Chapter 255 - 254: The Fight Among Peerless Gods! (2)

MAIN TOURNAMENT MERIT RANKINGS (ROUND ONE)

1. Xuan Province — 700 Merits

(General: Xuan Mingzhe — 350 Merits | Lord: Xuan Bahe — 350 Merits)

2. Chu Province — 700 Merits

(General: Chu Kuang — 350 Merits | Lord: Chu Wuhai — 350 Merits)

3. Zhao Province — 530 Merits

(General: Lin Yuan — 350 Merits | Lord: Zhao Shenming — 180 Merits)

4. Feng Province — 350 Merits

(General: Feng Yao — 0 Merits | Lord: Feng Tian — 350 Merits)

5. Jiang Province — 350 Merits

(General: Jiang Wan — 0 Merits | Lord: Jiang Shan — 350 Merits)

6. Ye Province — 0 Merits

(General: Ye Ao — 0 Merits | Lord: Ye Xuan — 0 Merits)

7. Ling Province — 0 Merits

(General: Ling Chuan — 0 Merits | Lord: Ling Zhen — 0 Merits)

...

The jade monolith hovered above the arena, its runes updating to reflect only the results of the main tournament. Every single preliminary merit had been archived; this was the clean slate where provinces were bought and dynasties were eradicated.

Yet, the hundred thousand cultivators packing the amphitheater were not looking at the first-place tie between the Xuan and Chu Provinces.

Every single head, every trembling divine sense, remained anchored directly to the figure of the young man in the pristine black and white robes stepping calmly off the upper combat terrace.

"Supreme Stage..."

The whisper began in the lower rings of the spectator benches, but it spread with the rapid velocity of a wildfire across dry plains.

"He was at the Ninth Step of Dao Resolve! An entire stage above the Peerless Stage! He wasn’t an Early-Stage ant who got lucky... he was standing near the apex of the Spirit Severing realm the entire time!"

"The sheer shamelessness of it!" an elder from the Ye Province roared, his fingers clawing at the stone balustrade of his pavilion. "He suppressed his cultivation so deeply that even the scrying arrays registered him as a mere Early-Stage cultivator! He walked through the Void Ascension Battlefield pretending to be a wounded lamb, and we treated him like vermin! He was playing the pig to eat the tiger from the very first hour!"

"And look at Jiang Wan," a sword-master from the Jiang Province muttered, his voice hollow with despair as they carried the unconscious, battered form of their peerless sword genius out of the quadrant. "Jiang Wan’s Absolute Severance Sword Intent could cut spatial laws, yet Lin Yuan didn’t even draw his true sword! He countered with spatial shifts, countered with an army-breaking barrage of thunder, and then... he literally ate Jiang Wan’s final slash! What manner of monstrous devouring art was that?!"

In the high above, seated upon his White Tiger throne, Emperor Xiyan threw his head back and let out a boisterous, deafening laugh that shook the clouds.

"Bwahahaha! Tianxu, do you see your precious disciples now?!" Emperor Xiyan slapped his armored knee, thoroughly enjoying the mortification written across the Central Continent elders’ faces. "The boy didn’t just win; he dismantled their pride piece by piece! Supreme Stage Dao Resolve, and a devouring technique straight out of the ancient eras! Your Upper Division prodigies have been strutting around like celestial peacocks, only to find out they were sharing a cage with a primordial chimera!"

Emperor Tianxu did not smile, but his eyes burned with an intense, unfathomable light. His Void Refinement divine sense had measured every fluctuation of Lin Yuan’s aura during the clash.

"He did not use the Three Rebirths," Emperor Tianxu murmured softly, his voice carrying only to the other four emperors. "He dismantled Jiang Wan using his other arts, elevated by his Supreme Stage cultivation. That means the Origin Dao spell we witnessed during the pagoda climb is still held in reserve. He is treating the Peerless Geniuses of this continent as mere sparring partners to test his martial arts."

"A dangerous variable," Emperor Beiming of the North rumbled, his Black Tortoise aura cold and still. "If a Lower Division province takes the crown of the Peerless God Tournament, the geopolitical order of your continent will shift drastically."

