"Zhou Xinqiu has arrived, 17th arrival"
"Hmm 17th to arrive, not too bad I guess, after all I did go hunting for treasures instead of rushing up here first." She sat down in one of the seats next to the battle stage before a young girl who looked to be about 1 or so years younger than herself walked up to her.
"Zhou Xinqiu Jie Jie! My honored self, Yu Ling would like to introduce myself!" The cute girl was wearing a blue skirt and had a smile which turned her eyes into crescents.
"Yu Ling? You must be the young mistress of the Ice Crystal Faction." Zhou Xinqiu had not really met the young mistress of the Ice Crystal Faction and so she assumed this girl must be it since her surname matched the leader of that faction, Yu Bing.
"Ah, nope that's my elder sister, Yu Qingsu. Truly the reason I was able to even reach this place was because of her haha." Yu Ling awkwardly laughed and stared at the ground.
"Yu Qingsu.. May I meet her?" Zhou Xinqiu stood up and smiled sweetly at Yu Ling.
"Yes! She actually told me to come see if you would like to come sit with us." Yu Ling laughed and galloped to where her sister was while waving to Zhou Xinqiu to come over.
"Young Mistress Yu, Did you need anything?" Zhou Xinqiu politely walked up to Yu Qingsu and gave a slight bow.
"Don't be a fool! I am only 2 years older than you please don't bow hahaha. You better not call me that again, actually on second thought, call me Qingsu." The two girls couldn't help but laugh, it seemed like they had already been friends for a long time.
"Very well, then you can call me Xinqiu!"
"Alright Xinqiu, come sit with us, we are getting bored without having some friends." Yu Qingsu offered Zhou Xinqiu a seat next to her and the three girls began to talk for the rest of the waiting period.
"6 Hours have ended, 30 people have arrived" the mysterious stone in the center of the stage announced.
"Disciples of the Zhou Sect, the tournament of the youth ceremony will soon begin. The second round of elimination will be in a solo battle format. This will eliminate half of the competitors and leave 15 remaining. Please come up and draw a stick, each stick will have a number. your opponent will have the same number as you. No killing is permitted during the battle or there will be serious consequences." Zhou Feng explained how the battles would work.
"I got 11, what about you guys." Zhou Xinqiu drew her number and headed back to her seat.
"I got 9" Yu Qingsu drew her number as well.
"13" Yu Ling nodded as she returned back to her seat too.
"We will begin immediately, would the people who drew the number 1 please come up onto the stage." A buff man and a skinny man both appeared on the stage in seconds as a tense atmosphere grew.
"Begin!"
The Skinny cultivator was like lightning, flashing around the stage creating after images, while the buff cultivator manifested wooden axes and threw them at the after images trying to find the correct one.
"Who do you think will win?" Yu Qingsu questioned Zhou Xinqiu.
"I think the skinny man is fast but the buff man is likewise very strong, it's almost like they cancel each other out."
BAM
One of the axes hit the real body and the skinny cultivator went flying. The Buff man turned around to face the crowd when the skinny man used an agility technique to appear behind the buff cultivator once again and used a whip made of lightning to slash down onto the buff man's back before putting a dagger on his throat.
"Lan du is the winner. Next, number 2"
2 more battles occurred and passed before the 4th number was called.
"Liu Yan, and Mo Lu. Young master of the Golden Pupil Faction vs Young master of the fire mountain faction."
Liu Yan walked up onto the stage while the burly Mo Lu also came up.
"Mo Lu, you don't stand a chance, just forfeit." Liu Yan snickered and stared into Mo Lu's eyes.
"Even if I lose, I wish to use this battle to temper myself" Mo Lu slammed his fists together and a small shockwave was released.
"Begin!"
Mo Lu's body suddenly turned into a half bull half human and glared at Liu Yan who still had a confident smile on his face.
"MOUNTAIN PUNCH" Mo Lu charged head first towards Liu Yan with his fist growing a huge horn on his knuckles.
"Pupil annihilation" Liu Yan's fat body hadn't even moved an inch but his eyes turned into a shade of bright gold as they stared into Mo Lu's mind. suddenly Mo Lu stopped and his eyes widened as he used his own fist to knock himself out.
"Liu Yan wins, next"
"what..." Zhou Xinqiu stared in awe.
"His pupil techniques are able to control people who don't have a strong soul and mind, therefore you must be careful if you go up against him." Yu Qingsu had done a lot of research about the stronger opponents in order to have a small advantage.
"5th battle, Hei Mingbai of the Black Jade faction versus Huo Mingling of the flame spirit faction"
"Begin!"
"Huo Mingling is a mysterious but powerful man who is the Young Master of the Flame spirit faction, a faction who has just had a meteoric rise to be about the same power as the Ice Crystal Faction. There isn't much known about this man except his exceptional talent in flame manipulation." Yu Qingsu once again explained her knowledge about the competitors.
"Huo Mingling is the winner, next"
In the 6th battle, Hei Fengjue dominated the battlefield by not wasting time and unleashing one of his most powerful attacks, the black jade bell, right from the start. The 7th and 8th battles progressed with a mysterious katana wielding character, and the young mistress of the Flower scent faction coming out on top.
"9th battle, Lan Lei, Young master of the Lightning devouring faction versus Yu Qingsu, Young mistress of the Ice Crystal Faction"
"Lan.. hmm the first winner.. was it.. Lan du! He must be apart of this faction as well. Anyway, Good luck sister Qingsu!" Zhou Xinqiu gave out her best luck to Yu Qingsu before Yu Qingsu stood up and walked towards the stage. Her entire demeanor changed from being the kind lady she was, to becoming an ice queen in seconds.
"Lan Lei, Last time I met you, you said that I would never catch up to you. Well, let us see if that will be true this time." Yu Qingsu glared at the young man who seemed a bit depressed.
"Qingsu.." Lan Lei felt his heart thumping loudly, who would've thought that he would have to go up against the girl he was once in love with!