Chapter 198: Cruel Competition! (Seeking monthly votes)

A familiar voice rang out in Lin Qi's ear.

He turned his head to look, and on his left was Jiang Tao's handsome, bronze-skinned face.

Besides him, nearby were Guanshan, Guo Heng, Wang Qiufeng, Chen Zichuan, and several others.

"Lin Lin Qi Ge!" everyone greeted.

"Lin Lin Qi Ge, you've finally arrived!"

"Lin Lin Qi Ge, let me introduce you. We are currently in the virtual spectator stands for the Freshman Competition. From this position, we can clearly see the battles in the arena," Jiang Tao said with a smile.

"The area we are in now is for the Profound Heaven Six Academies; each academy has its own designated area!" Zhou Xiyin, on his right, also smiled and introduced.

Lin Qi nodded and looked around; to his left and right were students from the Profound Heaven Six Academies.

"Lin Lin Qi Ge!!"

Upon seeing him, they all greeted him enthusiastically.

He looked toward the other academies, but due to the distance, he couldn't see them clearly and could only judge them by their physiques.

Amidst the idle chatter, time quickly reached nine o'clock, when the competition was set to begin.

"Beep!!"

Above the arena, yellow light particles converged, and the projection of Vice Principal Xu Wenji appeared, magnified ten times so that everyone could see him clearly.

"Students!"

Xu Wenji spoke slowly, his voice full of vigor and resonant like a bell, carrying to every corner.

"Welcome to the scene of the Freshman Competition individual matches."

"If the Disaster Beast Hunting Competition was a formal battle against disaster beasts, then the individual matches are a contest of geniuses."

"It is the art of the Martial Path, the pinnacle of competition."

"In the individual matches, there are no restrictions; there is only winning."

"Your Qi-blood value, martial arts, and physical fitness have been fully scanned to perfectly match your real-life body."

"Strong is strong, weak is weak!"

"Do not worry about injuring your opponent; display all your strength to kill your opponent and achieve victory."

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd erupted into a frenzy.

Because in the past, within the Red Realm, almost everyone had their Qi-blood values adjusted to be the same.

Now, without restrictions, it all depends on a person's comprehensive strength.

Lin Qi thought to himself that the benefit of the virtual world is that there is no need to hold back for fear of causing casualties to opponents; he could display his full strength without any obstacles.

For him, this was excellent; in reality, he was afraid that after getting used to hunting disaster beasts, he might accidentally slit an opponent's throat.

"In the first round, 8,991 contestants will fight simultaneously; only 900 contestants can advance to the second round, and those who advance will receive a reward of 500,000 Xia Guo coins!"

Xu Wenji smiled as he introduced the rewards, and many people's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

The rule for the first round was not that only experts could advance; as long as one could survive to the end, one might just pick up 500,000 Xia Guo coins for free.

For many students from ordinary family backgrounds, this was a large sum of money.

"We now announce that the Freshman Competition individual matches have officially begun!"

"All contestants, please enter the arena!!"

"Compete to your heart's content!!"

Xu Wenji announced loudly!

The next second, on the spectator stands, countless people turned into crimson beams of light and shot out, disappearing from where they stood.

In the massive arena of over 20,000 square meters, nearly 9,000 beams of light descended out of thin air.

The 8,991 contestants appeared in the arena, all shrouded in light beams, beginning to choose their combat uniforms and weapons while observing their opponents.

The spectator stands had already become completely empty.

Lin Qi looked around and could only vaguely see a few figures; they were all the heads of the various academies!

Lin Qi could feel several gazes landing on him; they were his opponents for the future rounds.

【30-second countdown begins!】

【3, 2, 1...】

【The slaughter officially begins!!】

Above the arena, the intelligent voice announced the start of the competition without emotion.

"Kill!!"

"Whoosh, whoosh~~"

As soon as the competition started, the fighting began instantly, and the sounds of slaughter echoed throughout the entire arena.

It was an extremely shocking scene: thousands of geniuses ranked at the top of their provinces fighting each other.

Weapons clashed, and killing intent shrouded every corner; even an expert could die on the spot if they were careless. "Puff~ puff~"

Jiang Tao, wearing a silver combat uniform, swung his sharp battle saber, his legs rooted to the ground like an old tree.

Any attack launched by an opponent was blocked by the defensive circle he danced out, and he used the force to continuously counter-kill.

In a short moment, he had already killed several people.

Among them, he saw classmates from the Six Academies, and everyone had a tacit understanding not to attack each other, but instead to kill students from other academies.

Even as students of Profound Heaven University, the gap was enormous.

Jiang Tao could clearly feel that the opponents were too weak; many of them couldn't even block a single strike from his saber.

Lin Qi, on the spectator stands, watched the large screen projected in the sky.

【Survivors: 8,601/8,991】

Less than a minute after the battle began, over three hundred people had already been eliminated.

!

Beams of light continuously returned to the spectator stands; they were all the eliminated students.

Including many from their Six Academies who had been eliminated and returned.

"I saw a flash of a blade just as I started, and then I died; it was too lacking in experience."

"Me too, I only swung my blade once and died; we are all students of Profound Heaven Martial University, how is the gap so large?"

【Survivors: 8,002/8,991】

【Survivors: 7,500/8,991】

【Survivors: 3,008/8,991】

In a short ten minutes, only three thousand people remained; all those who could survive were experts.

Lin Qi also saw many acquaintances from the Profound Heaven Six Academies; they were fighting hard to kill the opponents around them, and he had only one feeling: it was chaotic.

Everyone was an opponent; to advance, one had to fight, though it didn't exclude the possibility of experts being unfortunately killed.

"Puff~ puff~"

It wasn't until half an hour later that the first round officially ended.

【The first round of competition has officially ended!】

The 900 people who advanced returned to the spectator stands.

The projected large screen began to update.

【Number of Advancers: 99 (Six Academies)】

The screen was divided into nine parts, showing the number of advancers from each academy; the Profound Heaven Six Academies were performing steadily.

"Lin Lin Qi Ge, the Profound Heaven First Academy actually has over two hundred people advancing to the second round."

"The Profound Heaven Ninth Academy also has 135 people advancing," Jiang Tao exclaimed from the side.

Lin Qi nodded, his expression becoming serious; one could see the gap in strength just from the number of advancers in the individual matches.

The weakest, the Profound Heaven Seventh Academy, only had 40 people advance, five times fewer than the First Academy.

Jiang Tao and the others also had lingering fears; if Huo Wanyang and Ao Feng and the others hadn't withdrawn early yesterday but had persisted to the end, their Six Academies would never have been able to beat them.

"Let us congratulate the students who successfully advanced to the second round."

"Those who were eliminated should not be discouraged; there are still many competitions in the future, and we need to work even harder."

Xu Wenji projected himself to give a summary, and a moment later he added:

"Next, let us directly begin the second round of the individual matches, the 900-to-90 second round."

"The 900 people will be divided into 9 groups, with 100 people in each group fighting until only 10 remain to advance."

"At the same time, students who can advance to the third round will each receive a reward of 1 million Xia Guo coins."

"Now, we begin the random selection of the first round's academy heads!"

As soon as Xu Wenji finished speaking, a panel projected in front of him, allowing everyone in the spectator stands to see clearly; one hundred names appeared on it.

And Lin Qi happened to see Jiang Tao's name.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 199 =====