Chapter 466: Battle Royale, Elimination, Arena (Second Update)

After an opening speech by Gongye Dachang that was as long and tedious as an old principal's at an assembly, he spent even more time recounting the history of the Sword Casting Pavilion and the original intent behind hosting this Immortal Sect Grand Competition; he rambled on for so long that he nearly put Ren Yidao to sleep.

It felt just like listening to leaders give speeches back in the day; it turns out that no matter the world, middle-aged men in power mostly share the same linguistic system.

"I'll just say a few words, uh, ah, hmm, I want to say, ahem, this, that..."

Only after encouraging the new generation of disciples from the Sword Casting Pavilion and all the sects of Beiming did he reluctantly cough twice and begin to explain the content everyone was most looking forward to hearing.

The rules for the second half of the Immortal Sect Grand Competition.

After listening, Ren Yidao had only one thought in his mind:

"Whoa!"

"I didn't expect it to be this kind of format; it's actually quite fancy."

This stage is not mandatory; contestants who feel they have already achieved their goals may withdraw on their own.

Furthermore, the Outer, Central, and Inner Domains each have three completely different sets of rules.

The Outer Domain, in Ren Yidao's words, is a battle royale.

Because of the large number of people, a new Secret Realm has been arranged so that all contestants can enter it.

They are to search for treasures within; different treasures have different point values, and every contestant also has points corresponding to their strength, which can be seized from them after defeating them.

Finally, when the time ends, the person with the highest points wins the ultimate victory, and the top ten in points will all receive prizes.

A very classic Secret Realm treasure hunt, but unfortunately, it has nothing to do with Ren Yidao anymore.

Otherwise, he would definitely let these guys witness, let them take a good look at, what an effortless experience it is to bring a search dog into a Secret Realm!

"Heh heh, it's only because I'm not there; my Cang Lanlan is no pushover!"

The Central Domain, a two-person elimination tournament.

Even though many people will choose to withdraw, because of a certain outstanding disciple of the Divine Path Sect, the final reduction in numbers was not as high as expected, so they could only choose the simplest and crudest method.

Two-person teams engage in four-person battles; the winning team advances, while the losing team is directly eliminated, with no second chance through a revival tournament.

"Since they are all fighting on behalf of their sects, it's easy enough to scrape together two people per team... Whoa! The Divine Guards can directly form one hundred and fifty teams! One can foresee an extremely tragic mutual slaughter..."

"Li Fengyao has other people from Wanhua Valley as companions, but will Li Qiushui cooperate with a Sword Casting Pavilion disciple here? Or will she choose to go alone?"

"Junior Martial Nephew Zuo can finally display his skills to his heart's content this time; if he partners with Junior Martial Nephew Duan, as long as they don't run into Li Qiushui and her group, entering the later rounds shouldn't be a problem."

"However, if that's the case, the small team of the two Junior Sisters might very well become the dark horse of this competition! Why does this rule feel like it was tailor-made for them? Did Brother Long bribe the Sword Casting Pavilion in private?"

Ren Yidao highly suspects that there is some shady backroom dealing by a certain old father involved; it must be some unknown, dark scheme!

As for the Inner Domain, because the number of people is small—only ten—the method is the simplest and most direct.

Arena combat.

As the host, the Sword Casting Pavilion will first send out Gongyang Ke to act as the arena defender.

The arena defender has priority in choosing challengers; those selected can forfeit, but it will be automatically counted as a loss, and the defender gains one point.

If the arena defender does not actively choose, then anyone off the stage can take the initiative to go up and challenge.

After the battle ends, the winner can become the new arena defender and continue to hold the stage, or they can choose to step down and let someone else become the defender.

As for the final result, it is simply that when everyone has fought each other once, the final points are calculated.

As for the specific details of the arena tournament, Gongye Dachang didn't say much; in any case, there aren't many people, and even if there is a tie in scores, there are many ways to resolve it, either by adding extra matches or by calculating based on the head-to-head results.

And besides that, there are two reasons why Gongye Dachang wasn't booed off the stage by the crowd who were about to fall asleep.

First, he is at the Asking Dao realm, and ordinary people really can't beat him, so everyone has to silently endure it.

