Naturally, all the rules were forever advantageous to the strong and disadvantageous to the weak. The ceremony's martial arts segment was no exception. Difference in strength meant difference in levels, and difference in levels meant difference in treatment.
This knockout competition's first priority was to protect the interests of the fourth rank sect geniuses. Any disciple who didn't belong to a fourth rank sect would not be qualified to become a seeded candidate, no matter how talented they were. Moreover, there were differences even amongst fourth rank sect disciples. All geniuses above the sage realm were categorized as first seeds. Ninth level origin realm cultivators were categorized as second seeds, and anyone beneath ninth level origin realm were all categorized as third seeds.
This was to protect the first seeds from running into each other before reaching the final twenty participants.
