The Preliminary Round Begins, Wang Hao Deliberately Puts All the Popular Prodigies into the Group of Death

Early the next morning, at the Great Zhou's South City Arena.

Tens of thousands of people gathered, leaving not a single empty seat.

Today was the opening day of the Great Zhou's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, as well as the day for drawing lots and group assignments.

In the center of the arena, a massive bronze array disk slowly rose. Its array patterns glowed with a faint blue light, engraved with complex astrological runes.

The head official of the Ministry of Rites stood before the array disk and announced loudly,

"The Mandate of Heaven Lottery Array, jointly supervised and manufactured by the Directorate of Astronomy and the Ministry of Works!"

"The array patterns sense the Mandate of Heaven to randomly generate the matchups!"

"There is absolutely no human interference!"

"There are absolutely no shady backroom deals!"

"It is absolutely fair!"

When he said these three absolutes, even his own voice trembled a little.

A grassroots rogue cultivator in the audience muttered softly, "Why did he emphasize it three times?"

The person next to him had a strange expression. "Usually, when someone emphasizes something once, it's an explanation. Twice, it's a clarification."

"Emphasizing it three times means they have a guilty conscience."

On the stage, the array disk hummed.

Pillars of light rose from the array disk, transforming into nameplates that flipped, flickered, collided, and reorganized in mid-air.

The next moment.

The first matchup was generated.

The eyes of the entire audience uniformly focused on the light screen.

Then, the entire martial arts arena fell into a bizarre, deathly silence.

Group One: Xiao Chen VS a third-rate disciple of a South Ridge noble family.

Group Two: Gu Han VS a Northern Region rogue cultivator.

Group Three: Bai Zhantang VS a disciple from a small Eastern Wasteland sect.

Group Four: Rong Xiaotian VS a nameless nobody from the Central State.

...

The light screen scrolled down line by line.

Next to the names of the grassroots dark horses were all disciples from major sects.

Next to the disciples from major sects were all popular chosen ones.

And those who were hyped the most, Xiao Chen, Ye Guyun, Gu Han, Bai Zhantang, Wanyan Gu, Lu Chenzhou, the Ten Champions of Great Xia, in the first few rounds, their matchups were excessively easy.

But when the light screen flipped to the third and fourth rounds, everyone's pupils began to shrink bit by bit.

Because the list impressively read:

Third Round: Xiao Chen VS Ye Guyun.

Fourth Round Winner's Bracket: Gu Han VS Wanyan Gu.

Fifth Round: Bai Zhantang VS Lu Chenzhou.

Semifinals Bracket: Three of the Ten Champions of Great Xia gathered together.

Another Semifinals Bracket: The Holy Sons and Holy Maidens of several major sects encountering each other early.

The grassroots dark horse Lin Tiechuan was thrown alone into a death bracket full of tough opponents, having to fight his way from the beginning to the end.

The entire arena was silent.

Then, an uproar.

"This is called random?!"

"This is fucking random?!"

"I think this is called a concentrated slaughter!"

"All the favorites are in one block, and all the underdogs are in another?"

"Is the Directorate of Astronomy's array disk broken?"

"It's not the array disk that's broken, it's His Majesty who is broken!"

A young master from a South Ridge noble family stood up in anger.

"Your Majesty! There must be a trick to this array!"

"I, Gu Chengyu, a direct descendant of the South Ridge Gu family, have to face Lu Chenzhou of the Ten Champions of Great Xia in the first round!"

"How is such a matchup fair?!"

On the high platform, Wang Hao unhurriedly set down his teacup and looked up at him with a very serious expression.

"Young Master Gu."

"Are you questioning the fairness of my Great Zhou's National Destiny Lottery Array?"

Gu Chengyu was taken aback.

Wang Hao continued, his tone gentle.

"This array disk was forged by the Directorate of Astronomy, using the national destiny as the guide and the Mandate of Heaven as the patterns, through three days and three nights of sacrifices."

"Every matchup it draws is ordained by the Mandate of Heaven."

"To question it..."

He chuckled softly.

"...is to question..."

"The national destiny of my Great Zhou."

The entire audience gasped.

Good heavens.

Gu Chengyu's face instantly turned pale.

He had only wanted to protest the unfair lottery.

But Wang Hao's casual words had directly slapped him with the label of questioning the national destiny.

If this label stuck, let alone the tournament, his entire Gu family would be shaken to the core.

A Ministry of Rites official nearby opportunistically added salt to the wound, looking innocent.

"Rest assured, Young Master Gu. The lottery process was supervised the entire time by three senior directors of the Directorate of Astronomy. The array patterns were automatically generated, with absolutely no..."

He paused, his smile extremely polite.

"...human interference."

The same sentence popped into the minds of everyone in the audience:

When you say that, could you first take your hands off the array disk?

Those three so-called senior directors of the Directorate of Astronomy were currently surrounding the array disk, still holding several small slips of paper covered in dense writing. It looked like they had just stuffed something into the array disk.

