A Chaotic World

Chapter 129: Free For All

As the qualifiers progressed, Lu Tianzi continued to win his matches, using each opponent to hone his sabre mastery bit by bit.

His opponents, offended by how Lu Tianzi was acting during such an event, started to make moves that grew increasingly ruthless against him.

After all, it was one thing to lose to others, but it was a completely different feeling to realise that the other party had been treating you as mere stepping stone from the start.

What Lu Tianzi was doing was akin to humiliating them before the eyes of the spectators at the grandest martial meeting in the entire kingdom!

How could they not feel offended?

Yet in spite of all that, there was nothing they could do to stop Lu Tianzi as he continued to rack up his wins.

The Peak Essence Condensation realm martial artists in the group were disgusted by his actions as well. But no matter how much they wanted to teach him a lesson, the rules of the qualifiers dictated that they would never meet on the fighting platform.

Or at least not in the qualifiers.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he advanced to the next stage!

By now, Lu Tianzi could feel that his sabre mastery had risen to a whole new level.

It was still slightly lacking as compared to his sword mastery, but that was only to be expected.

After all, something like improving weapon proficiency was not something that could be rushed. Only by practising over time would he truly be able to internalise the use of the weapon, making it feel as natural as an extension of his own arm.

In a way, Lu Tianzi had gotten lucky in that what General Xionghao demonstrated was the sabre mastery training technique instead of a more profound sabre art.

Otherwise, performing the profound sabre art would have required in depth knowledge on how it worked, and Lu Tianzi would no longer have been able to steal it for his own.

Now, how nice would it be if some senior could just step onto the main platform and demonstrate a spear mastery training technique

Of course, things did not go that smoothly for him. But no matter, he was satisfied with just improving on his sabre mastery for now!

"Those of you from group three listen up! I will now be announcing the people who will be advancing!" a judge called out. "At the Peak Essence Condensation realm."

One by one, the judges said out the names of those who had advanced.

The number of slots for those who advanced certainly favoured those who were at a higher cultivation level.

There were two from the Peak Essence Condensation realm, two from the Advanced Essence Condensation realm, but only one each from the Intermediate and Primary Essence Condensation realms.

A total of six participants progressed from a pool of dozens.

With zero losses under his belt, Lu Tianzi was naturally included in the list.

"Return to your seats for now and rest up! Be sure to be in your top condition so that you can showcase your fullest capabilities later!" the judge reminded out of goodwill.

Lu Tianzi naturally returned to his seat as instructed, ignoring the deathstares from those in his group who had failed to advance.

Apart from his group, the qualifiers for the other groups quickly came to an end as well.

Among the group from Bluenight City, only Nanlan Qianxue, Nanhuang Jiansheng, Lu Tianzi, and one more Peak Essence Condensation realm martial artist from the Bluenight Palace managed to advance to the next stage.

This meant that even Nanqing Haowen had been eliminated.

"Perhaps I really should hurry and find a contract beast when I return" Nanqing Haowen lamented as he returned to his seat.

Contract beasts were beast companions that shared a blood connection with martial artists, and were considered part of their strength as well. Though rarely seen, it was generally accepted for them to fight alongside their masters in martial competitions.

"Don't be too depressed about it. You are just unlucky to have been placed in a group with other monsters," Nanlan Qianxue consoled him.

The qualifiers were not exactly fair after all. Each person's results depended heavily on the strength level of the other members within the group.

Since the groupings were given at random, it could be said that their luck played a vital role.

"Yeah perhaps," Nanqing Haowen sighed helplessly before forcing out a smile. "On the bright side, at least our top three rankers of the Nine Suns Trial all managed to advance!"

"Tch!" Nancheng Shu immediately clicked his tongue in irritation.

He was already frustrated enough to be eliminated, and now he just had to be reminded that he had been kicked out of the top three back then as well.

Similarly, Nanlan Qianbing glared at Nanqing Haowen with piercing eyes.

She was only at the Peak Essence Building realm, but there was no such category for her. Thus, she was forced to compete at the same level as other Primary Essence Condensation realm martial artists.

With such a disadvantage, she naturally failed to come out on top.

Even though it was still a good experience for her, few would be able to think about it in such a positive manner.

Feeling the anger shooting at him from all angles, Nanqing Haowen felt extremely wronged.

He had been eliminated as well!

Why did it suddenly feel like he was the bad guy?

At this point, the first part of the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet was just about to come to an end. After which, it would finally be their turn to take centre stage!

But even if there were only six members who advanced from each group, it would still make up to hundreds of participants!

Just how would the arrangement for the next stage be like?

Not just those of the younger generation, but even those of the older generation were starting to get curious.

It did not take long before everyone got their answers.

The answer was a free for all battle royal!

The spectators cheered wildly in anticipation of the grand fight, but the participants had mixed feelings about it.

After all, there were far too many unknowns in such a setting!

Those who were confident in their own capabilities might end up being ganged up upon and eliminated prematurely. On the other hand, those who were weaker now had a chance to survive longer if they just played it smart and avoided the stronger opponents.

