Chapter 452 - 434: Former Rivals

Chapter 452: Chapter 434: Former Rivals

Many of his former rivals were also present, and they recognized Lin Qi as well.

The familiar black combat suit, his fierce and domineering spear technique...

It brought back memories of their defeats at his hands.

When Miyamoto Genichiro saw Lin Qi slay a Level 6 Calamity Beast, he almost thought his eyes were deceiving him.

He spoke with a grave expression, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Lin Qi of Xia Country has gotten even stronger."

As Japan’s top SS-level talent, he wasn’t far from being considered SSS-level.

Yet, he had only recently broken through to the Fifth Realm.

Even using his Special Ability and a Little Divine Power, he could only barely kill a single Level 6 Calamity Beast if he went all out.

He couldn’t possibly do what Lin Qi just did—effortlessly slay a Level 6 Calamity Beast without even using a Special Ability or a Little Divine Power.

He had only ever seen that kind of strength from third-year SS-level talents.

’Just how strong is Lin Qi now?’

Meanwhile, Victor from the Bear Country and Havier from the White Eagle Federation also wore grave expressions.

’Lin Qi from Xia Country... His strength has already far surpassed ours!’

They could perceive more than others. Compared to last year, Lin Qi had grown vastly more powerful.

Even in a global Martial Arts tournament that included third and fourth-year students, Lin Qi would be among the absolute top contenders.

It felt as if a huge gap had already opened between them.

The feeling was a bitter pill to swallow.

They were all top-level talents, yet they were being left in the dust by someone their own age.

They were indignant, yet utterly helpless.

The first match lasted forty minutes before finally ending.

The 200,000 contestants, facing a dense Disaster Beast Tide without the aid of firearms, were devoured by the Calamity Beasts one by one.

[The First Match of the Preliminaries Has Officially Ended!]

An hour after the round began, the space on the battlefield froze, and all the Calamity Beasts dissipated into particles.

An automated voice then sounded in the contestants’ ears as they were all teleported back to their respective national zones.

The same happened to Lin Qi.

Even he had felt the pressure during those forty minutes.

There were simply too many Fifth- and Sixth-Level Calamity Beasts.

It was nothing like the Disaster Beast Hunting Competition, which only had a few dozen Fifth- and Sixth-Level Calamity Beasts.

Here, the Calamity Beasts came in a continuous, seemingly endless stream.

This was a simulation of a real battlefield.

An infinite tide of Calamity Beasts, impossible to kill them all.

A real battlefield would be even more dangerous, as there would also be High-Level Calamity Beasts. One careless move and you could be trampled to death by one.

The first round of the preliminaries was like a training exercise.

Otherwise, stepping onto a real battlefield without any understanding would just turn them into cannon fodder. They wouldn’t even know how they died, just like what had happened.

"Brother Qi!"

When Lin Qi returned, the crowd erupted in amazement.

Guo Heng, Guan Mountain, and Wang Qiufeng, in particular, were stunned. ’Brother Qi is just too incredible now.’

"Brother Qi, you were insane out there!"

"You killed that Level 6 Calamity Beast like it was nothing!"

Lin Qi smiled. "Once you reach the Sixth Realm, you’ll be able to do it too."

"The Sixth Realm... Wait a minute!!"

Everyone snapped back to reality and stared at one another. ’Does Brother Qi mean he’s already broken through to the Sixth Realm?’

Even Awakened talents like Wan Ming and Yu Zhuoran were shocked.

’Isn’t that way too fast?’

’Since when was breaking through Realms this easy?’

’Is this the Talent of an SSS-level genius?’

’In that case, Lin Qi and Chu Yu are in the same Realm now.’

’He surpassed him in less than a year.’

’Only Lin Qi could have done that.’

Not far away, Chu Yu also felt the pressure. Lin Qi’s progress was just too fast.

It seemed Lin Qi had now completely surpassed him, and he no longer held any advantage whatsoever.

...

In another area, seated in a massive grandstand, were the High-Level Martial Artists of Xia Country.

The King of Mountains and Rivers, with his resolute expression and tall, imposing frame, was seated among them.

He shook his head as he watched the contestants’ performance.

"In their current state, they’d just be throwing their lives away on a real battlefield. We have to ensure they gain more practical combat experience."

Nearby, Vice-Principal Xu Wenji nodded.

"The preliminaries will help these geniuses grow. It will give them a better chance when they step onto a real battlefield."

The others nodded in agreement. On the battlefield, survival is the top priority.

Killing more Calamity Beasts comes second.

That’s why on the battlefield, if you feel your stamina failing, you’re expected to return to base immediately to rest. No one will criticize you for it.

...

The first round of the preliminaries was still ongoing, but Lin Qi had already logged off.

If each match lasted about forty minutes, then the twenty matches would take at least thirteen hours.

And that didn’t even account for meal and rest breaks.

That was why the first round of the preliminaries was scheduled to take two days.

This gave Lin Qi more time for cultivation. After exiting the Virtual Cabin, he headed straight for the Gravity Room.

Since arriving at the Celestial Vault Institute, these geniuses had been allotted ninety hours of cultivation time per month.

An average of three hours of cultivation time a day was more than enough for him.

He had two goals right now. The first was to Awaken a second Special Ability.

The second was to advance his Spear Technique to the Tier Four Late-Stage, master a second Killing Technique, and successfully pass the trial on the 16th floor.

