Outside, the viewing stands erupted in chaos once again.
"He won again! And it was another one-hit victory!"
"Yan Han from the Seven Star Province, a ninth-layer Eternal Dao Lord, is said to be a renowned Prodigy of the Sword Dao. His Wind and Thunder Dao Laws have always been invincible... Yet, he couldn't even withstand a single move against Han Xuanji."
Cultivators from outside Qianhun City also couldn't believe it:
"Is there anyone this strong among the Earth-grade Seeds? Is he really Earth-Grade? This isn't a Heaven-grade Seed, is it?"
Many people felt that the Great Dao Association's rating must have been wrong.
In fact, this was not uncommon; such dark horses often appeared at the Law Conference. It couldn't be said that the judging was poor; it was just that these people hid their true strength too well.
In many past top-tier Law Conferences, there had been cases where someone previously unheard of ended up winning the championship.
Seeing this, Ling Xuan, although feeling in his heart that Han Xuanji was very strong, was still somewhat unconvinced verbally:
"He's so impressive, but once he meets my brother... no, once he meets a Heaven-grade Seed, he'll be humbled."
Qin Yong glanced at Ling Xuan. This Han Xuanji clearly wasn't someone to be trifled with. Running into him early wasn't a good thing. In his view, even if Ling Cang could win, he would surely suffer significant injuries, making the subsequent battles much more arduous.
...
On the high platform.
Elder Meng also noticed Han Xuanji's performance and praised softly:
"Even a small place like Qianhun City is full of hidden talents."
The voice was not loud, but the representatives of the major forces on the high platform heard it clearly.
They thought to themselves that this dark horse tactic was indeed the easiest way to attract attention.
If a Heaven-grade Seed had performed like this, it wouldn't have garnered so much attention. This kind of underdog story where a low-ranked seed makes a comeback always generated buzz.
Hun Qianxue didn't show any dissatisfaction upon hearing "a small place like Qianhun City."
Watching Han Xuanji easily advance to the third round, he felt relieved, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.
Immediately, he turned his head, looked at Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan beside him, curled the corners of his mouth slightly, and intentionally remained silent.
He just smiled like that.
Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan felt a bit unnerved by his gaze. He knew what Hun Qianxue was thinking.
It made Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan somewhat irritable, but he couldn't easily speak up.
A day passed quickly.
More than half of the hundred-plus names on the light screen had gone dark by now.
The Prodigy representatives of many forces had been completely wiped out.
And Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan was even more irritable.
The three Earth-grade Seeds from Cangyue City had now been completely wiped out.
Lu Zhiyi lost to Han Xuanji and was eliminated. The second person had terrible luck and ran into a Heaven-grade Seed in the second round.
That was Ling Cang of the Ling Family from Jiuxuan City; a single Sword Qi was enough to defeat him.
The third person lost to an Earth-grade Seed from another major province. That person was unknown, but possessed immense strength. His mastery of lightning techniques was superb, and he ultimately won by a narrow margin.
"How unlucky."
Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan cursed inwardly, feeling that something was strange.
Everything was fine, so how did Cangyue City end up with only one seed left?
Fortunately, that lone seed was a Heaven-grade Seed, Zhou Yunhe.
As long as he was still in, the top eight was within reach, and he could explain things upon returning.
Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan took a deep breath, suppressed the irritability in his heart, and cast his gaze onto the light screen, searching for Zhou Yunhe's figure.
In the image, a young man dressed in moon-white robes stood with his hands behind his back, pristine and unblemished. Clearly, he had also resolved the battle quickly; he was not only uninjured, but not even a corner of his clothes was dirty.
Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan watched him, feeling slightly relieved. As long as Yunhe was there, Cangyue City still had hope.
On the spectator stands, representatives of other forces were also closely observing the performance of the Heaven-grade Seeds.
After looking around, no one had stumbled.
Everyone had resolved their battles cleanly and efficiently.
