Chapter 648: The Strangeness of the Preliminary Rounds

Three days passed in prolonged waiting, and finally, the preliminary rounds began.
Ye Feng and the others found their respective arenas and entered them as directed by the organizers.
The arena was much larger than Ye Feng had imagined. He had thought it would be about the size of a stadium that could hold 30,000 people, but in reality, it was nearly ten times larger. Even if 30,000 people stood there, there would still be at least a ten-meter gap between each other—completely different from the crowded scene he had envisioned.
After everyone entered the arena, the referee began explaining the rules. In fact, these rules had already been mentioned before, and there wasn’t much to them. The referees bringing them up again was merely to reiterate them, in case someone forgot them during the fight.
Ye Feng leisurely scanned the other people in the arena using his Soul Power. There were 36,872 people in total. Over 23,000 of them were at the peak of the Star Sea level, with most of the rest also at the later stages of the Star Sea level. There were less than a hundred at the intermediate stage, and not a single one at the initial stage.
Ye Feng paid slight attention and noticed that two of the people in the arena were those described in the records Pearl had purchased earlier—both of them were mentioned in those dozens of books.
One of them was named Boyundong. It was said that he mastered 18 divine techniques using five basic elements. To Ye Feng and the others, this wasn’t anything special, but to others, it was quite remarkable.
As for the other person, it couldn’t really be called a human, as he was an alien. His name was so long that even Ye Feng, who had read the records, had forgotten what it was. His appearance was also unusual—he was bald, with an oval head that gave him an alien-like look. His hands also differed from human hands, having twelve fingers each, with nails shaped like triangular pyramids that emitted a cold glow.
Ye Feng vaguely remembered that, in addition to 13 ordinary divine techniques, this guy seemed to possess an innate divine technique whose destructive power surpassed even that of the Destruction Technique. In Ye Feng’s opinion, this guy’s combat skills should be able to pose some obstacle to Pearl and the others.
After observing for a while, the referee finished explaining the rules, and the bell signaling the start of the fight rang. Chaos immediately ensued in the arena.

Ye Feng stood there casually; this arena battle meant nothing to him. If he wished, he could throw everyone on the arena out within a few breaths, leaving only himself. He had no interest at all in attacking anyone on his own initiative.

Though he thought so, the others clearly didn’t share his view. A few people not yet involved in the chaos near Ye Feng rushed toward him as soon as they saw him.

Ye Feng’s lips curled slightly, but he still didn’t move. One of them, the first to reach him, swung a massive fist at his face. Before the fist could get close, it was blocked by a layer of sand. Unwilling to give up, he changed his position and attacked again, but Ye Feng didn’t move a finger. All of his attacks were deflected by the sand surrounding his body.

After several failed attacks, some people shifted their focus to the one attacking Ye Feng. Since the rules of this arena battle prohibited teamwork, attacking Ye Feng alone didn’t count as a violation. The person attacking Ye Feng soon faced ambushes from others, and the two of them engaged in a fierce fight. Immediately, others turned their attention to Ye Feng and attacked him as well. But Ye Feng still didn’t retaliate, allowing them to attack him one after another. After all, the rules prohibited teamwork, so those who wanted to attack him had to wait in line. For Ye Feng, their attacks couldn’t break through his earth-based defense laws.

Several hours passed quickly. Fewer and fewer people remained on the arena, and the fighting grew more intense. Yet, fewer and fewer people attacked Ye Feng, as hundreds of them had tried and failed to break through his defenses. Having witnessed the strength of his defenses, the others gave up on him as an impossible target. After all, if they attacked him and he didn’t retaliate, they might instead be ambushed by others, which wouldn’t be worth it.

Although no one from the intermediate or advanced main planes came in the preliminary rounds, the organizers still invited some powerful figures from the lower main planes as guests. There were eight such guests in total, each of whom was a formidable existence whose name alone echoed throughout the galaxy.

Among them was Gu Tianan, who stood out prominently. As a genius in sword cultivation and a powerful being who had mastered the divine arts of swordsmanship, his strength was unmatched across the entire star realm. With his abilities, he could quickly grasp all the details of the ten thousand battle arenas in just a moment and spot a few people who caught his attention. At that moment, he turned his head slightly and lowered his voice to speak to a powerful warrior on his left, “Brother Yun, there seems to be a strange guy on the last arena. He hasn’t made a move yet…”

The man referred to as Brother Yun by Gu Tianan was none other than Yun Zhonglong, the organizer of this genius competition. He was also an envoy of the intermediate main plane to the primary main plane, with cultivation skills even surpassing Gu Tianan’s. He was a formidable being with 99% cosmic maturity. If not for the powerful warriors left from the intermediate main plane in the primary one, his cultivation would undoubtedly be the highest in the star realm—hence why Gu Tianan addressed him as an elder brother.

