223: Chapter 223 Beyond Imagination

Next was the group drawing.

The Referee Elder sent the bamboo tubes to the Disciples of each Peak in turn. The Disciples reached out one by one to draw lots, their expressions varied.

Some were nervous, some were excited, and some were muttering prayers not to draw too strong an opponent.

Lin Tian drew one casually, flipped it open to look—Group One.

He did not pay it any mind, put the lot away, and followed the crowd to the arena area for Group One.

The pace of the elimination tournament was fast; as soon as the drawing ended, battles began simultaneously on all arenas.

For a time, the martial arts arena was filled with the sound of whistling punches and flashing blades. The roar of combat erupted from all seven arenas, bustling with activity.

Lin Tian's first battle came quickly.

He stepped onto the arena, and a young man was already standing on the opposite side. The young man wore the attire of a Qingxia Peak Disciple, was thin, and his eyes were darting around as he sized up Lin Tian.

After seeing Lin Tian's face clearly, the young man suddenly smiled.

"You are from Zixia Peak?" He looked Lin Tian up and down, and the more he looked, the brighter his smile became. "I don't seem to have seen you before. You probably haven't been to the front lines to fight against the Demon Sect, right?"

Lin Tian nodded: "I haven't."

Upon hearing this, the young man burst into laughter.

"You haven't? Then your combat power must be no good!" He laughed so hard his shoulders were shaking. "Junior Brother, it's not that this Senior Brother is bullying you, but life-and-death struggles on the battlefield are completely different from sparring within the Sect. If you haven't seen blood or killed Demon Sect evildoers, can your hands and feet really be nimble? This battle, this Senior Brother is sure to win!"

As the words fell, he didn't wait for Lin Tian to reply. He stomped his foot and his figure shot out violently.

Azure Light Palm!

He struck out with a palm, a layer of faint azure light shimmering on his palm, the palm wind sharp, aiming straight for Lin Tian's chest.

In the hands of a standard Early Stage 5th-rank Disciple, this palm strike could be considered quite imposing.

Lin Tian stepped to the side, his figure swaying lightly like willow catkins. That sharp palm wind brushed past his robes without even touching the corner of his clothes.

The young man's palm missed, his brows furrowed, and he shouted angrily: "Dodging? Let's see how many palms you can dodge!"

He struck with both palms simultaneously, launching five strikes in a row.

Five azure palm shadows covered the sky and earth, sealing off all of Lin Tian's retreat paths, front, back, left, and right.

Several Disciples from Qingxia Peak below the stage cheered at the sight.

However, Lin Tian's figure swayed again, moving freely between the five palm shadows, his steps light and casual, as if he were strolling in his own backyard.

After the five palms were exhausted, they still hadn't touched even a corner of his clothes.

The young man was completely enraged.

"What is going on? Why can't I hit you? Damn it! If you have the guts, stop dodging!"

He roared, pushing his cultivation to the limit. Both palms glowed with intense azure light, and he rushed toward Lin Tian like a wild bull.

This time, Lin Tian did not dodge again.

He grasped the autumn water sword at his waist with a backhand grip.

The sword remained sheathed.

Lin Tian flicked his wrist, and the scabbard tapped precisely on the opponent's incoming arm.

The young man felt his arm go numb, the entire limb instantly losing sensation, and the palm momentum collapsed along with it.

Before he could react, the hilt of Lin Tian's sword tapped lightly on his shoulder.

A tremendous force surged from his shoulder. The young man's feet left the ground, and his whole body flew backward like a kite with a broken string. With a thud, he fell to the edge of the arena, rolled once, and tumbled right off the stage.

The battle ended.

From beginning to end, it took no more than a few breaths of time.

There was silence below the stage. Several Disciples from Qingxia Peak had their mouths wide open, still unable to close them.

On the Zixia Peak side, several Disciples also widened their eyes, evidently not expecting Lin Tian to win so easily.

Lin Tian hung the autumn water sword back on his waist and walked off the arena with a calm expression.

One victory, effortless.

Next, Lin Tian entered the arena a few more times.

Each time, he won just as easily. Opponents ranged from Peak 4th-rank to Early Stage 5th-rank. No matter what martial arts they unleashed, Lin Tian responded the same way—lightly shifting his steps to dodge the attack, then a tap with the scabbard to end the battle.

The autumn water sword never left its sheath.

Because he hadn't yet met an opponent worthy of him drawing his sword.

On the other side, Shen Haoran and Qiao Yiyi were also shining in their respective groups.

Shen Haoran was in Group Two, wielding his long spear with consummate skill. When the spear thrust out, it was like a Dragon, and opponents were often swept off the arena before they could even clearly see his spear shadows.

Qiao Yiyi was in Group Three, using a pair of short swords. Her movement technique was agile, and her attacks were ruthless. After several battles, she also remained undefeated.

The people from Zixia Peak were overjoyed, and several Elders had smiles on their faces.

"Haoran and Yiyi are stable; there is no problem getting into the finals."

"There is hope for the top three. This time, our Zixia Peak is not bad!"

Peak Master Su Hanyan stood on the viewing platform, but her gaze remained fixed on the Group One arena. Watching Lin Tian tap another opponent away with his scabbard, she nodded slightly.

Lin Tian getting into the finals was also not a problem.

Half a day passed quickly. As the elimination tournament reached the halfway point, the Referee Elder announced a one-hour break.

The Disciples of each Peak retreated to their respective rest areas, some adjusting their breathing, others tending to their wounds.

The Disciples of Zixia Peak also gathered together, discussing the situation in their respective groups.

When they learned that Lin Tian was currently maintaining a perfect win record, several Zixia Peak Elders showed expressions of surprise.

