The rules of the first elimination round were simple.
All registrants were to enter a common, sufficiently vast arena.
The arena was surrounded by an array to prevent the combat inside from affecting the surrounding areas or the spectators.
Registrants would engage in an unbridled melee, employing their various mystical techniques and abilities with no restrictions on life or death.
If someone felt they could no longer hold out, they could choose to leave the arena at any time and forfeit the match.
This would continue until only 400 people remained in the arena.
These 400 would advance to the next round.
The elder of the Xuan Clan in charge of hosting the tournament explained these rules in a booming voice and then gestured for the registrants below to enter.
“The rules are clear. Enter the field at once.”
As those words fell, the crowd of registrants, who had already been itching for a fight, surged toward the center of the arena like a tide.
Of course, there were also those who turned pale and looked dejected upon hearing that life and death were of no consequence, eventually withdrawing from the crowd silently instead of moving forward.
Chen Yuyang and Yunlian exchanged a glance and followed at the back of the flow, stepping into the arena unhurriedly.
They stood in a relatively peripheral corner, watching the situation in the arena with cold eyes.
Yunlian watched the figures gathering in the center.
As this was her first time seeing such a spectacle, she could not help but feel nervous.
She subconsciously moved closer to Chen Yuyang, gripped his sleeve, and asked in a low voice: “Shixiong, there are too many people here. If we get swarmed by many opponents during the melee, what should we do?”
Patting the young girl’s shoulder, Chen Yuyang signaled for her to calm down.
His gaze and spiritual sense scanned the arena indifferently as he whispered:
“Rest easy, Shimei. As long as we do not actively reveal our strength or provoke others, no one will specifically target us under normal circumstances. Besides, look over there. The match hasn’t even started, yet some have already become the focus of everyone’s attention.”
As he spoke, he gestured with his eyes toward the center of the arena.
Yunlian followed his direction and saw several young men and women in luxurious clothing with arrogant expressions standing there.
They were scanning their surroundings with haughty gazes, emanating a distinct aura.
Such an attitude naturally attracted the attention of most of the people present.
The surrounding crowd could not help but whisper among themselves.
“Isn’t that the young master of the Xuan Clan, Xuan Tian? And next to him, that seems to be the eldest daughter of the Xuan Clan, Xuan Ke. Aren’t they both direct descendants of the Xuan Clan? Why would they come to participate in this outer elimination round?”
“That makes no sense. With their status, they should have been able to obtain a spot directly.”
Next to them, a well-informed cultivator wagged his tongue and whispered:”You don’t know the inside story. I heard that these few have high aspirations. They feel it is shameful to have their spots arranged by the clan, so they want to rely on their true strength to fight their way through this outer round and win their spots fair and square, just to show off their talent and ability.”
“Tsk tsk, how arrogant!”
The man who spoke earlier clicked his tongue.
“There are over 10,000 participants here, a real mixed bag. Even if their cultivation is high, if they get blindsided or swarmed by a group of people, it would be a huge joke if they ended up capsizing in the gutter!”
“Hmph, do you think they are fools?”
The well-informed cultivator sneered and continued, “These few are only 18 or 19 years old and are already at the peak of the Golden Core stage! Among cultivators of the same age, how many can be their opponents? Besides, everyone here is a wandering cultivator. Are you really willing to offend them? To them, this first round of eliminations is essentially child’s play.”
The surrounding discussions reached the ears of Xuan Tian and the others.
They maintained their arrogant posture, and there was even a hint of disdain in their eyes.
Xuan Tian rested his hand on his sword, a cold smirk on his lips, and whispered to Xuan Ke: “Little sister, look at these trash. They are actually discussing whether we will fail. It’s truly laughable.”
“When the melee starts, we must show them exactly how big the difference is between people!”
Xuan Ke rolled her eyes at her brother.
Her expression was calm, but she did not seem to agree much with his proposal.
She spoke up: “If you want to fight, brother, then just go ahead.”
“If it weren’t for you and the others putting on this display and forcing me into it, I wouldn’t want to come to these qualifiers either.”
Xuan Ke said bluntly, her voice neither salty nor bland.
“Why, do you not like this feeling of being above everyone else, little sister?”
Xuan Tian chuckled and asked.
“Hmph, cultivators must compete, so naturally, we must strive for the first place. But… even if we defeat these wandering cultivators, what kind of challenge is that? Our true opponents are only the geniuses from other families and sects,” Xuan Ke said coldly, her eyes frigid.
“Speaking of which, I heard that Yan Luo of the Yan Family will also be coming,” Xuan Tian said with a light laugh.
“Yan Luo…”
Hearing that name, Xuan Ke’s gaze instantly sharpened.
Memories of the past flooded her mind, and her fists clenched.
“Hmph, if she dares to come, this time, I will definitely wash away the shame!”
Xuan Ke said coldly.
“In that case, wouldn’t it be perfect to use this qualifier as a warm-up?”
