Flowing Flame Storm

As time passed, one figure after another appeared on the plaza.

Some were lingering in fear, some were screaming in shock, and others were sighing in regret.

These were all the Stellar Level geniuses who had been eliminated.

"It's terrifying. Even though I'm a Martial Artist, my speed couldn't suppress their spirit weapons at all!"

"The pain sensation is also a bit too realistic... there's no need for the clan to spend so much money on pain simulation, right?"

"My opponent in the fourth round was from the Blood Hyena Race. That's just unreasonable! Who could possibly get past that?"

"That's just you failing to get past it. Look up; some people have already reached the sixth round."

"Which round were you eliminated in?"

"The fourth."

"I was in the fifth. I can't believe the Controller in the fifth round was still at the ninth rank of the Stellar Level. Damn, their mind power amplitude must be over 30 times..."

Kuman, with his golden hair, appeared on the plaza and took a few deep breaths before regaining his composure.

"Did you pass the fourth round?"

Prose walked to Kuman's side with a look of surprise: "I was eliminated in the fourth round. The Illusionist in the third round wasn't hard to deal with, but I didn't expect the opponent in the fourth round to suddenly become so much stronger. I was caught off guard and suppressed immediately; I was killed before I even had a chance to unleash my Bloodline Divine Ability."

Kuman sighed: "I didn't encounter much of a challenge in the fourth round, but the Controller in the fifth round was very strong in both willpower and mind power. My illusions had no effect at all."

Prose nodded. That was the style of an Illusionist's combat. If the enemy was a notch below them, the Illusionist would hold absolute initiative, using endless, indistinguishable illusions combined with unpredictable soul attacks to lead the enemy by the nose.

But if the enemy was a notch above them, the Illusionist would fall into absolute passivity, sometimes even finding themselves without the ability to fight back.

"Prose! Kuman!"

Duomeng walked over quickly, accompanied by a sullen-looking Gaichen.

"Which round were you eliminated in?"

Despite being eliminated, Duomeng didn't seem to be in a bad mood: "The fifth round. Gaichen was also in the fifth. The Controller in the fifth round was just too well-rounded. Their physical strength, control of spirit weapons, combat awareness, and use of domains—there were no weaknesses."

Kuman asked curiously: "You seem quite happy about it?"

"Haha!" Duomeng looked gloating: "Bancha was also eliminated, also in the fifth round. Tsk tsk, his opponent was a Controller with a seventh-level domain. Bancha only broke through to the seventh level of the domain two hundred years ago, and he was directly crushed without any room to fight back.

The top seed for the selection battle, eliminated in the fifth round. Haha, he's really lost face this time."

Prose found it amusing. He didn't know what deep grudge Duomeng and Bancha held against each other, but seeing the other person lose face made him happy even though he had been eliminated himself.

Following the gazes of most people, they all saw Bancha not far away, looking gloomy.

It could be said that most people on the plaza were looking—either openly or furtively—at this number one seed of the genius battle, who had been taken in as a disciple by the clan leader.

If the competition hadn't ended and the World Lord Kasa hadn't announced that the eliminated could return home, Bancha would likely have logged off immediately and left the Virtual Universe network.

However, perhaps there was another reason Bancha chose not to leave the Virtual Universe immediately: the battles still ongoing on the screens.

At this moment, there were fewer than two hundred geniuses left who hadn't been eliminated. From over ten thousand down to just over a hundred, 99.9% of the participants had been kicked out.

Some were fighting slowly and were still challenging their fourth-round opponents, while others had already defeated the sixth-round Illusionist and were starting the seventh round.

"There are actually Stellar Level geniuses without domains?"

Gaichen frowned, his eyes fixed on the Stellar Level geniuses without domains who were challenging fourth or fifth-round opponents on the giant screen.

Although he didn't say it explicitly, his jealousy was hard to hide.

The eliminated geniuses on the plaza, especially those who possessed domains, also began to complain, feeling that this selection trial was unfair to the strong.

