Xiao Chen took a look and discovered that the referee had already walked over to the dueling ring corresponding to group six.
The referee was an old man with a deep cultivation and a lingering aura. Even with Xiao Chen's cultivation, he could not see through him.
The old man was at least a Medial Grade Martial Monarch. He was definitely not an ordinary Inferior Grade Martial Monarch. With such cultivation, he could easily control the situation.
Twenty dueling rings meant twenty Medial Grade Martial Monarchs. With such strength, the Dragon Sealing City's City Lord's Residence was probably stronger than some of the super sects.
However, Dragon Sealing City was usually closed. The City Lord's Residence would not interfere with the conflicts of the continent's factions. For tens of thousands of years, Dragon Sealing City had maintained an absolute neutrality. Hence, the other factions would not suspect them.
Soon, the duels began. Group six sent out two contestants. One used a saber and the other a sword. They were both peak Medial Grade Martial Kings.
For these two to stand out from the tens of thousands of geniuses of the continent, they clearly did not cultivate trash Cultivation Techniques or Martial Techniques.
Their fights were spectacular. Most people would find it interesting and would not find it boring.
Of course, in Xiao Chen's eyes, this was rather boring. The two of them were two levels lower than him. Furthermore, their techniques did not give him a shocking feeling.
After two hundred moves, the cultivator using the sword knocked away his opponent's saber and placed his weapon on his opponent's neck.
"The victor is decided. Contestant 1 wins. You gain two points," the referee of group six said calmly.
After that, contestants 3 and 4 went up. This time, one was a peak Superior Grade Martial King and the other had just advanced to Superior Grade Martial King.
The difference in cultivation was rather large. There was not much suspense in this match. After fifty moves, the contestant with the higher cultivation defeated contestant 4.
"Next match: contestant 5, Xie Ziwen, versus contestant 6, Zong Liang."
Xiao Chen was somewhat surprised. He had not expected to meet Xie Ziwen so soon. However, the two of them were no longer on the same level. There was no need to pay too much attention to him.
Xie Ziwen smiled coldly and leaped up, flying towards the dueling ring. The referee of group seven pointed and a crack appeared in the Wind Cloud Barrier, allowing Xie Ziwen to land.
Zong Liang cupped his hands and said, "Xia Country's Seven Fist Sect's Zong Liang, please advise me."
Xie Ziwen said disdainfully, "Seven Fist Sect? What small sect is this? I have never heard of it before. Cut the crap and begin. Receive my palm strike first."
Thousand Flaming Palm!
Xie Ziwen shouted and pushed his right hand forward. The fire-attributed Spiritual Energy in the air immediately surged and thousands of flaming palms appeared out of nowhere.
Next, it rapidly transformed into a giant flaming palm, which smashed down fiercely at Zong Liang. The lines on the flaming palm were clear, as if they were tangible and possessed astonishing might.
Xiao Chen's eyes lit up. He said softly, "There is progress. He is now half as strong as Bai Zhan was half a year ago."
Back in the Ancient Desolate Land, Xie Ziwen needed a long time to store up power before he could use this huge flaming palm.
Furthermore, he had used it as an ultimate move against Xiao Chen. Now, he could use it as an ordinary move, and he could even condense it so quickly.
In the past year or so, Xie Ziwen had improved considerably.
Zong Liang's expression was solemn. He knew that his opponent would not be easy to deal with. He put his palms together, forming a protective yuan qi wall around his body. He went into a defensive stance.
"Bang!"
As the heatwave surged, sparks flew everywhere. Zong Liang retreated more than a hundred steps.
"Let's see how many palm strikes you can block!"
Xie Ziwen shouted and a huge flaming palm pressed down like a mountain. Palm strike after palm strike pressed down on Xiao Chen.
Zong Liang's complexion paled. After withstanding five moves, blood leaked out of the corner of his mouth. Clearly, he was significantly injured.
"Lose for me!"
Xie Ziwen attacked with both palms. Instantly, the two huge flaming palms layered over each other, doubling their might. Zong Liang could not block them.
Zong Liang's protective Essence shattered, and he vomited a large mouthful of blood before falling to the ground.
"The victor is decided," the group seven referee said sullenly, "Xie Ziwen wins this match. He gains two points."
The First Elder, Jiang Chi, said gravely, "He severely injured Xiao Chen in five moves. Xiao Chen has to be careful when he meets him. This person seems to be a disciple of the Evil Moon Pavilion. He seems to have gotten into the top fifty in the previous Five Nation Youth Competition."
Xiao Chen did not refute this. He only smiled faintly and continued watching the next match.
In the group competition, everyone had to fight twenty matches. The first round was based on the order of their numbers. Xiao Chen's ranking was rather low, so he appeared later.
However, the following matches in group six were not of high quality. Xiao Chen could not help but turn his gaze to the other dueling rings.
Casually looking around, Xiao Chen discovered a familiar person. He could not help but fix his gaze on her.
In the dueling ring 9, Duanmuqing was currently fighting an intense battle with her opponent.
Duanmuqing was only a Medial Grade Martial King. However, her opponent was a Superior Grade Martial King, one grade higher than her.
However, Duanmuqing held the absolute advantage in the dueling ring. Her black hair had turned white, and her eyes were cold and emotionless. She held a slender sword in her hand.
With every move, Duanmuqing suppressed her opponent. She was like a machine. Duanmuqing did not show any emotion at all.
Her opponent was definitely not resigned to being suppressed by someone with a lower cultivation. She tried to turn the situation around several times. However, Duanmuqing calmly found her openings and countered them with all sorts of killing moves.
