Several days slipped by in a flash, and soon, the twelfth arrived.
The selection battles for the top thirty-two were finally about to begin in earnest.
Fang Qianyuan rose early and came to the venue with everyone from the Cang Mountain Academy, taking his seat in the designated area.
This time, they had come to the great central plaza inside Headquarters.
It was an immense plaza that could accommodate tens of thousands of spectators at once. At its center, thick slabs of bluestone formed a large dueling platform over a hundred feet on each side, surrounded by sloping spectator stands. A row of senior sect officials had already taken their seats in the main section to the east, while distinguished figures from various circles and powerful cultivators within the sect arrived in groups of three or five to watch as guests.
Although the final showdown had yet to arrive, the matches at this stage were already enough to draw their attention.
Since this was not yet a formal occasion where everyone gathered, the sect master, as the sect's leader, was not present either. Thus, no one stepped forward to give a speech or rally the crowd. The stewards of the Administrative Affairs Institute remained responsible for arranging the matches, while the various deacons maintained order.
At one point, a senior official from the Administrative Affairs Institute overseeing the venue seemed to invite a distinguished guest to "say a few words," but the guest smiled and waved off the invitation. The official could only let the matter drop, and everything remained simple.
Fang Qianyuan looked over curiously. With less than a hundred feet between them, he could make out quite a few faces. There were both men and women among them, but he recognized none of them. He was merely a