Dan-Ge's conversation with the Flaming Dawn Clan Leader immediately caught the attention of the other clan leaders. They turned to look at the tenth maneuver arena, trying to identify the two young men being mentioned, as the brief exchange hadn't made it clear who they were.

Back at the tenth maneuver arena...

"What... what just happened?"

"Why did they suddenly fall to the ground like that?"

"Was it their doing?"

"The Silver Body Clan must have used some trickery, or they must have had some items to help them!"

Many contestants hesitated after seeing fifty young men collapse instantly, unsure of what had just happened.

"It's over for those fifty, but there are still over three hundred left. Big Brother, I think we should finish this quickly," Diao said, feeling exhilarated after testing his energy. Den felt the same way; both wanted to end the battle quickly so they could move on to other things.

"Good! Let's finish this!"

Woooooosh!!!

As soon as Den finished speaking, both brothers began to unleash their true energy levels. But at that moment, a voice echoed in their heads, "Don't show your full energy right now; reveal just seven parts." It was Zheng-Fu's voice.

Huh...?

The two brothers immediately stopped emitting their full energy and only released seven parts as Zheng-Fu had instructed. Even so, seven parts of their energy were comparable to that of a martial master at the first level of the Immortal Soul stage.

"Imm... Immortal... Immortal Soul stage!"

When everyone in the arena felt the brothers' energy, their faces turned pale, especially the young man from the upper-low-ranking clan who had insulted the brothers earlier.

"No... no... it can't be true! It's impossible!!! There's no way the Silver Body Clan has such strong youths! They must be cheating!

Referee! Referee... those two bastards are cheating! Hurry and declare them disqualified... augh... foul...

play..."

As the young man was speaking, he suddenly felt pain in his stomach before choking on his saliva and blood. Den had struck his stomach with such force that the young man staggered back a dozen steps before collapsing.

Thud!!!

"We never considered cheating. But if anyone wants to test us, feel free to come forward!" Den, now standing where the young man had been, called out, looking around the arena with a fierce and intimidating gaze.

Augh!!!

The remaining contestants were too terrified to speak or move under Den's menacing stare. Even the ten other members of the Silver Body Clan dared not say a word, as they had previously spoken ill of the two brothers.

"All of us, don't be afraid of them. We have the numbers. Let's attack them together. They won't be able to fight us all!"

"That's right, we outnumber them, so why are we afraid of just the two of them!?"

Whoo-hoo!!!

The youths shouted in unison, drawing their weapons and preparing to surround Diao and Den. However, the two brothers felt no fear; instead, their hearts raced with excitement, and their bodies trembled in anticipation of the fight.

[Ten Direction Monster Prana Palm Skill]

Woooooosh!!!

Thud, thud, thud, thud!!!

Ah!!! Augh!!!

Yaaaah!!!

Thud, thud, thud, thud!!!

Yaaaah!!! Oh, no!!!

Half an incense stick later...

Out of the four hundred contestants in the tenth maneuver arena, only twelve remained standing—all of them were from the Silver Body Clan. The rest lay on the ground or had fallen off the stage, writhing in pain.

The other contestants hadn't even had a chance to counterattack before being struck down by the brothers' one-palm attack. In one move, Den and Diao had taken down eight youths each, effectively eliminating sixteen contestants per round.

In just half an incense stick, they had defeated all their opponents. The referee couldn't stop them because the required number of qualifiers—one hundred—had already been met.

"What... what... what the hell is going on here!?" shouted a clan leader from an upper-low-ranking clan, who had been confident his youths would advance, but now stood in disbelief and frustration.

"How can this be? Didn't they break the rules? Shouldn't they have stopped when only one hundred contestants were left?"

"That's right! They broke the rules and should be disqualified for foul play!"

Many clan leaders quickly sided with the first one who spoke, upset that none of their youths had advanced, even though some of them should have. The two brothers had eliminated everyone, leaving no one else to qualify.

The elder acting as the referee hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. The rules indeed stated that the competition should stop once one hundred contestants remained. However, exceptions were made when all other contestants had fallen off the stage or surrendered before the results were announced.

'Judge them both through to the finals.'

Huh...?

The elder suddenly heard Dan-Ge's voice instructing him to declare that the Silver Body Clan had not broken any rules and had qualified for the next round.

He then nodded and said,

"The result of this round: the Silver Body Clan did not break the rules and has qualified for the second round of the competition!" the referee announced loudly, following Dan-Ge's order.

"No! It can't be like that since… augh!!!"

"My judgment is final. If anyone is dissatisfied, step onto this stage, and I'll give you an answer!" declared the elder, releasing the energy of a high Immortal Soul stage martial master.

Ah!!!

All the clan leaders immediately fell silent. None of them wanted to provoke a high-ranking elder, especially one who was a direct subordinate of the city governor. If they valued their lives and the survival of their clans, it was best to keep quiet.

After the battle in the tenth maneuver arena ended, spectators in the other arenas became curious—not because the tenth arena had finished, but because it had done so unusually fast. Normally, the tenth, ninth, and eighth arenas would end simultaneously.

"Why did the scum arena finish so quickly? Were those lower-low-ranking clans too weak to fight the upper-low-ranking clans?"

"Who told you that? The winners of the tenth maneuver arena are the youths from the Silver Body Clan. Moreover, only Silver Body Clan members qualified for the next round."

"Huh!? Silver Body Clan? Are you kidding me!? Everyone knows how weak they are!"

"Right. How is that even possible?"

"You don't believe me? I just came from the tenth arena and heard the judgment myself. I saw with my own eyes that over three hundred youths were taken down by those from the Silver Body Clan."

"Is that true!!?"

Soon, news of the Silver Body Clan's success in the first round spread throughout the rally. The fact that they were the only clan to win piqued the interest of many middle-rank clans. However, most people assumed that the youngsters competing this time must have been the same ones who had withstood the city governor's one-palm attack, which explained the swift victory.

At the Silver Body Clan area...

"Big Brother, we won the first round," Diao said proudly, walking over to Zheng-Fu after returning to the clan's area.

"If you couldn't beat opponents at that level, you'd have to deal with me instead!" Zheng-Fu responded, not with praise but with a warning.

"Hehe. I know. And in the second round, Brother Den and I won't disappoint you either," Diao replied, his expression turning sheepish as he scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Big Brother, in the second round, we might face lower-high-ranking clans or upper-middle-ranking clans. We'd like to better understand the palm skills," Den said, knowing they would be up against stronger opponents. He wanted further guidance from Zheng-Fu.

"The more you fight, the stronger you become," Zheng-Fu replied with just two phrases. Though brief, his words carried deep meaning, making Den realize that mastery of their skills required more battle experience.

"Thank you, Big Brother, for your guidance," Den said respectfully before bowing to Song-Lang and then heading to his seat. Diao followed closely behind his elder brother. The other youngsters, who had also been in the arena, simply stood silently, basking in the credit for the brothers' victory.

About half a shichen later, the ninth and eighth maneuver arenas finished, with one hundred finalists each, all from medium-low-ranking and upper-low-ranking clans.

The other arenas were also concluding their matches. Only the top-ranking arenas still had ongoing battles, where the contestants, all at the Immortal Soul stage, were fighting fiercely, causing these matches to end later.

Soon, every arena had completed its maneuvers and had selected one hundred finalists each—except for the tenth maneuver arena, which had only twelve survivors. Thus, only nine hundred and twelve contestants qualified for the second round, which would begin the next day.

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