Top 8

The Top 32 split into sixteen pairs to take the stage one by one. By this point everyone was very serious, and there were no slouches among the Top 32. So gathering information on opponents made this a very good opportunity. Although they had already eyed each other up beforehand, the opponents had grown stronger, meaning they exposed more things than before, hadn't they?

The first few matches were fought by others. Zhuge Xiang watched intently from beneath the stage and truly discovered a few opponents who required special attention. Even though his Super Game System was powerful, when it came down to it, he had only comprehended Qi Energy for half a month. Compared to those who had comprehended it for half a year at every turn, his foundation was still a bit lacking.

Lei Potian was the person Zhuge Xiang currently saw as having the strongest combat power. Wielding a large broadax with rigid and formidable force, absolutely no one dared to trade blows with him head-on. Judging from the surrounding crowd's commentary, the large broadax in Lei Potian's hand was a Two-Star Artifact. He was one of the top geniuses who had comprehended Qi Energy half a year ago, and it was further rumored that he had successfully cultivated the Bloodthirsty Technique early on, only that up until now, he had not been seen using it.

Qi Cultivation Realm Third Layer, a Two-Star offensive artifact, and able to reach this stage without using the Bloodthirsty Technique—one had to admit that Lei Potian was the biggest favorite to take first place in this Grand Tournament. Of course, the reason Zhuge Xiang paid the most attention to him was because after defeating his opponent, Lei Potian on the Duel Platform had pointed directly at Zhuge Xiang, demanding that he experience his Bloodthirsty Technique.

Regarding Lei Potian's provocation, Zhuge Xiang cast a helpless glance at Lu Yuling. His hostility toward him was self-evident. Facing Zhuge Xiang's helpless gaze, Lu Yuling merely curled the corner of her lips into a trace of a smile and gave no reply.

Aside from Lei Potian, there were a few other opponents well worth paying close attention to. Despite only having Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer cultivation, Hua Nongying had cultivated Ghost Step to the Mastery Level. She was also the only disciple who had cultivated a martial art to the Mastery Level. Her Ghost Step, when executed, was like a phantom, and many Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer disciples could not even catch a glimpse of her shadow.

There was also another saber expert, Ling Wufeng, though the blade he used was not a chopping saber like Zhuge Xiang's, but rather tiny flying daggers.

With Qi Cultivation Realm Third Layer cultivation, his opponents usually only saw a brilliant flash of blade light before they were already defeated. This flying dagger stunt was evidently not a martial art from the Martial Arts Pavilion either. Apart from flying daggers, no one knew what martial arts he himself had learned in the Martial Arts Pavilion, nor had anyone ever seen them...

Lei Potian, Hua Nongying, Ling Wufeng, plus Lu Yuling—these were the greatest competitors in Zhuge Xiang's mind. These people either possessed formidable artifacts or unique martial arts of their own. As for all those other people, compared to these few, they fell a half-step short. Although quite a few were Qi Cultivation Realm Third Layer disciples, they appeared rather conventional. Of course, the possibility of some among them hiding their true depths could not be ruled out; in short, nobody could afford to be careless.

Soon, the Top 32 duels reached Zhuge Xiang's turn to take the stage. Yet seeing his opponent, Zhuge Xiang secretly frowned. His opponent was a Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer disciple. Although able to charge into the Top 32, the other party was clearly an outstanding figure even among the Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer. But for Zhuge Xiang, being unable to fight above his rank meant there was no experience value bonus.

Sigh, I have such good luck, my opponent is you. Regarding such an opponent, Zhuge Xiang felt inwardly displeased, yet Zhuge Xiang's opponent wore an expression of sheer celebration.

Zhuge Xiang himself possessed merely Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer cultivation, and on top of that, having sustained heavy injuries from Ji Wuxue earlier, he definitely had not fully recovered by now. In his eyes, Zhuge Xiang was clearly the easier one to deal with.

Frowning slightly, Zhuge Xiang had no intention of ending the fight swiftly. Continuing to act, he controlled both his speed and attacks to a relatively perilous degree. The two exchanged blow for blow, fighting fiercely. In the blink of an eye, both of them even sustained cuts. This kind of intense battle was what people loved to watch the most, because regardless of who won or lost in the end, it would result in both sides suffering heavy mutual injuries.

It was worth mentioning that the Asura Sect did not provide treatment for these disciples participating in the Grand Tournament, regardless of whether it was energy consumption or injuries, unless one lost.

In the Asura Sect's philosophy, although combat was supreme, amid a war of attrition, one also had to know how to preserve one's own strength and maintain lasting combat effectiveness. Moreover, since all victorious disciples received no treatment, they remained on a fair footing.

Although both sides had injuries, Zhuge Xiang was always able to avoid vital spots, suffering only superficial flesh wounds. Coupled with the fact that Zhuge Xiang caused the opponent to bleed and utilized the Blood Refinement Saber's blood-sucking attribute, Zhuge Xiang appeared evenly matched with his opponent on the surface. In truth, Zhuge Xiang's injuries were of no real consequence. Securing a narrow victory with a final move, Zhuge Xiang put on a heavily fatigued facade and stepped down from the arena. Sure enough, the Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer disciple merely brought Zhuge Xiang sixty points of experience value, and dropped absolutely nothing.

