n

n

nLoud gasps immediately echoed throughout the crowd, and heated discussion followed soon after.

n

"Seven hundred. That's the highest of anyone here!

"

n

"And he doesn't even look that old. He appears to be around thirteen. How is he so strong?

"

n

"Well, I guess we know who is going to win this tournament.

"

nDiscussions immediately broke out in both the stands and group of participants to discuss the astonishing number that Dylan revealed. Despite being the youngest in the group of eighty four juniors at thirteen years old, his strength was by far the highest. John and Ryan narrowed their eyes at the score before they both stared at Dylan.

nAn arrogant look of pride appeared on Dylan's face as he walked proudly back to his group.

n

"Nothing but country bumpkins

" murmured Dylan as he returned to his group.

nOn the way back, he made sure to look at John, as if he was looking at an ant. John stared straight back at Dylan, but refused to get worked up by his look of disdain. Although Dylan's score was impressive, John was still confident in his late Mist Creation body cultivation, his Immortal Asura Body, and his Supreme Battle Art.

nThe crowd settled down after sometime, at which point Waylon once again addressed the crowd.

n

"We will post the seedings on the board in front of the stage in an hour. The tournament will then start. Feel free to do whatever in the meantime, but no fighting.

"

nJohn and Ryan started walking towards his clan that was sitting in the stands. They arrived a minute later and joined the group.

n

"Haha, good Job both of you.

" Barden Fenix greeted Ryan and John with a large smile. Ryan's dad, an Elder of the clan, also congratulated the both of them.

n

"So, what do you think of that Dylan?

" Barden asked John with a serious look.

nJohn thought about it for a moment before responding.

"He's definitely terrifying, but I have my own confidence.

"

n

"Haha, good. In any case, you've already made your old man proud with the score you revealed.

" Barden responded with laughter and a large smile.

n

"Dad, how does that stone tablet work?

" John asked curiously. He knew it was based on formations, but he was quite unfamiliar with formations in general.

n

"Formations are things created by formation masters. Just like alchemy masters, formation masters focus on their particular field instead of just cultivation. Based on their comprehension in formations, formation masters draw or carve lines and shapes into an object in accordance to the heavenly daos, and insert their own Qi into the creation process to establish a complete formation. The lines then harness the surrounding Qi in the air, or Qi crystals if they need more powerful Qi to do what the formation master has in mind. This tablet in particular measures the level of Qi infused into it and quantifies it.

"

nJohn nodded his head in understanding. Although his fathers explanation was quite broad and vague, John was at least able to understand a little regarding formations in general. He knew his clan had a few Core Formation formation masters, but had never personally interacted with them or learned from them.

nAn hour later, Waylon's voice was once again heard.

"The seedings have been posted, everyone please look at what your seeding is and what stage you'll be fighting on.

"

n

"Good luck, and go all out!

" Barden encouraged John as both John and Ryan walked towards the stage.

nJohn and Ryan arrived at the board and looked for their names.

n

"Let's see..I'm...number sixteen, not bad.

" Ryan was quite happy with his placing. Unless he got upset by a lower seed, Ryan had a good shot to make the top twenty required to qualify for the tournament.

nJohn looked at the bottom of the seeding list to find his name. There was no suspense, since he knew he ranked within the bottom five.

n

"Im ranked eightieth. Lets see, I fight on arena four in the fourth round of the initial eliminations.

"

nDue to their being only five arenas, the twenty initial fights to determine which twenty people got eliminated would happen in four rounds. Ryan had a bye for this round, since his placing at sixteenth automatically placed him in the round of sixty four.

n

"Should be an easy fight for you. Let's go into the stands and watch some of the fights while we wait for your fight,

" Ryan suggested.

n

"Sounds good.

" John and Ryan hopped back on the stands and sat down to watch the fights to come.

nWaylon Varis walked up to the main stage once more, and announced to all the competitors.

"I officially declare the start of this tournament. There will be a judge dedicated to each fight. You must listen to any instructions they give. Now, all the fighters in round one, please proceed to your designated arena.

"

nCheers broke out in the crowd at the commencement of the tournament. The participants for round one all walked to their respective arenas, and after a few words from the judges, started their fights.

nJohn and Ryan were watching the fights start, at which point Miko walked over to where John and Ryan were sitting and joined them.

n

"Hey Miko

" John called out in greeting.

n

"Hey, good job up there. Watching you silence those Crimson Valley Clowns was extremely refreshing.

" Miko had a large smile on his face as he thought back to the faces of the Crimson Valley Sect group when John mentioned the naked incident, as well as his score reveal.

n

"Haha, I felt refreshed as well. Don't worry though, the refreshing feeling is just starting.

" John replied with a confident tone. Miko understood the meaning of John's words and started laughing.

n

"Good. I'm sure if you are joining the tournament, you have a good reason to do so. I look forward to both you and Ryan thrashing some of the Crimson Valley Clowns.

" Miko gave John a big thumbs up as he encouraged him in the fights to come. The three of them continued to chat while watching the fights below them.

nOn the five arenas, various techniques and abilities were being used as the juniors of the five powers fought with their full strength. Although the fights were interesting, no one was really too concerned about who won or lost. These fights consisted of the forty lowest ranked juniors, and even the winners were most likely to be eliminated in the next round anyways.

nThe crowd spent the next hour watching the first three rounds of participants battle it out. The Fenix Clan had quite a few juniors participating in the initial rounds, and over half of them were eliminated.

n

"Tsk, what a disappointing generation. We've been too easy on them.

" Orren Fenix said while looking at the eliminated participants.

n

"True, although we have some great geniuses like Parker and a few others, the overall quality of our juniors is rather lacking this time around. It seems we've become complacent and have been too easy on them.

" Cade Fenix shook his head at the results so far. Usually, the Fenix Clan dominated both the Qi Condensation tournament and the Mist Creation tournament.

nWhile Parker did manage to place second in the Qi Condensation tournament, the Fenix Clans showing at this tournament was already lacking. Of the fifteen overall participants, six had been eliminated already, and that was just in the first rounds which didn't even matter much. Compared to previous years, this crop of juniors was performing quite poorly.

n

"So, who do you have your money on to win this tournament?

" Barden asked his brothers and father as he watched the fights below.

n

"As much as I hate to admit it, Dylan should win.

" Orren Fenix immediately blurted out. He hated the Crimson Valley Sect as well, but had to admit that Dylan was a monster.

nCade Fenix and Rodi Fenix thought about the question for a moment before they too agreed with Orenn.

"Most likely Dylan. Maybe that Dalton from the Flowing River Sect if he has some amazing battle techniques, but I still doubt it.

"

nBarden sat there in silence as he listened to the answers of his brothers and father.

"So, who do you think will win?

" Orenn asked curiously?

n

"Hmm, who knows. All I know is we will have a good show on our hands,

" Barden smiled as he responded. The others were curious by what Barden meant, but they didn't ask for clarification since they would find out soon anyways.

nJohn, Ryan and Miko continued to talk and watch the fights until about an hour later, when the third round eventually completed and the fourth round of the initial elimination stage began.

n

"Well, I'm up. I'll see you guys in a few minutes,

" John nonchalantly said as he got off his seat and walked towards his fighting platform.

n