“Preliminaries” Promoting from Insect to Snake
Su Yun, along with Wang Zong Shan and the rest, left their individual caves and headed towards the large statue that stood in the center of the valley.
The Mountain River List Competition had already begun, and now, all of the participants had to draw lots to choose their opponents. After winning, their order badges’ rank would increase by a level. From insect to snake, then from snake to wolf, then to eagle, elephant, lion and finally the last level, dragon. Only upon earning the rank of dragon would they have the qualifications to compete with the seeded participants. A total of 100 people, but only 20 were allowed to be in the rankings, the remaining 80 would be eliminated and not allowed to be in the Mountain RIver List.
But due to that, people who were able to obtain the rank ‘dragon’ already had the qualifications to be hailed as the definite geniuses, and could face against the people of the continent easily.
How many people were there in the continent? Comparing it to these 100 people, it was a terrifying number.
Around the statue, many jade colored elevated stages were arranged neatly like chinese chess pieces, and around every elevated stage, there would be four Qin Creek Protectors acting as judges. At the statue, there was a group of white robed cultivators, in their hands were square shining crystals releasing gentle luster, which looked to be very calming. All the spirit cultivators who entered the area only needed to walk inside and place their hands inside the crystal, and it would leave a mark on the spirit cultivator’s body. The mark will produce information regarding the match on the elevated stages to the host, and the host only needs to rely on the marks to enter the designated arenas, and they could not enter any other. If they were to remove the marks by themselves, they would remove their qualifications. That prevented people from removing and exchanging their marks.
Wang Zhong Shan and the rest all walked over and pressed down into the crystal. The crystal immediately released a white light which was transmitted across the palm to the arm. After entering the body, it would release a shallow mark.
In that moment, a number appeared in Su Yun’s mind.
42!
“I’m 37!”
“I’m 103.”
“I’m 8.”
Wang Zhong Shan, Hong Yan and the rest all reported their corresponding stage numbers.
“That’s lucky that we do not meet against each other, but there are many people in the competition. Meeting each other is too low a probability, there isn’t anything to worry about.” Wang Zhong Shan heaved a sigh of relief and said seriously: “But ladies and gentlemen, since we are all here, we must definitely give it our all, and definitely not be lazy or careless. There are many participants here whose strengths are not as high as what we think, however, you must watch out for the people who were specially given the qualifications by the officials like me. Of course, I am not saying that I am very strong, but am saying that all of them are mostly not people who idle all day, so everyone do your best, and do not fail in the first round!”
“Yes!”
Everyone responded loudly, they were all confident.
“Ah? So confident, I wonder where you guys get your confidence from, to dare say such words.”
Just at this time, an ear piercing laughter came from the side. Su Yun and the the group turned to look, only to see Bei Xuan Ming and his group walking over.
“You assholes!”
Li Qing was enraged, but was stopped by Wang Zhong Shan.
“You don’t have to get into a squabble with them, we will let them know our true strength with our fists!” Wang Zhong Shan said softly.
“That’s true, without sneak attacks, what do we have to fear?” Li Qing snorted.
“Haha, arrogant people, but do not worry, I will make you all shut your mouths obediently later. Didn’t I hear that someone was number 37? Coincidentally, I am 37 too, please show me how powerful you are.”
Bei Xuan Ming waved his fan, laughing while leading the rest away.
Shen Hao angrily retorted: “I am number 37, Bei Xuan Ming, later I will show you my power!”
“Let’s wait and see.” Bei Xuan Ming’s voice came out from far away.
Everyone was fuming with anger.
“Alright, alright, everyone get prepared! We will be going up in another incense of time!” Wang Zhong Shan maintained his composure and shouted.
Everyone went to the side and rest.
“Hey, hey, quickly take a look, aren’t they Immortal Sword Sect’s people?”
Suddenly, a slight uproar erupted in the crowd.
Immortal Sword Sect?
Su Yun was startled, he turned to look, only to see a group of both genders dressed in luxurious robes walking at the entrance. All of their blademaster clothes were golden with dragon and phoenix designs, all of them handsome and beautiful, looking extremely noble and confident.
What made everyone’s gaze linger further were the two ladies in front, one older and one younger. The younger beauty had beautiful eyes and teeth, she was graceful and refined, her skin was as white as snow. Her figure was exquisite, especially her eyes, which were as deep as the starry sky. But compared to her, the older beauty beside her attracted even more of the male cultivator’s gaze. The older beauty‘s figure was slender. With her delicate curves at the right places, her long hair flowing behind her body, gently holding to a white sword in her hand. A light muslin covered her face, exposing only her eyes, but even so, it gave everyone a breathtaking feeling. Although they could not see her, that covering instead gave off the aura that she was a pure and holy woman, and had convinced the hearts of every single male, that she was a fairy.
“The people of Immortal Sword Sect truly have outstanding auras.”
“Yea, that’s right! They are truly glorious people, are they all here to participate?”
