Age of Evolution#

Chapter 955: Chapter 958 Final Round Grouping_1 Chapter 955: Chapter 958 Final Round Grouping_1 Under the expectant gaze of the audience, Dong Xuehan took the stage.

His entrance was eerily strange.

No one saw him appear, he just suddenly materialized silently in the center of the arena.

The rest of the audience was still looking at the other side of the auditorium and didn’t react when Dong Xuehan appeared.

It wasn’t until a second or two later that the venue erupted with noise.

It wasn’t just the audience who didn’t notice, even Lin Zhen and the other Hall of Fame members didn’t notice, which was telling.

Qiong Jing was the first to narrow his eyes, “How advanced is his understanding of the Space law?”

The other Hall of Fame members also looked upset.

…

Not noticing meant they were at a disadvantage.

On the stage, Dong Xuehan stood elegantly.

Although the phrase wasn’t accurate, that’s the feeling he gave to Lin Zhen.

He was wearing a snow-white cloak that obscured his face.

Only a few strands of black hair drifted out of the hood of the cloak, swaying gently.

He appeared slender, likely slim but it was hard to discern his true form under the cloak.

The Ground Clan challenger, upon seeing Dong Xuehan appear, unsheathed his sword with a clang.

“Dong Xuehan, I know you’re touted as the top-ranked figure in the Hall of Fame across two major species, even reigning champion twice over.

But this time, you won’t get your way!”

This martial artist had a confident smile on his face, “When I was very young, I vowed to defeat you.

What makes you so superior?

Why do you occupy the top spot?

I can’t accept this!

I have been looking for this opportunity all this while, and today, I finally got it!”

With that, he raised his head, his sword pointing to Dong Xuehan, “Draw your sword!

Today is the day you’re knocked off your pedestal!”

From the crowd watching the battle below, He Ying suddenly said, “This challenger should be from the Dark Dragon Clan, right?”

Ye Xingcai nodded, “Correct, he’s a King from the Dark Dragon Clan.

This guy is strange, he stopped challenging after reaching the 11th rank.

We all discussed him at the time and believed he definitely had top 10 potential.

We just don’t know why he stopped.”

“He must be hiding his true strength.

We still don’t know how strong he is, but from the looks of it, he doesn’t seem much weaker than us.”

Qiong Jing also nodded, “That’s right.

I’ve seen the Dark Dragon King before, and he’s not any weaker than Augustine.”

Everyone was amazed at this.

If things were as such, then Dong Xuehan’s strength would truly be challenged.

Everyone’s gaze was firmly fixed onto the stage, anticipating an epic battle.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Dong Xuehan slowly raised an arm.

As his cloak slid back, it revealed a wrist white as snow, pointing towards the Dark Dragon King.

“Off you go!”

A slightly hoarse voice rang out.

Then something strange happened.

The Dark Dragon King paused momentarily, then without turning his head, walked to the edge of the ring and jumped off!

As the Dark Dragon King exited, Dong Xuehan also disappeared from the stage.

Even the referee was stunned for a moment, and it took him quite a while to declare Dong Xuehan the winner.

The venue was instantly filled with a deafening uproar!

What kind of combat was that?

Dong Xuehan didn’t even make a move.

With just a point of his finger, the Dark Dragon King obeyed without showing a hint of resistance.

Was this a setup?

After the Dark Dragon King left the stage and returned to his seat in the Hall of Fame, it seemed to take him a while to realize what he had done.

With his head hung in regret, he refused to talk to anyone.

It was obvious he was in deep pain.

To have years of dreams shattered in an instant, and in such an uncontested manner.

This was not a blow your average person could endure.

No one knew if this incident would impact his future, but right now it seemed highly likely.

Without a doubt, the Dark Dragon King had been controlled.

Such a mysterious control tactic was quite chilling.

Moreover, Dong Xuehan didn’t appear in the Hall of Fame seat after his victory.

He had disappeared again and it looked like he would only appear again when the final match began.

*********

At the chairman’s podium, Bai Xue returned with some of her people from who knows where and sat down in her seat.

She said with a charming smile, “It seems I’ve missed something?”

An Endless Species member immediately explained to her what had just happened.

Bai Xue nodded repeatedly as she listened.

“I didn’t need to watch this round to know that Dong Xuehan would surely win.

Now that the tenth round of challenges is completely over, we can determine the final groupings.”

Bai Xue, as the leader of the previous challenge’s winning faction, declared that the grouping for the finals has begun.

The rules for the challenge tournament finals are as follows.

There are twenty contestants who made it to the finals this time: nine from the Ground Clan and eleven from the Endless Species.

These twenty are divided into four groups, five ranks.

The top four—rank one and two—each become a rank and are assigned into a group.

They will not face each other when the group stages end.

The four people in the top ranked group are Dong Xuehan, Qiong Jing, Tiannie, and Ye Xingcai.

These four will draw lots to determine their group order.

