1727 The Qualifying Stage Starts



~huu~

"Now that everyone is actually here, it does seem like a lot of people." Ming Aolian spoke as she looked around.

"Indeed." Lin Mu replied as he looked at the four sections of contestants.

Today was the day that the second stage of the Tournament was going to start and all of them had been called here.

The Central Square of the Tournament grounds was now being used to divide the contestants into four sections. The teleportation was in the center, with the four paths leading to it being used for the contestants.

Yesterday they had all been sent a notification on their tokens, that they were to be present at the Central Square tomorrow morning. It had happened not long after Lin Mu had finished discussing the plans with them.

But that wasn't all that he had done. 

He had also taken this chance to strengthen the beasts of the Ming sisters once more. The effect this time wasn't as great, but it was still giving them a higher edge. After all the Ming Sisters would need to depend on their beasts for this round as well.

They would even be monitored through the Token.

"Look it's starting!" The people in the crowd saw an elder of the temple appearing.

It was the same elder who had set up the array and was going to be in charge of it today.

~shua~

A large formation screen materialized in the air, showing the close up scene of the elder.

"The Qualifying round of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts shall commence today. I am here to inform you all about the rules. It would be in your favor to remember them well, or you shall be eliminated automatically." The elder started to speak.

"YES, ELDER!" The crowd replied.

Lin Mu and the others listened carefully, as they needed to see how exactly would defeat and win be decided.

"There are two ways to defeat your opponent. You either knock them out or you destroy their token. Either of the two events will trigger them to be teleported out of the Spatial Planes and will be considered their defeat.

You all will be randomly sent into different Spatial planes and the rest will be up to your luck. The last people to survive till the end will be the winners. There shall be a total of 64 winners in this." The Elder announced.

Whispers and discussions broke out in the crowd as people realized that there might be more or fewer winners depending on the Spatial Plane. But before they could talk much, the elder spoke again.

"When there are only two people left in a Spatial Plane, they will be teleported out as well and be declared the winners of that plane." The elder stated. "I know some of you might have grasped it by now, but the people of one Spatial Plane will have more winners than others, six to be exact." He confirmed.

An uproar could be heard, as the contestants were not all aware of this. Some of them talked about how unfair it was, while some simply didn't care.

"Luck is still part of a cultivator's strength. If you can have good luck, you can overcome several tribulations. And when you lack luck, you overcome with pure strength!" The elder said out loud, silencing the crowd.

No one dared to speak about it being unfair after all. 

He continued to speak about a few more rules, such as to not kill anyone and to not cripple them either, along with a few minor rules. And while he did this, Lin Mu was looking around for a few people.

'The Third Prince and the other top rankers should also be here by now.' Lin Mu's immortal sense spread around.

With the number of people there were, it was hard to tell, especially since there were people who were using disguising tools as well. They weren't forbidden and one could use it. After all, the token would know who was a contestant, regardless.

One had a benefit in this stage if the other didn't know about their identity. After all, one could easily imagine that the top rankers would be either avoided or be targeted en masse.

It was better for them to hide their identity, at least until they entered the Spatial Plane. Which was what they seemed to be doing right now.

'Can't find any of them… they are hiding their cultivation bases as well.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

After all, to find the top rankers, the easiest way was to sense their cultivation bases.

'It'll make it a bit difficult to figure out which planes they enter. But upon entering the planes they should end up revealing it…' Lin Mu knew they needed to be the last ones to enter so that he could monitor which people were going where.

He didn't tell this to the others, since he didn't wish for them to get anxious. Plus, they needed to keep some distance for a bit.

"Let's all shift to the back and spread out." Lin Mu said before moving.

The others gave a nod and moved through the crowd as well. A minute was all it took for them to get to the back and that was also when the Elder finished speaking.

~SHUA~

"The Qualifying Stage of the Tournament of the Four Beasts shall start… NOW! All contestants head into the entrance!" The elder ordered before flying up into the sky.

"AAAAAAAA!!!!" the cultivators shouted as they rushed into the square.

~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~

Hundreds of flashing lights could be seen every second, with the constants being teleported into the Spatial Planes. The crowd from the four sections poured into the central square without stopping while the Teleportation array worked nonstop.

The formation masters of the temple were also observing it carefully, making sure that there were no errors.

"Look, they are already there!" Formation screens appeared all over the audience areas, allowing for people to watch.