"A perfect record? This kid is capable."

"Could it be that we misjudged him? This kid might really be a dark horse."

"That thing he said before... could it be true? Is it possible he really has the strength to compete with a Peak 5th-rank?"

The several Elders looked at each other, their gazes involuntarily drifting toward Lin Tian not far away.

Lin Tian was sitting cross-legged in a corner, eyes closed, adjusting his breathing. His expression was plain, and there was not the slightest bit of Aura leaking from his whole body. No matter how you looked at it, he didn't look like an expert capable of wrestling with a Peak 5th-rank.

Qiao Yiyi heard the Elders' discussion and curled her lip.

Shen Haoran shook his head lightly.

"The Elders are overthinking it." Shen Haoran's voice was not loud, but his tone was very firm. "You don't meet real experts in the elimination tournament; being undefeated is nothing to boast about. Once he gets into the finals and faces real powerhouses, he will be eliminated very quickly."

Qiao Yiyi rarely agreed with Shen Haoran: "That's right. It's true that Lin Tian has some skill, but it's just average level. He hasn't been to the battlefield and hasn't experienced life-and-death struggles; he definitely won't be able to hold on once he reaches the finals stage."

Hearing the two of them say this, the Elders also felt it made sense. After all, up to this point in the elimination tournament, the real experts hadn't exerted their full strength yet, and the top few of each group hadn't faced each other head-on.

If Lin Tian could remain undefeated, it could only be said that his luck was good and the opponents he drew weren't considered strong.

An hour passed quickly.

The competition continued.

Among the more than a thousand Disciples who signed up at the beginning, a considerable portion had cultivation below the 5th-rank and were purely there to join in the fun. These people lacked strength and were successively eliminated in the first few rounds.

After several rounds of screening, there weren't many Disciples left on the arena.

After a few more rounds, only about a hundred people remained on the field.

All of them were 5th-rank Martial Artists.

With the elimination tournament reaching this point, it truly entered the white-hot stage.

None of the remaining hundred or so people were soft persimmons. Every match was 5th-rank versus 5th-rank, and wanting to win easily was no longer that simple.

In this atmosphere, Lin Tian stepped onto the arena again.

This time, his opponent was from Jinxia Peak.

The young man had a burly figure, with a broadsword as wide as a palm slung across his back. His Aura was heavy and condensed, and his cultivation had reached the Middle Stage 5th-rank.

Standing on the arena, he was like an iron tower, and the sheer pressure alone made many people below the stage break into a cold sweat for Lin Tian.

The young man looked Lin Tian up and down and grinned.

"I know you." He said bluntly, "You won the previous few matches; your luck is not bad. But meeting me, your good luck ends here. Take some advice from your Senior Brother and obediently concede, so you don't lose face after being knocked off the stage later."

Lin Tian looked at him and shook his head: "Just relying on you, you are not qualified to make me lose."

The young man's expression sank instantly.

"If you won't take a hint, then don't blame me." He snorted coldly, gripped the hilt of his blade with a backhand, and suddenly drew the long blade from his back. "Then I won't be polite!"

The long blade left its sheath, and the blade light shone brightly.

He gripped the blade with both hands, took a step forward, and the blade edge slashed down fiercely with a piercing sound of breaking air.

This strike was powerful and heavy, the blade light as cold as frost, and even the Void Realm was shaken violently by the blade's momentum.

Exclamations erupted from below the stage.

This strike had considerable power!

However, before the exclamations had faded, Lin Tian's figure swayed.

Cloud Shadow Step.

His whole person dissipated on the spot like a wisp of azure smoke. That slash fell, only hitting an afterimage.

The blade edge smashed into the arena, carving a half-foot-deep blade mark into the bluestone floor, and stone fragments splattered everywhere.

The young man's pupils shrank violently.

Where is he?

The next instant, Lin Tian had already appeared silently behind him.

The autumn water sword in his hand still had not left its sheath. Lin Tian flipped his wrist, and the scabbard struck out horizontally, hitting the young man's back squarely.

Bang!

With a muffled sound, the young man felt as if his back had been hit by a charging rhinoceros. His feet left the ground, and his entire body flew forward uncontrollably.

He tumbled through the air with his blade, landed heavily beneath the arena, and dust flew everywhere.

One strike.

He only unleashed one strike.

And then there was no then.

The young man climbed up from the ground, covered in dust, his face full of disbelief. He stared at Lin Tian on the arena with wide eyes, his lips trembling for a long time before he squeezed out a sentence: "What is going on? How did I lose? Is this kid this fast? No! It's that I was careless! He must have launched a sneak attack when I wasn't paying attention!"

The more he thought about it, the more unwilling he felt, thinking that he had lost this match too unjustly.

But the Disciples watching below the stage had seen it clearly. That was no sneak attack; it was pure speed suppression.

The timing and movement technique Lin Tian used to dodge that strike were terrifyingly precise; it was not luck at all.

The whole arena was in an uproar.

"Won again? So fast?"

"That guy from Jinxia Peak was a Middle Stage 5th-rank, and he was knocked down in one strike?"

"Since when did Zixia Peak produce such a character?"

On the Zixia Peak side, the Disciples cheered. Several young Disciples were so excited their faces turned red, and they clapped hard.

Those Elders couldn't sit still either; they looked at each other, their faces full of surprise.

"This kid... is much stronger than imagined."

"A blade-wielder at Middle Stage 5th-rank was knocked down in one encounter; this is not something that can be done with luck."

Peak Master Su Hanyan stood to the side, a faint smile rising at the corner of her mouth.

"What does this count for?" Her voice was not loud, but her tone revealed an undisguised pride. "This isn't even one-tenth of his strength. His true strength is beyond your imagination."