Jiang Chen looked at the bracket assignments and couldn't help but marvel at the organizers' speed and analytical ability. The bracket divisions were essentially spot-on, with very little margin of error.
Most of the participants placed in different brackets didn't raise many objections. Clearly, they could accept their positions within their respective brackets.
Of course, Jiang Chen had been placed in the first bracket, locked into a top-ten spot, so naturally he had no reason to care about such matters.
However, participants ranked in the later brackets were extremely concerned about their standings within their own groups.
Of course, these bracket rankings weren't set in stone.
Take the fourth, fifth, and sixth brackets, for instance—those participants still had the opportunity to challenge upward.
As long as they succeeded in their upward challenges, they could still fight their way into the top thirty.
Those in the fourth bracket could currently only compete for positions thirty-one through forty. But they had the right to challenge the geniuses in the first bracket. Moreover, if they wanted to cross brackets, they could only target the first bracket.
In other words, they could challenge three brackets above.
Similarly, the fifth bracket could challenge the second, and the sixth could challenge the third.
Behind the sixth bracket, all the way through the sixteenth, participants had no right to challenge upward. All they could do was defend their rankings within their own bracket.
As for the forty people beyond the sixteenth bracket, each had the right to issue a single upward challenge to improve their standing. This opportunity came only once.
After all, out of the two-hundred-person Genius Rankings, the bottom thirty-six would ultimately be eliminated. They would have no right to compete in the Young Master Rankings. So anyone who wanted to keep their ticket to the Young Master Rankings had to secure a position in the top one hundred and sixty-four of the Genius Rankings.
Because each of the Seven Great Emperors had thirty-six geniuses under their command, and together with the top one hundred and sixty-four from the Genius Rankings, they would all compete for the final Young Master Rankings.
The bottom thirty-six on the Genius Rankings would be cut.
Though they had made the Genius Rankings, they would have no right to compete for the Young Master Rankings.
This was the cruel survival of the fittest.
The first bracket was a veritable gathering of powerhouses.
Jiang Chen scanned the roster. Besides himself, the Coiling Dragon Clan's Third Young Master Ji and Young Master Liuxiang had both made the list.
Sunyu Xiaosheng, who had defeated Miao Suo, was also prominently listed.
Beyond Sunyu Xiaosheng, there was actually one more independent cultivator. But this one was even more mysterious. When the referee read out his name, it turned out to be a Daoist moniker—Miechen Zi.
It sounded like the name of a man from beyond the mortal world.
However, when Jiang Chen observed this person's bearing, he didn't quite exude the air of a recluse.
It was just that this person concealed himself very well. From his bearing alone, it was difficult to determine where he came from.
Jiang Chen observed quietly for a moment, then moved on. He knew that besides the scions of the great clans in Liuli Royal City and the independent cultivators, there would certainly be disciples from other major sects and powerful families who had concealed their identities to take part in this Liuli Royal Tower Tournament.
Perhaps quite a few among the two hundred geniuses on the Genius Rankings were exactly such people.
They had come to Liuli Royal City under the guise of independent cultivators, to scope things out and gauge just how many extraordinary talents the younger generation of Liuli Royal City truly harbored.
Sunyu Xiaosheng and Miechen Zi were the only two who could be counted as independent cultivators.
Jiang Chen's current identity could be considered part of the Liuli Royal City establishment. His status was somewhat special, though—on one hand he had close ties to Peacock Sacred Mountain, and on the other he served as a Guest Pill King for the Wei family. So everyone classified him as a Liuli Royal City man.
The Coiling Dragon Clan's Third Young Master Ji and Young Master Liuxiang occupied two of the spots.
That left only five remaining positions in the top-ten bracket. The other five were all from the premier great clans of Liuli Royal City.
Jiang Chen got a rough sense of the lineup. The first person who caught his attention was Luo Chuan of the Juluo Clan, which belonged to the Asura Great Emperor's lineage. Under the Asura Great Emperor were the two most powerful clans—the Royal Court Clan and the Juluo Clan.
The Royal Court Clan was naturally the strongest, nearly on par with the Coiling Dragon Clan. The Juluo Clan, meanwhile, was a powerhouse that could easily rank in the top five.
However, because the Royal Court Clan had always been around, the Juluo Clan had maintained a relatively low profile. In truth, though, the Juluo Clan's young lord Luo Chuan actually possessed superior martial arts talent compared to Wang Teng of the Royal Court Clan.
Wang Teng excelled at reading the bigger picture and was a young lord whose political cunning ran even deeper.
Luo Chuan, on the other hand, was more focused on martial arts—low-key and reserved, yet his brilliance was in no way inferior to Wang Teng's.
With Wang Teng gone following the downfall of the Royal Court Clan, Luo Chuan had naturally become the foremost among the great clan scions under the Asura Great Emperor.
Besides Luo Chuan, there were four other great clan scions: Guan Yuchan of the Tingchan Clan under the Nian Great Emperor; Xi Yaoshi of the Chaosheng Clan under the Canghai Great Emperor; Gongsun Yan of the Zihuo Clan under the Jimie Great Emperor; and Shen Hao of the Haori Clan under the Zhankong Great Emperor.
These four young geniuses were each the foremost talent of their respective great clan, representing the pride of their Emperor's lineage.
Among the Seven Great Emperors, the only one absent was the Zhenyue Great Emperor. His True Xuan Clan actually had a genius of comparable caliber, but unfortunately, this genius had been paired against the Coiling Dragon Clan's Young Master Liuxiang. After a clash of heavyweights, he had been eliminated and could only re-enter the Genius Rankings through the revival round.
Jiang Chen carefully studied each of his opponents, and a rough picture took shape in his mind.
These great clan scions, though talented, were not enough to put Jiang Chen on edge.