Chương 215: End of the semi-finals

Everyone paid rapt attention to the two figures on the stage. The battle intent in the air thickened as both youths rapidly gathered their momentum. All those below the spirit realm were already finding it hard to stay within the square entirely.

"Gongsun Hao cultivates the fire Dao while the Yihua clan's youth cultivates the lightning Dao. And both of them have comprehend up to the fifth concepts of their Daos. The younger generation are truly strong" The Supreme Soul Pavilion Master stroked his beard and smiled.

"Indeed. Brother Gongsun must be very proud of his son. My foolish disciple Ming Dao can't compare at all!" The Spring Saber Sect Master nodded, his gaze moving from the battle stage to the Misty Mountain's Master who's eyes were partially closed.

"Hmm. Hao'er isn't too bad. But he is far inferior to others beyond this continent. I'm afraid he'll find it hard to shine at the hundred continent meeting" The Misty Mountain's Master casually replied in his deep voice. The others all remained silent and didn't refute him. They had all witnessed a few hundred continent meetings before. And they knew deep in their hearts that even Gongsun Hao and the Yihua clan's geniuses were all insignificant in the grand hundred continent meeting. Forget getting a high rank.

They might fail to even enter the top three hundred! In the past, the Yihua clan had once poured all their resources into raising a young prodigy. He actually reached rank six spirit realm before the hundred continent meeting back then, and his combat power wasn't bad. Yet in the competition, he failed to even reach the top hundred! His so called talent was absolutely trash before the various geniuses he faced.

It reached to the extent that he lost his confidence and will entirely when he unluckily faced a youth much younger than him from a high ranked continent who defeated him with a single attack! Geniuses were as abundant as cabbages in the hundred continent meeting. Only by standing out could one gain the attention of the Mainland's forces and jump into the sky with one leap. BOOM! Gongsun Hao and the young man exchanged several blows before many people could react.

One moment they were standing still and the next moment, several shockwaves spread out from the battle stage. Even rank four spirit realm warriors watching could only see afterimages of the two youths on the stage. Fists and kicks were sent and blocked dozens of time in a fast speed. And each casual attack could defeat Ming Dao and Li Hu easily! Raging fire surged out, covering half of the stage. Destructive lightning also raged, not losing out in the slightest.

The two Daos collided, setting of a storm of energy that instantly crumbled half of the battle stage! The two youths abandoned the stage and took their fight to the sky. Everyone craned their necks to watch the fight in the sky, which was actually a spectacular sight. Two different colors of energy rapidly collided several times, each collision setting off a wild storm of energy.

Their exchange of blows continued for a while before both youths suddenly drew back at the same time, as though they had already planned that.

"Hahaha! This is exciting! You haven't disappointed me at all!" The young man laughed at the sky, his voice filled with excitement and battle lust.

"You're not bad yourself. Let's stop using probing attacks and get serious!" Gongsun Hao replied.

"Very well." The young man nodded and took a different stance. Many people clicked their tongues, speechless. This was a probe? They had completely destroyed a battle stage and they called it probing attacks? What would it look like if they got serious then?

"Indeed. What else can we expect from two monsters?" Both youths suddenly exploded with even stronger energy than before. One would mistake both of them as rank five spirit realm warriors and not a rank three and rank four youths. Two martial skills were suddenly unleashed. The collision caused a massive explosion to surge, and a mushroom like shockwave filled with burning heat and numbing lightning spread out rapidly.

All ten old judges had to pool their energy together to disperse the aftereffects of the fight before it reached the crowd, otherwise many deaths and injuries would occur. But that was just the beginning. Several martial skills were rapidly exchanged, each distinctly stronger than before. The nearby stone stages all cracked and shattered under the wild energy generated by those two.

"This upcoming younger generation can be said to be the best in the past hundred years of this continent!" Hua Yao watched the fight with satisfaction as he nodded. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"It doesn't matter how good they are. As long as we can't get good ranking in the hundred continent meeting and become a mid ranked continent, then we'll always remain weak" The Misty Mountain's Master sighed and shook his head. The hundred continent meeting decided the fate of all the continents in the continent zone. Or at least most of them. Once a continent could get a high rank in the competition, then they might raise their overall power and rank.

