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!"
"Lin Yun, Bing Ling!"
"Mo Yan would be qualified as well!"
"Right now, there are already six seeded contestants. I think Tuo Baku is also qualified."
"Yah, Tuo Baku is very powerful. I think he had the power to get in the top five. I also would like to nominate Murong Qingcheng. Her power is no weaker than Mo Yan, it could only be higher."
"So we still have two places left."
"Isn't this easy? Ye Chen is definitely one of the seeded contestants. If he did not get in, people would think there's something wrong."
"Hehe, needless to say… naturally, Ye Chen had already been counted. I was thinking about the tenth seeded contestant. Do you think it should be Qian Yun or Gu Youyun."
"Huh! This would be quite a tough call. Qian Yun is the second disciple of the rank 6 martial institution - Sunset Martial School and is extremely powerful while Gu Youyun was the second disciple of the rank 6 martial institution - the Floating Mountain Martial School, who carries the bloodline of the Stone King. She had shown just as much power as Qian Yun. Whoever we pick would make the other person unhappy."
"What can they do if they are not satisfied? We are the judges, there is nothing we can do but choose the ones we think are eligible. Let's do it this way! Let's vote, whoever gets more votes will be the seeded contestants. The rest will no longer be our responsibility."
"Okay! I will pick Qian Yun."
"I pick Gu Youyun."
What was more dramatic was that votes for Qian Yun and Gu Youyun ended up being the same, which was six votes. It was obvious that the two had a very similar level of power in the judges' opinion. The good thing was that there were thirteen judges in total, counting in the head judge. Currently, the head judge had not voted yet. Whoever he voted for would be the last seeded contestant. In other words, his vote decided everything.
The head judge took a deep breath and said, "Gu Youyun."
Finally, the ten seeded contestants had been decided. They were Sikong Sheng, Yan Chihuo, Li Daoxuan, Lin Yun, Bing Ling, Mo Yan, Tuo Baku, Murong Qingcheng, Ye Chen and Gu Youyun.
Sikong Sheng and the rest of the seeded contestants did not seem to be surprised at the judges' decision. The thirteen judges were all Astral Reaching Realm warriors, and they would be able to tell one's power level by judging their Qi. Adding the performances in the eliminating competition, it would not be easier for them to pick ten people.
Only Qian Yun looked disappointed and mad. 'How could I not make it in the list?!' Although the seeded contestants were not guaranteed to be in the top ten, it was still a huge humiliation for him.
"You just wait. I will make you regret not choosing me." Qian Yun looked extremely dark. He was very unhappy about the judges' decision.
The leader of the Sunset Martial School and the core masters were not very satisfied either. For them, Qian Yun had not shown any obvious weakness in anyways, but somehow he was still not considered as one of the seeded contestants which was definitely a shame for the Sunset Martial School. However, no matter how upset they were about the decision, they would not show it since the thirteen judges were picked out by all of the martial institution leaders from the South Rudra Region. Even if the Sunset Martial School were that arrogant, they would still not be reckless enough to blame the judges, because it would mean a declaration of war against the other martial institutions. Plus, the competition of the Hidden Dragon Rank was extremely sacred, and even Life and Death Realm warriors would not dare to do anything reckless.
"As long as Qian Yun tries his best, he will make us proud again." The leader of the Sunset Martial School let out a breath as he said calmly.
"Huh! If we knew this was going to happen, we should have asked Qian Yun to show more power in the eliminating competitions."
"Relax! Although getting into the top five would be quite hard, he should be able to get into the top ten."
"I sure hope so."
Although everyone from the Sunset Martial School was quite confident about Qian Yun, after seeing the performance of Ye Chen and the other new stars, they could not help but feel threatened. Otherwise, Qian Yun would have definitely been on the list of seeded contestants.
"Second disciple, you have to work hard now. The future of the Sunset Martial School is in your hand now." The head disciple of the Sunset Martial School sat amongst the core masters. He was ranked 6 in the last Hidden Dragon Rank. If it were not for the fact he was already older than twenty-four years old, it would be certain that he would make it into the top ten this year. However, there was nothing that he could do to change it because even the eldest prince of the Black Dragon Empire who ranked 3 in the last Hidden Dragon Rank was already beyond the eligible age. His power was no weaker than Yan Chihuo, and he might have even been able to compete with Sikong Sheng.
As the head judge announced the names of the ten seeded contestants, some discussions were heard in the audience seating.
"Not only the second disciple of the Sunset Martial School Qian Yun has not been able to make the list, even Zhang Feng, who was ranked 9, and Gu Qing, who ranked 10, have also failed to make the list."
"Gu Youyun was quite lucky. Two top young warriors had not been able to attend this year's Hidden Dragon Rank competitions because of exceeding age. Otherwise, the competition of the ten seeded contestants would be more intense."
"You meant the eldest Prince of the Black Dragon Empire and the head disciple of the Sunset Martial School, right? Indeed. I wonder how powerful they have become.
"The ranking competition has begun!"
Everyone's attention was focused on the battling platform.
