“Cultivators like us may live ten thousand years and witness the rise of a planet. I’m only 38, and still you think I’m old?”
Su Jin’er gnashed her teeth furiously. Shouldn’t he have complimented me for reaching such a level while barely being 38?
“Even if you’re immortal, you’re not a girl anymore. You’re a 38-year-old woman,” said Su Ping solemnly.
“…”
Su Jin’er almost collapsed. What kind of inconsiderate statement was that?
She looked young and vigorous, having devoted herself to cultivation. She would attract a lot of attention every time she went out. Still, Su Ping had solemnly informed her that she was no longer a girl.
She was too angry to talk to him anymore!
“You’re doomed to spend the rest of your life alone. You won’t be able to find a woman, no, any female!” Su Jin’er stomped in fury and left.
Su Ping suddenly called out to her, “Wait a moment.”
“Why? Do you want to apologize?” Su Jin’er turned around and looked less angry.
“That fruit plate is not bad. Where did you get it? Why don’t you leave it here?”
“Get lost!!”
…
Half a day passed quickly.
Time was measured according to the standard time of the Federation. There was sufficient sunlight outside the Celestial Court; daytime was actually much longer than nighttime.
The shift between day and night was controlled by an Ascendant State expert, who was an important general under Lord Supreme.
During that half day—
Everybody was summoned to gather at the palace and then forbidden from leaving the place; the participants either rested or looked at the distance, eager to see Lord Supreme.
However, the latter never showed up; only the contestants from other galaxies were allowed to enter the palace.
Before the start of the matches—
Ciro appeared in the temple and gathered Silvy’s contestants. He looked around and said gravely, “I’ve asked about the rules of the competition. Due to the time constraints, Lord Supreme has decided to adopt the massive elimination mode to screen out the elites as soon as possible.”
“Massive elimination?”
Everybody’s heart became heavy when they heard that.
That meant that the match would be very cruel!
The previous stages of the competition had been arranged in a way that contestants would compete for several months. Some of them would often grasp something new during that time, which would significantly strengthen them.
However, if they were to fight all the others from the very beginning, many would be knocked out immediately.
“The match will be a random fight!”
Ciro said solemnly, “You’re free to attack anyone until the last hundred remain in the battlefield that Lord Supreme has prepared for you. Once the top hundred players of the Golden Star Zone are decided, you will go to the finals of the universe and fight geniuses of other star zones for the final championship!”
Hiss!
Everybody gasped. Only a hundred of them would be left in the end?
Dozens of galaxies had sent representatives to that place; all of them were as large as Silvy. The collective sum of all their top hundred players amounted to thousands of people!
The reduction of several thousand to one hundred would be a crazy process!
The previous filtering had often taken one or two months. And yet, the top hundred players would be chosen in a single elimination round this time!
“Well…”
“This is unbelievable! I have a feeling that I’ll be knocked out really quickly!”
“Your feeling is right on the money.”
“…”
The contestants looked at each other in bewilderment; many were bitter and panicked. It hadn’t been easy for them to reach the Celestial Court; still, they were about to be eliminated before they had a chance to meet Lord Supreme. It was an awful feeling!
In the crowd—Holy King, Dragon Emperor, Hayalim and the others frowned; the elimination rate was also exerting a lot of pressure on them.
“I think you can try to survive on the battlefield as a group if we want to increase our galaxy’s odds of winning.”
Seeing the panic and bitterness on their faces, Ciro said solemnly, “You’ll be teleported to random parts of the battlefield at the beginning of the match. I hope you can regroup as soon as possible; you will only have a chance to survive by supporting each other as a group.”
“As a group?”
Everybody was slightly stunned after hearing that. Then, all of them turned to look at Su Ping and Su Jin’er. If it was going to be a group fight, Su Ping and Su Jin’er would undoubtedly be the greatest help they could count on.
“That is correct.”
Ciro continued, “I believe the other galaxies will adopt a similar approach. You won’t even have a chance to heal yourselves if you fight as individuals. You may get knocked out even if you have the capability to rise to the top hundred.”
He glanced at Su Ping, Dragon Emperor and a few others while he spoke. He was obviously telling those geniuses that it would be better for them not to be condescending, or consider others as burdens, since that would be completely useless and counterproductive.
Su Ping’s expression changed a bit, but he remained silent; he wouldn’t mind being in a group as long as he got to advance.
“I’ve refined a secret treasure for each of you. You can detect each other through this treasure. Your phones will be blocked during the match, and you can’t communicate with each other without this treasure.”
Ciro raised his hand, and then a hundred crimson red badges showed up.
He waved his hand, then the badges flew toward the contestants.
“The badge will become red if you’re close to each other; the closer you are, the redder it’ll be. It will turn black if you’re too far away,” said Ciro. “Use a drop of your blood to mark the badge; that way it can only be used by you.”
