"Look quickly, isn't that Men Luo, second on the Human Ranking?"
"That's Xing Yun, third on the Human Ranking!"
"And that one, Jiang Yue, first on the Human Ranking."
"These Golden Core Human Ranking experts have all come!"
"This contest will likely end up in Jiang Yue's hands!"
"That's not certain."
"Oh?"
"I heard quite a few Nascent Soul realm cultivators are participating!"
"Really? If Nascent Soul realm cultivators are participating, then the Golden Core realm is out of luck?"
"Yes!"
The strongest of the Golden Core realm, Jiang Yue, could only contend with ordinary early Nascent Soul realm cultivators. He had killed early Nascent Soul realm cultivators because they were not in optimal condition.
Under everyone's watchful gaze.
Participants in the martial arts competition for marriage and spectators entered the vast arena. To prevent overcrowding, the Luo family also charged admission. Spectators, excluding those with participant tokens, had to pay one low-grade spirit stone.
This admission fee primarily deterred cultivators from the mortal world. While there were less than a hundred thousand cultivators from the Spirit Realm attending as participants or spectators, a low-grade spirit stone was a trivial amount for them.
Although the Spirit Realm had a higher proportion of cultivators than the mortal world, the mortal world's sheer population was immense.
Without restrictions, the entire arena would likely be unable to accommodate everyone.
Elder Luo himself delivered a speech, stating that the martial arts competition for marriage would last for three days, officially concluding at six o'clock in the afternoon on the third day.
The competition rules had been explained the previous day.
A total of over forty-eight thousand people had registered as participants. Not everyone was solely aiming to win the bride's hand; many, acknowledging their limitations, participated for self-improvement.
Of course, Luo Xiangning also made an appearance.
Initially, Luo Xiangning preferred not to show herself, but it was unavoidable. Since she had agreed to host this martial arts competition for marriage, her absence would have been inappropriate.
Her appearance caused a tremendous stir.
Luo Xiangning had been acclaimed as the most beautiful woman in the martial world twenty years prior. Her beauty was, to put it mildly, breathtaking. Although it was the first time many saw her, her score had been a remarkable ninety-nine points, factoring in her age. After dual cultivation, her cultivation base had surged, and she had broken through to the Innate realm. Any slight impact of age had long since vanished. Calling her a perfect goddess would be no exaggeration.
Immediately, many onlookers' eyes turned red.
"So beautiful, even in the Spirit Realm, she would be a beauty at the pinnacle of the pyramid!"
"Indeed!"
"This isn't surprising. After all, childbirth in the Spirit Realm is not as prolific as in the mortal world. The mortal world has a faster generational turnover, and with such a vast population, the outstanding individuals appear even more stunning. Of course, our Spirit Realm also has many beautiful women!"
"I initially thought there might have been some exaggeration, but now, I truly have to say, 'Most beautiful woman in the martial world' is not an overstatement."
"Although Luo Xiangning was the most beautiful woman in the martial world twenty years ago, she was only a girl of fifteen or sixteen then. Now, she's not even forty."
"Exactly."
Amidst the murmurs of astonishment, Elder Luo introduced the venerable Tian Ji Zi, who would preside over the grand competition. He urged everyone to engage in fair and spirited duels.
Word had spread that Tian Ji Zi would be in charge. When he actually appeared, the assembled cultivators couldn't help but feel a sense of awe.
First-rate and super first-rate powers had not sent representatives to the mortal world. The reason was simple: they could find ideal sons-in-law or daughters-in-law anywhere in the Spirit Realm.
Furthermore, many first-rate and super first-rate powers controlled demon passages.
Of course, super first-rate powers controlled a greater number of demon passages.
"Distinguished guests, some of you are cultivators from the Spirit Realm, and some are from the mortal world. As Mr. Luo mentioned, let's avoid deadly combat. Be merciful when you can!"
"Alright, I won't say any more. Let the martial arts competition for marriage begin! Ten arenas will operate simultaneously!"
Immediately, many cultivators began to pair off for challenges and flew onto the stages. The cultivators ascending the stages were almost all at the Foundation Establishment and Innate realms.
The reason was simple.
These cultivators understood that they had no chance in the final showdown. However, they weren't entirely without hope. Many participants were from the Innate and Foundation Establishment realms, and they had the highest number of defeated opponents.
