Chapter 474 - 472:Happy new month/Taking stage 1

Chapter 474: Chapter 472:Happy new month/Taking stage 1

The excitement in the place was electric as everyone waited eagerly for what was coming next, and we didn’t have to wait long as—

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Multiple figures began appearing on the newly created mini-arenas one by one.

"Hmmm?" I couldn’t help but raise a curious brow the moment I saw the faces. "Haa... of course that’s how it is."

"Alright, everyone. The rules of the second phase are simple. The ten arenas you see here will always have one candidate standing on them. Everyone else shall be given two chances to challenge whoever stands on the arenas. You win even once, you progress, but lose two times and you’re eliminated."

A quiet murmur began spreading through the crowd as they discussed the rules.

"If you fail to challenge someone within ten minutes of being idle, you’re automatically disqualified. Cowardice will not be tolerated. If you decide to no longer challenge after losing once, you will be disqualified. Cowardice will not be tolerated."

"The sequence shall go on until only one hundred candidates have successfully secured their spots, and then we shall proceed to the last and final stage."

I couldn’t help but let a smile break out on my face as I heard the simple rules of the trials.

They had essentially cut off the road for those that would want to wait and let others tire themselves out by forcing everyone to challenge at least once every ten minutes of nobody being engaged.

I was liking the rule quite a bit.

"Alright. That’s enough for the rules. Now, let the second phase of the trials... BEGIN!" The man swiftly disappeared the moment he was done with his words.

A strange silence fell upon the gathered youths as everyone just stared at the figures standing proudly on the arenas.

No one was eager to make the first move because the ten people on stage were the current seeded geniuses, and they seemed to have quite the reputation on Canglan, as evidenced by the apprehensive atmosphere.

They were six men and four women. The men had the classic "young hero" and "banished immortal" dispositions, while the women were beautiful, like "immortal fairies" and "ice goddesses."

Luckily, the rules of the tournament were not favorable to being idle, as after five minutes, people began moving.

Nobody wanted to find out what would happen if ten minutes elapsed and no one had taken the challenge.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The sounds of feet hitting the floor resounded as ten youths took to the stage, their auras flaring wildly as they got ready for a fight.

"BEGIN!!" The voice of the elder thundered through the arena as the young challengers moved.

None of the usual and expected battle of words, just pure action. But that action—

"Thunderous gale palm!!!" A young man on stage number 8 yelled out as wind gathered in the center of his palm, a mini-tornado forming around him as he thrust it out towards the girl he was challenging.

"Myriad swords formation!" On another stage, a young man with black hair and a sword strapped to his back pulled the weapon out with a resonant hum, a blinding white light covering the blade as the skies became bathed in sword shadows.

"—was a bunch of dumb name shouting and flashy skills."

"Cloud chasing thunder strike."

"Furious vajra palms."

One after the other, the challenging youths called out their techniques as the entire arena was lit up like a globe, the attacks raining down on their intended targets, but....

"Humph!"

The seeded candidates had finally decided to show why they were the seeded candidates.

"Merely courting death." A curly-haired youth sneered as his robe began flapping dramatically, a heavy aura of force pressing outward from him as he leveled an expressionless look at his opponent.

"Ten thousand force palm!" Naturally, the attack had to be followed by a dramatic name call as the curly-haired youth slapped out with a palm, the force from the attack disintegrating the oncoming sword formations before—

Bang!!!

Landing firmly on the body of the sword-wielding youth.

Blerrghhh!!!

The mouth of the sword-wielding youth opened wide as he sprayed blood like a fountain, his body being blasted right off the stage and into the farthest wall of the coliseum, leaving a prime human-shaped print.

A sudden silence fell within the arena as everyone unconsciously turned towards the human print in the wall, but—

"Leaf wind sword strike!!"

"Heaven sundering spear!!"

"Phantom sword dance!!"

...

...

Multiple callouts from the other seeded candidates stole the attention of the crowd as they also decided to put an end to the farce that was their current challengers.

Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!

Following multiple successful hits, the arena’s walls were now sporting ten pristine new human-shaped imprints.

The life or death of those that had caused those prints was something no one could accurately predict.

A sudden realization fell upon the gathered candidates as they remembered just who they were facing.

These were ten youths the giant that was the Spirit Ascension Sect had decided to place as seeded candidates; of course they were going to be a different breed from the rabble.

The mood turned heavy instantaneously, but that was only among the candidates. As for the crowd—

OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

They were going mad with fervor.

Nothing gets your blood pumping faster than watching people get turned into wall prints.

An uneasy sensation began saturating the atmosphere among the candidates as no one wanted to be the next scapegoat, but once again—

"Ahhh... fuck it!! They’ve surely expended some energy after that last fight!!" A candidate spoke out, trying to psyche himself up.

