High Martial Arts: Grinding for the Supreme Talent

Chapter 319: Chapter 319: 230 Seeded Contestants

”Run!”

The others finally reacted. It was as if they had run into a cataclysmic beast. A terrifying killing intent enveloped them all.

They weren’t idiots. Lin Qi was clearly a whole level above them, and they knew they were no match for him if they kept fighting.

So, the contestants on the outer perimeter immediately turned and fled, unleashing their Body Techniques to escape at top speed.

Before, they had been worried if Lin Qi could withstand the siege.

Now, it seemed they had worried for nothing.

They were just glad they were far enough away; otherwise, they wouldn’t have even had a chance to run.

But the Martial Artists who were closer felt as if they were being stared down by a terrifying behemoth, its dreadful killing intent closing in on them.

PFFT! PFFT!

Facing this group of experts, Lin Qi seemed to transform into an invisible reaping machine.

Not a single opponent could withstand a simple thrust from his Black Great Spear.

He possessed speed far beyond that of an ordinary genius. The prodigies from the other countries would only see a flash of black lightning before they died.

PFFT! PFFT!

The sound of the long spear piercing flesh echoed through the air. In just a moment, more than thirty people had died by his hand.

The other opponents had all fled far away, forcing him to hunt them down one by one.

Meanwhile, intense life-and-death battles erupted throughout the entire arena.

The various top-level experts also unleashed their astounding power.

For instance, S-class geniuses like Li Hanjiang, Liang Yuxin, Ao Feng, Duan Chuchu, and Yi Shaojie.

In just moments, countless geniuses were slain.

”It’s the geniuses from Xia Country again. They’re too powerful.”

”How can they be so strong?”

At the same time, high above the arena, Xu Wenji waved his hand, projecting a red chart into the sky.

[Points Chart]

[First Place: Lin Qi (Xia Country), Points: 53]

[Second Place: Li Hanjiang (Xia Country), Points: 42]

[Third Place: Avid (Tianzhu), Points: 31]

[Fourth Place: Liang Yuxin (Xia Country), Points: 30]

...

The rankings on the Points Chart caused a stir among the people from many countries.

”This Lin Qi in first place is a monster! He’s too powerful!!”

”No one can block a single one of his spear strikes. How can there be such a powerful contestant in the preliminaries?”

”The second-place Li Hanjiang is the same. Everyone else is like a piglet waiting to be slaughtered by them,” someone exclaimed in amazement.

”Xia Country is too strong! Six of the top ten are from Xia Country,” someone cried out in shock.

The rankings on the Points Chart made them feel the immense gap between the countries even more keenly.

A single glance down the list revealed a dense crowd of contestants marked with ”Xia Country” behind their names.

On the Floating Island of Japan, Moriyama Ayane watched Lin Qi’s rampage in the arena, completely stunned.

’Lin Qi of Xia Country... he’s too powerful!’

’Why is he so strong? How did he do it?’

’We’re all S-class geniuses, yet he’s on another level. Is this the kind of prodigy that Xia Country, the world’s number one, produces?’

...

The competition continued. The battles were measured in seconds, and with every passing moment, a contestant would die, their throat slit or heart pierced by a weapon.

Even though only geniuses remained, the gap in power was still absurdly large.

Geniuses died one after another.

PFFT! PFFT!

”Lin Qi, I’m from Xia Country too!” someone shouted.

”Sorry, but being from Xia Country won’t help you. See you in the revival round!”

”Chief, I’m from the Sixth Institute! If I’m lying, may my whole family die!”

”Then you can go!”

In the ruined arena, amidst the dilapidated buildings, Lin Qi, dressed all in black, swung his Black Great Spear. Everyone his eyes fell upon was a target.

Even people from Xia Country had to die, unless they were students of the Azure Sky Sixth Institute.

Every time he killed a powerful contestant, their points would automatically transfer to him.

His points were skyrocketing, and at the same time, the end of the round was drawing closer.

It also became harder for him to kill opponents, as everyone was avoiding him.

[TIME’S UP!]

[PRELIMINARY ROUND 2 CONCLUDED!]

The voice of the intelligent system echoed over the Floating Islands from high above the arena.

The surviving contestants all breathed a sigh of relief, especially a handsome contestant from Tailande not far from Lin Qi.

He was less than ten meters away from Lin Qi.

If the match hadn’t ended and made his opponent stop, he would have likely been eliminated.

He himself was an S-class genius, ranked in the top five among Tailande’s freshmen.

But facing Lin Qi was like a sheep facing a ferocious tiger; the suffocating pressure made it hard for him to breathe, even from ten meters away.

Lin Qi looked at him and thought, ’This kid’s lucky.’

In an instant, he turned into nothingness and vanished from the arena, teleported back to the Floating Island.

At the same time, all the contestants were also looking at the Points Chart.

[POINTS CHART!]

[First Place: Lin Qi (Xia Country), Points: 328]

[Second Place: Li Hanjiang (Xia Country), Points: 290]

[Third Place: Liang Yuxin (Xia Country), Points: 262]

[Fourth Place: Avid (Tianzhu), Points: 261]

...

At this moment, most people were very happy, because the majority had advanced, with only a few exceptions.

Because the top-level experts had been so ruthless in their killing, after ten minutes, only 799 people remained—they had almost failed to get the required 792.

”I advanced!”

”Five million Xia Country Coins in the bag!”