On top of it all, there was one important factor that would definitely come into play each participant's personal influence level.

As long as one was able to form a huge alliance, it would be easy for them to sweep through the battle royal, making sure that everyone in the group lasted till the end.

This meant that those who had a stronger network would have the clear advantage!

In that case, was it still suitable to call it a free for all?

Thus in order to maintain the fairness of the battle royal, something needed to be done.

And for that purpose, the Scarlet Moon Overlord had worked together with Formation Master Beimu, taking a few days' time to create a huge formation that encompassed the entire main platform.

Weng-!

The formation let out a low buzz upon its activation, and a dim green light was emanated from the ground. If one were to look down from the skies, one would be able to see that the lights formed up into an emblem of light of grand proportions.

As the participants went down towards the main platform, they were given a small slip of paper each.

This slip of blank paper looked ever so unimpressive, and yet it seemed to contain a mysterious link to the glowing formation under their feet.

"When you are ready, sit down comfortably before tearing up the paper," the judge instructed after everyone entered the range of the formation.

Hearing the instructions, Lu Tianzi and the other three from Bluenight City quickly found a free spot to settle down.

But just as they were getting ready, a malicious voice suddenly sounded out in Lu Tianzi's ears.

"Watch out while you are in there. I might just accidentally knock you out while I am busy fighting others!"

Lu Tianzi immediately glanced over at Beihua Wanlei, who was sneering at him.

"If you wish to fight, I welcome you with open arms!" Lu Tianzi conveyed his voice back defiantly, causing the other party's countenance to turn even darker.

"Overestimating yourself!" Beihua Wanlei snorted in contempt before finding another spot to sit down.

"Let's stick together when we are in there. This way we will be able to last longer." Nanhuang Jiansheng suggested.

The other three nodded.

They naturally knew as well that they would stand a greater chance by acting as a group.

Before long, the hundreds of participants had all been seated on the ground, quietly facing towards the main platform.

"Participants, please proceed!" the judge announced.

On his cue, every participant brought up the slip of paper before them and decisively tore it into two.

Weng-!

As if it had just received a huge stimulus, the light emblem of the formation intensified for a moment, casting out a light that blinded the eyes of the spectators.

Thankfully, it was only for a moment.

When the light intensity returned to its previous level, the participants could see that every participant now had their eyes closed, as if they were deep in meditation.

Instead, hundreds of faceless figures had now appeared on the main platform!

The features of each faceless figure were blurred and impossible to make out. Their clothes were shrouded behind a mysterious dark shade. Even their genders had to be estimated from looking at the rough shape of their figures.

At this point, everyone looked almost exactly the same, and it was practically impossible to identify anyone they knew!

The Scarlet Moon Overlord grinned in satisfaction as he took in this sight.

He turned towards Formation Master Beimu who was seated not far away from him and spoke. "Good job, Formation Master Beimu."

"It is all thanks to Your Majesty's assistance," Formation Master Beimu stood up and bowed towards the king.

"Hahaha! Without your knowledge of formations, how would this even be possible?" the Scarlet Moon Overlord laughed. "After the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet ends, you will naturally receive your reward!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Formation Master Beimu smiled gently before calmly sitting down once again.

But back on the main platform, the participants were not nearly as calm as her.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I'm on the main platform now? But how?"

"Damn, is this some kind of test? Do I have to defeat all these faceless figures?"

"What's wrong with your voices? Wait, what's wrong with my voice as well?"

Regardless of age or gender, all of them were now speaking with the exact same voice.

"Look! Our bodies are still outside! Is this an illusion then?"

Just like everyone else, Lu Tianzi immediately turned his vision outside of the main platform in search of his own body.

He knew exactly where he had sat down earlier, so he was able to find his body instantly.

It was a strange sensation to look at his own body from an external point of view, but Lu Tianzi immediately shifted his attention back to his current self.

If his body was right there, then whose body was he in right now?

Sinking his perception into his inner world, Lu Tianzi was surprised to find that it was in the exact same state as his actual body!

No, that was not it.

It would be more accurate to say that by probing his inner world, he was actually probing that of his actual body.

He could feel a temporary spatial link that transmitted information to and fro between his actual body and his current body.

This meant that through some form of spatial manipulation, his current body was actually an avatar of his actual body!

As for the actual mechanics behind it, Lu Tianzi had no idea how it worked.

Next, he swept his perception into his spatial ring. As expected, due to the temporary spatial link, even the items within his spatial ring could be accessed.

At this point, Lu Tianzi could not help but let out a silent gasp of admiration.

It was actually possible to pull off such a feat using the power of formations?

Unfortunately, he could only feel this spatial link on his own body.

When he tried to probe the nearest person with his perception, Lu Tianzi was completely unable to sense its spatial link, making it impossible to identify whose avatar it was.

With that, identifying their own allies was going to be a real pain.

At this rate, it seemed that in spite of the worries, things were quickly headed in the direction of a true battle royal after all!