Prose, having been eliminated early, had watched some of the battles and spoke up: "You can't say that. Although their opponents don't have domains, the Martial Artists have terrifying physical strength, and the Controllers have mind power amplitudes of over 30 times. The Illusionists and the opponents we with domains faced were no different."

Although Prose's words made some sense, they could only convince a small portion of people. This type of selection trial with simulated opponents was indeed more disadvantageous to the strong.

The more powerful a domain, the more secret techniques it involved, and the higher the limit of power that could be unleashed. The gap between those at the same level was also greater. Someone like Bancha, a seventh-level domain expert, had almost failed to pass the fourth round.

Among the geniuses who hadn't been eliminated yet, basically none had a domain above the fourth level; in fact, most were at the first level.

A first-level domain combined with a powerful Bloodline Divine Ability, strong combat awareness, mind power amplitude, and willpower made it not difficult to rival a third-level domain, and their opponents were all at the first level.

But for someone at the seventh level of a domain to rival an eighth-level domain was extremely difficult. Such people could rank in the top one thousand in the preliminary elimination world zone of the genius battle, and in the top one hundred thousand in the entire Xuanshang Universe Country.

Prose looked at a corner of the screen: "Jiang Yao has passed the fourth round."

Actually, there was no need for him to say it; Jiang Yao's battle itself was one of the focal points for the thousands of people on the plaza.

"Improving from the first level of a domain to the fourth in over a decade is already monstrous enough, but he can also cultivate so many secret techniques? This is too..."

"Didn't he spend over a decade on Yuluo Island? What's so strange about him knowing many secret techniques?"

"Pfft—if you want to talk about jealousy, I'm jealous too, but don't be an idiot. You're two thousand years old this year, right? Which level of the Luowen Sword have you practiced to? You haven't even mastered a single one, so what are you being snide about?"

"It took him so long to deal with the fourth-round opponent; the fifth round will probably be tough."

"It's already not easy for a fourth-level domain to persist until now. Look, the rest are basically all at the first level."

Kuman looked up at the calm expression of the youth on the screen, who seemed completely unfazed by the powerful fifth-round opponent, and couldn't help but ask: "Which round do you think he can pass?"

Prose didn't hesitate: "The first six rounds are no problem."

Under the surprised expressions of the others, Prose sighed softly: "If you look closely at his combat process, it's obvious that he is treating this selection trial as training. Whether it's his combat awareness or his control of spirit weapons, both are improving at a speed visible to the naked eye. He is enjoying the battle."

Prose did not deliberately lower his voice; among the ten thousand geniuses present, while some acknowledged his words, many more were skeptical or even disdainful.

For the Controller in the fifth round, who had forced so many geniuses into helplessness and left them unable to resist, to be nothing more than a combat game for Jiang Yao?

Such a statement was naturally unacceptable to most geniuses, even triggering an instinctive sense of repulsion.

However, the arguments soon died down.

This was because Jiang Yao had extricated himself from his initial state of being on the defensive with miraculous speed.

The Red Shadow Blade, a Tier 4 telekinetic weapon with a dark red halo flowing across its surface, suddenly disassembled into thirty-six flying blades as thin as cicada wings.

The Controller opponent from the fifth round manipulated needles that shimmered with golden light, shrouding Jiang Yao like a golden waterfall.

Jiang Yao, meanwhile, controlled the thirty-six crimson flying blades to form a fire vortex, weaving through the golden torrent like a Flowing Flame Storm, tearing the opponent's golden waterfall apart before engulfing it entirely.

Jiang Yao himself trod with unpredictable footwork, dodging the needles that strayed from the golden waterfall by the narrowest of margins.

"Sufeng?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'm certain it's Sufeng, because I'm currently cultivating that secret technique."

"Is he a Martial Artist?"

"And that fire vortex is the fourth level of the Red Shadow Blade, the Flowing Flame Storm; the manual for the Red Shadow Blade says it requires at least a seventh-level domain to master."

"So he's a dual cultivator of both Controller and Martial Artist?"