”The Xia Country People are insane. Good thing I didn’t run into any of the absolute top geniuses.”

”Baka! Our Japan’s most outstanding genius is only ranked 8th?”

”How is it that the first-ranked Lin Qi isn’t Awakened?”

”Facing him, I feel the same helplessness as when I face an Awakened genius!”

Seeing Lin Qi at the top of the Points Chart, the contestants from every country committed his name to memory.

Lin Qi of Xia Country!

On Japan’s Floating Island.

”Once we’re in the main competition, I’ll show him the true Sword Dao of our Japan!”

a handsome, refined-looking young man said. He had faint, light-green markings on his body.

...

On Xia Country’s Floating Island.

”Brother Qi is the strongest, as expected.”

”I can’t believe Ao Feng only got sixth place!”

”That’s still pretty good!”

”Too bad I only managed to rank 20th!” Jiangtao said, shaking his head.

The sounds of discussion rose up around Lin Qi. He looked at Jiangtao; his performance this time had been outstanding as well.

To make it into the top 20 in the second preliminary round meant you were a top-level S-class genius in any country.

Within their Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy, he would be ranked fourth. Besides himself, Ao Feng, Duan Chuchu, and Li Lei, he was the strongest.

”Esteemed contestants!”

Vice Principal Xu Wenji’s projection appeared again, and he announced in a loud voice:

”The second preliminary round officially ends here!”

”Let us congratulate the 792 contestants who have passed the preliminaries!”

”However, the eliminated contestants need not feel sad, because tomorrow, our revival round will also take place.”

”As long as you have the strength, you will be able to enter the 100-person revival roster.”

”Well then, contestants, let us meet again in the main competition!”

After speaking, he once again dissolved into particles of light and vanished.

”Those of you who were eliminated, prepare well for tomorrow’s revival round!” Lin Qi said, looking around at the students from the Sixth Institute.

In this preliminary drop, even from their Sixth Institute, ninety percent of the people had been eliminated.

Even in tomorrow’s revival round, only a few dozen people from the entire Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy would be able to successfully revive.

After giving a few words of advice, he logged off as well.

「In the quiet Martial Arts Room」

WHIRRR!

The all-white Virtual Cabin slowly opened, and Lin Qi walked out.

’The revival round is tomorrow, and the day after that, we enter the global stage. The main competition is about to start!’

’I still have one more day. I can improve my strength a little more.’

Thinking this, he changed his clothes and headed out to the Gravity Room to train.

...

「April 26th, the second day of the Global Freshmen Tournament.」

The revival round in the Eastern Region was in full swing.

The Western Region’s competition was running concurrently. There were many western nations, and top-level geniuses from each major country emerged one after another.

The 1,000 top-level geniuses from the various western nations were also decided in the shortest possible time.

”The annual Global Freshmen Tournament has started again!”

”The overall strength of our Western Region has always been greater than the Eastern Region’s. If it weren’t for Xia Country, their collective strength would be even weaker.”

”This time, our White Eagle Federation will defeat Xia Country and take the championship.”

...

On the afternoon of April 26th, the revival round officially ended, and the 1,000-person roster was finalized.

Lin Qi also saw the main roster. Just as Teacher Wang had said, contestants from Xia Country occupied about 460 spots. At the same time, their Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy had 180 people, eight more than the 172 from before.

Distributed among the Nine Great Academies, that was only about 18 people each on average.

After reviewing the data, he entered the large white Virtual Cabin, logged into the Red Realm, and selected the link Teacher Luu Wei had given him.

Soon, he entered an online conference room.

This conference room was much smaller. In the center was a huge conference table made of a dark, lustrous black stone.

The geniuses from the Tenth Academy were already seated there.

”Brother Qi!”

”Lin Qi!”

Wan Ming and Xia Lian, sitting on his left and right respectively, greeted him enthusiastically.

Lin Qi nodded and glanced around at the seventeen people. Besides himself, there were thirteen geniuses who had awakened a Special Ability.

There was also the black-framed-glasses-wearing Teacher Wang, the beard-stroking Vice Principal, and the smiling Dean Liu.

Teacher Wang was the first to speak:

”Tomorrow, the Global Freshmen Tournament enters the global stage. There will be two thousand contestants from different countries participating in the main competition!”

”Of course, this doesn’t have much to do with most of you here. No matter how strong you are, if you’re not Awakened, your ranking won’t be very high—unless you’re student Lin Qi!”

After speaking, she waved her hand, and a large screen materialized above the conference table, displaying a large amount of data with images and text.

”According to the data we’ve received, among the 2,000 contestants in this year’s Global Freshmen Tournament, there are a total of 230 Awakened geniuses.”

”Our Eastern Region has 108, and the Western Region has 122, for an average of three per country.”

”These are your main opponents.”

Lin Qi frowned upon hearing this. Awakened geniuses were considered extremely rare in Xia Country, with only about 30 appearing each year.

But on a global scale, there were over two hundred Awakened geniuses per year.

The number was suddenly a whole lot larger.

This group of geniuses would likely dominate the top 230 spots; ordinary geniuses simply couldn’t defeat them.

In the end, it would become a battle among these Awakened geniuses.

The un-Awakened S-class geniuses would no longer be the main characters.

Everyone looked at the projected information with grim expressions. All their opponents were Awakened geniuses.

Everyone was on the same starting line now.

...