Following closely behind Zhuge Xiang, Lu Yuling took the stage. Paying close attention, Lu Yuling used a set of Clear Wave Palm techniques, aided by several silk threads, and quickly entangled her opponent. Striking the opponent's body with several consecutive palms, she directly sent them flying.

Although Clear Wave Palm focused primarily on entanglement, it still possessed a certain degree of attack power of its own. Moreover, Lu Yuling herself possessed Qi Cultivation Realm Third Layer cultivation; even ordinary palm strikes, driven by surging Qi Energy, delivered an offensive power that nobody dared to underestimate.

As for Lu Yuling, Zhuge Xiang certainly did not believe her strength was limited to what she had displayed so far. Clear Wave Palm supplemented with silk threads? Was this the extent of her full strength? Based on Zhuge Xiang's understanding of her, she definitely still held trump cards. Although he himself did not know what they were, Zhuge Xiang simply knew—just as Lu Yuling had never believed that Zhuge Xiang was truly injured. Between the two of them, such was their mutual understanding.

Out of the Top 32, only twelve possessed Qi Cultivation Realm Third Layer cultivation, so the Second Layer still occupied the majority. Soon, the battles among the Top 16 began once again. What made Zhuge Xiang want to curse was that he actually ran into a Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer disciple yet again. Another bout of acting ensued. Exerting himself to the utmost, he finally managed to defeat the opponent, harvesting sixty-three points of experience, and once again dropped absolutely nothing.

Sixty-three experience points—three points more than before. This caused Zhuge Xiang to realize inwardly that even among Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer disciples, strengths varied. Therefore, defeating different opponents yielded slight differences in experience as well. He merely glanced at his Character Interface: requiring five hundred experience points to break through, he currently appeared to still be lacking about two hundred experience value points.

However, by this time, the Top 8 had already emerged. The few people Zhuge Xiang paid attention to had indeed all successfully advanced: Lei Potian, Hua Nongying, Ling Wufeng, Lu Yuling, alongside Zhuge Xiang himself, plus three other Qi Cultivation Realm Third Layer disciples.

Among the Top 8, only Zhuge Xiang and Hua Nongying possessed Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer cultivation, while all the others were at the Third Layer. Furthermore, because of Zhuge Xiang's injuries, if one were to speak of who possessed the weakest strength among the Top 8, Zhuge Xiang was undoubtedly at the very bottom. Some even said that if not for Zhuge Xiang's good fortune in consecutively encountering Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer opponents, he would have been washed out long ago.

Although the battle against Ji Wuxue had made Zhuge Xiang's name ring out loudly, every single member of the Top 8 was a top-tier genius deeply rooted in the hearts of all disciples. Whether looking at the accumulation of their reputation or the gap in cultivation, in everyone's minds, although Zhuge Xiang was a dark horse, he was ultimately still a bit inferior to them. On top of that, he was injured, having barely managed to scrape through victories against two Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer disciples by exhausting all his effort.

How others viewed him was of no concern to Zhuge Xiang. Glancing at Hua Nongying among the Top 8, Zhuge Xiang felt a secret sense of helplessness. Judging by his heaven-defying luck, would he end up facing Hua Nongying, the fellow Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer disciple? If that really happened, it would truly be helpless. Not only would there be no experience bonus for fighting above his rank, but all his previous act-acting would also go completely down the drain.

Fortunately, however, the host soon announced the list of matchups for the Top 8. The three Qi Cultivation Realm Third Layer disciples who were relatively a half-step weaker were pitted against Zhuge Xiang, Lei Potian, and Ling Wufeng. As for Hua Nongying, whom Zhuge Xiang worried about the most, she was paired up against Lu Yuling.

"Very well, the matchup list for the Top 8 has been released. Now, let the Top 8 step down to rest. The Grand Tournament requires deciding the top ten ranks, so to allow the Top 8 to enter the stage in better condition, we will now arrange for the eight disciples defeated in the Top 16 to continue fighting and determine ninth and tenth place..."

The host on the stage spoke. Instead of deciding the higher rankings first, they were deciding the lower ones instead. This decision caused slight astonishment, yet everyone could accept it. After all, the Top 8 duels were the main event; allowing them to properly regulate their breathing and maintain brilliant matches was precisely what everyone expected, and it could better stimulate the cultivation drive of the next generation of disciples.

Decide ninth and tenth place first? Then after a round of Top 8 duels, the victors should once again have a resting period while letting the others decide fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth place? Following this method, will the final match be the battle for first place? Hearing the words of the host on the Duel Platform, Zhuge Xiang thought thus in his heart.

Still, that was fine. Under regulated breathing, the better the opponent's state, the more experience he could acquire. As for the consumption of Qi Energy? Up until now, Zhuge Xiang had not even used a single one of his two Qi Recovery Pills.