Chapter 208: King of the Preliminaries

February 8th, 7:40 PM, the underground martial arts room of the villa where Li Yuan was staying.

Light screen projection formed.

"Global University Martial Arts Competition 2044 (Virtual Battle) Schedule and Rules," Li Yuan muttered while clicking on the file.

Immediately, a large amount of text appeared on the light screen projection:

"Since the 2009 Global Martial Arts Competition virtual battle, we have upheld fairness and justice..." Li Yuan quickly skipped the thousand-plus words of nonsense at the beginning.

His gaze fell on the most critical schedule and rules.

"In the virtual battle, the physical fitness of all participants is the same, the strength of the weapons used is the same, and weapons can be chosen arbitrarily... What is tested is combat awareness, combat experience, and skill."

"The virtual battle will be held on the Starry Sky Fighting Network. At that time, a special 'Global University Martial Arts Competition Space' will be opened, and any student from any martial arts university in any country in the world will be able to watch the battle."

"Registration time ends at 8:00 AM Blue Star time on February 7th."

"Registration conditions:..."

"The entire virtual battle will be divided into four major stages: preliminaries, melee competition, knockout competition, and finals."

"The preliminaries will be held globally at 8:00 PM on February 8th. Only individual scores will be made public, not the specific combat process. Participants with a final score of over 4000 points will be eligible to enter the melee competition."

"The melee competition will be open to the public. All martial arts university students can randomly choose participants to watch. Based on the number of people who pass the preliminaries, they will be evenly distributed into ten 'Star Realm Battlefields'. Anyone who takes first place in battlefield points will directly enter the finals stage."

"And in each Star Realm Battlefield, the 2nd to 100th place in points, totaling 990 people, will enter the knockout stage."

"In the knockout stage, 990 people will go through group round-robin, resurrection matches, life-and-death duels... finally deciding the other ten seats for the top twenty of the finals stage."

"The finals will be the twenty strongest participants, representing the highest skill level of the young generation on Blue Star in this session, who will conduct peak duels, sequentially deciding the top ten! Top five! First place!"

"Attachments: 'Star Realm Battlefield Specific Rules', 'Knockout Competition Specific Rules', 'Finals Specific Rules'"

Quickly reading through the entire document, the rules were still very complex, after all, this was an important global martial arts event.

However, Li Yuan felt very calm in his heart.

"The rules are very similar to the Ten-School Freshman Battle," Li Yuan mused: "No need to worry about so much, just kill all the way."

"4000 points in the preliminaries? Just pass."

"But the Star Realm Battlefield, as long as I can take first place in the battlefield, I can directly rush into the top twenty?" Li Yuan's heart stirred.

The knockout competition, selecting 10 people out of 990, one can imagine it will definitely be a fierce slaughter.

And it will be very long.

"It wastes too much of my time. If these people were all Fifth-Stage experts, fighting each other could be called tempering, but most of them will only have Fourth-Stage skills. Fighting them is not as good as me cultivating in seclusion," Li Yuan mused.

For the current Li Yuan, fighting people with Fourth-Stage skills was simply a waste of time.

In an instant, Li Yuan already had a goal in his heart—strive to take first place in the "Star Realm Battlefield" of the melee competition.

However.

Li Yuan looked slightly at the "Star Realm Battlefield Rules" and found that it was not just fighting between participants. Besides other participants, a large number of Star Realm creatures would appear randomly, and some Star Realm creatures would be very strong.

Therefore, this kind of super-large-scale melee, theoretically speaking, depends on some luck to a certain extent.

For example, don't suddenly be besieged by a large number of virtual Star Realm creatures.

For example, don't run into Fifth-Stage experts.

"Luck?"

"As long as my strength is the strongest, then, no matter what opponents I encounter, sweeping all the way is enough," Li Yuan mused: "As long as my luck isn't too bad, letting others not run into me is enough."

Other participants would hope for better luck, being able to rush into the top 1000 to enter the knockout competition.

After all, this is the global top 1000, and just the cash reward is very generous—10 million Blue Star coins.

But Li Yuan didn't care about this point.

10 million Blue Star coins? With his current wealth, he didn't care much. He longed more for duels with true powerhouses.

To clash with the top geniuses of the same generation on Blue Star.

"Since the high-level officials recognize me and directly granted me a Second-Class Martial God inheritance quota," Li Yuan mused: "Then I must also work hard, striving to rush into the global top three or even first place."

"Moreover, the rewards for the top three are also quite generous," Li Yuan glanced at the rewards for the finals stage.

Rushing into the top twenty of the finals stage rewards 100 million Blue Star coins.

Rushing into the top ten rewards 500 million Blue Star coins.

The top three reward a heavenly treasure worth about 2 billion Blue Star coins!

"2 billion Blue Star coins? My total wealth right now is less than 1.5 billion Blue Star coins," Li Yuan mused.

This reward is indeed generous.

But Li Yuan understood after thinking about it slightly.

Those who can rush into the top three of the finals are mostly Source Martial Artists who have hope of becoming Heaven-Flying Martial Artists, and their consumption of various cultivation resources is extremely large... It is not strange that the reward is so generous.

