730 First to Leave
All the powerhouses from the inferior species were eliminated by the second round, leaving only the contestants from powerful species on the field.
As expected. If not for the preliminaries favoring the weak species, only two or three warriors would have entered the main competition, Xu Jingming thought.
The invisible pressure of the preliminaries exerted less stress on the smaller ones, allowing nine weaker species to enter the main competition. However, the gap was unbridgeable. Xu Jingming and the others couldn’t defeat their opponents once they were marginally stronger.
Observe the battles carefully.
Xu Jingming keenly watched the matches. His Eternal clones far away deduced massive amounts of data based on the scenes of the skirmish.
Their speed, the speed of their attacks, their height, weight, and arm length… All the stats were being gathered and experience absorbed, a method to refine his Heart Divine Weapon Combat Technique.
…
Seventy-five contestants secured spots in the second round. The speediest victor received a bye, skipping straight to the fourth round. The other 74 contestants would battle in the third round to determine the 37 who would move on.
After six rounds, only five contestants remained.
“The ‘ultimate round-robin match’ will commence today. The five powerhouses will battle each other until we crown the undisputed champion of this tournament.” The golden-furred tournament host, Panqiu, announced vigorously.
Images of the five contestants appeared on the projection above.
In the contestants’ lounge, Xu Jingming and his family were still there! As long as they secured a spot in the main competition, the lounge was Xu Jingming’s for the tournament’s duration.
“That Thunderhorn Mountain is truly imposing. No wonder Bro forfeited back then. He defeated every opponent effortlessly,” Third Sister exclaimed in awe.
“The one-armed Giant Ape King is also mighty. He obliterated everything.”
“I believe the Golden Fire Divine Bird is superior.”
His younger siblings argued.
Xu Jingming gazed at the portraits of the five contestants. Aside from the Fire Dragonborn, the one-armed Giant Ape King, and the Mountain Demon powerhouse deemed the strongest in the preliminaries, there was also the Golden Fire Divine Bird—who ranked first in the flight round—and a Rain Tiger powerhouse.
Ultimate round-robin match… Xu Jingming and the other powerhouses watched intently.
“Today’s first match will pit the Rain Tigers’ Zhangmu against the Forest Giant Apes’ Black Eclipse,” Panqiu proclaimed.
The Rain Tigers inhabited a remote forest in the Myriad Species World. Scant in number, they stood around 20 meters tall. They resembled beasts walking on two legs.
The Forest Giant Ape, Black Eclipse, was also the king whom all Giant Apes followed! He had fought one-armed since the tournament’s start.
The match began!
Zhangmu of the Rain Tigers was no match for the one-armed Giant Ape King.
Xu Jingming watched. The difference between them is obvious.
Soon, the Rain Tiger powerhouse conceded defeat, and the one-armed Giant Ape King won the first round.
The second match was between the Mountain Demon powerhouse—Kim Roshi—and the Fire Dragonborn powerhouse, Thunderhorn Mountain.
What a strong physique, Xu Jingming thought in surprise.
The 63-meter-tall King of the Mountain Demons towered over the Fire Dragonborn powerhouse—who stood over eight meters tall—like a giant among dwarves. However, just ten seconds after they clashed, the King of the Mountain Demons shouted indignantly, “I give up!”
Thunderhorn Mountain won the second round of the ultimate round-robin match.
The tournament continued.
After a few matches, the audience could tell.
“The champion will be either the Fire Dragon powerhouse—Thunderhorn Mountain—or the one-armed Giant Ape King, Black Eclipse.” Xu Jingming and many other spectators had judged; after all, only those two had won all their matches so far.
“Next is the ninth match of today’s ultimate round-robin match: the Fire Dragonborn’s Thunderhorn Mountain versus the Forest Giant Ape’s Black Eclipse. So far, Thunderhorn Mountain has won three matches, and Black Eclipse has won two. Both have a perfect record! And in this battle, whoever wins… will become the champion of this Myriad Species Tournament outright,” announced Panqiu, the tournament host.
If Thunderhorn Mountain won, he would win all four matches and be the undisputed champion.
If the one-armed Giant Ape King won, he would have three victories! His opponent, Thunderhorn Mountain, would have won three matches and lost one, making him the loser compared to the one-armed Giant Ape King. In terms of wins and losses, the one-armed Giant Ape King would still become champion.
“The ninth match of the ultimate round-robin match will be the last battle of this year’s tournament. Please welcome both contenders!” Panqiu said loudly.
Amid cheers from the crowd, two figures emerged in the arena.
The eight-meter Fire Dragonborn powerhouse and the twelve-meter one-armed Giant Ape King faced off from a distance.
Whoever wins will escape the Myriad Species World alive. Xu Jingming was a tad envious.
They’re quite fortunate to descend into such powerful species. The Ant powerhouse in the front row, Havering, also watched on.
“The victor between them will flee the Myriad Species World and receive a huge prize. As for us, we’ll likely never leave for the rest of our lives.” Shadow, Yu Yangwei and Fengke sat amid the crowd, emotions mixed.
The match began.
Every high-dimensional lifeform that had descended was present or viewing via livestream.
This match was unprecedentedly fierce.
“What?” Xu Jingming felt suffocated.
