"What do you think, brothers?" asked Emperor Qi to the other emperors. He was convinced that all the emperors would be satisfied and would find the rules fair. Even though he had some hidden intentions, he couldn't take any risks sounding fishy.
"I agree, the rules are fair." said Emperor Si Kong.
"I have no objections!"
"I agree!" said all the emperors nodding. Even Emperor Yu nodded. Even though those rules weren't advantageous for Tiantai, whether he agreed or not wouldn't change much.
Even though Emperor Qi had said that disciples from influential imperial groups could only be challenged. There could be disguised people from such groups, already hiding in the huge crowd.
Emperor Yu was convinced that if he could figure that out, then other people could as well.
"The rules have been determined!" thought the crowd. They were excited.
"Since everybody agreed, I'd like Emperor Niu Mo to give me a hand in preparing the battle stages." said Emperor Qi.
"Alright!" said Emperor Niu Mo nodding. He jumped towards the central part of the valley. Then, he shouted, "Everybody, let's start!"
Immediately after, a myriad of silhouettes started flickering about.
"Roar!" Emperor Niu Mo turned into a gigantic ox which fell from the sky. Cracks appeared in the valley, separating the different battle stages.
"Rise!" shouted Emperor Niu Mo. Rumbling sounds appeared as gigantic battle stages rose.
"Gravity Territory!" shouted Emperor Niu Mo, extremely loudly. Then, the battle stages seemed even more solid and stable than the mountains around them.
"Alright!" said Emperor Niu Mo nodding at Emperor Qi. He jumped back to his mountain, almost reducing it to pieces as he landed.
"Thank you!" said Emperor Qi to Emperor Niu Mo, nodding. He looked at the crowd and said, "Thirty battle stages and the three battle stages in the north are for cultivators at the top of the Zun Qi layer. The five battle stages in the south are for those who don't belong to an influential imperial group. The twenty-two battle stages in the middle are for the influential imperial groups."
Everybody nodded.
"Alright, and then, each influential imperial group can choose a disciple to represent them. I will send thirty people to guard the thirty battle stages and monitor them, making sure that nobody violates the rules." said Emperor Qi. Thirty strong cultivators moved to different battle stages, remaining above them in the air. They were going to count the fighters' victories and so on as to avoid chaotic situations.
After that, Emperor Qi wouldn't need to do anything else, everything was well organized after all. There were hundreds of thousands of people, so it might take a while to play out.
"Boom!" At the top of the Qi Tian Peak, a silhouette jumped on the battle stage of the Qi Clan. It was the first challenger of the Qi Clan. He was wearing a robe and possessed extraordinary Qi. He had broken through to the sixth Zun Qi layer, one more step and he'd reach the top of the Zun Qi layer. It was going to be difficult for anyone to defeat him.
"Who wants to fight!" shouted an extremely loud voice. A great oriental greenfinch roc rose up in the air, acting as the first challenger on their side.
"Celestial Palace of the Immortals, Jun Mo Xi!" the crowd looked at the battle stage of the Celestial Palace of the Immortals.
The Qi Clan was the organizer of the event that year so they couldn't afford to lose. On the side of the Bestial Imperial Palace, they chose Mo Peng. They had failed too much recently, so Mo Peng had to win.
"I'm not going to those three battle stages." thought some people. Many who didn't belong to an influential imperial group wanted to seize an opportunity and gain one-hundred victories. But the challengers on those three battle stages were too strong..
Not all the stages had strong cultivators. For example, the first challenger on the side of Tiantai was a cultivator of the fourth Zun Qi layer, of whom few had seen before. He was smiling thinly, he looked ordinary, and his clothes were extremely clean. He was probably a cultivator who had joined Tiantai during the second part of the recruitment process.
Immediately, someone jumped on Tiantai's battle stage, wanting to fight. It was a cultivator of the fifth Zun Qi layer who thought he'd win immediately. However, he lost. He couldn't stand a single punch even.
"Who's that person?" thought the crowd. The number "1" appeared on his battle stage, representing his number of victories.
"Emperor Yu and Emperor Shi's direct disciple, Mo Qing Tian. Who else did you think?" said someone.
At the same time, on the other thirty battle stages, many people had already started fighting.
Many emperors had their eyes closed, sitting cross-legged in the air as if they didn't care about the results. It had just started, so it was still too early to see anything interesting.
Somewhere amongst the crowd, Mu Feng was smiling coldly. He was very, very happy about the rules.
"Boom boom!"
On Tian Long Divine Castle's battle stage, there was a cultivator of the fourth Zun Qi layer who looked particularly ferocious. At the meeting of the emperors, cultivators couldn't use holy weapons, otherwise, influential imperial groups would have an overwhelming advantage.
There was another rule, that no one older than two hundred years old could participate. They had to be young, not because of strength, but because if they were older than two hundred years, they could have participated at the previous meeting of the emperors.
The cultivator on Tian Long Divine Castle's battle stage was using a special spell to create a dragon-like armor.
"Wang Feng has broken through to the fourth Zun Qi layer, but he can easily defeat people of the fifth Zun Qi layer, even regular cultivators of the sixth Zun Qi layer are not his match. If people who don't belong to an influential imperial group want to fight him, they at least need the strength at the top of the sixth Zun Qi layer. Even if he doesn't win a hundred battles, he'll probably win a few dozen."
"Yes, at least thirty battles. Only then will the stronger cultivators show up." said the strong cultivators from Tian Long Divine Castle, smiling happily. However, a cultivator at the top of the second Zun Qi layer jumped on their stage.
"It's a demon cultivator, he must want to die!"
"Our fellow disciple, win the first battle easily!"
They thought, laughing happily. Rumbling sounds quickly appeared, and suddenly, their smiles were wiped away.
Wang Feng, whom they had just been talking about in a positive way, was directly punched in the chest. Then, his head and organs exploded, immediately killing him!