Closing the file.

"Continue cultivating." Li Yuan calmed his heart and continued to practice his spear techniques silently.

... In the afternoon, some classmates came, and Li Yuan guided their cultivation one by one, sending them away.

Continued cultivating.

At 8:00 PM, Li Yuan entered the virtual network pod.

Logged into the Starry Sky Fighting Network.

"Register for the Global University Martial Arts Competition (Virtual Battle)." Li Yuan applied immediately.

The application was quickly approved.

After waiting for two minutes, Li Yuan took another look and found that the number of registrants had already exceeded 2 million and was still rising.

"So many people."

"That's right, just in our Xia Nation, there are nearly 300,000 martial arts university students in each session," Li Yuan mused: "Adding freshmen to juniors, that's over 800,000."

"Looking globally."

"Hmm, there are three or four million martial arts university students who can apply for registration."

"It also has to include some people in society, or students from some ordinary universities," Li Yuan mused: "Adding them up is not a small number."

Although the competition is named "Global University Martial Arts Competition," in reality, it is not just martial arts university students who can register.

As long as one is under 21 years old, one is eligible to register, it's just that non-martial arts university students cannot watch the battle.

Therefore, this will cause the number of people in the preliminaries to soar to an astonishing level.

"The virtual battle represents the level of skill."

"And in martial arts cultivation, skill is the most important. Only if skill is strong enough can one become a Source Martial Artist and a Heaven-Flying Martial Artist."

"Work hard to rush."

"Our Europe must work hard this year, striving to exceed 30% in the top 1000."

"Must observe."

"Those who can stand out in the virtual battle are all future powerhouses of the Seven-Star human civilization on Blue Star."

"Blue Star, being able to give birth to the powerful and invincible Dongfang Ji, this planet is very mysterious and very special."

"Dongfang Ji alone can slaughter I don't know how many peak powerhouses. If there were no Dongfang Ji, the Seven-Star human civilization would have perished long ago, how could it have continued to this day."

"We have people lurking in the martial arts universities. Let them observe the rankings well, watch the battles well, confirm the information of these future powerhouses, and conduct records and analysis."

"Once the identity of some super geniuses is confirmed, find a way to figure out their whereabouts and carry out assassinations!"

"Like geniuses who can rush into the top three, solving one is solving a future Heaven-Flying Martial Artist, or even an existence that transcends the Heaven-Flying Tier."

In the dark, many alien spies lurking on Blue Star were closely watching this competition.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle.

Especially those alien races hostile to the Seven-Star human civilization, such as the Tianliang civilization and the Cloud Beast civilization, were all immensely concerned about this kind of competition.

"Our Sakura Nation didn't have a single one rush into the top twenty last year. This year, we must strive to have one."

Starry Sky University, inside a villa.

Underground martial arts room.

"Last year's virtual battle first place was Xia Nation's first place. This year, our Flower Flag Nation must strive to take first place," a white man in a suit said solemnly: "Harmon."

"You are the number one among the junior students at Starry Sky University. This year, our Flower Flag Nation's hope is pinned on you," the white man in the suit said.

"Senior Sambu, I understand." The white youth named Harmon had a sturdy and burly figure, like an iron tower, wearing incomparably heavy armor.

"Last year, in the great battle of the top twenty to ten, I lost to Xia Nation's Yin Man."

"This year, she is still my biggest opponent."

"I will definitely defeat her," the burly white youth said slowly: "Take first place."

"Take the Martial God inheritance quota."

Closing the video projection.

"Whoosh!"

The burly white youth took out his saber and continued to cultivate. His saber techniques were incomparably fierce and violent.

Days passed by, and in the blink of an eye, it was February 7th.

Competition registration ended, with over 6 million registrants.

And Li Yuan had been cultivating step by step, with his spear techniques and movement techniques steadily improving.

February 7th, afternoon.

"Hmm?" Li Yuan, who was practicing spear techniques in the underground martial arts room.

Suddenly received a message.

"The bank account under your name... received a transfer of 50,000 Blue Star coins from Li Tianyou."

(End of chapter)

"There are quite a lot of people." Li Yuan smiled.

"Mm, the rules are similar to the Ten-University Freshman Battle. Everyone will appear in the viewing area in order according to country, school, academy, grade, etc... All the students watching are in this viewing space." An Nong smiled: "The number of people watching is only over a million right now."

"Most people will leave once they pass the preliminaries." An Nong was clearly very familiar with the rules: "But there are still quite a few people left. Many people are also very concerned about who will be first in the preliminaries and which country they will be from."

"First in the preliminaries?" Li Yuan smiled.

Is this title very important?

He subconsciously looked at the "Leaderboard" located at the highest point of the battle space, which had the top 100 preliminary scores:

1. Shu Hengyu (Xia Nation): 96,432 points

2. Kawayoshi Keiko (Sakura Nation): 93,444 points

3. Oviyu Villa (Flag Nation): 93,412 points

97. Tian Dazhuang (Xia Nation): 89,996 points

Li Yuan scanned the top 100 at a glance. He was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and laughed: "What kind of monsters and demons are these."

Except for Tian Dazhuang, there weren't many familiar names.

