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Duan Li and his party soon arrived at the Duel hall of the academy where the Dueling platform was located.
This Dueling platform was centered in the middle of the hall, and just like the many lecture cla.s.srooms in the academy, the seating arrangement for the audiences were like that of a coliseum.
In terms of size however, the Duel hall was countless times larger, and could fit as many as 30 thousand people in it.
This was because the Duel hall was often the place where numerous official event from the academy were held when fighting was the main theme. For example, at the very end of each semester, the academy would hold the Student Ranking compet.i.tion here.
The Student Ranking was a very important compet.i.tion where the top student from each realm would duel against each other. Those who managed to outlast every single one of the contestants would be crowned as the Student Emperor, and right now, this t.i.tle belonged to a senior student whom had successfully defended his t.i.tle and reigned for a whole five successive years!
The moment Duan Li and his party arrived at the Duel hall, all of the crowds that came earlier became excited.
"They are here! Finally the match is about to start!"
"I know most of these 20 people that got shortlisted and they could only be described as terrifying! Their fights would probably be the most interesting I have yet to watch in this semester!"
"No wonder I didn"t get shortlisted, to think that these 20 people would be so formidable, perhaps I could consider myself as lucky to not be chosen. Otherwise, I would probably make an embarra.s.sment out of myself on that Dueling platform against these guys!"
"Me too! The shortlisting criteria must"ve been really strict. These 20 people are all top-notch figure within the academy! Now, no matter who got chosen, that Duan Li would be destined for greatness and success with such strong lineups for his party members!"
The crowd swiftly nodded to the person whom made that last comment in agreement.
With that, they stopped talking as they put their entire attention onto the Dueling platform. This would be a fight that they cannot afford to miss!
In front of this Dueling platform was a stage with a single throne in the middle. Turning his head to Shen Lu, the latter seemed to be able to guess what Duan Li was about to ask and immediately answered with a smile, "That throne is naturally for you to sit Brother. After all, the Lord must have their own prestige and dignity to go along with their t.i.tle as well, thus, I ordered one!"
Hearing this, Duan Li sighed. But he understood the intention and meaning behind Shen Lu"s words.
Indeed, it was as the latter had just said. As the Lord, he must show that he has the capacity to become their ruler! The influence and dominance that he should display in public so that they would acknowledge him, this was something extremely crucial if one wanted to truly be recognized.
As the saying went, false king could win the nation, but will never win the hearts of the people!
Walking over to the throne, Duan Li a.n.a.lyzed it for a bit and found no problems or issue whatsoever. However, after using his Identify ability on it, he was shocked when he read the description.
[Lord"s Rightful Throne - A throne built by using one of the seven memory material in the Tian continent, Laden Wood.]
[Once one sat on it, the person would automatically unleash their whole aura to be absorbed by the throne. The throne would then perform special connection to this aura and recognize the person as its owner.]
[Special effect - Increases owner"s dominance while sitting on the throne]
Eh? This effect..
Would everyone be okay if my aura were to be fully released here?
"Hmm.. perhaps I"m overthinking this. What could my mere aura would do anyway?" he thought.
Dilly-dallying no more, as he did not want the people here to wait any further, he quickly sat on it.
BOOM!
The air vibrated and turned viscous as if it was seething to explode. Like being pressed by the oceans, everyone within the Duel hall immediately felt this tremendous pressure!
"W-What in the world?! What is with this sudden pressure!"
"Argh! I can"t stand up!"
"Such strong aura! This direction.. Duan Li?!"
"How powerful! Is he truly at the Foundation establishment realm? Why does this pressure feels like he is someone at the Nascent soul realm?!"
The crowd shrieked in horror when this colossal pressure fell ontop of them. Those that previously hadn"t yet to sit fell down flat to the ground, but some stronger ones did managed to crouch with their four limbs and others were able to stood with one of their knees.
Even the Core formation realm seniors were not an exception to this. They felt like they were in the marshlands with a big heavy boulder pressing onto them.
With sweats trickling down from their foreheads, each clenched down their teeth as they let out their aura rumbling to neutralize Duan Li"s pressure.
To their surprise however, the torrential aura radiated out by Duan Li does not even seem to be affected by theirs and continued to press onto them as if their aura were nothing but an air!
This was something that was truly unbelieveable for them!
There has to be a few thousand people here at most, each letting out their own aura. Yet, their combined pressure does not even amount to Duan Li"s?
Unthinkable!
Shen Lu, Shen Murong and w.a.n.g Xiolun exclaimed in surprises as well. They truly hadn"t expected their Lord"s aura to be this radical!
"He is actually this strong?" Shen Murong remarked and felt like they needed to fight again sometimes.
But because their body had been tempered with Duan Li"s blood, they did not feel as much pressure as compared to the audience and everyone else.
Even Xiahou Yu whom was still at the Qi condensation realm was able to withstand it while standing, albeit with some difficulties.
Fortunately, the throne quickly absorbed Duan Li"s aura and before long, the surmounting oceanic pressure began to lessen until it was absorbed entirely.
...
Huu!
Everyone breathed in and out rapidly as they wiped off the sweat on their forehead.
That was way too intense!
At this moment, Shen Lu stepped forward to explain.
"Sorry everyone, I just bought my Lord a new throne and he hadn"t yet had the chance to form a connection with it previously."
Hearing this, everyone then came into a realization. Although most of the juniors didn"t get a single clue as to what Shen Lu was saying at all, but after the seniors explained it to them, they nodded as well.
So it was like that!
Otherwise, if they misunderstood the whole situation, they might hold a grudge at Duan Li over this which would be bad for the latter"s reputation.
Truthfully though, Shen Lu himself didn"t expect that Duan Li"s aura to be THAT insane. He had only planned to scare the audience a little bit, but who could have thought that Duan Li was THAT strong?
"He is really beyond my expectations! I don"t know how many times I"ve said this, but I"m really glad to have made the decision to follow him back then!" he thought to himself, feeling quite proud.
After this whole situation was settled, Shen Lu then turned his gaze towards the seating platform where the 20 shortlisted applicants were sitting currently.
Some of them had a nervous look to them while others remained confident and some indifferent.
Personally, Shen Lu knew the capabilities of some of these people, and they could only be described as formidable and scary.
This was especially the case for that figure under that black robe. No one really knows of his real name, but everyone called him as the "Dark reaper". He was also known to had inherited an unorthodox black arts.
Rumors has it though, that this person had once encountered a 2 Star monster and was able to beat it alone!
This piece of news had rattled the entire academy back then.
Furthermore, this person was also an ex-member of the First squad!
Again, no one actually knows the exact real reason as to why he had left the Subjugation squad, but back then, he was famous for his wide area of attack skill arts and was how he earned the nickname - Dark Reaper!
As to this person"s exact intention of wanting to join Duan Li"s party? Shen Lu had not the slightest idea either. But since the final verdict would be judged by Duan Li, he decided to put all his trust onto the latter"s keen judgement.
"The Duel would be conducted in a round-robin style. Could the partic.i.p.ant please choose a number between 1 to 20? You can just said the number out loud and I will write them down onto this paper." Shen Lu said.
After which, each of the partic.i.p.ant began to call out a number of their choosing. Shen Lu then rolled up their numbers and select them randomly.
The whole process was very simple, but short and efficient. Before long, all 20 partic.i.p.ants were now matched up against each other!
Turning his head to Duan Li to give the signal, the latter nodded.
"Let the Duel begin!"
...