Chapter 518: Arena Free-for-All Groupings!

Wang Mang's death involved Xu Jingming, this SS-rank, as well as Wang Zhen, a ninth-tier Martial Saint, and even the behemoth that was Lei Ting Wu Guan.

Ordinary Public Security Bureaus had no way to handle it, nor dared to.

Only the Great Xia National Council could render a verdict on this matter.

The National Council convened only on the 20th of each month; today was the 11th, so there were still nine days until the council convened.

Even if Wang Zhen was eager to pin a charge on Xu Jingming, he had no choice but to wait nine days.

Therefore, the matter of Xu Jingming killing Wang Mang was, for now, considered temporarily closed.

The Global Genius Exchange Tournament's Championship was divided into two stages.

The first stage, the preliminaries, selected 100,000 contestants from the world's one billion participants.

The second stage, the arena battles, was further divided into free-for-all arena battles and one-on-one duels.

Great Xia time, November 12, 12:00 noon — twelve hours remained before the arena battles began.

In the virtual world, all the contestants from the entire Blue Star who had advanced to the second stage suddenly appeared in an exceedingly vast conference hall.

Xu Jingming, along with the contestants from Lei Ting Wu Guan's Prodigy Training Camp who had advanced, were also here.

"Hiss — did they gather all 100,000 contestants from around the world here?"

Lin Hui swept a glance around and immediately spotted a large number of foreign-looking ability users.

"100,000 people! This conference hall really is huge." Xu Jingming also murmured in awe.

In the real world, building a conference hall this large would be exceedingly difficult, even with the assistance of earth-element ability users.

"The free-for-all arena battles later will have a full 100 million viewers — that venue is far, far vaster than this one."

Xia Lan on his right said with a smile.

"100 million viewers — what a magnificent sight that must be?" Anticipation shone in Xu Jingming's eyes as well.

For the preliminaries, the number of participants was simply too vast, and the computational load involved was far too great.

As a result, one could only see the rankings from outside; there was no way to watch the contestants' performances in real time.

But the arena battles were different — with only 100,000 contestants, the computational load was greatly reduced.

Therefore, 100 million people could watch the contestants' battles live in real time.

Back when he had participated in the National Collegiate League, the mere tens of thousands of spectators had already struck Xu Jingming as awe-inspiring.

100 million viewers — the experience would surely be vastly different again.

However, the viewing slots allotted to Great Xia were only 10 million.

The remaining 90 million were reserved for the other countries of the Blue Star.

Great Xia had 2 billion people; 10 million tickets were naturally not enough to go around.

The tickets had been released only yesterday, and they were snatched up in an instant.

He had also received 100 tickets in advance only because he himself was a contestant.

All those tickets, he had given to his little aunt, Song Qiuyun, and the others.

Those without tickets could only watch the broadcast; although they could still see the contestants' battles,

they could not obtain the immersive viewing experience.

"By the way, Jingming, that matter with Councilor Wang really hasn't affected you?" Xia Lan asked.

In a pair of beautiful eyes like sapphires, there was a faint trace of worry.

Wang Zhen was, after all, a ninth-tier powerhouse; although Xu Jingming was an SS-rank ability awakener, his influence still fell short.

"Su Laoshi told me not to worry, so I haven't paid it much attention." Xu Jingming said, deliberating.

The National Council — only ninth-tier councilors could take part.

He had no standing to participate in it at all, let alone voice his own thoughts and opinions at the meeting.

For now, he could only wait until the National Council session on the 20th ended and see what the final ruling was.

Still, there probably wouldn't be much of a problem.

After all, Wang Mang had been in the wrong first, and Su Laoshi was speaking up and exerting effort on his behalf.

"That's good then." Only then did Xia Lan heave a small sigh of relief and nod slightly.

Over the past two days, posts about this matter had almost monopolized the entire top headlines of the Prodigy Training Camp.

It was only now that she learned Xu Jingming actually had two girlfriends.

And in terms of looks and figure, neither was any less than her own — in fact, they were even a notch better...

"Silence!"

A majestic voice suddenly rang out, and a burly man over two meters tall appeared at the very center of the conference hall.

The moment this burly man's gaze swept across, the immense pressure instantly silenced the entire conference hall.

"The preliminaries are over. You 100,000 are the Blue Star's finest prodigy ability users!"

"Some of you come from great nations with vast populations, others from small countries with few people!"

"You represent a city, a nation, even an entire people!"

