Chapter 5184 — I Yield!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Of course, the silence was only temporary. There were plenty itching to make a move; it was just that the rules had only just been announced, and they had not yet picked out suitable targets. Give it another two days, once they had made their preparations, and then those with the strength and confidence to challenge across levels would truly begin to emerge.
"In that case, let the drawing of lots begin." Xin Yi'an at once took charge of the drawing for each detachment himself. It was a fiddly business, but fortunately there were fewer than a hundred people in all, and he alone could manage it.
First came the strongest detachment, the one at the great consummation of the Foundation Establishment stage. Counting Wei Zhao and Xue Jianming, there were only eight in all, each of them a core disciple of some ancient sect and the senior disciple leading his group. Their matchups would practically represent a contest of the strongest disciples of the respective sects, a spectacle packed with appeal, and naturally drew every eye.
When the results of the draw came out, Xin Yi'an glanced at them with a smile, then shook his head with a sigh: "A pity this secular-world training did not mobilize the entire Ancient Alliance, only the Central Island Alliance and the North Island Alliance were summoned. Otherwise we really could have put together a ranking of the Ancient Alliance's strongest disciples."
Eight people drawn into lots made exactly four pairs. Although Wei Zhao had just fought a hard battle with Ling Tianyou, he received no special treatment whatsoever. He could, of course, choose to forfeit, but then he would have only four chances left and would have to win three out of four to earn the qualification for the trial.
One had to understand that being named for a cross-level challenge was pure bad luck. Lose and you were out; win and you gained nothing at all, having let your true qi be drained for nothing, only to then have to take part in the same-level matchups and let someone else reap an easy advantage.
There was no help for it; the rules were simply that cruel, seeking not fairness but the survival of the fittest. In the end the Trial Grand Tournament was preparation for the Ancient Trials, and in the Ancient Trials there was no such thing as fairness. Never mind a rotating gauntlet like this; nothing, no matter what happened, would be cause for surprise.
Xue Jianming was raring to go, eager to take this chance to give Wei Zhao a proper thrashing. Though he had absolute confidence in his early Golden Core strength, since Wei Zhao had just been worn down by a bout with Ling Tianyou, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it. It would save him some effort.
Unfortunately, the result of the draw did not go his way. Xue Jianming did not meet Wei Zhao after all, but rather another senior disciple leading a detachment from one of the ancient sects. He could not help cursing his bad luck, though fortunately there were still four chances to come.
Lots were drawn fresh each time, which in theory made it easy to draw the same opponent, and if one were unlucky enough, it might well be the same opponent all five times. This was one peculiarity of the rules of this Trial Grand Tournament: it tested not only raw strength, but also each person's adaptability and powers of recovery. Any weak link in the chain might become a fatal flaw.
Of course, if his luck was poor, this drawing system might well cause Xue Jianming and Wei Zhao to miss each other entirely throughout this Trial Grand Tournament, in which case Xue Jianming would have to save his thoughts of vengeance for the Ancient Trials.