This was destined to be a restless night.
Countless Ling family disciples were gearing up, quietly preparing for this rare chance to leap from carp to dragon.
The Ling family’s higher-ups were closely watching it all.
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 wasn’t fully bright yet, a large crowd had already gathered.
There were Ling family disciples too excited to sleep, as well as mid- and high-ranking family members who’d arrived early to set up the venue.
Ling Xiao, by contrast, was among the later arrivals.
He’d slept well the previous night.
By the time he reached the plaza, daylight had broken, and he noticed that all the top ten Elite Hall disciples were already present.
The Genius Hall disciples ranked below tenth had also shown up in full.
But their focus was singular—Ling Yihang, with Ling Yixue as a possible secondary concern.
In their eyes, only those two posed any threat.
Ling Xiao yawned, leaning against the stone wall to survey the competition plaza.
There were dozens of fighting platforms.
He didn’t count exactly, but with so many participants, these platforms were a necessity.
Especially during the elimination rounds—with nearly ten thousand competitors, without enough platforms, the matches would drag on forever.
The platforms were all built from special materials. Unless someone wielded gang qi with excessively forceful moves, breaking them wasn’t likely.
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 logic was simple: Genius Hall disciples were too strong. Most Elite Hall and lower-tier disciples weren’t even worth their time.
Mixing everyone together from the start would waste the Genius Hall’s effort.
Ling Xiao glanced at the dozens of Genius Hall disciples.
As expected, they were all at Martial Vein Third Layer Peak, each having condensed gang qi.
But the degree of gang qi condensation varied.
The weakest had only condensed twenty percent in their first martial vein.
The strongest had reached fifty percent in their third martial vein.
Of course, this was because Ling Feifan and a few others hadn’t arrived yet—otherwise, their strength would likely be even more terrifying.
Most Genius Hall disciples seemed relaxed. After all, few from the Elite Hall or lower tiers could challenge them.
They were pointing and commenting, casually sizing up the Elite Hall and lower-tier disciples.
“I heard from our hall master that this batch of Elite Hall disciples is pretty good. Maybe five or six could threaten us Genius Hall folks.”
“I’d say it’s just Ling Yihang and Ling Yixue. The rest aren’t worth mentioning.”
“Fair point. Ling Yihang’s been ranked eleventh on the stone wall for a while, beating several of our Genius Hall disciples. He might even challenge Young Master Feifan.”
“Hmph, Ling Yihang’s nothing. Only I can take down Young Master Feifan!”
Suddenly, a rough voice boomed, and a figure leaped 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.
Plus, he was already well-known, so his arrival sparked waves of excitement among the crowd.
Ling Xiao turned to look at this Ling Zhan.
He stood nearly two meters tall, his body powerfully built, radiating terrifying strength with muscles that were almost intimidating.
But that was just the surface. When Ling Xiao analyzed him with his Mountain and River Martial Soul, his brows furrowed.
Martial Vein Fourth Layer, with gang qi condensed to ninety percent in his third martial vein!
Worthy of being Genius Hall’s fourth—impressive!
Ling Xiao felt a twinge of nerves. If the fourth was this strong, what about the top three?
He’d known the Genius Hall disciples were formidable, but Ling Zhan’s presence still caught him off guard.
“Below the Four Young Masters, you’ve got Ling Yun, Ling Shuang, and Ling Zhan—these are quasi-master level!”
“Quasi-masters, huh? We can’t even touch that level, let alone the Four Young Masters of Tianfeng City.”
“Ling Feifan, Ling Yun, and Ling Shuang haven’t arrived yet, right? They’re probably not too interested in the Elite Hall fights.”
“Yeah, only Ling Zhan likes the spectacle. With his status, he wouldn’t bother otherwise.”
Ling Yihang, sitting on a stone stool eating, gave Ling Zhan a brief glance, his face expressionless.
He kept eating.
Ling Yixue’s complexion paled slightly.
Ling Feng and Ling Tieshou looked even more grim.
Against this Ling Zhan, they had no chance of winning.
Ling Xiao clenched his fist.
“The stronger the opponent, the more interesting it gets!”
Truthfully, since gaining the Mountain and River Martial Soul, he’d never fought at full strength.
After mastering “Soaring Cloud Steps: Dragon Transformation” and “Bull Demon Technique: Condensed Evil,” he hadn’t truly tested them against anyone.
Even against Ling Tieshou, he’d only dodged.
“I’ll get serious. Even I’m scared of what I can do. 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 brimming with authority and dominance rang out.
It was likely a Ling family higher-up overseeing the Elite Hall, though Ling Xiao didn’t recognize him.
As the competition started, everyone fell silent.
Picking ten out of ten thousand 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 differed.
Some just aimed to crack 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 the assigned platform. If you don’t show up on time, it’s a forfeit.”
The format was straightforward: one match, winner stays, loser leaves.
This continued until only a thousand remained, at which point the rules would change.
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 later rounds.
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 after the field narrowed to a thousand.
For now, with over ten thousand participants—aside from the top ten seeded players who didn’t need to compete yet—everyone else had to fight round by round.
