Chapter 104: The Ranking Match Begins

  PS: Today is the third watch, the third watch is at dawn, and it will be the same for all subsequent watches until it goes on sale.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  In the early morning, the clear and melodious bell sound came from Qingfeng Mountain Wudang Square, wave after wave, spreading out dozens of miles away.

  On the mountain road, heroes from all sides gathered together.

  Among them, there were the leaders of small sects, the heads of large families, the chief rangers of the ranger bureau, the leaders of gangs, the heads of commercial associations, the city masters of several nearby cities, and famous masters on the rivers and lakes.

  "Lu Zhongmen, you're here too!"

  "Of course, we must come. The Liuyun Sect is the largest sect within a radius of tens of thousands of miles, and our small sect can't compare to it at all. So this time, I brought several of our most outstanding disciples to watch the battle, hoping to inspire them."

  "Hehe, I've also brought two young masters from the Chamber of Commerce to let them see what a genius looks like, so they won't cause trouble everywhere."

  "Same to you!"

  Although people do not interact much in daily life, they are still familiar with each other. When three to five of them get together, there is laughter and conversation. At this time, whoever has more power and strength will be revealed, because only the strong can make others surround him, rather than him surrounding others.

  Inside the inner gate, Ye Chen closed the courtyard door with a wave of his hand and began to head towards the bustling martial arts arena.

  "So many people!" Upon arriving at the Martial Arts Square, Ye Chen was somewhat surprised.

  Last year, he was beaten by Wang Gang and lay in bed for a month, missing the opportunity to watch the ranking match, and had never seen the spectacular scene of nearly 10,000 people gathering together.

  The Martial Arts Square has ten large platforms, each platform is round in shape and three meters high. The combination of the ten platforms forms a flower pattern, which is magnificent and beautiful. Around the ten platforms are VIP seats arranged in a circle, above the VIP seats are the spectator seats. From a distance, the entire Martial Arts Square looks like an iron pot with its lid open, the bottom of the pot being the martial arts competition area, and the four walls of the pot being the spectators' seats.

  "Ye Chen, over here." On the empty space between the platform and the VIP seats, a large group of inner disciples stood there, Wu Zongming waving his hand towards Ye Chen.

  A gentle breeze sprang up beneath his feet, and the dust of the leaves danced past him.

  Wu Zongming said with some excitement: "The third group platform and the seventh group platform are in front of and behind each other, leaning against each other. We'll just stay here for now. But I'm a bit nervous at the moment. Look, all the people on the VIP seats around us are big shots, even your father has come."

  Ye Chen followed his gaze and indeed saw his father Ye Tianhao and mother Shen Yuqing on the VIP seat.

  Ye Tianhao and Shen Yiqing smiled slightly at Ye Chen, with expectation and pride in their eyes. Who would have thought that Ye Chen could also participate in the inner door disciple ranking competition of Liuyun Sect? Even if he could participate, it was just a bottom existence, but now it's different. Ye Chen's promotion to the middle stage of the Condensing True Realm as a warrior they already knew, plus his innate talent in martial arts, entering the top two hundred should be no problem.

  Ye Chen gave them a reassuring glance before withdrawing his gaze.

  At this time, almost all of the inner disciples had arrived, except for the top ten inner disciples who were still nowhere to be seen.

  Suddenly!

  The outer disciples in the audience seats erupted into thunderous applause.

  "The top ten disciples of the Inner Gate have arrived, and the one in the middle is indeed Shi Meng, the Blood Shadow Knife!"

  "Meng Chong's senior brother was Tie Shanzi Yi Qing, and also Xiao Ye, Zhou Ruo, Pei Shaoqing, Hao Qiang, their auras."

  Like others, the inner disciples who had arrived early all looked towards the ten people at the wide entrance.

  These ten people were the top ten disciples of the inner sect, some with a proud and arrogant temperament, with an aura of murder; some as tall as two meters, like ancient mythical beasts; some with a smile on their face, gentle and carefree; some with a peach blossom-like complexion, slender and elegant; others with no expression, eyes cold as ice.

