Chapter 96: The Semi-finals Begin
The people did not know the examination topic for the Kingdom’s selection’s semi-finals. Yi Yun arrived at the plains of the city’s outskirts while hearing a flurry of discussion about the semi-finals’ examination topic.
Many disqualified participants and the citizens from nearby had gathered to watch the semi-finals, causing the venue to be packed with tens of thousands of people.
The plains on the Tao tribal clan’s city outskirts did not have a grand stand. The people in the front could see, but the people in the back couldn’t. Even so, many refused to leave.
In a while, the place was packed with people and the Tao tribal clan had to use the members of their warrior camp to maintain the order, in order to prevent a stampede from occurring.
It turned out that it was necessary for the Tao tribal clan’s upper echelon to send out men from the warrior camp to maintain order. The moment the Tao tribal clan’s first and second young master appeared, the crowd exploded with unprecedented excitement.
These first and second young master were the idols of the Tao tribal clan, especially the first young master, Hu Ya. He was eighteen, quiet and had a nonchalant attitude. He seldom appeared and kept things low-key, giving out a sense of mystery. This, along with his cold but handsome face, led many girls in the Tao tribal clan to worship him.
This was especially because Hu Ya had reached the middle stage of Purple Blood, and was just a step away from reaching the “Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse” state.
In the vast wilderness, there was a lack of resources, and the heritage was lacking compared to the central heartlands. For the first young master to be close to the point of the ‘Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse’ state, in such conditions was a miracle.
Because of this, the people of the Tao tribal clan were extremely proud of him!
They had placed a lot of hope on their first young master Hu Ya!
When Hu Ya appeared, many young girls began chanting Hu Ya’s name, and some fainted with excitement.
This scene reminded Yi Yun of concerts he had participated in. Some fans would go into shock upon seeing their idols; and in the vast wilderness where strength was everything, as a martial arts prodigy, Hu Ya’s charisma exceeded the celebrities of Yi Yun’s past.
After Hu Ya was the second young master, Tao Yun who had received a lot of cheering.
Following them were the seven Purple Blood realm warriors. Their ages ranged from twenty to twenty-eight. Compared to Hu Ya or Tao Yun, they were much less popular.
Besides that, many elders of the Tao tribal clan had come. They represented the ruling class of the Tao tribal clan. As rulers, they had their dignity. It would be unsightly to squeeze amongst the crowd, so they had arranged for a row of tables to be placed, like a platform. There was even tea and fruits on the table.
The main examiner of this semi-final was still Zhang Tan.
About ten minutes before the semi-finals began; he rode a horse into the center of the arena.
A few elders invited Zhang Tan to come to the “platform”, but Zhang Tan simply ignored them. He stood in front of all the participants as his sharp gaze swept across the sixty warriors.
At that moment, several elders of the Tao tribal clan felt confused. They did not know whether to sit or stand. With Zhang Tan standing there, did they have the nerve to sit down?
Looking at each other, they decided to stand by their seats. It was like school children being punished by their teacher by making them stand by their seats. It was extremely awkward.
The Mortal Blood warriors and Purple Blood warriors were split into two groups.
For the semi-finals, it was just going through the motion for the Purple Blood warriors. If they were not too terrible, they would all pass.
But for the Mortal Blood warriors, it was totally different. They would face intense competition!
“The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection semi-finals shall begin now!” Zhang Tan held his horsewhip and exclaimed loudly.
“I shall announce the semi-final’s rules!”
With a wave of his hand, a white light shot into the sky and began to grow, it eventually became a white jade stone stage.
This white jade stone stage was about ten meters per side. It steadily floated, hanging in the sky.
The four sides of the stone stage had four columns. Each column had one blood-red crystal, these crystals were desolate bone relics.
It was clear that the jade stage had some spell on it and was powered by the desolate beast relic. It was a treasure!
But no one knew what the stage was going to be used for.
Zhang Tan stood on the jade stage saying, “When a warrior practices martial arts, they have to accept their heritage. The heritage comprises of cultivation techniques, movement techniques, mystic techniques, soul cultivation techniques, fighting techniques and various other techniques. The most basic of them is the cultivation technique! This will immediately decide the progress of your cultivation. It will decide if you can exceed Mortal Blood, or even exceed Purple Blood in the future!”
“Your martial arts are still considered in the beginning stages. Your Spirit and cultivation techniques, that I will test are the most basic things. It will almost determine your success in the future. So try to do your best!”
“Now, all of you will come up to this white jade stage and demonstrate publicly the cultivation technique you practiced. At the same time report your age and I’ll grade you!”
“This white jade stage is a cultivation treasure used by the Jin Long Wei elite. A famous refiner master in the Kingdom created it. By using desolate bone relics to power it, it can gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, ensuring that you will be in your optimal state when you demonstrate your cultivation technique!”
With those words, a “bang” could be heard as the white jade stage had fell to the ground, giving rise to a cloud of dust.
“So it’s to demonstrate cultivation technique!” Among the Mortal Blood participants, Tao Yunxiao was standing right in front. Hearing Zhang Tan’s words, his lips curled into a smile.
He already had a well-thought-out plan!
The ideal semi-final for him was to enter into real battle, but to demonstrate his cultivation technique was the same. By using the trump card of the Tao tribal clan, he could sweep the audience of their feet!
“We will begin with the Mortal Blood group. Once I shout out your name, you can go up and perform!”
“First person, Sun Yu!”
Zhang Tan shouted out a name. Sun Yu was a heir nurtured from a small tribal clan. He had never expected to be first, so he was a little nervous.
With a deep breath, Sun Yu calmed down and leapt onto the stage.
“Sun Yu, twenty years old, demonstrating cultivation technique: ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!”
In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was the number one Mortal Blood cultivation technique, so there were many people who practiced it. Besides the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was a high grade technique and a great cultivation technique.
Unfortunately, Sun Yu was born from a small tribal clan. A small tribal clan from the vast wilderness had little contact with the central heartlands, so Sun Yu’s ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, which was obtained from the Tao tribal clan, thus it was incomplete. It paled in comparison to Lian Chengyu, who had Yao Yuan as a teacher.
As such, Sun Yu’s performance was mediocre and could not demonstrate the full power of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. His tendons and bones could only emit a slight sound, and was far from the standard of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.
Tao Yunxiao sneered. He was not bothered by this level of cultivation.
“Next, Zhou Kang!”
Zhang Tan’s reaction to Sun Yu’s performance was expressionless. It was as if he did not see it. After Sun Yu left the stage, Zhang Tan immediately shouted the second name.
Zhou Kang was an elite nurtured by the Tao tribal clan. He too demonstrated ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ but compared to Sun Yu, his ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was much fiercer since Zhou Kang had a master who was at the peak of the Purple Blood realm.
Each blow was packed with a punch, and was accompanied by a crackling sound in the bones!
“Ka-cha!”
When Zhou Kang shot out his last punch, he jumped off the white jade stage onto a clearing, with a “Tiger Descends Flattening To Dust” stance, he kicked a granite stone the size of a human head into pieces!
“Good!”
In the crowd, many of them cheered.
Zhang Tan remained deadpan, “Next, Cheng Pingguang!”
…
“Next, Lin Jun!”
…
“Next…”
Zhang Tan shouted out the names of about fifty Mortal Blood warriors without any expression. After about four hours, the weaker ones had finished their demonstration, leaving only the best among the Mortal Blood warriors. That of course included Tao Yunxiao and Yi Yun.