If a Mainland's force was to take interest in them and support them, then a new high ranked continent might appear! That was how the high ranked and peak ranked continents came to be. They earned the acknowledgement and support of some strong forces from the mainland. Using this backing, their power rapidly surged above many others. Once a Dao realm cultivator appeared in a continent, that continent would instantly become a high ranked one.

And with the support of any Mainland's force, creating a Dao realm cultivator wasn't impossible. As for the few Overlord continents, they had the support of extraordinary forces even in the Four regions. These forces were second only to the Invincible Four dynasties. A low ranked continent like the Yihua continent was infinitesimally weak compared to these hegemons.

"There's nothing we can do. Unless a demonic level talent would appear in this continent and jump into the top fifty of the meeting, it'll be hard for us to raise our rank. And even if such a genius appears, we'll just be wasting their potential as we don't have the resources to groom them" Hua Yao sighed, his tone filled with sadness and unfairness.

"There is another way to raise our rank" The Misty Mountain's Master looked up and spoke. More precisely, how gaze was focused on Gongsun Hao who was fighting in the sky.

"As long as a powerful person appears and decides to lead us, then we can instantly increase our rank" Hua Yao shook his head"That's right but which powerful person would come to a low ranked continent to lead them? They would rather do to a higher ranked continent where they would be warmly welcomed""You're right. It's not realistic to expect outside help. But what if that powerful person is from this continent?" The Misty Mountain's Master narrowed his eyes and asked. Hua Yao's face froze.

The other four sect masters also leaned forward with their attentions now on the Misty Mountain's Master, forgetting the fight.

"What do you mean brother Gongsun? We don't have the ability to raise a powerful cultivator. And even then, the imperial realm is the limit of this continent. Surpassing that would require leaving this continent…" Hua Yao began then suddenly paused, his eyes glowing with understanding.

"That's right. We send our youths to the mainland to be tempered there. If they can become truly strong, then wouldn't we have created powerhouses of our own?" The Misty Mountain's Master smiled. Hua Yao's expression slowly calmed down again"Brother Gongsun, we've tried that already. But without the backing of a strong force, it is almost impossible for a genius to become a strong cultivator."

"I have a way. I made some contributions to the sect and I was given the chance to recommend some geniuses to the outer sect. I'm sure you are aware that my Misty Mountain is just an insignificant branch of the Main sect. I can get hao'er into the outer sect, but the rest would depend entirely on his efforts" The Misty Mountain's Master calmly explained. Hua Yao's face had gradually brightened up again.

He was fully aware that the founding ancestor of the Misty Mountain was an outer sect Disciple of a powerful force in the Mainland. This made the Misty Mountain to have a very thin connection to a strong force. Of course, the force itself barely knew of the Mountain's existence. But the Misty Mountain always sent yearly tributes to that force untill they gradually accepted them. That was the main reason why the Yihua clan was wary of the Misty Mountain.

Naturally, the Yihua clan also had their own origins and backing, but it was not much different from that of the Misty Mountain's.

"I see… brother Gongsun should rest assured. The Yihua clan will support you if the need ever arises. I will relay this discussion to the great elders. The rise of our continent is something we all want to witness" Hua Yao took a deep breath and promised, his tone solemn. The Misty Mountain Master nodded. This was what he wanted, the support of the Yihua clan. And he was sure that they wouldn't reject his plan over useless fears like the Misty Mountain overthrowing them.

If the Yihua clan truly rejected his idea over such a reason, then the future of the Yihua continent was already sealed with no hope.

"These two kids are still at it? From the look of things, they're evenly matched. A winner will be hard to appear in this fight." The Roaring Tiger Sect Master turned his sights back to the ongoing fight, throwing this discussion to the back of his mind.

"Indeed. If they go on for much longer, they would risk severely injuring each other. I should end it as a draw soon" Hua Yao agreed. In the sky, the fight had reached a climax. Several skills had been exchanged yet they remained evenly matched. Everyone had to admit, Gongsun Hao's strength was really surprising. They had all underestimated him, thinking he would lose against the young man. Yet here he was, holding his ground against his opponent without showing any weakness.

