Ranking Tournament

3 days passed in a blink of an eye,

The ranking competition was held on this day. The whole outer dragon palace was pumped up because of the tournament.

Early in the morning, Zhu Shen did his morning exercises and walked towards the outer arena which was specifically made for Tournaments like these. Zhu Shen was able to feel a heated atmosphere from outside the arena.

As he entered, Zhu Shen saw 10 massive floating platforms packed full of people. He was surprised by the sheer number of people present to watch today's tournament. At least 100,000 people were attending this tournament from various empires as well as various low-level sects.

Zhu Shen entered the arena and waited for the announcement.

"This time the dragon palace is holding a ranking competition instead of directly giving out slots to most talented disciples…"

"Yeah… I think a lot of talented people will appear today to shake the rankings."

"I heard that there is a dispute between elders about slots. Hence they held the tournament."

"Who knows, maybe it is just another publicity stunt performed by the dragon palace to show off their might."

A lot of heated conversations were going in the spectators but suddenly top roof of the arena flew off. Everybody's attention was attracted to the roof of the arena.

As they were watching, a massive dragon head entered inside the arena carrying all the elders as well as sect masters of the dragon palace. When people saw the dragon head was as large as the whole arena they felt really scared.

Zhu Shen also looked at the massive dragon head in front of him. But he didn't feel scared at all, he felt some kind of familiarity, like the dragon in front of him, might be his close relative.

'I have to ask my master about this…'

Zhu Shen thought about it and choose to ask his master about this feeling.

All the elders descended from the dragon head and landed in the middle of the arena.

"Today is a very special day for everybody present. "

The one who spoke was the grand elder of the outer dragon palace. He raised his hands as the massive arena was divided into ten sections in front of all the spectators.

"These 10 arenas represent 10 slots to the dragonblood pool… The last standing person on each arena will receive the right to enter the dragonblood pool…!"

"Anyone with peak mortal constitution can join inside the battle. Everyone has 12 hours to decide the victor."

The announcement cause everybody to remain quiet for a while, then they started to cheer madly in favour of the dragon palace. This was the first time in history that the dragon palace opened its gates for getting a right to enter the dragonblood pool.

"Son… you have to perform tremendously and get a spot for the dragonblood pool… future of our family will dependant upon your performance…"

A middle-aged man was looking expectantly towards his son.

One can hear similar conversations around the whole arena. This was a huge opportunity for empires as well as smaller sects to prove their value to the dragon palace.

Looking at the exciting atmosphere, the grand elder felt really satisfied. He lead all elders towards the special stand made for elders.

"This tournament starters now…"

Before sitting in his position, the grand elder announced the start of the tournament.

Zhu Shen only watched as the first contestants got on top of 10 arenas. Not a single one of them was from the dragon palace.

This type of tournament was not only made to check the might of each contestant but also their endurance.

'It is foolish to go up on the arena now.'

Zhu Shen thought as he watched hoards and hoards of participants ready to fight in the arena. he just sat down in a meditative position watching the fights.

---

After about six hours,

The challenging disciples got fewer and fewer in numbers. Finally, a disciple from dragon palace came on top of arena number 7. All the spectators glued their attention towards arena number 7.

'From this point on the real battle will start…'

Zhu Shen thought as he paid attention to the 7th arena.

On top of the 7th arena, the youth is introduced to the disciple of dragon palace,

"Zang Su from snow-wind sect"

The dragon palace disciple looked disdainfully at Zang Su like he was looking at an ant. He did not even bother to introduce himself.

Looking at the disdainful look of his opponent, Zang Su got really angry.

"Start…"

As soon as the instructor said the word, Zang Su rushed with all his might towards his opponent.

"Die…"

Zhang Su waved his sword towards his opponent. For normal people, it was a really quick move.

Just as the sword reached in front of the disciple he disappeared from his spot. Zang Su's sword hit nothing but air.

Zhang Su looked around trying to find his opponent but as soon as he turned around…

Crack…. Crack….

The sound of bones cracking came from the other side of Zhang Su. The next thing he saw was everything around him started rotating.

From the single punch from his opponent, Zhang Su's whole body was sent flying more than 20 meters.

Unwillingness, fear, helplessness… all kinds of emotions surfaced on Zhang Su's face as his body fell on the floor.

Thud.

There was no other sound. All the ongoing fights stopped midway as the contestants looked in the direction of the 7th arena.

"Che… Trash…"

The disciple from the dragon gate clicked his tongue disdainfully as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Su'er…. "

A shrill cry of an old man woke everybody from their trance as they saw an old man holding Zhang Su in his arms crying… He was the sect elder of the snow-wind sect.

Zhang Su looked at the old man and said with a bitter tone,

"Master I have failed your expectations sorry…"

These were the last words Zhang Su spoke as he took his last breath.

Zhang Su was dead.