Second, he really pays!

Yes, after finishing the rules, Gongye Dachang didn't dawdle and directly brought out the trump card that made everyone's spirits soar.

Giving out money, or rather, giving out prizes.

As the leader of the righteous path in the Beiming Divine Continent and a renowned great sect of sword casting, the Sword Casting Pavilion has always been famous for being wealthy and generous.

You can say that the disciples of the Sword Casting Pavilion are dull, you can say they only know how to hold a hammer and forge iron all day, you can say they lack romantic sentiment... but no one can say they are poor.

No way around it, this bunch of bastards is truly rich.

As the head of these wealthy dogs, Gongye Dachang is also very generous in his actions, not only giving extremely rich rewards to all the contestants who performed well during these ten days as stipulated.

At the same time, he also specially awarded extra prizes to dozens of contestants he personally favored.

Some of those people were faces Ren Yidao was familiar with, but more were unknown guys, and even some small disciples with only Human Realm strength.

It's unclear what Gongye Dachang's specific criteria for judgment were, but it could generally be seen as a very good means of winning people's hearts.

Because for these people, he also made a promise: one day, if they achieve success in their studies, he will personally forge a weapon for them.

And, it is not limited to swords!

This is the promise of the Pavilion Master of the Sword Casting Pavilion, a Heaven Grade master smith at the Asking Dao realm; how could these guys not go crazy?

For those cultivators from humble backgrounds, this is no different from a surprise falling from the sky.

Of course, Ren Yidao doesn't envy this point, but he is slightly shocked by the Sword Casting Pavilion's extravagance.

Even he, as a Merit entrepreneur who hasn't lacked cultivation resources for a long time, couldn't help but sigh.

What a fucking wealthy dog!

Truly... well done!

Because even he received hush money from the Sword Casting Pavilion.

Unexpected, but within reason, Ren Yidao suppressed the crowd, won the title of "Number One of Heaven Gate," and obtained a sharp sword with both lightning and fire attributes.

A Heaven Grade heavy treasure, a casual work by the previous Pavilion Master of the Sword Casting Pavilion in his later years; although it is only an early-stage Heaven Grade heavy treasure, its effects are comparable to a top-tier Heaven Grade heavy treasure.

This doesn't count as a powerful boost for Ren Yidao; he is not a sword cultivator, and apart from a few moves stolen from the Sword Spirit Body, he doesn't often use a sword.

But!

It would be a waste not to take it; one must not refuse a gift from an elder!

Furthermore, this sword can serve as an attack method other than the Breaking Defense Blade, so it can be considered better than nothing.

As for the original name of this sword, it was too long, and Ren Yidao couldn't be bothered to remember it.

He didn't care what this sword was called before; now that it had fallen into his hands, it had gained a brand-new name.

"Since you possess both fire and thunder attributes, I shall name you based on this..."

"Thunder Fire Sword!"

After fiddling with the Thunder Fire Sword and flicking out a few sword flourishes, Ren Yidao sighed with emotion:

"This Sword Casting Hut is truly quite generous."

"That is only natural." Jian Xinxin, who was at his side, had already recovered her composure and chimed in: "Otherwise, why would you think the Sword Casting Hut would target you?"

"Hm? Why would they target me?"

Ren Yidao blinked, looked back at Jian Xinxin with an innocent expression, and asked curiously:

"Is it because I entered the Inner Domain in violation of the rules? But aren't you the same, Senior Brother? Why don't they target you?"

Why don't you reflect on the reason why you weren't targeted?

Is it because you didn't want to be?

Or is it...

Jian Xinxin: "... Hmph."

After habitually teasing Senior Brother, Ren Yidao remembered a serious matter.

"Right, are there still no people inside the Inner Domain who have voluntarily withdrawn?"

"I don't believe so." Jian Xinxin thought for a moment and shook her head. "Those who are able to enter the Inner Domain voluntarily all have a purpose. Why? Do you want to withdraw?"

"No, what I mean is..."

Ren Yidao looked at the completely oblivious Jian Xinxin, shook his head slowly, stared at him, and asked eerily: "Senior Brother, are you still not withdrawing?"

"What are you still doing staying here?"