"Wooooooo!!!!"
At the instant Shi Xingtai was finished annoucing the official start of the final part of the tournament, the dueling portion, all of the participants could not help but scream and jump in joy as the tournament was finally coming to a close. Not only that, this part of the tournament was what they were all cultivating for! Even Shi Li and the other 9 chosen clan members could not help but shiver with excitement as they wanted to let loose.
Seeing that the participants were getting rowdy yet knew their limits, Shi Xingtai could not help but let out a smile as he continued to hover over the barrier surrounding the dueling platform. Lightly coughing to gain the participants' attention, Shi Xingtai then said, "I almost forgot about the preferential treatment that those who did well in the third test would get."
Grinning from both sides, Shi Xingtai continued, "Well, I would say that it is a definitely generous reward! Since we know that the Tri-clan Tournament is going to be held in the next two months, we definitely didn't become stingy in terms of preferential treatment and rewards!"
"Those who achieved a skill mastery level of Half-Elite (halfway to Elite) and higher would get a chance to grab a single technique of the Middle Mortal grade from the clan library! It doesn't matter whether it's an auxiliary technique, a martial technique, or whatever, as long as it doesn't exceed the Middle Mortal grade and you only grab one, then feel free to grab whatever technique you want!"
At this moment, multiple participants could not help but look at their birthplace in awe. It was only at these times did the Shi clan become generous in making them stronger. If only they knew the danger that the Tri-clan Tournament held.
As for Shi Li, when he heard this announcement, he couldn't help but smile. What was a single technique to him if he could enter the top ranking and gain access to all of the techniques within the clan library!
...
After the excitement of the participants died down, Shi Xingtai then released 153 strands of qi, wherein almost all of them were grouped up into twos, while the remaining one was slightly radiating a faint color of gold. "When I tap on a certain group of qi strands, those that get picked by the qi strands should head to the dueling platform and fight until one concedes or is unable to fight any further!"
"As for this strand of qi..." Shi Xingtai pointed towards the lone strand of qi that radiated a faint gold and said, "Whoever gets chosen by this strand of qi wouldn't have to fight for the first 2 elimination rounds, only needing to fight from the third elimation round onwards!"
Peng.
As the sound of a finger dipping into water was heard, the golden strand of qi darted towards one out of the 153 participants in an instant, making everyone look at the direction where the qi headed towards.
"Eh?"
"That's..."
"Definitely heaven's luck."
After recognizing the person who was chosen by the golden strand of qi, the participants could not help but nod their heads as they let out a sigh of relief, knowing that one of the stronger participants would not appear until the third elimination round.
Shi Xingtai looked at the person who was chosen by the golden strand of qi and became slightly shocked before composing himself. After clearing his throat, he then asked, "Is that okay with you, Shi Li? If you don't want to, I can just choose another person who would appear in the third elimination round."
Indeed, as if the heavens were telling Shi Xingtai that Shi Li should only appear on the third elimination round, Shi Li was chosen by the golden strand of qi.
"It's fine by me, Elder!" Shi Li lightly smiled before replying to Shi Xingtai's question. "I don't really regret not fighting my way through the first two elimination rounds."
Hearing Shi Li's answer, Shi Xingtai rubbed his chin for a bit before nodding. "So be it then! Shi Li shall not appear until the third elimination round."
"So, let's begin the duel with..."
"Shi Huanshang and Shi Zhilun!"
...
With each and every duel, one participant would win and one participant would lose obviously. Those who lost their duel went towards the arena seats, watching the next duels from a spectator's point of view as their will to fight was always ignited after watching.
Some of these duels lasted only for an instant as one participant would be exceptionally stronger than the other, while some of these duels would last around ten minutes or so since both participants are equal in strength and it was a battle of attrition.
Nonetheless, with the number of these deals being well-balanced, it only took around an hour or so for the first elimination round to reduce the amount of participants to 77, and about 45 minutes for the second elimination round to reduce the amount of participants to 39.
Unsurprisingly, the 9 chosen clan members, other than Shi Li who didn't have to fight his way through the two elimination rounds, were able to fight their way into the third elimination round smoothly, with some performing better than others.
Some examples of the chosen clan members doing better than others were Shi Shisi and Shi Daoliang who had intrepid strength that allowed them to win their duels in one attack.
There were also examples like Shi Huaqiang who surprisingly fought against the weakest out of the participants for the two whole elimination rounds, thus zooming her way through the two elimination rounds without breaking a sweat.
...
With the amount of participants being reduced to 39 and the amount of spectators being increased by over 100, a myriad of cheers could be heard throughout the arena as they cheered on for the participants that were aiming to get to the top ranking.
"Alright." Shi Xingtai looked at the 39 remaining participants with a smile and said, "So far, by passing through the third elimination round, you have showed that you are the elites of our younger generation, showing the limitless potential of our clan!"
"Anyways, I wish all of you luck and hope you get to where you want to be."
Shi Xingtai then said, "Since it's now the third elimination round, Shi Li would be the first one to duel since he has not fought in these past two elimination rounds. Does anyone object to this?"
The 38 remaining participants shook their heads. Even Shi Li shook his head as he was eager to fight with one of his peers for once.
"Okay then." Shi Xingtai let out a smile. "Since the Shi Li will be the first one to duel for this round, if the one that fights against him loses in the duel, they would have their place replaced in this elimination round. If the one that fights against him wins the duel, they would retain their place in this elimination round, allowing them to continue onward."
He then tapped on one of the 38 qi strands hovering in front of his field of vision and then said not long after, "Alright. The person who would fight against Shi Li has been decided."
"The first fight will be between..."
"Shi Li and Shi Dengtie!"