Chapter 264: The Seeded Contestant (1/2)
Chapter 264: The Seeded Contestant
Translator: 3herylEditor: AntiGod
The ranking competition had not started yet, but the looks between all the young warriors had already changed. It was a kind of raw, unmasked fighting intent.
Tuo Baku looked at Sikong Sheng, then looked at Ye Chen. In his eyes, only these two were unreadable and horrifying. No need to mention Sikong Sheng’s power, who was ranked no.1 in the last Hidden Dragon Rank and was carrying the blood of a king level warrior; his attacking power was so great that no one would dare to take it head-on. Then there was Ye Chen. If Sikong Sheng were a flying dragon that was well-known to everyone, then Ye Chen would be a hidden dragon in the deepest cliff. No one would know how much potential he had until the critical moment. Whether he would be able to prove his power or not was too hard to tell for now.
But of course, it was not that Tuo Baku looked down at the other top young warriors. In fact, besides Sikong Sheng and Ye Chen, he was still not confident in taking on some of the other powerful warriors, such as the “Fire Spirit Pince” Yan Chihuo, who had powerful blade arts and an unstoppable aura. Each one of his movements could be controlled just to the right extent, which made him a horrifying opponent. Then there was Lin Yun, who seemed to be slightly weaker than the others but had such a powerful aura. Judging by Tuo Baku’s eleventh level defense art, Lin Yun must have also trained to a similar level, which meant that he could not be underestimated either. Although Li Daoxuan was not as famous as the others, in this true spirit continent, who really dared to underestimate a sword artist? Once a sword artist threw out a sword attack, it would be a live or die moment. Then the last but not the least – Murong Qingcheng. Facing this mysteriously attractive woman, it reminded Tuo Baku of the time he faced Ye Chen. It was not a pressure coming from the aura or strength, but a kind of feeling like he was standing on the outside of a mist, trying to see what was inside. That kind of feeling of the unknown was what made it scary.
“With so many powerful warriors, it would be hard to get through!” Tuo Baku’s personality was quite relaxed, and he did not really bother with things. There was rarely anything that could frighten him, but now, with all those thoughts in mind, he could still not help but shake his head. He was not a fool, and he would not run towards every powerful warrior that he saw. Actually, every time he met a powerful warrior, he would analyze his or her power first before doing anything reckless.
On the other battling platform, Bing Ling, who had already completely healed frowned. Before she came here, her lowest target was to make it in the top three while trying to fight for the champion place. However, now, the top three was almost impossible to her. She would still be able to fight for the top five, but she knew that it would still be more intense than she expected.
Right then, the head judge started talking again, “After a long time of battling, I believe everyone is a bit tired now. The ranking competition would require a lot of physical and mental energy. Therefore, before the ranking competition, there would be three days of resting time. I hope everyone would use this time to bring your condition to the prime and then you will be in the best condition to face the hardest competition. Now, everyone, please go rest! I will see you all in the morning of the fourth day. Then, the ranking competition will officially begin.”
Hearing him, all of the young warriors got off the platform. The head judge was right, after a day of battling, their mental and physical energy was definitely not at the peak, and they would not be able to tell the difference until they entered a highly intense battle or fought against an opponent with similar cultivation. Even the slight difference would make them regret for the rest of their lives. Therefore, no one dared to underestimate this matter.
“If they are not tired, I am tired already. My eyes hurt!”
“Two stages of competitions, thousands of battles. Even if we just watched one-tenth of the fights, my eyes are still worn out. Three days of rest would be the best just in case we miss some awesome exchange of attacks.”
Hearing him, all of the warriors in the audience seating started to leave as well without any complaints.
…
Three days of time had gone by in the blink of an eye. On the fourth day morning, the stadium had been filled with warriors as the sound waves shot into the sky. Those six battling platforms over the deep cliff had already been combined into one, making a triangular platform that had a length of three hundred meters and width of two hundred meters.
The platform was still wrapped with a dark blue light wall, and outside the light wall was this endless deep cliff that was full of qi flows. There were nine entrances to the battling platform. The young warriors had entered from within, including Ye Chen and the other two.
“The atmosphere is different now.” After entering, Ye Chen had already sensed an intense atmosphere that had filled the stadium, and a lot of it was targeted at him.
It was not hard to imagine why. The eliminating battles were only to eliminate the ones that were not qualified enough. For those who were powerful enough, they would still be able to make it to the next stage without any conflicts. But now, it was completely different – all of the warriors present were warriors in the rank, and they were fighting for their ranking. The higher the rank, the richer would be the qi of the dragon fountain, which would be great not only for themselves but for their martial institutions and families as well.
“On the path of becoming a better warrior, standing still equals taking a step back.” This saying could not be more accurate to describe the competition of the Hidden Dragon Rank.
Ye Chen had even noticed that there was a different atmosphere between some of the disciples from the same martial institution. Although it was more mellow and vague, it was just as intense as the other. When facing the competition of the Hidden Dragon Rank, even disciples from the same martial school, even if it were their brothers and sisters by blood, they were still pushed to use all of their power because if they didn’t, the other might.
Waiting until everyone had arrived at the stadium, the head judge started to announce the rules of the ranking competition.
The Hidden Dragon Rank completion was also known as the super scoring competition. The battling area would be the same battling platform, and there would be seventy-one rounds of competition. Each round would have thirty-six battles, which meant each round of competition would bring one opponent, and seventy-one rounds meant seventy-one opponents. Under this condition, there would be a battle between each one of the seventy-two contestants. As for the ones who had already battled before in the eliminating competitions, they would be able to fight again, and whether the opponent decided to give up or not would be completely up to them. Regardless, the losing side would lose part of his or her dragon fountain qi, while the winning contestant would be rewarded with more dragon fountain qi.
Seventy-one rounds of competitions would not be able to finish in one day. When the sky got dark, the days’ competition would be finished and would be continued on the second morning. Therefore, the time of each year’s Hidden Dragon Rank competition lasted differently; it took two to three days at a minimum and four to five days at the maximum. When there was a special condition, they would have to push back the competition to ensure its fairness so no one in the rank would be able to complain.
“Seventy-one rounds of competitions, thirty-six battles each round. That way, everyone’s true power would slowly reveal. Eventually, it would all be on the table.”
“Maybe we would be able to see battles between those top young warriors?”
“Yah! This would be a very likely possibility.”
“You guys haven’t seen the last Hidden Dragon Rank competition, have you? This possibility is very low. Later, the thirteen judges would vote out ten seeded contestants, and the battles between the seeded contestants would be conducted in the last nine rounds and at no time before.”
“I see!”
Just like this person had said, the head judge and the other twelve judges were already discussing the ten seeded contestants.
“Sikong Sheng is definitely one of them!”
“And Yan Chihuo, Li Daoxuan!”