The First Round

"The first round will be made of group matches! People will be summoned down to the stage where they will fight until we sort out the top three hundred students!" The elder spoke loudly to the audience.

"The second round of group matches will have a total of three hundred students competing and as we said before, it will continue for three days. Each student must participate in fifteen full battles! After that, the rank will be made based on the number of fights each student wins. The top one hundred spots will be listed and so will the thirty two strongest." the elder announced to everyone.

"Those who happened to make it into the top one hundred will be transferred to the secondary arena to battle. They will then be ranked based on their amount of wins. If there are people who are dissatisfied they can challenge a competitor with a higher ranking rather than those in the secondary arena. Challenges must be accepted and if the challenger wins they will then take the rank of the person who has lost. In the main arena will be the an elimination match for the thirty-two strongest students who have won the most battles.'' The elder explained the tournament system.

"Up here are all of the ratings from the participating students. The rank of your sects will be ranked based on the final rank of their students." he continued.

Xia Yuanba who heard this opened his eyes wide. "Doesn't this mean if you enter the second round for the group match you would have to fight twenty-seven rounds in six days?! That's so much!" he said. Meanwhile Shuji was thinking about his previous decision of showing his strength.

"I hope they won't all give up easily before fighting and letting me show off my abilities… I still want to gain a lot of CP…." he thought to himself. So far he was quite satisfied with his debut in the tournament however. He had gained massive amounts of CP and he would only keep gaining.

"... When fighting someone, the enemy loses when he falls to the ground for more than ten breaths of time or when he admits defeat! No matter for whatever reason if a competitor needs more than thirty breaths of time to continue fighting on the stage it would also be seen as defeat. Now with this I officially announce that the Blue Wind Ranking Tournament has officially begun!" Elder Ling Wuguo announced.

After this massive amounts of profound energy fluctuations appeared around everyone as above the thirty small arenas, a transparent protective screen made out of profound energy appeared. This profound energy barrier can isolate the two competitors so that their profound energy will not affect the environment when both parties fight. To a certain extent it also sets the boundaries for the arena in which both parties will fight.

Thirty middle-aged men who were well prepared also flew and descended to the side of the thirty small arenas. These were the referees for the first round of the small group matches. These thirty people could all use the "Profound Floating Technique" which meant that they were all Sky Profound experts. This fact made many students who were observing immediately open their eyes wide.

Following the appearance of the thirty judges and energy barriers, sixty disciples flashed brightly at the same time. Very quickly the sixty competitors were inside of their respective arena and the first matches officially began.

Shuji was in the fifth group so he waited in his chair while watching the battles lazily. A quarter of an hour passed and the ninth arena had finished three matches. During the fourth match Xia Qingyue appeared on the ninth stage and became the center of attention. Everytime a disciple from one of the four major sects would appear they would immediately stand out and become the focal point.

Her opponent however came from one of the lower sects and could not compete with her. He actually lost very badly. Xia Yuanba who saw this did not blink for a second and stared with wide eyes. "So strong… She's actually so strong." he said. Shuji, who heard this, acted ignorant and asked, "She's your sister?" while 'shocked'.

"Sorry Itachi… I forgot to tell you." Xia Yuanba smiled wryly. He looked sorry for forgetting to say something so important to him earlier. Suddenly at this moment the referee's loud cry from arena number fifteen.

"Fifth match group — Itachi Uchiha from 'Blue Wind Imperial Family' — — Opponent — — South Jade Cloud Faction's 'Yan Qing!" the referee stated.

Immediately everyone focused on this battle as they all wanted to see it. Who wouldn't want to see who seemed like this tournament's greatest genius, who was even able to trump Ling Yun, who is the Villa Master's son! Itachi stood up before he was flashed into the arena. His opponent was currently cursing his bad luck. He had to fight the strongest opponent from the start. Itachi was in front of his opponent waiting for the referee's call to start. He noticed however that his opponent was going to give up.

"Let's see who's faster, me or your mouth." he said calmly.

"Start!"

"I gi–"

He started to speak but was cut off as Shuji immediately launched Haoshoku Haki at him! It felt like a gentle breeze passed him and then… He fell and fainted! Everyone was astonished! Nobody even knew what happened! Was he able to make people faint with only his thoughts?! "There's no way that could be real!" some shouted. They all couldn't understand it.

