There was not much to say about such a playoff.
This king-of-the-hill format was probably the fairest way to select the sixteen strongest among the twenty-three geniuses with nine wins and one loss.
Although there was the added rule that everyone had only one chance to challenge,
assessing one's own strength and that of one's opponent was itself one of the required lessons.
Even if someone chose the wrong opponent and suffered an unexpected defeat, they had no one else to blame.
And because there was only one opportunity to challenge,
this round of playoffs did not take much time. After just a few matches that very day, it was over.
In the end,
the remaining sixteen defenders, along with Shen Changchuan, Lin Wushuang, and the other two who had achieved ten consecutive victories, entered the finals together.
There were still
three days to rest before the finals began.
During those three days,
most of the twenty people who had entered the final stage made no moves.
They simply sat cross-legged in various corners of the square, closed their eyes to rest and conserve their strength, doing all they could to prepare for the finals three days later.
This nearly unspoken, collective silence of waiting
made even the surrounding air seem somewhat scorching.
It caused the countless spectators around them to feel a burning anticipation in their hearts as well.
Although,
in the eyes of most people nearby,
the ones most likely to make it to the very end of the finals were undoubtedly Shen Changchuan and Lin Wushuang.
There was almost no doubt that the champion of this grand competition would emerge from between those two, and Lin Wushuang had the greater chance of taking first place.
But even if everyone shared such a guess,
that did not mean