Chapter 1 The Vast Land

The vast land was divided into tens of thousands of squares, each twenty meters by twenty meters in size.

Xu Jingming and the other ten thousand experts stood in the center of their respective squares.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming could see that his square was enveloped in a semi-transparent barrier, preventing the contestants from interfering with each other.

"The preliminaries are divided into two rounds." A booming voice echoed across the vast land. "In the first round, you will face arrows! The arrows will appear from within the barrier and shoot towards your heads! The speed of the arrows will increase, and those shot will be eliminated! The first round begins!"

Xu Jingming immediately saw a semi-transparent arrow materialize on the semi-transparent barrier of his square. It then shot towards his head with a whoosh.

"How slow." Xu Jingming watched.

This arrow was ten meters away from him! Its speed was estimated to be only a hundred meters per second—too slow.

"Arrows this slow wouldn't even pierce my facial muscles if they hit my face." Xu Jingming was well aware of the power of a perfected Planetary lifeform's body, but he wouldn't be foolish enough to use his face to block the arrow. He took a step, his speed even faster than the arrow's! The arrow slowly flew past his side.

With Xu Jingming's reaction speed, watching an arrow traveling at a hundred meters per second was like an unevolved ordinary person watching an ant crawl—it was simply too slow.

An arrow traveling at a hundred meters per second, even at a distance of ten meters, posed no threat to Xu Jingming, let alone the tens of thousands of contestants present.

Li Miaomiao also dodged it with a flash.

"Whoosh."

The second semi-transparent arrow materialized faster, and its speed also increased.

Time passed, second by second.

"These arrows are materializing faster and faster, and they're erratic. Many are coming from behind," Old Master Xu said. He had already taken off his light armor because the arrows were aimed at the head. Wearing armor was of little use and would only affect his speed and agility.

Each time, there was only one arrow!

But it could appear from the front, above, behind, or any direction, even shooting as soon as it appeared! The speed was also increasing.

"I'm done for." Old Master Xu felt a disturbance from his side rear. He tried his best to dodge, but an arrow still shot in from the lower jaw of his side rear, and Old Master Xu's body turned illusory.

Ordinary Tier 3 contestants were being eliminated one after another.

Li Miaomiao practiced swordsmanship and emphasized footwork. With Xu Jingming's guidance, she lasted longer. But as many high-end Tier 3 contestants were eliminated, she, too, was taken away by an arrow.

...

"A large number of contestants have been eliminated." The female host watched as figures in the live broadcast scene turned illusory one by one.

"Even standing in the center, the arrows are only ten meters away! Ten meters is too close, and the arrows are getting faster and faster. Many are coming from the sides or even behind. You can't rely on eyesight! You can only sense the air vibrations, which requires a very high level of perception," male guest Owen exclaimed. "There are fewer and fewer contestants on the field. I estimate that those still standing are at least at the Tier 4 level."

1201… 1156… 1083… 988…

The numbers displaying the number of contestants kept jumping and decreasing.

"These arrows are too hard to dodge." Xu Hong felt a pain in his ear, and his body began to turn illusory.

...

"I'm good at footwork, but I can't hold on much longer." Dai Xiaoqing relied entirely on sensing the air vibrations to block the increasingly terrifying hidden arrows. Finally, an arrow took her away as well.

...

"Too difficult." Yang Qingshuo also felt increasingly strained, feeling that he might make a mistake at any moment. Suddenly, the arrow attacks stopped.

Yang Qingshuo was a little dazed.

"Congratulations to the five hundred contestants who have passed the first round of the preliminaries." A booming voice echoed across the vast land. "Of course, this first round was just a warm-up. The second round of the preliminaries is the most brutal, and we must select the strongest 32."

"In the second round, assassins will appear around you, either individually or in groups! The assassins will do everything they can to besiege you. What you need to do is... survive as long as possible."

"The second round will end when there are only 32 people left on the field."

"A reminder: don't think about defending. Try to kill as many enemies as possible! Otherwise, the number of assassins will increase, and the threat will become greater and greater."

"The second round begins!"

