Eternal Heavenly Emperor

"Chu Hao was now quite famous in the Inner Sect. After all, when he was in the Four Meridians, he had fought Xia Yun of the Six Meridians to a standstill. Such talent was almost on par with Senior Brother Cao Jingwen.

Thus, the other eight people exchanged glances, some raised their fists, some straightened their palms, all showing nervous expressions.

"Although he is stronger than us, we have eight people," someone shouted.

"Yes, we might not lose."

"Let's knock this guy out of the ring first, then we can fight amongst ourselves."

"Good."

Although the eight were from different family powers, they instantly united because of Chu Hao. Humming sounds filled the air as glowing patterns appeared on their bodies, some with two, some with three.

Second-Tier, Third-Tier martial master.

They were all a grade higher than Chu Hao, but in terms of time spent in the Inner Sect, they had only been there one or two years longer than Chu Hao, after all, not everyone could cross that threshold in the first year.

Improving one or two minor realms in one or two years was not slow.

Of course, it depended on who you were comparing to.

Chu Hao's lips curved into a smile as he shook his fist and punched towards the eight.

Boom.

With one punch, a terrifying blast of wind erupted, the violent force was devastating. Bang, bang, bang, bang, the eight were unable to resist, and all were sent flying at the same time.

"What terrifying power."

"Remember, this is just the wind from his punch, not even a tenth of his strength."

"Did anyone see how many meridian patterns flashed on Chu Hao's body?"

"No, it was too fast."

The crowd exclaimed in astonishment, knocking out eight martial masters with one punch was too powerful. Though these eight were low-tier martial masters, Chu Hao had only used one move and merely relied on the wind from his punch to send them all flying at the same time.

This guy… in a few years, he might truly rival Senior Brother.

No, no, Senior Brother's talent was so high that he would have definitely broken through to Martial Sect by then—Jin Yunlin, who was on par with Senior Brother, had already become a Martial Sect, there was no reason Senior Brother would be that late.

Perhaps, Senior Brother had already touched that threshold. Yes, that must be it.

"Congratulations, Senior Brother Chu," Zhao Hua stepped out of the ring himself, his eyes blazing with fervor. In the past, the strongest from River Down Courtyard, Zhao Huan, could barely make it into the top hundred, but now, with Chu Hao, perhaps a drastic change was coming.

Chu Hao smiled and nodded.

Returning to his original spot, Zhao Huan immediately waved him over and said upon his approach, "Congratulations, Junior Brother Chu, on your great start." After speaking, he sighed and added, "Unfortunately, the New Year's competition results don't count toward rankings."

Of course not, as the format itself was unfair. But conversely, truly having over 2000 people decide the rankings would take many days. The New Year's competition was merely to select the top ten in the Inner Sect to challenge the Top Ten Core Disciples.

Chu Hao nodded and said, "I wonder how the others are doing?"

"I think only Bai Shengjin, Zhang Yunshen, and Fu Xue have a chance to make it through," Zhao Huan said, his expression awkward. After all, the number of people from River Down Courtyard was the largest among the 'gates,' but those who made it through the first round were the fewest, which was embarrassing.

Chu Hao patted Zhao Huan's shoulder and said, "Senior Brother, this is because our cultivation resources are too scarce. Don't worry, this will change." Now that his Tool-Forging Technique had greatly improved, he could even make eighth-rank Treasure Artifacts, earning some Star Stones was a piece of cake.

Zhao Huan only thought Chu Hao was comforting him, nodded slightly, but didn't really believe it.

How could he believe it?

Before long, Fu Xue also returned victorious. The Female Tyrannosaurus had just broken through to the early stage of the Three Meridians but her combat power could rival the Five Meridians, naturally, she easily triumphed over her opponents.

Then, the members of River Down Courtyard finished their battles one after another. As Zhao Huan predicted, only Chu Hao, Fu Xue, Bai Shengjin, and Zhang Yunshen won, the others were all eliminated.

—If they weren't from the Lower World, perhaps more would have made it, because as disciples of River Down Courtyard, they were targeted upon entering unless they were very lucky and several ended up in one group.

Next, there was a regroup and redraw. Since there were more than 256 people, many had a bye in the first elimination round. Chu Hao and Fu Xue were lucky, but Zhao Huan, Bai Shengjin, and Zhang Yunshen all drew opponents.

The result was that all three lost.

Bai Shengjin and Zhang Yunshen's losses were expected, as their strength was not very high, but Zhao Huan faced Nie Shucheng, ranked 67th, and naturally suffered a crushing defeat.

Though he lost early, Zhao Huan wasn't too regretful, as he never expected to break into the top ten. So, being eliminated early or late didn't make much difference.

After all the battles ended, the list of 256 emerged, and the true elimination round was about to begin.