Itachi meanwhile slowly walked away until he flashed back to his chair. During this small trip nobody dared to speak. When he sat down everybody seemed to regain the ability to speak however and they cheered widely!

"Wow! Did you see that guy!?" A commoner screamed.

"Legendary! That was legendary!" A little kid of a high noble said.

"What type of skill even was that?! That was so cool!" a rich young master spoke.

"From today on, the one I admire is Itachi Uchiha!" one shouted.

Itachi's popularity was increasing every second. His cool appearance coupled with his amazing abilities made him the main show of the tournament. Everyone wanted to see his future battles. The first round of the group stage matches went on like this. The group stage matches were progressing at a very fast rate. Only three hours had passed and the average number of matches that had taken place was over thirty in each arena.

There was some matches that ended quickly like Shuji's, but there were also matches that were dragged out into bitter battles. However when faced with someone from the Four Main Sects most disciples of lower sects would immediately forfeit.

When they went against people like Ling Yun, Xiao Kuanglei, Yan Jin, Shui Wushuang, and Itachi however, it was like boss music would begin playing. Their opponents would almost immediately lose without even being able to think of fighting and would forfeit. This was because if the other party accidentally attacked too heavily and they were seriously injured, that would be something that would definitely affect their performance in future matches. It was better to forfeit and just save power.

"Itachi Uchiha from the Blue Wind Imperial Family — — Opponent — — Heavenly Spear Sect's Xi Yinjie!"

Everyone was cheering loudly seeing the battle they were waiting for take place. Itachi walked towards the arena wearing a small smile and a hand in his pocket.

"Before you give up I just want to say that I will reduce my cultivation to your level and only use my sword. So how about we just fight?" he said with a smile. Everyone looked at him somewhat strangely. This person wanted to fight so much? Hearing this however his opponents eyes widened and he grinned.

"He looks thin and if he reduces his cultivation… I have great confidence I can defeat him easily, not to mention he will only use his sword…" Xu Yinjie thought excitedly. "After I defeat him all of the glory will be mine! I will as a Spirit Profound realm cultivator have defeated a Sky Realm cultivator! I will be considered a genius! I may even be recruited by the people from the Holy Grounds! Even the fairies from Frozen Cloud Asgard won't be able to refuse me! Maybe they will even fall in love with me after I beat him!" He thought very excitedly!

He had even started planning his future! For him it was impossible for this person to defeat him if they had the same cultivation. He could practically see himself with all of the glory and beauties now! This however was sadly just his delusion. He had underestimated Itachi because of his arrogance but failed to recognize that he himself was arrogant.

"Start!"

Shuji lowered his cultivation to be slightly lower than Xu Yinjie's level and immediately used Shunpo to appear behind him. This was his own pure speed! Everyone was astonished at this! Especially Xu Yinjie who didn't even have time to process anything. Shuji appeared right behind him and drew his blade and placed it on his neck with a completely emotionless face. He had been able to master this type of assassination type art from constant use and training of his Zoldyck bloodline arts.

His blade was now resting on Xu Yinjie's neck drawing a couple drops of blood. Xu Yinjie who saw this was breaking out in cold sweat. He had never seen such finesse in precision. Every single one of his opponents moves were pure and unfiltered martial skills. He hadn't even used a bit of profound energy except for a bit in his feet to appear behind him.

Seeing this Xu Yinjie gulped and admitted defeat. Nobody could speak seeing this. He hadn't even gotten to move when a blade was placed on his throat. People shook realizing that this young man was probably able to assassinate people a full profound realm above him without them even realizing it.

Ling Yun and Ling Jie who were watching the match were surprised for a completely different reason however. They were in shock at how graceful and pure his swordsmanship was. Just the act of him removing his blade and placing it on his neck showed his mechanical-like precision but also the grace of flowing water. They realized that not only were they not a match in cultivation but also in swordsmanship. This actually lit a fire in the eyes of both of them as they realized they could still take their swordsmanship further! Itachi at this moment began speaking to Xu Yinjie.

"We often do not know what kind of people we truly are until the moment before our deaths. As death comes to embrace you, you will come to realize what you are." he spoke lightly. "I suggest that you remember what you have learned today." he spoke before leaving the arena.