There were no houses, no streets, and no residents in the ancient city.
Once they entered the city, they came straight to a gigantic arena.
“Oh my god! This is the Archean Fighting Ring?”
“It’s so majestic!” Shocked voices were continuously heard.
Everyone who was here for the first time was astonished by what they saw.
When Su Mo walked into the arena and glanced around. He was also startled.
This was a huge and majestic ancient arena filled with the breath of ancient alterations. It was as if one arrived at a post-archean mythic era.
The ground of the arena was made of grayish-white masonry which was neither gold nor jade, but its solidity was comparable to an average Lv 3 weapon.
The arena had a radius of 50 kilometers. There were five black fighting rings that were several dozen meters tall each at the center. Every fighting ring was 2.5 kilometers wide. The structure of the fighting rings allowed any martial artist within the True Spirit Realm to fight freely.
In front of the center fighting ring stood a 50 meters tall white stone pillar. The stone pillar was segregated into 10 sections, the higher the section, the thinner it was.
The first section’s radius was five meters and the last section was only as thick as an arm. No one knew the purpose of the stone pillar.
The fighting rings were surrounded by magnificent spectators stand. It was several hundred meters tall and consisted of 99 levels that surrounded the entire arena.
This arena could accommodate an audience of one million. Of course, an average martial artist at the Spiritual Martial Realm would have limited vision and would not be able to watch beyond 10 miles away from the stand.
The whole arena was majestic and magnificent. Its aura shot into the sky as if it was bright as the sun.
“Since it has existed since the post-archean era, the Archean Fighting Ring’s history is longer than any power in Hong Domain by a hundred times!” Elder Wei told Su Mo. “It’s run by the Sky-sea Pavilion now!”
“The Sky-sea Pavilion controls this fighting arena?” Su Mo was surprised.
Elder Wei shook his head and said, “Not controlling, but hosting. No one can actually control the Holy City of Top 100 since the post-archean era.”
“The Sky-sea Pavilion has been the organizer for the Top-100-talent Competition in every domain all these years. All the Lists of Top 100 Talents, the List of Top 1,000 Talents in East Continent, and even the List of Top 10,000 Continental Talents are hosted by the Sky-sea Pavilion.”
Su Mo nodded. The Legend of Firmament that they sold had written about the three lists.
According to the Legend of Firmament, the Sky-sea Pavilion was only second to the nine superpowers in Firmament and Continent. They had shops all over the world.
Su Mo never thought that the organizer of the Top-100-talent Competition was actually the Sky-sea Pavilion.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
At this moment, a dozen shadows broke through the sky and landed in the center of the fighting ring.
There were seniors and middle-aged men among this group of people, and every one of them had an unfathomable aura.
Su Mo recognized one of them. He was Immortal Wande. He was the one who went to Skymoon Country to distribute the quota for the Top-100-talent Competition.
The leader of the group was an elderly man with white hair and a ruddy complexion who looked harmonious. However, his aura trembled the surroundings.
“My respect to Pavilion Leader Zhuang!” Countless senior martial artists paid their due respects to the ruddy-faced elder.
Even those strong martial artists at the Enlightenment Realm among the Seven Overlords also paid their due respects to him.
“Everyone, don’t stand on ceremony!” The elder waved his hand.
“Su Mo, he’s Secondary Pavilion Leader Zhuang of the Sky-sea Pavilion in the Hong Domain. He is a martial artist at Peak of the Ninth Level of the Enlightenment Realm.” Elder Wei told Su Mo.
“Peak of the Ninth Level of the Enlightenment Realm!” Su Mo narrowed his eyes. With his strength, the elder must be amongst the strongest in the entirety of the Hong Domain.
On the fighting ring, Secondary Pavilion Leader Zhuang glanced around and shouted loudly, “Everyone, it’s getting late. We’ll rest here for the night, and the competition will commence tomorrow at dawn.”
His powerful voice echoed throughout the arena.
One night of rest would allow everyone to fight at their best once the competition starts.
Moments later, Secondary Pavilion Leader Zhuang briefly explained the rules and regulations of the competition. Subsequently, everyone went to find a spot to rest.
Those from Gale Island sat down at a small area on the east side of the spectators stand.
