"Rest for half an hour, and feel free to move around!"
After the first stage ended, there was a half-hour break.
Ling Xiao ate something, then focused on restoring his Gang Qi.
Half an hour later, the second stage of the competition began.
One hundred people, each starting with zero points, earn three points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss.
The top ten with the highest final scores would advance to the final round to compete with the disciples of the Genius Hall.
"The competition starts now!"
At the command of the chief referee, the martial artists all became tense.
Because the duels among these one hundred people were completely random, anyone could end up facing anyone.
The competition was held on twenty martial arts platforms at the same time.
Generally speaking, each disciple would have ninety-nine duels.
Which means one would fight every one of the other ninety-nine people.
So, avoiding duels didn’t make much sense, but some people felt that encountering a master later might at least keep their spirits up at all times.
Otherwise, a loss would definitely lead to low morale.
"Number 24 against number 98!"
"Number 6 against number 11!"
As the chief referee announced the pairing numbers, the martial artists jumped onto the twenty martial arts platforms one after another.
"Number 9588 against number 57!"
With twenty martial arts platforms operating simultaneously, the pace was very fast, and soon it was Ling Xiao’s turn.
His opponent was a chubby boy in the Martial Veins Third Layer.
"Hehe, Brother Ling Xiao, I’m here to tell you that from now on, you’re my idol!"
The chubby boy chuckled, then turned around and jumped off the martial arts platform.
This was quite normal, as there had been voluntary surrenders in previous matches, and the reasoning was very simple.
If one faces an opponent they absolutely can’t beat, it’s better to forfeit rather than waste True Qi on a futile fight.
After all, there was no penalty for losing.
Winning could earn you three points.
Many people had done the math very clearly.
Ling Xiao wasn’t surprised. During the previous ten-thousand-people competition and the chaos of the thousand-player melee, he had garnered quite a bit of popularity.
Plus, Ling Ziran, a Martial Meridian Third Layer Peak disciple who used advanced martial arts, had been easily defeated by him.
Anyone with a bit of self-awareness wouldn’t confront him head-on.
The matches progressed rapidly.
Because there was also a time limit for the competition.
If a fight couldn’t be resolved within fifteen minutes, the judges’ panel could deliver a verdict.
Otherwise, if some contestants were evenly matched, the fight could last for days and nights without a victor, which would be problematic.
Soon, Ling Xiao encountered his second opponent.
It was a female disciple.
She was quite attractive, especially her eyes, which could captivate souls, almost a match for Ling Yu’s.
But in terms of strength, she was inferior to Ling Yu.
"Brother Ling Xiao, why not let me win this match? What if we call it a draw, and I’ll be your girlfriend, okay?"
If it had been someone else, they might have been bewitched by this woman.
Just looking at those in the audience with heart-shaped eyes, most of them were under her spell, which showed how potent her charm was.
Her ability to entice people was on par with Ling Yu’s.
Unfortunately for her, with Ling Yu’s episode behind him, Ling Xiao naturally had an aversion to beautiful women.
Moreover, his dislike only grew when she made such a request.
He didn’t waste any words and simply knocked her off the platform with one palm strike.
He would feel nauseous just giving her another glance.
"You brute! You have no sense of romance!"
The girl sat on the ground, bursting into tears, causing many of the male disciples to glare at Ling Xiao with anger.
"That’s too much, she’s a girl after all, there’s no need to be so violent!"
"Exactly, don’t cry, beauty. Wait for me to get up there and teach that guy a lesson!"
"Keep bragging, you can’t even beat Ling Ziran, let alone Ling Xiao? Your boasting has shot through the roof!"
Obviously, not everyone felt that Ling Xiao was in the wrong.
Within the crowd, Ling Xiao had also cultivated a group of dedicated fans.
This was the advantage of strength!
"Contestant number 9588 wins, accumulating 6 points!"
The referee quickly announced the result.
"This young man is truly a talent in the making! Not even the lure of women can distract him, he’s bound to achieve great things in the future!"
The people from the referee panel had a lot of respect for Ling Xiao.
The competition continued.
Ling Xiao’s points were steadily increasing.
His opponents either chose to forfeit,
Or they were blasted off the stage by his move.
In order to avoid trouble, Ling Xiao’s strikes were not exactly light.
He wanted to warn those who lacked self-awareness not to provoke him.
Because he wanted to conserve his strength to face opponents who could pose a threat to him.
"It’s hard to tell just how strong Ling Xiao really is; it always feels like he’s still hiding his true strength!"
More and more people believed that Ling Xiao couldn’t possibly know just Basic Martial Arts; he must have learned other martial arts.
He just hadn’t revealed them yet.
The expectations for him grew even greater.
After finishing his own match, Ling Xiao didn’t forget to observe Ling Yihang, Ling Yixue, and Ling Feng’s battles.
Because in his view, only these three could potentially threaten him.
"Contestant number 2 versus number 4!"
Ling Xiao, hearing this announcement, immediately looked towards the source of the sound.
Indeed, on one of the Martial Arts Platforms, Ling Yixue and Ling Tieshou were standing opposite each other.
Ling Tieshou was currently ranked fourth in Elite Hall.
Ling Yixue was ranked second in Elite Hall.
"The second versus the fourth; this is going to be exciting, hahaha!"
Many people crowded around, as such battles were rare to see.
Naturally, Ling Xiao didn’t want to miss such a spectacular duel, so he floated over to watch. He probably still had some time before his next match, a perfect opportunity to enjoy the show.
Truth be told, he had not yet seen Ling Yixue fight.
Today, he might get quite the feast for his eyes.
By the time he arrived, the battle had already begun.
"Giant Spirit God Palm, the ninth form!"
Ling Tieshou started by pressing the attack, showing no restraint.
The terrifying True Qi actually formed a giant’s phantom behind his body, its horrifying power shocking to witness.
Ling Yixue adopted a wait-and-see approach, not rushing to counterattack, but nimbly dodging with her body movement technique.
What surprised Ling Xiao slightly was that Ling Tieshou was much stronger than the one he had encountered during the registration period.
The moves were more powerful and more skillfully executed.
They were fully exhibiting ninety percent of the power of Advanced Martial Arts.
In other words, his Giant Spirit Palm Technique had reached Great Perfection, just not yet into the Transcendental Realm.
If one were to make a simple horizontal comparison, Ling Tieshou at this moment was three points more formidable than Li Xingyun from the Fulong Mountain Range.
Of course, whether Li Xingyun had improved his skills, Ling Xiao had no way of knowing.
"Ling Tieshou, your strength is not weak, but it’s a pity you’re not my match!"
After a moment, Ling Yixue began to counterattack.
As she spoke, the air around seemed to suddenly freeze.
Her palms turned an odd white, as if they were gloves woven from snowflakes.
"Advanced Martial Arts, Frozen Ice Palm!"
Some recognized the martial arts technique that Ling Yixue was using.
"It’s said that to master the Frozen Ice Palm, one must constantly train in icy and snowy conditions. Senior Yi Xue must have suffered a lot."
"Suffering is a given. I heard she often practices alone in the family’s ice cellar. But once the Frozen Ice Palm is mastered, it’s terrifying indeed."
"Yes, it can freeze anything it touches; truly a fearsome piece of Advanced Martial Arts. Ling Tieshou is in danger."
Among the onlookers, there were some knowledgeable folks. They might not recognize Ling Xiao’s Soaring Cloud Step, but any martial arts from the Book Collection Pavilion were familiar to them.