On the hilltop.
Claesabe had been cultivating. He sensed something and turned to look, only to find that two of the identity badges were missing; he looked at the void in the distance with white flames in his eyes.
“Someone stole two of them? Quite bold I’d say.”
He looked at Su Ping, noticing that he was still deep into his cultivation. So, he simply let the matter go. Su Ping had surely detected the thief too, but he didn’t chase after him; this showed that he really didn’t care about the additional badges.
Time is almost up. The ones remaining have to take their chances. We shall see who has the courage to come here. Claesabe suddenly thought that the bunch of badges down below represented courage; those who dared to show up would get their badges.
Those who were invested in the stream noticed this too; their surprise triggered discussions.
“Fist King simply ignored him. He didn’t notice him?”
“What Fist King? Shouldn’t you call him Sword King?”
“Tsk. How do you know he’s a swordsman? Maybe he knows many other techniques.”
“Sword King surely was too into his cultivation to pay it any mind.”
Time passed, and a couple of thieves emerged to steal the identity badges they needed from the base of the hill.
Neither of them dared to steal too many. They were anxious enough as it was, going to that place; they would only take the ones they needed.
The last hour arrived; Su Ping and his teammates woke up from meditation, choosing to simply wait for the test to end.
That was also the most competitive hour.
Some people approached the hill while hiding in the deeper spaces.
“Is that the forbidden mountain?”
“It’s truly incredible. There are badges everywhere. It’s horrifying!”
“All the people who finished getting the quota are now in hiding, while those who dare to swagger around are the top experts. So, the ones without enough badges have to try their luck here.”
“I heard that Dragon Emperor and the Sword God’s heir chose to avoid the place. Can those people really steal those badges from him?”
A lot of people were anxiously peeping at the hill as they considered their odds.
Most of them stopped peeping and abandoned the plan once Su Ping woke up; they simply turned around and went to search in other places.
With any luck, they might find badges elsewhere.
It would be suicide, trying to steal them right from under Su Ping’s nose.
Judging from the number of badges, Su Ping was probably both strong and good at stopping others from running away.
It wouldn’t be a smart choice to race that guy!
All the geniuses were wise and vigilant; they retreated after some consideration.
They would have had a go at it if Su Ping were still meditating, but the place had turned into a forbidden land the moment he woke up!
An hour passed by quickly.
Battles and competitions happened everywhere in the continent. Teams all fell apart and their members attacked each other. After all, most of them didn’t have enough identity badges for everyone to advance, so they had to resort to pillaging each other.
There was no trust in the temporary teams; they had been established for returns, and thus they were divided for the very same reason.
All the stream viewers felt greatly relieved when the countdown reached zero. They felt they were even more nervous than the actual participants of the game as they watched.
“Game over!”
Boom~!
Several Star Lords appeared, and the entire continent began to tremble. Then, the protective barriers were lifted, and Hai Tuo showed up in the high sky.
He raised his head, and all the contestants who had qualified disappeared; they were relocated to a place in the sky facing him.
The rest of them were left behind on the continent.
Whoosh!
Su Ping felt that his vision became blurred. He was covered by an overwhelming power, completely unshakable.
He felt amazed by such a feeling. That was the power of the Ascendant State; Joanna’s original self was on that level.
However, she would be among the top Ascendant State experts!
After all, she was a pure-blood god, one of the most ancient descendants from the Archean Divinity. She had also fought on the Demigod Burial for years, and was undoubtedly stronger than most Ascendants from the Federation.
“582 contestants!”
“Congratulations! You have qualified. The top hundred will be selected from your batch in the final selection match, who will later have the chance to fight in the Golden Star Zone on behalf of this galaxy!”
Hai Tuo looked at the participants who had been lined up in a square. He was acting like a general in the middle of a parade, both majestic and graceful.
Everybody trembled with excitement after hearing that.
The speech would have been boring if it would have been given by someone else.
However, it was truly inspirational since an actual Ascendant State expert had spoken!
It was also a rare opportunity to look at an Ascendant up close for most people!
After all, not everybody had an Ascendant State master as the Sword God’s heir did.
Even the Sword God’s heir would only have a few chances to meet his master.
Su Ping looked around and saw that only five hundred out of the ten thousand people were left. The survival test was truly brutal.
He had defeated a lot of people; the other geniuses had surely slaughtered their fair share of contestants to get the badges.
Even though the contestants would be relocated before they were really killed, not making the cut for the next round was still a terrible loss.
“Once the identity badges are counted, you’ll be given a chance to take a good rest until the competition, which will take place in three days!”
Hai Tuo smiled and then faded away in front of everybody.
At the same time, several Star Lords approached and calmly counted everyone’s badges.
They waved their hands, and the badges were pulled by a mysterious power, which then piled up above each participant.
Most people had ten identity badges, but some had astonishing amounts above their heads.
A lot of the students of the five academies looked at Su Ping, eager to find out how many the man with Ascendant State potential had acquired.
They were then shocked by what they saw.
Su Ping had precisely obtained ten identity badges!
Claesabe and Ibetaluna, however, observed the others. They slightly changed their expressions when they saw Dragon Emperor and the young man who carried a wooden sword.
Obviously, those two weren’t very friendly; both had gathered almost two hundred identity badges.