"Let it shift," Emperor Nanheng chuckled from behind her fan, her fiery eyes watching Lin Yuan with undisguised fascination. "Stagnant pools breed rot. A raging torrent cleanses the earth."

While the crowd continued to reel from Lin Yuan’s revelation, the remaining matches of the opening round had concluded across the other three quadrants with brutal efficiency.

In the Upper Division General bracket, Chu Kuang had taken out his weeks of accumulated humiliation upon Ling Chuan of the Ling Province. Driven by half-mad desperation to recoup his standing, Chu Kuang had unleashed his Half-Step Transcendent cultivation with unrestrained ferocity.

Ling Chuan, a master of celestial mist and defensive spatial barriers, had held out for nearly twenty exchanges before Chu Kuang’s serrated halberd shattered his spiritual shield, battering him out of the ring and claiming 350 merits for the Chu Province.

In the Upper Division Lord bracket, Xuan Bahe—the towering patriarch of the Xuan Province—had effortlessly crushed the Lord of the Ye Province, demonstrating the unyielding supremacy of their Gravity Dao. Meanwhile, Chu Wuhai, still riding the high of his son’s victory, had fought with rabid savagery to overwhelm the Lord of the Ling Province, putting the Chu Province in a temporary tie for first place.

Down in the Lower Division, Lord Zhao Shenming sat in the eastern pavilion, his robes stained with the sweat of his brutal victory over the Lord of the Fu Province. His hands were wrapped in bandages soaked in spiritual liniment, but his eyes were alive with a fiery, unyielding hunger.

"Five hundred and thirty merits," Lord Zhao murmured, staring up at the monolith. He turned toward Lin Yuan, who had just stepped back into the pavilion. The Provincial Lord rose immediately to his feet, bowing with absolute respect. "Daoist Lin. You have placed this province in third position. In the entire history of the Zhao Province, we have never held three hundred merits in the start of the main tournament, let alone five hundred."

Lin Yuan walked toward the low table, taking a seat beside Bai Qingyue. "Five hundred and thirty is merely the beginning, Lord Zhao. The Lower Division lords fight with desperation, but their foundations are narrow. Your Resolute Stage Dao Heart, fueled by your brother’s memory, is sharper than most. Win your matches, and I will handle the Upper Division."

Bai Chen rushed over, practically vibrating with excitement as he refilled Lin Yuan’s cup with fresh spiritual tea.

"Brother-in-law! The entire arena thought you were an Early-Stage cultivator! When you dropped the Great Tortoise Breath and showed the Ninth Step, I thought the Chu Patriarch was going to swallow his own tongue! Did you see his face?! He looked like he had seen a ghost crawl out of his ancestral tombs!"

Bai Qingyue reached out from her wheelchair, her cool fingers gently resting over Lin Yuan’s hand. Her eyes were soft, entirely devoid of the violent bloodlust that consumed the rest of the arena.

"You won," she whispered, a faint smile gracing her lips.

"Indeed, just one step closer to removing that restriction from your body," Lin Yuan replied softly, turning his hand to intertwine his fingers with hers. "Everything I do in this tournament, I do not for myself, but for you, my love."

He gently squeezed her hand before looking at her with concern.

"And yes, how is your body today?"

"It’s warm," she assured him, leaning in slightly. "I feel no chill. But you must be cautious in the coming bouts. Chu Kuang looked like a rabid beast during his match with Ling Chuan. He will do anything to regain his face."

"A rabid beast is easy to put down," Lin Yuan murmured. "One simply needs a heavy enough stone."

Before their conversation could deepen, the colossal bronze gong above the central arena rang out with a deafening chime that rattled the teeth of every cultivator in Sky Jade City.

BOOOOOM!

The four quadrants of the arena cleared, the spatial arrays scrubbing the shattered stone and blood from the floor in an instant.

Chief Adjudicator Xuanji stepped to the edge of the floating central dais, his voice amplified by the array to reach every corner of the vast area.

"Round One has concluded! The standings are recorded! The Dao Court now decrees the commencement of Round Two!"

Elder Xuanji unrolled the golden silk scroll, his sharp eyes scanning the matches.

"Upper Division General Bracket! Match Two! Lin Yuan of the Zhao Province versus Ling Chuan of the Ling Province! Contestants, take your positions!"