In the end, she lost helplessly, becoming the first person in her group to be defeated by someone of a higher cultivation realm.
"It turns out that Duanmuqing has grown so much."
Shifting his gaze to the left, Xiao Chen saw another familiar person: the Heavenly Sword Gate's Ding Fengchou. After not seeing Xiao Chen for more than a year, Ding Fengchou's improvement was very startling.
He used only three moves to defeat a Superior Grade Martial King. Now, Ding Fengchou seemed to be even stronger than Xie Ziwen.
After that, Xiao Chen watched a few more matches. The weakest of the participants in the arena battles was a Medial Grade Martial King. Most of them were Superior Grade Martial Kings. There were also many half-step Martial Monarchs.
There were less than ten Great Perfection half-step Martial Monarchs. As for peak Consummation half-step Martial Monarchs, Xiao Chen did not see a single one.
"Look, the Nangong Noble Clan's Nangong Ziyue is going up. She got into the top eight in the previous Five Nation Youth Competition."
Xiao Chen looked over and saw a girl in purple standing on the arena of group nineteen. She looked very elegant, and her aura was very otherworldly.
Her opponent was a stout man holding a huge sword. Based on his aura, he was not a weakling.
"Gong Haoyu, please give me some pointers." The stout man was very cautious. He knew about the Nangong Noble Clan's reputation. After the fight started, he immediately took a few steps back.
"Boom!"
However, before the stout man could stand firm, Nangong Ziyue sent him sprawling with a palm strike. He did not even see how she attacked.
"How powerful! She actually used only one palm strike to defeat her opponent."
"That Gong Haoyu is not weak either. He was also in the top fifty in the previous Five Nation Youth Competition. However, it feels like they are on completely different levels."
"The Nangong Noble Clan's people truly live up to their reputation. I wonder if she can get into the top five this time?"
Everyone had guessed that Nangong Ziyue would win. However, they had not expected her to win so easily. Indeed, the geniuses in the top ten were not people that ordinary geniuses could compare to.
Xiao Chen saw it clearly but did not care too much. While Nangong Ziyue was very strong, she was not a match for him.
Xiao Chen's true opponents were Sima Lingxuan and Xuanyuan Zhantian. If he wanted to add more, the mysterious Chu Chaoyun could be counted in as well.
"Next match: Contestant # 19, Xiao Chen, versus Contestant # 20, Huang Qiang."
It was finally Xiao Chen's turn to fight in group seventeen.
Xiao Chen withdrew his aura from the arena, preventing others from knowing how strong he was. He performed a cupped-fist salute and the match began.
"He he! Thank you for giving me two points."
Xiao Chen's opponent, Huang Qiang, was a swordsman. He was also a half-step Martial Monarch. He pointed his sword at Xiao Chen, not caring about him at all.
Huang Qiang has not even comprehended sword intent, yet he dares to boast like this. Xiao Chen was speechless.
Xiao Chen stepped forward and his figure flickered. He circulated his Vital Qi quickly and his bones crackled.
In that instant, Xiao Chen felt a boundless Vital Qi spread throughout his body. He shouted, "Breaking Armor! Seizing the Heart!"
Xiao Chen clenched his right fist and formed a sharp azure shockwave. He easily tore apart his opponent's continuous stream of sword attacks.
"Seizing the Heart Claw!"
Xiao Chen's five fingers turned into a claw. The transition between a fist and a claw was very smooth, not unnatural at all.
Before Xiao Chen's opponent's horrified gaze, Xiao Chen's five fingers tore through his protective Essence and stabbed into his chest.
Xiao Chen did not manage to grab the heart. He pulled his hand back and slapped Xiao Chen's chest with the back of his hand. A huge force slammed Xiao Chen into the barrier of the arena.
With one punch and one claw, Xiao Chen easily defeated his opponent.
The fist was the Breaking Armor Fist, specialized in breaking defenses. The claw was the Seizing the Heart Claw. It was as hard as Frost Iron and as hard as steel. One claw could break the heart.
The referee of Group Six was secretly astonished. The battle in the arena had ended abnormally fast.
Others could not determine the cultivations of the two. However, the referee could clearly tell that they were both Small Perfection half-step Martial Monarchs. There was not much of a difference between them.
Originally, the referee thought that Xie Ziwen would be the champion of group six. However, it looked like there was an additional variable. This Xiao Chen was definitely not weaker than Xie Ziwen.
"Number 19, Xiao Chen wins. You have two points." After the referee announced the results, he gave Xiao Chen a deep look. This youth might be even stronger than he thought.
In a spectator stand on the east side of the spectator stands, ten youths leisurely watched the battles on the twenty arenas.
These ten people were the seeded participants of this Five Nation Youth Competition. They were qualified to skip the first round of elimination. The first seeded participant, Sima Lingxuan, could skip two rounds of elimination and directly enter the ranking battles.
The only female among the seeded participants was Yue Chenxi. She was very eye-catching among the ten. In the past, the eight Noble Clans had eight seeded participants.
The remaining two spots were reserved for the ten great sects. However, in this Five Nation Youth Competition, there were three spots for the ten great sects: the Supreme Yi Sect's Gong Yangyu, the Drifting Snow Sword Sect's Liu Xiaoyun, and the Haotian Sect's Yue Chenxi.
When Yue Chenxi saw Xiao Chen defeat his opponent in two moves, a bright light flashed in her eyes. She revealed a brilliant smile on her pretty face.
Xiao Chen, you did not disappoint me. This time, you should be able to make me use my full power.
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