"Eighth place: Lataria, 17th layer."
"Seventh place: Yasenia Dravory, 21st layer."
"Sixth place: Shen Baihu, 46th layer."
"Fifth Place: Ralgar, 47th layer."
"Fourth Place: Duan Yuelan, 48th layer."
"Third Place: Astarea, 51st layer."
"Second Place: Meng Lihua, 52nd layer."
"First place: Ao Jiuyao, 101st layer."
Yasenia looked at the positions and was stunned by the first place. 'Lataria's granduncle is ridiculous… Moreover, that place is the one he reached in ten days. Meaning… That's not his limit.'
Yasenia was also defeating her opponent with rather high ease, going slightly slow to assimilate the experience of each layer. Nevertheless, she didn't feel that she was slow. 'If I knew what it was about since the beginning, I could see myself reaching the thirtieth or even thirty-fifth level, depending on the increase of difficulty. However, the fortieth… Much less fiftieth or above is not really possible."
It just showed that the number of powerful cultivators participating was ridiculous. Yasenia's lips arched wryly. 'If I didn't have the advantage of practicing several paths at once, I wouldn't be confident in winning this small tournament.'
"Those mentioned, please gather on the pillars that have your number engraved."
As Yasenia moved forward, she was also thinking about how her name was mentioned. 'Did the trial listen to people and name them according to what they heard before? If that's the case… It would make sense why some of them don't have surnames. Some of these names might be fake as well.'
When Yasenia stepped onto her pillar, she noticed many gazes gathering on her. That was not a problem or unusual. She was wearing her revealing blue dress without a veil. Her beauty was fully exposed and for all to see.
However, the problem was that some of the remaining people were looking at her with scorching gazes. Not from passionate emotions, but as if they found what they were searching for.
Yasenia frowned faintly, looking at the origin, and noticed the man named Shen Baihu was part of those looking at her. 'Huh? Isn't this person the one who involved all of us in this mess? Someone from the Astral Death Sect…'
The man looked at Yasenia for a few seconds more, scanning her, and then looking away calmly. The dragoness was a bit baffled at that attitude. 'Why is he scrutinizing me so… critically? It feels as if he is trying to value my worth…'
"All participants are prepared. The rest of the participants can choose to leave the bead or spectate the final tournament."
Yasenia's beautiful eyebrows came together for a second. The frown of a beauty made some people feel an itch in their hearts, wanting to approach and ask what was wrong.
Nevertheless, no one ultimately did so. Everyone here was a senior with thousands of years of experience, so they could block Yasenia's charm by steeling their own minds.
"From now on, the numbers between the participants will be randomly mixed in pairs. Those groups will further be selected to participate in another draw to set up their positions."
Yasenia noticed the eight balls with numbers one to eight appearing and dropping in the middle. When the balls touched the ground, they spread an attractive force and all the balls tangled together.
When two balls touched, a reaction occurred that sent the rest of the balls flying. Those balls then bounced around and eventually collided into pairs. Yasenia's eyebrow twitched. 'How is this a proper way to match people for such an important tournament!?'
In the end, the four pairs that formed flew and bounced towards four holes. When one pair fell, the hole would close until all four pairs disappeared.
Everyone had strange looks, while some even vocalized their thoughts. "Was the person who created this having fun or something?"
"This… It's not serious. Are you really sure you want to stake the ownership of your bead in this manner?"
"Either way, it doesn't matter. Lord Ao Jiuyao will win in the end. Look at the distance between him and the second place. It's really impossible for him to lose."
Yasenia reserved her thoughts, but she heard someone whispering to her. "Hey, Yasenia, are you a bit nervous? You are against that Ralgar Demon. He looks quite strong."
"I know." Yasenia looked at the tournament and smiled. "You are against your grandmother. Aren't you nervous?"
The final sorting was as such. 8-3, 7-5, 6-2, 4-1. So, Yasenia would have it quite difficult if she wanted to win. She first needed to defeat Ralgar, then Astarea, and finally Ao Jiuyao. "Well, those are the opponents as long as we follow the strength position-wise in the rankings. Who knows what can happen during actual combat?"
As Yasenia thought, her body disappeared and reappeared in a large arena. This arena was similar to the [Perfection Stairs]. A simple white, almost endless arena with a black sky and no extra details.
Yasenia muttered as she looked around. "A battle of pure power. I guess that they didn't want environmental advantages for anyone."
"Ho? I got the beautiful dragon woman. That's quite lucky."
The Demon on the other side spoke up, and Yasenia looked over. The demon was over three meters tall, with a body bulging with prominent muscles. His two black wings exuded an ominous aura, and his face was imposing.
"You are the demon that gathered in the middle at the beginning," Yasenia commented, curious. "How are you related to the mess we are all involuntarily involved in?"
Ralgar looked at Yasenia with a confused expression. "What is your purpose? Is that an attempt at gaining time? You know that there is no escape here, and there doesn't seem to be rules as well."
The dragoness looked at him plainly. "So? What's your point? I was just curious."
Ralgar snorted. "It seems that your survival instincts are lacking for someone at your level of strength. Well, your bloodline smells delicious, so I should make you my breeder."
