Death... and me

Ravio then pointed at the arenas as he explained the rules, telling everyone, "First, all of them have protection formations, so no one will be able to come out before the battle ends."

"Second, we don't have the perfect number to go all the way to the last battle without getting odd numbers. With that being said, these physical battles will be divided into two phases. The first phase will have to eliminate 3492 fighters. That way, we will have exactly 8192 cultivators remaining, which is the perfect number to reach the ultimate victor."

Naturally, everyone wanted to know how the first 3492 eliminations would happen. "The first elimination phase is very simple. 6984 cultivators will be randomly selected. Then we'll have 3492 battles happening at once. The winners of these battles will join the rest, giving us the exact 8192 participants that we need to find the owner of the Divine Vein."

Hearing that, someone couldn't help but ask, "But wouldn't these 3492 winners be at a disadvantage against the participants who didn't battle?" Sure enough, that was the question in everyone's minds.

Ravio nodded straight away, telling that person, "Exactly. Cultivators often like to say that luck is part of one's strength, don't they? Well, pray that you're lucky enough to not have to participate in the first elimination phase. Hahaha!"

Everyone was taken aback, but they couldn't say anything. Those were the rules, and they knew they wouldn't be able to change them.

Ravio then continued,  "Anyways, everyone will have at least thirty minutes of rest before the next battle. You can use this time to recover however way you see fit. The same is valid during the second phase, so keep that in mind."

Rean's eyes lit up when he heard the last part. 'Oh! So I can heal myself during the resting times? Hehe! That's quite a nice thing to know.' This was another trump card Rean really didn't expect to come by. Of course, no one knew just how heaven-defying his healing abilities were either.

After saying all of that, Ravio then told everyone, "Alright, I believe everyone understands that this is an elimination contest. You will always have only one chance. If you lose, you're out...or maybe dead. Let's now see who will be the cultivators taking part in the first phase."

Ravio used a very simple method to select the first 6984 participants. There were a few rows of boxes with holes cut on top. They were protected by formations that prevented one from seeing what was inside with Divine Sense and Soul Power. Inside, one could find red and blue orbs. Those who got red orbs would have to fight in the first phase. Naturally, those with the blue orbs would say bye to it.

Thanks to the number of boxes, everyone took their orbs in just a few minutes. Not only that, the red orbs had numbers on them, which stood for the person that would be one's opponent. Those who got red orbs with the same number would be the ones to fight against each other.

Rean looked at the red orb in his hand and the 1349 number written on it with a sigh, muttering inwardly, 'Guess luck wasn't on my side.'

He then looked at the arenas' map and quickly found the one he would fight on. There was already a cultivator there, surprisingly from the human race. Due to the huge number of races around, humans could just be considered another one in the midst, so it wasn't easy to fight another human straight away.

"Hello there! Let's have some fun, shall we?" Rean said with a smile.

The guy had an ugly expression when he saw Rean, though. There wasn't a single participant in the assembly that didn't know the twins by now. However, he quickly remembered Rean's participation in the strength test, so he was able to regain some confidence. "Yes, let's have some fun."

Physical strength was the only thing allowed, but that didn't mean they couldn't use Divine Sense to see each other's cultivation before the battle started. Rean, obviously, was in the Middle Stage of the Soul Transformation Realm. As for his opponent, he was surprisingly at the Soul Transformation Realm as well. It's just that he was at the Late Stage.

Rean nodded and took out his Black Star. The opponent also got his weapon out, which was a spear. Seeing that they were ready, the elder responsible for their arena raised his hand before dropping it down while announcing, "Start!"

*Zush!*

Rean's opponent really wasn't lucky today. Rean's movement was way too fast for him to react. It was obviously much slower than when Rean could use all his and Roan's skills. However, everyone had the same issue. In the same way that Rean was slower to move, so was his opponent's reaction time without the support of Divine Energy and his own skills.

*Swish!*

*Clang!*

The opponent's weapon was cut into two, with one of them falling to the ground. The guy couldn't believe it since it was still a weapon at Silver Middle-level. Unfortunately for him, Rean's weapons had always been much better than their equivalents. What stopped Rean's sword from breaking them straight away was the Spiritual or Divine Energy that the enemy usually covered them with. Without that, other weapons at the Silver Middle-level simply couldn't hold a candle to Rean's Black Star!

With Rean's Black Star close to his throat, the guy could only raise his hand slowly and say, "I-I give up."

The elder nodded before announcing, "Winner, Rean Larks."

Rean laughed in response as he took his Black Star back and patted the guy's shoulder. "Hahaha! No need to feel too sad. I might be the cultivator with the strongest raw power. But when it comes to battling, raw power is simply too far from enough to beat me. You won't be the first one. Instead, you should be happy that I didn't take your head."

The guy bitterly smiled in response. However, he knew Rean was right. "Sigh...perhaps during the next battle test."

And just like that, Rean won his first fight and secured his position inside the 8192 cultivators that would fight till the end.