As soon as the voice fell,

Xu Jingming saw a semi-transparent assassin materialize at the barrier ten meters away. The semi-transparent assassin held a saber and pounced at Xu Jingming the moment he appeared.

Xu Jingming held a shield in each hand. He didn't plan to use spearmanship! These challenges posed too little threat to spearmanship.

"I'll practice my shield techniques more. Moreover, shield techniques are more suitable for dealing with unexpected situations." Xu Jingming watched the assassin come over and didn't dodge. He directly smashed a shield over.

Bang!

The shield struck like thunder. While hitting the assassin's saber, its speed didn't decrease as it slammed into the assassin's body, causing the semi-transparent assassin to dissipate.

The shield techniques that Xu Jingming learned were from the Tier 10 expert 'Ambrose' whose body he possessed! Ambrose's shield techniques were heavy and impenetrable when defending, but when attacking, they were extremely tyrannical, as if carrying the power of the entire spacetime to smash the enemy. This extremely powerful shield technique was very much in line with Xu Jingming's temperament.

His shield techniques were also known for being powerful. According to the virtual world's assessment, Xu Jingming and Ambrose had a compatibility of up to 99.9321%.

"The combat range is twenty meters by twenty meters, which is very small for experts. Facing an assassin siege is even more dangerous," Xu Jingming thought. Of course, for him, it wasn't dangerous at all.

The two shields slammed fiercely at the enemies in all directions.

He killed one as soon as one appeared! All of them turned illusory! When three or five appeared, it was like a tiger slapping three or five to death in a row.

"According to the information we've obtained, these assassins are all at the Tier 4 level! Moreover, their strength will continue to increase over time," the female host said. "Now there are only three hundred experts left on the field. They are all famous top experts from various countries. The rate of elimination is very fast now."

"The assassins are coming too fast." Wang Yi, although reaching the Tier 4 limit, also had a fast archery technique, shooting assassins one after another.

But these assassins were also equipped with shields and heavy armor, with only their heads as weaknesses.

The range was too small! A slight mistake and she was forced into close combat.

"Pfft." A flash of saber light streaked across Wang Yi's body.

Wang Yi was eliminated.

...

"Not good." Yang Qingshuo, in the midst of the fierce battle, was also becoming increasingly strained. He struggled to resist the siege of five assassins, but three new assassins appeared, eight assassins... some were good at hidden weapons, some were good at heavy weapons, and some were good at assassination. Besieged, Yang Qingshuo was instantly overwhelmed.

...

There were only 103 people left on the field, and the number was still decreasing. Xiong Tianshan, Gao Chong, and other top experts from Xia Country fell one after another.

"Must hold on, hold on."

Li Wenxiu held the Bagua twin axes, his footwork ghostly, trying his best to kill the enemies.

Only by killing more could the number of enemies be reduced.

But the strength of the assassins who appeared was getting stronger and stronger! At least at the mid-Tier 4 level, and their numbers were large, making their cooperation too threatening.

"Bang, bang." Two assassins holding shields collided with Li Wenxiu, affecting Li Wenxiu's footwork. At the same time, two assassins released hidden weapons, causing Li Wenxiu to dodge in alarm. Three more assassins attacked in close combat!

Li Wenxiu's Bagua twin axes slashed across the necks of two assassins, but his chest ached! A spear had pierced his chest.

"No—"

Li Wenxiu was unwilling, but his body still turned illusory.

The moment he was eliminated, the number changed from 93 to 92. The weakest of those still persisting were at the Tier 4 limit!

"Li Wenxiu!"

"No—"

"How is this possible?"

Countless people in Silla covered their heads, unable to believe what they were seeing.

Their Silla's number one expert, who had persisted the longest in the preliminaries, had finally fallen. He was still quite far from the top 32 spots.

With many top experts around the world staying at the Tier 4 limit, the competition was now about combat ability! Even at the same 'Tier 4 limit,' different people displayed different strengths.

"There are only a hundred people left now. Our Sakura Country only has Miyagawa Akari and Kiyosato Fujii left?"

"This competition for the thirty-two spots is too brutal."

People from various countries were very nervous.