129: Chapter 126 Successive Eliminations

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, more than twenty minutes had elapsed.

"The ninth stage has begun."

"The difficulty has suddenly increased a lot. In this stage, someone is bound to be eliminated." Tang Jianxin had been watching the battle for half an hour. Aside from Fang Yu and the others, she had also checked a large number of participants from other schools and roughly understood the situation.

"Someone has been killed, and their accumulated points have ended."

Inside one of the unassuming challenge spaces was a vast wasteland.

Thud~ Thud~ Thud~ The earth was shaking wildly.

"Roar~" "Awoo~" One after another, wolf howls rang out. Massive black giant wolves with blood-red eyes were utterly fearless at this moment, crazily charging toward Fang Yu.

"This ninth stage actually features forty Fire-eyed Black Wolves."

"Every single one of them is Level 35, far stronger than the one I killed back then." Holding a battle saber, Fang Yu's figure was like a phantom, strolling leisurely as he weaved through the Fire-eyed Black Wolves. "Moreover, their explosive power is very strong."

"They have completely integrated their physical strength, clearly reaching the level of Micro-consummation Minor Achievement."

Human Martial Artists possessed extremely high intelligence. After years of bitter cultivation, their combat techniques were usually extremely brilliant. A Level 36 human Martial Artist could generally reach the level of Micro-consummation.

Vicious Beasts, even with lower intelligence, would see their techniques continuously improve as their life levels rose.

Fang Yu did not dare to be too careless.

"Swish!" Blade after blade slashed out with precision. When they erupted, they were like thunder, and their speed was swift to the extreme, yet the amplitude of the air vibration was extremely small, making them practically impossible to guard against.

"Puff." With a single slash, one of the Fire-eyed Black Wolves was abruptly cleaved in half in mid-air, countless drops of blood scattering onto the ground.

"Blend into the environment."

"I must seize every second to improve my saber technique as much as possible." Fang Yu treated the challenge space as his own trial, desperately searching for the feeling of "blending into the environment" that President Baili Jing had spoken of.

Everything followed one's true heart and one's own spiritual perception of the surrounding environment.

Nowadays, although Fang Yu could not yet completely blend into the environment, this deliberate control also greatly reduced air resistance, making his movement technique and saber technique even more agile and unpredictable, and his speed even faster.

"For this stage, Inner Scenery Level Five is enough."

"There's no need to unleash the Burning Blood Saber Technique," Fang Yu thought to himself.

Each stage only lasted for three minutes.

Therefore, Fang Yu maintained the strongest burst of "Inner Scenery Level Five" at all times, which allowed him to easily kill the vast majority of Level 39 human Martial Artists. The threat of these Fire-eyed Black Wolves was minimal.

Under the burst of power.

"Puchi!"

Accompanied by another slash, the last Fire-eyed Black Wolf fell to the ground. Wolf corpses covered the ground, and Fang Yu's whole body was completely soaked in blood. Fang Yu glanced up at the sky.

In the sky, two light screens, one large and one small, were floating. The small light screen showed Fang Yu's name, points, and ranking information, while the large light screen displayed the dense rankings of tens of thousands of people.

Fang Yu looked at the small light screen:

Contestant: Fang Yu (Huguang Martial Arts University)

Grade: Senior Year

Points: 2,700 points

Ranking: 1,944th

Note: For the same points, sorting is done based on the time of meeting the standard.

"Although I didn't pursue the absolute limit of killing speed, I still gave it my all and killed them all in two minutes. How am I only ranked 1,944th?" Fang Yu thought to himself.

"It seems that, much as Professor Xu estimated, there should be at least a thousand students with Major Achievement in Inner Scenery techniques in this competition."

For senior students, it was extremely difficult for their techniques to reach Inner Scenery Level Five. Anyone who could achieve this was qualified to be evaluated as a "Tier 2 Starry Sky Seed". However, there were a full ten thousand students who were Level 3 Starry Sky Seeds in their fifth year. People like Yu Guizhou were at Inner Scenery Level Four... Among them, some of the more formidable ones reaching Inner Scenery Level Five was nothing out of the ordinary.

According to Fang Yu's estimation.

