Long Juxue stood in the most conspicuous position like a proud peacock, intentionally or otherwise flaunting her status as the number one genius.
Though Lei Gangyang was a man of deep composure, Long Juxue's deliberate provocations still set his blood boiling — yet he could hardly erupt with the sect elders watching.
Lei Gangyang was not like Zeng Shi, meekly accepting his fate.
In the Purple Sun Sect's younger generation, he had carried the glorious halo of the number one genius since childhood. He had basked in that glory for over twenty years, and to suddenly hand that crown over and place it on Long Juxue's head — Lei Gangyang simply could not accept it with any measure of calm.
To ensure that the four great Venerables and the sect powerhouses could evaluate all the martial artists more thoroughly, the finals had not kicked off in a free-for-all.
Instead, a strict rule had been imposed: only four matches per day.
Two in the morning, two in the afternoon.
Each battle had a time limit of two hours. With four matches a day, the total came to eight hours.
At four matches per day, the first round of thirty-two duels would take eight days to complete.
The second round, with only sixteen matches, would require just four days.
Once the top sixteen had been determined, the subsequent ranking matches would only decrease in number. By this calculation, the finals would take no more than a month.
Though the formation could hold for another two or three months, none of the four Venerables wanted to take such a risk, cutting things to the very last moment.
On the first day's four matches, none of Jiang Chen's trio took the field.
However, according to the rules, all martial artists were required to be present and observe during match times.
On the first day, the competing martial artists were relatively weaker, and the matches were not especially spectacular.
Of course, "not especially spectacular" was all relative.
On the second day, Jiang Chen's trio still had no one fighting. It wasn't until the third day that Liu Wencai finally got his chance to compete.
Liu Wencai came out in dominant fashion. His opponent was the forty-third-seeded martial artist.
The forty-third seed was also at the peak of the Spirit Realm's fifth level, which gave him a slight edge over Liu Wencai's fifth-level Spirit Realm cultivation.
So before the two stepped onto the stage, the forty-third seed was secretly delighted. Seeing that Liu Wencai was a rookie who had just fought his way up from the Earth Spirit Region, he gloated with a smirk: "Kid, you just clawed your way up from the Earth Spirit Region. What's the point of killing yourself to rack up points? Your rank may be higher than mine, but I'll still crush you!"
The martial artist was overjoyed, thinking he had struck it lucky by drawing a rookie who had just scraped through from the Earth Spirit Region.
But once the battle began, the man realized just how absurd his thinking had been.
Liu Wencai dispatched him as easily as chopping vegetables, taking less than a quarter of an hour to completely flatten the man.
Moreover, Liu Wencai hadn't even used his full strength — just straightforward fists and kicks, raw brute force, to put his opponent flat on the ground.
Such a dominant display left the examiners secretly astonished. Seeing that Liu Wencai was an unfamiliar face, more and more of them began looking into his background.
On the Myriad Spirit Sect's side, the sect powerhouses had no idea how they would explain this to the Nine Lions Ancestor.
Such an outstanding talent had fought his way up step by step from the Mystic Spirit Region.
"What are you people even doing? Such an exceptional talent, and you had him assigned to the Mystic Spirit Region from the start? I'd like to know — how exactly did you make these assignments? Was someone pulling strings?" The Nine Lions Ancestor launched into a furious tirade against the Myriad Spirit Sect's higher-ups.
Assignments to trial regions were supposed to be based on talent and strength. Of course, human factors were inevitable — sect leaders sometimes assigned disciples based on familiarity, reputation, or personal connections.
But Liu Wencai — the sect powerhouses truly did not know him.
After all, Liu Wencai had been practically invisible in the Myriad Spirit Sect. With his original strength and talent, assigning him to the Mystic Spirit Region was a slight injustice, but it wasn't exactly a misuse of his abilities either.
Because at that time, Liu Wencai's true potential had not yet been unearthed.
His real breakthrough had come only after meeting Jiang Chen, through a series of trials and fortunes.
So the Myriad Spirit Sect higher-ups were being scolded somewhat unjustly by the Nine Lions Ancestor.
Of course, the Nine Lions Venerable had his reasons for being angry — such a fine talent had languished in the Mystic Spirit Region and Earth Spirit Region for so long.
If he had been placed in the Heavenly Spirit Region from the start, had come to the Nine Lions Venerable's attention early on, received the sect's attention and nurturing with greater resources, perhaps he would have been even more astonishing, even more extraordinary.
"This talent must be closely watched." The Nine Lions Ancestor silently resolved to himself, committing Liu Wencai's name to memory.
Having made up his mind, even if the boy failed to reach the top sixteen, he would be placed on the priority cultivation list.
The Nine Lions Ancestor was, after all, an old monster of the Origin Realm. His eye was razor-sharp, far beyond what ordinary people could match. From Liu Wencai's battle, he had seen the raw potential and explosive power within the young man.
The Nine Lions Venerable quietly admitted to himself that, at this same age, the potential and explosive power he himself had displayed might not have surpassed this young man's.
"Haha, who would have thought — after gaining a genius like Luo Xi, our Myriad Spirit Sect would produce yet another prodigious young talent. It seems the heavens still favor us after all." The Nine Lions Venerable felt a swell of pride seeing his sect's genius mercilessly crush his opponent and rise so powerfully.
On the fourth and fifth days, neither Tang Hong nor Jiang Chen was called to fight.
On the sixth day, Tang Hong took the field, facing the fifty-sixth seed.