Yasenia said lightly. "Oh. It's the first time I've heard something like this from a Demon. Such a conundrum. I am infertile."
Ralgar laughed once. "That's not true. I can smell your pheromones! You are a very fertile woman."
Yasenia frowned. 'Again with my pheromones. First, it was Ao Jiuyao, and now this Demon. Am I really spraying pheromones around as I walk?'
Ralgar stopped the talk. "Either way, it is commendable for someone like you to reach the twenty-first level of this trial. I'll give you a chance. Surrender to me and I'll be merciful."
"Can't I surrender to the bead?" Yasenia smiled faintly, her eyes mocking. "Not so bright, after all."
"Cheeky." The demon smiled. Then, he stepped forward. "[Dark Breaching Step]."
His massive body lunged forward, appearing in front of Yasenia in almost an instant, and he punched with his physical body. The dragoness saw it coming and sneered. "Wanting to fight a dragon in a contest of brute strength? Arrogant!"
Yasenia's fist flew forward, meeting with the demon's giant fist.
BOOM!
The dragoness was pushed back almost ten meters from the collision, her fist tingling. However, her counterpart fared much worse.
The second both fists collided, the Demon was blown back hundreds of meters, his arm blasted backward as if the recoil wanted to rip his arm off. His relaxed expression tensed, showing a hint of shock.
Those spectating were also stunned at Yasenia's raw strength.
After seeing the Demon look at her with incomprehensible eyes, Yasenia took out Draheart and stated. "Ralgar, if you don't want to die, surrender. I am not giving up my position easily."
Ralgar burst into laughter, his previous lukewarm gaze gaining intensity. "You are much more interesting than I thought. Beauty and strength, you will be a perfect mother for my children."
"[Pegasus Gallop], [Celestial Sunder]."
"[Dark Breaching Step], [Emptiness Demon Fist]."
The black-skinned demon's fist was surrounded by a void-like darkness, swallowing the light around. Meanwhile, Yasenia's sword shone with celestial lights, fighting the encroaching darkness.
BOOM!
Both sides collided, being pushed back from the reaction of their collision. Nevertheless, tensing their muscles, Yasenia and the Demon recovered their stance and rushed at each other again.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Both sides collided with incredible strength, their bodies streaking around the arena at speeds difficult to follow. Yasenia's gaze was full of intensity and interest at first, but as time passed, she noticed that this demon was weaker than the full-powered bronze copy of herself.
Ralgar, on the other side, was smiling widely. "Haha! You are really not bad! To think that you can match my strength. However, what if I do this? [Emptiness Demon Body Reinforcement]!"
A deep black aura coated him, leaving only a pair of dark red eyes and a shadow defining his existence. Yasenia spoke calmly, her excitement for the fight having waned already. "[Celestial Dragon Body], [Celestial Cosmos Dress], [Crystalline Moon Dress]."
Yasenia's blue dress changed, turning into a gorgeous white one with a floor-length skirt. Then, moon energies coated it and inlaid it with beautiful silver pearls. Yasenia's presence, strength, and defense all skyrocketed, surpassing the empowerment from the Demon's technique.
"If that's all you have, you are not my opponent, Ralgar."
After noticing that she was not going to have a fun fight, she was trying to provoke the other person and see if they would bring forth more strength. Either way, she had strength to spare for now.
Ralgar frowned, his shadow demonic voice sounding unpleasant. "You are really strong. It seems that I've underestimated you. However, with that strength, how come you have not reached higher floors?"
Yasenia understood it after meeting Ralgar, and she didn't mind explaining it. "The [Perfection Stairs] don't have a fixed strength. It is relative to your own, Ralgar."
Ralgar realized as Yasenia explained the meaning. "So to speak, my copy is much stronger than yours. If I were fighting your copy, I could've probably overwhelmed it until much higher levels."
"Arrogant! You don't even know my true strength, and you are already shooting such nonsense? I will not accept something like this! [Transcendent Emptiness Demon]!"
A pillar of black light shot to the sky, further pushing his strength. Yasenia was not impressed, though. She swung Draheart without using extra buffs.
"[Shattering The Heavens]."
Violent energy surged from Yasenia in a controlled manner, transforming as it moved through her meridians. Compared to the violent outburst from before, the sublime movement of her energy could be compared to a seasoned senior more than twenty times her age.
SLASH!
The crescent burst forward, not with cutting power but with a destructive one. Yasenia noticed that when her copies used [Shattering The Heavens], the energy didn't cut but destroyed the space before it.
The demon's expression changed, and he quickly raised his hand to summon a black wall. "[Dark Demon Wall]!"
BOOM!!
Yasenia's [Shattering The Heavens] exploded the wall, disappearing with it. However, the demon didn't have time to rest since Yasenia was standing in front of him. "You, how are you so fast?"
Yasenia smiled. "Turns out, [Pegasus Gallop]'s acceleration burst and [Fairy Moon Steps] go well together. [Firmament Dividing Celestial Twilight]."
The energy gathered in her sword forced the demon to raise all his defenses, but almost for nothing.
BOOM!!!