351: Chapter 347 Clever People 351: Chapter 347 Clever People “Ladies and gentlen, ascend with to the Black Dragon Arena!”
As Grand Deacon Qingyi’s voice fell, twelve temporary stewards of the Black Dragon Ancient Land each produced a Black Dragon Token above their heads, each casting a beam of rosy light onto the ground.
When the light entered the ground, a thunderous rumble that shook the earth abruptly erupted.
Twelve huge platforms, each a kiloter in length and width and completely black, rose from beneath the ground.
The edges of the platforms were covered with strange patterns, but the most eye-catching feature was the giant dragon head protruding from the left side of each platform.
With bulging eyes and long whiskers, they looked majestic, as if they were scrutinizing the arena itself.
As the Dragon Head Arenas slowly ascended, a mysterious pressure spread out, silencing the thousands gathered around, leaving the area eerily quiet.
“The arena is raised, in sequences of twelve.
According to your rankings on the Passing Jade Token, gather in front of your respective Black Dragon Arena for the group draw competitions,” continued Grand Deacon Qingyi.
“The group draw competition will consist of thirty-six rounds for each group; listen carefully to the rules of the competition…” Grand Deacon Qingyi declared loudly.
In fact, the rules of the group draw competition had already been explained to Ye Zhen and the others by Second Elder Jis Che and Seventh Elder Zhongli Jing yesterday.
Although they seed complex, they were actually quite simple.
No matter how many people were in a group, only thirty-six rounds of competition would take place.
In each round, a person could only fight once, whether as the drawer or the drawn; as long as one of these roles was fulfilled, it counted as completing one round.
As for how many battles there would be in one round, it depended on how many people were in the group.
A round was not complete until all the numbers in the draw bucket had been drawn, after which the next round would comnce.
Thus, except for the occasional byes, each person had to fight thirty-six battles.
Winning a battle earned two points, a tie earned one point, a loss zero points, and a bye scored the sa as a win.
After thirty-six rounds, the top twelve scorers in each group would move on to the next round of the competition; all others would be directly eliminated.
As Ye Zhen was a seeded contestant, ranked second on the Passing Jade Token, Caiyi and he were in the first and second groups respectively.
However, not many were aware of Ye Zhen being a seeded contestant, as most only knew their own rankings on the Passing Jade Token.
The ones who had passed the third gate of the preliminaries were mostly individuals of exceptional wit.
Quickly, everyone found their appropriate groups and, following the stewards’ instructions, swiftly prepared their na tags.
Ye Zhen was sowhat unfortunate as the steward of the second Dragon Head Arena turned out to be the Thousand Illusion Eagle King, who was currently staring coldly at Ye Zhen.
Nevertheless, Ye Zhen was not intimidated.
In the public view of the Black Dragon Arena, the Thousand Illusion Eagle King wouldn’t be able to sneak up on him.
Moreover, according to what Hai Luoshuang had ntioned earlier, the Black Dragon Ancient Land appeared to be extrely “spiritually natured.”
The steward’s role was very limited, seemingly only organizational; actual penalties were mostly imposed by the Black Dragon Token.
Out of the martial artists from the Spirit Transformation Realm who had overco the preliminary third gate, there were a total of eight hundred ninety-two people.
Ye Zhen’s group had seventy-five people.
Scanning the crowd, Ye Zhen spotted two disciples dressed in the attire of the Sword Origin Sect, who were currently staring intently at him.
The bounty offered by Sect Leader Yu Ruhai was too tempting, especially since the target was a martial artist at the Second Stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm—who could resist?
Apart from that, the Phantom Divine Sect also had two disciples in the second group, one at the Fourth and another at the Fifth Stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm.
The majority of the remaining competitors were martial artists from the Phantom Divine Empire, followed by those from Gu’an Kingdom and Sword Origin Empire, with the fewest being from the Black Water Kingdom.
Other than Ye Zhen, there was only one other person from Qiyun Sect, the True Disciple i Yuanju.
Although they were in the sa group, this was not necessarily bad; on the contrary, it could be advantageous.
Knowing each other well, if they encountered one another in combat, they could make the most appropriate choice, whether to fight or conserve their strength.
Indeed, even before the group draw competition had begun, so were already feeling imnse pressure.
The group draw competition lasted two days, with eighteen rounds each day.
In other words, within one day, each martial artist had to withstand eighteen consecutive battles, a grueling test of their energy, cultivation, and even willpower.
The hardest part was the decision-making!
With such high-frequency combat, it wasn’t feasible to give one’s all in every battle, striving for victory.
Otherwise, after just three or four battles, one would be too exhausted to continue fighting.
For instance, it might be better to voluntarily give up against an opponent known to be unbeatable, as conserving one’s strength could potentially lead to more points.
However, the choice to give up one or two tis could influence the final ranking.
The decision of whether to fight or conserve one’s strength was up to the individual martial artist.
Due to this, so had already started to struggle, letting their Divine Soul Power scatter unrestrainedly to sense the strengths of surrounding martial artists, aiding in their decision-making.
Many were in a quandary, but not Ye Zhen.
When one’s strength reached a certain level, there was no need to hesitate; one only needed to dominate.
“The group draw competition begins.
As soon as you step into the arena, it is considered as signing a Life and Death Contract.
In the competition, weapons do not discriminate; life and death are up to fate!
However, the heavens are rciful, so participants should harbor kind intentions and not deliberately injure others to the point of death.
Rember, the cycles of the Heavenly Dao are unerring; retribution is certain!
If you harm others without restraint now, perhaps the next one…
will be…
you!”