"Yeah!! They’re still just human like us!!!"

"Let’s get them!!!"

More and more delusional fools joined in the fray as they charged towards the arena, ready to drown the seeded candidates with numbers.

"Heavenly Sword Slash!!"

"Sky quaking fist!!"

"Mountain splitting strike!!"

"Thunderous kick!!"

Attack after attack. Candidate after candidate. In a kamikaze-type assault, the gathered candidates drowned the ten arenas with their sheer numbers as they aimed to overwhelm the seeded candidates that had made the stages their personal domain.

"Azure Sky slash!!"

"Dragon claw technique!!"

"Poking your butthole finger beam!!!"

"What the fuck?" Malachi woke up the minute he heard that last one.

"Who the fuck was that??" Even Paku was stunned as we all looked around, wondering where such a suspicious-sounding technique had even come from.

"Damn! You’ll hear anything from these bastards, won’t you?" Even Salazar, this freak, seemed shaken at the thought of what such a technique actually did as a collective shiver ran through our group.

"Alright! Enough dallying. Time to go stretch my legs." Paku suddenly reverted to the 7-foot beast form he had used to register for the tests, and with a single leap, he arrived at the fighting stage of one of the seeded candidates—a woman.

"Does this bastard have a thing against women? Why did he choose to go after one?" Malachi stood stunned, confused at the furball’s actions.

First he was talking about punching women in the face, now he was actively looking to do it.

"Well, who knows? Maybe some furry chippet broke his furry little—"

ROOOOOOOOARRRRRRRR!!!!!

Before I could even complete my words, a thunderous roar shook the arena as—

BOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!! A figure was sent flying like a broken kite.

BANG!!!

The figure collided violently with the coliseum walls, smashing straight through them and flying off into the distance.

A strange and suffocating silence suddenly fell upon the entire arena as everyone, candidates and audience alike, turned in robotic fashion towards the seven-foot beast now occupying arena number 5, fist still positioned in a punching gesture.

"Heh!" Paku laughed, clearly impressed by his actions. Yet before the crowd could even digest what had just happened—

BANG!!!

Another collision sound shook the entire building as another figure was sent flying wildly, the figure receiving the exact same treatment as the one from before as—

BOOOOM!!!

They smashed right through the coliseum walls, their forms vanishing into the distance, life or death unknown.

The crowd’s heads snapped toward the stage right beside #5—at stage number 4, where a golden-furred monkey had taken up a spot, a staff hung casually across his shoulder.

Malachi, at some point, had decided to make his move as well. The monkey didn’t even acknowledge the crowd’s shock and surprise, his entire focus on Paku, who was now frowning in displeasure at having his shine stolen.

"Tch... fucking monkey."

"Heh! Don’t think I’ll let you have all the fun." Malachi laughed.

"Who... who are they?" Someone from among the gathered candidates asked as everyone seemed unsure of how to react.

They had just watched two of the ten seeded candidates be sent flying like a bunch of paper constructs as the two newcomers bantered like they (the crowd) weren’t even there.

I could feel a sudden heated gaze on my back, one I could already recognize without even turning around, but...

"If you think this is bad, then you don’t even know what’s coming." The thought hadn’t even settled properly in my head when—

BANG!!!

THUD!!!

CRASHHH!!!

Multiple sounds of collision stunned the crowd once more as another three seeded candidates were swiftly dispatched.

Shulvan had, in true Shulvan nature, reduced his opponent to nothing but a macabre piece of mismatched and unrecognizable art.

Salazar had mercifully granted his own the Paku special, whereas Leo’s... well, the chicken-cat’s opponent was currently on his knees, tears of blood running down his face as his mouth opened in a silent scream, all whilst the chicken-cat merely watched on in absolute fascination.

There were no cheers. No roaring fascination. All there was, was a deafening silence—one that allowed for the drop of a pin to be heard. But instead of a pin drop, what the whole coliseum heard was—

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The rhythmic sounds of my feet hitting the floors as I calmly made my way towards my own stage.

The others had already made their moves, so now it was my turn, and just as the silence threatened to remain—

"YAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! BIG BROTHER!!!!!!!" An excited yell broke the atmosphere completely as a small smile played on my lips.

"Heh! Alright, time to get in character."

This was bound to be fun.

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A/N: Happy new month fellas. I know I was unreliable last month, and I wish I could promise to be more consistent this month, but the stress these days has been quite unaccounted for, but all in all, I remain eternally grateful for your continued support of my book.

Last month wasn’t our month, but I’m led to believe this month will be, after all, a man is allowed to dream right?

On other news, my mobile device has been damaged, and I wrote this Chapter on a faulty device, so please forgive me if this and the next Chapter have some errors. I plan on getting it fixed soon, so until then, bear with me, and support me.

Thank you, and as always,

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Thanks for reading...