“Hmph!” A stone spirit form about half a zhang in size appeared in front of Yan Huashu and immediately smashed toward Zhao Chengmin.
“With just this level of strength, you still want to challenge me!”
Zhao Chengmin snorted coldly. A tiger beast main spirit spirit form instantly condensed and bombarded the incoming stone spirit form.
If this was all the strength the opponent had, he did not want to waste energy. He needed to defeat his opponent in the first move to secure advancement to the fourth round, so he directly summoned his main spirit.
However, after the two spirit forms clashed, things did not go as Zhao Chengmin had imagined, with him defeating the opponent in one strike.
Instead, his main spirit spirit form was shattered by the seemingly unremarkable stone spirit form. The fading stone spirit form directly struck his body.
Zhao Chengmin spat out a mouthful of blood, and his entire body flew backward off Battle Platform No. 10.
“So weak?” Yan Huashu deliberately showed a look of surprise, then slowly walked down from the platform.
Zhao Chengmin was so angry he almost spat blood again. Clearly, it was you who were overwhelmingly strong, much stronger than the two old men Tang Dun and Yu Ge you faced earlier.
But from the way it looked, it seemed as if he was too weak and had only survived in the first group by sheer luck. This left Zhao Chengmin utterly speechless and frustrated.
Tang Dun and Yu Ge both showed deeply annoyed expressions on their faces.
In their view, Zhao Chengmin was simply too weak, and Yan Huashu surely was not that strong either.
If the two of them had not clashed head-on from the start, one of them would now be advancing.
Unfortunately, it was all too late.
Of course, that was only what they thought.
“Battle Platform No. 10, Mu Haoran and Yan Huashu advance!” The referee’s voice rang out immediately. Battle Platform No. 10 was the first to finish the third round.
At this moment, intense battles had also begun on the other platforms.
From three hundred to one hundred, situations where someone could control gods were now rare.
Therefore, most chose direct spirit form combat. All kinds of spirit forms and main spirits appeared, dazzling the eyes.
Those with greater strength could not be seen clearly, but most defeated their opponents in a single strike.
Before long, the third round ended completely.
In this round, several dark horses had emerged, knocking out three seeded players.
The eliminated participants all left the stage, leaving only one hundred people on the field.
The fourth round was about to begin.
“Now, we begin the fourth round.”
At this moment, Ximen Haoyue’s voice sounded. “Fourth round, one hundred advance to thirty. Divided into twenty-five groups. First, the remaining thirty seeded players draw lots. Groups one to five will each have two seeded players. Groups six to twenty-five will each have one seeded player.”
“The other spirit controllers will then draw lots.”
Ximen Haoyue continued, “Each group has four people and conducts a strength ranking battle. One person is drawn to choose an opponent first. The defeated person then chooses another opponent. If someone loses to two opponents, they are directly eliminated.”
“In each group, the first-ranked advances directly. There are twenty-five direct advancements. The second-ranked spirit controllers enter the second round of screening.”
“In the second round of screening, five are selected from the twenty-five, drawn into five groups of one each.”
“Now, seeded players draw lots and proceed to the corresponding battle platforms.”
With that, Ximen Haoyue took out thirty bamboo slips, flew them past the Illuminating Spirit Mirror, and sent them back into the battlefield.
The thirty seeded players each summoned their spiritual power and drew their bamboo slips.
Lin Xiao also pulled open his label and saw that he had drawn Battle Platform No. 6. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
In this round, he would not have to clash with another seeded player.
Among the seeded players, there were definitely seventh-grade advanced spirit controllers. If he encountered one, victory was uncertain.
As long as he did not meet a seventh-grade advanced spirit controller, he had full confidence in advancing this round.
At the same time, he felt fortunate not to have drawn Tantai Wenjun in this group.
Otherwise, the fact that he had enslaved Tantai Wenjun would be exposed in this round.
“I drew number three.”
“I drew number four.”
“I drew number one.”…
Several spirit controllers frowned, then flew to their respective battle platforms.
