X-Dragon Era

With no alternative left, Po Kong had no choice but to show up here. Since others seemed to regard Xin Yun as inconsequential as a blade of grass, it was up to him to come and observe with his own eyes.

After explaining the rules, the referee slowly withdrew from the field. For a moment, only Xin Yun and the four people opposite him remained. With his arms folded and a cold voice, Xin Yun loudly said, "Don't say I didn't give you a chance. Now, I'll give you ten minutes to discuss your tactics. After ten minutes, the match will officially start!" With that, Xin Yun slowly closed his eyes, as if he had fallen asleep.

Faced with this, although the four guys felt humiliated, they didn't hold back at all and gathered together to discuss in low voices. After all...everyone was quite unfamiliar with each other and lacked understanding of each other's characteristics. Poor cooperation could lead not only to an inability to assist one another but even to mutual harm, which would be undesirable.

After some discussion, the group quickly came up with a plan. Two Fire Series dragons were responsible for long-range firepower suppression, one Earth Series dragon was in charge of close-quarters defense, and the remaining Wind Giant Dragon provided support. Such an arrangement was already quite comprehensive. They were confident of victory even against most institutes in the Fourth Grade Segment, let alone against an ordinary student from White Ten Class in the same year phase.

Once they had sorted their plan, the four split up. The Earth Dragon took the front, the Wind Giant Dragon was in the middle, and the two Fire Series dragons lined up behind. This formation was most suitable for the tactics they had just arranged.

In the face of this setup, the entire audience fell silent. At the same time, after receiving signals from both parties, the referee announced loudly, "Alright, now I will announce the line-up of the challengers!"

Pausing for a moment, the referee then continued, "The challenger is from the third-year phase, White Ten Class, with a strength of Gold Two Stars—Xin Yun!"

"Whispers and murmurs..." Upon hearing the referee's voice, all the schools started whispering among themselves. Gold Two Stars was indeed on the lower end, and though it wasn't the lowest in the Third-year Phase, it was close to Xin Yun's current ranking, placing him in the last one thousand.

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The Third-year Phase might be Gold tier, but it was home to a large number of experts at the Crystal tier. In fact...to ascend to the Fourth Grade Segment, the minimum requirement was to raise one's strength to the Crystal tier. Without achieving Crystal tier strength, no matter how strong one was in other aspects, they would definitely not be allowed into the Fourth Grade Segment.

This was similar to the requirement of achieving Gold tier strength to advance from the Second-year Phase to the Third-year Phase. The Fourth Grade Segment taught battle skills and abilities that only those at the Crystal tier could learn and master. There was no use for Gold tier students to go there, as they wouldn't be able to learn anything, so why waste time?

But, does possessing Crystal tier strength guarantee entry into the Fourth Grade Segment? No, of course not... Just like in previous phases, there are only one hundred spots available every year. The top one hundred ranked in the grade phase could challenge those in the last one hundred of the Fourth Grade Segment. Victors would rise to the Fourth Grade Segment, while losers remained in the Third-year Phase.

As such, over sixty percent of students in the Third-year Phase already possessed Crystal tier strength but were still pressed to remain there, continuing their studies in the Third-year Phase.

For someone like Xin Yun, with only the strength of Gold Two Stars, it was very difficult to get by here. Usually, they would be eliminated to the Second-year Phase by the end of the year, and after a few cycles, they might be able to stand firm in the Third-year Phase, then gradually climb up and eventually make it to the top one hundred, thus qualifying to participate in the challenge. But once in the Fourth Grade Segment, everything was like a cycle, repeating all over again...

Ignoring the clamor below, the referee continued, "The challenged party consists of individuals from Red Two Class, Gold Four Class, Green Five Class, and Blue Seven Class, all with the strength of Crystal Two Stars..."

"Wow!" As they heard this, the whole place was in an uproar. This was fucking terrifying—the four guys had all reached Crystal Two Stars. Each of their strengths was not only one entire order above Xin Yun's but also a full ten stars higher. What was the point of even fighting!

Generally speaking, it's very hard to beat someone whose strength exceeds yours by one order, even if it's just a star or two. This represents a qualitative change, a gap that can't be bridged by mere numbers, particularly like this case, where it's not just one order but a whole ten stars. It was almost assuredly a lost cause, with only a slim chance of victory.

Now the opponents were not only an entire order higher than Xin Yun but also a full ten stars above him, and the most terrifying part was that there were four of them. This was truly unwinnable—one miracle would be triumphing over just one, now it was one against four!

Instantly, the entire stand erupted into noise, and despite the referee's several attempts to speak, his voice was drowned out by the chaos. He couldn't even hear himself, much less expect others to hear, so, with no other option, the referee could only smile wryly, shake his head, and patiently wait for everyone to quiet down.

After a while, all the students finally quieted down, stood up, and looked towards Xin Yun in the center of the field. In their eyes, a scene of sheer brutality was about to unfold. This seemingly formidable guy was about to be tormented beyond recognition.

Of course, not everyone thought this way. In the whole field, at least four people definitely didn't think so, especially Po Kong. Even Yi Luo Xiang and the others were somewhat worried, after all...the gap was just too substantial. In fact...even Xin Yun wasn't fully confident.