Preparation [1]
The heir wars were actually progressing faster than anyone expected, and the reason was pretty simple.
The gap between geniuses was too pronounced.
As they'd gone so far, it looked like the noble clan geniuses weren't anything to be impressed about. They showed skills that were great and flashy, but when they were consistently defeated by commoners who were far less creative in their movesets, it was hard for them to make a case for themselves.
Even the common people could see that this competition was no longer a place for people with their mediocre skills. There were real heavenly geniuses this time. Those people were stronger than people twice or even ten times their age.
The stage they deserved to be standing on wasn't one that those regular noble geniuses could stand.
It was a place for the best of the Holy Clans…
…and the five commoners that made them appear far less impressive than they really were.