A dual master of both alchemy and martial arts.
Those four words echoed through the minds of nearly everyone present.
Below, the previous record holder, Sun Yu Xiaosheng, narrowed his thin eyes as he stared at the formation beneath the Glazed King Tower. Even the carefree nonchalance that usually colored his face had given way to a flicker of disbelief.
Clearly, having his freshly set record broken just like that left Sun Yu Xiaosheng deeply curious about whoever had done it.
"Sigh, I should have pushed a little harder," he muttered, a trace of regret in his voice. He'd actually still had some stamina left at the time, but he hadn't wanted to push himself too hard, afraid it might affect the later selection rounds. Otherwise, he was certain he could have held on for quite a bit longer.
With the record broken, the discussions on-site grew even more heated.
Now the only question was: could Pill King Zhen break the record that had stood unbroken for nearly a thousand years?
Could he hold on for more than three double-hours inside?
Three double-hours. That was twenty-four quarter-hours.
Before he knew it, three double-hours were drawing near.
"Hm? It's almost been three hours. Brother Ji told me that three double-hours is the highest record anyone has achieved in thousands of years. I still have some stamina — I could probably push for three and a half, maybe even four double-hours. But this is just the preliminary selection. Better to quit while I'm ahead; no need to be too flashy…"
Jiang Chen watched the time and decided that the moment three double-hours had elapsed, he would leave the formation.
When the sand in the hourglass finished its flow for three double-hours, a tidal roar of cheers erupted from outside.
Clearly, in this era, a record of three double-hours was genuinely exhilarating. Regardless of whether they were competitors or not, every single person was cheering for Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen didn't linger. He crushed the jade slip and was transported out of the formation directly.
To avoid drawing too much attention, he deliberately made himself look pale and strained, as though he had been pushed to his absolute limit.
But nobody cared about that anymore. All anyone cared about was the three-double-hour record.
"Long live Pill King Zhen!"
"Pill King Zhen truly deserves to be the idol of Glazed King City — a dual master of both alchemy and martial arts!"
In Glazed King City, Pill King Zhen had already been an idol-level figure. Now, with this monstrous performance breaking a record that had stood for thousands of years, he naturally won even more adoration.
Third Young Master Ji walked over and punched Jiang Chen on the shoulder. "You sly fox — you really had that hidden away, didn't you?"
Seeing Third Young Master Ji's beaming face, Jiang Chen knew the guy was genuinely happy for him.
He smiled. "It's not that I was hiding anything. I just happen to know a thing or two about formation arts. I barely held on as it was."
Third Young Master Ji laughed loudly. "The reason doesn't matter. What matters is that you genuinely held on for three double-hours in there. After this screening, your reputation in martial arts will spread throughout Glazed King City just as widely as your reputation in alchemy — across the entire Upper Eight Domains!"
Jiang Chen, for his part, was not one to get carried away.
The list of qualifiers from the eighteenth batch was tallied quickly, and Jiang Chen claimed the top position without any dispute whatsoever.
Perhaps spurred by Jiang Chen's performance, the remaining two batches produced a surprising number of prodigies in succession. One of them even managed to reach the three-double-hour mark.
This spectacle sent shockwaves through the entire Glazed King City. Who could have imagined that the very first round of selection would produce so many jaw-dropping moments, setting every heart ablaze?
After this round of screening, the original million participants were slashed by ninety percent.
The hundred thousand who remained would now officially compete for ten thousand spots on the Rising Star Rankings.
"Congratulations to all qualifiers. From here on, you hundred thousand will be divided into one thousand arena zones, each containing one hundred participants. Each zone awards ten spots on the Rising Star Rankings. In the end, the rankings will encompass a total of ten thousand."
"The top one thousand geniuses from the formation screening will not be placed against each other. They will be distributed evenly across all arena zones."
Jiang Chen had spent three double-hours in the formation during the screening, placing first overall in a tie with one other person. He was the frontrunner for the Rising Star Rankings.
The top one thousand from the formation ranking would each be placed in a different arena zone. This meant the top one hundred geniuses from the formation ranking would not clash with each other prematurely.
This system ensured that top-tier geniuses wouldn't be eliminated early due to early collisions with one another.
Because of his outstanding formation results, Jiang Chen was assigned to Zone One as its reigning champion.
The reigning champion naturally enjoyed certain privileges.
Under the rules, the champion only needed to achieve ten consecutive victories to automatically advance.
The Rising Star Rankings were determined solely by number of victories.
In the end, across all arena zones and all participating martial artists, whoever had the most victories would claim the top spot on the Rising Star Rankings.
All positions on the Rising Star Rankings were determined entirely by number of victories.
In the case of a tie in victories, the participant with the higher formation ranking would be ranked ahead.
Jiang Chen was placed in Zone One and had the best formation performance of anyone there. So if his victory count ranked first overall, even if someone tied him, Jiang Chen could still claim the top position on the Rising Star Rankings outright.
Of course, within each arena zone, aside from challenging the reigning champion, each participant had a fixed number of matches per day.
In the end, every participant was required to complete ninety-nine battles — meaning they had to fight every other person in their arena zone exactly once.