The figure of Gongyi Tianheng plummeted several dozens of meters. At this point, it looked as if he was going to fall out of the ranks of the front-runners, but what kind of person was he? How could he let himself really fall behind?

He immediately turned his waist and his feet latched onto the mountain wall. His entire body was like a large bird as his body shot up once again! Correct, this was the Heavenly Falcon Steps, which could let one glide midair. Now that he borrowed its power, how was it possible for him to be incapable of escaping this crumbling situation?

As a result, not only did Tianheng not fall down, instead he rose dozens of meters once more. In a moment, he became the one in first place, ahead of all the others.

Gu Zuo watched this and his heart continued to beat unabated. But after seeing this clearly, Gu Zuo suddenly felt a little foolish.

Yes, his big brother still had the Heavenly Falcon Steps. Wasn't that something he knew about ages ago? Sure enough, his combat senses were still too weak. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been stunned like this.

It wasn't until now that Gu Zuo gave a sigh of relief.

This first trial was simply incapable of affecting Gongyi Tianheng!

The facts were indeed just like so.

Tianheng was resolute. He handled the first three hundred meters swimmingly, and the second set of three hundred meters with the upgraded gravity was still the same. As for the third set, whose gravity was upgraded again, he acted as if nothing even happened from beginning to end. It seemed as if no matter how heavy the burden on his body became, it never caused any hindrances to him whatsoever.

Moreover, within the deepening gravity, the attacks of the Imprisoned Song Birds became more and more ferocious. It could be seen that their attacks were even fiercer and their talons even sharper.

Unfortunately for these Imprisoned Song Birds, there wasn't a single one that could deal with Gongyi Tianheng. No matter what kind of strange bird, under Tianheng's expertise, they all harbored grudges against him.

Gu Zuo gradually discovered that those Imprisoned Song Birds didn't dare provoke Tianheng.

After they repeatedly tested the waters, their fierce attacks started aiming at the other partic.i.p.ating martial artists. The lower in the ranks a partic.i.p.ant was, the fiercer the attacks they received. Afterwards, at least one third of them died under the talons of the Imprisoned Song Birds! Even the corpses' internal organs were already missing.

In a short period of time, this many martial artists were eliminated.

As for those still on the mountain, those who weren't strong enough dragged on with their last breaths. No matter how vicious the Imprisoned Song Birds were, none of them give up.

Martial artists fought for their lives against the heavens and their determination to walk the martial path was indestructible. How could they run away like cowards just because there was a chance of dying? If it were a run-of-the-mill martial artist from an ordinary country, perhaps they might've turned back. However, there wasn't a single martial artist partic.i.p.ating right now who wasn't hand-picked. They fought for the honor of their countries, for the honor of their Clans, and for themselves. Naturally, they didn't shrink back in the slightest.

Gu Zuo was aware that if it was him who discovered those Imprisoned Song Birds on the mountain wall, he wouldn't fight them… He would've probably run away already.

He was aware that his martial path was very weak.

…Thinking about this also made him feel that he was very useless.

To him, no matter how greatly a virtuous cause shined, reuniting with his dad would bring him much more joy. Fearing death was fearing death. In any case, he wasn't a person of this world.

After being filled with remorse for a couple seconds, Gu Zuo nevertheless continued to watch Tianheng climb up.

Many times, whether if it was due to physical ability or willpower, what Gu Zuo could never accomplish, he could still see the best of such in Gongyi Tianheng's presentation.

This was generally the reason why he revered this honorable big brother so much.

Ultimately, Tianheng was still the one in first place… Uh, second place.

Undoubtedly, there were still very many remarkable talents from first cla.s.s countries gathered together. But unfortunately, most of them were unable to repress Tianheng's might.

There was only one who was slightly faster than Tianheng. It was a super genius who was expected to leave everyone else in the dust [1] from the start. It seemed as if he had considerable presence, but now that genius came out with a barely adequate victory.

However, Gu Zuo knew that his brother should've been first.

Just when Tianheng was about to scale the peak, he seemed to antic.i.p.ate something and his speed slowed down imperceptibly. After that, the person behind quickly caught up. Just when Tianheng put in all that effort to get to the top, he lagged behind the front line.

Afterwards, Gongyi Tianheng stood to the side. His expression was very tranquil, without any annoyance or unwillingness.

Gu Zuo couldn't help sending out a thought: Big brother, why?

Tianheng's gaze slightly moved as he answered him: The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be ravaged by the winds. And the martial artist who doesn't have a spear won't be valued.

Gu Zuo understood.

That was the reason why he had to give face by giving up first place. However, because of his own unyielding nature, he absolutely wouldn't be willing to lose conspicuously or pitifully.

If the top powerhouses had sufficient eyesight, they should've been able to see what Tianheng did. They'd find that he was a person whose apt.i.tude was out of the ordinary and that he had a clear view of things — It couldn't be that because he yielded a little bit he would incur a grudge. On the contrary, it was because he gave consideration to the face of that first cla.s.s country that hostilities toward him were reduced at least a little bit.

At this time, Gu Zuo discovered something else.

The person who received first place just so happened to be the younger generation representing the Qingcang Empire, one of the three great empires of the Qingyun Continent. This kind of person's reputation allowed him to be selected from the very beginning, but without the tacit acceptance of the Qingyun Sect, it was basically impossible. With him and big brother, rather than saying he was giving that Qingcang Empire face, it was better to say that he was giving face directly to the Qingyun Sect.