’If time permits, I can achieve all of this.’

’If I can do all that, the championship is as good as mine.’

’It wouldn’t matter even if Shen Heng breaks through to the Seventh Realm.’

...

「May 3rd」

After two days, the first round of the preliminaries officially ended.

With the conclusion of the twenty matches, over 19.8 million contestants had been eliminated.

Many contestants who could have made it to the main competition were eliminated due to unforeseen circumstances, but their chance was gone.

「Red Realm, Site of the Global Martial Arts Competition.」

All the contestants logged on and found themselves standing before Tian’an Gate. A cacophony of voices filled his ears.

"It’s a shame. I was too nervous facing the Disaster Beast Tide yesterday and choked. If I had another chance, I’m sure I could have lasted until the end."

"That’s just weak Psychological Quality. You need more practice."

"One more round. If I can just hold on, I’ll make it to the main competition."

BOOM!

A hologram of the King of Mountains and Rivers appeared before the crowd once more. He wore a silver robe adorned with a pattern of green mountains and rivers.

His aura was as heavy and solid as a mountain. With a resolute expression, he slowly began to speak.

"After two days, the first round of the preliminaries has officially concluded."

"Congratulations to the contestants who have advanced. You will each receive twenty million Xia Country Coins."

At his words, many contestants from the smaller countries broke into smiles.

"Next, we will begin the second round of the preliminaries."

"The rules will be the same. We will have ten matches, each with 20,000 contestants. The elimination match will end when only two thousand contestants remain."

"Out of 200,000 contestants, only twenty thousand will advance to the main competition."

"Contestants who advance to the main competition will be rewarded with fifty million Xia Country Coins."

’Fifty million Xia Country Coins?’

This was no small sum. Many geniuses didn’t even spend fifty million on resources in an entire year.

And now, all they had to do was survive the second round to get it.

For most of the geniuses, this was an incredibly generous prize.

Although some geniuses came from wealthy families, there were often many people spending that money.

After all, the nation encouraged large families, so most geniuses had several brothers and sisters.

Cultivating a genius requires a lot of money, and not many families could come up with fifty million all at once.

Therefore, many of the geniuses desperately needed this large sum of money.

"I hereby declare the second round of the preliminaries officially open!"

Following the King of Mountains and Rivers’s resonant announcement, an automated voice sounded in the ears of twenty thousand contestants.

They were enveloped in pillars of crimson light and descended upon the arena, where the Steel Great Wall once again materialized.

A dark, endless horde of Calamity Beasts bore down on them.

There were fewer Martial Artists this time, but the number of Calamity Beasts remained the same.

The pressure on everyone intensified.

The weaker contestants likely wouldn’t be able to last until the end before being devoured by the Calamity Beasts.

Watching the numerous contestants battling the Calamity Beasts, Jiangtao remarked with a sigh:

"Getting that fifty million Xia Country Coin reward won’t be easy."

"Of the 200,000 contestants, one-fifth are from our Xia Country—that’s 40,000 people."

"Only 20,000 of them will advance to the main competition, so we can expect about 4,000 of them to be from Xia Country."

"That’s just over a thousand for each of the three top academies."

"Every single one of them is a top-tier genius."

The others nodded. It would indeed be difficult to claim the reward unless one was an A-level talent, or at least a fourth-year student.

Lin Qi nodded to himself. ’Fifty million is just pocket change to me.’

’But it’s a different story for everyone else.’

His gaze was fixed on the contestants battling the Calamity Beasts. The first round had already weeded out the weak.

Those who remained were all experts. Low Realm Martial Artists were almost nowhere to be seen.

The weakest among them were at the level of Fourth Realm Martial Artists.

Fifth and Sixth Realm Martial Artists were also emerging one after another.

The strongest were all fourth-year students; students from the lower years were just cannon fodder in comparison.

He paid special attention to some of the Sixth Realm Martial Artists, who were unleashing all sorts of different Special Abilities.

They would all be formidable opponents in the main competition to come.

Fifty minutes later, the first match officially ended.

The second match began immediately after!

Lin Qi was also enveloped in crimson light, descending just outside the Steel Great Wall.

"ROAR—"

A moment later, Lin Qi was surrounded by countless Calamity Beasts.

His current situation was even more dangerous than the 16th floor of the Disaster Beast Trial Tower.

After all, the 16th floor had a thousand Calamity Beasts at most.

But before him now were tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of them.

PFFT— PFFT—

Amidst the frenzied slaughter, he activated his Body Technique, constantly dodging the Calamity Beasts’ attacks.

He unleashed the Mountain and River Spear Technique.

BANG! BANG!

As one Fourth- and Fifth-Level Calamity Beast after another crashed to the ground, Lin Qi felt the bottlenecks in his Spear Technique and Body Technique begin to loosen.

The pressure stimulated his body and mind, forcing him to unleash even greater potential.

His diligent, everyday cultivation was finally paying off. The accumulation of quantity was leading to a qualitative leap.

「An hour later.」

Lin Qi felt a change in his body. The Mental Realm flowing through his Spear Technique had grown stronger.

His Body Technique became swifter, and his Thunder Extreme Nine Flashes advanced to the fourth flash.

Both his Spear Technique and Body Technique had broken through.

[Second Match Ended. Survivors: 2,000/20,000]

The two thousand surviving contestants had successfully advanced to the main competition.

...