novelkee Chapter 578 - 96: The Battle Erupts Early
Chapter 578 - 96: The Battle Erupts Early
Under the moonlight.
Lin Chen, who originally planned to return to his room to rest, gave up the idea.
Feeling the surging Qi Blood within his body and the activity of the little figure in his Dantian, Lin Chen returned to the center of the courtyard once more.
Boom!
The Wind and Cloud Palm was launched.
The wind and thunder roared, like turbulent waves crashing one after another.
Other Grade-Entering Martial Artists enhance their Spirit Soldiers’ tier, then integrate their Divine Soul with their Divine Soldier, allowing their Martial Path Will to break through, thus reaching the next tier.
But Lin Chen’s situation is different; he doesn’t have a Spirit Soldier. Even the Dragon Shadow Bow is just an external object.
For him, to enhance his Martial Arts Tier, he must rely solely on the Martial Path Will to reach the next tier to advance.
Lin Chen’s Divine Soul reached the Fourth Tier, but that doesn’t mean his Martial Path Will reached the Fourth Tier.
The Martial Path Will separates from the Divine Soul, a fusion of the Divine Soul with the cultivation techniques and insights of the Martial Path, ultimately tempered into form.
The Divine Soul is the foundation, while the Martial Path Will is the main structure of the house, and Martial Arts Techniques are the reinforcement materials.
The more stable the foundation, the higher the main structure of the house can be built. However, if the cultivation techniques and Martial Path insights can’t catch up, regardless of how deep the foundation is, it’s futile.
Wind and Cloud Palm, Mountain Suppressing Chart, Canglan Finger...
As Lin Chen continuously varied his cultivation techniques in the courtyard, the little figure in his Dantian was also practicing along, its form gradually growing.
...
...
The next day.
The day was clear and sunny.
At the Yan Kingdom Royal Martial Academy, at that familiar plaza, disciples from martial academies of various countries gathered.
Upon reaching the plaza, everyone discovered that overnight, a platform had been constructed on the square.
This time, not only was Murong Song present from the Yan Kingdom, but even Murong Zheng appeared.
Evidently, due to yesterday’s events, the royal family feared other nations’ powerhouses might intervene, so Murong Zheng personally oversaw the event.
All powerhouses from various countries are Second Grades, while Murong Zheng is a First-Grade Powerhouse; with him in command, even if powerhouses from other countries want to intervene, they would be obstructed.
Meanwhile, several rows of temporary bleachers were also added on both sides, and at that moment, they were filled with Martial Artists.
The Martial Arts Academy Ranking Tournament, a grand event among the Nine Kingdoms, attracts many Martial Artists wanting to observe, but those who could sit there were either Yan Kingdom’s nobility or children of nobility.
The moment Lin Chen stepped into the plaza, he felt numerous eyes resting upon him.
After yesterday’s point competition, in everyone’s hearts, Lin Chen is no longer just an onlooker in the Martial Arts Academy Ranking Tournament but a powerhouse capable of determining rankings.
The biggest dark horse of this tournament.
"Is he Lin Chen? He’s indeed handsome, no wonder he caught the eye of the Sixth Princess."
"Silly girl, do you really think Lin Chen is handsome, or is it because of his powerful strength?"
"For men, as long as martial strength is powerful, even if they’re not handsome, they appear to be."
In the bleachers, many young women had their eyes fixed on Lin Chen, whispering amongst themselves.
The Yan Kingdom is the most open among the Nine Kingdoms, and these girls unabashedly chatted about the male disciples from martial academies of various countries.
Besides, some nobility from Yan Kingdom had their sights also set on Lin Chen, murmuring quietly.
"He really is in the spotlight."
On the Han Kingdom Martial Artists’ side, Ling Tianhao smirked mockingly. As a Celestial List Martial Artist including Bian Xinjie, the attention he received upon entering was less than that of Lin Chen.
"Let him bask for a while, we’ll see when the elimination rounds come."
...
...
Towards the left front of the spectators’ stands, members of the royal family were also present.
"Sixth sister, why not go down and cheer for Lin Chen?"
Murong Shuang half-jokingly suggested, to which Murong Yan shook her head: "Better not disturb him."
Going to cheer for Lin Chen now would only attract animosity towards him, offering little help to Lin Chen.
A wise woman knows when to stop.
...
"Based on the first round’s point competition, with sixty martial academies, the first match is between Canglan Martial Arts Academy and Qi Kingdom’s Flowing Cloud Martial Arts Academy."
Once all the martial academy disciples entered, Murong Song directly announced the start of the elimination rounds.
The sixty martial academies compete in pairs, with the loser being eliminated.
