"He's Yin Jiu," said Jing calmly. Lin Feng was startled. He had spent so much time in Godly Clouds City, he naturally knew who Yin Jiu was.
"Blue Pale Clouds' First Master!" said Lin Feng coldly. No wonder… Blue Pale Clouds' First Master, Yin Jiu, studied Drowsy Techniques, and controlled Dream Dao power. He could kill people silently without anybody noticing it; his strength was shapeless, invisible, and intangible. He made people fall asleep forever. A moment before, he had used his Drowsy Death Technique on Qing Feng. She was injured and he had attacked her again. Many people didn't even know they were injured when attacked by such ethereal energies. Therefore, Qing Feng had quickly fallen asleep.
"What just happened?" whispered Qing Feng. She was in Lin Feng's arms. Her dream had looked so real. She had almost gone into the abyss of the dream, she would never have been able to come back. However, Lin Feng had called out to her and she had gone back to him. When she heard Lin Feng and Jing's conversation, she realized she hadn't had an ordinary dream. She could have died!
When she thought about that, she looked embarrassed.
"If you face danger in the next round, give up," said Lin Feng calmly, as Jun Mo Xi and the others arrived and landed on the mountain. The battle had been dangerous. They didn't know what the rules of the next round would be. If it consisted of one-on-ones and they had to fight against Chu Chun Qiu, Saint Tianhun, or the First Masters, they wouldn't be able to compete with them.
After all, even being a First Master didn't mean that a cultivator was the strongest of all. It proved that they were at the very, very top of the Huang Qi layer, along with few other people. The continent was so vast, in places like the eighteen main cities of the Dark Night Region, there were already many geniuses, but not many of them could stand at the same level as the First Masters.
"This round is going to finish soon," whispered Jing. Lang Ye, Hou Qing Lin, Jun Mo Xi, and the others calmly stood there and remained silent. They were all dazzling cultivators, but during the Meeting of the Continent of the Nine Clouds, they would face many dangers. Some people considered them prey. It would help them understand what their limits were. They had to progress step by step. Of course, they couldn't give up easily, either! They would fight using their full strength!
Of course, they weren't the only ones who were going to have a hard time. Many people there were considered prey by others. Apart from those who stood at the very top, everybody else was in danger. There were fewer and fewer people on the battlefield; some died, some used the scepter to escape. Gradually, the number of cultivators was decreasing and only two hundred cultivators would be left soon.
——
People in the outside world looked at the battlefield. No matter how long the battles would last, they would watch. They didn't want to miss anything from those battles. This event took place once every hundred years. Cultivators of the highest levels participated in this event. If they missed some parts, they'd have to wait for a hundred years again to watch something similar again!
"The round is about to end. The remaining cultivators are terrifying geniuses," muttered the crowd staring at the battlefield. At that moment, a little bit more than two hundred cultivators were left.
"Yes, indeed. Now, we can almost predict who the top twenty to thirty cultivators will be. It will be difficult for other people to reach the top twenty or thirty."
"Do you think anyone else will manage to end up in the top ten?" asked someone.
"Hua Qing Feng is first. Nobody will manage to kick him out of his position. Even if he falls down in the rankings, he'll still end up in the top three. The deployment spell caster is also terrifying. He could end up in the top three. Apart from them, the other First Masters of the Continent of the Nine Clouds will end up in the top ten. That's ten people already. But Chu Chun Qiu, the fifth one, and the one who controls soul strength could definitely end up in the top ten as well."
"Those people are the strongest ones, indeed. Of course, there are many other strong people in Godly Clouds City. Holy Mountain's Buddhist monk, he's extremely strong. Xian Ren is also extremely strong. We can almost predict what the top thirty will look like. I don't think geniuses from other regions can compete with geniuses from Godly Clouds City."
"Indeed, those geniuses are strong. There are the beautiful phoenix girls as well. They're really strong. And the one who fought against Chu Chun Qiu, Lin Feng. He killed Lei Dong Tian easily, he's strong. Those people can easily end up in the top fifty. If they become a little bit stronger during the event, they might even make it to the top thirty."
———–
Everyone was still gossiping about the different contestants when blinding lights suddenly flashed. In an instant, the fighters on the battlefield felt dizzy, as if the sky was falling onto them, and time had stopped.
"Everybody, stop fighting," said an all-powerful voice. The world slowly became distorted, and disappeared around them. The fighters reappeared on the platform. They were all really close to one another this time.
Many of the people looked furious. Many people were still hunting before reappearing there. Some people were staring at their opponents. They wanted to continue fighting!
However, since the strong cultivator of Fortune Shrine spoke, it meant the round was over. Naturally, they couldn't contradict him, and had to wait.
"The remaining fighters can go back onto their pillars," said the Diviner calmly. In a split second, the fighters' silhouettes flickered and they jumped back onto their pillars. Many pillars were empty now. So many people had been eliminated! People understood that those who hadn't managed to act fast enough to pass the first round weren't talented enough for this event.
The Diviner waved, and the empty pillars disappeared. Two hundred pillars remained, two hundred strong cultivators. The pillars were shining, and lights suddenly enveloped the fighters. The numbers above their heads changed, and the pillars suddenly started moving with heavy rumbles.
The numbers of some of the strongest cultivators didn't change because people above them hadn't been eliminated. Lin Feng's rank changed from 135 to 105. Three hundred people had been eliminated; of the people who initially were above him in the rankings, only thirty people had been eliminated. People who were above him in the rankings were truly strong.
"In the next round, the first hundred cultivators will be determined. It will be a simple round," said the Diviner calmly. "The rules are: the first cultivator fights against the 200th one, the second fights against the 199th and so on. The winners stays, the loser is eliminated. If someone wins, they replace their opponent in the rankings."
People who were at the bottom of the rankings were astonished, their faces stiffened. They knew that it was probably going to be the last round for them. They were going to fight against the strongest cultivators!
The Meeting of the Continent of the Nine Clouds is fair. Those who end up at the top of the rankings in the first round have an advantage, those who end up at the bottom of the rankings don't…, thought the crowd. After this round, a hundred cultivators would remain. Those hundred people would be glorious. And after that, they would still continue fighting!
"Now, let's start from the first one. You must fight within the light curtain; if you want to surrender, touch the light curtain. After it opens, you can leave the battle stage; otherwise, you'll die," explained the Diviner calmly.
In the twinkling of an eye, a light curtain appeared in front of every single pillar. The platform was surrounded by a light curtain. Two hundred handprints appeared on the light curtain, the fighters could activate the light curtain by putting their hands on them.
Godly Clouds' First Master, Hua Qing Feng, put his hand on the light curtain and jumped within its boundaries, landing on the battle stage. The 200th cultivator was a young man in golden clothes. His facial expression looked sharp, his Qi was powerful, but everybody was convinced that that battle wasn't going to be surprising at all.
The cultivators who were at the top were just too terrifying.
Actually, as the crowd had expected, Hua Qing Feng moved slowly, looking confident and at ease. His lips moved. Sword lights appeared, he stuck out his tongue, and a sword appeared out of his mouth. The air began to vibrate from the Sword intent. It surrounded the lower-ranked fighter, and quickly, without him having time to do anything else, he put his hand on the handprint, crossed the light curtain and surrendered.