Boom! Boom!
As soon as Ximen Haoyue’s words fell, sounds of battle erupted from the first and second islands. Spiritual power collided, stirring up massive fluctuations, causing ancient trees to topple in swathes.
“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”
On the other islands, spiritual forms appeared one after another, clashing against each other.
Although the spirit controllers had hidden among the vegetation, their figures still emerged during combat.
Some spirit controllers who flew too high were casually struck by countless forces, blasted away with unknown fate.
In certain areas, spirit controllers allied, merging their spiritual forms to sweep opponents.
In some spots, spirit controllers fell under mind control, rushing skyward uncontested before being directly killed.
Attackers flickered to those positions.
In places, countless sword and blade spiritual forms appeared. Elsewhere, spiritual beast forms or bizarre shapes manifested.
Some areas saw various weapons clashing together.
The battles on the ten islands were dazzling, leaving the crowd in awe and exclaiming repeatedly.
During this, some crushed their formation tokens and were extracted from the islands. Others were simply blasted out.
Not long after, on the tenth island, someone began using explosive pills. One detonation razed half the island, hurling many people out.
“Explosive pills!”
Everyone was shocked.
Explosive pills were extremely rare across the entire continent, yet they had appeared in this Continental Spirit Controller Grand Competition.
However, no one saw exactly which spirit controller had used them.
“This thing, it seems I’m not the only one who has it!”
Lin Xiao could not help but sigh, growing more vigilant. Someone else knew the explosive pill recipe, so the upcoming rounds would not be so easy.
The explosion on the tenth island now was at most a seventh-grade elementary explosive pill. If a seventh-grade advanced spirit controller had one, even a single pill could probably injure him severely.
After blasting vast stretches of forest, many spirit controllers on the tenth island were exposed, and the fighting intensified.
Various weapons soared through the sky, spiritual forms danced and attacked each other. While clashing, participants even communicated, discussing alliances. The battles were utterly chaotic.
Soon after, more explosive pills detonated. On the tenth island, many were eliminated.
Quite a few began jointly attacking the spirit controller with explosive pills, only to have another group blasted away, frightening the other spirit controllers.
The tenth island concluded in just the time for one incense stick to burn, leaving only fifty-eight people.
Those fifty-eight were almost all seventh-grade elementary spirit controllers.
Among the eliminated, some were severely injured, some lightly. Others crushed their formation tokens early and emerged unscathed. The group retreated to the spectators, full of disappointment.
After another two hours, all ten islands had finished.
This kind of melee required far less than three days.
In the end, five hundred and eighty spirit controllers advanced to the second round. Adding the seventh-grade intermediate spirit controllers and seeded contestants brought the total to one thousand.
The rest were all eliminated.
“Congratulations, everyone. Now, please proceed to the next venue!”
At this moment, Ximen Haoyue’s voice rang out again. Another elder led the way, with Lin Xiao and the thousand spirit controllers following behind. The others followed Ximen Haoyue.
In a short time, they arrived at another venue.
This venue also had ten islands.
However, the layout featured one central island surrounded by nine others.
These islands were not flattened. The central one consisted of individual battle platforms.
The surrounding nine were filled with tiered seats, lower in front and higher behind, allowing every position a clear view of the central island’s platforms.
Clearly, this was an arena. The seats on the nine islands could easily accommodate a hundred thousand people.
Lin Xiao and the thousand spirit controllers were led into the field, while the others were directed to the seats.
Elites from the nine states sat in the front rows of the nine sections. The Martial Saints from the nine states occupied the most prestigious front seats.
The remaining spectators sat freely across the nine islands. A hundred thousand people dispersed among the seats.
At this point, the venue buzzed with voices and discussions.
“So, the second round is when the real Spirit Controller Grand Competition begins. The first round was just an appetiser.”
“Indeed, this feels like watching a proper grand competition!”
“It’s a pity for those eliminated in the first round. They travelled far, yet could not even enter the true competition.”
…
Amid the heated discussions, Lin Xiao stood in the central island’s field. Although the battles had not started, he already sensed several strands of divine sense probing into his mind. Some spirit controllers wanted to act against him.
However, they all failed.
Lin Xiao could imagine that these people were probably not simply trying to control him.
More likely, forces with grudges or objections against him had instructed them from behind.
Of course, besides him, many others were probably engaging in covert clashes.
Most people remained unmoved. After all, with over a thousand participants, targets were not yet clear enough.
“Everyone, prepare for the second round competition.”
At this moment, Ximen Haoyue’s voice sounded, declaring clearly: “The second round will divide the one thousand spirit controllers into thirty-three groups for battles. Only the top three hundred will advance to the next round.”
The crowd was surprised. From one thousand to three hundred, the advancement rate was very low.
These one thousand were already the elite spirit controllers of the continent. Narrowing to three hundred showed how difficult it would be.
Everyone was highly anticipatory.
“Each group will include one seeded contestant. The first twenty-three groups will have thirty people each, while the last ten groups will have thirty-one each.”
Ximen Haoyue continued: “The competition uses a points system. A win earns one point, a loss deducts one point, a draw gives zero. Each person fights five battles. The top eight in each group advance directly.”
“Direct advancements total two hundred and sixty-four. The remaining thirty-six slots will come from the ninth to eleventh ranked in each group, ninety-nine people in total, who will compete again for them.”
Not filling all slots immediately but leaving thirty-six open avoided situations where some groups had too many experts while others had too few, leading to advanced participants being weaker than some eliminated.
If only one or two such cases occurred, it would be fine. But if many, it would be a flaw in the rules.
This arrangement minimised such issues.
It made things fairer.
“Battles proceed in draw order, allowing free choice of opponents. Now, seeded contestants draw lots first for positioning and stand beside the corresponding battle platform!”
With that, Ximen Haoyue waved his hand. Thirty-three bamboo lots passed by the Spirit Illuminating Mirror held by an elder beside him, then flew into the field.
The thirty-three seeded spirit controllers urged spiritual power to draw the lots to themselves.
For seeded contestants, the difference was merely being in a group of thirty or thirty-one. One more or less person made little actual difference.
