"I'm actually going first?"
In the front row below the platform, Fang Qianyuan rose at the announcement, a hint of surprise crossing his face.
But that surprise quickly turned to delight. He slammed his fist into his open palm and said with a smile, "Now that's a good omen."
"Qianyuan, go on. Let everyone get a good look at your abilities, and show them what the disciples of Cang Mountain Academy are made of," Gong Yuan encouraged him.
The other disciples chimed in, "Junior Brother Fang, give it everything you've got!"
"We'll all be watching from here, cheering you on!"
Fang Qianyuan nodded and walked toward the dueling platform.
Su Hai of the Pingchuan Training Institute had placed third in his institute's selection tournament. He had participated in the Sect Grand Tournament the previous year, but his inadequate foundations had left him eliminated in the qualifying rounds, so he had never made the list of contestants to watch.
Still, as one of the outstanding disciples of the Pingchuan Training Institute, his strength was not to be underestimated.
Everyone who had come here to compete was an elite talent from their respective institute, a seed with the potential to become an Earth Rank Expert.
Many of them might gradually sink into mediocrity, or lose their edge in the years ahead and stagnate, unable to advance another inch for the rest of their lives. But among the tens of thousands of disciples in the Azure Cloud Sect's thirty-two training institutes, they were the strongest of their generation.
Against such an opponent, anyone could suffer an injury, lose, and leave the arena in regret through a single moment of carelessness.
Without any prior knowledge of him, Fang Qianyuan knew almost nothing about Su Hai beyond his seven-turn cultivation and his primary spirit creature,