Chapter 215: The Opening of the Ranking Competition
The Divine wilderness was located to the north of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, so the weather there tended to be cold. Today, the polar winds blew, causing a large snow storm throughout the night. A layer of snow built up overnight and it transformed the Tai Ah Divine City into a world of snow.
Just before dawn, while the sky was still dark, Yi Yun walked out of his stone house. Seeing the thick layer of snow reflecting the light from the blue sky, it suffused a layer of light blue gloss.
The blue snow matched with the surrounding unsophisticated stone houses and the cold, metallic city walls gave people a feeling of living in a magical legendary world.
“Dang!”
“Dang!”
“Dang!”
At this time, sounds came from the arena, which spread throughout the Tai Ah Divine City. It was slow and melodiously long.
It was the bell that indicated the start of the rookie ranking competition. The Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators, especially the rookies, were waiting for the bell to ring.
Many of them had meditated through the night to push their mental state to its optimal state, waiting for their battles!
The cultivators were about to fight their first battles in the Tai Ah Divine City. These battles would determine their futures!
The rookies came out from their various residences and they all formed a flow of people that headed towards the arena.
There were some second and third year veterans who followed the rookies into the arena. They came specifically to watch the rookies’ competition.
At every rookie competition, there were always some excellent rookies who stood out. They could enter the top 6000 or even 4000. These people had the ability to pose a threat to the senior cultivators who had been in the Tai Ah Divine City for 3-4 years.
Hence, many of them wanted to see who the formidable ones from this batch of rookies were, the ones that were worthy of their attention.
“I heard that for this rookie ranking competition, the Divine City has increased the rewards. Whoever is able to enter the top 8000 will receive dragon scale runes as a reward. If they can enter the top 6000, the reward will be doubled. Furthermore, the top ranker amongst the rookies will obtain a glory point and they will also be awarded with cultivation opportunities in the Sword Scar Palace and Sage Temple!”
Amongst the people, some of the rookies who were more informed about the rewards, mentioned what they had heard. The Tai Ah Divine City had not officially announced these rewards, but the officials had already decided on them.
“Sword Scar Palace? Sage Temple? And a glory point? Tsk!”
When many rookies heard this, their mouth watered. But they knew that they basically had no chance at these rewards.
This year’s rewards were exceptionally good, as the upper echelons of the Tai Ah Divine City felt that this batch of rookies was not bad; so they increased the reward ratio.
For example, Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu were hopeful candidates to enter the top 1000 within a year. To have two such figures in a year was absolutely amazing.
Many people were looking forward to Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu’s battle.
Yi Yun was mixed into the crowd as he listened to people talk.
He did not say anything, but no matter where he went, he was like a firefly in the dark night. He was extremely eye-catching and everyone he met on the street looked at him.
“See that guy? He’s a fierce figure amongst the rookies. He alone got into trouble with the entire Hongdao Association!”
Everyone looked over. Seeing Yi Yun in linen clothes with an extremely long blade behind him. His hands were in his pockets as he slowly strolled towards the arena. From this, it looked like Yi Yun was just heading to the cook house for breakfast and he was in no way nervous or worried.
At this moment, people were secretly horrified.
Ridiculous!
To be declared war on by so many people, yet he didn’t care about it.
Not only that, the kid’s attitude had already reached a point of invincibility and he was invulnerable to anything.
“He’s a true fighter!” Some people sighed. Many were impressed by Yi Yun.
In this batch of first year recruits, Yi Yun’s name was widely known. All the major events such as capturing a primordial herb, breaking a record, embarrassing the Hongdao Association were all related to Yi Yun!
If this sort of person wasn’t a fighter, what was he?
About fifteen minutes later, people from all around the Tai Ah Divine City slowly gathered in the arena.
The Tai Ah Divine City’s arena was a huge circular building which was tens of storeys high.
There were twelve main entrances to the arena. In the middle were 9 stages. Eight smaller stages surrounded a central big stage.
Around the stages were rows of weapon racks.
These racks had a variety of sabers, swords, spears, halberds, polearms, bow, whips…
All of the eighteen types of weapons were present!
Although the quality of these weapons were not the best, they were uncommon. They were all crafted in the Tai Ah Divine City’s forging workshops and they were crafted by many of the cultivators.
Of course, the cultivators who could place their products on the arena were amongst the best.