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!"
"Lin Yun, Bing Ling!"
"Mo Yan would be qualified as well!"
"Right now, there are already six seeded contestants. I think Tuo Baku is also qualified."
"Yah, Tuo Baku is very powerful. I think he had the power to get in the top five. I also would like to nominate Murong Qingcheng. Her power is no weaker than Mo Yan, it could only be higher."
"So we still have two places left."
"Isn't this easy? Ye Chen is definitely one of the seeded contestants. If he did not get in, people would think there's something wrong."
"Hehe, needless to say… naturally, Ye Chen had already been counted. I was thinking about the tenth seeded contestant. Do you think it should be Qian Yun or Gu Youyun."
"Huh! This would be quite a tough call. Qian Yun is the second disciple of the rank 6 martial institution - Sunset Martial School and is extremely powerful while Gu Youyun was the second disciple of the rank 6 martial institution - the Floating Mountain Martial School, who carries the bloodline of the Stone King. She had shown just as much power as Qian Yun. Whoever we pick would make the other person unhappy."
"What can they do if they are not satisfied? We are the judges, there is nothing we can do but choose the ones we think are eligible. Let's do it this way! Let's vote, whoever gets more votes will be the seeded contestants. The rest will no longer be our responsibility."
"Okay! I will pick Qian Yun."
"I pick Gu Youyun."
What was more dramatic was that votes for Qian Yun and Gu Youyun ended up being the same, which was six votes. It was obvious that the two had a very similar level of power in the judges' opinion. The good thing was that there were thirteen judges in total, counting in the head judge. Currently, the head judge had not voted yet. Whoever he voted for would be the last seeded contestant. In other words, his vote decided everything.
The head judge took a deep breath and said, "Gu Youyun."
Finally, the ten seeded contestants had been decided. They were Sikong Sheng, Yan Chihuo, Li Daoxuan, Lin Yun, Bing Ling, Mo Yan, Tuo Baku, Murong Qingcheng, Ye Chen and Gu Youyun.
Sikong Sheng and the rest of the seeded contestants did not seem to be surprised at the judges' decision. The thirteen judges were all Astral Reaching Realm warriors, and they would be able to tell one's power level by judging their Qi. Adding the performances in the eliminating competition, it would not be easier for them to pick ten people.
Only Qian Yun looked disappointed and mad. 'How could I not make it in the list?!' Although the seeded contestants were not guaranteed to be in the top ten, it was still a huge humiliation for him.
"You just wait. I will make you regret not choosing me." Qian Yun looked extremely dark. He was very unhappy about the judges' decision.
The leader of the Sunset Martial School and the core masters were not very satisfied either. For them, Qian Yun had not shown any obvious weakness in anyways, but somehow he was still not considered as one of the seeded contestants which was definitely a shame for the Sunset Martial School. However, no matter how upset they were about the decision, they would not show it since the thirteen judges were picked out by all of the martial institution leaders from the South Rudra Region. Even if the Sunset Martial School were that arrogant, they would still not be reckless enough to blame the judges, because it would mean a declaration of war against the other martial institutions. Plus, the competition of the Hidden Dragon Rank was extremely sacred, and even Life and Death Realm warriors would not dare to do anything reckless.
"As long as Qian Yun tries his best, he will make us proud again." The leader of the Sunset Martial School let out a breath as he said calmly.
"Huh! If we knew this was going to happen, we should have asked Qian Yun to show more power in the eliminating competitions."
"Relax! Although getting into the top five would be quite hard, he should be able to get into the top ten."
"I sure hope so."
Although everyone from the Sunset Martial School was quite confident about Qian Yun, after seeing the performance of Ye Chen and the other new stars, they could not help but feel threatened. Otherwise, Qian Yun would have definitely been on the list of seeded contestants.
"Second disciple, you have to work hard now. The future of the Sunset Martial School is in your hand now." The head disciple of the Sunset Martial School sat amongst the core masters. He was ranked 6 in the last Hidden Dragon Rank. If it were not for the fact he was already older than twenty-four years old, it would be certain that he would make it into the top ten this year. However, there was nothing that he could do to change it because even the eldest prince of the Black Dragon Empire who ranked 3 in the last Hidden Dragon Rank was already beyond the eligible age. His power was no weaker than Yan Chihuo, and he might have even been able to compete with Sikong Sheng.
As the head judge announced the names of the ten seeded contestants, some discussions were heard in the audience seating.
"Not only the second disciple of the Sunset Martial School Qian Yun has not been able to make the list, even Zhang Feng, who was ranked 9, and Gu Qing, who ranked 10, have also failed to make the list."
"Gu Youyun was quite lucky. Two top young warriors had not been able to attend this year's Hidden Dragon Rank competitions because of exceeding age. Otherwise, the competition of the ten seeded contestants would be more intense."
"You meant the eldest Prince of the Black Dragon Empire and the head disciple of the Sunset Martial School, right? Indeed. I wonder how powerful they have become.
"The ranking competition has begun!"
Everyone's attention was focused on the battling platform.