After all, the matching mechanism in the second round had avoidance protocols; Heaven-grade Seeds could not encounter each other, and the gap between Earth-grade Seeds and Heaven-grade Seeds was indeed an insurmountable chasm.
However, this avoidance mechanism would be gone starting from this round.
In the upcoming battles, Heaven-grade Seeds would also be matched against each other.
In other words, if unlucky, the one with the highest raw strength might encounter the one with the second-highest raw strength in the third round, staging the final early.
Such occurrences were not rare in past conferences; rules were rules, and if you drew such a match, you could only say it was bad luck.
However, while some talents might be eliminated due to encountering strong enemies early, they would not be buried.
In history, there was once a beautiful story.
The champion of that conference and a contestant who stopped at the round of sixteen were both selected by the Great Dao Association.
Later, both successfully stepped into the Eternal Saint Realm, becoming a celebrated story.
Therefore, those with true insight would not look only at rankings, but at strength.
Hun Qianxue moved his gaze away from Han Xuanji, scanned the light screens of those Heaven-grade Seeds, and compared them inwardly.
"Han Xuanji's performance in these two matches is not inferior to any Heaven-grade Seed."
He thought silently to himself:
"However, the strength displayed by the other Heaven-grade Seeds is also quite impressive; I wonder if he can stand out."
He was both expectant and worried.
What he expected was to see what the result would be when Han Xuanji faced a true Heaven-grade Seed. But he also didn't want to see Han Xuanji suffer a crushing defeat.
"Forget it."
Hun Qianxue shook his head, cast aside his distracting thoughts, and cursed himself for being so fussy.
Centurion Zhou Lie and Han Xuanji had both advanced to the third round; honestly, this had already exceeded many people's expectations.
He was aware that Han Xuanji actually hadn't been in the Eternal Dao Lord Realm for long.
Although the Hun Family had done their best to cultivate Han Xuanji, compared to the treatment received by those Heaven-grade Seeds, it was not worth mentioning.
...
Time flowed slowly.
The third round, the battle of thirty-two to sixteen, began!
Outside the mirror, there was silence.
Countless eyes stared intently at the many light screens suspended above the plaza; even breathing became cautious.
Every frame of the images on the light screens tugged at the heartstrings of everyone present.
On the high platform, the representatives of those major forces also set aside their previous composure.
Their expressions were solemn, their brows tightly furrowed, and their gazes scanned back and forth across the light screens of the contestants they were following.
In this round, the avoidance mechanism between Heaven-grade Seeds had been cancelled.
In other words, collisions between the strong were inevitable.
The intensity of the battles would be completely incomparable to the first two rounds.
Deputy City Lord Jiang Boyuan's gaze was tightly locked onto Zhou Yunhe's light screen, praying silently in his heart.
Don't encounter a Heaven-grade Seed, don't encounter a Heaven-grade Seed... As long as Yunhe doesn't encounter an opponent of the same level early, given his strength, entering the top eight or even the top four won't be a problem.
And his Cangyue City's face would also be preserved.
Hun Qianxue sat beside him, his expression equally serious. He knew in his heart that although Han Xuanji's performance in the first two rounds was stunning, that was after all against Earth-grade Seeds.
Heaven-grade Seeds were existences of another level; each had condensed multiple top-tier Dao Laws, and each stood at the Peak of the Eternal Dao Lord Realm.
He hoped Han Xuanji wouldn't encounter them so quickly.
It wasn't about fear of losing, but the hope that he could go further, allowing more people to see his strength.
The audience in the viewing stands had different thoughts.
Some clasped their hands together, closed their eyes, and prayed, hoping that the people they supported wouldn't draw strong enemies.
Others had the corners of their mouths curled up, with excited light flashing in their eyes. These troublemakers couldn't wait for two experts to meet early; only such duels were worth watching.
Matches that are too one-sided are boring after watching too many, right?