  Ten people walked together, a faint aura of majesty and power emanating from them, causing the dignitaries on the VIP seats to turn their heads in unison.

  "Too powerful, just the aura alone can overwhelm people." Wu Zongming took a deep breath.

  Ye Chen smiled faintly, feeling nothing. He glanced around and found that most people had lost their original confidence, unnaturally withdrawing their gaze. Of course, there were also a few people whose eyes flickered with excitement. As long as they defeated them, this generation's top ten disciples of the inner sect would have their place. What is life for if not to take a breath? Who doesn't want to be in command, unlimited and admired by others? The top ten disciples of the inner sect were just the best starting point.

  Due to the platform's different directions, the top ten disciples of the inner sect dispersed. On Ye Chen's side were 'Wind in Flight' Feng Ping, 'Madman' Xiao Ye, and Zhou Ruo, also one of the top ten disciples of the inner sect. There were three people in total, spaced three steps apart from each other, neither too far nor too close.

  "It seems like there aren't many strong people among our inner disciples!" Feng Ping said, scanning the area as he spoke to Xiao Ye and Zhou Ruo.

  Xiao Ye had a head of long hair draped over his shoulder, looking incredibly wild. "They're still too tender, in the past five years, the most unexpected time was when three people fell off the charts, usually it's already good if two people can fall off."

  Feng Ping's gaze shifted away from Ye Chen and the others, not paying too much attention to them. After all, without reaching the late stage of the Condensing True Realm, it was basically impossible to enter the top ten. In the past five years, only Xu Jing, a freak among core disciples, had emerged. Even Zhu Mei, the "Dark Fragrance Sword", had obtained the title of one of the top ten disciples in the late stage of the Condensing True Realm and later became a core disciple.

  With a face as lovely as a peach blossom, Zhou Ruodan said calmly: "Don't be too careless, beware of capsizing in the gutter, and it's not necessarily impossible for Yunyun Sect to produce another Xu Jing Shijie."

  Wu Zongming said in a low voice to Ye Chen, "You didn't see the ranking match last year. Xu Jing Shizhi won with her mid-term Condensing True Realm cultivation and became the first among the top ten inner disciples. When she is promoted to core disciple, Blood Shadow Knife Meng Chong Shixiong will have a chance to rise."

  Ye Chen nodded, Xu Jing's strength he had never been able to fully grasp, even on the Northwestern Plains, it seemed she hadn't used her full strength. It was really hard to imagine just how strong she was. After all, the top ten disciples of the inner sect weren't simple characters, each and every one of them had the ability to instantly kill same-level martial artists. Wanting to defeat them by crossing levels was truly very difficult, almost impossible.

  Wu Zongming's tone changed, and he continued: "However, Blood Shadow Knife Meng Chong was not very strong two years ago. It wasn't until last year that he began to rise strongly, unstoppable. Some people say his strength has already ranked among the top ten core disciples, just waiting for the ranking tournament after which he will challenge the core disciples."

  Two people were talking at the same time, and the inner door of Yunyun Sect rushed onto the central platform.

  The old man cleared his throat and said in a loud voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the annual Flowing Cloud Sect's inner disciple ranking competition. This year's competition will be divided into ten groups, each with a seeded player numbered zero. They will participate in the group matches after five rounds, and all previous matches will be counted as full victories."

  The competition adopts a random draw rule, where the two people who draw the numbers will go on stage to compete and determine the winner. In addition, the competition is a points system, with 2 points for winning a match, 1 point for drawing, and 0 points for losing. The top three in the group standings qualify for the final round to compete for the title of "Top Ten Inner Disciples".

  "Enough said, let's get started with the ranking match."

  The words fell, and the Martial Arts Square boiled again, with waves of sound rushing straight into the sky.

  Nodding in satisfaction, the elder flashed back to his seat among the Cloud Stream Sect's elders.

  Beside the platform, the attendants have already started drawing lots.

  "Group one, number three versus number nine!"

  "Group two, number five versus number twenty-three!"

  "The third group,"

  Upon hearing this, each of the inner disciples walked up onto their respective platforms and began fighting with their opponents.