Groups one to five each had two seeded players, but only one could advance directly.
That meant, starting from this round, seeded players would begin facing each other.
Flying to Battle Platform No. 6, Lin Xiao’s gaze turned toward the first five platforms. Among them was a familiar figure, none other than Tantai Wenjun.
Tantai Wenjun had actually drawn Battle Platform No. 5, sharing the stage with another seeded old man.
However, Lin Xiao was not worried about Tantai Wenjun’s strength.
While he was looking at Tantai Wenjun, a cold, sinister gaze swept fiercely toward him from Battle Platform No. 4.
Lin Xiao met the eyes of the black-robed old man. Seeing the murderous look in the other’s eyes, Lin Xiao was slightly stunned and puzzled.
He did not seem to know this old man. Why was the other party looking at him with such ruthless hostility?
Upon closer inspection of the emblem on the old man’s robes, he saw it was from Yangzhou’s spirit controllers, and he understood. It was probably related to the Ji family.
Lin Xiao immediately stopped paying attention.
If the other party wanted to make a move against him, they would have to wait until after this round. Moreover, they might not even meet in the next round.
“Mu Haoran is truly lucky. He actually did not draw another seeded player.”
“Among these one hundred people, even those who are not seeded include many experts. Some have even eliminated seeded players. How long can his arrogance last?”
“With his strength, reaching this round is already very fortunate. He cannot be lucky every time and always draw weak opponents.”
…
The crowd began discussing animatedly. Mu Haoran was clearly still one of the main focuses of attention. After all, the title of九州’s number one genius was too resounding.
Meanwhile, the people from Yangzhou who knew Lin Xiao kept straight faces, because they knew Lin Xiao still had spiritual abilities he had not revealed.
Although this round mostly featured mid-grade seventh-level spirit controllers, with very few primary-grade ones, it was not certain they could eliminate Lin Xiao.
Whether Lin Xiao could be eliminated remained somewhat uncertain.
“Now, the other spirit controllers draw lots.”
Ximen Haoyue once again sent a batch of bamboo slips flying into the battlefield.
The group of spirit controllers secretly prayed in their hearts not to draw platforms one to five.
Each seeded player was almost the strongest spirit controller from their respective provinces. Defeating one seeded player was already difficult, and defeating two was even harder.
People drew lots with mixed joy and worry, then flew toward the platforms they had drawn.
At this moment, Lin Xiao saw Yan Huashu flying toward him with a blackened face.
Lin Xiao was immediately stunned. “Such a coincidence?”
“Yes, too much of a coincidence.” Yan Huashu said with a dark expression.
In the third round, he had directly forfeited against Mu Haoran. Now, he had been drawn into the same group again. There was no need for him to fight for first place at all.
“For you, this might actually be a good thing. After all, I’m only a sixth-grade advanced spirit controller. Among the seeded players, I’m the weakest!” Lin Xiao teased.
Yan Huashu’s face darkened even more.
The weakest? He had personally experienced the power of that skeletal palm. How could it be weak? It was clearly terrifyingly strong.
Others might think Mu Haoran was the weakest, but in his view, even among the seeded players, Mu Haoran could definitely rank in the mid-to-upper range.
“Even if you’re weak, I still can’t win!” Yan Huashu spread his hands and sighed helplessly. “I hope I can fight for second place, then compete with others for a top-five ranking later.”
“Good luck to you.” Lin Xiao smiled.
“Swish!”
At that moment, another person flew to the vicinity of Lin Xiao and Yan Huashu.
This was an old man nearing fifty, bearing the mark “Cangzhou, Lü Si” on his body. A faint mid-grade seventh-level spirit controller aura emanated from him, clearly a warning to Lin Xiao and Yan Huashu that if they went first, they had better not choose him.
After all, this was a strength ranking battle. The fewer times one had to appear, the better. The later one appeared, the better.
“Truly fortunate. I drew Mu Haoran and a young spirit controller.” Lü Si said with a delighted expression.