He didn't even see two names of his opponents from the Ten-University Freshman Battle.

Something is wrong!!

"It looks like what the teacher said; one only needs to reach 4,000 points in the preliminaries to pass." Li Yuan thought to himself: "Scores will reflect strength to a certain extent."

"There's no need to stand out now and make other experts wary of me. It's not like being first in the melee tournament gets you a direct spot in the final stage." Li Yuan's heart stirred.

Apply to participate.

Swish! He disappeared from the arena out of thin air.

"Li Yuan has entered the competition."

"He disappeared, he must have gone to compete."

"Do you think Li Yuan will explode? I heard from others that Senior Brother Jin said Li Yuan has hope of charging into the top 100 of the main tournament."

"Hard to say. I checked many experts from last year, and none of them revealed their strength."

"Senior Brother Jin didn't make it into the top 100 of the preliminaries either. Senior Brother Jin was in the top 100 as a sophomore last year; this year he might be able to kill his way into the top 20. In terms of strength, it's impossible that he couldn't even get into the top 100 of the preliminaries." Many students from Kunlun Martial Arts University whispered and discussed.

They all still had some expectations in their hearts, hoping that Li Yuan could show off his power and get on the preliminary leaderboard.

In a phantom space.

Like a huge corridor, Li Yuan, holding a long spear, appeared out of thin air.

"Kill the enemy to gain points. The more you kill, the higher the points... Enemies will appear continuously until you are killed and eliminated." The system voice rang out.

"Enemies are about to appear, countdown 10... 1, start!"

Swish! Swish! Swish!

At the end of the huge corridor, a burst of rapid running sounds appeared instantly, followed by figures flying out from the darkness. Their eyes were full of killing intent as they charged toward Li Yuan.

"In the preliminaries, you can adjust your physical fitness yourself. I adjusted it to Level 20." Li Yuan thought to himself: "It looks like these opponents only seem to be Level 18, and their skills are also very weak... Too weak."

"Let's pass as soon as possible, don't waste time." Li Yuan's figure moved, and he had already rushed out fiercely.

He charged directly toward those figures. The Level 18 physical fitness made the speed of these figures faster.

"Boom!"

Li Yuan suddenly exerted force, followed by spear shadows filling the sky, blooming and exploding, just like stars bursting.

"Puff!"

"Puff!" "Puff!" It was just like cutting wheat.

These figures, whether holding battle blades, long spears, or shields, all had their bodies burst, blood splashing everywhere; not one could block Li Yuan.

Even those holding shields were killed by Li Yuan directly smashing through their shields with one spear strike.

Extremely brutal.

Boom! Li Yuan was like a bolt of lightning, killing his way to the end of the corridor, waiting for this group of opponents to refresh.

"Puff!"

"Puff!" Figures fell one by one, killing one as soon as one refreshed.

Not long after.

"Contestant 'Li Yuan', your score has reached 4,000 points. Congratulations on passing the virtual battle preliminaries." A system prompt suddenly flashed by.

"4,000 points?" Li Yuan glanced at it: "Enough."

Whoosh! Li Yuan's heart stirred, he directly conceded and left the battle space, returning to reality.

He continued to practice his spear.

"Senior Brother has gone offline."

"It seems that Senior Brother and Jin Huguo are both preparing to explode later."

"Mm, hiding strength now is correct." Many freshmen from the Sixth Academy whispered and discussed.

Time passed second by second.

Contestants from all over the world entered the battle space and kept attacking.

Occasionally, the leaderboard would refresh, but no experts with over 100,000 points appeared.

Until close to 11 o'clock.

Swish! On the viewing platform of the battle space, in an inconspicuous corner, a purple-clothed figure appeared out of thin air.

He saw the leaderboard in the high sky in the distance at a glance.

"Hehe."

"Li Yuan, Yin Man, and the others, you really all look down on the preliminaries. I'm afraid you're all holding back your strength, fearing that others will know your true strength."

"I'm not worried." The purple-clothed youth murmured to himself, revealing a smile: "It's so late, these guys should have all passed by now."

"Since you don't look down on it, then the title of Preliminary King belongs to me."

"Preliminary King is also a King!"

Whoosh!

The purple-clothed youth's heart stirred, and he directly chose to participate.

... Just twelve minutes later, in the battle space where the number of people had already decreased to over 300,000, a burst of noise suddenly erupted.

"Look quickly."

"Tantai Feng!"

"Tantai Feng's name has rushed into the top 100, and it's still soaring." Many people noticed the jumping on the leaderboard and that name that kept rising.

"Top 20."

"The rise is too fast, he has already exceeded 90,000 points."

"95,000 points!!"

"Killed into the top 10."

"First! First place."

"Exceeded 100,000 points."

"200,000 points!!" Bursts of exclamations kept ringing out.

Everyone watched with their own eyes as Tantai Feng rushed to first place at an astonishing speed, finally stopping at the terrifying score of "310,000 points," leading the second place by over 200,000 points in a cliff-like fashion.

Students from martial arts universities all over the world were completely silent.

At this moment, a large number of students all over the world remembered this name—Tantai Feng.

(End of chapter)