The instant that the Chosen vanished into thin air, the Ascending Dragon Platform began to change, with the sound of a loud rumbling, the area within the central square of Machen Town had started to vibrate violently. Eventually, the towering stairway that rose to the heavens had begun to glow with a strange black and white light, as the lifelike sculpted dragon that coiled around the stairway had unexpectedly started to unwind itself.Phew! The black and white light covered the entire Machen Town blanketing its skies for hundreds of kilometers, as the now uncoiled dragon that was as tall as the heavens itself rushed towards the depths of the sky wrapping its body around a vast region of the sky.
The black and white lights shortly after receding merged into the lifelike dragon that hovered above the sky. It gave off a brilliant and dignifying aura as if everything in the world was worth nothing in its eyes.
"The Chosen Battle Arena has now been opened!" The voice loudly declared as its words resounded throughout the world for hundreds of kilometers.
Buzz! Following the sound of its voice, a ma.s.sive arena soon began to form out of nothingness as the Ascending Dragon Platform vanished from the sight of the people.
Within moments the arena was complete as it floated in the void above Machen Town, it was a broad stone platform that had a width which exceeded the size of the entire town, with large black and white tiles paving its surface like a checkerboard.
At its edges were multiple elevated platforms on which all of the figures of the major powers now stood to observe the compet.i.tion.
The people seeing this scene were stunned to behold such a fantastic view but before they could get themselves to adapt to the strange sight another change occurred.
Flash! As the Chosen Battle Arena completed its construction the eyes of the dragon that blanketed the sky started to glow following which it rapidly descended towards the floating battle arena, wrapping itself around its edges creating a black and white scale boundary.
It then moved its head to the center of the battle arena as it looked down on the empty platforms.
In an instant, a few flashes of light appeared on the battle platform where after all of the chosen candidates suddenly appeared each with a black and white circular token hovering by their sides, the floating symbols of the chosen candidates each had a unique number on its surface.
As the chosen candidates arrived on the battle arena, they looked around the platform in surprise.
"Where is this?" A candidate said as he looked around but couldn"t find anything familiar, a few other candidates were also disturbed as they started to voice their worries. However, a familiar voice sounded throughout the environment, as if trying to ease their concerns.
"You are all currently above the Chosen Battle Arena, which is now floating directly above Machen Town!" The gentle voice said.
Hearing this voice, the candidates quieted down as they look towards the source, quickly they found it.
It was an elevated platform that was a few hundred meters tall at the far-right edge of the battle arena. A few individuals could be seen standing on top of this platform they were the strange men in white, elders of the Sky Splitting Sword School along with the Bright Flame Knights.
The woman in white was now standing at the forefront of these individuals looking down towards the geniuses on the Chosen Battle Arena as she spoke, "This is the final phase of the Trial, and I"m sure that you"ve already been brief by the Guardian Construct of the Ascending Dragon Platform. Now, the battles will commence!"
A few geniuses hearing this were shocked, one of them spoke in a flurried manner.
"Guardian... a Guardian Construct? Such a terrifying creature is only a Construct..." He said while feeling fear as he looked at the dragon that wrapped around their battle arena with its head looking down at them.
Hui Ying looked up at the head of the dragon and muttered, "Oh... it seems that this Ancient Dragon Clan, was quite advance to be able to manufacture this kind of construct."
Feng Yu hearing this was stunned as he looked at the dragon once again and spoke to Hui Ying, "How this be a construct? I thought it was a beast using some sort of self-preservation technique which caused its body to be able to alternate between being a life existence and structure."
As Feng Yu said this, he couldn"t help but recall some strange constructs in his former world, similar to the lifelike dragon in front of him.
"Un. It"s a construct, but a construct that had been created by the materials of a real-life dragon with those traits," Hui Ying replied with certainty.
"How do you know this?" Feng Yu asked curiously as he looked at Hui Ying for answers.
"Let"s just say I"ve gathered a bit of knowledge from my past adventures," Hui Ying said with a strange smile on his face.
"Fine! I"ll take your word for it," Feng Yu replied with an unconvinced expression on his face.
Dai Lin looked at Hui Ying while tapping his forehead with his finger slightly as if committing something to memory. Feng Yu then looked around at the edges of the Chosen Battle Arena and saw that other than the platform where the woman in white stood, there were multiple platforms within the region and on each of those platforms where all of the major powers and spectators who had come to observe the battle of the chosen.
