After another while passed, the tournament finally began.
With how many people had signed up for the tournament, there was naturally a preliminary test to see who would qualify for the tournament.
They could have done this beforehand, but it seemed like the organizers of the tournament wanted to use this event to hype up the tournament. After all, a display of the power of the contestants was a great way to give everyone a preview of the level of this tournament.
As for the test that they were using, it was a simple strength test.
There was a large boulder that was brought up onto the stage and everyone would have three chances of hitting it to prove their strength.
Even though it looked like a simple boulder, it was anything but simple.
This was a boulder that was made of a special metal that was very resistant. It was so strong that it could even resist a full force attack from someone in the Foundation Realm, so there was no need to worry about it breaking.
The way that they would measure it would be to see the ripples that would go through the boulder.
They had a special expert on the side that could measure this, so that was how they would be ranking everyone on their strength.
There was a long line of people that were in front of the boulder, but that wasn't surprising considering how many people had arrived in the city for the tournament.
It was just too bad that the metal used to make the boulder was very rare, or else they could have had several different lines going at once. It was clear that at this rate, it would take them the entire day to finish the preliminaries.
But that didn't matter since there were plenty of people who were willing to watch this.
Of course, there were also those that naturally couldn't wait for the others to finish their tests, so they were scheduled to go first. These were the young masters and young missus of the powerful organizations.
They had been listed as seeded contestants that would go ahead of the normal contestants.
However, not a single one of the normal contestants made a fuss since they all knew the special statuses of these people. If they were to make a public fuss like this, there was no doubt that they would be crushed by the powers of these people.
If they were strong enough, it was better to endure this anger and then repay it during the tournament.
Though, that would be like a pipe dream.
There was a reason why these people were seeded contestants.
The first one chosen was Young Master Tai of the Clear Sun Sect.
Since this was a test of one's physical abilities, this Young Master Tai wasn't able to use his full strength. His full strength was of course the powerful flames that he gathered in his hands in the form of a sun.
However, even without it, he was able to give a performance that shocked people.
"122!" The expert in charge of judging said.
When this number was said, everyone couldn't help looking at Young Master Tai with shock.
Seeing this, Young Master Tai revealed a satisfied look.
This number represented the tons of force that was present in this punch.
A normal person would only have around 300-400 pounds of force in a single punch, so cultivators who had hundreds of times more force compared to a normal person would have their punches measured in tons.
This result was already equal to someone in the High Foundation Realm, which was why everyone was shocked.
Those that were participating in the tournament were mainly those in the Qi Gathering Realm.
They didn't know just how strong the seeded contestants were until this display and now their confidence had been completely shattered.
If just this Young Master Tai already possessed force equal to someone in the High Foundation Realm, the rest of the seeded contestants wouldn't be weaker.
If one wasn't in the Foundation Realm, they had almost no chance of reaching the main tournament.
The ones that had dreamed of defeating these young masters and young missus completely had their dreams shattered by this reality.
Not to mention, it was clear that Young Master Tai hadn't even used his full power. After all, this type of preliminary test had limited him to using his physical strength alone.
So Young Master Tai who controlled the power of flames had been restrained.
As well, he looked very much at ease when he punched the boulder…
If he wanted to, he could have most likely gotten an even greater result.
There were a few people who walked out of the line when they thought of this.
This was a tournament, but it was also a martial arts tournament. This was a place where hands and feet were blind, so if there was an accident and they lost their lives, they wouldn't even be able to blame anyone.
Instead of testing the waters for the slim chance of a miracle, it was better to forfeit.
There was nothing more important than their lives.
Once he finished his test, Young Master Tai walked off the stage with a smug look on his face. However, he didn't leave the area and instead went to watch from the side as the other seeded contestants went to take their tests.
The other seeded contestants were his greatest competitors, so it didn't hurt to see what they were made of.
The next one to go up was the Young Master He from the Freezing River Sect.
Just like Young Master Tai, he was also restrained since his cultivation technique was a sword technique. Since he wasn't able to use the sword in this test, his power was restrained as well.
However, he did fare better than Young Master Tai since his body was more developed than Young Master Tai's as a swordsman.
"153!" The ranking expert shouted.
Everyone revealed another shocked look when they heard this, but at the same time, there were looks of understanding on their faces.
They knew the difference between Young Master He and Young Master Tai in the first place, so they had expected the result to be greater.
Young Master He on the other hand had an ugly look on his face.
It was almost as if he was disappointed in his own result.
He knew that there was a difference between someone who used their spiritual energy and swords like him, so he had thought that he would be able to suppress Young Master Tai with his results.
While his results were better than Young Master Tai's, it wasn't at the level that he wanted, so he could only feel…disappointed with himself.
Still, that look only lasted a few seconds before disappearing from his face.
He was in front of others, so he couldn't allow people to see him like this.
Young Master He quickly revealed a smug look as he looked at Young Master Tai.
When Young Master Tai saw Young Master He looking at him like this, he couldn't help gritting his teeth as he stared back at him.
It was clear what Young Master He was implying with this look, he wasn't a fool.
Not to mention that there was a grudge between their two sects in the first place.
So they already had an antagonistic relationship between them.
Young Master He didn't leave the arena either as he went to the side to watch just like Young Master Tai had done.
The next one up was Young Master Mo from the Iron Demon Sect.
When he came up, everyone couldn't help being filled with expectation towards him.
After all, Young Master Mo trained in a physical technique, which made his body much stronger than the rest of them.
So his result should be the best out of all the seeded contestants.
When Young Master Mo stood in front of the boulder, he also had a confident look on his face.
He also knew that this was his chance to shine and he was looking forward to making everyone gaze in awe at him.
So he gathered his spiritual energy in his fist and punched out at the boulder.
When the boulder took the hit from Young Master Mo, it actually reacted differently from when the others hit it.
Instead of steadily lying there like nothing could move it, it actually shook once and seemed like it would tip over. But in the end, the shaking stopped and nothing happened to the boulder at all.
But it was very clear that there was a difference in power when hitting the boulder.
Both Young Master He and Young Master Tai had ugly expressions on their faces when they saw this.
The ranking expert didn't know what to say at first, but then he said, "309!"
309, it was double the number that Young Master He had gotten!
There was no doubt that when it came to physical strength, Young Master Mo completely outclassed Young Master He and Young Master Tai.
With a smug look on his face, he walked to the side just like the other two had done and sat down to watch the rest of the seeded contestants finish their test.
However, the look on his face made it clear that he didn't believe that anyone else would be able to beat his record.
The next one to come up was a young girl who looked quite plain that no one really knew about. However, she was still one of the seeded contestants, so no one dared to look down on them.
However, when Lin Fan saw this girl, he couldn't help feeling that she seemed familiar…
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