Hearing Ling Xiao’s words, Ling Feng’s face instantly turned ashen, he hadn’t expected Ling Xiao to not only dismiss Ling Ziran but also dare to belittle him so much!
“Fine! We’ll see about that!”
Ling Xiao gave a faint smile, saying nothing more, and continued with his matches.
In the next three matches, his opponents all surrendered outright, so he easily secured a hundred consecutive victories.
“Congratulations to number 9588, Ling Xiao, the only one to achieve a hundred victories, successfully advancing to the thousand-person list!”
Advancing to the thousand-person list meant he had entered the Elite Hall, no longer a bottom-tier disciple.
This sparked envy in countless people.
By now, the sky had darkened, though there was still some light, others were still competing, but Ling Xiao quietly left the martial field.
In his view, the only ones who could pose a threat to him now were Ling Yixue, Ling Yihang, and the people from the Genius Hall.
Since none of them were competing yet, he figured he might as well go home and rest properly.
Before heading home, he stopped by the Medicine Hall.
“What’s wrong, little guy, got eliminated? The competition should still be ongoing, right?”
At the Medicine Hall, Ling Xiao coincidentally ran into Ling Jiu, along with another middle-aged man, likely Ling Feng’s father.
It was Ling Jiu who spoke, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Ninth Master, I’ve passed with a hundred consecutive victories and advanced early.”
Ling Xiao cupped his hands in a polite gesture, then said casually before heading off to find the Medicine Hall’s senior uncle.
This left Ling Jiu and Ling Feng’s father standing there, faces full of awkwardness.
“Hahaha, Ninth Master, this kid sure gave your Ling Chong a hard time back then, you can’t let him keep rising like this, can you?”
After a moment, Ling Feng’s father suddenly laughed and said.
“Hmph, advancing is fine, Iron Hand will take care of him.”
“Not necessarily, our Feng’er might eliminate him first.”
The two clearly still didn’t take Ling Xiao seriously, believing that with Ling Iron Hand or Ling Feng, they could easily defeat him.
While they chatted, Ling Xiao had already collected his Gang Qi Pills and left—three in total!
He didn’t want these two to see, as it would only invite unnecessary trouble, so he slipped out the back door.
Back home, after eating some dumplings handmade by his grandfather, Ling Xiao went into the training room to cultivate.
One Gang Qi Pill went down.
Overnight, the gang qi in his third meridian had risen to ninety percent.
Just one more percent, and he should break through.
But with matches still ahead today, he left the two remaining Gang Qi Pills in the training room and headed out to compete.
Yesterday, the competition reportedly dragged on into the late night, finally narrowing it down to the last thousand.
After all, such matchups were just small fry clashing, not particularly interesting.
Aside from standout moments like Ling Xiao’s, the rest were mundane, better to wrap up quickly and move on to the more thrilling battles.
The next day, over nine hundred advancing disciples, plus ten seeded contestants, gathered at the competition plaza.
Ling Xiao was eager for today’s matchups.
After yesterday’s full day of fighting, he’d clearly noticed significant improvements in his combat experience and a certain boost in his cultivation.
This proved such battles were absolutely beneficial to him, not a waste of time.
“Today! The thousand of you here are all qualified to enter the Elite Hall! However, in today’s matches, most of you will be eliminated, leaving only ten to advance to the finals!”
“Now, I’ll read out the rules for the competition…”
The rules for the semifinals were quite different from the preliminaries.
It was split into two phases.
In the first phase, the thousand were divided into ten groups, each with a hundred people.
Then, these hundred would be placed on a large martial stage together, and the last ten standing would advance to the second phase.
A so-called free-for-all!
The higher-ups had their reasons for this arrangement.
A martial artist couldn’t just excel in one-on-one fights.
They also needed to learn self-preservation in chaotic battles!
Hearing about this first phase, Ling Xiao smiled.
For him, this stage posed no difficulty at all.
He wouldn’t even need to fight, just use his nimble movement to dodge attacks, since the real challenge lay in the second phase.
Ten from each group would be selected, making a hundred in total, who would then compete in a points-based ranking, with the top ten by points advancing to the finals.
That’s when he’d definitely face Ling Feng, Ling Yixue, Ling Yihang, and others—those would be the real tough fights.
So in this first phase, he’d conserve energy wherever possible.
After the rules were announced, Ling Xiao was assigned to the tenth group, where the strongest was Ling Fei, ranked tenth.
The same Ling Fei he’d once beaten in a lightness skill contest.
As the match began, the situation turned odd, it wasn’t clear if it was prearranged, but the other ninety-nine all attacked Ling Xiao at once.
“Is this allowed?”
“Ling Xiao’s really pissed off a lot of people!”
“It’s not just offense, someone’s probably jealous and doesn’t want him to keep advancing.”
“What can he do? Even Ling Yihang or Ling Feifan probably wouldn’t dare claim they could face ninety-nine people undefeated!”
“What can he do? Nothing! It’s a shame, but he’s likely getting eliminated.”
Though many felt nervous for Ling Xiao and thought it was unfair, as long as it didn’t break the rules, no one could object.
But the next scene left them both shocked and delighted.
Ling Xiao sat cross-legged in midair, about twenty meters up, somehow holding that position for a full quarter-hour.
After a quarter-hour, he landed, only to spring back up instantly.
Forget attacking him, no one could even touch his sleeve.
Ling Fei had hoped to take advantage of the crowd, but seeing this, he gave up entirely.
Only a fool would challenge such a freak.
“Good heavens, what kind of lightness skill is this, hovering in the air for nearly a quarter-hour!”
“No idea, does the library have a skill like that?”
“Soaring Cloud Steps!”
In a shadowy corner, Ling Jiu slammed his fist into the wall.
He hadn’t expected that after forcibly taking “Soaring Cloud Steps” and “Bull Demon Technique” from Ling Xiao, neither his own son nor adopted son could master them.
He’d played the villain for nothing, harming others without benefiting himself.
That was bad enough.
Now, seeing Ling Xiao had actually mastered “Soaring Cloud Steps,” he nearly spat blood on the wall.
The reason everyone targeted Ling Xiao was also due to his behind-the-scenes meddling.
Yet it had turned into a joke.
About an hour later, nine hundred of the thousand were eliminated, leaving only the final hundred.
Ling Xiao passed the easiest, though Ling Yihang, Ling Yixue, Ling Feng, and Ling Iron Hand didn’t struggle much either.
Few dared to challenge them.
After all, with ten spots available, attacking these few first could mean getting eliminated earliest, anyone with a brain wouldn’t do that.