As the chosen candidates had now calmed down, they looked around at the platforms of their respected clans and influences. After a short while, the dragon head that seemed as if it was watching them started to change, the eyes of the dragon began to glow once more with the black and white lights.
Phew! As the lights appeared a chart soon came into the view of everyone, it was a roster which had the numbers of each of the candidates arranged on its surface at various positions, below different lines that connected to each other at varying sections.
The chart had three major parts, at the bottom-section was an arrangement with a pairing for 50 tokens, the victor of these tokens was then connected to the middle-section with different lines pairing off for a total of ten tokens. Finally, only five lines led towards the top-section which matched the five remaining tokens together at one point.
"It finally started..." The mysterious spear youth said as he gripped his spear firmly with his hands, Xia Rou and the brawny youth standing beside her looked on with a vaguely interested expression as if they didn"t expect much from the fights to come.
"I will win this for my people..." The southern wasteland youth said as a sharp light shone in the depths of his eyes.
"..." Xiang Shu looked at the scene with a strange light in his eyes as he licked his lips and an odd smile formed at the corners of his mouth.
"This should be quite interesting..." Feng Yu said as he looked at Dai Lin then at Lang Kuang and Miren Fei with a smile on his face.
Ji Weng, Xuan Bei, Tang Wu, Xin Qing along with the other factions" geniuses looked at the chart each with their minds set on becoming the True Chosen amongst Chosen.
In an instant, the black and white light receded once more into the eyes of the dragon as the chart remained in the field of vision for all to see. The ancient voice of the dragon sounded throughout the world once again, as it declared, "The War for the t.i.tle of Pseudo-Chosen will now commence!"
Rumble! Suddenly, the Chosen Battle Arena started to shake as each of the candidates were then positioned on white and black squares looking like chess pieces on a humongous chess board. They were arranged at the edges of the arena which surrounded a sizeable golden square at the main area.
Surrounding this golden square were five bright silver squares arranged in a circular formation each a few hundred meters away from the golden square, looking even further away one would then see ten bronze-colored squares that surrounded both the silver squares and the large golden square.
"Interesting..." The bamboo hat youth muttered as he looked at the unusual arrangement, the other candidates within the area also observed the new setup.
"Candidate Number 50 will now face Candidate Number 25! Commence Battle!" The Ancient Dragon Construct said.
Flash! Flash! Suddenly, two of the geniuses at the on the black and white squares at the edges of the battle arena vanished with a flash of light appearing on the central large golden square.
While they were surprised, they did not drop their guards, as one of the candidates immediately launched an attack towards the opposing candidate.
Whoosh! As if he was expecting the opposing candidate"s attack, the rival candidate swiftly moved to the side as he dodged his opponent"s onslaught.
However, a mocking sneer came from the attacking candidate as he roared following up his previous attack with another fluid attack.
"Oh s.h.i.t!" The young genius shouted as he tried to prevent the attack.
"Ha! It"s too late!" The opposing candidate laughed as he responded while changing his first attack to a kicking a.s.sault.
"Die! Tornado Kick!" He roared as his body spun like a top kicking up winds in the large square as his feet connected with the poor candidate"s face hurling him high into the air as he fell harshly onto the ground. He soon after coughed up a mouth of blood before falling unconscious.
As they saw the scene before their eyes a few of the geniuses felt shocked, but the majority only looked on with disdain.
"Hmph! Weaklings trying to show off..." Xia Rou mocked as she snorted while looking at the winner in disdain.
Flash! Soon, another flash of light shone upon the golden square which sent both geniuses back to their previous locations. The injured individual was recovered by an odd power and sent directly outside of the battle arena to an empty platform that floated with the others.
"It looks like those who fail to become Pseudo Chosen"s will be disqualified from further competing," Feng Yu muttered as he saw the look of distress that came upon the individuals face as he was sent to the lonely platform.
A few others also took note of this which only caused their determinations to grow stronger. As if not paying attention to the state of mind of the candidates the ancient dragon spoke once more, "Next Battle Candidate Number 31 will now face Candidate Number 12! Commence Battle!"
Quickly, another pair appeared on the central square but one of them was quite familiar, it was Prince Xuan Bei. The observing influences couldn"t help but start to clamor.
"Ah! So, it turns out that the Prince of the Bright Flame Kingdom was the first among our kingdom"s genius to battle," An influential individual said.
"Who is that guy he"s facing against?" Another individual asked.
"I"m not sure. However, the clothing that this kid wearing is similar to that worn by the disciples of the Molten Axe Sect," The man replied.