The several hundred Tier 2 Starry Sky Seeds in their fifth year, even if most were inferior to Yan Tianheng, would most likely have reached Level 39.9, and their Inner Scenery would definitely be above Inner Scenery Level Eight.

These people.

Would all be obstacles to Fang Yu as he charged into the fourth and fifth rounds.

"My previous plan needs some adjustments. It's hard to say what the difficulty of the later stages will be. Starting from the next level, I must charge with all my might from the very beginning and strive for a higher ranking," Fang Yu thought to himself.

"However."

"In this stage, I'm afraid someone is going to be eliminated." Fang Yu was also constantly checking the data on the giant light screen. At the end of the leaderboard, participants marked as "killed in battle" had begun to appear one after another.

Du Feng, who ranked tenth during the Huguang Martial Arts University selection battle, had likewise been killed in battle, freezing his points.

This was the first student from Huguang Martial Arts University to be eliminated.

More than twenty seconds later.

Swish!

Fang Yu instantly vanished from his spot. When he reappeared, he was already in a shallow puddle, and tall, humanoid powerhouses resembling mermen appeared by his side.

Above the heads of these humanoid powerhouses floated the number "Level 35".

"Alien powerhouses?" Fang Yu instantly judged: "Level 35 intelligent life forms most likely possess martial arts techniques at the level of Micro-consummation." Micro-consummation techniques could trigger hidden force eruptions.

In the tenth stage, the difficulty skyrocketed once again.

"Kill!" Fang Yu did not dare to hesitate. With a thought, the Qi, blood, and hidden force throughout his body instantly erupted like a surging river... If he didn't go all out, facing so many formidable Senior Martial Artists, he might not be able to finish them off within three minutes.

...In the tenth stage, there were 40 merman-like alien powerhouses, which Fang Yu wiped out in 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

...In the eleventh stage, it was the Vicious Beast "Flying Twin-headed Snake", which Fang Yu wiped out in 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

...In the twelfth stage, they were alien powerhouses resembling the "dwarves" in various anime from Blue Star. There were close-combatants, and for the first time, long-range stage guardians appeared, with every single one of them at Level 38 in life level.

Fang Yu's life level was Level 37.1. This was the first time a stage guardian's life level was higher than Fang Yu's.

Moreover, all the dwarves possessed techniques at the limit of Micro, and those dwarf archers no longer even actively charged in to kill, but instead evaded... Fang Yu found the slaughter increasingly difficult.

He was injured.

Spending 3 minutes and trying his utmost, Fang Yu ultimately killed 34 stage guardians and entered the thirteenth stage.

For the first time, even by going all out, Fang Yu failed to wipe out all the stage guardians.

...In the fourteenth stage, it was the Vicious Beast "Magic-eyed Black Panther", whose life level had skyrocketed to Level 39.9, causing the difficulty to soar once again.

"I can't finish killing them all."

"I must fight and flee at the same time, with the goal of holding out until the next stage." Just as Fang Yu exchanged blows with a Magic-eyed Black Panther, he felt the other party's astonishing strength; its fur was terrifyingly tough.

It seemed to only possess techniques at the limit of Micro, but these Vicious Beasts had stronger foundations, greater agility, and stronger defensive capabilities.

Under their ferocious pouncing and killing, if Fang Yu was hit head-on and bitten, it was entirely possible for him to perish.

He did not dare to be the slightest bit careless.

On the spectator spacecraft, teachers from various schools were nervously paying attention to the rankings.

Starting from the ninth stage, the soaring difficulty of each stage was merely a difference in points for participants of Fang Yu's level, but for the vast majority of participants, it meant the difference between life and death.

"Damn it!"

"They're all dead! Sigh, not a single one survived to the fourteenth stage."

"Me too."

"Our school is about the same. Only one managed to rush into the second round. There's no way to report back on this when we return."

"Report back? This is your first time leading a team here, right? Every competition is pretty much the same. Most of us ordinary martial arts universities see our students eliminated in the first round." The team-leading teachers from the 470 ordinary martial arts universities communicated with one another; some sighed, some had headaches, but more were indifferent.