"However, the preliminaries are only the beginning — the arena battles that follow are the real point!"

"Only by placing in the arena battles can you let the whole world see the brilliance you radiate!"

The burly man's grand voice echoed through the conference hall.

He spoke in a foreign language, yet when it reached each person's ears, it was translated into their corresponding tongue.

His words set the gathered prodigies' blood boiling, their eyes gleaming.

Especially for some contestants from remote countries — a nation with fewer than ten contestants in total.

They! Represented the glory of an entire nation!

"The arena battles are divided into two parts. The first part: free-for-all arena battles.

You 100,000 people will be divided into 1000 groups of 100 each, and each group will hold its own arena free-for-all.

In each group's free-for-all, the last 10 standing will advance to the second part — one-on-one arena battles."

When the words fell, the prodigies present began whispering among themselves.

1000 groups, 10 advancing from each — that means the arena free-for-all alone will eliminate 90,000 people!

"I figure I have no way of getting through this arena free-for-all," Xia Lan said with some helplessness.

Most of the 100,000 contestants advancing to the second stage are fifth- and sixth-rank ability users.

She was only a high-tier fourth-rank; her chances of advancing were extremely slim.

"My odds are a bit better, but it'll still depend on luck."

Lin Hui shook his head as well. "If my group happens to have a few extra sixth-ranks, then I won't be able to advance either."

Among the 10,000 advancing contestants from Great Xia, there were a full 423 sixth-rank ability users.

Scaled proportionally to the world's 100,000 advancing contestants, that meant over four thousand sixth-ranks!

Spread across 1000 groups, each group would average four or five sixth-ranks.

And he was only a mid-tier fifth-rank — against an ordinary sixth-rank ability user, he might still be able to hold his own for a while.

Any ability user who made it this far was unlikely to be weak.

There was no way he'd be allowed to cross ranks and win.

"Looks like among the few of us, only Jingming is guaranteed to advance."

Lin Hui said with feeling.

It was just a shame he was 25 this year — his age stuck him in an awkward in-between spot.

If the Genius Competition had started two years later, he would very likely have already reached sixth-rank......

"Now, assign the arena free-for-all groups!"

Whoosh—

A virtual number appeared before everyone's eyes.

Xu Jingming was '856', Lin Hui was '134', Xia Lan was '352'.

"Looks like the three of us aren't in the same group," Xu Jingming said with a smile.

The arena free-for-all wouldn't put all contestants from one country together.

Instead they were mixed in — that way it was relatively fairer.

So members of their Prodigy Training Camp would find it hard to be placed in the same group.

"1000 groups, with 200 groups of arena free-for-all rotating every 24 hours. It will end in 5 days.

In 12 hours, groups 1 through 200 will hold their arena free-for-all. Contestants in the corresponding groups, please prepare for battle."

The grand voice rang out once more.

"Oh, I'm group 856, which means my match is on the fifth day.

So for the four days before that, can I go to a Demon Cave and hunt beasts?"

Xu Jingming's eyes flickered.

Because this Genius Competition differed from previous ones, the number of participants was far greater.

So the schedule had changed accordingly.

No sooner said than done — after getting his arena free-for-all group number, Xu Jingming immediately found Cao Ren of the Black Dragon Legion.

"You're saying you want to go hunt beasts in Demon Cave #4, and you don't want any of the beast materials — you'll just hand them all over to us?"

In the virtual world, inside Cao Ren's villa, he looked at Xu Jingming with a strange expression:

"But what's in it for you? Not wanting the beast materials and just killing for killing's sake doesn't really make sense."

"The body-tempering art I practice has a bloodthirsty side effect.

The Genius Competition arena free-for-all is about to begin, and I want to face it in peak condition."

Xu Jingming said, half-truthfully.

Beast materials really were useless to him — he only wanted the ability points.

The Black Dragon Legion was responsible for monitoring every abnormal situation in Demon Cave #4.

Giving them a heads-up in advance, so that when he went in to slay beasts over the next few days,

he wouldn't end up drawing the legion's people down on him like last time.

"I see. Well then, alright — I'll just say a word to them," Cao Ren nodded.

"Thanks," Xu Jingming said with a smile.

This was the benefit of having connections — if he hadn't known the Black Dragon Legion's commander Cao Ren,

this matter really wouldn't have been so easy to resolve.

PS: Stuck on the writing today — just one chapter. I owe one extra chapter, still nine chapters in total......