The one-armed Giant Ape King suddenly grew a second arm at the crucial moment, then more arms—he had eight arms total! The eight-armed Giant Ape… possessed unprecedented might, ferocious and domineering!
The one-armed Giant Ape King unleashed his full power.
Level 69! Xu Jingming was appalled. The one-armed Giant Ape King in eight-armed form has a Level 69 physique—the strongest I’ve ever seen!
“Die!” The eight-armed Giant Ape King went completely berserk, attacking with all his might.
To escape the Myriad Species World, he had honed himself for over 300 years. Once with one arm, while studying regenerating his severed arm, he devised a way to grow a third, then fourth arm… Finally, he found that eight arms was his limit—more would disrupt his physique, decreasing rather than increasing his strength.
His eight-armed form was his strongest.
To think that I’m really pushed to the edge. The Fire Dragonborn powerhouse’s body was riddled with wounds, and blood trickled from the corners of his mouth and eyes. He could barely deflect the barrage of frenzied attacks from the eight-armed ape’s eight arms.
Outside this realm, nothing below the third realm can defeat me, but in the Myriad Species World, I’ve met my match.
That’s right. I can’t underestimate any opponent.
Though the Fire Dragonborn powerhouse was in a sorry state, his eyes remained as calm as a tranquil sea. Even when he was completely suppressed, his eyes seemed to burn with flames.
Boom!
Flames erupted from the Fire Dragonborn powerhouse’s body and utterly transformed into a huge inferno.
A fist burst out from the flames, shattering the defenses raised by the eight-armed ape’s arms and piercing through his chest.
“What?” All the spectators and higher-dimensional beings were stunned.
Shadow, Yu Yangwei, and Fengke widened their eyes. In this realm, all higher-dimensional beings are constrained by their bodies. He is clearly a Fire Dragonborn powerhouse, so how did he completely transform into flames? What’s with the fiery fist?
Xu Jingming also flinched as he watched this scene in disbelief.
Having studied the half-step third-realm legacy, Heart Divine Weapon, Xu Jingming could fully comprehend this move.
He didn’t transform into flames. It’s because the psychic force he unleashed at the last moment was too massive, distorting everyone’s perception, Xu Jingming thought. Be it those present or even the viewers watching the Internet broadcast, their perception was distorted. They felt that he had transformed into flames.
He can distort perception in the Myriad Species World. Xu Jingming exclaimed in surprise. Incredible.
Xu Jingming had no idea.
This Fire Dragonborn powerhouse’s mastery of psychic weapons was even more terrifying than the highest realm of the Heart Divine Weapon.
…
“I…” The eight-armed ape collapsed, his chest perforated and his heart obliterated.
As he gazed vacantly at the sky, realization dawned. I-I’m dying?
H-how could this be? He was indignant. With his physique, he could regenerate even from a shattered heart.
But—
The mind and will in his body was in tatters. His body was already shutting down without his mind to guide it.
A single blow had destroyed both body and mind… How is that possible? I’m half a step into the third realm! The ape’s eyes bulged as his mind vanished, unfinished business left undone.
He couldn’t accept this, even at death’s door.
Thunderhorn Mountain resumed his original form, surveying the corpse. Your eight arms made you too powerful. Only by merging mind and body through a psychic weapon could I prevail.
Normal attacks didn’t faze the one-armed Giant Ape King, but psychic weapons could strike both body and mind. Thunderhorn Mountain had to go all out.
I couldn’t hold back. The Fire Dragonborn powerhouse, Thunderhorn Mountain, glanced at the golden-furred host, Panqiu, in the distance.
Golden-furred Panqiu jolted and rushed into the arena, shouting, “The tournament is over! Thunderhorn Mountain of the Fire Dragonborns is champion!”
The crowd roared, especially the mixed-blood Dragonborns.
The higher lifeforms were appalled.
“The one-armed Giant Ape King is dead?”
“He’s dead?”
At first, they thought he was just seriously injured. Who would’ve imagined he’d stop breathing after collapsing?
Both body and spirit were injured, his mind wiped out. Xu Jingming’s heart lurched. The one-armed Giant Ape King was undoubtedly a top-three powerhouse. Even after losing this round, he had a shot at the next tournament. However, he just died like that?
Xu Jingming sighed. When the gap in strength is too vast, the other party might hold back. However, proximity in strength… can mean death if both go all out.
The one-armed Giant Ape King had forced the Fire Dragonborn’s strongest move but couldn’t withstand it.
A half-step third realm powerhouse, perished.
…
In the contestant’s lounge, the Fire Dragonborn powerhouse, Thunderhorn Mountain, returned.
I’ve won the championship. It’s time for me to leave the Myriad Species World, right? Thunderhorn Mountain waited patiently.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the scene around him warped and dissolved into etherealness. The roaring crowd melted into a painting—an incomparably huge painting!
Thunderhorn Mountain felt his mind and consciousness tear away from the massive painting. As they left, he instinctively summoned the majestic power of the Heart Realm to forge a new body.
What? Just as he escaped the colossal painting, a figure caught his eye. It was sitting right in front of the painting, emanating an endless divine radiance from His massive body.
Thunderhorn Mountain strained to discern His true form, but to no avail. Still, he had encountered similar entities more than once over the years.
“Great third-realm being,” he bowed respectfully.
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