Due to Liang Cheng, Jian Shen knew about what to do. Therefore when the referee called his name, he stepped up on the arena and put his hand inside the spatial pouch.
Once his hand was inside, Jian Shen didn't waste a single second and pulled out the first tile his fingers touched.
Taking the tile from Jian Shen's hand, the referee noted it down in his pad and sent him away, after which he called for the next contestant.
After all of the contestants had taken a tile, the referee left the arena for a few minutes and came back to announce that the matches would start.
"First match! Jian Shen and Guo Yang."
By coincidence or for some other reason, Jian Shen's very first match in the Great Assessment turned out to be the first match taking place for the top 100.
Surprised that his name got called so soon, Jian Shen deep down felt a little happy so that he wouldn't have to wait and watch others fight.
Making his way up the sturdy stone steps, Jian Shen saw that his opponent for the round doing the same.
Gou Yang was a tall man with huge muscles all over his body and looked to be in his mid 20s, with a huge ugly scar on his face.
Looking at the person, the huge Saber tied to his back, and the overconfident air he has around him, Jian Shen guessed that he was most likely one of those mercenaries who went into the wild and hunted Spirit Beasts for a living.
Once Jian Shen and Guo Yang were on the stage and on either side of him, the referee looked at both of them.
"I'm sure you already know the rules by now. But since this is the first match of the day, I'll be repeating them."
"The match ends when either of the contestants is unable to continue fighting, or gives up."
"You can surrender at any time, be it before the match or during the match."
"Once surrendered, neither side is allowed to attack. If done so, your position in the top 100 will be removed, and you won't be allowed to join any of the sects."
After saying that the referee paused for a second to look at the both of them and make sure they were ready.
Next, he waved his hand, as if slicing through the air between them, and shouted loud enough for everyone there to hear.
"You can now begin!"
Once he said so the referee took a few steps back, so as to not get in between of them. But not too far that he wouldn't be able to stop either of them, if he needed to.
While Jian Shen took his chance to observe Guo Yang whose cultivation which was at Half Step Qi Liquification Realm, the other party did the same.
In fact, he did that more openly and louder than Jian Shen.
"You're Jian Shen? The one everyone is talking about? Hehehe, once I defeat you, I'll become the most popular one here, and directly get scouted as a core disciple!"
Just from these words, Jian Shen could sense that he Guo Yang was an idiot who didn't think much.
If anything, his next actions only further proved Jian Shen's thoughts. Because without saying anything else, Guo Yang immediately pulled the withered black saber off his back, and rushed towards Jian Shen.
"Who do you think will win?"
"Hmmm... I haven't heard or seen this boy Jian Shen in any of the fights until now. But, Guo Yang since the beginning defeated every single one of his opponents in less than twenty moves."
"Guo Yang is going wipe the floor with the pretty boy is less than five moves. Wanna bet?"
Unlike the crowds expectations, the contestants, however, felt the chances of Guo Yang winning were zero. After all, he was being scouted by two great sects before the tournament even started.
Furthermore, as someone who was directly taking part in the top 100, his cultivation was obviously higher than Guo Yangs.
As Guo Yang was closing in on him with the huge Saber to the side, Jian Shen felt that despite running, his opponent was moving very slow.
This was most likely due to training not just his eyes, but his other senses as well with Xinyi.
Thinking for a split second, Jian Shen decided that this match wasn't worth him using his Heavenly Dragon Sword. Or any weapon for that question.
Having seen how Xinyi fought with her bare palms, Jian Shen decided to imitate her movements and use brute force to win.
Taking a step back as the saber was horizontally being slashed, Jian Shen hit the underside of the weapon with his palm.
As the saber moved high up due to Jian Shen's strength, just like he expected Guo Yang lost his balance and was forced to try and regain his footing.
But before he could do that Jian Shen's palm hit him right in the middle of his chest.
With a loud crackling sound of his bones breaking Guo Yang's body flew out of the stage and almost into the stands when the referee finally made a move and stopped the fainted man.
Realizing that he probably hit a little too hard from having overestimated Guo Yang, Jian Shen felt that he should probably apologize or something.
However, he chose to act cool and turned around and left like nothing mattered to him.