When the new rules appeared, another uproar swept through the crowd!
"A free-for-all?! More than a thousand people fighting on one stage? You've got to be joking!"
"This... this is too cruel!"
"Exactly! It's always been one-on-one fights, advancing round by round. Why this time..."
"They're being targeted! This is aimed straight at those prodigies who've been famous for years!"
"They're too conspicuous. In a free-for-all, they'll be the easiest targets for an alliance!"
"Right! Even someone as strong as Fenjin or Fairy Qingyue would fall once their Immortal Power ran dry against a thousand talented opponents at the same cultivation level!"
"And there are other opponents of their caliber on the stage!"
"Unfair! These rules are completely unfair!"
Countless talented contenders went pale. Those renowned prodigies looked especially grim.
In a free-for-all, the brighter one shone, the more likely others were to join forces against them—and the faster they would die!
After all, the weak banding together against the strong had been the way to survive since ancient times!
If the weak wanted to advance, they had to join forces to bring down the strong first, then look for their chance!
Yet at the center of the Floating Island, Vice Hall Master Li Chen remained impassive. The clamor did not affect him in the slightest.
Boom!
The authority of a Half-Step King spread without a sound, forcing many protesters to lower their voices.
Then, brilliant light flared above each of the hundred bronze battle stages, and countless streaks of light flew from the drawing formation at the center.
The draw was complete!
Everyone searched anxiously for their own names while keeping an eye on where the top prodigies had landed.
"Stage one... none of them."
"Stage fifty... those few aren't there either..."
"Look! Heavens, the world's gone mad!"
"Stage