Round of Thirty Two

Fen Juechen stared at Rihan's back, his heart had a conflicting emotion. When he was replaced as the number 1 participant of Blue Wind Imperial Family he was unconvinced. Back then he was under the impression that he is above the rest but for a short amount of time that he got to know the latter his emotion started to change from disdain turned into admiration.

He watched each and every battle that Rihan participated, so he also gave his all to atleast look comparable to him.

What happened today made him feel like a frog in a well. The Nura Clan's immeasurable power, Rihan's unreadable techniques, power and cultivation level.

And behind them is the most mysterious person he knew, it was the Clan's Patriarch.

His guts kept telling him, that if he somehow get acquainted with this person, he would be able to soar high and might be able to caught up with Rihan.

After emerging from the arena, Rihan went to sit beside Hannya. Following which, he faced in the direction of the Heavenly Sword Villa, which was also where Ling Yun.

Their eyes both met.

'I shall await you in the 3rd round of competition.'

'I'll be there.'

"It seems like you're looking forward on fighting against Ling Yun." Hannya spoke in a calm manner.

"Ofcourse, because he's one of the strongest opponent in this tournament." Rihan replied.

"Hmmm? One of the strongest? You don't think he's the strongest?" Hannya asked with interest.

"Yeah, atleast there's one stronger than him, but it's not yet proven."

"Heh? And who is this person?"

Instead of replying Rihan looked at the corner where the Frozen Cloud Asgard is located.

"Are you talking about Xia Qingyue?" Hannya asked.

"Yes, but I'm still not sure. It's just a feeling. If he doesn't matched up with her, we will definitely meet in a match." Rihan then remove his gaze from them and looked at Hannya, "Anyways, What do you think of my performance Oyaji? Was it stunning enough to catch that person's attention?"

"Your acting is a bit terrible but it's enough to catch his attention. The only thing left to do is wait." Hannya's replied.

Consecutive battles were fought after Rihan's fight, however to the crowd who just witnessed a great battle, they felt those matches were lacking.

Even though Rihan already passed the 2nd Round of tournament after winning against fifteen opponents in one battle, the Nura clan still remained until today's tournament ended.

...

A few days passed until the 2nd round of group competition ended.

Aside from Rihan who won the match on the first day, Xia Qingyue, Ling Yun, Fen Juechen, Xiao Kuanglei, and other disciples within the Four Major Sects also finished with complete victories in the second round of group stages, which meant that they too, did not need to be ranked and could directly advance into tomorrow's elimination rounds.

"Ling Yun, if you end up fighting Rihan from the Nura Clan in the elimination round don't worry about anything and just fight with everything that you have." Ling Yuefeng looked at his son with encouragement.

Ling Yun nodded with determination.

"Father, can you tell what kind of profound art the Nura Clan uses?" Ling Yun asked, he watched Rihan battle but until now he still don't have any idea about his profound arts.

Ling Yuefeng actually shook his head: "I am completely incapable of seeing through his profound art. No matter his illusion martial arts or his use of the sword that turns into petals, the profound energy that he releases is incomparably intimidating. Even the clan members of the clan showed a profound art that I've never seen or heard before."

Ling Yun decided to stop thinking about the mysterious clan and just focus on preparing for his future battles.

After the second round of group stages, the sect's disciples were directly ranked out using the number of wins. Among them, the top thirty-two disciples in the rankings would proceed to the last elimination round on the main Sword Discourse Arena tomorrow. Disciples below the one hundredth rank, as well as rank thirty three to one hundred, would respectively be transferred to different secondary arenas, and progress to the ranking battles between their ranks.

The elimination round, was the last stage of the Ranking Tournament, as well as the core existence of the entire Ranking Tournament. Because, among over one thousand and five hundred participating disciples, these were the decided strongest thirty-two people! Who represented the pinnacle of the Blue Wind Empire's younger generation's strength! Even though the elimination round only had thirty-two people, it would last for an entire five days, longer than any round of group stage matches. The arena would also no longer be the small Sword Discourse Arenas, and would instead be the enormous central Main Sword Discourse Arena.