Xuan Tian laughed more pleasantly, coaxing her.
This time, intense battle intent flared in Xuan Ke’s eyes.
Clearly, she had been moved by Xuan Tian’s words.
To the side, Chen Yuyang had also been secretly observing the Xuan Clan disciples and caught their conversation.
Peak of the Golden Core stage?
They can certainly be considered promising for their age.
It is a pity that in the world of cultivation, there is never a lack of geniuses.
If one is arrogant, one will pay the price sooner or later.
However, with eye-catching figures like Xuan Tian attracting most of the attention, Chen Yuyang and Yunlian seemed even less conspicuous.
“This melee is still somewhat troublesome,” Chen Yuyang whispered to Yunlian.
By now, he had a good grasp of the strength of those in the arena.
Most of the participants were at the Golden Core stage.
Anyone below that level had already retreated upon seeing the scale of the event.
As for the wandering cultivators higher than that, most were already over the age limit of 30.
Among them, the highest level belonged to the Xuan Clan disciples, who had reached the peak of the Golden Core.
Others were mostly beginners to the Golden Core stage, and the stronger ones were only around the 4th or 5th layer; they weren’t much of a threat.
However, if everyone were to swarm them at once, Chen Yuyang would not be able to defeat them all without exposing his true trump cards.
Therefore, his strategy was clear: stay in the outer to middle area of the arena with Yunlian, use his spiritual sense to monitor the surroundings at all times, keep his distance from those with stronger abilities, and avoid initiating attacks against anyone.
But if someone were to come looking for trouble, he wouldn’t mind putting on a show, exchanging a few moves with them to kill time.
Although this was an unbridled melee, once two parties were already engaged in a life-or-death struggle, other cultivators generally would not easily interrupt their fight and attack them unless they were exceptionally strong and wanted to take on everyone.
After all, such a rash intervention would easily make one the focus of everyone’s attention and lead to being swarmed by both sides.
On the high platform, the presiding elder scanned the arena.
Seeing that no one else was entering or exiting, he shouted in a deep voice:
“The time has come! The elimination round, begin!”
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
In an instant, spiritual power of various colors and attributes erupted.
The vast arena was suddenly filled with surging spiritual energy and rolling shockwaves.
The scene instantly descended into chaos.
Figures crossed, and the flash of swords and blades was constant.
From time to time, someone would scream and be knocked flying out of the arena, spitting blood.
Others, realizing they were outmatched after receiving a few blows, hurried to withdraw from the match.
The moment it started, Chen Yuyang grabbed Yunlian’s hand to prevent the two of them from being separated in the chaos.
Simultaneously, he led the girl to move inconspicuously toward a corner of the arena to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
However, despite Chen Yuyang’s desire to avoid the conflict, a small team of three cultivators soon noticed them, seeing two seemingly young, inexperienced “soft persimmons.”
These three were at the 2nd or 3rd layer of the Golden Core stage.
Taken individually, they were not very strong, but the fluctuations of spiritual power on them were very similar.
Clearly, they practiced the same cultivation method or some kind of combined attack technique.
The three surrounded Chen Yuyang and Yunlian in a triangle formation, their movements synchronized as their spiritual power erupted almost simultaneously.
Although the combined attack technique seemed full of loopholes to Chen Yuyang, he did not plan to resolve them immediately.
Instead, he secretly sent a voice transmission to Yunlian: “Shimei, drag it out with them. Do not end the battle easily.”
Yunlian understood Chen Yuyang’s intent instantly and nodded slightly to indicate she knew what to do.
Thus, when the three-man squad launched their combined attack, Chen Yuyang and Yunlian cooperated, both pretending to be barely holding on.
The two of them appeared to be exerting their full spiritual power, and the attacks they unleashed seemed quite imposing, but when they collided with the enemy’s attacks, they merely canceled out the opponent’s power.
The trio was surprised, but their offensive did not slacken.
The two of them pretended to struggle, yet they could parry every single blow.
For a time, Chen Yuyang and Yunlian were actually exchanging blows back and forth with the trio, and the scene looked quite deadlocked.
Seeing this, the three had expressions of confusion, and their offensive became even more fierce.
The battle continued for about 15 minutes, and the three-man squad felt that something was increasingly wrong.
The man and woman in front of them clearly looked like they were barely parrying, but after more than 100 rounds of fighting, the three brothers had not gained any advantage at all.
Moreover, the two of them were coordinated and moved with grace.
Rather than being trapped in a bitter struggle, it seemed more like… they were playing with them!
The man leading the group realized this, stopped attacking abruptly, and shouted angrily: “Dammit, you two, are you playing us for fools?”
The other two also reacted, their expressions instantly turning ugly.
“Oh my, what are you saying, fellow cultivator? The two of us, brother and sister, are clearly exerting all our strength to barely hold on. If you three work a little harder, you’ll be able to defeat us very soon!”