2729 Zhou Yan

The other 63 battles were conducted accordingly, and very soon, the 64 candidates that would progress to the next stage all emerged.

And among these results, a considerable number of them were unexpected.

Take Zhang Yuan, ranked 17th on the recent leaderboard, as an example. He had lost to a man who had been given a special additional participation spot—Tu Shi. And there was also Chang Tian, ranked 31st on the recent leaderboard; he had also lost to a person who was not very well-known, and whose name was Zhu Yan.

And there was also Zhu Bao, ranked 39th, who had lost to Qi Changjun.

Every time an unexpected result emerged, it would cause incredible shock.

It should be known that every single person that could be ranked in the top 100 of the recent leaderboard was an elite, and there was definitely no one mediocre among them—an exception like Ling Han had only appeared once in history. Moreover, Ling Han had also used his strength to show that he was qualified to be ranked 1st on the recent leaderboard.

But now? The veteran elites had all lost one after another, while rookies replaced them.

What was going on here? There were actually so many young elites that had been hidden? Then why had they been so unknown before?

The most astonishing was a man named Wu Haoyang; he was actually only a Ninth Heaven Celestial King!

A Ninth Heaven Celestial King had defeated a Pseudo-Heavenly Venerate… just like Ling Han.

When Ling Han found out about this, he, too, was involuntarily surprised. Previously, Lin Piaoxue said that he was not a special case, and there were similarly others that could wield Pseudo-Heavenly-Venerable-Tier power at the Ninth Heaven Celestial King Tier, yet the ones she knew about were already characters from several hundred million years ago.

However, a real example had appeared now.

Hysteria was wreaking havoc, and the whole Genesis World was in peril, but it had also greeted a great boom of prodigies.

"This Wu Haoyang… seems to be worthy of a battle." A smile appeared at the corners of Ling Han's lips. Not only did he not feel the slightest sliver of anxiety, he was instead filled with fighting spirit.

Previously, there had been Ji Wuming who constantly exerted endless pressure on him, and then it had been Heavenborn, and they had been obstacles which he definitely had had to pass. By now, the two of them had become a matter of the past. Though Ling Han would not relax, if there was a strong rival, he would definitely be even more motivated.

After resting for a few days, the second round of battles continued.

There was no need to draw lots for this, as the matches had already been decided during the first drawing of lots. Ling Han's next opponent was named Zhou Yan.

Though this person's name had the word "rock," he was actually very lanky and slender, without any feeling of sturdiness or <anno data-annotation-id="0a817018-3818-491d-afd5-5b10ac505ab8">hardness</anno>. In fact, he was slightly on the thin side.

"Zhou Yan," he introduced himself. "42nd on the recent leaderboard."

Previously, Gou Yan had only been ranked at 89th, yet this man was ranked in the top half of the top 100, which showed that his strength was definitely a great increase from Gou Yan.

"Ling Han." Ling Han nodded. He was actually not an arrogant person.

"Please." Zhou Yan clasped his fists politely, and his gaze suddenly turned harsh and serious.

Ling Han also made a gesture of invitation, and then took the initiative to attack first.

Peng!

The two of them exchanged a blow without any false moves, probing one another.

Power of the peak-stage Pseudo Heavenly Venerable Tier.

Both of them mentally concluded so, but Ling Han was nodding mentally. Zhou Yan was indeed stronger than Gou Yan. This was decided by their respective natural talent and Zhou Yan's capacity to accommodate power that was greater than Gou Yan's.

In this instant, neither of them used ultimate moves. They were clashing with standard battle prowess, but after around 100 moves, both of them were getting impatient.

"Drizzle Rioting Winds Fist!" Zhou Yan exclaimed lightly.

His aura immediately changed. His left fist became fragile and weak like the drizzling rains of March. Landing a punch with this fist would be soft, but the punches thrown from his right hand would be like the wild winds of the sea, filled with intimidation.

Movement and stasis were exhibited in this fist technique at the same time, which was incredibly bizarre.

A ripping feeling immediately rose up in Ling Han. On the one side, his body seemed like it wanted to move quickly as well, but on the other side, his body wanted to stay immobile, which caused him great discomfort.

It was not just his body, but also his soul as well. It felt like it would be forcibly torn in two.

'Yi, this fist technique is quite interesting.'

Ling Han used the Indestructible Heaven's Scroll, expelling all the discomfort.

