Chapter 1723 The Top 20 "He'd kill everyone here over something like that? He sounds like a villain." Yuan said, joining the conversation. "Well… I'm not saying he'll definitely do it, but he is very much capable. That man is a crazed bastard who'd aim his sword at the heavens without any hesitation if needed." Kelan said, completely unaware that he was talking to Yuan. "Sounds like you're scared of him. Is he more powerful than you?" Kelan rubbed his nose and said, "He may be a little monster with more potential than I, but he is still a hundred—thousand years too early to defeat me." "And who said I am scared of him? His unpredictably does make me nervous at times, but that is different from fear." "Is that so?" Yuan smiled inwardly. Suddenly, another of Emperor Ning's older sons spoke, "T-then what about that beauty who used that ice technique?" "Ah, she's also taken… by the same man." "…" "That nonchalant fairy at the peak of Spirit Enlightenment is probably single, right?" Kelan merely shook his head in silence. "Seriously…?" Kelan sighed and said, "You can forget about coveting any of the women in that group. They all belong to the same guy." "What?!" The Ning Family was surprised to hear this. Even Emperor Ning couldn't help but swallow nervously, his gaze filled with envy. "Is this man…also an Emperor?" Emperor Ning had to ask. How can a single man have so many talented partners if they weren't in a position of high power and authority? "No, but he's also from the Celestial Overlords, and he is one of the youngest Generals in our faction's history. He'd also qualify to participate in this tournament if he were here." "…" "Anyway, he's one hell of a womanizer who is always surrounded by women." Kelan continued. Yuan had a strong urge to smack Kelan in the back of the head for his earlier statement about all of the girls in the group belonging to him, but he held back. However, he decided to punish Kelan in the future for spreading misunderstanding when there is a chance. Sometime later, once all of the participants had their match, they immediately started the second round. With half of the participants eliminated, the age gap began widening, but it was only by a year or two at most. During the second round, Wang Ming and Shi Lang were matched against each other, and Wang Ming ended up barely winning. For the third round, Wu Zao fought Wang Xiuying, with Wu Zao emerging victorious by a landslide. Although Wang Xiuying also trained with Kelan, she'd only spent half as much time as everyone else since she still had to focus on her alchemy, which was her primary path. For the seventh round, Li Jinxi ended up matching with Meixiu. Li Jinxi obviously won by a landslide, but she was unable to instantly defeat Meixiu unlike her previous matches. In the end, their match ended up lasting a whole minute. Wang Ming and Wang Bingbing also fought each other during the seventh round, with Wang Ming winning. In the ninth round, Wu Zao got matched against Xi Murong and lost within half a minute. By the time there were about twenty or so participants left, only Chu Liuxiang, Li Jinxi, Xi Murong, and Wang Ming were left. Yuan then spoke, "Congratulations to those of you who have made it this far. Now, you have all acquired the qualifications to challenge me. Of course, you don't need to challenge me right now." "You can challenge me after the tournament ends, or you can challenge—" Before Yuan could even finish his sentence, one of the people there stepped forward and shouted, "I want to challenge you!" "Good." Without saying another word, Yuan leaped from the booth to one of the empty stages there. The one who challenged Yuan also entered the stage a moment later. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎 "What happens if more than one of us defeats you? Will you give out the reward twice?" The young man, number one disciple of the Burning Lotus Sword Sect, asked as he faced Yuan. Yuan calmly nodded, "Naturally." The spectators gasped in shock after learning the reward wasn't for a single person. Xing Chen sucked his teeth after realizing he had jumped the gun. He thought the reward was only for the first one to defeat him, hence why he was so eager to fight first. However, after learning the truth, he regretted not waiting a bit more to study Yuan's prowess first. He turned to look at the other participants, and most of them were smiling, almost as if laughing at him. 'Whatever. It doesn't matter if I am first or last since I will defeat him regardless!' Xing Chen readied his sword. At this moment, every single pair of eyes were on Yuan, their gaze filled with anticipation. "I will let you have the first…three strikes. By the way, I have sealed all of my treasures' abilities, so you don't have to worry about that." Yuan said. "Then I won't be humble!" Xing Chen roared as his sword became engulfed in flames. "Burning Lotus Raging Sword Strike!" Yuan merely stood there as Xing Chen swung his fiery sword at Yuan's neck. Seeing his opponent aiming for his neck, Yuan willingly tilted his head the other way, giving Xing Chen full access to his neck. "Your neck is mine!" The moment the flaming sword touched Yuan's neck, its movement halted abruptly, and the flames were instantly and forcefully absorbed into Yuan's body. Kelan stood up from his seat and exclaimed, "Fire Harmony?!" "W-what?" Emperor Ning looked at him with a startled and puzzled expression. "A level that is even higher than flame immunity. Not only is he impervious to flames but he could also absorb them and turn it into his own energy! The peak of fire mastery!" Kelan clenched his fists as his body trembled in excitement. Even he has only achieved Super Fire Immunity after tens of thousands of years of rigorous training. "No… There's simply no way he could've achieved Fire Harmony at that age. It must have been one of his techniques at work…" Kelan quickly shook his head, almost as if he couldn't believe that he had been fooled by such an obvious fact, even if it was only for a brief moment. "Fuck, that surprised me…" he mumbled a moment later.