Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
The first round of competition was, indeed, without any surprises. Since none of the seeded warriors had participated, regardless of the content or the suspense, nothing too unexpected had occurred.
The only thing that everyone was curious about was what type of performance those Core disciples who had just rose up from the Advanced group would give.
Unfortunately, besides Qin Wushuang, the victor from the Advanced exam, the other second and the third place advance disciples had been defeated in the first round.
Indeed, the so-called dark horses were rare to find on such a stage. Strength would still speak for everything. Even if you were the top of the Advanced disciples group, you would still be placed in the last batch if you were to be put in a much higher competition group.
Of course, Qin Wushuang was an exception. It was because he had acquired perfect scores in all six categories! He was the figure destined to enter the records of the Stargaze Palace!
Only such figure deserve to be a dark horse. He would become a dark horse that would stir the Core disciple formation and cause a huge impact!
Before the competition, many people around the Stargaze Palace still reserved their opinions on Qin Wushuang’s performance. After all, he was an Advanced disciple not too long ago and someone who had just risen up from the Subordinate country. He only rose up from the stage as a martial arts student in half a year, how powerful could he be?
Although the rumors said that he had killed the two Martial Saints from the two Subordinate Countries, it would be another matter whether the strength from these Martial Saints would be par with the Core disciples.
Qin Wushuang’s first round of performance was indeed, conformed with the norms of the society as he did not showcase any particular exceptional aspects. At least, to the outside world, his performance was not outstanding.
After all, number Sixty-Eight was not a superhuman being. However, he had used a lot of time to take him out. Thus, people thought it was not a result to be proud of.
Yet, those true professionals who had paid attention to this competition had different thoughts. Especially Tan Zhongchi who had watched these thirty-two battles with the other Palace Masters from on high. The total time he had stopped to look at other disciples was incomparable to the time he had spent to watch Qin Wushuang.
Compared to the bubbling and gurgling doubts from the outside world, Tan Zhongchi was extremely satisfied. He even felt somewhat gratified. From Qin Wushuang, he had saw an unprecedented temperament.
Earlier, Qin Wushuang had killed Li Wuji and the two Martial Saints when he had returned to the Bai Yue Country. Next, he had advanced smoothly through the year-end exam. In one breath, he had exhibited a prosperous cutting edge and extreme temperament.
And currently, he had seen Qin Wushuang’s forbearance.
Without a doubt, this first round of competition was not Qin Wushuang’s true strength. He was adjusting his state and concealing his true power.
It was what made Tan Zhongchi feel gratified and a part of why he felt that Qin Wushuang had matured. If he had ended the battle in a lightning speed, it would not be the best choice. When one had climbed to the peak of the state early, it would be difficult to return or maintain this state in the latter battles.
To consolidate at every step by climbing at a steady progress, it would be best for one to leave the best possible state to the very end. Such strategy would be very important when one wanted to continue to maintain a high-speed energy state.
In order to stand out from the ranks of ninety-six Core disciples and aim for the top three, one must fight through all seven rounds!
After the first round of fights had ended, the superior strength from the five Palaces had been revealed. From the lines of the five Palace Masters, each of them only had one or two disciples that had been defeated.
The rest that lost all belonged to those Elders and Shakyamuni.
In other words, only a few disciples that studied under the Shakyamuni and Elders had managed to enter the top sixty-four. Only seven or eight of them had made it.
And it was a bigger unknown factor whether these seven or eight could get past through the second round and enter the ranks of the top thirty-two.
As such, it was apparent that no one could shake the authority of the Five Palace Masters in the Stargaze Palace.
After the first round of competition had ended, everyone would receive a day of rest.
Each round of competition would be like this. There would be a day to rest after each round. One reason was to tally the ranking and secondly, it was to allow the Core disciples to receive enough rest.
During the free day, Qin Wushuang did not practice too much as he just spent the day regularly. Now, he was free of all distracted thoughts. His only goal was to move forward.
The second day of competition arrived unhurriedly.
On this day, although the wind still blew heavily, sunshine that had not appeared for a long time penetrated from the sky. It slightly added to the atmosphere in the Stargaze Palace.
Now, those thirty-two disciples who had lost was free. Their ranking had also come out. Now, they had also become audience members like the other disciples.
And today’s main characters were those Core disciples who had made it into the top sixty-four.
For this time, regardless of the previous top thirty-two participants or the seeded warriors, they must all enter in this second round.
Only, for this round, they would go with the rule to protect their seeded warriors. It was to prevent these sixteen seeded warriors from encountering each other at an earlier stage.
During the draw, the ordering of the sixteen seeded warriors was not mixed in. Instead, their numbers were put in a seperate box. The draw from the other forty-eight Core disciples were put into the other giant box.