However, warriors in the arena would typically not choose the weapons on the racks as they would prefer to use their own weapons.
About 20 meters away from the weapon racks, there was a viewing stand.
This stand had multiple layers and it could easily hold 20,000 people. Each viewing stand was vast and the seats were also very comfortable.
The arena was always the spot in the Tai Ah Divine City that had the most number of people. Many of the experts in the Tai Ah Divine City would gather here to fight. The more participants there were, the bigger the audience.
Many cultivators also came to watch others fight. From the duels of experts, they could gain some experience. To the warriors, this could be very beneficial.
With 2000 rookies and over a thousand senior cultivators, along with the staff, there were not more than 4000 people. Even after they entered the arena, the entire arena was still relatively empty. It was very easy for the arena to hold 4000 people.
“Are you all here!?” When Yi Yun came to his spot, he heard a voice. It was Baldy Qin!
As Yi Yun’s, Zhou Kui’s and company’s instructor, Baldy Qin certainly couldn’t be absent for these recruits’ first battles.
“Make sure you focus on your battles. Whether you are a mule or a horse, we will know once it begins. Internally, our training can be anything, but in public, none of you are to throw my face! Understand!?” Baldy Qin’s opening speech was extremely simple.
Zhou Kui and company shouted loudly, “Understood!”
“Good!” Baldy Qin nodded.
He looked at Yi Yun with a meaningful glance, “Kid, you sure are good!”
Yi Yun replied with a salute and replied simply, “Reporting to the Instructor, I am doing well.”
“Ha! Great morale! Even if they were to do a tag-team battle, you must make it big for our Jing state recruit camp. Kill them all!” Baldy Qin hit Yi Yun on the shoulder with force. With a loud thud, the ground under Yi Yun trembled.
The youths around were secretly horrified. This slap could easily kill an elephant. But Yi Yun could withstand it without flinching.
“Yes, Instructor!” Yi Yun gave a resounding response.
Baldy Qin was satisfied. “Heard that? Don’t think they are that strong just because they are ranked further ahead of you. Raise your spirits. Even if you were to be beaten down in the arena, you must also pull them down with you!”
Baldy Qin cheered on the recruits. At this time, a law-enforcer from the central divine tower appeared in the central stage and gave his opening speech.
His opening speech was simple. He announced the rules of the competition and the ranking system. After announcing the final rewards, he declared the beginning of the ranking competition!
“Dang!”
The gong represented the beginning of the competition. After another strike of the gong, many of the recruits held their breaths.
Their first battle in the Tai Ah Divine City would be done in the presence of so many people. It included all the elites from all over the kingdom, their instructors and the law-enforcers!
It also included their family clans, who used various channels to watch their competition.
Under such circumstances, it was impossible for them to not be tense.
“The ranking numbers I announce will go on stage to compete!”
“Qian stage, 11,810, Zhong Han! 12,007, Bai Mingyuan!”
“Kun stage, 11,642, Liu Heyu! 12050, Jiang Deyuan!”
“Zhen stage…”
…
A referee in charge of the competition began reading out the name list.
Everyone had their own corresponding ranking number.
Those who ranked towards the back would compete in the eight small stages. The eight smaller stages were placed according to the Bagua’s eight trigrams, they were called, “Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen and Dui”.
Those who ranked farther ahead would be in the central stage!
This stage’s name was the Divine Wilderness Stage!
The Divine Wilderness Stage was not a place ordinary people had the opportunity to enter.
“Divine Wilderness Stage, 10,003, Yi Yun! 10,750, Feng Hai!”
The boisterous voice of the referee resounded through the arena.
“Oh? It’s already my turn?” Yi Yun was surprised. He thought he would have to wait a little longer before it would be his turn. He did not expect that his name would be called the moment he entered the arena.
It was understandable though, since so many people wanted to challenge him. He had to fight twelve matches a day. The referees must have taken this into consideration to let him begin early, so that his battles could be spread out. By extending the time between his battles, he could regain some stamina.
“Haha! It’s already my turn!” A tall youth excitedly jumped up from the Hongdao Association’s side. He was one of the Four Bully Lords and his name was Feng Hai.
He too did not expect that he would be the first to go on-stage. Furthermore, it was on the central Divine Wilderness Stage!
It was cool!
Yi Yun and Feng Hai’s match no doubt attracted the attention of the entire audience!