Soul Emperor Martial God

"Northern Mountain Sword Master."

The Fierce Tiger Sword Master and the Meteor Sword Master said simultaneously.

"Now, the Wanshan Sword Master has fallen unconscious."

"Of course, he's already lost his combat strength."

"But, what do you plan to do about the subsequent issues?"

The subsequent issues naturally referred to the battle between the sword master teams and the teams made up of talented martial artists from each county.

Even a fool could tell that Xiao Yi was intending to help Jie Mo.

However, there was simply no possibility of compromise between the two teams.

If Xiao Yi really wanted to aid Jie Mo's team,

They would only have to cross swords with Xiao Yi.

The two teams could only be adversaries.

Xiao Yi furrowed his brow and said, "No matter what the rules of the assessment are."

"I've always believed that strength is the foremost criterion for everything."

"Including the rankings of this assessment."

On hearing his words, the Fierce Tiger Sword Master and the Meteor Sword Master furrowed their brows.

On the Flame Dragon Continent, the principle that strength was supreme had long been etched into people's hearts.

No one found it strange.

Still, they wanted to know what Xiao Yi was going to say.

Out of Xiao Yi's mouth came four words: "Continue the fight."

"How shall we fight?" the two asked.

"Free-for-all," Xiao Yi answered, "not targeting anyone in particular, nor teaming up."

"Rankings will be determined by our own fists."

The Fierce Tiger Sword Master and the Meteor Sword Master, including Jie Mo, suddenly saw a light of excitement.

Strength was supreme—this was the blood-pumping principle all martial artists upheld the most.

These three people were of proud and arrogant nature.

They despised the idea of teaming up.

Xiao Yi's suggestion was clearly excellent.

"Northern Mountain Sword Master, I'm beginning to see you in a new light," said the Meteor Sword Master with a smile.

"Me too," nodded the Fierce Tiger Sword Master.

Jie Mo laughed and said, "Northern Mountain County is truly extraordinary."

"Not only did it produce Purple Flame, but there's also the Northern Mountain Sword Master Xiao Yi."

"Enough talk, let's fight," Xiao Yi said with a faint smile.

"Let's have a thrilling battle," Xiao Yi's face showed a fighting spirit.

"Alright," the three answered.

The fight reignited in an instant.

Out of the hundred or more Sword Sect disciples, most had stepped aside.

Only the sword masters engaged in combat.

The sword masters' rankings were the rankings of the disciples of their respective Sword Sects.

So, the ordinary Sword Sect disciples didn't need to fight.

On the side with two thousand martial artists,

Only about a dozen at the Mystic Breakthrough Fifth Layer engaged.

Those of weaker strength didn't plan to fight.

They never held any hope of joining the Sword Sect.

Even if they had teamed up before and defeated the team of sword masters,

Out of these two thousand people, at most only 36 could enter the Sword Sect.

For the most part, their aim was to prove their strength

And exchange blows with the sword master teams.

So, they weren't fighting now.

But back to the main point.

The fight kicked off in an instant, with only dozens of participants.

Everyone found an opponent that matched them.

All over the arena, only one person stood dumbfounded in place.

A sudden cool breeze came, lifting a cloud of dust.

Amid the dust, that person stood alone and awkward.

It was Xiao Yi.

Strangely, nobody sought to battle him.

"Jie Mo, fight me," Xiao Yi's figure flashed as he approached Jie Mo.

Jie Mo was in the midst of exchanging moves with another martial artist.

"Stay out of it, don't interrupt my fight," Jie Mo said discontentedly.

"Fierce Tiger Sword Master, fight me," Xiao Yi's figure flashed as he approached the Fierce Tiger Sword Master.

The Fierce Tiger Sword Master was locked in fierce combat with the Meteor Sword Master.

The two said, "You took down Wanshan Sword Master with a single strike."

"Who'd be so foolish to fight you?"

"The first place is yours; don't hinder our battle."

With that, the two moved to another spot to continue their fight.

"Uh," Xiao Yi stood in place, his face full of helplessness.

He had been the first to show a desire to fight,

And now he was the first to lose the will, standing there with an embarrassed expression.

His physical strength was very strong, and his true strength far exceeded that of the other martial artists present.

But his Cultivation was still only at the Mystic Breakthrough Ninth Layer.

His swordsmanship level was roughly equal to that of the Meteor Sword Master and the others.

He also wished for an opportunity to exchange insights on the Sword Dao.

"Sigh," Xiao Yi gave a heavy sigh.

