Since having every single team face off against each other in the group stage would take too much team, the Nebula Kingdom made a slight modification to the rules, which should decide the results of the group stage within the day.
Each cultivation force will send out one disciple to participate in the battle against another disciple from another cultivation force. Each disciple will only be permitted to participate in one battle during the group stage, all teams besides the seeded team will have to participate in the group stage.
In the group stage, four teams and the cultivation force behind them will be eliminated without a specific placement in the top sixty-four cultivation forces of the year.
To hasten the process, all eight groups would proceed with the group stage battles at the same time, with enough judges to look over the battles that were going to take place simultaneously at the same time.
Since there were seven groups, with seven disciples in each team, there would be forty-nine battles that were going to take place in a group at the same time. To ensure the fairness of the battles, the various cultivation leaders would be able to choose the disciple that would be going up against the opposing cultivation force.
"Elite Paladin Malene, I understand that Grace has strength superior to most of the elite disciples from the opposing cultivation forces, but the same doesn't apply to all the disciples of the Paladin Haven, do you perhaps have a plan in mind?"
Ace left his throne empty as he stood up and approached Malene to ask her this question, the battle for the thrones was over and if someone tried to steal his throne, he was sure that Brandon would make a move before he could even react to the situation, which was why he decided to enjoy the freedom while it lasted.
After all, he only had one opponent to face off against this time, the Moonlight Cult. The Moonlight Cult might hold a low reputation among the various cultivation forces, but for the system to deem the Moonlight Cult as a worthy opponent, it only went to show that the Moonlight Cult wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface.
The Absolute Sword Sect wasn't a foe to be underestimated as well, especially when his disciples would have to be up against Sora, who wasn't an ordinary Martial Lord despite his young age of twenty years old.
For such a genius, one month of cultivation in the other dimension was more than enough as opposed to many other cultivators, who could barely make any improvements worth notice in the span of a month. Sora was one who defied expectations of geniuses and if he continues to grow, Ace was sure that he would be contesting for a place in the Divine Realm in the near future.
Sora was a worthy rival for his disciples and even though Ace had high expectations of them, Lancelot and Alexander were the only ones that could probably match up against him. They were the elites among elites, the divine dragons among the dragons.
As for Ace himself, he has no clue who his opponent is, but his instincts were yelling to him to grow stronger, life is only going to get tougher for him and until the day, when he defeats all those that used to mock him, it would be a taboo for him to rest.
"I know what you're thinking, but don't worry about the young paladins, if we wanted to, it wouldn't have been difficult for us to secure a throne, as for the true strength of our disciples, their cultivation alone might be above yours," Malene replied confidently with a radiant smile, her face, her arms folded beneath her chest as she gathered the disciples.
"All of you are permitted to remove the limiter used to seal your cultivation progress over the past three years, not only that, feel free to make full use of your cultivation laws and unique martial skills. It's time the Paladin Haven show the cultivation world what we are made of!"
"Elite Paladins Malene, are you sure of this decision? Has the Legacy Paladin approved of this, or is this just a rash decision you made?" Grace questioned with doubt in her eyes as her hands stopped on the limiter that was around her wrist.
The others took this into view and stopped their actions, the slight hesitance affected each other as they looked towards Malene for an answer.
Malene puffed her cheeks, stared at Ace who caused this unnecessary explanation as she took out a scroll, that was sealed by an emblem in the middle.
The emblem was a paladin that was riding on a mighty pegasus through the thick fog and clouds that obstructed their view. Without a doubt, this was the emblem unique to the Legacy Paladin which reflected an experience of her ventures in the cultivation world.
Malene opened the scroll and revealed the contents to everyone, written on it were the orders of the Legacy Paladin that ought to be strictly followed.
[All Paladins are permitted to remove the limiter to achieve better results in the Annual Cultivation Forces Tournament, this should only be done if advised so by the sect master of the Nirvana Sect]
The message was short but detailed, which was exactly the style of the Legacy Paladin. Grace was the first to nod her head in approval of this order, her index finger on the limiter as she keyed in the secret code to remove the limiter.
Her cultivation base soared with each passing second, from the Martial Lord first realm to the Martial Lord sixth realm in a matter of seconds, before gradually slowing down and stopping in the Martial Lord seventh realm.
This was Grace's true cultivation base and if this was the case, Malene and Fawkes must have concealed their true cultivation base during their first meeting.
After some time passed, all the Elite Paladins grasped full control of the power they were supposed to possess since the beginning. It was an immense amount of strength they never expected themselves to hold, yet they felt that this wasn't the limit of their capabilities.
Malene and Fawkes revealed the limiter on their wrist as well, but unlike the Elite Paladins that have only been containing their three years of cultivation in the limiter, the two of them have been doing it since a young age.
It was more than ten years of their cultivation and now that the strength was returning to them, their cultivation soared immensely as all the cultivation forces around the Paladin Haven and those far away, turned towards them abruptly.
Malene and Fawkes broke through the limits of the Martial Lord Realm in just the first second, yet that was nothing but a teaser. Their cultivation which has been suppressed for years was more than anyone could expect, because no one besides the Legacy Paladin knew their cultivation talent that surpassed that of this cultivation world itself.
By the time their cultivation base stopped increasing, they were already experts of the Martial King ninth realm and were capable of defending their disciples, not only that, all that needed was time to get accustomed to this immense amount of spirit energy before they made a breakthrough into the Martial King Realm.
Ignoring the intense gaze from those cultivation leaders, Malene explained to the Elite Paladins the reason they feel this immense growth ahead of them. "I know that many of you can sense that your body has undergone a transformation, in which your cultivation talent and combat strength has significantly increased."
The Elite Paladins nodded their head in response, their eyes demanding an answer as Malene continued to explain. "The limiter itself is a secret equipment crafted by a Blacksmith that has some ties to our Legacy Paladin, the limiter itself only holds one purpose and that is to suppress one's cultivation base while improving one's body constitution."
Before anyone else could ask any further questions, the announcer was already prepared to commence the group stage as he stepped onto the platform. "The group stage of the annual cultivation forces will now begin, please send the chosen seven disciples from your respective cultivation force to face off against the seven other participants of the other cultivation forces."