going to have an advantage this time."

"Not really, don't you notice the whole place is actually sunken?" Instructor Bai Dongwei pointed out.

The instructor of the Training Hall was here, together with a few members of the National Hall. Since they were substitutes, they were seated quite a distance behind the official representatives. Mo Fan would have been familiar with a few of them. Mu Nujiao was clearly one of them, and in addition to her, Dongfang Lie and Yue Tangxin were here too...

Even though they were substitutes, they had no chance of participating in a match. There were already ten official representatives for the national team. They would only take part if everyone on the national team was involved in some kind of accident. As such, they were only there to learn from watching the match.

"If he's not here, I'll go. My secondary Element is Earth, and the layout is quite complicated with the jagged rocks across the place. It's quite an ideal match for me!" said Guan Yu who was eager to show off his talents.

"Be patient, the match hasn't started yet!" Feng Li glared at him.

"If he still hasn't arrived when the match starts, we won't be able to replace him!" Mu Tingying said.

The national team could decide on their representatives before a match, but when the match was about to start, they had to hand in the list of names, and would no longer be able to modify it. The person that was absent would be disqualified.

"Don't tell me the guy already went hiding? He's such a coward. We never had a coward like him who did not dare to face his enemy among the Spanish Mages!" Prince Beny said. He blatantly expressed his disdain for Mo Fan. However, when he realized Mu Ningxue was right beside him, Prince Beny immediately explained politely, "Miss Mu Ningxue, I wasn't referring to you and your team. I was only referring to the man who fled after disrespecting me. I would like to settle the dispute with him today, yet he ran away without caring about the team's glory."

Prince Beny jabbered on, but Mu Ningxue simply treated him like air.

Mu Ningxue was too familiar with how Mo Fan was. He would continue to sleep and eat according to his own schedule even if he had beaten a king up, let alone a little prince!