Everybody held the crimson badge; they felt that it was considerably hot. Fortunately, all of them were all battle pet warriors; they had enough astral power to resist the heat.
At this moment, Ciro called out to Su Ping, “Su Ping.” Everybody was stunned; all eyes were focusing on Su Ping.
Su Ping looked at the expert, clearly surprised.
Ciro looked back at him and said, “You’re the pride of Silvy, and the strongest genius in our galaxy. I hope you can shoulder your responsibility and help others when possible. Our lord and I will give you great rewards if anyone survives to the end because of your help!”
Su Ping’s eyes flashed. He nodded and said, “I’ll do my best.”
He didn’t make any promises. There was no need for him to slow down for them if they proved to be liabilities.
“That’ll be great,” Ciro nodded and said solemnly. Naturally, he wouldn’t give Su Ping any orders. It would be a great loss for their galaxy if Su Ping was eliminated because of an order of his!”
“The same goes to the rest of you. Remember, if the others stick together as teams, you will fail soon if you end up fighting as individuals; you will only get to stay if you help each other!” said Ciro to Su Jin’er, Linghu Jian, Dragon Emperor and the others.
All of them accepted the suggestion.
…
Everybody turned to look at each other after Ciro left. Many moved closer to Su Ping and Su Jin’er. Some were gathered around Holy King, Dragon Emperor and the others when they saw that Su Ping and Su Jin’er were already surrounded.
“Boss Su, please take care of me if we meet on the battlefield!”
Claesabe was the first to approach Su Ping and smile at him obsequiously. He was third on the Royal Rank and a condescending genius to boot. However, he had already changed his attitude in the presence of such a monster as Su Ping, deciding to seek his help should the need arise.
A real man knew when to lower his head.
“Okay.” Su Ping nodded, as he was already well acquainted with the guy; he would help him if he could.
“Brother Su, I hope you can take care of me too. The Knight King family will forever remember your favor. We will build a sculpture of you in our Hall of Honor.” Ibetaluna moved closer with friendliness and sincerity on her face.
Su Ping nodded. “Of course.”
“Brother Su, my name is Royce; I’m from the Iron Wing family on Moonfall. I hope you can take care of me if we get to meet on the field; I’ll definitely reward you properly after we come back…” said a young man with a fawning smile.
“Brother Su, I am Han Yue. I’m from the King Han family on the Heavenly King planet. I hope we can…”
“Brother Su, I…”
Many men approached Su Ping and introduced themselves, politely seeking protection. Their odds of survival would significantly improve if they received Su Ping’s protection and joined his group. It would be even better if they rose to the top hundred while riding his coattails!
If that came to pass, their entire families would be excited upon their return; all their respective resources would be at their full disposal.
“Okay, okay…”
Su Ping nodded quickly. He didn’t mind being friendly, as long as they didn’t hold him back.
Nearby—Su Jin’er was also surrounded by a lot of people.
Linghu Jian, Dragon Emperor and the others were accompanied by fewer people; there were only a handful of them.
Dragon Emperor, Oasis Gray and the others wore complicated expressions after seeing that most people had approached Su Ping and Su Jin’er. Still, they were rendered speechless upon remembering the performances of those two. Even they had the thought of joining those two.
After all, proud as they were, they knew they couldn’t compare to Su Ping or Su Jin’er, and they didn’t know if there were other contestants as horrifying as they were in other galaxies.
If there was any, they would surely be eliminated if they ran into them.
However, despite the thought, they were too proud to lower their heads; they thought they would be able to handle the situation on the battlefield.
Soon after—
An ancient and loud tolling of the bell resounded.
The tolling seemed to originate from a distant time and space. If one were to listen to it carefully, it would become evident that it originated from the deeper spaces and was eventually weakened, so that it remained loud and clear without hurting any of the listeners.
Soon, someone realized that the tolling was not really a sound, but a mental invasion.
Once the bell tolls were heard, everybody realized that the match was about to start.
Soon, someone exclaimed, “Look, what’s that?”
They saw a huge opening in the void, right in front of the magnificent Celestial Court, which then revealed the deeper spaces behind.
There was an extremely vast land in the deeper spaces.
The land was a thousand times larger than the continent where they had fought, back in Silvy!
Even a planet would be as insignificant as a hill on that deep-space territory.
However, the piece of land was just like a pond in front of the Celestial Court; it was only one third as large as the Celestial Court.
“This is where you’re going to fight,” Ciro appeared unpredictably again and said, “Prepare to fight. Remember to help and support each other. You belong to the same galaxy.”
“Yes, sir,” the group simultaneously replied.
The next moment, several daunting men flew over from the Celestial Court. All of them were evidently Ascendants!