Clearly, Xiao Chen did not want such a treatment. Being paid attention to meant getting targeted.
Even though Xiao Chen did not fear being targeted, it would be better if he could expose fewer trump cards.
“Whoosh!”
Elder Tian Yun and the other heaven-class Elders appeared above the dueling plaza. The entire place fell silent.
Elder Tian Yun’s eyes swept through the dueling plaza, putting huge pressure on everyone—including Xiao Chen.
Even though Xiao Chen’s cultivation had advanced rapidly in the past five months, he still felt that the gap between him and Elder Tian Yun was too great, practically unbridgeable.
“The rules for the heaven-class core disciple selection are different every time. I believe you all want to know the rules for this year,” Elder Tian Yun said slowly after the entire plaza fell silent in rapt attention to him.
The rules could not be revealed in advance. Even the heaven-class Elders like them did not know what the rules would be.
Otherwise, the heaven-class Elders would be able to design targeted training, giving their disciples an advantage.
“The rules for the selection this year are very simple. The last man standing on the dueling plaza will be the heaven-class core disciple for this round. As for the others, even if you do not obtain the qualifications to become a heaven-class core disciple, you will receive one hundred Primeval Heavenly Pills and a Blood Transformation Pill personally refined by the Third Palace Master for every person you knock out.”
The rules Elder Tian Yun announced set the entire plaza abuzz. Everyone felt stunned for a moment, feeling like their brain short-circuited.
It was not just the disciples. Even the heaven-class Elders were confused.
However, the rules were set by the Palace Masters, who would not entertain any objections.
“Rumble…!”
Despite their shock, the heaven-class Elders worked together and raised the entire dueling plaza.
At the same time, the heaven-class Elders activated the formations, and the plaza turned into an enormous arena in the air.
Snow drifted down on the dueling plaza as the temperature dropped drastically, and the environment changed radically.
“Hahahaha! Heaven is helping me! Heaven is helping me!”
Yi Qianyun reacted first. He reared his head back to the sky and laughed wildly, unable to contain his excitement.
The rules were simply too advantageous to Yi Qianyun. Although there were many other factions of various sizes in the dueling plaza, they clearly could not match up to his group of people.
“Protect Senior Brother Yi!”
The core disciples behind Yi Qianyun immediately surrounded him, protecting him in the center.
The expressions of Qin Yan, Fang Tianyi, and the others changed slightly, and they quickly assembled the members of their own factions.
“How can it be so simple?!”
A few heaven-class Elders smiled faintly and took action at the same time.
Time and space turned chaotic in the hovering dueling plaza. As the world spun around, everyone’s position changed, messing up laid out combat formations.
Before Yi Qianyun and the others could regather their factions, a chaotic battle started.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
For every person that one knocked out, one could obtain one hundred Primeval Heavenly Pills and one Blood Transformation Pill—an extremely tempting reward.
White snow drifted everywhere, giving the place a cold, bloody stench. The situation immediately turned chaotic, so chaotic that it could not be resolved.
A melee filled every corner.
Sometimes, two might be fighting when someone would suddenly appear from the side and mount a sneak attack. Those who were extremely unfortunate got killed.
However, there was a special formation activated in this dueling plaza. While people were said to be killed, in reality, right before they were killed, they were ejected from the arena.
No matter how a participant killed another person, the formation would record it without any mistakes.
With the ice and snow around, the ice-attributed cultivators gained a huge advantage.
Despite the chaotic situation, Xiao Chen did not get flustered. If he could avoid fighting, he did so. If he could not avoid fighting, he ended things in one strike, not letting the fight drag out.
Xiao Chen was very intelligent. While the rule seemed absurd and chaotic, in reality, those that survived would only be the strong.
The more chaotic things got, the clearer the strength of the experts. The weak would not survive by luck.
This was just the beginning. Preserving strength now was the most important thing to do.
It would be best if everyone ignored Xiao Chen.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen felt a chill. When he evaded and turned around, he found an ice-attributed swordsman sneak-attacking him.
Xiao Chen’s expression turned cold, and he instantly executed Sharp Spirit Finger, clamping down on the other party’s sword with two fingers.