Heavenly Venerate Technique versus Heavenly Venerate Technique.

Seeing how Ling Han was standing firm like a golden bell, enshrouded by countless golden seals and completely dispelling his offensive, Zhou Yan couldn't help but pale. "You have actually mastered a third Heavenly Venerate Technique!"

The recording of Ling Han's previous battle with Gou Yan had long since been studied, and there naturally would be people who would ask Gou Yan. The involved party would definitely have a clearer idea of Ling Han's strength, and they came to the conclusion that Ling Han had mastered two Heavenly Venerate Techniques, and that was how he had subdued Gou Yan.

But now… Ling Han had shown a third Heavenly Venerate Technique.

Heavens, could it be that there had been three Heavenly Venerates that had emerged from his clan before, so each one of them had taught him a different Heavenly Venerate Technique?

Zhou Yan was thinking furiously. It was not that there weren't any forces that had produced three Heavenly Venerates before, but none of them seemed like they had the surname Ling.

Tong, tong, tong! Countless attacks landed on Ling Han, and they were all blocked by these protective golden seals, and turned into dazzling bits of light.

In the distance, the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable nodded with gratification. This disciple's mastery of the Indestructible Heaven's Scroll was only inferior to his in level, but in terms of detail, he even looked like he, the disciple, would soon surpass the master.

This was very normal. Not only had Ling Han discussed this with Wally before, and made adjustments to the Indestructible Heaven's Scroll, he was also extracting Void Particle Energy, and the quality of Void Particle Energy was superior to that unique power of the Celestial Realm.

Hence, if they were both at the level of Indestructible Divine Metal Physique, it would definitely be Ling Han who would be superior to the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable.

"I wonder what this Seven Deaths Seven Explosions Pill tastes like." The large black dog smacked his lips. He was naturally confident that Ling Han could make his way into the top three, and was already thinking about how he was going to steal the prize from Ling Han's hands.

Meanwhile, the Empress and the Rain Emperor were watching from the sidelines, similarly hoping that Ling Han could win sooner.

In the battle, Zhou Yan was exhibiting his full power. He wanted to blast through Ling Han's defense in a single stroke, and use his superior battle prowess to defeat Ling Han.

Otherwise, when he could no longer use the Heavenly Venerate Technique, he would only be able to dodge and evade when he was faced with Ling Han's counterattack.

He had confidence in himself because his power was stronger.

However, the strength of Ling Han's defense caused him to lose all hope. Though every single one of Zhou Yan's punches ripped through the golden seals, whenever a seal dimmed, a new one would immediately come into being, causing the golden bell around Ling Han to be indestructible and immovable.

After about half a day later, even Zhou Yan could no longer channel the Heavenly Venerate Technique, and his battle prowess immediately fell.

Ling Han smiled, and said, "Should we continue this battle?"

He only stayed on the defense without attacking, and it was already enough to use up the largest trump card up Zhou Yan's sleeve. Furthermore, he still had two Heavenly Venerate Techniques that he had yet to use, so how was Zhou Yan supposed to block that?

"Of course!" Zhou Yan declared. Ling Han could exhaust one of his powerful moves, and he was sure that he, too, could do the same. Furthermore, his power was greater, and in terms of standard battle prowess, he would be able to subdue Ling Han.

"All right." Ling Han rushed forth, throwing out his fists in a barrage of punches.

He had not been channeling the Five Elements Lightning Technique or the Nine Transformations Divine Scroll constantly, but would rather use them on occasion.

It was still fine for the Five Elements Lightning Technique, as there would be clear signs of its use, but there were no warning signs for the Nine Transformations Divine Scroll, which really caught Zhou Yan off guard.

If he tried to block it, that strike would be a heavy blow, but if he dodged, and Ling Han was actually just delivering a normal punch, it would be embarrassing for him.

Thus, it was seen that Zhou Yan was continuously jumping around, not daring to take one of Ling Han's blows head-on at all.

This naturally meant that he would not be able to win. Hence, after a very long period of staying on the defense, he could no longer hold back, and began his counterattack.

Peng!

As Ling Han met this change with a punch, frightening power erupted. Instantly, Zhou Yan was sent flying.

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="0a817018-3818-491d-afd5-5b10ac505ab8">The yan in Zhou Yan's name actually translates into rock, stone, boulder.</li></ol></annotations>",