This time, there was no need for another draw. The previous draw had already placed everyone in groups, now they just needed to fight.

"Chu Hao, who is your opponent?" Zhao Huan asked.

"Don't know," Chu Hao shook his head, he hadn't cared at all. Indeed, having beaten Core Disciples, what was the Inner Sect's first place to him?

"Then we'll have to wait and see, hopefully not someone ranked within the top 30," Zhao Huan said worriedly.

Because the mountain's peak was limited in size, it could only accommodate 32 matches at the same time, this round of eliminations had to be split into four large sessions. Chu Hao was in the third session, Fu Xue was earlier, in the second session.

The first large session ended quickly without any major upsets, and the second session began soon after.

"Senior Sister Fu, you must win," Chu Hao said with a smile.

"Of course," Fu Xue said proudly, heading down with an iron hammer.

Starting from the elimination rounds, weapons were allowed, since it was one-on-one, the referee had enough reaction time to stop fights, unlike in previous brawls where having everyone use weapons would be unmanageable even for Martial Sect.

This iron hammer wasn't a Treasure Artifact, as there wasn't enough time to forge one or to procure eighth-rank materials for the artifact embryo. However, the fine iron used to forge the hammer was enhanced with Chu Hao's Thousand-layer Iron technique, reaching 128 layers, making its hardness and toughness comparable to eighth-rank materials.

Fu Xue's opponent wasn't too strong, ranked 126th, proficient with swords, and at the early stage of the Five Meridians, theoretically able to suppress Fu Xue. But once the fight started, it was a complete reversal, he didn't even have a chance to make a move against Fu Xue and was soon chased around by her hammer, eventually surrendering.

This battle made Fu Xue famous in the Inner Sect, her domineering image was deeply imprinted.

"Clearly, Senior Brother Zhu is at Five Meridians, and she's at Three Meridians, how did he get completely overpowered?"

"Yeah, a gap of two meridians should mean at least four times the strength."

"But Fu Xue's strength wasn't much weaker."

"There's only one explanation."

"Fu Xue's Star Force quality far exceeded Senior Brother Zhu's."

"Everyone's cultivation technique should be the same, possibly even Senior Brother Zhu's being stronger."

"She must have a terrifying physique, making her Star Force incredibly dense, winning in quality despite the realm gap."

The crowd speculated, figuring out most of the truth. Fu Xue's physique was indeed strong but not enough to cross two minor realms; she also cultivated the Earth Level, middle-grade Minor Formless Mysterious Skill.

Fu Xue returned victorious; River Down Courtyard's disciples were naturally overjoyed, crowding around to congratulate her.

Zhao Huan was especially relieved, saying, "From now on, River Down Courtyard will depend on Chu Hao and Fu Xue, I can put down this heavy burden."

Chu Hao smiled, "The leader position in River Down Courtyard naturally belongs to Senior Brother Zhao. Senior Sister Fu and I are only responsible for fighting."

Fu Xue nodded in agreement; she was a born battle maniac, uninterested in managing people.

As they spoke, the second session's matches concluded, and the third started immediately to save time.

Chu Hao stepped into the ring, facing Geng Dong, ranked 77th, not even close to forcing his full effort, and easily defeated him in a few moves, advancing to the next round.

The competition continued; as it was from 128 to 64, the chances of strong encounters were low, making the matches less exciting. Chu Hao and Fu Xue progressed another round, though Fu Xue was starting to struggle.

Reaching the top 64 was partly skill and partly luck for her, for her true strength was similar to Zhao Huan's, still limited by her realm, just early stage of Three Meridians.

Indeed, in the 64 to 32 round, Fu Xue exhausted herself, barely managing a hundred moves before losing.

She lost honorably.

Her opponent was Xia Yun, ranked 57th.

Two months prior, at the early stage of Four Meridians, Chu Hao fought Xia Yun to a tie. Now, with Xia Yun's strength likely improved to the peak of Six Meridians, it still took considerable effort to subdue Fu Xue, showing her incredible battle talent.

Liuyun Sect's higher-ups watched with appreciative nods, filled with envy.

Unfortunately, she wasn't from their family.

Ling Family lucked out.

Now, only Chu Hao remained.

He effortlessly defeated Yang Tao, ranked 46th, reaching the top 32.

This was the best result River Down Courtyard had ever achieved, naturally filling its disciples with joy.

With fewer participants, the bracket became simpler, and the upcoming matchups were engraved on an external stone slab.

"Bad news, Chu Hao's next opponent is Wan Yanliang," someone reported after checking the matchups.

Wan Yanliang, ranked sixth in the Inner Sect.

Zhao Huan and others showed disheartened expressions; there was no way he could win against an Eight Meridians.