“Old Gu, this kid is the only one among all the registered contestants whose true nature I can’t figure out,” Yun Zhonglong said with an unhidden smile. “If it weren’t for the precious artifact given to me by the higher realms to detect cultivation levels, which confirmed his status at the Star Sea level, I wouldn’t have dared to accept his registration. But I’m sure his soul strength is definitely not at the Star Sea level.”

“I didn’t notice all that just now. I only looked at the ten thousand arenas, and this guy is the only one who hasn’t made a move or stepped aside from start to finish. It seems he hasn’t moved since he stood there at the beginning.” The conversation between Gu Tianan and Yun Zhonglong wasn’t transmitted telepathically, so the other powerful warriors heard it clearly as well. Those who hadn’t noticed Ye Feng before also began to investigate him one by one.

Ye Feng’s soul strength and physical strength were now at the Star Universe level, so he could naturally sense the unhidden soul probes from the pseudo-void-level warriors. Yet he pretended to be unaware, standing calmly in place and observing the others’ battles.

By now, the preliminary rounds were well into their second half. Initially, there were over thirty thousand people in each arena, but now less than one-tenth remained. On Ye Feng’s arena, almost no one attacked him anymore. Even those within a certain distance around him were automatically repelled by his defensive divine art. As a result, many people deliberately avoided that area during battles to stay away from the effects of his defensive powers.

Of course, some people would also launch sudden attacks on Ye Feng during the fight, trying to take him by surprise and kill him, but undoubtedly, all those attacks were ineffective.
“This young man is truly remarkable; his mastery of divine powers is no less than ours, the old ones,” exclaimed an old man with white beard from the guest seats.
“Elder Bai, you don’t have to praise this kid so much. Although his defensive abilities are outstanding, it also means he must have devoted most of his energy to defensive techniques—his offensive power must be his weakness. He might be able to stay undefeated in chaotic battles at first, but in later fights, relying solely on defense won’t allow him to win in the end,” argued a man with fiery red hair. His nickname was Fire True Man; he was a master who specialized in fire and lightning divine powers and was a true warrior. With his unparalleled strength, he naturally disapproved of Ye Feng’s purely defensive fighting style. The man referred to as Elder Bai was one of the three most famous hermits in the galaxy. These so-called Three Hermits were peak cultivators at the Pseudo-Empty level who had long dominated the galaxy with their strength before choosing to retire to the mountains. They had emerged at different times—ranging from trillions of years ago to over 50 billion years ago—three geniuses in total who, after their fame spread throughout the galaxy, decided to live in seclusion.
This Elder Bai was actually the youngest of the Three Hermits, having reached the peak of the Pseudo-Empty level over 50 billion years ago. Back then, almost everyone knew his name. As for now, over 50 billion years later, no one knew exactly how powerful he had become. The people present only knew that Elder Bai was invited by Cloud Dragon himself, and even Cloud Dragon dared to consider himself his junior in front of him.
In response to Fire True Man’s objections, Elder Bai simply chuckled and didn’t retort. Instead, Cloud Dragon frowned slightly and glanced at Fire True Man.
Seeing Cloud Dragon’s expression, Fire True Man realized he might have been out of line, as the other party was an elder. He awkwardly fell silent.
Ye Feng hadn’t realized that his actions would attract the attention of those guests until he noticed that those Pseudo-Empty-level cultivators kept using their spiritual powers to probe him. Only then did he realize his behavior had caught quite a few people’s attention. But he also couldn’t understand why—after all, he was just defending himself, not moving a finger at all—so why would these people pay attention to him?

What he didn’t expect was that with over 300 million people competing, he was the only one who had reached this stage without even moving a finger, so it was only natural that he would draw attention. Of course, Yun Zhonglong’s remark that he couldn’t see through him only heightened the guests’ interest in him.

On the battle arenas, the number of competitors kept decreasing; some arenas had already selected their top 100 and completed the competition. On Ye Feng’s arena, fewer than 200 people remained, and those still there were all strong opponents.

The arena where Xiao Yu was located was the first to finish the competition, partly due to Xiao Yu himself. As soon as he stepped onto the arena, he started attacking those around him frantically. Nearly one-fifth of the competitors on that arena were eliminated by him, which undoubtedly accelerated the progress of the competition there.

As soon as he left his own arena, he rushed toward Ye Feng’s arena, only to see Ye Feng being attacked. He couldn’t help but shout, “Boss!”

Ye Feng finally made his first move since stepping onto the arena—he turned around and waved at Xiao Yu. Seeing this, Xiao Yu realized that Ye Feng was handling things easily and finally felt relieved.

A few hours later, Ye Feng’s arena also completed the competition. The other 99 people looked at Ye Feng with expressions of disbelief—the only one who had been constantly on the defensive throughout the match. Almost all of them had tried to attack Ye Feng but failed. They knew of his formidable defense skills, but still considered him a freak in the entire competition.