“How is this possible?”
The attacker was shocked to discover that the ambush that he prepared for so long, to take advantage of the chaos, was so easily intercepted by Xiao Chen.
“Scram!”
Xiao Chen flicked his fingers, and the attacker vomited a mouthful of blood as he went tumbling through the air.
“Boom!”
Right after Xiao Chen dealt with this person, shock waves surged over from the side, triggered by someone’s killing move.
Those who could become core disciples were at least Holy Venerates. Their full-powered killing move would definitely be extremely horrifying. The shock waves could not be underestimated, either.
Xiao Chen turned into a lightning bolt and quickly dodged. He happened to reappear beside two core disciples fighting each other. When Xiao Chen suddenly popped up, the two were stunned at first.
Then, the two decisively stopped fighting and charged at Xiao Chen at the same time as though in tacit understanding.
“Whoosh!”
Xiao Chen stood on a lightning dragon and moved away, easily dodging the two’s attacks before punching with both fists.
“Boom!” Surging Vital Qi sent the two flying at the same time.
“Xiao Chen!”
Xiao Chen had just stopped when a cold shout rang out. He turned around and saw a gray-robed youth with snowflakes dancing around him like they were butterflies.
It was an expert, an expert who comprehended the Snow Great Dao.
Excitement appeared in the gray-robed youth’s eyes. He said seriously, “Let me test out how powerful the legendary person who destroyed Rakshasa Tian’s clone with one saber strike is.”
Xiao Chen said calmly, “You will regret this.”
The gray-robed youth stepped forward, laughing, “Haha! This snowstorm is my greatest support. Come, let me see how you are going to make me regret.” Then, he brought out his Snow Great Dao, and his figure instantly merged with the flying snow.
The gray-robed youth’s figure turned illusory amid the snowstorm. Xiao Chen’s eyes and Spiritual Sense could not detect the other party.
This was an extremely exquisite Movement Technique. When combined with this snowstorm, it was simply a divine technique. No wonder this person dared to seek out Xiao Chen.
However, it was still not sufficient.
This could not trick Xiao Chen. In the next moment, Xiao Chen became like a sharp saber, using his body as a saber.
He combined this with Thunder Dragon Steps as he shot forward so quickly that the motion was undetectable.
“Bang!”
A loud sound rang out, and all the inner and outer palace disciples spectating from outside the dueling plaza felt their hearts skip a beat.
The gray-robed youth showed a pained expression as blood leaked out from his lips. Xiao Chen knocked him out of the arena, directly eliminating him.
So strong!
The many disciples watching the battle could not help sighing. The earlier scene looked very simple. However, in reality, it contained two Great Dao—the Thunder Dao and Saber Dao—exquisitely merged.
While others could not clearly see the situation, Xiao Chen easily grabbed an advantage and knocked out a veteran core disciple.
After Xiao Chen won with one strike, the people nearby no longer dared to get close to him, a wide, empty space opening up around him.
After the initial round of chaos, the fight slowly turned more organized. Yi Qianyun, Qin Yan, Fang Tianyi, and the others put in a lot of effort and finally regathered the members of their factions.
Even Zhang Ye grouped up with some veteran core disciples, forming a team with extremely horrifying strength.
After a while, Xiao Chen was somewhat horrified to discover the clear space around him growing larger.
When he looked around, he saw that groups of people had surrounded him at some point in time.
As the heavy snow fell, Xiao Chen felt a chill, something even colder than the snow or ice. It was the expression of Yi Qianyun and the others looking at him.
“Your fame is truly well deserved!”
Yi Qianyun said with a smile, “Xiao Chen, no matter how strong you are, it is your fate to be eliminated!”
“Everyone has no objections, right? Attack together and eliminate him first before doing anything else.”
“I have no objections.”
There was some sort of tacit understanding. Without needing discussion, they readily came to an agreement.
This large encirclement had initially been unintentional.
Like before, the fame of a person was like the long shadow that a tree cast on its surroundings; such great influence dominated everyone else.
Only Xiao Chen could receive such treatment.