"A kingdom top-cla.s.s talent dares to ignore an empire middle-cla.s.s sect disciple, truly asking for trouble," A hidden influence character said.
The eyes of the gorgeous woman dressed in red belonging to the Molten Axe Sect shone brightly, as she saw one of her sect"s disciple appearing.
Xuan Bei looked at the individual in front of him with a frown on his face, as he spoke with arrogance, "You! Get down!"
His voice echoed throughout the battle arena as the people hearing him where shocked.
"How arrogant? This Xuan Bei thinks he"s the king of the arena!" A genius in a square on the battle arena said.
The Molten Axe Sect Disciple hearing Xuan Bei"s words instantly erupted with anger. He roared, "A foolish Prince of an affiliate kingdom! You do not know the immensity of heaven and the earth! Pay for your arrogance with your life - Molten Rock Fist!"
As if he was a volcano his entire right hand had taken on a shade of red as steam began to rise off his arm filling the arena with a blazing air.
Sou! He dashed towards Xuan Bei as he launched his fist outwards, creating a heatwave attack towards Xuan Bei.
As he saw this, Xuan Bei looked on with arrogance as he positioned himself in a strange serpent-like posture, soon his body began to give rise to a similar type of heat. He dashed forward while swaying from side to side like a serpent as each of his steps would leave a bright red mark the ground.
Sou! Sou! Bang!
With the swaying of his body, he effortlessly dodged the first heatwave attack which fell upon the floor behind him creating a blazing shockwave. However, Xuan Bei continued forwards unaffected quickly shortening the distance between him and the Molten Axe Sect disciple.
As he saw how easily his opponent avoided his attack, the Molten Axe Sect disciple was surprised but also enraged at the same time. He gathered more heat energy into both of his arms and unleashed a storm of fists.
"I"m not finished yet, Molten Boulder Fist a.s.sault!" He roared as multiple heatwave fist shades were launched towards Xuan Bei"s approaching figure.
As if it was nothing worth being concern about, Xuan Bei"s form continued to blur in and out of the heatwave fist shades as he continued to dash forwards using the strange serpent-like motions.
"Hmph! My "Bright Fire Serpent Steps" has reached the large-success stage. I could dance around on this platform, and you would not be able to harm my hair. However, my time with you has ended prepare yourself to leave the Chosen Wars," As he said this, a mocking smile came on his face as he swayed his body once more vanishing.
Swish! "d.a.m.n! Where did he go?" The Molten Axe Sect disciple cursed as he looked around the area. Soon though, he felt a wave of heat coming from his back.
"Not tod--" The Molten Axe Sect disciple tried to react, but sadly, it was too late.
"Flaming Finger!" Xuan Bei yelled as he stood behind the Molten Axe Sect disciple, utilizing the power of his he stretched one of his hand out at the back of his opponent"s head and flicked his finger that glowed with a bright red light.Bang! The finger connecting with the head of the Molten Axe Sect disciple created a mini shockwave of bright flames as the guy flew out of the square and collided with the corner walls of dragon scales.
If one looked carefully, they would see that all the hair that was on the head of the guy was burnt off revealing a shiny but scorched head.
Flash! The light appeared once more and sent both forms away from the platform. Naturally, the defeated was thrown to the outer platform.
"To play with fire in front of the Bright Flame Prince! Truly Naive!" Fei Tan said as he stood beside the Bright Flame King and Madam Xuan.
The major influences looked on with a slightly curious look in their eyes as they pondered the limits of Xuan Bei"s strength.
"Hmm... not bad," Ji Weng said as he looked at his rival, the other chosen looked on with different expression some with shock and some indifferently.
Tang Wu and Xin Qing looked on as a slightly troubled expression came on their faces.
"Brother Wu, it seems that Xuan Bei has improved to a pretty decent stage this past year," Xin Qing said as she recalled the battle scene.
Tang Wu smiled and replied confidently, "He truly has improved quite a bit, but it won"t be enough to beat either us if this is all the strength he wields."
Xin Qing reached for a dagger in her sleeves and spun it at the tips of her fingers while nodding with a smile on her face, Feng Yu smiled as he saw this but did not overly ponder it.
Quickly, the voice of the Ancient Dragon Construct appeared once again.
"Next Battle Candidate Number 11 will now face Candidate Number 46! Commence Battle!"
Seeing the forms on which the light had now shone upon Feng Yu and Dai Lin smiled as a light shone in Feng Yu"s eyes.
"Dai Lin, this is where "Dawn" will spread its "Wings.""