Qingyi’s final word ‘you’ echoed like a massive bell, resonating in everyone’s minds with a deafening boom.
“The group draw competition begins—who will draw first?”
The rules for drawing in the group draw competition were very simple.
Anyone could draw; each person had one token, and the draw would continue until all had been drawn from the bucket.
“I’ll go!”
A martial artist at the Third Stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm shot up to the stage like lightning, reaching for the draw ahead of Ye Zhen.
Seeing this, Ye Zhen wasn’t in a hurry.
After all, in each round one could only fight once, so it didn’t matter who drew the tokens.
“The first match, Huang Yue versus Niu Xichang!”
The first to draw lots, Huang Yue, was sowhat frustrated.
He had hoped for good luck but ended up drawing a martial artist at the fourth stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm.
However, he had no intention of giving up.
The grade of cultivation is not the sole indicator of strength; on the contrary, there are many instances of overcoming opponents from a slightly lower realm.
“Northern Cold Divine Leg!”
Huang Yue specialized in leg techniques.
His long legs, like a at grinder, forced Niu Xichang into a continuous retreat with an exceptionally fierce offensive.
“What do you think, who will win?”
“Niu Xichang keeps retreating; Huang Yue should win.”
“Hard to say!”
…
Ye Zhen listened without saying anything, knowing that Niu Xichang’s continuous retreat had already sealed his fate.
“Sky-Breaking Drill!”
Boom!
Niu Xichang punched out, nailing Huang Yue to the ground like a drill with his entire fist and body.
When Huang Yue landed, his right leg trembled uncontrollably, and he had trouble standing steadily, his face turning extrely ugly.
“I surrender!”
Watching Niu Xichang charge towards him, Huang Yue conceded defeat cleanly.
The mont the words “I surrender” left his mouth, a light emanated from the Black Dragon Token floating behind the Grand Deacon Thousand Illusion Eagle King, forming a soft light screen that blocked Niu Xichang.
This was also one of the rules of the arena: as soon as one party surrenders, the arena deacon must protect the one who conceded.
Of course, timing matters.
If your opponent’s sword is already chopping at your head and you then shout surrender, it’s too late.
The group drawing contest moved quickly, with each fight lasting between sixty to one hundred breaths.
Everyone deliberately conserved their strength, and so stronger participants even deliberately concealed their strength.
“Next match, Cha Hai against Ye Zhen!”
Hearing the na Cha Hai, Ye Zhen was quite surprised.
How should he put it?
He and Human Bear Cha Hai seed fated.
Having encountered each other twice in the Battlefield of Demon Souls, he hadn’t expected to et again in the Black Dragon Ranking group drawing contest.
Of course, Ye Zhen had to admire Human Bear Cha Hai.
With re first-stage Spirit Transformation Realm cultivation, Human Bear Cha Hai had passed the Heavenly Destiny Three Gates; the first gate, the Void Iron Chain, was based on strength.
Ye Zhen could sense that Human Bear Cha Hai’s Divine Soul cultivation was not strong; getting through the second gate must have relied on his extrely strong willpower.
A person who chooses the rare path of body cultivation and persists must possess trendous willpower.
“Ye Zhen, we et again!”
Seeing Ye Zhen step onto the platform, Human Bear Cha Hai felt a phantom pain in the empty sleeve of his right arm—a gift from Ye Zhen.
Logically, Human Bear Cha Hai should be overwhelmingly furious and launch an aggressive attack to seek revenge, but instead, his mouth twitched bitterly.
Others might not understand Ye Zhen, but how could he not?
Being only at the late-stage Spirit Summoning Realm, Ye Zhen had already killed more than a dozen peak Spirit Summoning Realm martial artists and forced him to flee everywhere, not to ntion that Ye Zhen was now at the second stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm, a stage higher than him.
Even more fatal was Ye Zhen’s aura, which was more mysterious and imposing, bringing an incomparable pressure just by standing there.
“It seems we are fated!”
A flash of spirit light, and the Red Jade Spirit Armor covered his body.
Ye Zhen rembered Cha Hai’s formidable body cultivation prowess; at close range, he was a fearso entity capable of overcoming those beyond his level, so Ye Zhen remained extrely cautious.
“Fated my ass!
Just my bad luck!”
“I surrender!”
Spitting fiercely, Human Bear Cha Hai conceded defeat directly and walked off the Martial Combat Platform, deeply frustrated.
This bizarre turn of events imdiately incited discontent and verbal abuse from the observing martial artists and so of the competitors.
“So big and burly, yet such a coward!”
“You, at the first stage of Spirit Transformation Realm, not even daring to throw a single punch at a second-stage opponent, who else do you think you can defeat?”
“Seems like in the entire second group, he’s the only coward at the first stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm, right?”
“If you’re going to surrender like this, you might as well withdraw from the contest!”
Facing the crowd’s mockery, Human Bear Cha Hai walked down from the Dragon Head Arena without turning his head, his eyes full of disdain—Ye Zhen’s cultivation might only be at the second stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm, but among those familiar with him, who would dare treat him as an ordinary Spirit Transformation Realm martial artist?
Not to ntion anything else, just Ye Zhen’s mid-grade treasure, the Green Wing Divine Bow, was enough to give many people nightmares.
“Humph, who’s the fool, ti will tell!”
Listening to the crowd’s mockery and looking at the firmly surrendering Cha Hai walking down from the Dragon Head Arena, both Ye Zhen and Thousand Illusion Eagle King had the sa thought—he’s truly the smart one!
(To be continued.
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