After a while, he had no choice but to return to Ye Ming and the others' side to wait quietly.

...

The battle finally came to a complete close after most of the day.

Undoubtedly, Xiao Yi was first.

Second, third, and fourth were Jie Mo, the Fierce Tiger Sword Master, and the Meteor Sword Master.

However, the three of them did not manage to differentiate themselves in terms of skill.

After all, this was only the first round of assessment.

There was no need to reveal all their cards and fight to the finish.

Ultimately, as long as one ranked in the top 6, they could continue to vie for the title of 'Strongest Sword Master'.

Moreover,

in this round of assessment, apart from the extremely generous rewards for first place,

the rewards for second to sixth place were quite similar.

Following that, the fifth place went to Black Wind Sword Master.

Black Wind Sword Master was one of the two Sword Masters from the previous refining competition.

Black Wind County and Hei Yue County were adjacent to each other.

Disciples from both counties often had good relations.

In sixth place was Sword Master Xingmo.

In seventh place was Nine River Sword Master.

In eighth...ninth... the rankings only went up to 36.

Of course, these rankings were just privately set by Xiao Yi and the others.

The true rankings would be announced several days later, after the assessment had ended,

recorded by the Sword Sect's Great Elder and Deacons based on the number of people and the sword points situation.

This privately determined ranking,

solely decided the allocation of the sword points of those two thousand martial artists.

Two thousand martial artists were, from the start, destined to leave for the most part, missing the chance to join the Sword Sect.

These 2000 sword points, distributed according to the temporary rankings, went to the tokens of the current top 36.

...

As Xiao Yi had previously guessed,

there was bound to be a battle that would prematurely end this seven-day assessment.

After today's battle drew to a close,

everyone could only wait.

Several days later, the seven-day period arrived.

The first round of the assessment was also declared over.

The Great Elder of the Sword Sect and the Deacons came to inspect the situation of each team.

First, they recorded the numbers, and then the sword points.

Afterward, when checking the talents like Jie Mo from the various counties, they directly recorded the sword points.

Half a day later,

all the records were finally complete,

and the rankings were truly released.

The first place, naturally, went to Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi initially received 800 sword points from the four Sword Master teams.

Afterward, he single-handedly annihilated a thousand-person team and gained another thousand sword points.

Finally, he obtained a large number of sword points from that two thousand-person team.

His total sword points amounted to 2200.

In second place was Zhong Wuyou.

He, along with Jie Mo and others, snatched the sword points from 10 Sword Master teams.

Of course, these sword points had been divided a lot among the team.

But, in the end, he completely seized the sword points from the Wanshan Sword Master.

Naturally, he was second.

Third place went to Jie Mo.

Fourth place was Meteor Sword Master.

Fifth place was Fierce Tiger Sword Master.

Meteor Sword Master, Fierce Tiger Sword Master, and Wanshan Sword Master originally had similar sword points.

However, Wanshan Sword Master had already been eliminated.

Sixth place went to Black Wind Sword Master.

Seventh place was Sword Master Xingmo.

Eighth place went to Nine River Sword Master.

The difference between these two came down to how many sword points they managed to get from the two thousand-person team during the final battle.

Overall, the two only differed by about 10 sword points or so.

Rankings were given one after another, all the way to the 36th position.

It is worth mentioning that among these rankings were several individuals with Mystic Breakthrough Five-Layered Cultivation,

talented martial artists from various counties,

who also made it into the top 36.

This meant that Zhong Wuyou, Jie Mo, and these other individuals could join the Sword Sect.

They were now Sword Sect disciples.

In addition,

this round of assessment, although both parties were the same,

held different significance for each.

For the talented martial artists from the counties, their goal was,

as long as they could rank within the top 36, they could join the Sword Sect.

For the Sword Master teams,

the goal was to compete for the title of 'Strongest Sword Master'.

From this round of assessment, only the top six Sword Masters could continue to participate.

So, although Sword Master Xingmo and Zhou Yueyao ranked seventh and eighth,

aside from Zhong Wuyou and Jie Mo,

these two were exactly among the top six Sword Masters.

Therefore, those who could continue to contend for the title of 'Strongest Sword Master' were,

Xiao Yi, Fierce Tiger Sword Master, Meteor Sword Master,

Black Wind Sword Master, Sword Master Xingmo, Nine River Sword Master.

At this time, the Great Elder of the Sword Sect announced the rankings and said loudly, "Take a short rest."

"The second round of assessment, the Sword Pavilion Trial, will soon begin."

...

...

Second update.