Hundred Sects Tournament: Golden Core Finals (1)

At dawn the next day, the spiritual clouds gathering above Spirit Sword Peak were noticeably thicker than usual. As the deep, lingering toll of the bell rolled out from the main peak, the entire mountain seemed to awaken and come alive.

Though the competition had yet to officially begin, the Sword Trial Platform was already enveloped in feverish excitement. The spectator area was packed beyond belief. People stood shoulder to shoulder in a dense sea of bodies, every gaze raised toward the dozens of enormous water mirrors floating in midair.

Their surfaces were smooth and polished, reflecting the daylight and drifting clouds. Once the formation activated, they would project everything in the finals with perfect clarity, ensuring that not a single detail of the contest went unseen.

On the floating platform, the atmosphere was entirely different from the clamor below: a far more solemn silence.

Nearly all the sect leaders, core elders, and heads or representatives of the great families had arrived and taken their seats in the prescribed order. Among them were quite a few competitors of exceptional status who had been eliminated earlier.

No one spoke loudly. An invisible tension hung in the air as everyone waited with bated breath for the arena to open, ready to witness a clash between the finest Golden Core cultivators of the new generation.

Standing slightly behind True Person Yu Qing's chair, Shen Yuxi looked down at the almost boundless "sea of people." Everywhere he looked, heads bobbed in a tightly packed mass without a single gap, like a black tide rippling ceaselessly.

The sight instantly made his scalp prickle and his stomach churn. Fighting the urge to look away, he was already wailing inwardly:

*Oh my god... there are way too many people! All those heads crammed together, like dumplings boiling