This was destined to be a restless night.
Countless Ling family disciples were gearing up, quietly preparing for the perfect chance to leap from carp to dragon.
The higher-ups of the Ling family were also closely watching everything.
This was exactly the effect they wanted.
Only in such an atmosphere could the most outstanding disciples truly emerge.
The horn of battle had sounded!
The brave warriors were sharpening their blades!
The next morning.
At the competition plaza.
Though the sky hadn’t fully brightened, a large crowd had already gathered.
There were Ling family disciples who’d been too excited to sleep, as well as mid- and high-level Ling family members who’d arrived early to set up the venue.
Ling Xiao, by contrast, was one of the later arrivals.
He’d had a good night’s sleep.
By the time he reached the plaza, daylight had broken, and he noticed that all the top ten disciples from the Elite Hall were already present.
The disciples ranked below tenth in the Genius Hall had also shown up in full force.
However, their target was singular: Ling Yihang, with perhaps Ling Yixue as an additional concern.
In their eyes, only those two posed any threat.
Ling Xiao yawned, leaning against a stone wall to survey the competition plaza.
There were dozens of combat platforms.
He didn’t bother counting exactly, but with so many participants, these platforms were a necessity.
Especially during the elimination rounds, nearly ten thousand competitors would face off, without so many platforms, who knew how long it would take?
The platforms were all built from special materials, unless someone wielded gang qi with excessively ferocious moves, they’d be hard to destroy.
The so-called elimination round was about selecting the top ten from the Elite Hall and lower-tier disciples.
Then, those ten would join the hundred Genius Hall disciples for the real competition.
The reasoning was simple: the Genius Hall disciples were too strong, most Elite Hall and lower-tier disciples simply couldn’t compare.
Mixing them all together from the start would waste the Genius Hall disciples’ time.
Ling Xiao glanced at the dozens of Genius Hall disciples.
Sure enough, they were all at the peak of Martial Vein Third Layer, each having condensed gang qi.
But the extent of their gang qi varied.
The weakest had only condensed twenty percent of their first martial vein’s gang qi.
The strongest had condensed fifty percent of their third martial vein’s gang qi.
Of course, this was because Ling Feifan and others hadn’t arrived yet, otherwise, their strength would likely be even more terrifying.
Most of the Genius Hall disciples looked relaxed, after all, there were precious few among the Elite Hall and lower-tier disciples who could threaten them.
They were pointing and commenting, sizing up the Elite Hall and lower-tier disciples.
“I heard our hall master say this batch of Elite Hall disciples is pretty good, maybe five or six could challenge us Genius Hall folks.”
“I’d say it’s just Ling Yihang and Ling Yixue, the rest aren’t worth mentioning.”
“True, Ling Yihang’s already ranked eleventh on the stone wall list, he’s beaten quite a few of our Genius Hall disciples, he might even threaten Young Master Feifan.”
“Hmph, Ling Yihang’s nothing, only I can defeat Young Master Feifan!”
Suddenly, a rough voice rang out, and a figure leapt onto the spectator stand from dozens of meters away.
“Ling Zhan!”
“It’s Ling Zhan, ranked fourth in the Genius Hall!”
His entrance was undeniably flashy.
Coupled with his existing fame, it sparked waves of excitement in the crowd.
Ling Xiao turned to look at this Ling Zhan.
He stood nearly two meters tall, his body incredibly robust, brimming with terrifying strength, his muscles almost intimidating.
But that was just the surface, when Ling Xiao analyzed him with his Mountain River Martial Soul, his brows furrowed.
Martial Vein Fourth Layer, with gang qi condensed to ninety percent of his third martial vein!
Worthy of being the Genius Hall’s fourth, this was impressive!
Ling Xiao couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous, if the fourth was this strong, what about the top three?
He’d long known the Genius Hall disciples were formidable, but Ling Zhan’s appearance still caught him off guard.
“Below the Four Young Masters, you’ve got Ling Yun, Ling Shuang, and Ling Zhan, they’re considered quasi-young master level!”
“Quasi-young masters, huh, we can’t even dream of reaching that, let alone the Four Young Masters of Tianfeng City.”
“Ling Feifan, Ling Yun, and Ling Shuang haven’t arrived yet, probably not too interested in the Elite Hall fights.”
“Yeah, Ling Zhan’s just here for the spectacle, otherwise, with his status, he wouldn’t bother.”
Ling Yihang, sitting on a stone stool eating, gave Ling Zhan a brief glance, his expression unreadable.
He kept eating quietly.
Ling Yixue’s face, however, showed a slight grimace.
Ling Feng and Ling Tieshou looked downright pale.
Against this Ling Zhan, they had no chance of winning.
Ling Xiao clenched his fist.
“The stronger the opponent, the more interesting it gets!”
Truth be told, since gaining the Mountain River Martial Soul, he’d never fought at full strength.
After mastering Soaring Cloud Step: Dragon Transformation and Bull Demon Technique: Condense Evil, he hadn’t truly battled anyone.
Even against Ling Tieshou, he’d only dodged.
“I’ll get serious, even I’d be scared of myself, I wonder how far I can go before breaking through to Martial Vein Fourth Layer?”
“Alright, quiet down! The annual competition’s elimination round is about to begin, we’ll select the top ten from over ten thousand Elite Hall and lower-tier disciples!”
A voice filled with authority and dominance rang out.
This must be a high-ranking Ling family member overseeing the Elite Hall, though Ling Xiao didn’t recognize him.
As the competition started, everyone fell silent.
Picking ten out of ten thousand, this was a brutally fierce contest.
Of course, even if you didn’t make the top ten, ranking within the top thousand still secured a spot in the Elite Hall.
So, despite the huge number of participants, everyone’s goals varied.
Some just aimed to break into the top thousand.
Others wanted an Elite Hall ranking.
And some sought to use this competition to enter the Genius Hall.
“Now, the first round begins, listen for your number, then head to your assigned platform, if you don’t show up in time, it’s a forfeit.”
The format was straightforward: one match decided it all, two-by-two duels, losers were out, winners stayed.
This continued until only a thousand remained, then the format would shift.
Based on the stone wall rankings, those thousand would be split into ten groups, arranged in a zigzag pattern.
For example, top-ranked Ling Yihang led the first group, second-ranked Ling Yixue the second, and so on, with the twentieth-ranked disciple looping back to the tenth group.
The benefit was clear: it kept the strongest disciples from clashing too early, preserving them for the end.
Each of these ten groups, with a hundred people, would produce one finalist.
That finalist would then face off against the Genius Hall disciples.
But that was for later, after the field narrowed to a thousand.
For now, with over ten thousand competitors, aside from the top ten seed players who skipped this stage, everyone else had to fight round by round.