After being stared at by the entire audience for a few breaths, they silently tucked the slips of paper into their sleeves.

Gu Chengyu opened his mouth.

Finally, he choked out a sentence: "This commoner... would not dare."

Wang Hao nodded in satisfaction.

"It is good that you do not dare."

"If you dared, I would have to let the Western Depot chat with you about the Mandate of Heaven."

Gu Chengyu shivered and quickly sat down.

In the competitor seating area.

Xiao Chen stared at the matchup bracket, his face turning green bit by bit.

In the third round, he had to fight Ye Guyun.

What did the third round mean?

The first two rounds were just clearing out the small fry.

The real bloodbath started in the third round.

And the first person he would encounter was the sharpest sword in the Eastern Wasteland's Sword Dao.

He turned his head to look at Ye Guyun.

Ye Guyun was also turning to look at him.

The two locked eyes across three rows of seats, their gazes complex.

Xiao Chen took a deep breath and squeezed a sentence through his teeth.

"You're telling me this can be called random?"

Ye Guyun fell silent for a breath.

Then he spoke indifferently.

"No."

"But what can you do about it?"

Xiao Chen: "..."

Bai Zhantang was leisurely fanning himself next to them.

"Brothers, don't be angry."

"His Majesty calls this..."

"Concentrated promotion. Putting all the premium goods on the most conspicuous shelves at once."

"The audience enjoys the show, the newspapers sell like hotcakes, and the gambling dens' odds triple."

"You and I are nothing but the..."

He paused and smiled elegantly.

"...star items of the shop on the display shelf."

Xiao Chen gave him a cold look.

"Then why are you facing Lu Chenzhou in the fifth round?"

The smile on Bai Zhantang's face stiffened.

"..."

"Brother, could you not rub salt in the wound?"

Gu Han spoke indifferently from the side, his voice not loud, but hitting the nail on the head.

"He is not running a promotion."

"He is raising Gu."

Xiao Chen was taken aback.

Gu Han slowly raised his eyes and looked toward the high platform.

"Stuffing all the capable fighters together and letting them slaughter each other."

"The winners stay, and the losers are filtered out."

"Those few who are left standing on the arena at the very end..."

"...will not only be the strongest, but also the most useful to him."

"What's even more brilliant is that during this process, he can see everyone's trump cards clearly."

"Whoever has backup plans, whoever has killer moves, whatever secret techniques lie in their sect's inheritance, they will all be forced out."

After hearing this, a chill ran down Xiao Chen's spine.

He looked up at the matchup bracket again.

No matter how he looked at it, it resembled a Chosen One Slaughter Flowchart drawn by Wang Hao's own hands.

On the high platform.

Wang Hao held his tea, watching the continuous uproar and protests below, while turning his head to whisper to Wei Zhongxian beside him.

"Filter through the first round quickly, don't drag out the time."

"Tell the Ministry of Rites to start adding matches in the second round."

"The audience's emotions must be pushed all the way to the third round in one breath."

"Xiao Chen fighting Ye Guyun in the third round..."

He paused, a very shallow arc curling at the corner of his mouth.

"...that match will be a grand spectacle."

"Open the betting pools half a day early. Allow the common folk to place their wagers, and let the government act as the house."

"Have the Ministry of Revenue draft the tax rates. And make sure to remind that old miser Qian Shoucai to deliver every single cent of my dividends straight to the inner treasury."

Wei Zhongxian bowed his head in acknowledgment, his eyes brimming with reverence.

Oh, Your Majesty.

Are you hosting a martial arts tournament, or opening a gambling den?

Shen Xue, Yun Meng, and Ren Mingyue sat on the other side of the spectator stands.

Shen Xue stared at the match bracket, her brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

Yun Meng tilted her head, studying it for a long time.

"Why do I get the feeling—"

"That this bracket is exactly the same brand of wicked as the Wang Hao I know?"

Ren Mingyue spoke plainly.

"It is not a feeling."

"He is the one who drafted it."

Yun Meng: "..."

"How do you know?"

Ren Mingyue pulled a small slip of paper from her sleeve and placed it gently on the table.

Written on it were several match-ups.

They were exactly the same as the ones that had just refreshed on the light screen.

Yun Meng's mouth formed an O shape.

"Where... where did this come from?"

Ren Mingyue folded her sleeves, her expression calm.

"Last night, His Majesty had me calculate something for him—"

"The expected number of spectators for each match-up, the fluctuation range of the betting odds, and the impact on the reshuffling of the Prodigy Roll rankings."

"This is the final version after all the calculations were done."

Shen Xue turned her head to look at her, her gaze deepening.

Noticing her gaze, Ren Mingyue gave a soft smile.

"Miss Shen, there is no need to look at me like that."

"I didn't calculate this for him because I stand on his side."

"It is simply because—"

She paused, her eyes indifferent.

"Someone has to do the accounting."