...

The next morning, as the sky was just barely lighting up, the Sword Discourse Arena in the Heavenly Sword Villa was already clamoring.

The final event of Blue Wind Ranking Tournament, the Round of Thirty Two, had finally begun!

An enormous profound stone was temporarily erected in the center of the Main Sword Discourse Arena, and the names of the thirty-two people who had entered the Round of Thirty Two, as well as the sect they belonged to were displayed on top. Amongst these thirty-two names, the twelve disciples from the Four Major Sects were all present even Shui Wushuang and Xiao Nan.

But in the history of this Ranking Tournament, this was a sight that was most common. If even one were to be missing from there, it would instead be abnormal. The great disparity between the Four Major Sects and the other sects, could be glimpsed at from this. And so, there was another name for this last Round of Thirty Two, called the "Four Major Sect's Showdown Battle", which by name, wasn't exaggerated in the least.

But today it seems like that name will be destroyed by the dark horse who participated under the banner of Blue Wind Imperial Family.

"I had never thought even in my dreams, that there would be a day our Blue Wind Imperial Family's name would actually appear on it." Looking at that enormous profound stone in the arena, Qin Wushang's complexion actually carried a deep devoutness within. He was excited to the point of being unable to sleep at all last night, and to also come here so early in the morning. His feeling of excitement could not be suppressed no matter what.

Hannya and the rest didn't bother with him and just allowed him to savour the feeling of achievement, he deserves it after enduring loses after another.

When everyone finally took their seats Ling Wugou's voice sounded.

"Participating disciples of the Round of Thirty Two, please come to the stage and draw the lot for battle order!"

There was only one judge during the entire Round of Thirty Two, and that would be Ling Wugou. Following Ling Wugou's loud cry, thirty-two people came up one by one and drew their own battle number.

"Young master? What number did you get?" Yuanba asked Rihan excitedly.

"Number 2." Rihan replied while waiting for everyone else to pick their numbers.

After all thirty-two remaining people selected their numbers, their battle order appeared on the Profound Stone.

Once the order was released, it instantly caused a large debate amongst the audience.

The thirty-two contestants were split into two groups of sixteen. Every match, one contestant would be eliminated. The two victors of the groups would eventually face off in the finals to decide who will be the champion.

However, the two groups that the participating disciples had been separated into were far too different in terms of their strength!

"Heh, it seems like your luck is bad. Haha" Hannya appeared behind Rihan, when he saw the battle order.

In the second group, there were six disciples from the Four Major Sects. They were: Heavenly Sword Villa's Young Villa Master, Ling Yun. Frozen Cloud Asgard's Shui Wushuang, Wu Xuexin and Xia Qingyue were all in the same group. The last three were Xiao Sect's Xiao Kuanglei and Xiao Zhen.

Blue Wind Imperial Family's Fen Juechen was also in the 2nd group.

The main disciples in the Four Major Sects, were all gathered in the second group except Xia Qingyue.

Needless to mention Ling Yun, who was in the third level of the Earth Profound Realm and looked down upon the whole crowd in 2nd group.

Shui Wushuang, Wu Xuexin, Xiao Kuanglei, and Xiao Zhen were all at the ninth level of the Spirit Profound Realm. All their profound strengths lost to Ling Yun and they all had a chance to obtain second.

Looking at the first group, there were five contestants from the four main sects. However, all of them were either not their main force and were all their second or third tier. The contestants were Heavenly Sword Villa's Ling Feiyu and Ling Jie, Xiao Sect's Xiao Nan, and Burning Heaven Clan's Fen Juebi and Fen Yuange.

Among them, only Ling Feiyu was in the ninth level of the Spirit Profound Realm, the others: Fen Juebi was in the eighth level of the Spirit Profound Realm. Ling Jie being the youngest, was only in the sixth level of the Spirit Profound Realm. Xiao Nan and Fen Yuange were also young and had only came for experience; respectively, they were only in the sixth and seventh level of the Spirit Profound Realm.

Despite that everyone didn't dare to underestimate the first group because among their ranks has the most dangerous dark horse, Nura Rihan.