Most of the declining old families were cultivation families that had declined for several generations. Their foundation was far inferior to the existing eighteen influential families.
Because of that, students who came from declining old families were generally weaker than the disciples of influential families.
Zhou Zhihai was one of the former, and so was Su Nian.
At Level 5 of the Qi Transformation Stage, they were outstanding among ordinary students, but compared to Yan Xing, Zhao Xueying, and Yang Zhongyi, who were disciples of influential families, they were far inferior.
Even so, Su Nian's strength was one of the best in this competition.
Under everyone's pitiful gazes, Su Nian's opponent, a boy at the fourth level of the Qi Transformation Stage, walked into the arena with a bitter expression.
He seemed to be muttering words like "unlucky" and "bad day". Clearly, he knew he wasn't Su Nian's match.
And that was the truth. The boy could only withstand Su Nian's punch for less than half a minute before he was sent flying. Su Nian didn't even use the Blazing Sun Palm in the process.
"Su Nian wins!"
Su Nian took the Energy Recovery Pill and walked out of the arena without saying a word.
The match continued.
Lin Shen later discovered that the competition was either between two people at the fourth level of the Qi Transformation Stage or between one Level-4 student and one Level-5 student. There had never been a situation where two people were both at the fifth level.
Obviously, the duels weren't completely random.
Even when the participants of the fifteenth round went on stage, Lin Shen's name was still not called.
He was a bye.
31 participants were fighting one-on-one battles. Naturally, there was a bye.
"What a lucky bastard!" Zhou Zhihai snorted.
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Zhongyi turned around and smiled.
"Shouldn't you know best whether Lin Shen is lucky or not? Zhou Zhihai, after all, you lost to Lin Shen."
"You…"
Zhou Zhihai immediately flushed. He wanted to refute Yang Zhongyi, but he couldn't say anything. He could only glare at Yang.
Yang Zhongyi smiled disdainfully and turned his head away, ignoring him.
The surrounding disciples of influential families looked at one other in silence.
Although they didn't come to class often, they weren't completely ignorant of what went on in the academy.
At the very least, they knew about the ordinary students in the academy who had reached the fifth level of the Qi Transformation Stage.
Among them was Lin Shen.
With Lin Shen's strength, passing the first round was a certainty.
Even if he had a bye, he didn't need that kind of luck to get through.
Zhou Zhihai's words didn't make sense. Naturally, no one was willing to speak up for him.
As if sensing the atmosphere around him, Zhou Zhihai turned his head away resentfully and didn't say anything else.
After a ten-minute break, the second round of the competition began.
Eight people were to be eliminated, and there were no byes in this round.
Lin Shen's opponent was a student at the fourth level of the Qi Transformation Stage. He easily defeated his opponent and advanced.
In just over an hour, the top eight were decided.
As expected, including Lin Shen, the five students who had reached the fifth level of the Qi Transformation Stage were all present.
The remaining three were also outstanding students at the fourth level of the Qi Transformation Stage.
At this point, eight of the ten spots that could obtain the reward had already been occupied.
The remaining two spots would be decided among the participants who were eliminated in the second round.
But that was yet to happen.
Next was the quarterfinals.
Lin Shen and Su Nian's opponents were both students at the fourth level of the Qi Transformation Stage. They easily won their rounds.
The final match of the quarterfinals was a duel between two students at the fifth level of the Qi Transformation Stage.
The two of them had similar cultivation levels, and their Blazing Sun Palms had both reached the Proficient stage. Because of that, their battle was especially intense, and the surrounding people shouted.
Even when the winner was decided, the surrounding students were still a little unsatisfied.
"Elites at the fifth level of the Qi Transformation Stage are spectacular! The battle was so intense!"
"It made my blood boil!"
"The top four are all at the fifth level of the Qi Transformation Stage. This is going to be interesting!"
"Hurry up and start. I can't wait!"
Zheng Hongsheng and Xu Yuan were also unusually excited.
"I knew Lin Shen would enter the top four!"
"He'll have six Origin Pills!"
The rewards for the second to fourth place in the competition were six Origin Pills.
Even if Lin Shen lost next, he would still be able to obtain this reward.
That had reached Zheng Hongsheng and Xu Yuan's best expectations of this competition.
Unless Lin Shen got first place, the rewards for the second to the fourth place were no different.
It wasn't easy for Lin Shen to get first place. Apart from anything else, Su Nian was a very strong opponent!
Compared to Zheng Hongsheng and Xu Yuan's excitement, Lin Shen appeared very calm. Those who didn't know better would think that Zheng and Xu were the ones who advanced to the semifinals.
Lin Shen's eyes flickered when he looked in Zhou Zhihai's direction. He suddenly turned around and walked out of the crowd.
"Lin Shen, where are you going? The semifinals are about to begin!" Xu Yuan looked puzzled.
"I need to use the bathroom."
Lin Shen waved his hand without looking back.
Fortunately, he didn't leave for long and returned to the field in less than two minutes.
At this moment, the referee had already announced the names for the first match.
"Su Nian, Wang Weichao!"
The two people whose names were called stepped into the center of the arena at the same time.
The atmosphere heightened, and the students watching the battle widened their eyes, fearing they would miss any scene that would happen next.
At the center of the arena, Wang Weichao stared at Su Nian as if he was facing a great enemy.
Facing this opponent who had the highest chance of winning first place, Wang Weichao didn't dare to underestimate Su Nian or slack off at all.
The moment the referee gave the order, Wang Weichao suddenly let out a low shout. With a thrust of his feet, he pounced on Su Nian like a lion hunting a rabbit.
As long as he could gain the upper hand, his chances of defeating Su Nian would increase by at least 20%!
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.
When Wang Weichao reached Su Nian, what greeted him was a scarlet palm wrapped in rolling heat waves!
That usually slender and fair palm was now emitting a blazing red light. The surrounding airflow seemed to have been set on fire, and the rolling heat waves swept forward like tidal waves.
BOOM!
Wang Weichao had no time to react at all. In an instant, he was hit by the rolling heat wave and was sent flying with a scream.
After landing, he wailed and rolled on the ground. His exposed skin was red, as if it was scalded by boiling water.
Swoosh!
The referee ran to Wang Weichao and squatted down to help him up. He quickly fed Wang Weichao a medicinal pill.
As the medicinal power spread, the redness on Wang Weichao's skin quickly faded.
Seeing this, the judge secretly heaved a sigh of relief. When he looked up at Su Nian again, his eyes were filled with surprise.
"Qi Transformation Stage Level 6! Mastery in Blazing Sun Palm!"
The surrounding crowd suddenly fell silent.
]Then, there was an uproar.
"Really? Su Nian broke through to the sixth level of the Qi Transformation Stage?!"
"Mastery in Blazing Sun Palm?!"
"Unbelievable!"
"That's amazing!"
Exclamations rang out continuously.
Initially, they had thought that it would be a fierce battle between matching opponents. Who would have thought Su Nian had already advanced to the sixth level of the Qi Transformation Stage? He had even reached Mastery in the Blazing Sun Palm and defeated his opponent with a single strike!
With such strength, how could any ordinary student be his match?
There was no suspense at all about who would get first place in this competition!