xu nian couldn''t help but feel speechless; he originally thought he was the most low-key person in the entire venue, but now it seemed he was actually the most ostentatious.

    while everyone else made their grand entrances, his step-by-step approach made him the most abnormal one there.

    jeers and curses were incessant, to the point that the last contestant used all his strength to run, fearing that a slower pace would earn the crowd''s scorn.

    thirty contestants had already ascended the battle platform, gathering in small groups of three, organized by academy.

    xu nian naturally stood with dugu jingcheng and chen xifeng. in a melee with thirty people, teamwork was essential, so he wouldn''t be foolish enough to take on several opponents alone.

    "qin tian, do you recognize that person?" ji yun, curious, asked as he noticed qin tian''s gaze had been fixed on xu nian all along.

    qin tian, looking towards xu nian and frowning, said, "he''s my younger brother, named qin nian, but i didn''t expect him to have changed his surname."

    "oh? your brother? so do you want to..." ji yun''s face showed a look of surprise.

    qin tian seemed to understand ji yun''s hesitance, interrupting him, "there''s no need, though he is my brother, we do not share the same mother, and i''ve heard that my father has expelled him from the family. i just didn''t expect him to show up here, so don''t hold back later."

    "that''s fine then. dugu jingcheng is our primary target; since your brother is from his academy, i feared you might have reservations," ji yun said, nodding.

    "senior brother qin tian, if i accidentally injure your brother later, you won''t blame me, will you?" another lean young man from tianhen academy said with a smile.

    "wei yun, just go ahead and make your move. even if you kill him, i won''t blame you," qin tian replied with a cold laugh.

    "then i''m relieved. i find that guy very annoying; i''ll make sure he loses miserably later," wei yun responded.

    ji yun, hearing their conversation, also smiled slightly, looking towards zhao yan not far away.

    zhao yan, at that moment, looked back, and they shared a smile.

    ji yun had already known the rules of the preliminary contest, so he had approached zhao yan the night before, and the two decided to join forces to eliminate dugu jingcheng in the preliminaries, with feng rain as their second target.

    teaming up in a melee to eliminate the stronger contestants first meant that the remaining weaker ones wouldn''t pose a threat to them, even if they made it to the semifinals.

    therefore, zhao yan and ji yun''s secret alliance aimed to take down the top-ranked contestants; they considered feng rain, being a woman, a secondary target because it wouldn''t look good for them to team up against her. so they prioritized dugu jingcheng as their first target.

    that was their strategy!

    however, they thought their secret cooperation was flawless, unaware that xu nian possessed spiritual sense. experience more on empire

    chen xifeng nodded, asking no more questions.

    however, xu nian turned to look at the veiled woman in the corner of the battle platform, feeling that there was something extraordinary about her.

    "alright, now that everyone is here, i hereby announce that the competition officially begins!" song heng declared loudly from the sky.

    the field erupted into a wave of loud cheers, and the previously still competitors instantly sprang into action, moving against their preselected targets.

    ji yun and zhao yan were quite shrewd; they did not head straight for dugu jingcheng at the start but used two academy members to either side of him as cover to approach dugu jingcheng.

    without xu nian''s warning, dugu jingcheng might have actually been deceived, but now he was already on guard.

    qin tian naturally engaged in battle with chen xifeng, while feng rain and others were fighting with another academy.

    meanwhile, in front of xu nian appeared wei yun''s figure, who looked at xu nian with a sneer, "heh, kid, i was really annoyed watching you strut your stuff just now. now i''m going to send you packing."

    as he finished speaking, he reached out to strike xu nian, aiming to eliminate him directly.

    in his opinion, he was a ninth-star warrior of the star realm, ranked sixteenth in the rankings. it should be easy peasy for him to deal with xu nian, ranked twenty-ninth.

    however, just as he was about to make his move, xu nian pointed behind wei yun with a look of triumph and called out, "senior brother chen, quick, help me take him down!"

    wei yun was startled; he knew he was no match for chen xifeng if he made a move.

    consequently, he instinctively looked back, but there wasn''t a trace of chen xifeng behind him.

    "you tricked me!" wei yun bellowed in anger.

    but as soon as he turned his head back around, he saw xu nian in front of him, holding up a white, thick bone.

    "scram!"

    before wei yun could react, xu nian''s bone came crashing down hard on his head.

    with a "thud!"

    wei yun felt the world spin around him, and then xu nian kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him flying out of the arena.

    poor wei yun thus became the first to be eliminated, ranking thirtieth.

    the audience, witnessing this scene, was first stunned, then burst into cursing, "shameless!"