Unlike the preliminary round, the preliminary round is not a free-for-all among ten people, but a free-for-all among three people.
Although the number of participants is smaller, the pressure on the contestants is greater.
Because when there are ten people fighting in a melee, the situation is chaotic and it is rare for nine people to fight against one person. Everyone does not have such tacit understanding.
It’s different when three people are fighting each other, it’s easy for two to fight against one.
It is common for the stronger one to be defeated first, and then the two weaker ones to fight it out.
However, for those who are truly strong, they can stand out no matter what.
This was the case with Xu Lian. As soon as the golden energy came out, the other two were so scared that they jumped off the stage. Not to mention two people joining forces, even if a hundred people joined forces, it would be useless...
then.
In the preliminary round, Xu Lian did the same as in the preliminaries, continuing with his “ten consecutive jumps” and quickly “moved up the ranks”.
It was not until the 3,695th floor that the situation changed and his "ten consecutive jumps" were ended!
Because, starting from this level of the arena, a genius opponent in the Huajin period appeared. Since they were both in the Huajin period, others would not give him "face"...
"start!"
The registration official, who also doubles as the referee, made the announcement.
Xu Lian raised his palms and a golden flame-like energy appeared.
The two geniuses who were in a "triangle stance" with him did not turn around and jump off the ring, and golden energy rose from their hands.
"..." Xu Lian, who was used to his opponents admitting defeat, was stunned. It seemed that starting from this level of the arena, all opponents were at the Hua Jin stage and above. It was impossible to scare off the opponents by relying on the golden energy, so he needed to take action.
The two geniuses did not rush to take action, but watched with alert eyes.
"His golden energy seems to be more condensed than ours. His cultivation should be higher than ours. Should we join forces to defeat him first, and then decide the winner?"
"That's exactly what I meant."
"Then let's attack him together."
"Take action."...
The two quickly reached a consensus and rushed towards Xu Lian, each using their own secret combat techniques.
"..." Xu Lian said nothing and was attacked by two geniuses.
Then he took action.
And then... nothing happened.
The secret fighting techniques displayed by the two geniuses were broken by him. They each received a blow from his palm, blood spurting out of their mouths. Their bodies hit the barrier at the edge of the arena like a kite with a broken string, slid down, and fainted.
That’s right, starting from the preliminary round, there has been a barrier on the edge of the arena, because the geniuses participating in the preliminary round are relatively strong and have greater destructive power, and can easily hurt the people watching around them.
The whole audience was silent for a moment.
Then, the people excitedly burst into thunderous cheers.
"Xu Lian!"
"Xu Lian!"
"Xu Lian!"...
Shouting his name together.
The people seemed to have won the competition, and each of them looked very happy and proud.
Indeed, Xu Lian fought from the first floor all the way to the 3,695th floor, which caused quite a stir among the common people in the imperial capital and attracted the attention of many common people, who regarded him as a representative figure of "grassroots rise".
No matter in which world, the "grassroots counterattack story" often touches the hearts of ordinary people the most... because this is what ordinary people dream of.
It’s different for other geniuses with powerful backgrounds. The royal family of the You Dynasty attaches great importance to them, and they either go directly to the knockout rounds or the preliminary rounds. Ordinary people don’t have any sense of “involvement” with those high-ranking geniuses.
Only a "grassroots genius" like Xu Lian, who has no background and has fought his way up from the first level of the preliminaries, can make ordinary people feel something.
Xu Lian walked down the stage, came to the official in charge of registration, and received the competition token leading to the next level.
The common people followed Xu Lian like a tide and went to the upper level, as if they were an army conquering the "Heavenly Road".
"Xu Lian, you don't really want to be a royal consort, do you?"
"The geniuses of those top powers have already reached the Grandmaster level. If you meet them in the knockout round, you will only lose bitterly. You'd better not play in the knockout round. Just make it to the top of the preliminary round. If you stop at the 3,700th floor, wouldn't it be good to find a beautiful daughter of a prince or noble?"
"If you can't be a consort, then you can be a county horse master, or it would be comfortable to be a son-in-law of a duke or marquis."...
Some people made friendly suggestions to Xu Lian, suggesting that he did not need to insist on the position of imperial consort and that he should instead turn his attention to the daughters of royal and noble families.
