The hustle and bustle in the hall quietened the mont a middle-aged man with thick black stubble on his face entered the hall.
His white robes with golden embroidery fluttered as he walked forward with asured steps.
Step
Step
Step
As his steps echoed in the hall, the previously disorganised bunch imdiately arranged themselves in such a way that different clans distinctly stood out in the hall.
Following the lead of his team mbers, Yi Chen too was standing in an orderly fashion and was curiously looking at the man who was the cause of this commotion.
=====================
Na: Bai Lu
Age: 67 years
Strength: 570
Cultivation: Ninth Level of [Qi Absorption Stage]
Qi Nature: Earth
Extra: Envoy sent from the Imperial Family.
=====================
’Ah, so he’s from the Imperial Family,’ Yi Chen nodded in understanding.
The response of everyone present finally made sense to him.
Beside the envoy were two n in yellow robes who were walking a few steps behind him in a servile manner.
They were the managent staff of the Soaring Dragon Arena and were directly employed by the Imperial Family.
The steps of the Imperial Envoy soon ca to a stop at a slightly raised platform built on one side of the hall.
With that done, the envoy finally called out. His voice carried an authoritative tone.
"All clan representatives to stand in front of their teams!"
The sound of shifting steps echoed in the hall as Yi Chen saw Feng Ning moving forward to stand in front of their group.
"Call out your clan’s na and rank while confirming your team’s status!" The Imperial Envoy’s voice reverberated in the hall as he pointed his hand towards the right.
The minor clan’s representative, who stood rightmost to the envoy, took a deep breath and declared.
"Mao Clan! Rank 10 Minor Clan! Everyone’s Ready!"
The Imperial Envoy nodded his head subtly and looked towards the clan standing adjacent to the Mao Clan.
"Chen Mo Clan! Rank 9 Minor Clan! Everyone’s Ready!"
.
.
.
"Feng Clan! Rank 20 Major Clan! Everyone’s Ready!"
Feng Ning’s voice echoed in the entire hall and attracted all the Minor Clan’s attention.
The Imperial Envoy nodded after confirming everyone’s presence and said the next instant.
His words attracted everyone’s attention.
"I believe you all are already aware of the rules, so I won’t be wasting my ti on that. My task today is to supervise that today’s Major Ascension Trials are completed without any issues.
One rule which I would still highlight is that no killing is permitted. If violated then the violating clan would be outstripped of its status. You all are the talents of our Kingdom, and we do not want them to be wasted.
If, accidentally, soone ends up dying, then I’ll enforce my authority as the Imperial Family’s Envoy and impartially judge the situation as deed fit.
By the end of today’s trials, we’ll either have a new entrant to the major clan..."
The mbers of the Kai Clan couldn’t help but feel their chests swelling up when they heard this.
"...or we’ll be shown the grit and tenacity which is expected of a Major Clan,"
The Imperial Envoy said as his head subtly turned towards the Feng Clan’s mbers, who all had serious expressions on their faces at the mont.
CLAP!
He clapped his hand the next second to attract everyone’s lingering attention back towards him and said, while gesturing towards the door.
"The Feng Clan and the Mao clan, follow after and take your seats in your respective stands after we leave through the door,"
With that said, the Imperial Envoy began moving towards the door which led to the open space outside.
"Yes!"
Both the clan’s representatives answered and began following after him.
"Hehe," a snicker sounded in Feng Ning’s ears just at that mont, making her slightly stop in her steps as she turned her head to her right.
"Don’t push yourself too much...Lady Ning," Kai Hu, the representative of the Kai Clan, said in a teasing tone.
It was apparent that he felt that victory was already in his grasp.
The clan mbers who were standing behind him also began snickering at those words, much to Feng Ning’s and her team mber’s frustration.
Ignoring them with a snort, she followed after the Imperial Envoy.
Seeing this, the smile on Kai Hu’s face widened as he welcod the hateful gazes of the other mbers of the Feng Clan, who soon went past him one after the other.
’Interesting,’ Kai Hu thought to himself as his gaze fell upon one person among the Feng clan who didn’t dare to et his eye, much less glare towards him.
