Chapter 3472: The Rules of the Fourth Round
Out of the 300 partic.i.p.ants in the fourth round of the Devata Realms’ Battle of the Geniuses, 100 partic.i.p.ants would be selected. The fourth round was also where the battles were more serious since the 300 partic.i.p.ants who made it to this round were not mediocre. Even the weakest among them were comparable to top One Star G.o.ds of War.
These 300 partic.i.p.ants could even be considered as pillars in some ordinary heaven-grade forces. For example, in the Heavenly Pool Palace that Duan Ling Tian had briefly joined, there were a total of nine t.i.tled Celestial Emperors. The weakest among the nine t.i.tled Celestial Emperors was a One Star G.o.d of War who was rather advanced in age.
All of the partic.i.p.ants, who were not only limited to humans but included Celestial Beasts, Celestial Plants, and Celestial Rocks as well, of the Devata Realms’ Battle of the Geniuses were all below the age of 1,000. With 300 partic.i.p.ants from 81 Devata Realms, on average, there were four partic.i.p.ants representing each Devata Realm.
“a.s.suming each of the 81 Devata Realms have the same number of representatives in the fourth round, there should be 4 partic.i.p.ants from each Devata Realms. When the 100 partic.i.p.ants advanced to the fifth round, it’s roughly only one partic.i.p.ant from each Devata Realms.”
Duan Ling Tian and Su Li happened to overhear these words when they arrived at the venue of the Devata Realms’ Battle of the Geniuses.
Duan Ling Tian asked Su Li with a smile, “Su Li, are you confident? Even the weakest out of the 100 partic.i.p.ants who will advance to the fifth round should be comparable to a top Two Star G.o.d of War. Most of them will be as strong as Three Star G.o.ds of War or stronger…”
“I’m not worried about being able to rank in the top 100. However, I’m not as confident about ranking in the top 30,” Su Li shook his head and replied with a wry smile, “I couldn’t help but think sometimes about how perfect it would be the Battle of the Geniuses were held 200 or 300 years later. If that were the case, I’d be confident about ranking in the top 10 or top three, let alone the top 30. If you weren’t partic.i.p.ating, I would even be confident about ranking first.”
“You can still aim to rank first even if I’m partic.i.p.ating,” Duan Ling Tian said with a smile.
“No,” Su Li shook his head and said, “You’re monstrously talented. You’ve always been a monster even when we were in the mundane realm. Think about it; have I ever won a compet.i.tion against you? From the Iron Blood City’s Genius Camp to the Martial Compet.i.tion of the Ten Dynasties and the Nan Dou Territory’s secret zone… You always beat me. At this point, I’ve already given up on competing against you.”
In fact, Su Li counted himself lucky. Among everyone in the Iron Blood City’s Genius Camp in the mundane realm, he and Duan Ling Tian were the only ones who had made it the furthest. It was rather rare for a mundane realm to have two people going as far as they did. Before he met Duan Ling Tian again at the Nan Dou Territory’s secret zone and discovered Duan Ling Tian’s cultivation base, he had thought more than once that he had surpa.s.sed Duan Ling Tian. Alas, after meeting Duan Ling Tian, he was quickly disabused of that notion. At this point, he had resigned himself to the fact that he would not be able to beat Duan Ling Tian. He no longer thought of Duan Ling Tian as human, but a monstrously talented freak. Perhaps, he only knew how depressing it feels.
On the other hand, Duan Ling Tian could not help but feel awkward upon hearing Su Li’s words. Since he knew it was the truth, it seemed hypocritical to say otherwise just to comfort Su Li. In fact, if he said anything, he might even risk rubbing salt on Su Li’s wound.
Duan Ling Tian and Su Li returned to their seats from before. When they arrived, they saw Ling Jue Yun, Tang San Pao, Zhang Tian You, w.a.n.g Ting, and He Jian Yi were also seated at their original seats.
“Both of you are finally here.” Tang San Pao’s eyes brightened upon seeing Duan Ling Tian and Su Li. “You have no idea how tense and awkward it feels for the four of us to be with such a stoic person…”
“You’re early,” Duan Ling Tian said to Ling Jue Yun after s.h.i.+fting his gaze away from Tang San Pao.
Ling Jue Yun nodded in response; his cold expression seemed to thaw slightly.
Upon seeing this, Tang San Pao continued to say with wide eyes, “Hey, Duan Ling Tian, do you have a relations.h.i.+p with him? He’s as cold as a block of ice to everyone, but he only responds to you. Could it be that these two handsome and bright young men like men?”
“No one would think you are mute even if you don’t speak,” Duan Ling Tian said. He felt Tang San Pao truly speak his mind without considering anything. Did Tang San Pao not know he had wives and children?
