Chương 258: The second round

Long Feng underestimated the difficulty of what he planned to do. He did figure out that his sword energy wouldn't be rejected by the strand of energy which counted as a good news. But, to actually suppress both Daos with the sword energy was anything but logical and easy. In the first place, the Demon and Light Daos were beyond the sword Dao in the ten thousand Daos. They were just beneath the Dao of Yin and Yang which were Grand Daos.

Although using his sword energy to suppress them would be possible, he had to keep his sword Dao higher than the other two at all times. To even begin, he already figured out that his sword concept would have to reach the ninth level while the demon and light Daos were at the seventh. But he never expected it to be easy anyway, so he didn't harp too much on it and continued to comprehend the Heaven Firmament strike. The next day, the second round of the hundred continent meeting officially began.

When they left their temporary residence, The Yihua clan's Great Elder led them in a different direction, towards the center of the continent. Hundreds of other people flew along, rushing over in the same direction.

"The elimination round was merely to remove all weaklings from the competition. The second round is the actual beginning, and it'll take place in the Hundred Divisions Battle Arena" the Great Elder explained to the youths behind him as they flew along.

"Hundred Divisions Battle Arena?" Long Feng asked curiously. It sounded similar to the ten divisions battle formation used in the Yihua clan for the selection competition.

"That's right. It's just as you think; the ten division battle stages of our Yihua continent are the simplified version of the Hundred Divisions Battle Arena on every Overlord Continent." The Great Elder nodded and answered.

"Each hundred continent meeting has different rules for the first few rounds. Like the elimination round, the Dao tempering tower hasn't been used in the last hundred years, so no one could expect it. The second round is similar. No one can tell what the Overlord Continents will set up. The only consistent round is the final rankings where the top hundred will fight on the Hundred Divisions Battle Stages." The Misty Mountain's Master casually added.

His words caused the youths to be enlightened as to why no one gave them any tips or anything of the sort. They also weren't aware of what the competition would entail.

"The top three hundred won't fight?" Gongsun Hao noticed this point and asked with a frown. The Misty Mountain's Master smiled and nodded a bit"It's not assured. Sometimes, they use other methods to decide the top three hundred. Although I agree that the ranking isn't always fair, they won't be too far from the truth, just like the Dao tempering tower. It is rare for the top three hundred to be decided by straight battles as that will take a long time. Only the top hundred are decided that way" He explained.

Gongsun Hao's expression was a bit sullen. If the top three hundred wouldn't even fight, then how would he get a chance to shine and draw any Force's attention? But then again, considering that he had barely passed the elimination round, then he didn't have much of a chance to actually reach the top three hundred. It was more likely that the Yihua continent's group would be completely eliminated in this second round.

"Don't worry Hao'er. As long as you try your best, I'll do my utmost to get you into the true Misty Mountain in the Mainland!" The Misty Mountain's Master spoke with a voice transmission to Gongsun Hao as though he could tell exactly what was on his mind. Gongsun Hao's face brightened a bit and he nodded, feeling a bit better. He supposed he might be the only one from the Yihua continent who would get into a Mainland's force among all ten of them.

After he witnessed the almost ridiculous strength of the Mid, High ranked and Overlord Continents, Gongsun Hao's arrogance from his little strength was completely snuffed out. It wasn't an overstatement to say that there were hundreds of geniuses like him and even greater than him. Passing the elimination round was all his luck could help him achieve. His strength truly was insufficient to reach the top three hundred. And he didn't think any of them could reach the top three hundred either.

The only exception would be Li Yue'er, who he was suddenly unable to see through. And it was a fact that she had lasted more than double the time he had spent to reach the fifth floor. Technically, it wasn't possible to spend so long fighting the wild beasts in the first few floors without being eliminated. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. And she had claimed that she reached the seventh floor.

Although Gongsun Hao doubted the truth in that, he also believed that she could have reached the sixth floor, which he failed to do. In that case, she might be able to reach the top three hundred. But even then, it probably wouldn't be enough for her to gain the attention of a force. She and everyone else would be inferior to him once he became an outer Disciple of a true force! The group flew for almost an hour, covering what could be an entire mid province in the Yihua continent.

Soon, they spotted a massive battle stage floating above the ground in the distance. The stage was still far away, but they could all feel a suffocating pressure from it. This pressure was a mixture of battle intent, blazing will, powerful aura and killing intent.

"That is the Hundred Divisions Battle Stage. Legend says that it absorbs the will and battle intent of all geniuses that fought on it in the past, causing it to become stronger and stronger everytime" The Great Elder stared at the distant stage and explained.

"Is that even possible?" One Yihua clan's youth asked in surprise. The Misty Mountain's Master laughed before the Great Elder could reply"Kids, let me tell you one thing about this world. Nothing is impossible in this world. It's just out of our reach due to lack of strength and we think it's impossible. To some soul cultivators, such a formation that will continuously absorb auras to strengthen itself is mere child's play." Long Feng couldn't help but agree with the Misty Mountain Master's words.

He had met beings with power that was beyond comprehension, literally strong enough to destroy worlds. He was possessed by one such being, the Chaos Spirit or the three Chaos Sources; this was confusing even to him. He had one living in his Dantian for almost a year; Wu Kong, the 'Heaven's Son' or whatever he was called. No one here would believe that someone with the power to casually read your thoughts, see through your every deepest thoughts and secrets with a casual glance actually existed in this world.

Even the Misty Mountain's Master who said these words wouldn't believe such himself. That was because the 'possible' things they believed were things within the comprehension of humans, or mortals as Wu Kong called them all.

