160: Event preview of the World Martial Arts Tournament

“Wait a bit, let's each see what new skills we can learn at level 35 first!” Jian Wuxie suggested.

Meanwhile, Hughes had completely immersed himself here after entering the Secret Realm with the crowd. He felt that being in this world where no one knew him was quite nice, a way of escaping reality.

After smashing a Goblin to death with his Cross, he felt that personally destroying these monsters, which he himself had created, felt quite good, giving him a sense of redeeming his sins.

After entering the Secret Realm, for some unknown reason, he still chose the Cleric class. He wasn't sure why himself; perhaps his heart still yearned for the light.

Carrying the giant Cross on his back, a long-absent smile appeared on Hughes's face. He was in a good mood; if possible, he would be willing to live in this world forever.

He suddenly thought of Sister Catherine, who was still in the Dark Council. They had shared similar experiences; if Sister Catherine came here too, she would surely be very happy, right? Hughes thought to himself.

Humming an unknown tune, Hughes strolled through the streets of Heatonmar. Passing by the Duchy's church, the Cultivator looked at the spotless building, slowly knelt on the ground, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and prayed silently.

“Adventurer, is there something you need?” a woman sitting on a tilted Cross at the church entrance asked.

“Nothing, I just want to pray to the god of light,” Hughes replied.

“Hehe, I can see that your heart yearns for the light! Let me introduce myself, I am Grandis.”

Hughes smiled, gave her a bow, and was about to leave.

But Grandis said behind him, “When you are strong enough, come find me. I am the mentor for Clerics. Sometimes, even if the body is filthy, if the heart holds light, the god of light will not abandon you!”

Hughes paused slightly upon hearing this. He slowly turned around and bowed to Grandis again, saying, “Thank you!”

This "thank you" from Hughes wasn't just out of politeness; it was very sincere.

Lin Chuan was very troubled right now, and for no other reason than that he was planning the first martial arts tournament within the Secret Realm.

After racking his brains for a long time, he realized that the tournament format he thought would be simple left his mind blank when he actually started planning.

He didn't want to just set up individual matches; he also wanted team matches and even Guild matches.

The reason was simply that since the Guild System opened, very few had established guilds; everyone seemed indifferent.

The Cultivators were now used to the four-person party mode for Dungeon Instances and had no interest in larger organizations.

Lin Chuan wanted to change their thinking; otherwise, what would these people do when Raid Dungeons were released in the future?

“I must cultivate their sense of collective honor. I want to see the grand scene of Guilds using Megaphones to announce the first clear of an Otherverse dungeon or a Raid! By then, I'll make money selling Megaphones too! Hehe!” Lin Chuan muttered.

After sending his two young disciples off to run Dungeon Instances on their own, Lin Chuan stayed cooped up at home for a whole day before finally coming up with a rough tournament format. He submitted it to the System for optimization.

Shortly after the submission, the System's voice rang in his mind.

[The planning proposal for the Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament has been received. The planning is reasonable; the System is beginning optimization.]

[Optimizing...]

[Optimization complete. Please select the event start time.]

Lin Chuan thought for a moment and said, “Let's set it for five days from now to give them some time to practice.”

[Time confirmed. Would you like to initiate a server-wide announcement?]

Lin Chuan nodded and said, “Announce it!”

After Lin Chuan spoke, a System announcement suddenly rang throughout the Secret Realm:

[Ding! Global Secret Realm announcement: The Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament event will officially begin in five days.]

[Adventurers who wish to participate, please register in advance with Sosia, the proprietress of the Moonlight Tavern.]

[This competition is divided into: Individual Matches, Team Matches, and Guild Matches.]

[Individual Matches: Adventurers fight alone. Opponents are selected through random drawing. Best of three matches; the loser is eliminated.]

[Team Matches: Form a four-person team to register. Opponents are selected through random drawing. Single-match elimination; the losing team is eliminated.]

[Guild Matches: Each Guild is limited to 10 participants. Opponents are selected through random drawing. Individual elimination matches; the Guild whose players are all defeated is eliminated.]

[There are no restrictions on the three participation modes; one person can participate in all of them.]

[All three tournament formats will go through seven stages: Qualifiers - Top 64 - Top 32 - Top 16 - Quarter-finals - Semi-finals - Championship Finals.]

[Starting from the Top 32, the matches will be broadcast live. Please do your best.]

[The top 8 participants in each tournament format will receive luxurious rewards after the competition ends.]

[The higher the rank, the more luxurious the reward. Please look forward to the announcement of specific rewards later.]

[All participants can receive a revival coin gift pack from Seria.]

[The Moonlight Tavern Arena is now open. Everyone can go there to practice fighting techniques in advance!]

As soon as the System announcement ended, the Cultivators in the Secret Realm began discussing it enthusiastically.

“What do you think the reward would be for winning the championship?” one Cultivator asked.

“Stop dreaming. Talents are emerging from all over the world. Is first place something for Loose Cultivators like us to even think about?” another person said.

“Why not? If we're talking about background resources and trump cards, we indeed can't compare to those Prodigies. But don't forget, this is in the Secret Realm where everyone's cultivation level is the same. Why can't we go head-to-head with those Prodigies?” another Gunner Loose Cultivator said.

“Hehe, the rewards for that leveling event last time were so powerful. Don't forget, Great Master G.S.D's Clone puppet came from that event. For a large-scale event like this, if someone gets first place, I really can't imagine what the reward would be!” the first Cultivator said.

“Hmph, you only see the rewards. Don't forget, currently in the Secret Realm, except for the people from the Northern Territory who haven't arrived, everyone else, including those from the Central Province, is here. Didn't you hear? Once it reaches the Top 32, the scene will be broadcast live. If someone performs well and catches the eye of some big shot, they might just soar to the heavens!” a male Fighter said at this time.

Lin Chuan didn't know what the Cultivators in the Secret Realm were discussing because he was currently given an even more troublesome task by the System.

[New Task: Set up broadcast squares in the Four Major Imperial Cities of the Canglan Continent. Let everyone see the exciting matches!]

[Task Reward: Level-up Capsules, All-class Class Advancement Books! Random puppet.]

[Failure Penalty: The reward for completing the main quest (Host a Grand Competition) will be reduced by 90%!]