Han Lingyun heart sunk as he processed that fact. He wanted to cry inside. ‘I don’t need a Yu Tao in my life. Is he haunting me?’

Thinking back to Yu Tao’s cold gaze, his decision was already taken.

‘I cannot fight him. On a simple stage, my blackbird art loses 90% of its versatility and I cannot prepare arrays in advance. It’s a shame but if I reach the top 32, I will just give up if my opponent ends up actually being Yu Tao, which is more than likely. There is no need to fight him to the death for a higher rank at this competition. Plus, there will always be the loser bracket to progress further in the rankings. As for Wang Yimo, if she’s the type of person to care about the winner between Yu Tao and me, she isn’t my type either.

Let’s be realistic. In the arena, Yu Tao is definitely above my level anyway. I reckon I could kill him in the wild but that won’t be the setting for the duels. Not to mention, my forte isn’t my traditional fighting capability. If the rankings were a competition of array creation, I would probably rank 1st.

And let’s not put the cart before the horse, reaching the top 32 won’t be an easy journey. That 23rd position in points scored doesn’t mean that much. With 16 top sects plus a couple surprises and 5th grade talents from weaker sects, I will definitely have to use all my cards. It would have been quite ambitious to aim for higher than the top 16 in the first place, even without a Yu Tao to ruin my life.’

After, having settled his state of mind, Han Lingyun noted down his probable opponents and headed to the White Tiger Sect’s information gathering house. Over the week after the 1st half of the competition, many disciples from every sect had been bribed for information on their strong members. All the large sects had similar practices.

Some disciples even volunteered information from sect to sect for payment. When multiplied by 16 or more, the rewards could be huge in comparison to their traditional wealth.

Thus, after exchanging some sect points, Han Lingyun had access to information on most of his future opponents. For any missing names, he could directly make a commission to the Intelligence Pavilion. The fee was much higher though.

Like most of the disciples in the top 512, Han Lingyun was making his homework for the next day.

A cultivation session, a bit of sleep later and it was already time to head to the giant plaza for the duels. The 83 qualified 2nd year disciples of the White Tiger Sect headed their together, accompanied by 40 or so Elders while the others went on their own to spectate.

One thing that Han Lingyun wasn’t prepared for was the massive crowd already there. The giant plaza had been transformed to accommodate the more than 50 thousand 2nd year disciples and their elders. Those that had been eliminated in the pre qualifier were joined by the ones that failed to pass phase 1. Massive stands had been erected during the night, creating a giant arena. Nearly all the 2nd years were present to witness their generation’s top 1% fight it out or to cheer for their own sect.

These were the culmination of the best talents the Empire of more than two billion individuals had to offer for this age group. A good third of all the Elders that made the trip to the crater were present too. They would be scrutinizing the disciples for potential seedlings as well as evaluating the trends and methods of the different sects. Less than half of all the elders were present though, as the rest were watching the 4th years that simultaneously had their competition.

The group of 83 qualified disciples of the White Tiger Sect were acclaimed like superstars as they made their way through the crowd. As the largest group and with the company of 40 Core formation elders, they did not pass unnoticed. The change of atmosphere was really something else! Nearly all of their qi condensation disciples had made the cut, and nearly as many body strengthening disciples were in the top 512 too.

Some of the second years began sweating at the thought of having to duel in front of such a massive crowd. Even Han Lingyun was impressed enough to get sweaty palms.

The 512 qualified disciples had reserved seats at the bottom of the stands for logistic reasons and to clearly differentiate them from the others.

The duels would only be happening one at a time so it was estimated that around 500 duels could be held until the sun fell. The whole competition should take three days as there were still matches for those who were knocked out.

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First, 256 duels would be held (1 vs 512, 2 vs 511, …, 256 vs 257). Then all the 256 disciples that lost would have their own loser bracket.

Basically the 256 losers then had another elimination tournament of the same format. This time if you lost a duel once, you would definitely be eliminated. The final ranks of those that lost twice at the same stage would be tied. Only the single one coming first in the 256 losers’ bracket would be able to move on and would then join the 128 losers’ bracket by defeating one disciple of that group, which would be a simple formality with a high probability of there being a severely injured or dead disciple in the lot.