"If he is willing to show me his trump cards, I am more than happy to know a little more."

Shen Xue remained silent.

Yun Meng, however, suddenly let out a cold sneer.

"Ren Mingyue, this is what they call deceiving yourself."

"Once you start doing the accounting for him, next time he will have you manage his finances."

"And the time after that, he will have you manage his people."

Ren Mingyue did not retort.

She merely tucked the small slip of paper back into her sleeve.

The movement was incredibly slow and natural.

So natural that it seemed as if this was not the first time she had put away such things for Wang Hao.

The drawing of lots ended.

The first round of the competition unfolded at a brutally fast pace.

Within a mere half-day, fifty matches were concluded.

The favored prodigies advanced almost completely, without any surprises.

A batch of grassroots rogue cultivators was eliminated, while another batch emerged.

But the truly interesting part was—

By the end of the first day, the special edition of the Great Zhou Times, the Daily Martial Arts Express, had sold out in the streets and alleys of the capital.

In the taverns, teahouses, and gambling dens, everyone was discussing it—

"Xiao Chen is fighting Ye Guyun in the third round!"

"I will have lived my life in vain if I do not watch this match!"

"Did you see the odds opened by the Ministry of Revenue? Xiao Chen pays one to one point eight, and Ye Guyun pays one to one point six!"

"The official government is the house, brother! It is perfectly reliable!"

"His Majesty really understands the youth!"

The entire capital was exploding with excitement.

At dusk, the first day of the competition came to a close.

Everyone left the arena, leaving only a single figure still standing on the martial stage, refusing to come down for a long time.

He wore a coarse hemp outfit and was barefoot.

His clothes were tattered, stained with blood and dirt.

Yet, his eyes were frighteningly bright.

Below the stage lay an official member of the Prodigy Roll—

Ranked thirty-ninth, a core disciple of the major Central State sect, the Profound Song Sect.

This person was originally considered a popular dark horse for this tournament.

However, just moments ago, less than three moves into his time on stage, he was sent flying out of the arena by a single punch from the boy in coarse hemp standing before him.

That punch had not even involved a weapon.

Just—

A punch.

The entire venue fell silent for several breaths before erupting into a tsunami of uproar.

"Who is he?!"

"Holy crap, that punch was too fierce!"

"Is this guy Lin Tiechuan?!"

"The reserve member of the Grassroots Roll, Lin Tiechuan?!"

"Isn't he ranked ninety-third?!"

"He actually—"

Countless voices intertwined.

High up on the platform, Wang Hao leisurely set down his teacup, the corners of his lips curling up slightly.

He turned to Wei Zhongxian, his tone calm.

"It is time."

Wei Zhongxian bowed. "Did Your Majesty anticipate this?"

Wang Hao smiled.

"Anticipate what?"

"I merely—"

He cast a meaningful glance at the solitary boy standing on the arena stage.

"—left a mark on him during the auditions."

Wei Zhongxian was taken aback, then suddenly understood.

He remembered now.

On the day of the auditions, in the pressure-resistance testing grounds, that fierce man from the borderlands who had cracked the formation pillar and taken three steps forward while bearing the heavy pressure—

Was none other than Lin Tiechuan.

And on that day, after reviewing the summary, Wang Hao had personally written a line:

"Observe closely. May enter the Prodigy Gang Reserve Camp; prioritize the supply of body-tempering resources."

Not enter the official camp.

But enter the reserve camp.

At that time, Wei Zhongxian had not understood why put such a good seedling in the reserve camp to be left out in the cold?

Now he understood.

From the very beginning, His Majesty had never intended to prop this person up too early.

He wanted to wait—

Wait for the moment this kid astounded the world with a single brilliant feat.

To let him go from a reserve member nobody cared about, to punching his way through the Prodigy Roll.

Because only this way—

Would it be dramatic enough.

Would it be enough to make all the humble commoners in the world remember this punch.

Looking at the man holding the teacup on the high platform, only one thought remained in Wei Zhongxian's mind.

His Majesty's mind is full of schemes.

Not a single one of them is straightforward.

The night deepened.

The barefoot boy in coarse hemp on the arena stage finally walked down slowly.

What he did not know was—

On this very night, more than one faction had already begun inquiring about his residence overnight.

What he knew even less was—

High up on the platform, the seemingly leisurely Emperor had already prepared a complete future for him.

Just how heavy this future was, he currently had no concept of.

He only knew—

Today, he, a wild child born in the borderlands and trampled underfoot by his clan patriarch since childhood, stood in the center of the arena before countless prodigies.

With one punch, he sent a core disciple of a prestigious major sect flying.

He looked up at the sky.

The moonlight was cold, tinged with a faint bloody red.

He gritted his teeth and told himself in his heart—

"This is only the first punch."

What he did not know was—

The Emperor on the high platform was currently watching his back, leisurely adding a sentence in his own heart.

"Kid."

"I have already arranged your second punch for you."