A few minutes ago, while Wang Wei and Wu Hong were distracted talking to one another, headmaster Bai Han appeared in front of all the people watching the tournament. He first swore to Heavenly Dao and his Own Dao that the Academy has nothing to do with Fan Li's affairs, then he started introducing the rules of the tournament.
"Due to the fact that the Professional Champions are not allowed in the top 30 in this year's tournament, the rules are a little different. There are currently 1920 participants in the Final Round.
"Each participant will face a randomly selected opponent. The winner will move on to the next round, while the loser will be eliminated. This process will continue until the top 30 Heaven Chosen is selected.
"Now, let the Final Round of the Heaven Chosen Selection Trial Begins."
After Bai Han made the announcement, he returned to the floating booth of the Emperor Enlightening Academy with all the other teachers. During the process, he started thinking to himself:
'Hopefully, this move can buy some breathing room for the Academy. As for the Qi of Calamity, it is obvious that Heavenly Dao is using my projected hatred for Wang Wei to ensure that I become his enemy. However, as long as I manage to prevent him from entering the Secret Realm of the Dao Tablets, I can find a way to remove it.'
After thinking about this, Bai Han sighed deeply: 'If I still had my original body with my father's protection, I would never be so easily affected by Qi of Calamity. Well, there is no need to lament about the past now. Since I have decided to completely cut off my past, then I should have no regrets.'
After Bai Han returned to his booth, the majestic fighting ring in the middle of the large stadium was divided into many different rings. In each ring, there was a projected screen made of arrays that showed two numbers--which represent the participants chosen to fight one another as they all had to randomly choose a number before the Final Round began.
The audience surrounding the fighting rings had a giant projected screen that showed all the battles simultaneously, so that they could either watch everyone at once, or focus on a particular participant.
All the people watching the tournament remotely also had similar divided screens like the members of the audiences.
Inside the floating booths, each person had their own personal divided screen with all the participants. However, this particular one had the ability to only show one match based on the choice of the user.
While Wu Hong and Wang Wei were talking, they ignored the screen as they were too focused on their discussion--even when Li Jun's fight began.
Holding his trusted spear, Li Jun walked to one of the fighting rings after his name was chosen. After only waiting for a few seconds, his opponent also appeared in front of him; it was a beautiful girl with a blue dress and a shy look on her face. However, despite her appearance, she had a firm determination in her eyes.
Taking a brief moment to recall all the information he read about all the participants of this tournament, he recognized her as a genius from a Holy Land in the Eastern Azure Dragon Continent.
Li Jun secretly sighed as he acknowledged that she was either very lucky or very talented to reach the Final Round based on her background. Nevertheless, this will not change the fact that she had reached the end of the road after meeting him.
His big brother had given him a mission to get one of the Top 30 spots, and nothing or no one could stop him from fulfilling his mission. So, as soon as the battle began, Li Jun did not say anything to his opponent; he directly attacked her.
Holding his spear in his hand, Li Jun threw it with all of his strength, turning it into a red light that flew straight to the Holy Land genius. However, she was not to be underestimated. As a person who made it to the Final Round, she was one of the people who fought against the Seeded-Players and survived. Although she no longer had the advantage of large numbers, she would not give up so easily.
So, with a wave of her hand, a group of metal gates appeared in front of her as a form of protection. Unfortunately, the gates could only stop the spear for a brief moment before they were pierced one by one.
Fortunately, she only needed this brief pause to move out of the way of the spear, thus dodging the attack.
After seeing this, Li Jun made a grabbing motion with his hand, then his spear disappeared from the distance before appearing in his hand. Then, he made a circular motion with the spear while holding it with one hand.
Following which, more than ten spears materialized in front of him--an act which made the Holy Land genius's face become very ugly. Without hesitation, she encased herself in a very dense spherical metal shield.
Her actions were correct as soon as she finished, the first spear hit her. Immediately, she coughed a big mouthful of blood. Although she managed to defend the attack, the aftershock still penetrated her defense and injured her.
Then, her nightmare began.
Boom!
Nine explosions followed the nine spears as they attacked her metal shield. A cloud of dust enveloped her following the explosions, thus impeding the sight of the audience. Few seconds after the dust was swept away by the blowing wind, the Holy Land genius could be seen.
She was half kneeling on the ground with blood all over her body and partly destroyed clothes. Her hair was messy, and pieces of metals could be seen scattered next to her. She struggled to get up from her floor, but she was incapable of doing so.
Li Jun frowned after seeing this, then he said: "You should give up this fight; there is no need to risk your life for a battle that you know you will lose."
However, she did not immediately answer him as a metal rod appeared in her hand, which she used as support to get up from the ground.
"You do not understand," she replied with a firm determination on her face. "I have too many people counting on me; I cannot fail now."
As she said these words, she gave a brief glance at a particular glance in the audience where a group of disciples were looking at her with both worry and encouraging eyes.
"Everyone who can reach this level in the tournament has some sort of emotional support or conviction driving them forwards," replied Li Jun calmly. "This does not change the fact that you are weak and unable to win this battle. However, if you give up and save your life, then you still have a chance in the future. After all, one failure does not mean everything."
Unfortunately, she ignored his warning; her metal rod turned red as if wanting to melt. However, the metal still remained in the shape of a rod, just giving up a powerful heat.
After seeing this, Li Jun sighed, but did not say anything more. He moved his body and to the Holy Land genius' horror, Li Jun instantly appeared in front of her. Before she could even react, a spear pierced her heart and completely annihilated it.
She vomited a big mouthful of blood that landed all over Li Jun' spear. She had an incredible look on face for a moment, then she fell on her back, blood splattered all over the arena; until the end, she could not understand how she lost so easily.
Her last thoughts before dying were: 'Is the difference between ordinary geniuses and these Heaven Chosens so vast? I am not willing, I am not willing!"
As for Li Jun, he just looked at her for a brief moment before leaving the fighting ring; he had already given his opponent the chance to retreat intact. Since she was willing to fight for her conviction, then she was also willing to die for it. The Path of Cultivation has never been a peaceful one, let alone for the Heaven Chosens treading on the Path of Emperor.
Just like that, after a few hours, the first group match ended, and only 960 participants left. Just like that, the tournament continued for a few days, and Li Jun easily beat most of his opponents--until there were only 60 people left.
Li Jun was excited as he needed only one more win to enter the Top 30 and acquire the token that granted him access to the 3000 Dao Tablets. Then, his big brother can use it to further his Path of the Emperor.
Li Jun was standing in one of the arena waiting for his next opponent with a little excitement deep in his eyes. However, when he saw the person who showed up, he said with a grave voice:
"It's you!"