The rules for the elimination rounds are straightforward: disciples from both academies go on stage. Within this spacious one-hundred-zhang platform, they can choose to fight alone or in groups.
The Flowing Cloud Martial Arts Academy ranked last in this point competition.
Regarding this match, everyone on site didn’t expect any surprises. Canglan Martial Arts Academy was sure to win, with a significant disparity in strength between the two sides.
Indeed, during the match against Flowing Cloud Martial Arts Academy, before he could exert much effort, Senior Brother Li Yuan led a few other senior brothers to sweep aside the disciples from Flowing Cloud Martial Arts Academy.
The opponent only had one Eighth-Grade Martial Artist, while Canglan Martial Arts Academy had two, and discrepancies existed among their disciples’ abilities as well.
"The second match: Han Kingdom’s Celestial Palace Martial Arts Academy against Wu Kingdom’s Nanli Martial Arts Academy."
This match, too, was without suspense.
The disciples of Nanli Martial Arts Academy had little will to fight, conceding after merely a shallow engagement, while Bian Xinjie didn’t even participate.
"The third match: Han Kingdom’s Profound Frost Martial Arts Academy against Ze Kingdom’s Yelan Martial Arts Academy..."
"The fourth match..."
The thirty matches concluded within one and a half two-hour periods, except for the last, which was quite intense between the thirtieth and thirty-first in point ranking, other matches ended quickly.
All four martial academies from Han Kingdom advanced.
Similarly, all four from Liang Kingdom advanced.
All four from Xiang Kingdom moved to the second round as well, although Xiang Kingdom brought six martial academies to participate.
From the other six kingdoms, each ended up with only three martial academies.
Just from this round, everyone on site understood one thing: among the Nine Kingdoms, Han and Liang Kingdoms’ strength is the top tier, Xiang Kingdom follows, then the other six kingdoms.
After the first round, Martial Artists from Zheng Kingdom had the hardest expressions. For years they boasted their strength was not inferior to Liang Kingdom, yet in this Martial Arts Academy Ranking Tournament, only three out of six Zheng Kingdom’s martial academies moved on to the second round, a disgrace in their eyes.
"The first elimination round is over. The second round begins. If martial academies from the same kingdom meet, they will automatically defer to the next one, to avoid such clashes."
No Martial Artists on site were surprised by Murong Song’s mention of deferral; this rule has existed in past tournaments.
The first round was based on points to prevent powerhouses from meeting too early and eliminating each other. This rule exists to prevent martial academies from the same kingdom from clashing, where one must face elimination.
For a smaller kingdom like Zhao Kingdom, meeting from the same nation guarantees at least one academy advances, but for Han and Liang Kingdoms, their martial academies meeting early means one can’t compete for the top fifteen.
The second round proceeded similarly uneventfully, and the duration was even shorter than the last.
Ultimately, the top ten were determined.
Han and Liang Kingdoms each had all four martial academies enter the top fifteen, while the other seven kingdoms each had only one left.
The difference among the Nine Kingdoms was evident.
The other countries weren’t surprised by the result, which was within their expectations, but only the Martial Artists from Zheng Kingdom felt most upset.
For years Zheng Kingdom harbored ambitions to catch up to Liang Kingdom, but reality gave them a resounding slap.
Lin Chen hardly exerted effort in these two rounds, essentially advancing effortlessly.
"Two elimination rounds are done. Now moving onto the semi-finals, where each academy sends disciples to draw lots to select the next round’s opponents."
Murong Song spoke with a smile. By now, the point system in the first round was obsolete, with opponents being drawn by lot.
But starting this round, a loss doesn’t mean direct elimination; instead, teams enter a loser’s bracket, and the ultimate winner and the one who fights their way back through the loser’s bracket will compete for the final first and second places.
This arrangement ensures the rankings are as fair as possible. Even if two academies from the same country meet, one can concede, heading to the loser’s bracket to await revival.
"Junior Brother Lin, why don’t you go draw a lot?"
Li Yuan patted Lin Chen on the shoulder. Although he is the academy’s Senior Brother, Li Yuan knows well from yesterday’s performance that Lin Chen is truly the soul of the academy.
Lin Chen did not refuse, nodded and approached the platform.
As the first in points, Canglan Martial Arts Academy had the privilege to choose first.
Reaching into the iron box prepared by the judge, Lin Chen casually grabbed a lot and pulled it out.
But when he saw the name on the lot, he couldn’t help but squint slightly.
Celestial Palace Martial Arts Academy!
When others on site saw the lot in Lin Chen’s hand, they burst into an uproar.
It turned out Canglan Martial Arts Academy and Celestial Palace Martial Arts Academy met in the first round!
The two most watched academies would clash sooner than expected.