"So this is a formation?" Lan yanyue asked curiously. Although they had been eliminated, no one was stopping them from coming along to witness the rest of the hundred continent meeting, and they certainly wouldn't refuse to come.

"Indeed. The Hundred Divisions Battle Stage is a powerful formation beyond the continent zone's ability to set. Each of them was set up by a revered soul master from the mainland. It's abilities are quite amazing." The Great Elder explained. Everyone nodded as they drew increasingly close to the massive battle stage. From a close up view, this arena could fit a quarter of an entire low rank province in the Yihua continent! From a normal point of view, that wasn't much.

But it must be known that the entire Jianhai province was merely a low rank province. And it had dozens of forces that each had a territory, dozens of cities, clans, and more. Yet a single battle stage would fill up a fourth of the entire Jianhai province!

"This is truly large to a ridiculous level! The battle stage is too huge for the competition!" Li Hu exclaimed with a sharp breath.

"That's right. But this isn't it's constant size. The Hundred Divisions Battle Stage can shrink to a certain extent and also enlarge to a certain extent. This is it's enlarged form" the Great Elder explained again. The youths finally calmed down slightly, still surprised that a battle stage could shrink and expand. We're formations truly that incredible?

"Now, we'll wait. The format of the second round will be decided soon." The Misty Mountain's Master added, making them to pause along with thousands of people that were gathering around and waiting quietly some distance away from the battle stage.

In the palace where the envoys of the mainland and the Continent Zone's leaders sat together, a little conversation was ongoing.

"We should use the three heavens revolution formation as the second round. That will do" The Thunder Sky Sect Master spoke lightly with a deep frown.

"That would eliminate too many people. The formation isn't easy to control, and activating it will take a fortune!" The Nine Knights Sect Master retorted. This was the issue on ground; they couldn't uniformly decide on a single method to organize the second round.

"Well what does the Knights Master suggest?" The Drifting Clouds Sect Master asked curiously.

"Sect Masters, I think you should just organize a battle between the kids to decide the top three hundred. It doesn't matter to us either way." The old envoy with a beard intervened with a smile.

"Senior, that would take far too long. Organizing a fair battle between over four hundred youths won't be easy." The Wolf Alliance Master, a rather burly man with thick beard explained. Before anyone could reply, a palm sized square shaped object suddenly appeared at the top of the Palace, glowing with light and drawing the attention of everyone to look up.

"This is a miniaturized version of the supreme heaven mystic realm. It shall be the next round, and the rules have been decided." A calm voice suddenly filled the silent palace, causing everyone's expressions to change.

"Yes Lord Envoy!" They all clasped their fists at the three figures seated in the center of the palace; the man in the center to be specific. The man's eyes remained closed as though he was asleep, not bothering to speak anymore.

The young geniuses and the crowd waited patiently for almost another hour, wondering what was causing the delay. A powerful pressure suddenly descended and suppressed everyone, irrespective of the cultivation levels. A strange force gathered and formed a large faint dark screen that rippled like the surface of water above the Hundred Divisions Battle Stage. Everyone stared in shock at that specific area where light seemed to be twisted and absorbed by the screen. Luckily, the calm voice came at the right time.

"The second round would begin immediately. All competitors are to step through that portal. The rules of the round will be explained once you're all set" The geniuses who had passed the elimination round hesitated and no one moved. After all, who knew what tricks or trials existed behind that rippling screen? A figure suddenly shot straight towards the screen or portal as the voice called it.

"It's Huang Fang Hao!" Everyone's faces brightened. With Huang Fang Hao taking the lead, the other six overlord geniuses rushed right after him, followed by their continent's geniuses. Huang Fang Hao was the first to step through the portal, causing it's surface to ripple. The scene was similar to when a stone was dropped in an ocean. It naturally caused rippled to spread. The other six dashed in on after the other, followed by the youths of the seven overlord continents.

The portal's surface rippled strongly as over a hundred youths went through it. Watching the overlord continent's geniuses step through without any complications, the other geniuses finally rushed towards the portal and began to step through. Long Feng, Li Yue'er, Gongsun Hao and the Yihua clan's elder brother also rushed over together and stepped through the screen. Long Feng's surroundings rotated and he felt as though he had really stepped through an ocean.

When he regained his sight, he was shocked to find himself standing in a dessert with nothing but sand to be seen for several miles.

"What?" Long Feng almost thought he was hallucinating. This wasn't just another separate illusion dimension like in the Dao tempering tower. This was a full world! The sun in the sky looked almost deceivingly real. The clouds, the air, the dessert, even the natural energy. But Long Feng knew that this couldn't be real. That portal wouldn't happen to be a teleportation formation that lead to another place right? This was very possibly an illusion world or something else he didn't know about.

And he could imagine that everyone was separated and spread to different areas, which would mean that this world was larger than he thought.

"If e are all in here, then what exactly is the trial?" Long Feng was deep in thought when a dim token appeared floating before him.

"This mystic realm is a separate space with almost separate rules of it's own. The second round will take place here. You will all receive a special token unique to you. That token is your everything here. There are nearly infinite beasts in this world and killing them will reflect on your token as points. The more you kill and the stronger they are, the more likely you will rank in the top three hundred. But it is not limited to just beasts. If you run into another competitor, fighting is allowed.

If you win, you can destroy the loser's token and receive half of his total points. But killing isn't allowed. A person whose token was destroyed would receive another one after half an incense stick worth of time and can begin again. But that is limited to three times. After three loss, you will be sent out of this world immediately. You can use your token to view your points, but you can't ever know what your rank is or anything else. The results will be clear once you all leave.

Finally, anything that occurs here is visible to everyone outside. The second round may begin!"