Holy King and Queen of the Seas from the Hugh Mia Academy were even more eye-catching. They had gathered almost eight hundred identity badges; their piles were obviously much taller than the others.
“Those two indeed joined hands. They defeated a thousand people!” Everybody was shocked. Those two were brutal!
There were another pair of people in the crowd who had an even higher amount in comparison.
A list was soon drafted and streamed after the tallying was done.
“Oh my god. First ranker Wuji has 1,292 badges. I saw him chasing others all the time, but I didn’t expect that he would kill that many!”
“The two geniuses of the Hugh Mia Academy are shocking too. They’re almost invincible as a team!”
“Sword King didn’t take out the badges? His name is almost at the end of the list. Damn!”
“Sword King is so cunning. He’s purposely hiding his strength!”
“Can he really hide his strength? Those contestants will know what happened after they watch the replays. He must have been too proud to claim the surplus of badges. Didn’t you notice how he didn’t chase after the thieves?”
“Indeed. Real experts keep a low profile. Maybe a lot of people on the list are as low-key as Sword King!”
Everybody discussed with added fervor once the list came out.
The young man carrying a wooden sword and Dragon Emperor looked at Su Ping and frowned. They suddenly felt that badges above their heads were uncomfortable.
They quickly left after the counting was done.
“Humph, the two geniuses of the Hugh Mia Academy? You can’t fight as a team in the next phase!” In the crowd—a slim young man stared at Holy King and Queen of the Seas coldly. Those two were like brilliant stars amongst them.
The others were also acting vigilant before Holy King and Queen of the Seas, making note of them.
The pair, however, looked at Su Ping, the young man who carried a wooden sword and the others, but didn’t say a thing. They left together as if they were indeed a couple.
They were rivals back in the academy.
“Those little guys are interesting.”
At the edge of the crowd—a woman who had ten identity badges above her head rolled her eyes. A thin veil covered her face, but her lovely and alluring eyes were visible; the veil was a secret treasure that could block off scanning.
She looked at the two geniuses, the young man who carried a wooden sword, and a certain woman in the crowd. Then, she chuckled and left without drawing any attention.
In the high sky.
Hai Tuo returned to his temple and remarked, “I thought a thousand contestants would manage to pass. I didn’t think they would be that brutal!”
“It was useless to waste strength on getting additional badges just for fame,” said Huan Lieshen indifferently.
He was quite delighted to see that Su Ping had only presented ten badges.
“Heh. That’s not something you would usually say. Don’t you always love a high profile?” said You Ying scornfully.
Huan Lieshen raised his eyebrows and said coldly, “You do what you can. I’m capable of keeping a high profile. Can they?”
You Ying didn’t say anything back. After all, he had always kept a low profile, which was why he disliked Huan Lieshen. He didn’t expect to find that they actually shared the same attitude.
“I hope that someone from our galaxy manages to emerge in the universal scope. Being noticed by a Celestial would bring honor to our galaxy,” said Hai Tuo to change the subject.
He was satisfied with the survival test in general; some of the contestants had the potential to rise to higher levels in his opinion.
Huan Lieshen said thoughtfully, “Don’t be happy just yet. I heard that some old guys had their reincarnations participate in the competition along with the juniors. I believe that the finals will be dominated by them.”
You Ying had a drink and narrowed his eyes. “I’ve heard about this too. It seems to be related to the Divine Sea Mysterious Realm.”
Hai Tuo frowned and said, “So have I, but the information is incomplete. It’s been blocked by our superiors. Let’s not discuss it, or the Celestial lords won’t like it. It would be for the best not to spread the rumor.”
The other two chose not to reply, but they were slightly surprised. Judging from Hai Tuo’s tone… The rumor is real?
Space suddenly trembled while they talked.
A magnificent mountain tore an opening in the void and emerged above the void continent, pushing away the spacecraft carriers in an area to take their spot.
Although it was referred to as a mountain, it was actually multiple times bigger than Rhea.
“It’s the Old Boxer!”
“He’s here? Is his heir among the contestants?”
Both Hai Tuo and Huan Lieshen looked up; the latter frowned.
Hai Tuo flashed toward the mountain and said, “Old Boxer, what brings you here?”
“Lord Hai Tuo, I’m here to pick a disciple. I hope it’s fine with you.” An old and loud voice came from the mountaintop, paired with a projection made with astral power; it was an old man who looked intimidating and untouchable.
Hai Tuo smiled and said, “Of course. You may choose anybody you want.”
“That won’t work.”
A soft voice was then heard from a place in space; the sound was as beautiful as music. Then, space was breached and a phoenix ablaze with black flames flew out of the crack. There was a palace above the phoenix’s head, and a graceful woman in it.
The fiery phoenix was so massive that its wings would have been enough to block one of the regions on the continent.
“The master of the Black Phoenix Palace is here too!”
“Two more Ascendant State experts have arrived!”
“Damn it! I should have bought a ticket!”
The audience was both shocked and excited.
You Ying frowned a bit and became grave after seeing the newcomer.
A stunned Hai Tuo asked with a smile, “Are you here to recruit disciples too, Madam Yan? If memory doesn’t fail me, I remember that the Black Phoenix Palace only accepts students with phoenix blood constitutions, right? I don’t think I’ve seen any woman with that kind of constitution this year.”