Chapter 40: The Great Competition Begins

  The time has come, Yun Lao stood up and said loudly: "The outer door disciple competition of the Qing Yuan Sect begins. The disciples who have drawn lots will prepare beside their respective arenas."

  Arena?

  Ling Lin looked around, couldn't help but feel a little puzzled, where did the arena come from? Not just him, many young disciples also had puzzled faces, whispering to each other. While the older disciples were calm and collected, their eyes lightly placed on the large empty space in front of the VIP seats.

  As if seeing the doubts in the eyes of many disciples, Yun Lao also didn't say much, and smiled slightly. The majestic yuan force inside his body fluctuated, and with a wave of his hands, he said: "Rise!"

  As soon as his voice fell, a loud rumbling sound shook the sky, and afterwards everyone felt a strong tremor underground, like an earthquake. Some disciples with poor cultivation immediately fell to the ground, their faces filled with terror.

  Within Linglin's line of sight, several arenas with diameters of about ten zhang appeared out of thin air.

  "Nine." Ling Lin counted carefully around the arena.

  Nine palaces are divided into "Qian" position, "Kan" position, "Gen" position, "Zhen" position, "Zhong" position, "Xun" position, "Li" position, "Kun" position and "Dui" position according to different positions.

  "Cough, cough." After clearing his throat, the crowd below immediately fell silent. Yun Lao continued, "Old rules, life and death are not to be questioned on this stage!"

  As the four words "life and death are not discussed" fell, Ling Lin suddenly felt that the atmosphere in the field had changed drastically, a thread of iron-blooded cold breath spreading.

  Yun Lao said, looked at the middle-aged man in black on the judging seat, and nodded to him.

  The old man in the cloud was a senior elder, of course, he couldn't preside over the big competition among the outer door disciples personally. The black-clothed middle-aged man was the host and referee responsible for all the activities of the outer door disciples, large or small. He cleared his throat, stood up and said: "There are 90 contestants in total, each person will draw a wooden sign from the wooden box, the one who draws No. 1 will compete with No. 90, the one who draws No. 2 will compete with No. 89, and so on. Also, take a look at which stage you will be competing on. Now let's start drawing lots!"

  Although the scene was bustling with people, only about 90 were actually participating. The others had come to observe the battle. Although they weren't participating, they still stood to gain a lot from watching this kind of competition. Since it was a matter of life and death, those who participated were all confident in their own abilities. At a glance, most were at the pinnacle of martial arts mastery, with a few being disciples of the ninth rank of the Martial Path. However, among them, older disciples made up about 80%, while young disciples numbered only around a dozen or so.

  Ling Lin was one of the last few people to go up and draw a lottery number, and he drew the thirteenth number.

  When everyone finished drawing, a middle-aged man in black shouted: "The competition begins. The first and ninetieth contestants go to the 'Qian' platform, the second and eighty-ninth contestants go to the 'Kan' platform...... In a short while, eighteen figures rushed out of the crowd and climbed onto the stage.

  The fierce battle has begun to erupt. The true energy is surging on stage, and the discussion is in full swing below the stage.

  Someone pointed at a middle-aged man in gray clothes on the "Kan" position stage and said, "Look, that's 'Mountain Splitter' Yi Rongchen. He also participated in the last Grand Comparison, but unfortunately encountered the third place winner of that year and was eliminated. I didn't expect that ten years have passed and he still hasn't broken through to the Innate Realm, but in the Martial Dao Realm, he must be a difficult opponent to meet, and is one of this year's top ten hot contenders!

  As soon as the words fell, Yi Rongchen's momentum on stage changed, and he stopped entangling himself. He suddenly shouted: "Pili Mountain Hand!"

  Bang!

  The opponent in front of him was not weak either, but facing Yi Rongchen's move of "Absolute Splitting Mountain Hand", he was clearly no match and was knocked back several steps. Yi Rongchen took advantage of the situation and launched a fierce attack, kicking the man in the chest with one foot.

  "Hmph." The opponent was kicked and blood sprayed everywhere, flying out of the ring and crashing to the ground where he lay unconscious.

  "Contestant number two, Yi Rongchen wins!"