Still showing a kind expression, the Head Palace Master said with a smile: “Everyone, I believe that you’ve all memorised the rules of the Core ranking competition in your heart. For the second round, the seeded warriors will receive special treatment. To prevent them from meeting each other at an early stage, thus for this round, we will have a seeded warrior pick out a draw. Then, we would have this participant pick out a draw from the regular box. They will become competitors and battle. Until all the draws and the pairs from the sixteen seeded warriors have been decided, we will draw the remaining thirty-two pairs to fight each other.”
Indeed, this round of lottery was extremely cruel. The luck portion would become extremely important. Those who had the unfortunate luck and had to fight with one of the seeded warrior, or even the top three, they could only sigh with sorrow over their ill fate. After all, they would lose for sure.
Even if you had astonishing strength outside of the seeded warriors, it would still be unfortunate if you were to encounter the top three participants. After all, everyone had seen with their own eyes the difference in strength between the top three and ordinary Core disciples.
Even the most confident person would know that they could not match with Wei Yi. They were also far less than Zhou Fu and the other few famous disciples.
Besides the relaxed expression from the seeded warriors, the rest of them put on a solemn expression. Apparently, no one wished to meet a tough opponent. They did not wish to have their own number taken out together with a seeded warrior.
Many Core disciples were even praying inwardly. There were forty-eight normal Core disciples and sixteen seeded participants. The probability of getting paired up was about thirty percent.
This probability was neither high or low.
On the contrary, Qin Wushuang had remained calm and collected. He showed a relaxed expression without too much eagerness nor worries about personal gains and losses. To him, since it was impossible to cheat during the draw, then all worries was unnecessary. The result would be set when the hand lifted with the draw.
Regardless of how you struggled or worried, it would not change anything.
The rules were still the same. Tian Zhixing, the Fifth Palace Master would be the first one to do the draw. The first one he had taken out was Lv Bai, the Second Senior Brother, who also studied under Tan Zhongchi.
In last year’s Core ranking competition, he had ranked number eight. He was powerful. From the rumors, he even had the strength to aim for the top six.
Once this figure’s number was drawn, naturally, those ordinary Core disciples were unwilling to face him. Each of them prayed inwardly—Don’t pick me, don’t pick me.”
“Lv Teng, come up, and draw the number of your opponent.”
Per the rule, the seeded warrior who got their name taken out needed to draw out their own opponents. It was also eliminate any cheating possibilities from the five Palace Masters.
Lv Teng walked up and did not hesitate. He grabbed a draw and opened it to see. It was number forty-six.
Number Forty-Six who had been picked cried out miserably and sighed with depression: “Oh my god, I got the top draw. Is it because I didn’t look at the Fortune Calendar today? I don’t like it!”
With his miserable cry, it had lightened the atmosphere at the scene. All the Core disciples could not help but laugh.
On the contrary, Lv Teng did not reveal any murderous intent. With a calm expression, he returned to his seat.
Next, the draw proceeded smoothly. The number of the sixteen warriors had gotten drawn continuously. And these seeded warriors then drew a number corresponding to their opponent.
Qin Wushuang hoped to meet with a seeded warrior. Unfortunately, his number was not picked. Until all the opponents of the sixteen seeded warriors had been settled, his name still did not come out.
It was destined that in this second round, that he would have no chance to meet with a seeded warrior.
“This is good too. At least, I don’t need to worry about meeting seeded people from my teacher’s line.” Qin Wushuang comforted himself. Next, his number was drawn.
The pairing of the remaining normal Core disciples had been settled.
Qin Wushuang’s next opponent did not come from the line of the Fifth Palace master. He was a disciple to the Shakyamuni and one of the Core that had made it into the top sixty-four outside disciples to the Palace Masters
This draw was indeed, the most fortunate one. Of course, to Qin Wushuang, it was not enough to be happy nor to worry about it.
Since the result to the draw had appeared like this, he had no choice but to follow the rules.
After all, this was the second round of competition to compete for a spot in the top thirty-two. It was far from the most exciting part.
To Qin Wushuang, this second-round would be like a repeat of the first round. This time, he decided to use this opponent to practice his Violet Sun Sword.
During this time, he had not given up in practicing and understanding the sword intentions. In his former world, he had already practiced more than a thousand times the sword moves from the set <Lone Nine Sword>.
He decided to practice this sword technique.
This <Lone Nine Sword> was a type of marvelous sword techniques. It emphasized the sword intention of “formlessness.” Although it was named as the Nine Sword, it would either have no sword moves, or tens of thousand different variations. Extremely virtuosic!
