When the Gu clan had earlier gone to great lengths investigating the participant lists, all they’d managed to obtain were fake ones — a testament to just how careful the two Elders of Qinse had been with this drawing!

To tamper with the bamboo lots would have required someone extremely close to the two Elders themselves — someone in their innermost circle.

Ziqing was still turning this over in her mind when the second lot was already opened.

Elder Qin was the first to see it, and seemed genuinely startled, not announcing it right away. This only heightened the anticipation of the thousand-odd spectators gathered there.

Bai Feiyao was the first to break, shouting impatiently, “Elder Qin, hurry up and tell us!”

Once Bai Feiyao led the charge, calls for the result erupted from all sides. A cold smile curled at the corner of the Yu clan head’s lips as he slowly turned to look toward the Gu clan. At the very same moment, Elder Qin rose, holding the lot up high for everyone to see, and announced loudly, “This one is also Jiǎ! The Yu clan and the Gu clan have both drawn Jiǎ — they are paired together as Group Jiǎ!”

At these words, the crowd erupted in an uproar!

The Gu clan would face the Yu clan!

Which meant, naturally, the other pairing had to be the Bai clan and the Hai clan!

With the results of the drawing settled, and given everyone’s estimates of each side’s combat strength, this match had no suspense left in it at all!

This contest wasn’t a battle between the young masters alone, but between the younger generations of each entire clan — beginning with a mass free-for-all, followed by paired duels, and finally one-on-one combat!

The Gu clan’s three hall masters were nowhere to be seen; instead, several young disciples had come forward — all of them outside recruits rather than blood descendants of the Gu clan itself, their talent thoroughly mediocre, unremarkable in every way, several of them names no one in the crowd had ever even heard before.

The Yu clan’s side, by contrast, had sent nothing but the clan’s own direct and collateral descendants — not a single outsider among them!

These were people with natural, innate talent for falconry, further honed by the Yu clan’s dedicated cultivation. Their strength was clearly nothing to scoff at!

In terms of the mass free-for-all, the Gu clan had no one who could match the Yu clan!

And in paired combat, the Gu clan likewise had no one capable of standing against them!

Best two out of three — by this reckoning, Jun Beiyue might not even get the chance to step onto the field at all!

Though the numbers for the remaining two clans could already be inferred, Elder Qin still went ahead and opened the last two lots. But by now, no one cared about the Bai clan or the Hai clan anymore — the Hai clan was merely a rising newcomer, a dark horse with far too thin a foundation to have any real chance against the Bai clan. There was no mystery there at all.

With Groups Jiǎ and Yǐ no longer in question, the entire crowd’s attention turned squarely to the Gu clan and the Yu clan.

To put it more precisely, the real spectacle lay entirely with the Gu clan.

Today, the clan that had dominated Liuxian Mountain for nearly a century was surely doomed to fall.

They say even a centipede, once dead, doesn’t immediately go stiff — but the Gu clan’s decline had reached the point where there truly seemed to be no hope left at all.

In this first half of the tournament, the Yu clan would win, and the Bai clan would win too, and the true contest for foremost clan of Liuxian Island would come down to a battle between the Yu clan and the Bai clan. Once those two clans faced off against each other, there would be little left worth watching — the Bai clan was sure to emerge on top.

Elder Qin was in the middle of announcing the Bai-versus-Hai pairing, but no one was paying attention. The whole arena buzzed with endless chatter and discussion.

The ranking tournament had already lost all its appeal. Everyone was simply waiting to watch the Gu clan concede defeat, watch them leave in disgrace, watch them pack up and move out, watch them fall into ruin.

That was simply human nature — everyone loved to add flowers to already-blooming brocade, but no one wanted to send charcoal in the middle of winter.

No one spared a thought for how much the Gu clan had once contributed to Liuxian Island in its glory days. Everyone was simply waiting to watch them crumble, waiting to offer congratulations to the new master.

Amid the noise, Jun Beiyue had, at some point, quietly closed his eyes, his long fingers idly tapping a light rhythm against the armrest, as though waiting for something.

