When an enemy lord dies, any summoned individuals who did not perish in battle do not vanish. Instead, they remain until the entire competition concludes, at which point they return to their respective territories.
Thus, Zhou Yan could leverage the life-professions summoned by his opponents to empower himself. At this current stage, only Zhou Yan possessed this capability, as other nations had yet to initiate warfare.
Zhou Yan marched his forces to the gates of the Jinniu Kingdom and launched an assault. He personally led the charge into the enemy capital, then summoned soldiers to attack the opposing forces.
This tactic was not considered cheating; rather, it demonstrated Zhou Yan's mastery of using the rules to his advantage. The competition rules did not stipulate that summoning soldiers was restricted to one's own territory.
Furthermore, most lords would not actively engage in such direct combat, which was a key distinction between Zhou Yan and his peers.
This was due to Zhou Yan's formidable strength, having reached the seventh tier of Martial Dao or beyond.
Within the imperial palace of the Jinniu Kingdom, Ji Yongfu, who had assumed the role of emperor, was astonished by the news of the attack. "How could this be! How did the enemy arrive so quickly? Have my cities already been annihilated!"
Ji Yongfu immediately mobilized his troops to counter Zhou Yan, but Zhou Yan offered no quarter. Facing Zhou Yan, who had reached the seventh tier of Martial Dao, a single fire spell turned Ji Yongfu to ash.
"The Emperor of the Jinniu Kingdom has perished!"
A lord's death dealt a significant blow to his soldiers, but it was difficult for them to be integrated into another army, as they were not life-professions individuals.
Therefore, Zhou Yan did not intend to take prisoners; he annihilated them all.
After being teleported out of the competition space, Ji Yongfu sighed and observed who had eliminated him.
"Zhou Yan?" Hearing the name, Ji Yongfu seemed to recall it. Their instructors had specifically highlighted this individual, cautioning them to be wary. Yet, he had still been eliminated.
After all, the fact that Zhou Yan had destroyed twelve territories of the Long family on the Lord Continent was impossible for them to be unaware of.
"So it was him." Ji Yongfu returned to his instructors at the Shengyang Academy and was shocked to discover that his was not the first nation to be eliminated.
He then closely examined a country's territorial scope on the screen and realized that Zhou Yan's Zhou Kingdom's territory was nearly three times larger than others.
"You were also eliminated by Zhou Yan!" Upon seeing this fellow student, Ji Yongfu inexplicably felt a trace of... happiness.
He was not the absolute last; there was someone even further behind.
"Don't talk about it, just sit down," Ranke said, unwilling to speak, his mood deeply somber.
Anyone eliminated first would naturally feel disheartened.
The two unfortunate souls began to lament their suffering.
The instructors of the Shengyang Academy, looking at the two eliminated students, wore grim expressions. Why were the students eliminated exclusively from their academy?
Following the occupation of the Jinniu Kingdom's imperial city by Zhou Yan, he formulated a daring plan.
He quickly opened the map and began to scout for his next target.
He seemed to have discovered a "bug" in the competition, yet felt it wasn't exactly one.
He could now summon a multitude of soldiers. Therefore, Zhou Yan decided to personally infiltrate enemy cities, summon troops, and conquer them one by one, thereby quickly eliminating all other students.
With this thought, Zhou Yan proceeded directly with his plan. He unfurled his Yin-Yang Double Wings and flew alone towards the capital of the next country.
Outside the competition arena, observers were bewildered by Zhou Yan's actions, unsure of his intentions.
However, some intelligent individuals quickly grasped his strategy.
"Where is Zhou Yan heading? This doesn't seem to be the direction of the Zhou Kingdom's capital."
"Zhou Yan is heading to attack the Xuan Kingdom! Heavens! Is he going to attack the Xuan Kingdom alone?"
"No, don't forget, Zhou Yan can summon many soldiers. Oh, this guy actually plans to fly into the city to summon his army!"
"Isn't that considered a violation?"
"There doesn't seem to be any such rule in the competition."
...
Even the organizers from Long Qing Academy were stunned!
They had never anticipated such a scenario, nor had they ever imagined a first-year student could cultivate to the seventh tier of Martial Dao.
They also hadn't envisioned any lord personally attacking another city, let alone doing so by flying in alone to summon troops.
A group from Long Qing Academy exchanged perplexed glances, then inquired if Zhou Yan's actions constituted a foul.
They all felt a sense of frustration. They could imagine that at Zhou Yan's current speed, reaching a city would not take long.
Once he arrived at a city, he would undoubtedly summon a host of soldiers and adopt a strategy of fighting to sustain himself, conquering city after city.
Moreover, with each city eliminated, he could summon an additional two thousand soldiers.
Good heavens!
If this continued, Zhou Yan alone could sweep through all the students.
The millions of spectators were astonished by this prospect.
However, some still found it improbable. After all, there were forty students, and even though two had been eliminated, it would be difficult for Zhou Yan alone to eliminate them all.
Regardless, they were uncertain of how the situation would unfold.
"This fellow..." The instructors of Long Qing Academy were all troubled; he truly was a person who caused them headaches.
"We set these rules, and we never stipulated that lords could only summon soldiers within their own territory. Zhou Yan has truly found a loophole."
"I suspect Zhou Yan didn't conceive of this method beforehand; he thought of it on the spur of the moment. Alas, what can be done? Must we truly watch Zhou Yan eliminate the countries where other students reside one by one?"
"Currently, the soldiers of the other students do not possess many weapons. If they had weapons now, even if Zhou Yan summoned soldiers, their combat power would be limited without them. But this is the early stage, and many cities lack weapons."
"Should we change the rules? With so many people watching, wouldn't changing the rules be a slap in our own face?"
"Convene an emergency meeting to discuss the impact of this matter. It must be swift; the time flow between the competition space and the outside world is 10:1!"
The high-ranking officials of Long Qing Academy found themselves in a quandary.
Zhou Yan: It's none of my business!