If it were just anyone, then he would have ignored him, but the said individual was a fifth-level cultivator.
Leaning towards the person behind him, Kai Hu said, "Tell the other two clans to target him first when they’re breaking through the Fifth Level cultivators."
"Yes, Brothers Hu," the person nodded and conveyed the ssage to the concerned individuals.
anwhile, Yi Chen, who was keeping up with his act, could sense disappointnt from his own team mbers as a few whispers entered his ears.
"I thought he would enhance our strength...but seeing how weak and shaken he appears...I doubt he’ll be of any use to us."
"Don’t worry, Brother Cai. Though it’s a pity, as long as we give our best, it doesn’t matter."
Hearing those whispers, Yi Chen’s heart fluttered in joy.
’To fool others one must fool one’s own,’ he thought in a pleased manner while his eyes discreetly fell on the Mao clan mbers who were currently walking beside them in a line.
Going over their status panels, he nodded to himself.
’Eight First, Second and Third Level cultivators each and One Fourth Level cultivator...they are pretty weak,’
Earlier in the hall, after scanning everyone’s status panel, the strength of the minor clans was clear to him.
The strongest was obviously the Kai Clan with 42 cultivators.
Out of those 42, the two Sixth Level and eight Fifth Level cultivators were what posed a threat to them.
As for the second and third-ranked minor clans, their strongest cultivators were in the Fifth Level, and both of them only had three each.
’It’s apparent that only the Kai clan has a chance of winning, so they’ll try to tire us all out until then...’
Yi Chen thought as he stepped out of the giant door and was montarily blinded by the sudden brightness.
A couple of seconds later, when his eyesight recovered, he saw a vast open ground in front of him, in the centre of which was a raised fighting stage completely made of polished Jade.
Looking further ahead and raising his head, his eyes fell on the seating areas which were made on the first, second, and third floors.
’It is so overwhelming to look at...’ Yi Chen thought as he glanced at the cultivators who were seated on the first floor.
The majority of them were from the minor clans.
’The pressure one would feel with all three floors filled to the brim would be enormous...’ he thought while glancing at the empty floors.
anwhile, seeing that the Imperial Envoy was making his way towards the fighting stage, both Feng Ning and the Mao Clan’s representative guided their mbers to their individual stands, which were built on opposite sides of the square stage.
The individual stands were made as a series of raised platforms, and on each platform there were eight seats for the cultivators to take.
After Feng Ning and Wei Tian had taken the two seats at the top, Yi Chen and the other four Fifth Level Cultivators took the seat beneath them, which was followed in a similar pattern until all the First ridian Refinent Stage cultivators were seated at the bottom-most platform.
After comfortably positioning himself on the throne-like seat, Yi Chen focused his attention straight ahead on the fighting stage where the Imperial Envoy was addressing the crowd.
The envoy took the first few minutes to explain the rules of the tournant to the crowd before moving on to the final crux.
"Today’s Heaven Ascension Trials marks the beginning of the second phase of the Inter Clan Tournant.
Like every year, the fate of the last-ranking Major Clan lies in a precarious position.
Whether they’ll be able to retain their status or would they be forced to abdicate it. Everything will be clear to us in the next few hours!"
’Is he an Imperial Envoy or a comntator...’ Yi Chen thought to himself with a wry expression, sensing the passion and zeal which exuded out of the envoy’s words, which didn’t match his previously portrayed composed persona.
Naturally, the crowd was riled up by his manner of speaking and not wanting to keep them waiting, the envoy gestured towards the Mao clan with his hand and declared.
"First Challenger! Get up on stage!"
The cheers of excitent rose by a decibel the next instant as the first contender of the day soon made his way to the Fighting Stage.
"Choose your opponent," The envoy told the First ridian Refinent Stage cultivator while gesturing towards the Feng Clan’s stand.
From among the cultivators sitting on the bottom-most row, one was soon handpicked by the challenger.
When the two cultivators were finally on stage, the envoy shouted with a voice filled with passion.
"Fight!"
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