Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique

"The second trial is about to begin."

Elder Lin Xiao’s words made everyone on the high platform straighten their backs. Indeed, they had only just passed the first trial; the more difficult challenges were yet to come. Mu Chen should have realized that such a lavish reward wouldn’t be easy to obtain. His ability to so easily see through the interiors of these Original Stones was entirely thanks to his bizarre Purple Sky Demon Pupils. Without them, Mu Chen would have no way of knowing which stones contained Spirit Crystals and which did not.

"I have given it some thought just now. Since there are still three hundred and twenty people eligible to continue the trial, I shall make a change to the format of the second trial. The original rule was for you to form pairs and, within the same time limit, select Original Stones containing Spirit Crystals and Rare Spirit Crystals from a pile we prepared. Whoever could select more Spirit Crystal Ore at a faster speed would pass."

As he spoke, Elder Lin Xiao waved his hand, and a hill-like pile of Original Stones appeared on the high platform, taking up nearly a third of the space. Elder Lin Xiao continued, "However, due to the number of participants, I have decided to change the rules for this competition. The competition will be split into two large groups, with one hundred and sixty people in each. You will compete in pairs simultaneously. The winner will advance to the next round within their group. In the end, the last person remaining from Group One and the last person remaining from Group Two will enter the final trial. This means that of you three hundred and twenty people, only two will pass the second round."

"Uh..."

Only two people would pass in the end. Mu Chen rubbed his nose. It was the first time he’d ever heard of such a tournament format, but he liked it. This would undoubtedly shorten the competition. Gazing at the mountain of Original Stones, Mu Chen felt a little resigned. It seemed the so-called Fake Original Stones were mixed in generously. But so what? As long as he could see through the inside of the stones, it wouldn’t affect him in the slightest, even if they used more peculiar types of Original Stones.

Meanwhile, a gasp of astonishment erupted from the audience seats around the plaza. In previous competitions, the second stage would eliminate participants down to one hundred, which the Spirit Selectors called the "Hundred-Man Tournament." After that came the "Ten-Man Tournament," a rule based on the number of towns. But this year, the rules had suddenly changed so drastically. The second round would already decide the top two. It was undeniably cruel, yet it gave the onlookers an unprecedented sense of fresh excitement. For countless years, the competition format had been the same. Seeing the same unchanging process every year, with only the contestants’ faces being different, would tire anyone out. The reason for their enthusiasm was simply that this was a time-honored tradition of their Empire, as grand as the New Year’s Eve celebration every year.

"Now, look at the numbers on your respective long tables. Spirit Selectors one through one hundred and sixty will be in Group One. One hundred and sixty-one through three hundred and twenty will be in Group Two. The pairings will be number one versus number two from Group One, one hundred and sixty-one versus one hundred and sixty-two from Group Two, and so on, with two pairs competing at the same time. The time limit for each person is twenty seconds. In other words, within those twenty seconds, whoever picks more Spirit Crystal Ore than their opponent advances to the next round. Any questions?"

The contestants all shook their heads. Mu Chen glanced at the number on his long table and couldn’t help but feel annoyed. The corner of his table was clearly marked with the number 159. This number meant he would be doing nothing but watching for a long time. With a sigh, Mu Chen was about to step aside and wait, but just then, Elder Lin Xiao spoke again. "Since there are no questions, and you have all seen your numbers, will all contestants other than number one, number two, number one hundred and sixty-one, and number one hundred and sixty-two please leave the high platform. Your respective Guides are around the audience seats. You may go there to rest. I will call your numbers when it is your turn to compete."

With that, Elder Lin Xiao waved his hand, signaling for everyone to leave the platform. Hearing this, Mu Chen scanned the area below. His keen perception quickly allowed him to spot the direction where Xu Fei and Wan Xian’Er were.

Below the high platform, in the front row of seats next to the pile of Original Stones, Xu Fei and Wan Xian’Er were staring intently at Mu Chen. This was a special seating area where only the Guides could sit. As fate would have it, sitting right next to Wan Xian’Er and Xu Fei was Ma Gedan, with whom they’d had a conflict.

Seeing Mu Chen striding purposefully toward them from the stage, Ma Gedan said with some surprise, "Well now, Master Xu, it seems the little fellow you picked has some decent luck. He actually passed the first trial. I’m truly happy for you." His tone was thick with the sarcasm that Mu Chen had just gotten lucky.

Xu Fei laughed heartily. "Is that so? Does Master Ma Gedan think so too? I feel the same way. Great minds think alike, it seems."

Ma Gedan forced a laugh, but inwardly he was fuming. ’Alike my ass! I’m mocking you, can’t you tell?’

