The Rise of the Black Plain

After the third stage of the tournament, there was a gap of a few days before the fourth stage could commence.

And likewise, time flew by, and the fourth exam had already started!

On the first day of tests, all the eight experts sent from the Flaming Empire attended a grand opening ceremony. On this day, the first 16 fights took place, attracting the attention of an audience of over 100 thousand people!

Before this part of the competition could start, a draw was conducted, and all the 32 qualified participants were informed of who they would be fighting against in the first round. Among Minos' acquaintances, most of them were scheduled to fight against other opponents, except for Kara and Peter who would fight against each other.

When he found out about this, Peter was greatly disappointed since unlike the young Stuart, he could not fight those stronger than him.

As expected, Peter lost the fight without much resistance. After all, young Kara was already at level 43, while he was only at level 40!

With that, Peter was the first of Minos' acquaintances who had fallen in this final part of the Spiritual Tournament.

In Abby's case, the young woman was quite fortunate and was placed against someone who was at level 40, just like her. And after a very close battle, the blue-haired woman emerged victorious and advanced to the next round!

As for Abby's friend, Mona, and the young master of the Nash family, Luke, both were at level 41 and faced against level 40 opponents. So, the two managed to get through this phase of the test with relative ease, progressing to the next phase of this exam.

In Ford's fight, he faced an opponent of the same level as him, level 41, and after much difficulty, he managed to emerge as the winner of that fight!

As for the last two youngsters of the highest level in this competition, Troy and Davy, the two were already at level 44, and when they faced their respective opponents, they did not have to face much difficulty.

Troy defeated a level 41 competitor, while Davy fought a level 40 young woman. And although losing an arm diminished Davy's fighting prowess by a degree, he still had high cultivation which allowed him to win with some ease over his opponent.

Finally, Minos fought a young man at level 41, but with the use of a single blow, defeating the opponent and winning the fight in less than 5 seconds!

There wasn't much of a challenge for him in this first round of the final exam!

After the conclusion of the first day of tests, another draw was carried out, but this time, more of Minos' friends would face each other on the second day of battles!

The result of the draw brought Davy and Abby face to face, as well as Mona and Ford other than that, there were no more fights between Minos' acquaintances.

Minos himself would also face someone at level 42 in the next round, but he did not know who his opponent would be.

...

With that, the day for the second round of tests arrived, and all the spectators had already occupied every nook and cranny in the arena.

The envoys from the Flaming Empire sects had also already taken their place and were actively discussing what had happened the previous day.

"Haha, that Troy and Minos will definitely make it to the final, but what do you think of the other competitors?" a ginger man asked, taking a seat next to the other specialists.

A blond, thin-faced man said with a smile on his face, "I have my eye on that other young man who is at level 44. I have heard that he has a Silver talent, and even though he has lost an arm, it could be resolved in the future. If he reaches the semifinals, I would like to bring him to my Mountain Sect!"

Upon hearing this, one of the women in the group laughed, "Haha, this is not for you to decide! I believe that he will end up choosing my Holy Sect."

At this point in the conversation, the young woman from the Gray Clouds Sect suddenly chimed, "That ginger girl also caught my attention a lot. I think she has a good chance for third place..."

...

While the eight experts were discussing, the fights for this round had already started!

This time, it was Minos to be the first to go up on stage, fighting against a level 42 young man. With that, due to the young Stuart's extreme fighting proficiency, just after a few exchanges, the fight came to an end, with him being the first competitor to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Spiritual Tournament!

After that, young Davy and Abby took the stage and started to have their fight. However, there was no way for Minos' friend to overlook the difference in cultivation between herself and of her opponent.

And as a result, the blue-haired young woman soon lost the fight, getting eliminated from the competition. However, she was not too disappointed by this. After all, she had been the only level 40 participant to have reached the round of the top 16!

Not long after, the young Roger, who had passed with a lot of effort in the third test, fought and defeated his opponent, who was at level 42, just like him.

He did very well during his fight with his opponents due to his innate ability. Furthermore, this ability significantly augmented the youngster's capabilities with the spear style, which allowed him to withstand more attacks than most cultivators at the same level as him!

With that, Roger had also secured his spot in the quarterfinals!

After that fight, Mona and Ford took the stage and engaged in the most exciting fight of the day!

The two were on the same level, so they had to take every ounce of strength they had during this battle. And in the end, it was young Mona who emerged as the winner!

As for the remaining fights of the day, Luke successfully managed to qualify for the quarterfinals after fighting against an opponent at the same level as him. However, having a low-level grade-2 weapon proved its significance, allowing the young master of the Nash family to achieve victory.

Luke was very pleased with such a result. Not only was his goal achieved, but he had also been fortunate to not have crossed paths against Minos throughout the competition.

Before the Spiritual Tournament started, Luke had been afraid after finding that Minos was also around. However, fate seemed to be on his side, and the only time he saw the young Stuart up close was at the Capital City's Cultivation Tower before the start of the tournament.

Finally, Troy faced and defeated a level 42 opponent in the last fight of the day. It was a quick battle, but there was no reason for the other young man to give up, just because he had a lower cultivation.

Even if a competitor was eliminated, they could still attract the attention of an envoy from the Flaming Empire sects. Thus, each competitor who stepped up onto the fighting stage used everything they had, even when they were facing monsters like Troy!

After seeing the end of the last fight, the eight envoys returned to discuss this day's battles.

"Ahh, those two youths, ehh, Mona and… um, Luke, they weren't bad. Even after being at level 41, these two managed to advance to the quarterfinals!" one of the men exclaimed with an excited look on his face.

"Hmm, but what caught my attention the most was that young man who wielded a spear. His innate ability is greatly effective in combat!"

"Haha, today's fights were even better than yesterday's. I'm looking forward to seeing the quarterfinals!" another person with a smile on his face.

All of them were at the initial levels of the 6th stage, Spiritual King, so they still enjoyed watching battles at the current level of the ongoing competition.

After all, they all came from an empire, so they possessed incredible cultivation speeds. And that was also why most of them had reached at the level of these young competitors in less than a decade, which made them genuinely excited to see fights of this level, even if there was a significant difference between their current strength and that of these young competitors.

Anyway, after the conclusion of the fights on the second day, another draw was carried out to determine who would be fighting against whom in the quarterfinals!

In this draw, the first match of the third day would be held between Mona and Luke.

The young master of the Nash family had been pleased with this outcome. After all, even though he had already secured his name in the top 10, he aimed to go as far as possible in this competition!

With that, Luke was guaranteed of his opportunity to go to the Elemental Sect of the Western Empire!

The second fight of the day would be between Kara and Roger, followed by Minos' battle against an unfamiliar level 42 young man. Finally, the quarterfinals would conclude with the fight between Troy and Davy!

Unfortunately for these level 44 youngsters, only one of them would continue to advance to the semifinals!

That was the possibility that the draws could have, sometimes placing stronger opponents in earlier stages of the competition...

Upon hearing this order of battles, the entire audience was in euphoria as the Spiritual Tournament was finally reaching its climax, with the strongest opponents fighting each other!

At this point, the onlookers who were following the draw started to voice their opinions actively. "Haha, this Minos is quite lucky! His fight will likely be the easiest on the third day!"

"Hmm, but it's better this way. If he were to fight against Troy in the quarterfinals, it would be a real tragedy for one of the two!" another person exclaimed.