Wang Yimo had found another use to her Moon Gaze: to direct it to the ground and track traces of hiding disciples. This attack functioned first and foremost as a qi probe. The issue was that every iteration consumed a significant portion of her qi reserves and that they had to move afterwards due to the vibrations in the grounds it caused, which could reveal their position. Han Lingyun stopped the sound from spreading through the air with another simple formation which created a small layer of vacuum. He would also act as the scout with his stealth.
Han Lingyun and Wang Yimo thus adapted their tactics to hunt down others while avoiding groups they weren’t confident they could handle quickly.
It was important to mention that disciples from different groups wouldn’t always attack upon discovering each other. Most of the time, if both groups presented similar strengths, they would just pass by each other and continue on.
After managing to wipe out and eliminate another smaller group and a couple of disciples hiding around, the pair finally managed to make contact with a group of 40 disciples of the White Tiger School. Li An, Yang Haoyu and Qin Mei were among those present.
As if fate was making a joke on the two disciples, the first phase ended right as they had rejoined their fellow sect members.
The disciples were immediately transported by Elders and soon found themselves back at the giant plaza. 512 radiant faces had been placed in front the other thousands of eliminated disciples.
A large tablet was displaying the points and ranks of those 512 remaining disciples.
The first ranks were mainly occupied by those that had been hunting efficiently and alone or in very small teams, therefore not having to divide points too much.
There were also the ones that were helped by their fellow sect disciples sacrificing their own points.
At that stage, the Cheng Huang School had secured a significant portion of the highest ranks. Many concluded that either some of their disciples had taken out entire groups alone or they had made an invincible elite striking force. But this was only a provisional ranking, and it wasn’t necessarily representative of true strength. It was too early to proclaim the Cheng Huang School’s batch of 2nd years disciples to be the strongest ones.
Han Lingyun and the other disciples searched for their names and for those they knew in that long list. The disciples could quickly find their own rank with the number of points written after every name.
1- Mao Enlai (Cheng Huang School) – 381 points
2- Luo Mingyu (Ugly Duck Sect) – 292 points
3- Dai Huiling (Cheng Huang School) – 234 points
4- Gong Hai (Cheng Huang School) – 205 points
5- Zeng Yiengjie (Peach blossom island) – 180 points
6- Shi Lanfen (Peach blossom island) – 166 points
7- Wei Muchen (White Tiger Sect) – 165 points
8- Xue Guo (Cheng Huang School) –147 points
9- Xiang Shu (Cheng Huang School) – 138 points
10- Yu Tao (White Tiger Sect) – 132 points
11- Deng Shang (Mount Ba Sword Sect) – 127 points
12- Chang Xing (Yellow Sword Sect) – 126 points
13- Zhang Peizi (Northern Wudang Sect) – 126 points
14- Mo Nianzu (Qiqing Sect) – 114 points
15- Cui Qingge (Shaolin Sect) – 109 points
16- Fu Yan (Blood Saber Sect) – 106 points
17- Xiao Liqin (Sun and Moon Island) – 101 points
18- Tang Huiliang (Cheng Huang School) – 100 points
19- Meng Rong (Ugly Duck Sect) – 100 points
20- Li An (White Tiger Sect) – 94 points
21- Xu Meirong (Dragon Slaying Island) – 92 points
22- Ma Shi (Eastern Warriors Temple) – 89 points
23- Han Lingyun (White Tiger Sect) – 89 points
24- Wang Yimo (White Tiger Sect) – 88 points
…
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The murmur from the crowd became louder and louder as the rankings had become the source of numerous discussions. The excitement only began gradually fading down after long minutes has elapsed. After all, the duels would only be starting the next day to give everyone a chance to recuperate. As such, everyone began dispersing to their respective accommodations.
Among the 10000 disciples participating in the 1st phase of the rankings, there were around 1000 qi condensation cultivators but only 372 out of these 1000 had made it to the 2nd phase.
This meant that 140 body strengthening cultivators were still competing. Those eliminated qi condensation disciples could probably beat all of those body strengthening cultivators in a duel but they would still be ranking below on this SCA competition. Life was unfair and luck played a key role in the cultivation journey.
The hundreds of casualties wouldn’t disagree with that statement. If only they weren’t at the wrong place at the wrong time, if only they hadn’t been careless at this moment…
The different sects rapidly assessed their disciple’s performance. Most of all the sects not in the top 16 had been totally eliminated, or only had 1 or 2 disciples slipping through.
The nature of that trial favored disciples grouping together and confrontations between sects. This format revealed the gap between the top 16 sects and the rest. A notable exception was Chang Xing from a small sect named the Yellow Sword Sect who managed to accumulate 126 points, ranking 12th. He was a grade 5 talent discovered in an isolated village of the Ying region and had demonstrated great determination and intelligence.
Not all the top 16 sects had a good showing though. In particular, the Black Dragon Sect, the Five Phoenixes Plume Sect and the Thousand Willow Sect nearly had no one making it in the top 512 disciples. Their main groups had been completely defeated or failed to form and properly cooperate.