After all, Xu Lian's current record is already worthy of being the daughter of a royal noble family. Why would he give up the secure happiness in front of him and insist on becoming a royal consort
This is the simplest and purest idea of ordinary people. If it were them, they would definitely choose to stop and turn into the arms of the daughters of princes and nobles... They would wake up laughing even in their dreams.
"Thank you for your concern. I want to try to hit it higher."
Xu Lian responded casually.
This is why common people like him. Although he doesn't talk much, he still says something occasionally... Unlike other geniuses who are so high and mighty that they don't even bother to look at them.
Arrived at the 3696th floor.
Xu Lian came to an arena, handed out his competition token, and registered.
Get on the ring and wait.
He has become so familiar with this series of processes that he is almost numb.
After a moment.
Here comes a genius.
After a while, another genius came.
When everyone is gathered, the showdown begins.
"boom!"
"boom!"
Xu Lian took action and the battle ended.
They are both in the Hua Jin stage, but the gap between the first and second levels of the Hua Jin stage and the ninth level of the Hua Jin stage is extremely large.
He got the competition token leading to the next level and continued to move up.
The 3697th floor...
The 3698th floor...
The 3699th floor!
"boom!"
"boom!"
As the two talented opponents were blown away by Xu Lian, he got the competition token leading to the 3,700th level arena.
This is a matchup at the top of the preliminary round.
It is also the last match before entering the knockout stage.
“It’s at the top!”
"It's the top!"...
The common people were happier than he was.
Xu Lian came to the arena on the 3,700th floor.
It's obviously different here.
Next to the ring, there was a jade stand, on which sat noble ladies in gorgeous clothes and young girls dressed up gorgeously. It was obvious that they were the wives of princes and nobles watching the fight.
There were already two young men standing on the ring, and it was obvious that they were "missing one". The duel could only begin after everyone was present.
One of the young men in white closed his eyes and remained motionless, as if he was asleep.
The other young man in tight clothes was smiling and waving to the girls in the stands, making the girls blush and stare at him.
A noble lady shouted, "Ming'er, someone has come up from the lower floor. The fight is about to begin. You should concentrate and don't be careless. Look at the young master of the Duke of Jing's mansion. He adjusted his state as soon as he got on the stage."
The young man in tight clothes smiled and said, "Mom, don't worry. Our son of Duke Ying is no worse than Duke Jing's son. It's not like we haven't competed before. Sometimes I win, sometimes he wins. It depends on my performance on the spot and who the other opponent will help."
The lady laughed and scolded, "Winning or losing doesn't matter, just don't get hurt."
Xu Lian came to the official in charge of registration and handed over the competition token.
The officials here are all different. They wear scarlet official robes and are at least fourth rank or above.
The official took the competition token, checked it, made sure there was no problem, pointed at the stage, and signaled Xu Lian that he could go up.
The common people who followed Xu Lian up like a tide were all silent and came quietly to watch the fight under the arena. The officials in scarlet robes and the women of princes and nobles sitting in the stands gave them invisible pressure and they dared not make loud noises.
Xu Lian walked onto the stage and formed a "triangular position" with the young man in white and the young man in tight clothes.
The scarlet-robed official announced, "Begin!"
The young man in white and the young man in tight clothes rushed towards each other without saying a word and started fighting.
“Boom boom boom!”…
The two had a lot of secret fighting skills, which caused cracks and collisions, and bursts of light.
Xu Lian was left aside and completely ignored...
Obviously, both of them regarded each other as their biggest competitor. As for Xu Lian, who came up from the lower level, the two of them did not take him seriously at all.
Kind of interesting... Xu Lian quietly retreated to the corner, folded his arms and watched the fight with great interest. After all, this was the last game of the preliminary round, and after passing this game he would enter the knockout round, so there was no rush.
Besides, the two people were fighting so fiercely, wouldn't it be a bit impolite if he took action
The ladies and girls in the stands noticed Xu Lian's action and felt a little annoyed.
"Why doesn't this guy take action? Does he want to wait for the sons of Duke Jing and Duke Ying to fight and both lose, so that he can take advantage of the situation?"
"He's really cunning."...
The common people were happy and secretly praised Xu Lian, thinking that his strategy was very clever.