“I told you, you’d pay for what you said!”
Ling Xiao looked at Ling Ji, whose arms were now broken and who could no longer fight, and spoke calmly.
Ling Ji didn’t respond.
Because even now, he couldn’t comprehend what had happened.
It felt as though he’d crashed into a giant elephant, not a person.
Just one move!
Actually, it couldn’t even be called a move!
Because Ling Xiao hadn’t used any martial technique at all.
In battles between warriors, using a martial technique counts as a move.
In this duel, Ling Xiao had won in a completely overwhelming manner.
Everyone below the stage was stunned and surprised.
Even Ling Feifan, who had previously paid little attention to Ling Xiao, gave him a few extra glances.
Ling Xiao’s cultivation surpassed Ling Ji’s, so he might have had a sixty to seventy percent chance of winning.
But it should have been a hard-fought, narrow victory.
Yet no one had expected Ling Xiao to win so effortlessly, without using any martial techniques, just casually swinging his fist.
“This Ling Xiao isn’t simple, his strength is terrifying!”
“Yeah, against him, you absolutely can’t go head-to-head, or you’ll definitely suffer!”
“I hate facing opponents with freakish strength the most, I’m doomed, I just hope he doesn’t challenge me next.”
…
“Ling Xiao, having passed the challenge, you’ve earned the right to join the grand finals, since you defeated Ling Ji, take his seat, people from the Medicine Hall, take Ling Ji away for treatment.”
Ordinary onlookers might not have noticed, but the referees’ keen eyes saw it clearly, Ling Ji’s arms were broken, there was no way he could continue in the finals.
This Ling Xiao really lived up to his word, ruthless and decisive.
If anyone was panicking the most right now, it was probably Ling Shisan.
Ling Xiao’s ruthless decisiveness was something he hadn’t anticipated, if Ling Xiao found out he was the one who hired the assassins, it’d be strange if he didn’t retaliate.
Defeating Ling Ji was, for Ling Xiao, just a simple display of his presence.
He turned his gaze toward Ling Feifan’s position, a cold smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
You all think Ling Feifan is stronger and more talented than me, that’s why he gets special treatment, I wonder what kind of faces you’ll show when I defeat him?
In the end, he’d still been treated unfairly today.
Because Ling Feifan hadn’t gone through this process and still qualified for the finals.
He wasn’t happy about it!
But he didn’t say anything, roaring about it wouldn’t help, better to let his results shut them up.
With that thought, he walked to the second row, fifth chair, and sat down.
His and Ling Feifan’s arrivals didn’t actually affect the grand finals themselves.
It was originally a competition of one hundred and ten people, now the numbers were just complete.
Though the top hundred all received generous rewards, the higher the rank, the richer the prize.
Especially the top three, who would receive Gang Qi Pills and top-tier martial techniques as rewards.
Thus, the top three spots were bound to be the most fiercely contested in this grand final.
Aside from the unfathomable Ling Feifan, most others probably wouldn’t easily pass up the chance to obtain a top-tier martial technique.
Ling Xiao was no exception.
And obviously, the higher the rank, the higher the status within the clan, and the more privileges one would gain.
In the Genius Hall, Ling Feifan, ranked first, held a status within the Ling clan higher than most elders.
Ling Xiao didn’t care much for status, but he believed that with privileges, his future cultivation would benefit greatly.
“Ling Xiao’s late arrival just now disrupted the pace of the grand finals, let me restate the rules here! Each person has five challenge opportunities, and only five, each one used reduces the total! Additionally, if you succeed in two consecutive challenges, the rank restriction will be lifted, and you can challenge anyone ranked ahead of you!”
The head referee stood up and announced loudly, “Did everyone hear that clearly?”
“Yes, we heard clearly!”
“Good, in that case, let the grand finals continue.”
Though Ling Xiao had arrived late, the rules of the finals weren’t complicated, he grasped them easily.
Those ranked lower challenged those ranked higher, for the first two challenges, you could only jump up to ten ranks, if you succeeded twice in a row, that restriction would be lifted.
A victorious challenger automatically took the rank of the one they defeated.
The defeated would then need to challenge someone else to reclaim a rank.
Each person had five challenge opportunities, each challenge, win or lose, cost one opportunity.
So this competition tested not only the disciples’ combat strength but also their judgment.
Know yourself and your enemy, and you’ll win every battle.
If you rashly challenged someone without understanding them, it wouldn’t work.
This was an internal clan competition, so no one would die, at most they’d be seriously injured.
But out in the martial world, if you accidentally provoked someone too strong, you could really lose your life.
Also, the ranking challenges started with the disciples who advanced from the elimination rounds, though this challenge didn’t count toward the five opportunities.
It was a simple ranking battle.
After all, they had advanced through the elimination rounds and needed to integrate with the original rankings of the hundred Genius Hall disciples.
After that, the challenges proceeded from the bottom up.
Before Ling Xiao arrived, the elimination round qualifiers had finished their challenges, and the bottom-up challenges had reached the ninetieth rank.
One more thing, challengers could choose to forfeit, losing one challenge opportunity but avoiding embarrassment, which suited disciples with little ambition.
However, the range from one hundredth to one hundred and tenth was a highly competitive stage.
Those ten disciples wouldn’t waste a single challenge opportunity in their bid to enter the Genius Hall.
Unfortunately, Ling Xiao arrived late and missed this exciting phase.
From one hundredth to fiftieth, many chose to forfeit.
Especially the one ranked one hundredth, without absolute confidence, they wouldn’t challenge, since they’d already secured their spot as a Genius Hall disciple and weren’t too sure of their strength, they’d rather not make a fool of themselves.
So this stage passed very quickly.
But from the fiftieth rank upward, the challenges grew increasingly intense.
Actually, the strength from fiftieth to eleventh was fairly close, so no one was willing to back down, making the challenges fierce.
Among the elimination round qualifiers who made it to the finals, aside from Ling Yihang, Ling Xiao, and Ling Yixue, only Ling Tieshou had broken into the top fifty, ranked forty-eighth, a middling position.
The rest were all below fiftieth.
Genius Hall disciples were indeed Genius Hall disciples, even the top ten from the Elite Hall struggled to climb higher after arriving here.
Only a rare few could manage it.
Ling Yihang at sixth, Ling Xiao at fifteenth, Ling Yixue at nineteenth.
These three were now the most anticipated from the elimination round’s top ten.
Broadly speaking, the top twenty in the Genius Hall were generally at the early stage of Martial Vein Fourth Layer.
The top ten were mostly at the mid-stage of Martial Vein Fourth Layer.
The top five were all at or above the peak of Martial Vein Fourth Layer.
Of course, this was just a rough estimate, strength was only an approximation, it wasn’t unusual for someone with a lower realm to defeat a higher one with experience.
The Genius Hall lived up to its name, full of monsters, many had made breakthroughs in the past seven days.
Though none were as dramatic as Ling Xiao’s.
The top twenty marked a distinct tier.
Everyone aimed to break into the top ten.
Ling Yixue’s goal wasn’t as lofty as Ling Xiao’s, she’d set her sights on the top ten as enough.
She was nineteenth, so her turn would come soon.
