Chapter 1161: The Preliminary Round
The All-Islands Great War was divided into the preliminary round and the finals, and this time was no different.
However, the preliminary round consisted of various tasks that differed every term, from sending the disciples to annihilate bandits to infiltrating to sea tribes' cities and kill their soldiers, or hunting demonic beasts on islands uninhabited by humans. There was also a task that required disciples to clear devils and evil spirits in devil caves.
Although the preliminary round tasks varied, more often than not at least ninety percent of the All-Islands Great War participants were usually eliminated. The remaining ten percent or so were the ones that would proceed to the final round.
Among tens of thousands of participants, only five thousand would make the cut every term. Five thousand, this was the number set in stone. Only five thousand disciples would advance to the final round!
As the participating disciples waited, Elder Gong Fei did not reveal any details of the preliminary round, only saying that he and a group of Fortune Gate disciples would send Huang Xiaolong and other participating disciples to the relevant location.
On the other hand, the final round of every All-Islands Great War was the same, stage battle.
The five thousand disciples that advanced to the final round would determine the top one thousand, top one hundred, top ten, top three, and the first place rankings through stage battle.
Lastly, Gong Fei announced the rewards, “This term’s rewards are the same as all previous terms except for first place rewards. This time, other than the usual rewards for the first place, there are also ten Blue Flaming Heart chaos spiritual fruits!”
Ten Blue Flaming Heart Fruits!
The crowd broke into a furor of excitement.
Although many participants heard of this Blur Flaming Heart Fruit for the first time, just the mention of chaos spiritual fruits was enough to cause these disciples’ eagerness to soar.
Even for big island forces like the Dragon Origin Sect and Twin Cities Sect, chaos spiritual fruits were extremely precious.
Just like everyone else, Huang Xiaolong was feeling excited. One of the five chaos spiritual fruits he had been searching for to refine the Reverse Incarnation Pill was exactly this Blue Flaming Heart Fruit!
So far, Huang Xiaolong already found the Nine Petals Spiritual Lightning Lotus at the Golden Dragon Gate, hence there were four more chaos spiritual fruits left to gather. Lu Zhuo, Zhu Huan, Ren Changhai, and the others had been searching for clues of their whereabouts, who would have thought he'd find the Blue Flaming Heart Fruit in the Fortune Gate!
It was even used as a reward for the All-Islands Great War!
Unconsciously, Huang Xiaolong’s hands clenched into fists, a determined light flickering in his eyes. He must get those Blue Flaming Heart Fruits!
“Alright, now, please be ready, I’m taking you all to the preliminary round location.” Gong Fei’s voice sounded in all the participants' ears, causing the furor caused by the Blue Flaming Heart Fruit to die down.
In the next moment, resplendent five-colored lights flew out from Gong Fei’s palm, enveloping the entire square in the blink of an eye. Then, the transmission array concealed below the square rose to the surface.
The transmission array emitted five brilliant colors, the energy vibrating from it akin to great waves in the sea, rushing to every corner of the square.
“Start the transmission!” Gong Fei’s sonorous voice rang in the square.
Simultaneously, the thousand Fortune Gate disciples behind him formed seals with their hands, circulating their godforce to help Gong Fei activate the transmission array.
The array on the square hummed louder and louder. In the next second, a bright light exploded in front of everyone’s eyes, and they felt heaven and earth being flipped over as they disappeared from the Fortune City square.
A second later, Huang Xiaolong and other participants appeared in the boundless outer space.
Huang Xiaolong looked down. Below them was still an enormous square, however, it was no longer the same square like the one in Fortune City. It was floating in space, and outside the square was land that was neither big nor small, resembling a nebula.
Before Huang Xiaolong or any of the disciples understood anything, the transmission array under their feet activated again.
There were six continuous transmissions before they finally stopped.
When Huang Xiaolong saw the giant black shadow of roiling devil qi ahead of him, he and everyone else was dumbfounded.
The black shadow was no stranger to Huang Xiaolong, in fact, he was extremely familiar with it.
The Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield!
The All-Islands Great War preliminary round this time was set at the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield!
The other participants were just as surprised as Huang Xiaolong was.
“It is exactly as what you all are thinking now, the preliminary round for this term’s All-Islands Great War is held here, in the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield!” Gong Fei’s voice sounded as if he saw through these disciples’ thoughts.
Gong Fei appeared before the group of participants accompanied by one thousand Fortune Gate disciples. Hearing Gong Fei’s confirmation, many faces became ashen.
They were really conducting the All-islands preliminary round at the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield!
Even on the mainlands and planets on the farthest edge of the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield, the weakest magic beasts, ghouls, and evil spirits were at least at Tenth Order Heavenly God Realm; in short, disciples below Tenth Order Heavenly God Realm cultivation had a ninety percent chance of losing their lives here!
Even Tenth Order Heavenly God Realm participants’ chances of surviving didn't look too good. The Ancient God Realm participants were only a little better, but it didn't reduce the layers of various dangers here.
Gong Fei continued indifferently, “Similar to previous terms of All-Islands Great War, the points are counted based on the number and strength of magic beasts, ghouls, and evil spirits you kill. Each creature below the Ancient God Realm is one point, First Order Ancient God Realm is worth one hundred points, and Second Order Ancient God Realm is one thousand points!”
Disciples below the Ancient God Realm paled further, one kill below the Ancient God Realm was only worth one point!
Even though magic beasts below Ancient God Realm were easier to kill compared to Ancient God Realm and above, the disparity between the two was simply overwhelming, clearly favoring the Ancient God Realm disciples.
“Considering the dangers present in the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield, the preliminary round duration is reduced to three months.” Gong Fei added.
In the past, preliminary rounds went on for half a year. The participants were slightly relieved hearing the duration was reduced by half. The longer they stayed at the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield, the higher the probability of them dying grew.
“Elder Gong, I want to ask, during the competition, it is considered as violating the rules if we kill other participants?” A disciple asked.
Everyone turned to look and saw that it was the Dragon Origin Sect’s Zhou Xu who asked the question.
Seeing who it was, Gong Fei’s face loosened, explaining, “During the competition, you can kill other participants, but you won’t obtain their points.”
“Could we employ external help? For example, beast mount? Or corpse slaves?” Tan Lin of the Twin Cities Sect asked.
Gong Fei solemnly answered, “You can. However, the kills made by these external forces aren't counted, only your own kills are worth points.”
Eyes were shining when Gong Fei answered that external help was allowed, but the words at the end shattered these participants' schemes.
Some time later, when the participants had no further questions, Gong Fei waved his hand, making an opening leading to the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield from the square. The preliminary round had begun.
Through the opening, Zhou Xu, Tan Lin, and others entered the Extraterritorial Devil Battlefield, disappearing into the roiling black devil qi.
So did Huang Xiaolong.