The hidden twists and turns were really confusing.

The truth was really just like this.

While Gongyi Tianheng wasn't thinking about laughing arrogantly from on high, the Qingyun Sect was a huge monster that couldn't be bypa.s.sed. His mind had a premonition. This Hundred Countries Tournament might not only exist just to determine the rankings between countries. Perhaps, there was an even more important purpose that he didn't know yet.

Before that, he had truly considered things from all sides.

— At this time, the first round of eliminations for the tournament was already over.

In this trial, the opponents of all the martial artists were both themselves and those Imprisoned Song Birds. Each and every one of them who could return were capable of smoothly entering the second round.

Qingcang Empire's Fang Lianyu received first place. The second place position was given to the insignificant third cla.s.s country's Gongyi Tianheng. The rest of the positions weren't mentioned for the time being. However, the ninth prince Cang Yu, who similarly came from the Cangyun Empire, had unexpectedly acquired ninth place.

Though one could only say it was an ordinary small country, it actually could have these two rise up from it. They suppressed the talented martial artists of several even more outstanding countries. It truly left people flabbergasted!

However, the casualties were comparatively large. There were originally more than five hundred martial artists partic.i.p.ating in the Hundred Countries Tournament, but there were a little more than one hundred who were taken out by the Imprisoned Song Birds. To add on to that, the heavily injured who couldn't nurse themselves back to health and thus couldn't partic.i.p.ate in the tournament slashed the numbers again by forty to fifty. Up until now, the ones who could advance to the second round's trial were only three hundred twenty four people.

Merely, this second round's trial still wasn't where both sides fought.

Rather, it was life or death by a large grindstone.

Gu Zuo heard the words “life or death,” and thought about the previous round's mortality rate. He immediately felt it was far from good.

…Wouldn't this second round end up killing even more?

Gu Zuo immediately realized what the second round was about.

He only heard a loud droning sound, and a large grindstone in the center of the valley rose up. And on that grindstone were nine holes whose diameters were just about one meter wide. The holes were carved into perfect circles.

While three to five people could be crammed into each hole, it was easier to accommodate one person to one hole.

Gu Zuo guessed that since this was a trial, it should've been one person per hole.

Sure enough, the three Immortal realm martial artists on the boulder announced the specifics for this trial.

One person would be stationed in every hole. Afterwards, the grindstone would rotate. It would restrict the movements of the people in the holes so that they'd be incapable of getting out. They would only be able to use their legs to act in the holes. Even when it came to jumping in the air, they'd only be able to jump six meters at most from the bottom of the holes.

When the trial started, the grindstone rotated and numerous sword lights appeared at the grindstone's center. The lights scattered in all directions and stabbed forward. For the martial artists in the holes, they could use weapons to block or shatter the lights, deflect them to another's position, or dodge the lights themselves.

For those killed by the sword lights, they'd be automatically removed from the grindstone and another person would take their place; for those who voluntarily forfeited, they could also leave the grindstone for someone else to take over. For those who didn't give up and weren't killed, the longer they persisted, the better they were graded. Once a martial artist lasted for sixteen hours, they'd be able to leave the grindstone and enter the next trial.

As for the brief time when one needed to go up to act as a replacement, wasn't that unfair to the others?

The sequence for the grindstone would be determined by them drawing lots. Luck was also a kind of strength!

Gu Zuo slightly frowned.

He didn't know what kind of lot [2] placement his big brother would draw. In short, the further in front Tianheng was, the more disadvantaged he would be.

While thinking this, Tianheng over yonder pa.s.sed his thoughts along: Ah Zuo, don't worry. I'm certainly better at persevering than ordinary martial artists. You only need to wait for my good news.

Gu Zuo's knitted brows then relaxed: While I wait for big brother's victorious return, I'll make a sumptuous feast for you.

Tianheng seemed to laugh before replying: Then I certainly must put in one hundred and ten percent.

After the two “spoke” these couple of sentences, many of Gu Zuo's worries were laid to rest.

His current line of sight closely followed Gongyi Tianheng. In the end, it all depended on what kind of number he'd draw.

It wasn't long before everyone all drew their lots and returned them.

At the same time, within the valley, several other grindstones rumbled as they rose up around the first large grindstone. They were all exactly like the first one.

The number of grindstones now contained one hundred sixty two holes. No less than half of the martial artists could enter them at this time!

As for Tianheng, the lot in his hand was written with: Eighteenth Grindstone, Third Seat.

Gu Zuo's heart skipped a beat: Big brother's luck really is not too good… As a matter of fact, isn't this the first batch that needs to go up? As for how the specific situation was unfolding, who still didn't know?! This is definitely troublesome.

Actually, Tianheng didn't feel all that baffled.

No matter if he took the lead and went first, or if he replaced someone afterwards, it wasn't too big of a difference to him.

As for life or death grinding on the grindstone, it was just a trial to temper himself.

He was confident that he wouldn't be defeated here.

Following the command of that Immortal realm martial artist, every martial artist who drew a lot number all jumped up at once, and directly threw themselves into the holes of those grindstones.

Gongyi Tianheng was no exception. Just as his toes touched down, he discovered a powerful force surge up from underneath. It seemed to adhere to his body so that he couldn't use body techniques to withdraw too far from this location.

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[1] 一骑绝尘 - Yi qi jue chen, leaving a trail of dust while riding a horse.

[2] 签 - Qian, an inscribed bamboo stick used in divination, gambling, and drawing lots.

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