As soon as Mu Chen stepped off the high platform, he saw Xu Fei waving at him, a smile also gracing Wan Xian’Er’s face. Xu Fei said, "Good kid, I knew I wasn’t wrong about you."

As he spoke, he shifted to make room. There was already an empty seat next to him, which was Da Wei’s. Da Wei was probably too exhausted from handling the registration yesterday to come. By shifting over, Xu Fei had now freed up the seat right next to Wan Xian’Er.

Mu Chen smiled slightly and sat down next to Wan Xian’Er. "It was just a bit of good luck. The ring I picked only had two Original Stones, so one minute was more than enough time."

Beaming, Xu Fei patted Mu Chen’s shoulder and laughed. "For a Spirit Selector, luck is a huge part of one’s strength. So even if it was luck, it’s still your strength. Besides, others might not know you, but do you think I don’t?"

In his eyes, Mu Chen had already saved Stone City. By passing the first round, Mu Chen had already pushed Stone City’s ranking up from last place to 320th. If Mu Chen could pass another round, Stone City’s rank would rise again, and by a huge margin. How could he not be happy at this thought?

Mu Chen could only smile in response. After he sat down next to Wan Xian’Er, another figure walked down from the high platform. Unlike Mu Chen, this person’s descent immediately drew widespread attention. He was none other than Ma Bi, the Spirit Selection genius and three-time reigning champion of the Spirit Selection Conference.

Ma Bi wore an arrogant expression, his hands clasped behind his back as he slowly descended from the high platform. He walked as if on a leisurely stroll, but the more he acted this way, the more he annoyed people.

"Huh? Isn’t this the representative from nine-time-loser Stone City? How have you not been eliminated yet?" As soon as Ma Bi came down, he spotted Mu Chen sitting next to Wan Xian’Er. He normally wouldn’t deign to speak to a mere Third Grade Spirit Selector like Mu Chen, but now Mu Chen was sitting next to Wan Xian’Er. This infuriated Ma Bi, who had been smitten at first sight, prompting him to speak with contempt.

Unexpectedly, Mu Chen didn’t seem to mind at all. Instead, with a faint, ambiguous smile, he said, "That’s right. Thanks to my luck, I seem to have passed the first trial without any real danger."

Mu Chen didn’t know where Ma Bi had been during the trial, and Ma Bi had never thought Mu Chen would pass the first test from the very beginning. So, Ma Bi was actually a little surprised.

"So it was just luck. That explains it. It’s the only explanation that’s convincing." After saying his piece, Ma Bi plopped down next to Ma Gedan. Since every Guide’s seat was separated by an empty space, Ma Bi couldn’t get any closer to Wan Xian’Er even if he wanted to.

There was nothing more to be said when two people didn’t see eye to eye. Mu Chen couldn’t be bothered to continue the pointless conversation with Ma Bi, so he simply turned his head to watch the two pairs of contestants selecting Original Stones on the high platform. Twenty seconds passed quickly. Mu Chen saw clearly that the first and second Spirit Selectors had chosen the exact same number of stones—four each. In contrast, the one hundred and sixty-first and one hundred and sixty-second Spirit Selectors were vastly different. One picked seven stones, while the other picked only two. This made Mu Chen face another issue: the pairings in the second round completely disregarded the Spirit Selectors’ Grades. It was a free-for-all regardless of Grade, which meant this was yet another test of luck and character.

Because the difference in the second pair was so great, the Fifth Grade Spirit Selector who had picked seven stones advanced without any suspense. As for the first pair, it was up to the inspectors to judge. In the end, contestant number one was eliminated for misidentifying a Fake Original Stone, and number two narrowly won, advancing to the top 160.

"’Looks like this competition won’t last too long,’ Mu Chen calculated. A single match took less than thirty seconds, so eighty matches would be over in about forty minutes."

Time passed, second by second. When the competition had been going for about twenty minutes, Elder Lin Xiao suddenly shouted, "Spirit Selectors number two hundred and one and number two hundred and two, come up and make your selections."

Mu Chen felt a figure next to him slowly stand up and lazily walk onto the stage. Without even looking, Mu Chen knew that the only person with such a devil-may-care attitude was Ma Bi.

"Number two hundred-something."

Mu Chen smiled faintly. ’Looks like we won’t be facing each other in this second trial. If I get the chance, maybe we’ll meet in the finals. Should I be a bit more high-profile then?’ Resting his chin on his hand, Mu Chen gradually drifted into this idle line of thought. This left Wan Xian’Er, who was sitting beside him, completely baffled. In the end, she could only turn her gaze to Ma Bi on the high platform, wanting to see for herself what kind of strength this three-time champion truly possessed.