Chapter 285 - The Competition Begins
The next morning, the members from the four sects and some small-scale sects all gathered at the Inner Square of the Sky Rapier Sect.
The candidates for the Top-100-Talent Competition would be decided here.
Three huge fighting rings, each occupying 40,000 square meters, had been erected.
Additionally, there were also powerful formations enveloping every fighting ring, because they could not withstand the powerful force of destruction of experts in the True Spirit Realm otherwise.
There was also a circular spectator stand built around the square.
Before Su Mo and the other disciples of Gale Island arrived, the three other sects were already seated on the spectator’s stand.
Both the Sky Yuan Sect and the Scorching Sun Sect had sent about 30 disciples.
However, the Sky Rapier Sect only sent fewer than 20 disciples, despite being the host.
Below the spectator’s stand were many regular disciples of the Sky Rapier Sect. They all came to watch the competition.
“So many experts!” exclaimed Shen Fan, who was beside Su Mo.
Upon hearing this, Su Mo said with a chuckle, “Shen Fan, undoubtedly, your strength can win you a place!”
All the sects had fewer than 20 disciples at Lv 3 True Spirit Realm combined, and Shen Fan was among them.
“That’s right! Talents over Lv 3 True Spirit Realm are rare!” Shen Fan nodded.
“It’s easy for Senior Brother Shen Fan, while Senior Sister Xia Han and I are not very optimistic about the competition,” said Ren Qianshan with a bitter smile.
For Ren Qianshan and Xia Han, it would take great effort to win a place, for they had only hit Lv 2.
After a short while, Su Mo and the others walked onto the spectator stand, immediately attracting the attention of the people around.
Unlike Duan Jingtian and the others at Lv 3, Su Mo was a newly emerged talent and did not catch much attention.
“Look, Senior Brother Su Mo. That man is Yun Jiankong, the top young expert and the leader of the Four Talents of Skymoon Country!” Shen Fan said as he stared at a youth on the opposite stand.
Hearing this, Su Mo also looked toward the handsome youth in a white robe.
Yun Jiankong did not give off a powerful aura, but he sent a great chill down people’s spine with his presence.
“And he, Xie Tianjue! He is one of the Four Talents of Skymoon Country and the first disciple of the Sky Yuan Sect!”
Shen Fan surely knew that Su Mo’s rapid progress was so unreal that he might not be acquainted with these experts. Thus, he respectively introduced them to Su Mo.
Su Mo gently nodded, thinking, “As one of the Four Talents of Skymoon Country, Xie Tianjue should never be underestimated.”
“That tall youth in the red robe is Jin Yang from the Scorching Sun Sect!” said Shen Fan.
Su Mo took a brief glance at Jin Yang. Since he had come across Jin Yang a few times, he was not a stranger to him.
Jin Yang was refreshing himself with closed eyes and indifferent to the surroundings. No one could arouse his interest, except for the three other talents of Skymoon Country.
As the competition had not begun yet, the crowd silently sat and waited.
The First Elder of the Scorching Sun Sect, Lie Huo, who was in the opposite stand, glanced at the crowd from Gale Island and sneered.
“Listen up! When the competition begins, show no mercy to the disciples of Gale Island!” Lie Huo said to his disciples.
“Yes, First Elder!” they replied while looking at the disciples of Gale Island with intense killing intent.
“In the fighting ring, I’ll kill anyone from Gale Island except for Duan Jingtian!” Jin Yang said gently, with eyes closed.
Lie Huo nodded with a smile. He had noticed earlier that apart from Duan Jingtian, there were only four or five disciples of Gale Island who had hit Lv 3. The rest were either at Lv 1 or Lv 2.
However, the Scorching Sun Sect had 14 disciples who were at Lv 3. It would take them no effort to annihilate all disciples of Gale Island since, overall, they were much stronger.
Soon after, an overpowering aura appeared from the sky. The crowd raised their head to see a green shadow approaching from afar.
The green shadow moved at lightning speed and, in a blink of an eye, appeared above the square. The green shadow then turned into a middle-aged man with an authoritative look.
“Welcome Immortal Wande!”
The elders of all sects stood up to pay their tribute to the man.
Seeing this, Su Mo was stunned and wondered who the man was. “Is he a master of the Sky Rapier Sect? Why did the elders of the four sects salute him?”
“Well, since you are all well prepared, the competition begins!”
Immortal Wande gently nodded and then befell onto the spectator stand where the Sky Rapier Sect was. Immediately, he was served wine, spiritual fruits and so on.
At that moment, a tall elder from the Sky Rapier Sect flew into the fighting ring.
He looked around and then said aloud, “I’ve got the list of 156 participants, and the competition will be held in the three fighting rings at the same time, which means there are 52 fighters in each ring.
“It’ll be one versus one, and the winner will get one point. The top 30 scorers, 10 from each ring, will earn the right to be a candidate.
“We have grouped all the disciples and gained the approval of all sects in advance, to prevent the saturation of Lv 3 experts in one group. Now, I will announce the groups!”
The first group: Yun Jiankong! Zhang Qing! Ma Linfeng…
The second group: Duan Jingtian! Shi Fei! Shen Fan…
The third group: Jin Yang! Xie Tianjue! Ren Qianshan…
Soon after, the elder finished the announcement.
It was inevitable that Jin Yang and Xie Tianjue would be in the same group, considering the group rules.
Whether they would fight each other depended on the further arrangements.
Su Mo, Ren Qianshan, and Xia Han were in the third group with Jin Yang and Xie Tianjue as well.
“Alright! Now, let’s get the competition started!”
The elder of the Sky Rapier Sect said aloud, “The first group is Zhang Qing versus Yang Chong, the second group Duan Jingtian versus Wang Qi, and the third group Xia Han versus Shao Sheng!”
The talents swiftly jumped into the rings, one by one, and began to fight as the elder continued to read the names.
The two disciples from the first group were from the Sky Rapier Sect and the Sky Yuan Sect. They had almost the same cultivation so they both fought intensely.
As for the second group, Duan Jingtian walked into the ring first, but his opponent conceded defeat, thinking to himself, “Fighting against one of the Four Talents of Skymoon Country? I won’t be that stupid.”
Meanwhile, Xia Han, in the third group, was way stronger than her opponent and defeated him in only five moves.
As the fight continued, Yun Jiankong and Duan Jingtian were unstoppable.
Soon after, it was Jin Yang’s turn.
“The third group, Jin Yang versus Ren Qianshan!”