On the other side of the spectrum, the White Tiger Sect had managed to insert the most disciples in the top 512 for one sect, with 83 disciples, mostly in the mid pack. Most notably, 40 body strengthening disciples were in that midst. Two larger groups of disciples had formed and showed great efficiency by overwhelming other alliances.
The Cheng Huang School also impressed even if only 15 of its disciples made it through because those disciples were mostly at the top ranks.
On a gloomier note, the different disciples also began to learn about the deaths in their camps. Nearly all sects had lost at least a member. It came as a shock for many of the White Tiger Sect that Qin Tengfei and three of his friends hadn’t made it out of the array formation. Qin Tengfei had been one of the prominent figures of the promotion with his spear, being seen as the one with the greatest chance to defeat Yu Tao as the most revered spear user in the promotion. Regrettably, his path had already come to an end.
Han Lingyun breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Shen Lin in the crowd of disciples. Unfortunately, his friend sat on the side of the eliminated ones. He got the explanation from his brother later at night:
“It was dumb and frustrating. I just bumped into a dozen qi condensation disciples from the Blood Saber Sect right at the start, they were literally the first disciples I crossed paths with. I don’t know how they managed to join hands that fast! Humph, I took half of that bunch out before having to bail out of the competition. It annoys me to no end, why did they attack me in the first place? They lost half of their group just to gain a single point.”
Han Lingyun could sympathize with his unfortunate friend but always had his mind geared towards progress. “Have you thought of ways to prevent such events in the future?”
“I don’t know brother Lingyun. I feel like when I’m alone, I critically lack something for reconnaissance, or perhaps to escape. I’m just walking around randomly. But then, I will also form my own spirit sense when I reach the Foundation Establishment realm so I’m not sure I want to invest time over this rather than cultivation. I just need to find disciples complimenting my weakness to team up with.”
“It’s good if you thought it through.” Han Lingyun patted his friend.
“Hey enough talking about me, you scored pretty well I saw!”
“Ah that, we made a nice team and…”
“HAN LINGYUN!” Yu Tao stormed in interrupting the pair.
“You’re lucky that I have a nice temper and nothing happened to Miss Yimo! Now go on and explain yourself.” He slammed his hand on the table which turned many disciples’ heads.
“Hey calm down, I’m sure you managed to obtain more points since we left you. And we are in a competition and our duty for the sect is to perform as best as possible. You and I both know that you alone were enough to take care of groups of disciples and we didn’t want to slow you down or have to divide points too much. Plus, any convincing with words had already failed. I’m sorry if you felt like we were abandoning you but in truth we were just trying to maximize our mutual points. Look, everyone ended with some nice points in the end.”
Yu Tao silently stared at Han Lingyun. His gaze was icy cold. “Don’t you dare put a finger on her.”
Yu Tao left and Han Lingyun gritted his teeth. ‘Did he even listen to what I just said?’
This was predictable but it was still unnerving to be in any kind of conflict with Yu Tao. Han Lingyun's mind raced as he tried to understand Yu Tao better.
‘Did he really just fall for Wang Yimo or something? But how could that be, they had barely even interacted with each other before today. With his temper, perhaps he will just lose interest with time. Shit, we had trained with Wang Yimo for the selection, it’s not like we wanted to be alone for the sake of it. I guess that this dumbass would never get something like that. And hasn’t he noticed that she and I worked often together or something?’
Shen Lin was looking strangely at Han Lingyun. “Damn brother Lingyun. I never thought you were the type to fight with Yu Tao over a girl.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh? What is it then?”
“I don’t know, by some coincidence he saved Wang Yimo from a probable elimination and now he doesn’t want to leave her side. Does he think she now belongs to him? This is a serious competition damn it, I hate having to lose time with these stupid games.”
“Hahaha, you should hear yourself speaking brother Lingyun, quit making excuses and admit it.” He closed in to whisper. “You’re in love with her right?”
Han Lingyun shook his head. “Stop, it’s too early for that. And this shitty situation doesn’t go well with my cultivation’s philosophy to reach my goals. I’ve already attracted unnecessary trouble. I’m as annoyed with myself as I am with this blockhead.”
Shen Lin recomforted his troubled friend. He found it funny that he was the one having to council the other when he was the one that had been eliminated. “Sometimes you want to avoid trouble but trouble comes to find you anyway.”
Han Lingyun sighed dejectedly. “You’re right. I’ll use this to pressure my cultivation further or find another use. Anyway, let’s think of something else. Who will be my opponents in the duels tomorrow?”
The two friends went out to study a giant double elimination bracket that showed which matches would be held. With a 512-elimination-bracket, to reach 1st place, one had to win 9 duels in a row. Han Lingyun didn’t linger long on his first opponents and looked at his potential future opponents.
If both didn't lose before, his 5th duel would be with the one ranked number 10 in the first phase.
Yu Tao.