In any case, having to go through a loser bracket was a huge disadvantage as it required fighting in a lot more matches. It was a true obstacle course to climb back up! Still, in theory, a disciple losing his first match could end the competition ranked number 1 by not losing a single other match.

A tournament with single eliminations might sound as a ridiculous idea to decide rankings but there was a good reason for it. Because elders would not be ending the fights before any injuries, there was a strong likelihood that someone that lost once wouldn’t be able to fight properly in a short amount of time. Therefore, it was made so that those that lost one duel didn’t matter too much for the rest of the proceedings. At least, that was the logic used to choose this format. The loser bracket was implemented to slightly lower the element of chance.

The mass finished taking their seats and waited for the events to begin. A box at the front had remained empty. 17 large armchairs had been placed there.

Suddenly 16 Elders from the SCA council made an appearance and joined their assigned places. Each elder represented one of the top 16 sects too, as each came from one. For a time, nothing happened and it was clear the organizers were waiting for something.

Then, a man in black robes arrived and saluted the 16 Elder before sitting on the 17th chair. The Black Rainbow sect member was here to watch the show as well. It was whispered that he would be watching the 2nd year tournament in person while only following the 4th year’s rankings from afar. Apparently, that elder didn’t fancy the group fighting format used for the 4th years’ competition and preferred a classic tournament.

Another Elder at the center of the stage reiterated the rules for the duels. “You lose if you admit defeat, fail to remain on the stage or die. No Elder will stop the combat for you. If during a duel, it appears that neither can defeat the other, both will be declared losers. The one having to face the winner of that match will thus automatically win his next match. However, this is only a guideline and cases like this will be discussed case by case to avoid any abuses.

With this out of the way, let the tournament begin!”

The crowd wasn’t too excited. They knew that the first matches would most likely be boring, after all, the highest ranks started against the lowest ranks.

Rank 1 Mao Enlai from the Cheng Huang School was facing one of the dozen disciples with only 1 point to his name. The last rankings between those tied on 1 point had been attributed randomly. Mao Enlai was a 4th grade talent that was already at the Late stage of qi condensation realm. He had mastered large area attacks, excelled at fast movements, and had a special eye ability helping him see in more detail than his peers. His strategy for the first phase had been to fly high in the air and target large groups from weaker sects he spotted from afar.

His opponent had managed to remain hidden throughout. It was already an honor for him to display his small sect’s robe. After showing off his colors, that disciple immediately stepped out of the stage and declared his defeat, to the surprise of none.

The next few matches developed in the same fashion. They were more formalities than anything else.

However, the 14th ranked disciple, Mo Nianzu of the Qiqing Sect, didn’t have the easy-going attitude of the other best ranked disciples as he entered the stage. On the contrary, he was dead serious and fully concentrated.

When Mo Nianzu had learned about his opponent, Su Xiaoli of the Eastern Warrior’s Temple, he had been quite shocked and distressed. This nasty surprise was peak misfortune. Su Xiaoli, was by far the number 1 disciple of the Eastern Warrior’s Temple for his year. A complete weirdo that didn’t seem to fit one bit with his sect, often caricatured for being brutes.

Su Xiaoli was a refined young man, a dreamer and a sword user; a sword cultivator to be exact. He didn’t find the format of the first phase appealing so he simply sat on a rock and waited for it to end. Incredibly, he would gently beat up and admonish those that attacked him before sending them away. Therefore, in the end, he was among those with only 1 point to their name.

His way of thinking was completely reversed to any normal disciple. “I will have to fight against a strong disciple for my first match? That’s great! A true duel would be perfect to sharpen my sword further!”

Su Xiaoli’s sword? The basic weapon he used didn’t even qualify as a qi condensation weapon. And yet, his sword comprehension was among the strongest of all disciples his age in the SCA. He had reached the stage where he could incorporate his own understanding to his style.

Mo Nianzu was no slouch either. A 4th grade talent and the best the Qiqing sect had to offer. His greatest strength was his devastating wide area attacks which propelled him to the 14th rank during the first phase. He used the sword as well but it was only for convenience. A duel at that level should have never happened that early; it was the typical example justifying the loser bracket for the rankings.

Most of the audience wasn’t paying much attention, expecting another simple abandonment. One can imagine the gasps of surprise as the two rushed towards each other right from the start.

Han Lingyun leaned forward to admire the first shock of the day.