Su Mo sat at the spectators stand and glanced through the four sides that were packed with hundreds of thousands of martial artists. He was secretly amazed by the scale of the Top-100-talent Competition.
There were four thousand talents participating in the Top-100-talent Competition.
There were 30 places for each of the 29 small countries, and 200 places for each of the six big countries. 100 places were given to each of the seven superpowers as well. Other than that, a couple dozen places were given to each of the dozens of powerful forces from the Great Hong Empire.
These four thousand talents represented the best from their respective powers to fight for the top 100 positions. Even Su Mo was surging with excitement when he thought about it.
After a short while, Su Mo abandoned all distractions, sat cross-legged on the spacious ground, and continued to cultivate and refine his Nirvana Sword Qi.
A night of silence passed. The fighting arena was fired up again once dawn arrived.
Below the north side of the spectators stand, there was a tall platform where the judges from Sky-sea Pavilion sat.
As dawn broke, a middle-aged man stood up and announced loudly, “The first segment of Top-100-talent Competition shall now begin!”
“The first segment of Top-100-talent Competition, the battle of the talents shall begin now!”
His powerful and clear voice echoed throughout the entire Archean Fighting Ring.
The whole arena became quiet instantly.
According to the competition rules and regulations, the Top-100-talent Competition had two segments. The first segment was a battle of the talents and the second segment was dueling.
The battle of talents was to test the talent of all participants. The participants whose talents fell behind the top 500 would be directly disqualified.
This segment was also known as the talent elimination match.
It was crueler in the sense that participants would be disqualified regardless of their strength.
However, this situation rarely happened. Without sufficient talent, it was unlikely for one to be strong at all, much less obtaining a place for the Top-100-talent Competition.
Honestly speaking, Su Mo was quite perturbed by this segment.
Although he had extraordinary combat strength, his talent might not be able to enter the top 500.
Even though his Martial Soul had achieved Rank 3 Earth Class, everyone else was equally talented.
Swoosh!
After the middle-aged man from the Sky-sea Pavilion finished, he flew to the front of the Central Fighting Ring and landed below the 50 meters tall, white stone pillar.
“All participants, please step forward and take out your jade tournament badge, then test your talent one by one.” The middle-aged man shouted.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
In a few breaths, all the talents flew toward the stone pillar, including Su Mo.
“I’ll go first!” A burly young man was the first to walk up. He had heard about the testing pillar for the Top-100-talent Competition that could clearly test the talent of a martial artist. He had wanted to try it for a long time.
The burly young man walked in front of the testing pillar and placed his palm onto it.
Buzz! Buzz!
As the burly young man placed his palm on the testing pillar, the bottom eight sections of the testing pillar suddenly lit up with a teal light.
Soon after, a few words suddenly appeared on his jade tournament badge.
Rank 8 Teal Class!
“Rank 8 Teal Class talent. His talent is very strong!”
“That’s right! His talent will have no problem ranking within the top 500!” Upon seeing the results of the burly young man, many people at the spectators stand started whispering.
A martial artist’s talent was segregated into nine levels with nine different colors. From the bottom to the top: red, orange, yellow, green, teal, blue, purple, golden, rainbow.
For every level, there were 10 ranks and every section on the testing pillar represented a different rank.
He activated the testing pillar to light up eight sections of teal glow and so his talent was Rank 8 Teal Class.
After he was done, all the participants came up one by one for the testing.
Yun Jiankong, from the Sky Rapier Sect, his talent was Rank 7 Teal Class!
Han Yijian’s talent was Rank 2 Blue Class!
Jia Yuanji’s talent was Rank 3 Blue Class!
Those who had participated in the last competition were well aware of their own talents, so they passed the testing very quickly.
Soon, it was Duan Jingtian’s turn. Su Mo narrowed his eyes as he looked forward to seeing Duan Jingtian’s talent.
Buzz~
As Duan Jingtian placed his palm to the testing pillar, the testing pillar immediately lit up with five sections of blue color.
Duan Jingtian’s talent was Rank 5 Blue Class!
“Rank 5 Blue Class talent! Who is this guy? He has such a strong talent!”
“His talent actually surpassed Jia Yuanji!” Exclaimed many people from the spectator’s stand.
Duan Jingtian was not famous in the Hong Domain, and yet his talent surpassed Jia Yuanji, who was ranked 49th on the List of Top 100 Talents!