Ziqing, meanwhile, swept her cold, expressionless gaze across the sea of ugly faces around her — she’d long since grown used to the fickleness of human nature, the way the world turned cold or warm depending on convenience.

Her gaze finally settled on the Yu clan head, watching him coldly, as though determined to see straight through him, determined to uncover whoever stood behind him.

Suddenly — “Clang!” — the gong sounded, signaling the start of the match!

Jun Beiyue opened his eyes, and at the same moment Ziqing withdrew her gaze. Both of them turned to look at the arena at once!

The great central platform had been split cleanly in two, divided only by a single thin red line down the middle.

Group Jiǎ: the Gu clan versus the Yu clan. Group Yǐ: the Bai clan versus the Hai clan.

Both groups would compete simultaneously, proceeding in order through the mass free-for-all, paired combat, and finally the one-on-one duel, with participants strictly limited to those on the previously submitted rosters.

The first round: the mass free-for-all!

All four clans, split into two groups, had every competitor now in position. Only then did the entire arena finally fall silent.

Though both matches were unfolding on the same platform, hardly anyone was paying attention to the Bai and Hai side — even the Bai clan head and Bai Feiyao had their eyes fixed entirely on the other half, on the Gu clan and the Yu clan.

“Father, looks like this year’s ranking tournament is going to be the fastest one in history. We might not even need to wait until evening before we’re moving into Liuxian Mountain ourselves!” Bai Feiyao said with a cold smile, unable to hide his smug delight.

The Bai clan head glanced at the several dark-skinned disciples of the Hai clan, entirely dismissive, and calmly lifted his teacup for a sip, his attention still fixed on the Gu and Yu clans.

On the other side, the Hai clan head couldn’t help but murmur softly to Jiao Cha — the man he revered as his esteemed benefactor, practically a living god — sitting behind him. “Esteemed one, do you have confidence in this? The Bai clan won’t be easy to deal with. I never expected we’d draw them!”

Jiao Cha’s skin had already recovered a good deal by now, and he was in fine spirits. He winked toward Mu Fusang, standing behind the Bai clan’s ranks, and said cheerfully, “Just wait and see.”

The Hai clan head froze, glancing back at him instinctively. This esteemed guest had always maintained such a stern, unreadable expression — had that cheerful remark truly just come from him? “Esteemed one, what… what did you just say?”

Jiao Cha cleared his throat a few times, quickly resuming his solemn demeanor. “Never mind. Just watch the match.”

The Hai clan head, feeling rather sheepish, turned back around to watch the two teams squaring off on the platform — his gaze drifting, without his quite realizing it, toward the Gu and Yu clans as well.

On that side, the five disciples the Gu clan had sent forward held no advantage whatsoever, save that they were somewhat older than their Yu clan counterparts.

Being older only meant they’d had more time to train — nothing more.

The Yu clan’s five disciples, though younger, were dressed no less impressively than Yu Xiao himself — all five of them illegitimate sons of the Yu clan!

Even an illegitimate son of a great clan was still worth far more than an outside recruit!

The Yu clan head kept jabbing his fingers together impatiently. What could possibly bring more glory, more honor, than defeating the foremost clan outright?

“Clang!”

The second gong sounded. Elder Se, who had remained silent this whole time, rose to his feet, casting a somewhat concerned glance toward Ziqing and Jun Beiyue, before finally, resignedly, calling out loudly, “The first match of the decisive round — begin!”

The moment those words fell, a sharp cry tore through the air, and five ferocious white-headed eagles materialized out of thin air, diving straight down toward the Gu clan’s five disciples!

That single cry alone was enough to plunge the entire vast arena into stunned silence — even the two Elders of Qinse sat up straight, turning toward the Yu clan head in astonishment.

The Yu clan was renowned for its mastery of falconry, and its eagle formation was especially famous!

That sound, that formation — it was unmistakably the eagle assault!

Goodness — the Yu clan had barely even begun, and already they were unleashing this?

The Gu clan… was truly finished!

…