Then, Yama, He Ying, Edward, and An Luoqi are the second-rank group.

They’ll also draw lots to determine order and join their respective groups.

The four contenders for the third position are the Mixed World Demon King, Augustine, Red Widow, and the Dark Phoenix, and they are to draw lots again.

The contenders for the fourth position are the Sky Tiger King, Giant Dragon King, Element Controller, and the original eighth-place Ground Clan member, Sky Swordsman.

The Sky Swordsman is a galactic beast, the Swordback Dragon, and wields numerous long swords, making him a very formidable martial artist.

The contenders for the fifth position are India, Lin Zhen, Tian Zhuo, and the Sky Patroller, who successfully challenged the ninth-ranked Ground Clan.

India is a Demon Warrior, with long limbs and strange tactics, and is very strong.

As for Tian Zhuo and Sky Patroller, there’s no need to talk much about them.

Tian Zhuo is Lin Zhen’s old rival, and Sky Patroller is the person who dismissed Bai Yunyan.

They are both very strong martial artists.

If one were to truly evaluate their strength, they probably wouldn’t be considered last.

After the five tiers were set, the lottery activity began.

Bai Xue was the first to speak, “There are altogether four groups, each with five people.

People will be eliminated through a point system, with the top two in each group advancing to become the top four among the two major races.”

“The third-ranked individual in each group will then battle against each other for the fifth-ranking position in their respective races.”

“The two winners will be the fifth-ranking individuals.

The two losers will be the sixth.

The bottom two individuals with the lowest points in each group will fight for positions seven to ten.”

“Ranking order will be decided by the win-loss record if there is a points tie.

Dong Xuehan doesn’t like dealing with too many people, so I will draw for him.

When the final battle takes place, he will definitely show up.”

“Because there were so many battles today, after the lottery ends, we will rest for the evening and continue the fights tomorrow.

Everyone’s conditions will be automatically recorded in the Dimensional Universe.

If you have used a one-time killer move before, you definitely won’t be able to use it in the next fight.

The Dimensional Universe can also be considered another real world.”

As Bai Xue has the right to propose, of course everyone will not object, and they all silently nodded in agreement.

Only Qiong Jing disdained Dong Xuehan’s approach.

He was so secretive and arrogant that he didn’t even attend the drawing of lots.

But he had no right to say anything as the Ground Clan were the losers in the previous challenge match and the Skyfire War.

Losers have no right to speak.

“Drawing the lots starts now!”

As Bai Xue started to announce that drawing of lots had begun, she, Qiong Jing, Tiannie, and Ye Xingcai, the four masters, gathered together to determine the order of the first group.

The lottery ended quickly as Bai Xue drew the first group, Ye Xingcai got the second, Tiannie the third, and Qiong Jing the fourth.

After this result came out, the people started calculating.

Basically, the seed players of the first and fourth groups were guaranteed to qualify, leaving no chance of competition for others.

There may be a chance for the groups of Tiannie and Ye Xingcai, but it’s very slim.

It all depends on the next lottery.

Next up were the contenders from the second tier; Yama, He Ying, Edward, and An Luoqi.

An Luoqi went to the first group, He Ying to the second, Edward to the third, and Yama to the fourth.

Among these four, Yama and He Ying were the strongest.

Yama and Qiong Jing ended up in the same group, making this group exceptionally powerful.

The competition must be fierce.

He Ying ended up in the second group with Ye Xingcai, making it a dominant group for the Ground Clan.

An Luoqi from the first group and Edward from the third group were also okay, but the chance for upsets was not ruled out.

Then the contenders from the third tier took the stage.

This was where the attention was focused because it was in the third tier that dark horses had the greatest chance to emerge.

There were even historical instances of contenders from the third-tier eliminating the first-tier.

Mixed World Demon King, Augustine, Red Widow, and Dark Phoenix:

After the lottery, Mixed World Demon King went to the first group, Dark Phoenix to the second, Augustine to the third, and Red Widow to the fourth.

The Mixed World Demon King was sure to challenge An Luoqi in the first group.

Dark Phoenix would threaten He Ying in the second group, making it truly the Ground Clan’s domain.

Augustine was in the third group, which could pose a threat to Edward, as Augustine was very strong.

Red Widow in the fourth group was generally thought to have a strong chance of making it to the top three and thus to contest for the top five racial spots.

Then came the members from the fourth tier: the Sky Tiger King, Giant Dragon King, Element Controller, and Sky Swordsman.

After the allocation, the Giant Dragon King was in the first group, Sky Tiger King in the second, Sky Swordsman in the third, and the Element Controller in the fourth.

The strength of this group was comparatively balanced, and people thought they would not pose much of a threat to people in the front.

Then came the four from the fifth tier: India, Lin Zhen, Tian Zhuo, and Sky Patroller.

After the allocation, India was in the first group, Tian Zhuo in the second, Sky Patroller in the third, and Lin Zhen in the fourth.