At the outer square, many of the Outer Disciples were excited because of Duan Jingtian.
Be it the disciples of the Sky Alliance or the other disciples, they were all thrilled.
Duan Jingtian was the idol of all the disciples.
Duan Jingtian was someone the disciples looked up to.
Duan Jingtian was the benchmark for all the disciples.
“Senior Brother Duan!”
“Senior Brother Duan!”
“…”
The noise was deafening, and people were screaming for Duan Jingtian and many of the disciples were excited.
Duan Jingtian’s popularity in Gale Island reached a level of absurdity.
Even the elders at the Spectator Stand were surprised.
Duan Jingtian was indeed the leader of the young generation in Gale Island.
Su Mo quietly stood at where he was and frowned upon seeing this scene.
Duan Jingtian’s presence was not to his advantage.
Gradually, Su Mo started to relax.
At the battle ring, he would be having a fair competition with the disciples of the Sky Alliance, so Duan Jingtian should not be able to interfere!
Duan Jingtian looked composed and stood at the pavilion, oblivious to the cheers of the disciples.
He seemed used to it.
Wherever he went, he would be in the limelight.
Time passed by slowly.
After 30 minutes, the First Elder stood up from the Spectator Stand.
“Silence!”
After everyone had quietened down, the First Elder started to speak.
“There are two parts to this finals, the Points Match and the Tournament. The Points Match will proceed concurrently at the five battle stations and two people with the highest scores from each team will enter into the top 10.
“The Tournament will determine the positions of the top ten Outer Disciples.
“We’ll start with the Points Match, with 20 people in each team. There’ll be a total of 19 rounds and each round will have 10 combats. The winner will get one point and if it’s a draw, no points will be given. The loser will have one point deducted.
“Now, the 100 disciples shall begin to draw lots to get into their teams.”
After the First Elder had ended his speech, the disciples went forth to draw lots.
Su Mo was surprised that even at the finals, they were still divided into teams for the combat.
Although this method saved time, it was not fair at all.
This was because, if a few top 10 Outer Disciples had been grouped into the same team, someone would have been kicked out much earlier.
If they were at the same battle station and had gone through the 99 rounds of competition with 50 combats per round, that would be the fairest method.
However, to do that would need a few days to end the competition.
Actually, Su Mo need not worry about this.
All the elders had already taken this into consideration.
The top 10 Outer Disciples drew lots and were scattered into five different teams, with two of them in each team.
Su Mo was in team two.
There was no numbering system for the Points Match, so everyone had to combat with the other 19 people.
After drawing lots, Su Mo went to the second battle station and waited patiently.
He Yangjun walked towards the second battle station as well. The moment he saw Su Mo, he sneered at him.
“Hahaha! Su Mo, we’re in the same team! I can’t wait to take you on!”
He Yangjun was very happy. To be in the same team meant that he would combat with Su Mo.
Once that happened, he thought he would insult Su Mo!
There were two other youths with He Yangjun whose cultivations were of the Peak Lv 6 Spiritual Martial Realm.
These two were disciples of the Sky Alliance, in team two as well.
“Senior Brother He, you can take a rest, we’ll deal with him!”
One of them in purple grinned and said, “Su Mo, since you like to have life-and-death battles, why don’t we have one later?”
A murderous look flashed across the eyes of the youth in purple. He knew that Su Mo would agree to it.
Su Mo was audacious and arrogant, and he would definitely accept the challenge.
“Su Mo, do you dare to? If you don’t, you can drop out of the competition!”
Another youth in black sneered.
Upon hearing this, Su Mo glanced at them and said, “I’ll grant you your wish!”
Su Mo immediately agreed. Even if they had not put forth the request, he would have done so.
Seeing that Su Mo had agreed, the few of them were very happy.
Even if Su Mo had not agreed, they would not let him off at the battle ring.
It would be better though if he had agreed.
After all of them were divided into teams, they were ready to start the competition.
In team two where Su Mo was, other than He Yangjun, there was another top 10 Outer Disciple.
This person was Fei Kuang, in the fifth position among the top 10 Outer Disciples.
Upon seeing Fei Kuang, Su Mo thought of the disciple of the Scorching Sun Sect, Shi Long, whom he had met at Guanwu City.
Fei Kuang and Shi Long had the same built, about two meters tall, looked rough and strong, and were very aggressive.
“Body-refining Expert!”
Su Mo was certain that this man was a Body-refining Expert.
“Hahaha! There seemed to be no expert in team two!”
Fei Kuang came to the second battle station, looked at Su Mo and the others, and laughed.
“Huh! Fei Kuang, don’t be too proud!”
Seeing Fei Kuang behaving so arrogantly, He Yangjun said coldly.
Fei Kuang commented that there was no expert in team two, so obviously he was looking down on him.
“Why? He Yangjun, you don’t agree?”
Fei Kuang belittled He Yangjun and said, “In this team, you’re the only one who may be able to spar with me for a while. Let me see if you’ve improved!”
“Huh! I’ll not disappoint you!” He Yangjun said coldly.
He Yangjun was obviously not as powerful as Fei Kuang who was in the fifth position among the top 10 Outer Disciples.
He knew how powerful Fei Kuang was. He could easily defeat a martial artist of the Lv 7 Spiritual Martial Realm with just a few strokes.
He Yangjun had no confidence dealing with such an expert.
However, He Yangjun was not worried. Even if he had lost to Fei Kuang, he could still enter into the top 10.
This was because in every team, two people could enter into the top 10 and in team two, other than Fei Kuang, no one could defeat him!
The top 10 Outer Disciples had been scattered into the following teams.
Team one: Lu Shaoyun and Duan Bingye.
Team two: Fei Kuang and He Yangjun.
Team three: Yi Xiaoguang and Li Jiandong.
Team four: Nangong Linjue and Mei Ling.
Team five: Ling Muchen and Gu Zhan.
“The competition starts now!”
After the people got into their teams, the Deacon announced.
“The first team, Zhang Zhengqing vs. Lu Shaoyun.”
“Second team, He Yangjun vs. Wang Yu.”
“Third team…”
“…”
The disciples whose names had been called went up to the battle ring.
The whole square went into silence.
Everyone gave full attention to the combat. Those in the finals were very powerful and it would be a combat worth watching.
At the first battle station, Lu Shaoyun had lived up to his reputation as an expert, being in the sixth position among the top 10 Outer Disciples.
In just five strokes, he had defeated his opponent.
At the second battle station, He Yangjun was very powerful. In three strokes, his opponent was badly injured by his blades and quickly escaped from the battle ring.
As compared to the first two battle stations, the other three battle stations took more time for the winners to emerge.
For the first round of combat in the other three battle stations, none of the top 10 Outer Disciples were involved. As the strength of the disciples were about the same level, it took a longer time to compete.
“First team, Duan Bingye vs. Yu Kun!”
“Second team, Su Mo vs. Kang Liang.”
Upon hearing his name being called, Su Mo smiled and in a flash he was at the battle ring.
Su Mo’s opponent reached the battle ring about the same time as him.
“Huh?”
When Su Mo saw the opponent for his first combat, he was surprised.
He was none other than the youth in purple, one of the two disciples of the Sky Alliance.
