Elimination Round      

It was destined to be a restless night.

Countless disciples of the Ling Clan rubbed their hands, making secret preparations to become a carp that would leap through the dragon's gate.

The Ling Clan's higher-ups also paid close attention to all this.

They all sought this effect.

Only under this kind of atmosphere would the most outstanding disciples emerge.

The horn of battle had been blown!

The brave warriors sharpened their swords!

...

Early in the next morning at the competition square

Although the sky wasn't yet bright, many people had already gathered.

These Ling Clan disciples had been unable to sleep well all night due to excitement. Some higher-ups of the Ling Clan had also arrived early for some final preparations.

Ling Xiao, instead, arrived relatively late.

He had slept well last night.

When he arrived at the square, the sun already heated the square, and he noticed that all the top ten disciples of the Elite Hall were already present.

In addition, the other disciples of the Elite Hall also all waited here.

However, the top ten only had one target, Ling Yihang and, at most, Ling Yixue.

After all, in their eyes, only these two constituted a threat.

Ling Xiao yawned and leaned against a wall while observing the competition square.

There were dozens of martial stages.

Although he didn't count carefully, he could easily tell there was a large crowd, necessitating a large number of stages.

During the elimination rounds, almost 10,000 would fight. Without enough martial stages, competitors might have had to wait from sunrise to sunset for their turns.

These martial stages were constructed using special materials. Unless one possessed gang qi or rank-defying might, they were almost impossible to destroy.

The so-called elimination rounds selected the top ten among the Elite Hall and lowest rung disciples.

Afterward, this top ten would enter the true competition with the disciples of the Genius Hall.

The reason was very simple. The disciples of the Genius Hall were too strong. Most of the disciples of the Elite Hall and lowest rung disciples were basically not strong enough.

Without jettisoning the trash, it would be a waste of time for the Genius Hall's disciples.

Ling Xiao examined the dozens of Genius Hall disciples.

Sure enough, they all had cultivations at Peak Rank Three Martial Vein; moreover, all had condensed gang qi.

Merely, their levels of condensed gang qi differed.

The worst had condensed only 20% of the gang qi in their first martial veins.

The strongest ones had already condensed 50% of the gang qi in their third martial veins.

Naturally, this was because Ling Feifan and the others had not yet arrived. Otherwise, these fellows would be even more terrifying.

Most of the disciples of the Genius Hall looked very relaxed. After all, few people in the Elite Hall or lowest rung could threaten them.

At this moment, they pointed at the disciples of the Elite Hall while making frivolous remarks.

"According to our Hall Master, the quality of the Elite Hall's disciples this year is not bad. He guessed that five or six people will constitute a threat to us."

"In my opinion, other than Ling Yihang and Ling Yixue, the others are not worth mentioning."

"That fellow Ling Yihang has already reached the eleventh rank on the cliff ranking list. He has already defeated quite a few of our Genius Hall's disciples. He might even pose a threat to Noble Son Feifan."

"Humph, what does Ling Yihang count for? Only I can defeat Noble Son Feifan!"

Suddenly, a rough voice humphed, and a person directly jumped from several meters away onto the audience platform.

"Ling Zhan!"

"It's Ling Zhan, ranked fourth in the Genius Hall!"

This person's arrival had honestly been too flashy.

In addition, he was very famous, so it generated a lot of excitement.

Ling Xiao also glanced at Ling Zhan.

Nearly two meters tall, his body was very robust and seemed to be full of a terrifying strength. His bulging muscles could frighten others.

In fact, this was just superficial. After Ling Xiao analyzed this fellow with his Landscape Martial Soul, he couldn't help but frown.

He was actually a Rank Four Martial Vein, and his condensed gang qi had already reached 90% in his third martial vein!

He truly deserved to be the fourth rank of the Genius Hall!

Ling Xiao struggled to suppress a nervous jitter. If the fourth ranker was like this, what about the top three?

He had already known that the disciples of the Genius Hall were terrifying, but he was still a little surprised by Ling Zhan.

"Under the four noble sons are Ling Yun, Ling Shuang, Ling Zhan, and several others. These people can be regarded as at the quasi-noble son level!"

"Quasi-noble son! Ai, we are far inferior to even those quasi-noble sons, not to mention the four noble sons of Heavenly Peak City."

"Ling Feifan, Ling Yun, and Ling Suang still haven't arrived. It seems they are not too interested in the elimination competition."

"Yes, this Ling Zhan likes to watch the excitement. Otherwise, with his position, there is no reason for him to have come."

Ling Yihang sat on a stone seat and looked up from his snack at Ling Zhan. His expression did not change.

Afterward, he lowered his head and continued eating.

Ling Yixue, however, had a slightly ugly expression.

Ling Feng and Ling Tieshou were in even greater despair.

Against Ling Zhan, they had no chance of winning.

Ling Xiao clenched his fist.

"The stronger the opponent, the more interesting it is!"

Honestly speaking, he had never fought with his full power after obtaining the Landscape Martial Soul.

After comprehending <Soaring Cloud Steps-Flood Dragon Transformation> and <Bull Demon Technique-Condensed Balefulness>, he had never properly exchanged pointers with others.

Against Ling Tieshou, he had only dodged attacks.

"When I take things seriously, even I am afraid of myself! I wonder what state I can reach before breaking through to Rank Four Martial Vein!"

"Okay, be quiet! The annual competition's elimination round will start immediately and will determine the top ten among all the disciples of the Elite Hall as well as the lowest rung disciples!"

A dignified and domineering voice burst through the clamor.

This person should be the higher-up of the Ling Clan responsible for this competition; Ling Xiao didn't recognize him.

With the start of the competition, everyone became quiet.

Among 10,000, only ten people would be selected. This was a cruel competition.

Naturally, even if they couldn't enter the top ten, as long as they entered the top 1000, they would enter the Elite Hall.

Therefore, even though there were many disciples, everyone's goals and targets differed according to their talent.

Some only sought the top 1000.

There was no lack of people who only wished for the Elite Hall while those who were brave, bold, or foolish fought to enter the Genius Hall.

"Now, the first round will begin! Memorize your number and enter the corresponding martial stage. If you don't appear within a specified time, it will be regarded as you forfeiting."

The regal Ling Clan higher-up continued, "The rules are simple. Two people will fight. The loser will leave, and the winner will stay. After eliminating competitors until we hit 1,000, the competition will change. In accordance with their seeds, these 1,000 people will be divided into ten groups and arranged in a zigzag method."

Ling Xiao quickly understood what would happen. For instance, the first ranked Ling Yihang would be in the first group, the second ranked Ling Yixue in the second… Then the eleventh seed would be in the tenth group before it descended with the twelfth being in the ninth group.

The benefit of this was obvious: the strongest disciples wouldn't run into each other in advance and could more fairly eliminate the weaker disciples first.

These ten groups would have 100 people each and decide on one person each to advance to the finals.

In other words, they would fight the Genius Hall's disciples.

However, that only mattered after 1000 people remained.

At this moment, other than the top ten seeds, who didn't need to participate, all the roughly 10,000 competitors had to fight a continuous series of elimination rounds.