Chapter 857: Chapter 857: The Finals Begin

Actually, for Liu Zixuan, getting a ranking at the martial arts tournament was a small matter; helping Ye Lianyi get revenge, rescuing his beautiful master, and dealing with the Martial Realm’s unrest—these three were what truly mattered most.

Right now, there was still no progress on Ye Lianyi’s matter; at the very least, Ye Lianyi still hadn’t seen her father’s people.

The Martial Realm turmoil would definitely break out after the martial arts tournament.

So, the most important thing at the moment was to first properly handle what the Medical Immortal Sect had entrusted him with; only then could he rescue his beautiful master.

Even if Liu Zixuan now utterly hated the Medical Immortal Sect, he couldn’t show it—after all, his beautiful master’s life was still in their hands!

Taking first place in the martial arts tournament was, for him, something that neither hurt nor itched.

Ye Lianyi pondered for a moment, then slowly furrowed her brows. "According to your previous plan, you were just going to go as far as you could in the tournament, and never clearly said you had to get first. But now that you suddenly want to go for first place, I’m afraid it will make some people unhappy."

"How so?" Liu Zixuan asked with a smile.

"It’s simple. If you only take one of the lower spots, at most you’ll be noticed by some ordinary Hidden Sect and taken to try to break through to the Emperor Realm. But once you take first place, you’ll definitely draw the attention of the top Hidden Sects."

Ye Lianyi paused, then said, "That way, it’s equivalent to snatching resources from the Four Great Clans and the Eight Great Powers. They definitely won’t let you off."

Liu Zixuan grinned. "Even if I don’t steal their resources, would they let me off?"

Ye Lianyi was momentarily at a loss for words. True, the fact that Liu Zixuan had refused to cooperate with them had already sown hatred in their hearts. As for the Martial Realm dispute, even if Liu Zixuan wanted to hide from it, he definitely wouldn’t be able to. What talk was there of ’letting him off’!

Liu Zixuan lightly patted Ye Lianyi’s shoulder. "What’s more, this time the Hidden Sects have reached some kind of agreement with Dragon Spirit. Who the hell knows what enormous conspiracy lies behind it? So stop overthinking what comes later. Let’s just secure first place first."

"Alright, it’s already started, I’ll go do my PK first." Ye Lianyi took a deep breath and walked toward the Martial Arts Arena in front.

While they’d been talking, Ya Fei had already announced the start. Those dozens of Martial Artists were already rubbing their fists, eager to clash with the powerful opponents standing opposite them!

Liu Zixuan looked at those Martial Artists, then at the referees at the side, then at the members of the Four Great Clans and the Eight Great Powers watching from not far away. He slowly lifted his head and gazed up at the sky.

Vaguely, Liu Zixuan felt as if a huge net was being woven, slowly shrouding everyone within it.

Everything—each and every thing—seemed as though someone had deliberately arranged it all beforehand, leaving no one any room to resist.

One matter after another intertwined before Liu Zixuan, giving him a sense of oppression, like the heaviness right before a storm breaks.

In the time that followed, Liu Zixuan quickly set aside the thoughts in his mind and swiftly joined the PK ranks.

Of the dozens of Martial Artists remaining, each one had a single ultimate goal in their heart: to break into the top ten and gain a chance to冲击 the Emperor Realm!

In these extremely serious duels, some lost very quickly, having run into extremely powerful opponents, while others took a long time for a single PK, because they’d met a closely matched foe, their strengths about the same, unable to decide a winner for a long while.

As for Liu Zixuan, a promotion round at this level obviously didn’t require much effort from him. Those who could truly make him frown and go all out should be those monstrous geniuses from the major clans, as well as the trial disciples sent by the Hidden Sects.

Although those Patriarchs and elders weren’t participating in the tournament, each great clan and power still had a few monstrous Martial Artists. Of course, most of them were a bit older than Liu Zixuan and had started cultivating their Cultivation Techniques earlier than he had.

Around eleven o’clock that morning, several large drums halfway up the mountain were struck.

Everyone simultaneously looked toward the raised platform in the middle, a bit confused.

They saw Ya Fei and the six referees all step to the center of the stage, facing all the Martial Artists.

Ya Fei spoke with a smile. "Everyone, just now, this martial arts tournament has already determined the top twenty Martial Artists. After a joint discussion by the elders of the referee panel, we’ve unanimously decided to sound the drums for one minute. During this time, all eliminated Martial Artists are to leave the field. The top twenty Martial Artists will automatically choose an opponent, step onto a Martial Arts Arena, and await the start!"

Very soon, several figures slowly shifted about. Most of the Martial Artists, wearing looks of unwillingness, gradually moved to the left and right sides of the Martial Arts Arenas. They did not plan to leave entirely, but stayed to watch, intending to see who would ultimately break into the top ten in this tournament, and who would seize the championship of this sixty-year-cycle’s martial arts tournament—to become the true number one in the Martial Realm!

Before long, only twenty Martial Artists remained in the field.

Liu Zixuan scanned them in one glance. With most of the Martial Artists gone, his field of vision opened up, and he could clearly see these people’s faces.

Just as he’d expected, among his brothers, Jiang Yunxuan and Zhao Yi had both advanced, while Tiger and Ye Lianyi had unfortunately been eliminated.

But this didn’t really matter. One had to know, besides giving Tiger that Guiding Order, Liu Zixuan had obtained another Guiding Order outside the Ghost Market back then. If later Ye Lianyi also wanted to use this opportunity to enter a Hidden Sect and冲击 the Emperor Realm, he could simply give that Guiding Order to Ye Lianyi.

As for Jiang Yunxuan and Zhao Yi, Liu Zixuan wasn’t too worried. Getting into the top five might be a bit difficult, but the top ten should be relatively easy for them.

As his gaze swept across the crowd, he unexpectedly spotted a familiar figure!

It was none other than Tongtong, the little Divine Maiden of the Jade Maiden Sect, with whom he’d had a couple of brief encounters when the Ghost Market at Weiyang Highland ended!

He had thought the Jade Maiden Sect wouldn’t participate in the martial arts tournament—after all, with the little Divine Maiden Tongtong’s aptitude, she could easily break through to the Emperor Realm on her own.

As he looked over, Tongtong happened to see him as well. She revealed an extremely cute little hand and waved at him twice.

Liu Zixuan answered with a smile and was just about to walk over to greet her when he suddenly felt a pair of eyes full of killing intent turn toward him.

He halted his steps, looked around to the left and right, and finally fixed his gaze on a man who looked to be around thirty.

The man had a square face, his eyes filled with viciousness, yet the corners of his mouth held a strange smile as he slowly made a throat-slitting gesture toward Liu Zixuan.

Liu Zixuan frowned. Clearly, he didn’t know this man, so why was the man acting like this?

"The drums thunder, the Seven Stars shine bright!"

Right at this moment, Ya Fei’s voice once again echoed through the valley. She smiled slightly at everyone. "Under the Big Dipper, we are about to witness the final showdown of this martial arts tournament! Without a doubt, each of you is the strongest. We, like you, look forward to seeing what kind of sparks will fly when the strongest clash with the strongest!"