The Battle of Xu Ningbing

Jiang Zhenqi hovered in the center of the arena. Using his Qi to project his voice, he ensured that every single person present could hear him loud and clear.

The interior of the formation, which had been buzzing with noise moments before, suddenly fell dead silent.

"Welcome, everyone. The once-in-a-half-decade Martial Arts Championship is upon us once again. I believe everyone here knows the prestige of this grand event. For instance, most of the sect masters and elders present today have previously secured a ranking in this very tournament."

"The Martial Arts Championship holds immense significance for us cultivators—or rather, for all descendants of Yan and Huang. Only through continuous clashes can we discover our own weaknesses and continue to grow stronger."

At Jiang Zhenqi's words, the surrounding crowd began to murmur in discussion once more.

He was absolutely right. Almost all the big shots had made a name for themselves in their youth.

Late bloomers like Wei Jingzhi were, after all, an extreme minority.

For example, Jiang Zhenqi, the Sect Master of Kunlun Mountain, had won first place in the Martial Arts Championship many years ago.

Jiang Zhenqi raised his hand and gently pressed it downward, signaling for the crowd to quiet down. "Next, I have something even more important to announce. The rules of the Martial Arts Championship are changing. This is a unanimous decision made in conjunction with the other sects."

Hearing this, everyone pricked up their ears to listen—except for the major sects who were already in the know. The ordinary sects and hidden families were all paying close attention.

Most of them had no idea that the rules of the Championship had actually been changed.

Keeping it brief, Jiang Zhenqi gave a general overview of the new rules.

As for the rewards, in addition to the rare treasures provided by the five major sects in previous years...

...three unexplored ruins had been added to the prize pool this time.

The top three would receive the locations of all three ruins, the top six would only get two, and the top ten would receive one.

It was exactly as Xu Mu had heard before, and the crowd's reaction was just as he had expected.

They were cheering and jumping for joy.

This new rule genuinely solved a major pain point for the majority of the people present: the inability to fully showcase their skills.

For instance, members of the hidden families would easily get crushed when facing sect disciples.

Many had prepared extensively, only to be instantly defeated before they could even show what they were capable of.

In the end, they could only leave with regrets.

Now, however, things were different. In the preliminaries, competitors would only fight against those within the same major cultivation realm, giving everyone a chance to shine.

Consequently, their chances of being scouted by a sect were much higher.

As for whether the right to refuse a match favored the major sects, the vast majority of the crowd didn't care.

Even under the old rules, people like them had no chance of getting their hands on the rare treasures anyway.

"It seems everyone is quite satisfied with this new rule," Jiang Huihui said with a smile, looking back at the spectator stands behind her.

"Of course. They never cared about the rewards anyway. Whether it's the old rules or the new ones, the prizes have nothing to do with them. Not to mention, these prizes were originally provided by the five major sects in the first place," Xu Mu replied with a smile.

...

"Alright, I won't waste any more words," Jiang Zhenqi announced from above. "When you all registered, you were asked to fill in your major cultivation realm. Let me make one final point: those who wish to be opportunistic won't be able to fool our eyes. If you falsely reported your realm, you will regret it."

With his speech concluded, he flew up toward the white clouds high above.

Right at that moment, an illusory screen appeared above the competition arena.

Above, there were only two large characters: Gangqi.

Obviously, the minimum cultivation realm for this competition was Gangqi.

Then, in the direction of the white clouds, a cluster of silk pouches appeared, drifting freely in the sky.

Jiang Sheng flew toward the drifting pouches and casually grabbed two of them.

He opened the pouches and took out two slips of paper.

Guo Hai! Zhao Yuchen!

After calling out the two names, he flew back up to the white clouds.

The two who were called stood up and headed to the center of the arena.

Gong!

The sound of a gong echoed, signaling the start of the match.

The two combatants exchanged a simple bow and immediately engaged each other.

One wielding a longsword and the other a short blade, they clashed at top speed.

A fierce battle ensued, with every move aimed to kill.

The risk of death in the Martial Pinnacle Tournament was quite low, as the fights took place almost entirely within a formation.

There were teleportation formations on the arena grounds. If someone was on the verge of death, the elders guarding the perimeter would teleport them out.

However, there were always exceptions. Sometimes, if the elders failed to act in time, deaths could still occur, though it was uncommon.

Clang!

Their weapons clashed again, continuously unleashing bursts of Gangqi.

In the end, the man with the short blade sent the longsword wielder flying, securing the victory.

Words appeared high above the formation: Zhao Yuchen wins.

This battle did not cause much of a stir because Zhao Yuchen's cultivation was stronger; he had already reached the mid-stage of the Gangqi realm.

As for Guo Hai, he was only at the early stage of the Gangqi realm.

Xu Mu looked up at the white clouds. The seniors up there were all drinking tea and chatting, paying absolutely no attention to the match.

Clearly, this was not what they wanted to see.

What they wanted to see was an early-stage Gangqi cultivator defeating a mid-stage one.

Next up were still the Gangqi level matches. The preliminaries only had two rounds.

The winners of these two rounds would advance to the main tournament.

The main tournament did not have as many complicated rules; all the winners would compete together.

That meant those in the Gangqi realm could be randomly matched against Grandmasters or above. After all, the previous two rounds had already given them a chance to show off their skills.

It was impossible to keep giving the weak opportunities to show off.

For the second match, the people on the white clouds continued to draw lots, though a different person did the drawing this time.

The competition continued.

Even though the top experts on the white clouds were uninterested, the spectators outside the arena were all cheering and shouting.

This was because the majority of cultivators at this realm belonged to their hidden families.

As the matches went on one by one, the first round of the Gangqi level battles finally came to an end.

Xu Mu checked his phone. The first round of matches had only taken a little over an hour.

On average, the fights did not last very long.

Then the second round began, with the previous winners continuing to fight.

As expected, the second round was different; the battles were much more spectacular than before.

In three of the matchups, lower-level cultivators actually defeated higher-level opponents.

This inevitably caused the people from the sects to remember the winners' names.

Some of the sect masters sitting in the front rows had already started discussing strategies with their elders, figuring out what price they would have to pay to poach these individuals.

Finally, two large characters appeared above the arena again.

Divine Ability.

Seeing these two words, the onlookers were all energized.

From this point on, it would truly be like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their divine prowess.

The greatest number of experts from the major sects were concentrated at this stage.

Just like the previous draw, a large cluster of silk pouches floated high in the air, waiting for someone to make a random selection.

A white-haired elder opened a pouch, checked the slip of paper inside, and called out loudly, "Xu Ningbing! Lin Bin!"

Hearing this, Xu Ningbing, who had been sitting beside Xu Mu, stood up abruptly.

It would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous about participating in such a grand tournament for the first time. She could clearly feel her own legs trembling.

"It's actually Lin Bin from the Spirit Hall!"

"A disciple from the Five Great Sects is finally making a move! This guy is quite famous."

...

Hearing the chatter of the crowd around her, Xu Ningbing grew even more anxious.