Although some martial arts geniuses would gradually rise to prominence after entering university, they were ultimately a minority.

The martial arts geniuses admitted to Xinyue Martial Arts University and the ten key universities had exhibited much stronger talent during the college entrance examinations, and after entering university, they obtained even better resources. How could their strength possibly be weak?

At this moment.

On the giant light screen leaderboard, over 80% of the contestants already showed "dead". Among the contestants who were still alive, the lowest ranking was past the 5,000th place.

In short, the list of students entering the second round had actually been finalized.

For the contestants from most ordinary martial arts universities, out of ten people, having 3 advance to the second round would already be considered good.

"Our Huguang Martial Arts University actually has six people breaking into the second round," Professor Xu smiled slightly. "Even if we exclude Yan Tianheng, Fang Yu, and Yu Guizhou, there are still three left. That's very good."

Tang Jianxin could not help but nod.

Yan Tianheng and Yu Guizhou were both specially recruited during the college entrance examinations, while someone like Fang Yu purely struck it lucky. These were all unconventional.

Time passed.

Another minute or so went by.

"Yu Guizhou has been eliminated," Professor Xu suddenly said. "He stopped at 3,688th place. Fang Yu's strength indeed far exceeds his. With Yu Guizhou's ranking, I wonder if he can charge into the fourth round."

The fourth round had 2,560 slots.

"Ten days have passed since the selection battle, and Fang Yu's life level has clearly improved significantly once again," Tang Jianxin softly said. "Right now, in our Huguang Martial Arts University, the only ones still alive in the challenge space are Fang Yu and Yan Tianheng."

"It all depends on how far the two of them can charge."

"The higher the ranking, the better."

At this moment, more than 20,000 people had densely appeared on the plaza, and the vast majority of them had already been eliminated.

Swish!

Yu Guizhou also appeared out of thin air.

"You got eliminated too, Old Yu." Yin Xu and the others, who had long been eliminated, all gathered around. Some felt fortunate, while others felt unreconciled. "Yeah."

"Those Magic-eyed Black Panthers are too ruthless, completely fearless, and every single one of them is shockingly fast," Yu Guizhou shook his head and said. "I wanted to run, but the challenge space turned out not to be infinite; there was no way to run far."

"I killed a dozen or so before being killed myself," Yu Guizhou sighed with emotion.

He had already fought desperately.

Because he died in battle, his ranking had slipped slightly now, but Yu Guizhou estimated that his final ranking should be around 4,000th... He was already very satisfied with this ranking.

"Fang Yu is still charging, 1,568th place. He's about to break into the top 1,500," Yin Xu couldn't help saying. "He's progressing so fast!" "Truly ruthless!"

"During the selection battle, I remember his score was about the same as Yu Guizhou's." The other Huguang Martial Arts University students were also quite emotional. Between the 3,600+ range and the 1,500+ range, there was clearly a distinct gap in strength.

"You guys don't understand!"

"His technique improves fast; his technique is actually stronger than mine. The only thing he lacked was his life level," Yu Guizhou smiled and said. "With the school's vigorous cultivation, his life level must have improved significantly once again."

"Just watch."

"If he can stabilize around 1,500th place, his chances of breaking into the fourth round are very high," Yu Guizhou said.

In the highest spectator spacecraft, many top-tier Earth Martial Artists were also watching the battle.

"It's the fifteenth stage."

"The difficulty has skyrocketed once again," Minister Ji Lianyun softly said. "Yan Tianheng and Zhuang Yiliu are still very relaxed, but Fang Yu is having a tough time... I reckon he's going to fall in this stage."

"This stage is indeed difficult," President Baili Jing nodded slightly. "If Fang Yu were Level 39, he'd still have hope of holding out until the end, but he's only Level 37. I'm afraid he's going to be swarmed and killed."

As Earth Martial Artists, their discernment was extremely strong. At a glance, they judged that Fang Yu had a high probability of failing to clear the 15th stage, and it would even be difficult for him to stay alive until the next stage. But suddenly,

"Huh? Something's not right." Minister Ji Lianyun's expression changed slightly, and his eyes lit up even more: "Brother Baili, look quickly! Fang Yu's movement technique! His movement technique!"