Sea God Lake, Sea God Square, and such were all named after him.
Everyone had an indescribable feeling just by standing on this square, as if the blood in their bodies was surging because of everything before their eyes. They felt so small, but the eagerness in their eyes got stronger and stronger. What an honor it would be to be able to cultivate here? What sort of future awaited them, huh!
Every single person from the 100 teams that were taking part in the semi-finals was thrilled.
Under the instructions of Ling Yiyi and members of Shrek Academy, the participants were lined up very quickly.
A tall, red-haired young man walked up in front of everyone while Ling Yiyi and the others stood behind him.
The light in the eyes of the red-haired youth roamed, an invisible aura spreading around him, attracting everyone’s attention.
“First of all, I would like to welcome all of you on behalf of Shrek Academy. I am Xiao Qi, a teacher from Shrek Academy’s outer court. From today onwards, the semi-finals officially begin. Some people will stay and some might leave very quickly. Being able to be here, I don’t think I need to remind you to focus, display your talents, and such. We’ll dive straight into the main topic. Today is the first day of the semi-finals, and it will most probably be the most brutal day out of the tests because half of you will be leaving Shrek Academy after the end of today’s test. In other words, half of you will be eliminated today.”
The moment he said those words, there was an uproar among the hundred teams.
Half? It was the first day of the semi-finals, yet they wanted to eliminate half of them. One must know that they suffered untold hardships to get there. They had gone through all sorts of physical examinations previously and now that the semi-finals had just begun, this person before them actually said that half of them would be leaving today? Wasn’t this a little too cruel?
Lan Xuanyu’s expression turned serious. He could roughly guess things, but all those conjectures weren’t what he wanted to face in the semi-finals.
“Back to the main point, I will now announce the way the test will be conducted. You guys have definitely faced it before and tried it. It’s very simple—single-elimination open tournament! All of you will be competing fiercely in the arena. The Shrek Academy’s lot-drawing system will pick an opponent at random, which is why I said that luck will be very crucial for you guys. What sort of opponent you draw is likely to decide your results. The winner advances to the next round and the loser will be eliminated immediately.”
After listening to him, Lan Xuanyu’s expression turned ugly and Qian Lei couldn’t be bothered to ponder over Lan Mengqin’s temperament anymore. His eyes widened in stunned silence. Liu Feng furrowed his brows as well.
What were they most afraid of? A single-elimination open tournament! This meant that everyone had to engage in battle face-to-face and meet force with force. Lan Xuanyu’s ability to command and plan would be greatly impaired.
Also, the teams that could get through the preliminary rounds and participate in these semi-finals were all elites. Almost everyone was at least a three-ring, but what about them? All three of them were merely two-ring.
A team competition was the easiest way to take advantage of a crisis. It would be best if it was just like the qualifiers where everyone was placed in the large forest and had to battle. That way, their chances would be much higher. Bing Tianliang had already agreed to work together, plus there were those three close friends of his and the combination of Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin. With everyone working together, Lan Xuanyu was very sure that he could get everyone through the semi-finals.
However, things didn’t go as planned. In the arena, nobody could receive help from anyone else and they could only rely on themselves. Also, their opponents would be chosen completely based on luck. This would be very challenging, and they might as well be the weakest team amongst the hundreds.
They weren’t the only ones with ugly expressions—Bing Tianliang’s face was extremely nasty. He was naturally confident in his team, but he knew what this sort of competition meant. He could get through, but…
In the crowd, Dong Qianqiu furrowed her brows as well. She was also thinking about the problem that Lan Xuanyu and the rest would be facing, but Lan Mengqin, who was next to her, looked very eager. Once her face revealed an expression, the initial cold temperament would be completely broken.
“A single-elimination tournament, eh? How great—it’s simple and far less troublesome. This is my favorite. Qianqiu, let’s try to end the fight in a minute, what do you think?” She spoke quite loudly, insofar quite a number of people around them turned to look. Lan Mengqin wasn’t bothered by it at all and still looked very eager.
Xiao Qi continued, “There is something I need to remind you guys of—the arena will not be held in the simulated world that you’re familiar with, but in real combat. In other words, an injury is a real injury and if someone dies in the arena, it would be a real death. The academy will treat and cure, but there is no guarantee that we’ll be able to save you. This needs to be made clear to you first. The situation in the arena is ever-changing, nobody can guarantee what might happen. So all of you must think things through carefully and let us know if you want to back out now.”
Real combat? Not in a simulated world?
Hearing this, Lan Xuanyu’s eyes moved and his face turned calmer. At this moment, his head was moving fast. Real combat, compared to the simulated world, was totally different!
Nobody backed out. They had worked so hard to get here, so who would want to back out now? Also, to many people, there wasn’t a big difference between the arena in the real world and that of the simulated world. At most, the sensation of pain would be normal and their senses would be heightened.
As to the matter of deaths and whatnot, nobody really paid attention to that. This was just a test, would someone really die?
“We will begin drawing lots,” Xiao Qi announced immediately after making sure that nobody backed out.
Under everyone’s shocked gaze, a big screen rose up from the ground. This screen was about 10 meters wide and five meters high. Hundreds of names appeared on the screen, the names of the candidates that were present.
Then everyone’s names changed color; some were red while others were white.
Xiao Qi declared, “Begin!”
Under the candidates’ nervous gazes, all of the colors began changing rapidly. At this very moment, everybody hoped that they would get an opponent that wasn’t too strong. Yes, luck was very important in the tournament and after they passed this round, they would be able to continue on to the rest of the tests. If they lost, they would have to return home immediately! This was no doubt the most brutal test they had to face.
Very soon, the red and white flashes stopped and everyone’s names were divided into two sides. One side was white while the other was red.
Lan Xuanyu was slightly relieved because he and Dong Qianqiu’s names were both white, which meant, at the very least, they wouldn’t be pitted against each other.
However, Lan Xuanyu also knew that since Dong Qianqiu was one of the participants for the test this time, they definitely wouldn’t be able to summon her in the arena. Otherwise, it would probably be considered cheating.