  This was the first person to be eliminated, just like triggering a fuse. Then came the sound of "bang, bang", one by one, each figure sprayed blood and exited the arena. In an instant, on the nine arenas, only one figure remained on each.

  "Contestant No. 10 vs Contestant No. 81... Contestant No. 13 vs Contestant No. 78..."

  "It's his turn now." Ling Lin took a deep breath and walked towards the "Zhen" position.

  "Hmm, a newcomer, haha, looks like I'm in luck." Across from Ling Lin, a man appeared, around 40-50 years old, currently sizing him up with a smile on his face, as if he had already won this match.

  "Have you said enough? Then let's begin!"

  The man opposite Lin's eyes flashed with anger, his tall body like a cheetah rushing out, and in a few breaths he arrived in front of Lin, pushing him away with one palm.

  "Blazing Sun Sweeps Away Clouds!"

  Splash!

  The air suddenly boiled, and a fierce heat wave swept mercilessly towards Linglin.

  "Sky Splitting Fist!"

  The name of the move was mighty and unparalleled, but in reality it was just a very ordinary martial skill. However, in Ling Lin's hands, it also had tremendous power. Ling Lin didn't need any fancy moves, directly using his brute strength to unleash the "Opening Heaven Fist", which shot out straight and collided with the middle-aged man's palm amidst the heat waves.

  Hmph!

  The middle-aged man only felt a surge of great force invading his entire body, and he involuntarily flew out, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood in mid-air.

  "Thud, thud, thud..." The middle-aged man landed on the ground, his feet stomping on the floor, continuously retreating several steps, but still unable to shake off the great force. He ended up sitting down on the ground with a thud. Looking at the incredulous gazes of the surrounding crowd, the middle-aged man suddenly felt his face burning with shame. At this moment, he really wished he could find a hole to crawl into. The confident words he had spoken earlier, which had seemed so effortless, now contrasted sharply with the current scene, like a slap in the face.

  "Hmph."

  The middle-aged man suddenly spat out a big mouthful of blood and fainted happily.

  "Who is this guy, so fierce! He actually blasted off the senior generation's disciple in one go."

  "He's so young!"

  "He's so amazing, I wish I could be as great as him."

  ……

  The crowd was abuzz with discussion.

  "I know him, his name is Ling Lin." someone said suddenly.

  "Ling Lin? Could it be that madman from a while back who crippled Bu Hong and threw out Chu Xiao with a broken arm?" As soon as the name Ling Lin was mentioned, someone instantly reacted. After all, the turmoil from before wasn't small, and many people remembered this name. However, afterwards it seemed like they thought of something, and they all stopped speaking.

  "It's him." Li Chen looked at Ling Lin on the stage, a rare hint of seriousness flashing in his eyes. "This guy is indeed very strong!" He was confident that he could easily defeat ordinary martial artists who had reached the peak, but he couldn't do it as effortlessly and elegantly as Ling Lin, who could knock his opponent off the stage with just one light punch.

  Now, the only one who can beat this guy is Lu Hao himself. Turning his head, Li Chen looked at Lu Hao beside him, but found that Lu Hao was also staring at the young figure on stage.

  "This guy has finally met his match." Li Chen thought to himself. He knew that this big brother of his would only have such an expression when he truly encountered a worthy opponent. Normally, he wouldn't even bother to give them a glance. As Lu Hao would say, it's always the same ending - being punched flying by him, what's there to look at?

  "How's it going? Have you found a worthy opponent this time? No problem, right?" Li Chen said to Lu Hao.

  After a moment's thought, Lu Hao said slowly: "If he has only this strength, I can settle him within twenty moves. But this is definitely not his full strength, and we'll have to wait until after the fight to know for sure."

  "That guy is too weak, he was knocked flying with just one punch and didn't even get to show off his skills." Li Chen said, looking at the middle-aged man who was being carried away after spitting up blood and fainting.

  I don't know if this middle-aged man will faint again when he wakes up and hears these words.

  Ling Lin's heart stirred as he stood on stage, his eyes instinctively sweeping over Lu Hao and the others.

  A slight collision occurred between Shuangmu and Lu Hao's group. Looking at Chu Xiao among them, Ling Lin suddenly understood in his heart, a faint smile slowly spread from the corner of his mouth, and his lips moved slightly.

  "We're waiting for you!"