Because the preliminaries had pre-assigned groups, there was no need to waste time and effort on drawing lots, which nicely saved time.
However, when the various competitors successively found their names and first opponents and confirmed it wasn’t Chu Wange, they all breathed sighs of relief.
They could encounter anyone except him—otherwise they’d definitely be knocked out in one move without even a chance to make it to the second round.
“Li Shangtian?”
“That name’s quite amusing.”
“An Eternal Sect disciple? Pretty unlucky to encounter Chu One-Move in the first round.”
Everyone looked with schadenfreude at the clustered Eternal Sect disciples, hoping to pick out the one called Li Shangtian to see what expression was on his face right now.
“Senior Brother.”
Li Shangtian said, “This opponent of mine seems very strong!”
“No problem,” Li Qingyang said.
“…”
Li Shangtian looked speechless.
For core disciples like them, these preliminaries weren’t a big deal, but he was a rookie participating in such a grand event for the first time.
“Competitors from each group, take your positions!”
At this moment, Li Renfu shouted loudly.
“Let’s go.”
Li Qingyang and the others shook their heads, rolled their shoulders, gave each other encouraging looks, and separately walked toward their assigned group areas.
Many competitors were paying attention. When they saw Li Shangtian heading east, they confirmed in their hearts—this was the unlucky fellow encountering Chu One-Move in the first match.
As Crossing Heaven Realm’s top genius, Chu Wange was definitely the preliminaries’ most favored contestant. Anyone encountering him would inevitably be eliminated.
“Sigh.”
Gu Tianxing shook his head. “Brat, your sweep plan won’t work.”
“Is that so?”
A smile appeared on Jun Changxiao’s face.
He didn’t refute because to gain others’ belief, he had to prove it with strength.
…
The venue had many small arenas with various groups of competitors gathered nearby. They were all busy warming up, their blood even beginning to boil.
Make a name for themselves.
It would start from the preliminaries.
In contrast, Li Qingyang, Xiao Zuiji, and the others were relatively calm.
After joining the Eternal Sect, they had experienced all kinds of matches and long ago achieved mental tranquility—unless encountering powerful opponents.
“Boring to the extreme,” Ye Xingchen said coldly.
If not for needing to go through procedures to enter the main competition, he wouldn’t participate in the preliminaries because the contestants were truly too trashy.
“First pair from each group! Take the stage!”
“Swoosh!”
“Swoosh!”
On dozens of battle platforms, various geniuses successively mounted the stages. Because the Eternal Sect had registered too many disciples, some inevitably had to go first.
Who?
He Wudi.
Standing on the arena, he inwardly collapsed. “I clearly wanted to keep a low profile—why am I going first!”
He Wudi secretly glanced at Jun Changxiao in the spectator stands. Seeing the other smiling at him, he reluctantly said, “I can only follow the Sect Master’s orders.”
“Universe Holy War preliminaries first round begins now!” Li Renfu announced.
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
In an instant, auras erupted on dozens of battle platforms. Competitors first politely cupped their fists, then began intense combat.
It must be said, martial artists daring to register were all quite strong, their cultivation all at the Truth-Seeking Realm level, with some even at upper or peak levels.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Platform Twelve had the most spectacular fight, with both contestants erupting their strongest cultivation, displaying various martial techniques in a splendid show.
Of course.
Most of the audience’s attention was focused on Platform Nine, focused on He Wudi.
Daring to have so many disciples compete—did this Eternal Sect have real skill or were they just padding numbers?
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
The match began. The competitor named Dou Haitao immediately unleashed fierce palm techniques, forcing He Wudi to continuously retreat, even looking quite狼狈.
“…”
Everyone’s mouths twitched.
Dou Haitao could only be considered average among all competitors, yet from the opening he was being suppressed. The Eternal Sect really came to make fools of themselves.
“Young man.”
Gu Tianxing said heavily, “Is this the level of your disciple?”
“Uncle.”
Jun Changxiao said, “Keep watching.”
“Watch what!”
Gu Tianxing roared, “Suppressed from the opening—can he still make a comeback?”
“Boom!”
Suddenly, a booming sound came from the arena. Dou Haitao staggered back several steps.
“This…”
Gu Tianxing was immediately dumbfounded.
He had watched the entire match and clearly captured that in his panic, He Wudi threw out a punch that accidentally broke through the opponent’s technique and even struck his chest.
“See.”
Jun Changxiao said, “Isn’t it getting better!”
“…”
Gu Tianxing shook his head. “Lucky once—can he be lucky every time?”
He was right.
Afterward, He Wudi continued being suppressed by his opponent, but always broke through techniques in incredible ways at critical moments.
“…”
Gu Tianxing’s expression became wonderful.
Being lucky once was understandable, but being lucky multiple times was bizarre!
Or was the opponent deliberately hiding his strength?
“Impossible.” Gu Tianxing immediately rejected this. “This fellow should truly be lucky.”
As a top powerhouse from the upper universe, he was quite accurate at reading people and absolutely wouldn’t believe He Wudi was deliberately performing. In fact, he was performing, but because he acted too realistically, there were no flaws to detect.
“Boom—”
After fighting a while longer, He Wudi pretended to struggle greatly as he knocked Dou Haitao off the arena, then sat down with a thud and wiped sweat from his forehead—telling the audience that although he won, it was very lucky.
Sure enough.
Everyone believed it, thinking he was too fortunate!
Dou Haitao, knocked off the platform, turned red with anger. From start to finish, he had clearly held the advantage, yet still lost in the end—this was truly too unjust.
“Platform Nine victor, He Wudi!”
“Second pair of competitors from each group, take the stage!”
From the referee’s shout, it wasn’t difficult to tell that other groups had long determined their outcomes, while He Wudi, because he was too invested in performing, had invisibly delayed quite a bit of time.
…
The second pair of competitors from each group successively took the stages.
This round, Ye Xingchen fought.
The proud and arrogant Ye Di waited for the referee to announce the start, instantly closed in and blasted his opponent away with one punch.
How to describe the speed?
Just as the referee’s voice shouted “begin” and the trailing tone hadn’t yet faded, the match was already over. The total time used didn’t exceed one second.
Jun Changxiao shook his head. “Xingchen and Wudi are simply two extremes.”
One attacks, one defends.
Ye Xingchen and Xiao Zuiji.
One bold, one cautious.
Ye Xingchen and He Wudi.
Including that time when drunk he went to Ah Zi’s bed—he could be called the iron Ye Di with disposable fellow disciples, the Eternal Sect disciples’ strongest compatible CP king.
“Step.”
After winning, Ye Xingchen walked down from the arena.
Because his performance was too domineering, other competitors made way one after another, their gazes revealing wariness.
“It’s over.”
Someone howled inwardly, “My next opponent is him!”
…
The matches continued.
Eternal Sect disciples successively fought, also letting the audience successively realize that only He Wudi was weak—the other competitors were all very domineering, defeating opponents with instant kills, like the white-robed Lu Qianqian, like the iron wall Xiao Zuiji.
“No suspense!”
“Simply a group of monsters!”
“We can only watch Chu Wange now!”
As everyone discussed, Li Renfu announced, “Final pair of competitors from each group, take the stage!”
“The main event is here!”
Everyone simultaneously locked onto Arena Eight and looked at Chu Wange, who represented Crossing Heaven Realm’s hope—truly the center of attention.
Jun Changxiao interlaced his fingers, lips curving into a smile. “Once Shangtian defeats this person, we can announce the preliminaries are over.”
—