Among my fellow students, I'm the weakest. Am I being too strong for the outside world...?
The thought flashed through Wang Yan's mind.
He hesitated slightly, looked towards the distant mountains and forests, shook off the bloodstains on the tip of his sword, and stepped deeper into the forest.
Within the Ten Directions Ancient Mirror, waves of Demon Beast surged one after another, seemingly endless. The more one moved, the more Demon Beast one would encounter.
Soon, Wang Yan encountered another group of Demon Beast that pounced out of the dense forest.
The swarming cat demons, their faces contorted in a ferocious grimace, their sharp teeth and claws still stained with blood, howled and pounced on Wang Yan.
"Good timing!"
Wang Yan's eyes lit up, a smile appeared on his lips, and he drew his sword and charged forward.
In an instant, the sword light flashed like a rainbow, blood splattered, and a flock of birds cried out in agony.
There is no change of sun and moon, nor the passage of time in the Ten Directions Ancient Mirror; everything is fixed at noon. Even as time passes, the shadows within the ancient mirror will not tilt in any way.
All the prodigies plunged into it, caught in endless battles and carnage, striving to increase their scores.
Nobody wants to be eliminated; everyone wants to achieve a better ranking.
Apart from... Wang Yan and a few others.
A thick layer of blood smudged onto his longsword. Wang Yan stood on the treetop and casually flicked it off. He had a blade of grass he'd picked from who-knows-where dangling from his mouth. He sighed as he gazed at the shadowy treetops.
Boring.
That's so boring.
A day has passed since he was thrown into the Ten Directions Ancient Mirror. Presumably, about a third of the ever-burning incense that can burn for three days outside has already burned out.
The time limit for the first round of the competition is the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn, and one stick of incense can burn for three days.
For the first time, he felt that three days was unbelievably long.
This was because, after a whole day of hunting, he had determined that the Demon Beast in this ancient mirror secret realm were not very intelligent and were not strong in combat.
Even if he had deliberately plunged into the beast horde and been surrounded, there would have been no risk involved.
Of course, on the other hand, Wang Yan also suspected it was because his strength was too great.
However, his goal of gaining practical experience from the first round of assessments failed.
It was all about crushing the opponent; there's no such thing as experience to speak of.
Whether it was because the world inside the Ten Directions Ancient Mirror was too vast, or because the internal space of this ancient mirror directly separated all the geniuses, Wang Yan hadn't seen any other contestants despite traveling for so long and killing so many Demon Beast.
Looking at the jade pendant, which clearly displayed 10,078 points, Wang Yan clicked his tongue slightly in amazement.
My senior classmates and the others have probably already obtained their advancement points.
He sighed with emotion as he sat cross-legged on the treetop.
Anyway, he already had over 10,000 points, enough to advance to the second round. There was nothing to linger on in the first round of trials, so he might as well focus on cultivating.
It's not worth wasting time fighting these Demon Beast. You'd be better off calming down and studying the Swordsmanship arts taught by your master.
This mirror world is composed of the power of rules, with a particularly profound Sword Intent. When he entered, he felt that this place was very mysterious and seemed more suitable for comprehending Cultivation Method. Now, with just a slight perception, he instantly confirmed his conjecture.
Soon, Wang Yan closed his eyes and entered into a state of quiet cultivation.
Similar to him, Su Lianxin and the others, looking at their more than 10,000 points, all made the same choice.
They didn't want to waste three days on meaningless fighting.
Anyway... the first round of assessment is just a selection process.
No matter how high these points are, they won't be included in the final ranking weight, nor will they receive any physical rewards. They're just empty titles, and since they're not the type to show off, they don't care at all.
With that time, even if you don't use it to study the Cultivation Method, you could rest or conserve your energy.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. While the disciples under Lin Xuan's tutelage began to meditate and conserve their energy, the other prodigies were fighting desperately.
The rankings on the leaderboard change almost constantly, with people constantly entering and exiting the list, making the competition extremely fierce.
The world inside the ancient mirror is invisible to outsiders; they can only discern the intensity of the battle from the ever-changing rankings.
As the days passed, and when the outside world finally reached the third day at the hour of Si (9-11 AM), just before the end of the first round of the competition, the rankings gradually stabilized.
At this moment, the top scorer on the leaderboard has reached a full 100,000 points!
Even if it's ranked in the top 100, there are still over 60,000.
However, at a glance, the top 100 listed on the inscription are basically only the three major powers: the Dawn Empire, the Holy Sun Empire, and the Great Jin Empire, with very few other empires listed.
Even if there are any, they are all concentrated in the 80th or 90th place and beyond.
The Heron Empire has none left, having long since fallen far behind in the rankings.
The powerful figures leading the Heron Empire who came to participate in the Seven Kingdoms Grand Competition could only sigh helplessly when they saw that only one hundred people were listed and that none of their own people could be found.
That's enough...
well.
They've gotten used to it.
This has always been the case during the Seven Kingdoms Grand Competition; there has never been an exception.
It's not just a habit, it's almost become numb to it.
but...
As they looked around, they couldn't help but look up at the top of the leaderboard.
Among the past champions, there are many whose names are renowned in other countries.
For example, Qing Yuan, for example, Shen Li...
And they all made it into the top twenty, firmly establishing themselves without wavering, which didn't surprise anyone at all.
After all, these people are all famous top geniuses from the Seven Kingdoms, and their cultivation has long reached the Heavenly Profound Realm, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Currently, most of the prodigies are only at the seventh or eighth level of the Earth Profound Realm, and their advantage is relatively too great.
Both Qing Yuan and Shen Li are strong favorites to win the Seven Kingdoms Grand Competition.
But besides these well-known figures, there are also three who are quite unexpected and... unfamiliar.
" Ao Tai, Shi Zhen, Lin Xingzhou... Who are these three? I've never heard of them before, yet they're in the top twenty?"
"Moreover, the difference between him and Chang Xiyue, a top-tier prodigy, is only a few thousand points..."
"That's strange. How come such a talent is only emerging now? Has no one ever heard of him before?"
The crowd stared at the three unfamiliar names on the inscription, discussing and inquiring among themselves, but they couldn't figure it out.
Just as they were wondering, the clan elder who had been sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed at the top suddenly opened his eyes.
at the same time.
Ding ding ding!!
As the bells rang, the Ten Directions Ancient Mirror, which had been quietly suspended in the sky, suddenly burst forth with dazzling light.
Immediately afterwards, a group of people were suddenly "spit out" from the ancient mirror on the ground below, which had already been cleared.
Some people sat cross-legged with their eyes closed, some swung their swords without striking, and some stumbled, nearly falling to their knees...
One of the clan elders casually waved his hand, quelling the chaos that was about to erupt from the changing scene below.
Looking at the group of prodigies, some disheveled and others brimming with confidence, he calmly announced.
"The first round of the Seven Kingdoms Grand Competition."
"Finish!"