Initially, Golden Core and even Nascent Soul realm cultivators would certainly not make a move.
Under these circumstances, if they could secure enough participant tokens, they might still have a chance. Of course, this chance was rather slim, as refusing a challenge required forfeiting half of their participant tokens to the challenger.
This would then leave them with insufficient participant tokens!
However, did this mean there was no opportunity? Naturally not. If, at the very end, the two strongest combatants ended up in a mutually destructive battle, then they would still have a chance to challenge.
Of course, even a heavily injured Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivator was not something an Innate or Foundation Establishment realm cultivator could handle. But at least there was a sliver of a chance, wasn't there?
This naturally required a prerequisite: possessing enough participant tokens. Otherwise, if the gap was too large, they wouldn't even qualify for a challenge at the end!
With over forty-eight thousand participants, there were also over forty-eight thousand participant tokens.
To win the bride's hand, one needed to collect over twenty-four thousand tokens by six o'clock in the afternoon three days later.
Bang, bang, bang!
The fierce battles were about to begin.
Yang Feilong did not rush into action.
This was because everyone had the opportunity to challenge other participants.
If he displayed too much strength, many people would challenge him. If he refused to fight, he would have to give one of his participant tokens to the opponent. Currently, everyone had only one token, meaning they couldn't refuse challenges. Refusing would require giving half a token plus one to the opponent, leaving them with nothing!
Many of the participants who challenged each other were evenly matched, or had existing grudges.
Although the combat level was relatively low, only at the Foundation Establishment or Innate realm, the fights were intense.
As the battles progressed, winners and losers emerged. Surrender, falling off the stage, or being rendered unable to fight all constituted a loss. Surrender and falling off the stage were easily judged. However, being rendered unable to fight required Tian Ji Zi's judgment. His strength was sufficient, and his fairness ensured no one voiced objections.
The pace of the duels was initially slow due to the evenly matched combatants. However, with ten arenas operating simultaneously, it wasn't excessively slow. One full day passed quickly. As night fell, the battles continued.
The Luo family had prepared numerous lighting lamps, illuminating the entire arena as bright as day. The darkness did not affect the combat effectiveness of the cultivators.
This area was equivalent to daytime, minimizing the impact of the night.
As time progressed into the second day, a ray of white light appeared in the east.
The number of eliminated cultivators had reached over forty thousand, leaving over eight thousand participants. The forty thousand-plus eliminated cultivators were almost all at the Innate and Foundation Establishment levels.
This was because the duels on the first day primarily involved cultivators at the Innate and Foundation Establishment levels.
There were also some Golden Core realm duels, but not many. Moreover, some Golden Core realm cultivators, in order to gain participant tokens, directly challenged Innate or Foundation Establishment realm cultivators. These cultivators naturally dared not accept the challenge and could only hand over half their participant tokens.
At this point, those with a large number of tokens had already accumulated over ten, while those with fewer still had only one.
Yang Feilong, for instance, had not yet participated in a single match.
However, it was time for him to make his move.
If he didn't act soon, if all the remaining participants ended up with over ten tokens, wouldn't he be at a disadvantage?
The reason why many Golden Core realm cultivators challenged Innate or Foundation Establishment realm cultivators was precisely this. He realized this.
Therefore, Yang Feilong challenged an Innate realm cultivator who possessed nine participant tokens. Upon learning Yang Feilong's identity, the individual directly surrendered, unhappily handing over five participant tokens.
He originally had nine participant tokens. Since he possessed nine tokens, he had to give half plus one!
With this, Yang Feilong's participant tokens increased to six. He then challenged another individual who possessed eight participant tokens. That person was reluctant to needlessly give up four participant tokens. Moreover, they understood that continued refusal was futile. Therefore, they chose to battle Yang Feilong. They had not witnessed Yang Feilong killing Golden Core realm cultivators firsthand and didn't believe he was truly that strong, as Yang Feilong appeared very young. However, in the battle with Yang Feilong, they couldn't even withstand a single move.
They were a cultivator at the tenth level of the Innate realm, at the peak of perfection.
This battle silenced those who had doubted that Yang Feilong, rather than someone behind him, was the one who had killed the Golden Core realm cultivators.
Yang Feilong's participant tokens now reached fourteen, placing him in the second stage of cultivators.
To challenge him, one now needed to possess over ten participant tokens.
Those with more participant tokens could freely challenge those with fewer.