After resting and regrouping, all the examinees took their number tags and were led into an enormous Training Ground, where they gradually filled the spectator stands around it.
Red Lotus City had also set aside a separate section for local residents.
However, not just anyone could stroll in.
The admission fee alone-two hundred thousand per person-had already shut out many ordinary people.
At two o'clock sharp that afternoon, all fifteen hundred examinees were present. The Deputy City Lord of Red Lotus City, Great Xia's Special Envoy, and numerous senior officials also attended.
For an event of this magnitude, not the slightest carelessness was permitted in any procedure.
Meanwhile, eight towering, giant-like men worked together to slowly move an enormous Golden Bell into the Training Ground.
When they set it down, a thunderous bang rang out, and billowing dust immediately rose from the rim where the Golden Bell met the ground.
At the sight of the Golden Bell, many people's expressions shifted slightly. Then the elderly chief examiner-Master Yuan Song, one of Red Lotus City's Titled Martial Kings-spoke slowly, his voice carrying in every direction:
"This year's Hundred Schools League officially begins. I won't waste words. The first round is the [Alchemy Stone]. Number one, step forward."
After Master Yuan Song finished speaking, the young man wearing the number-one tag stood and took a deep breath.
His name was Zhao Ming, and he came from a martial arts school in the Northwest. Naturally, neither its teaching staff nor its cultivation resources could compare with those of elite martial arts schools like Demon Martial and Dragon Martial University, so its examinees generally had low cultivation levels.
This was his second year participating in the Hundred Schools League. Last time, he had been eliminated in the first round. This year was his last