The man was none other than Fan Dongchen.
Yet his appearance now was worlds apart from the proud, overbearing prodigy of the Xuanyuan Sect everyone remembered.
His Daoist robe was stained with mud and scraps of grass, leaving him utterly bedraggled.
His perpetually arrogant face was now utterly bloodless, his lips still trembling slightly.
His gaze was unfocused, his body hunched.
There was no trace of any spirit talismans around him.
He had been eliminated.
"-"
Someone in the crowd sucked in a cold breath.
At that moment, both those who had just been complaining about him and the Xuanyuan Sect's own disciples were startled, finding it hard to believe.
Who was it?
Who could have reduced a Foundation Establishment cultivator-an elite of the Xuanyuan Sect, no less-to such a state?
Li Yi of the Dongyuan Sect, Jueming of Transformation Crossing Temple, or that unfathomable rogue cultivator, Jiang Ming?
Zhou Liu raised his eyes slightly and glanced at him, then closed them again, seemingly unmoved.
Xi Shuyan, by contrast, was extremely curious, wondering who had done it.
The same question arose in the minds of everyone present.
On the viewing platform, there were no formal seats for the elders; the elders representing the nine veins had simply gathered together.
The Xuanyuan Sect's External Affairs Elder, Zhang Guangyuan's counterpart, was Shen Yu.
His brows furrowed slightly when he saw Fan Dongchen eliminated in such a sorry state.
Useless.
He cursed inwardly.
He had originally thought that as long as Zhou, Xi, and Fan-the three Foundation Establishment cultivators of the new generation-did not act recklessly, nothing could go wrong.
Now, Fan Dongchen had encountered someone unknown and been knocked out early.
Yet they could hardly keep him out of the later stages of the competition.
An advancement slot would be wasted for