Wei Chen listened to the old man's shameless take. This old goat was definitely 100% spouting pure BS! He could not help but glare at the referee who had whispered something to Wu Zheng. That had to be the reason this old goat suddenly wised up.

He curled his lips in dissatisfaction. He had thought he would get some content and give his audience a bit of excitement before the official matches. Who would have thought this guy would suddenly wise up?

But it did not matter. His main goal of helping his boss reduce her workload had been achieved, and he did not care much beyond that.

"Then take it and use it for the array." He tossed the spirit crystal to Wu Zheng.

Wu Zheng quickly received the spirit crystal with both hands, afraid that it might drop and break. He then handed the spirit crystal to the referee beside him, and the referee quickly rushed off and vanished into the interior of the grand stage.

After about five minutes, a humming sound echoed as the array began to activate across the two arenas. Spiritual energy constructed itself into an invisible field that covered both arenas. The participants could feel something enveloping their bodies, but it did not obstruct them.

Wu Zheng turned toward all the participants. "All of you, you can now go all out. The fatalities prevention array will stop any fatal attack on your bodies and knock you unconscious. The array will also prevent the loss of limbs and crippling, and will only knock you out.

"Either being pushed out of bounds, knocked out by another participant, or knocked out by the array will result in disqualification.

"In this round, only the last person standing in each arena will be considered qualified for the official tournament round," Wu Zheng explained as he announced the modified rules.

"All of you must thank Mr. Wei for his generosity. Because of him, all of your safety is guaranteed," Wu Zheng added, gesturing toward Wei Chen with a hint of flattery in his voice.

The participants all looked at Wei Chen. Most of them gazed at him with gratitude, some looked at him neutrally, while a few stared at him with annoyance, as if he had snatched away their chance to have fun.

It was obvious that the last group were a bunch of psychoes who loved killing.

"Thank you, Mr. Wei, for your generosity," the participants said as they cupped their fists and expressed their thanks.

Yun Feng, standing among the participants, raised his single arm in a salute toward Wei Chen and bowed in reverence. This Brother Wei of his was truly generous and righteous, worthy of friendship and of becoming a sworn brother.

The referees looked at one another and then gave the signal.

"Rogue cultivator qualification round, start. May the last person standing win!"

With the referees' signal, the qualification round for rogue cultivators officially began. A resounding explosion erupted as one of the participants unleashed their strongest fire element combat technique, instantly knocking out many people.

Since they no longer needed to worry about death or crippling and would only be knocked out, with injuries being the worst possible outcome, everyone fought without restraint.

During this time, Yun Feng was mostly ignored by the competitors. All of them looked down on a cripple like him. Yun Feng also did not seem to be in a hurry to prove himself, as no one had provoked him or directly targeted him.

At most, some people glanced at him, but before they could do anything, they had to defend themselves against attacks from other participants who were targeting them.

Overall, the stronger the participants were, the more they ignored Yun Feng.

Since this was a last man standing format, Yun Feng decided it was a heaven sent opportunity. He did not need to exhaust himself attacking others. He could simply wait for everyone else to eliminate one another until only a few injured participants remained.

While he waited, some of the smarter participants also kept an eye on him and pretended to be weak, trying to avoid being beaten out of the arena and losing their qualification.

At this moment, the strongest participants in the arena were defending themselves against coordinated attacks from several opponents. Some were knocked unconscious, while others were pushed out of bounds and lost their qualification.

Some of the more aggressive participants moved toward Yun Feng, thinking he was an easy target. They knew that some sects were scouting for geniuses to recruit. If their performance was good enough, the sects would surely take them in, greatly improving their future prospects.

Although most rogue cultivators chose this path for freedom, after a few years of such a life, they all understood the harsh reality. Freedom often came with poverty, scarce resources, and limited opportunities, especially when one was not a heaven defying genius. In the end, many had no choice but to give up their freedom and enter a sect.

This occasion was the best opportunity to join a sect and gain far more resources than they would as ordinary new recruits.

That was why some participants were eager to accumulate as many achievements as possible.

Yun Feng noticed two people rushing toward him. He did not panic and quickly brandished his large black sword. With his single left arm, he swung the massive blade as if it were nothing more than a simple twig.

"Not good, an expert!" the two aggressors exclaimed in shock as they hastily retreated.

However, the black sword was faster. It struck the nearer aggressor, knocking him out, while the second survived by a hair's breadth.

Before the second aggressor could even sigh in relief, Yun Feng kicked him out of bounds.

The battle in Yun Feng's arena intensified as the number of participants dwindled rapidly. Many used area attacks, and those without strong cultivation were either knocked unconscious or pushed out of bounds.

At this point, several experts in Yun Feng's arena began targeting him. They all realized that Yun Feng was the hardest opponent to deal with. Even so, Yun Feng did not flinch. He calmly defended and counterattacked against the group that had ganged up on him.

In another arena, the most outstanding rogue cultivator at this moment was a man in a red robe who used fire based combat techniques. His fire techniques were powerful and merciless. If not for the array, many participants would have already lost their lives.

On Wei Chen's side, the camera performed spectacularly. The broadcasting orb replicated itself into multiple cameras, capturing the battles from many different angles.

— Ximen Clan Flying Ark —

Within the Ximen Clan's flying ark, which was docked at the area prepared by the venue, Ximen Hao was watching the broadcast through a U-Phone along with Xiao Mei, Yun Feng's childhood sweetheart.

Xiao Mei watched Yun Feng, who now fought experts in the arena with only one arm. It felt like a dream to her.

"Little Feng…." She uttered.

The weak willed Yun Feng, whom she had known since childhood, cared for, and spoken with for many years, had already changed so much.

Now, aside from his familiar face, everything else felt foreign to her. His demeanor and confident smile were no longer those of the Yun Feng she once knew.

"Do you want to go to him?" Ximen Hao asked, probing Xiao Mei.

"In response to Young Master Ximen, I want to, but…" Xiao Mei paused, unsure how to phrase her thoughts.

She felt that returning to Yun Feng would be unfair to Ximen Hao. He was the one who paid for her father's medical treatment, helped nurse him back to health, and supported her studies in medicine and the path of a physician.

At the same time, Yun Feng still held a place in her heart. Even though he had changed greatly, she believed that beneath the confidence and ruthlessness he displayed in battle, there was still the timid and kind natured boy she once knew. He was a year younger than her, and she believed that boy still existed beneath that hardened exterior.

Ximen Hao looked at Xiao Mei and smiled. During this time, he had studied the life of Gu Tianhe, also known as the Azure Sky Elder, as well as the conflict between that old man and Vice Sect Leader Jian Heng.

He was certain that nothing good ever came from clashing with a heaven chosen.

Once, the Gu Clan was a powerful family that dominated Azure River Capital City. Now, it had fallen to merely being one of several strong clans contending for influence. The loss of power, influence, and prestige was immense.

This did not even include the period when the Gu Clan was crushed by Jian Heng. During the years that followed, even third rate families could easily bully the Gu Clan.

It took the Gu Clan a full hundred years just to return to a contender's position, and not even to its former dominance.

Ximen Hao glanced at Xiao Mei again. It was a good thing that he had not touched this goddess of calamity. He then looked toward Yun Feng and realized that Yun Feng's current combat prowess might already rival his own, that of a peak Core Formation Realm expert.

He did not want to think about what would happen to him and his clan if he were to touch this girl.

He had to thank Wei Chen, his good brother, for telling him about the existence of the Heaven's Chosen and making him wise up in time.

Otherwise…..

He truly did not want to think about the consequences.

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