19 Chapter 2: Blue Wind Tournament 2

The Ranking Tournament takes place in the grand arena outside the capital, with an area of one million square meters. This magnificent architecture was created by the Blue Wind Imperial family twenty years ago and can host over one hundred thousand people in the spectated area. Now, it could host all the known independent forces of the empire and easily with enough plaques and seats for all the new and unknown forces that occasionally show up unexpectedly. Each force gets a plaque of seven seats, meaning each force is limited to bringing four excess and three participants.

Right now, there are over five thousand independent forces of Blue Wind Empire, each was looking for their plaque, containing the name of their respective organization. It was no different for Xu and the other as they headed to the highest floor of the seating area, the fifth level. On this floor, though there are a lot of open spaces, there are only a dozen or so plaques. They are the top ten independent forces of the empire, the imperial force, six plaques for the six nations, and the Five Great Sacred Grounds.

When they reached the fifth level, all the other forces stoop up and cup their hands to greet. The first to speak was a middle-aged man in green attired. He cups his hands and bows slightly to pay respect while the other forces follow suits.

"Greetings, Fairy Xu." The man did not dare to look straight at Xu's face, and he looks at the floor next to her feet. He sits back down only after Xu nods her head and beckons the others to sit down. Presently, Xu's team was the last to arrive as the other plaques were full of people except for the quest's plaques and the plaques of the Six Nations. Xu and the team head to one of the five plaques belong to the Five Great Sacred Grounds. Other than the green attired middle-aged man in the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region plaque, the other plaques are empty like usual.

"Master, who is that man?" Lingxi asks after seeing that the other forces did not dare to overtake his greeting or sit before him. In addition, he looked dangerous due to his strange empty presence.

"He is Ling Kun, an Elder from the Sword Region."

"Oh, is he strong, Master?"

"Stronger than you." Xu cut her disciple's chattering. She grabs the attention of the trio who will represent the Palace, "Listen to me and remember the names and faces of these forces of the empire, it will come in handy when you all enter the Inner Palace and do your duty as a disciple of the Palace. The group in black robes from the farther east side was from the Xiao Sect. The leading figure is Xiao Sect Master Xiao Juetian, First Elder Xiao Boyun, and second Elder Xiao Wuji. They are all at the third, second, and first levels of Tyrant Profound Realms, respectively. The four youngsters are-" Xu stop and cough. "Anyway, these youngsters might be important for you all to know."

Once the trio nods their head and was ready for the next group, Xu continues. "The second group that wore red robes were from the Heaven Burning Clan. Their clan master is Fen Duanhum, First Elder Fen Moli, and second Elder Fen Moji. They are a bit weaker than the Xiao Sect. Their master and first Elder are first-level Tyrants while their second Elder at the peak of the emperor realm." She skips the youngsters and proceeds to the next group. "These people are from Heavenly Sword Villa, their Master Ling Yuefeng, firs-" Xu was interrupted by a loud voice from the center of the arena.

Along with the loud sound of a middle-aged man, the clouds in the sky scattered away. A terrifying windstorm born into the air and grab every person's attention. The Wind was so powerful that even the arrogant masters quiet down and stare at the man floating at the center of the arena. There, a middle-aged man cups his hand and greets all the force in the stadium. "This humble one is Blue Wind Profound Palace's Chief, Dongfang Xiu. I am glad to meet all the heroes and outstanding youths today. I represent the Imperial family to thank everyone for turning up to the Ranking Tournament here in the Capital. This year's Ranking...." The man begins his speech about the goal of the tournament, the overall rule, and other information.

After a long, dry twenty minutes speech, he slows down and stops. Even though it was the same old speech, no one dares to interrupt him, well except members of the Five Great Sacred Grounds. This man was at the Sixth levels of Tyrant Profound Realm, just his presence alone qualifies for respect, even the Sacred Grounds acknowledges his talents. The audience was waiting for this Ranking Tournament's Witness, last time, it was from Black Moon Merchant Guild. "This year's Ranking Tournament's witness comes from Blue Wind's Holy Ground, Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace's Heavenly Immortal Xu! With Immortal Xu's Grace and virtues, I believe no one would doubt her qualifications and authority."

Of course, who would dare to object a Monarch, especially Xu of the Heaven! All the forces closed their mouth and behaved themselves, even the proud Thrones and Overlords. Immortal Xu's reputation was too loud and clear for them to act stupidly, there are already enough tales of her in written books for the peasants for the past thousand years. To them, she was an old monster, rather a fairy, who vanquished any man or woman who committed evil acts. The list of men and women and beasts she killed included members from the Five Sacred Grounds who break the Sacred Codes, established by Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, Absolute Monarch Sanctuary, and Supreme Ocean Palace after the destruction of Eternal Night Royal Family.

Seeing no objection from the audience, Chief Xiu continues, "We will start the first elimination round through the profound measuring tool provided by the Palace. I will not dwell on the eligibility rules, you all should know it already. However, we have some exceptions this year." Some of the forces are disgruntled by this special treatment but kept their mouth shut, afraid that any objection could cause their organization's destruction.

"The age limit rule was created to protect talented disciples and to create fairness in competition. As we all know, most youngsters below sixteen years old are weak and their profound are still developing while those older than twenty are too strong for the younger one to compete fairly." Chief Xiu stated this because he does not want to appear as unjust to the other forces and lose their confidence in the Imperial family.

After all the forces seem to calm down, the first round of elimination begins first with the forces in the first level. The disciples in this level were mostly Peak True Profound Realms and Early Spirit Profound Realms. After some disciples are disqualified, the elimination moves to the second than to third levels. Disciples of these levels are mostly at the early and mid-spirit Profound Realms. The disciples in the fourth levels were mostly peak spirit profound realm and occasionally a few at the early Earth Profound Realms. Lastly, the disciples at the fifth level are all at the Earth Profound Realms, from the first level to the seven levels except the trio from the Palace.

With the first elimination round complete, a tenth of the disciples are disqualified and Chief Xiu announces the second elimination round through combats. All the disciples picked a number and were separated into a hundred groups of one hundred thirty-five disciples. The champion of each group will battle each other in the official Ranking Tournament for the top one hundred forces, top fifty forces, top twenty-five forces, top ten forces, and four major sects. Well, this does not apply to the Palace as they only participate per their custom before they become one of the Five Great Sacred Grounds a thousand years ago.