Although Duan Ling Tian had only met Tang San Pao recently, he could tell Tang San Pao was a free spirit. Perhaps, Tang San Pao had spent too much time in the mountain that he became socially awkward.
Su Li chuckled before he asked, “Tang San Pao, are you unaware that Duan Ling Tian already has wives and children?”
“Ah?” Tang San Pao was stunned. “I… I truly didn’t know.”
After saying that, Tang San Pao glanced at Ling Jue Yun. Although he did not speak, his thoughts were written all over his face. It was obvious he still thought Ling Jue Yun liked men and that Ling Jue Yun had unrequited feelings for Duan Ling Tian.
“I won’t hesitate to dig your eyes out if you look at me again,” Ling Jue Yun said icily even though his eyes were closed.
Upon hearing these words, Tang San Pao hurriedly averted his gaze. He did not want to provoke the cold-blooded and bloodthirsty Ling Jue Yun over such a trivial matter.
Needless to say, Tang San Pao was not the only one who thought Ling Jue Yun was coldblooded and bloodthirsty. Many people shared the same opinion as him.
“I’ll have a chance to teach you a lesson soon,” Tang San Pao muttered under his breath after he averted his gaze.
Although Tang San Pao’s voice was not loud, the others clearly heard his words. Unlike the others who thought Tang San Pao was just complaining, Duan Ling Tian could not help but wonder if Tang San Pao was strong enough to fight Ling Jue Yun.
Tang San Pao had been extremely mysterious up until now. No one knew how powerful he was or how his master was. All they knew was that he should be as powerful as a Two Star G.o.d of War at least.
Duan Ling Tian shook his head slightly as he thought to himself, ‘Regardless, he’ll have to show more of his strength during the fourth round of the Devata Realms’ Battle of the Geniuses. In fact, most people who have been hiding their strength will have to show more of their strength as well…’
Just as Duan Ling Tian’s master, Feng Qing Yang, had pointed out before, only a handful of partic.i.p.ants, which included Duan Ling Tian and Ling Jue Yun, had shown strength comparable to a Three Star G.o.d of War or stronger before the fourth round of the Devata Realms’ Battle of the Geniuses. The others, despite their strength, only showed strength comparable to a top Two Star G.o.d of War at most.
“Almost all of the Heavenly Emperors and high-ranking officials from the t.i.tle Temple have arrived. The fourth round is about to begin!”
At this moment, many people discovered the Heavenly Emperors from the various Devata Realms and the high-ranking officials from the t.i.tle Temple had arrived.
“Hm?” At this time, Duan Ling Tian could feel the burning gaze of Ru Lai, the Great Sun Celestial Emperor, on him again. Ru Lai’s gaze was like that of a predator staring at its prey. This made chills run up his spine. Perhaps, it was due to Tang San Pao’s influence, he even briefly wondered if Ru Lai liked men.
Shortly after, Feng Qing Yang and Ding Fu, the Heavenly Emperor of the Primeval Heaven, arrived together, laughing and talking like best friends.
Apart from the Heavenly Emperor of the Luo River Heaven, the other 80 Heavenly Emperors were all present.
At this time, Xu Kong Hai, the Vice Temple Master of the main t.i.tle Temple, finally made an appearance. He had likely arrived at the venue a while ago but only made an appearance after everyone had arrived.
“I’m sure all of you know the rules of the fourth round of the Devata Realms’ Battle of Geniuses… It’s best for everyone to be 100% focused during this round. It won’t be easy to be among the 100 who will advance to the next round,” Xu Kong Hai said. After he finished speaking, he looked at the partic.i.p.ants meaningfully.
During the fourth round of Devata Realm’s Battle of Geniuses, the 300 partic.i.p.ants would be first divided into two groups consisting of 150 partic.i.p.ants each. Following that, the t.i.tle Temple would arrange a one-on-one battle for the partic.i.p.ants in each group. As partic.i.p.ants were eliminated during the battles, once there were only 150 partic.i.p.ants left, they would be divided again into two groups of 75 partic.i.p.ants each. At the same time, the 225 partic.i.p.ants who had lost their battles during the fourth round would fight each other until only 25 were left. At that time, there would be 100 partic.i.p.ants who qualified to advance to the next round and 200 partic.i.p.ants who lost their battles during the fourth round. With this, the 200 partic.i.p.ants who lost could challenge any of the 100 partic.i.p.ants slated to advance to the next round. This would continue until all the partic.i.p.ants had issued the challenges. With that, the top 100 partic.i.p.ants would finally advance to the next round.
In simpler terms, the fourth round was rather similar to the third round. Instead of being given three chances to issue a challenge, partic.i.p.ants could issue up to ten challenges during the fourth round. The other difference was that during the start of the fourth round, the t.i.tle Temple would be deciding which partic.i.p.ants would be battling each other.