The two youths suddenly broke apart again, falling backwards at the same time.

"Gongsun Hao, let's decide this match with one move!" The young man calmed his rough breathing and shouted. Gongsun Hao nodded, also trying to regulate his ragged breathing. Both of them had to admit that this was a tough fight. A winner would be hard to come by.

"Good. This is my strongest skill. Fury of heaven's lightning" The young man spread out his arms, gathering a terrifying amount of lightning energy above him. A ball of energy crackling with lightning slowly appearing, giving off such destructive aura that even those far away could feel it clearly. In terms of sheer power, Long Feng's Earth Firmament Sword skill was far Inferior. But the Earth Firmament was a much higher ranked skill than this and was been limited by Long Feng's own strength and understanding.

"Good! Here's mine!" Gongsun Hao laughed, his battle intent surging to the sky.

"Raging flame burns the world!" His flame energy rapidly inflated, the heat rising so much that the floor began to melt. A flaming tornado formed before him from the raging heat of the flame and rushed right at his opponent. The young man didn't flinch, also releasing the ball of lightning straight at the incoming tornado. Everyone immediately began to retreat far away out of fear of the incoming explosion. If these two chaotic energy of fire and lightning collided, then it wouldn't be as simple as one plus one.

The resulting force would be most likely spectacularly destructive. But right before they collided, a figure suddenly appeared between the two skills. Before anyone could react, the figure unleashed a powerful aura belonging to a peak spirit realm warrior and causally thrust out one palm at both skills. The fire tornado immediately crumbled before this casual palm while the ball Of lightning disintegrated completely.

A powerful energy covered both Gongsun Hao and the other youth and sent them to the ground unharmed. At the same time, a calm voice echoed in the square;"That's enough. Are you planning on fighting to the death? This fight was a draw. You can fight to your limits at the main event in a few months!" Looking up, the figure that stopped the fight was clearly Hua Yao.

"Indeed a peak spirit realm warrior. He's so strong!"

"What do you know? Both youths are like kids to him. He can easily take their lives if he wants to. A peak spirit realm warrior is truly worthy of being the strongest beneath imperial masters!" The crowd exploded with noise after a short silence, many people admiring the strength of a peak spirit realm warrior. Previously, he casually blocked Long Feng's terrifying sword strike. Now, he blocked the trump cards of these two proud geniuses just as casually!

Floating in the sky, Hua Yao looked down at the whole square.

"This brings an end to the semi finals. Ming Dao and Li Hu are currently unable to make a challenge to the top ten, so they are temporarily disqualified. When they recover, they can find a top ten participant to challenge for their spot. The Yihua clan would facilitate them at any time." Hua Yao explained and no one had any complaints. No one except some of the top ten who couldn't help but cry inwardly. Their spots still weren't completely stable yet.

There were still Ming Dao and Li Hu, two strong geniuses who could change the top ten ranking entirely.

"Also, Gongsun Hao and my clan's youth came to a draw. This means there are eleven participants and not ten. This will be fixed in the final rankings and one of the current top ten would be kicked out. You all have an hour to rest before the finals will begin!" Hua Yao added, then moved and returned to his seat. The weakest among the top ten couldn't help but curse in their minds. First it was Ming Dao and Li Hu's pending challenges. And now, one person had to be eliminated! Long Feng was quite calm.

He had recovered enough to use the Earth Firmament Sword strike again and he was confident that no one except Gongsun Hao and the other youth present could block it easily. The other two from the Yihua clan could also block it, but anyone else would probably lose to it. So his position was quite solid. Li Yue'er and the soul cultivator youth were also calm. The youth especially, was calm throughout the competition, even when watching Gongsun Hao and the Yihua clan youth's fearsome strengths.

Li Yue'er was calm because she still had quite a bit of her strength in hiding. If she was really forced, even those two from the Yihua clan with the exception of their elder brother, would be defeated by her. With her true strength, she would be the strongest beside Gongsun Hao and the other youth. Lan yanyue was also fairly confident in herself. The other three rank two spirit realm warriors were unable to sit calmly though.

They knew that there was a high chance that one of them would be eliminated, so they could only curse in their minds and hope it wasn't them.