“Who is that female cultivator? Is she here to participate too?”
“She seems like Elder Long?”
“Elder Long? Clan Elder Long Xian Li? He he he, I have heard before that Clan Elder Long Xian Li’s beauty is able to cause the downfall of cities and states. Personally witnessing it today, it truly is real.”
The Spirit Cultivators all started to discuss.
Upon seeing that, Wang Zhong Shan and the rest were startled, then turned to look at Su Yun, only to see him looking at them quietly, and then finally landing his gaze on Long Xian Li, gently sighing before closing his eyes.
Long Xian Li who was walking like a robot, had dim eyes. Her gaze casually sweeping across, when suddenly, her eyes landed on a figure amongst the group.
“That mask?”
Long Xian Li was startled, her gaze landing onto the female standing beside Fu Su.
Dang!
Just at this time, a heavy chime sound resonated out.
“The competition is about to begin, all participants head to their respective stages!”
Just then, a deep voice sounded out. Everyone turned to look, only to see that the person speaking was the spirit cultivator who was holding on to one of the crystal previously, they were all lined up before the stage.
All of the Spirit Cultivators were excited and rushed towards their stages.
Everyone scattered like frightened birds.
Everyone started to go up their own stages.
Su Yun was not slow either. In order to obtain the ‘Through the Heavens Mirror’, he was ready to fight. With a flip, he went up the 42nd stage.
In a moment, a robust man also jumped up.
The robust man had the back of a tiger and waist of a bear, his skin was dark. Su Yun was a figure close to 2m tall, but the robust man was close to 3 m, adding the broad body of his, he was extremely intimidating. Wielding two large hammers, he gasped heavily, staring at Su Yun like a bull.
“You! If you admit defeat right now, you can suffer less, because if you don’t, then don’t blame me for being ruthless! Although this is a competition, no one can fault me for killing you, do you understand?”
The robust man pointed arrogantly towards Su Yun.
Killing intent surged.
However, Su Yun ignored him, and looked towards the judge by the side: “Please, may we begin?”
The judge raised his head, looking up at the sky. Just then, a ‘swoosh’ sound came out, and a red light shot across the sky. Following that, it exploded out, causing many magic symbols to scatter around the sky.
Seeing that, the judge immediately raised his hand: “Stage Number 42, participant Wu Yun and participant Huang Tai Shan, the competition will now officially begin!”
Bang!
The clear sound resonated from the stage.
“Damn it!”
Seeing that Su Yun was so rude, the robust man was enraged, so why worry? He immediately raised his two massive metal hammers and slammed towards Su Yun’s head.
The metal hammers were formidable, releasing a powerful gale along with its momentum.
But when it was about to land on Su Yun’s head, a splatter sound came out, and the hammers suddenly stopped.
“Eh?”
The robust man felt that his two hammers were somewhat stuck and unable to go down further, or unable to be raised.
Strange.
The robust man looked over, and was immediately dumbstruck.
Su Yun had extended both his arms and held onto the two large hammers.
“Despicable brat!” The robust man regained his senses, and was immediately angered, he then stepped forward with the Spirit Essence in his body activating. True Divine Spirit Qi surged forward like a river, towards the pair of hammers.
The force was suddenly amplified, but…
The hammers still did not budge.
Su Yun looked at the two hammers, his gaze swaying slightly.
“Merely a second stage Spirit Soul cultivator… In terms of strength, naturally he cannot win against me, but if I were to overpower him now, most likely it would attract other people’s attention, and that’s not advantageous for my future fights.”
Thinking about that, Su Yun pretended that he could not hold on, and let the hammers strike down.
The robust man’s eyes constricted. Sensing that it was a chance, he yelled ‘ah’ in a roar, relaxed his hammers and rushed forward, two fists to the left and right slamming towards Su Yun’s head.
Dong!
The loud sound came out.
However, the robust man had struck thin air, the person in front of him had disappeared, his heart tensed, and then he started to turn to look behind him, but before he could fully turn around, a leg suddenly kicked him in the butt.
Sou.
The robust man flew out, tumbling a few rounds on the stage, making him dazed and unable to fight.
Just as he was going to climb back up, Su Yun had already taken his two hammers, standing in front of him, the hammers were at his head, as long as Su Yun used a bit of strength, his head would explode like a watermelon.
Victory was already his!
“I lost.”
The robust man bit his lip and said unwillingly.
Klang dang.
Su Yun dropped the hammers in his hands and turned to leave the stage.
“Stage Number 42, Participant Wu Yun’s victory, participant Wu Yun’s rank promoted to “Snake”.”
The judge shouted out.
And in that moment, the surrounding stages around the statue all started to have the miserable yelling of the participants and the resounding announcements by the judges. Some of the first round competitions were fought intensely, some people fought rather enthusiastically, but without question, in the first bout of “Insect” to “Snake” will destroy the dreams of half of the hot blooded teenagers.