“None of them!” Catherine Foreman shook her head in response.
“I only heard about it last night. It seems she didn’t participate in this selection.”
“Really?” Ivy was slightly taken aback.
“Yes!” Catherine Foreman nodded and continued, “Actually, with her strength, it doesn’t matter if she participates or not.”
“In everyone’s mind, she is already the top young talent in the entire Akabuchi star domain, unmatched by anyone.”
“Alright!” Ivy nodded.
“Catherine, who is that man in the white robe?” Harleen looked at Catherine Foreman and asked.
She could clearly feel that his gaze had lingered on her and Ivy for a while.
“He is the eldest son of the Akabuchi Chamber of Commerce, Gerardo Wooler!” Casey replied from the side.
Last time in Canyon View City, he and Billy had met him, so he naturally recognized him.
“So it’s him!” Harleen and Ivy both frowned simultaneously.
A few days ago, they had almost died in Black Rock Gorge, thanks to Gerardo Wooler.
“Catherine, you should know Miss Wooler from the Akabuchi Chamber of Commerce, right?” Casey looked at Catherine Foreman and asked.
“Of course! I’ve known her for many years!” Catherine Foreman nodded and then asked, “Why are you suddenly asking about her, Mr. Kimmons?”
“I heard she was put under house arrest by the chamber of commerce. Is that true?” Casey responded.
“It should be true!” Catherine Foreman nodded again. “Otherwise, she would have come.”
As they were talking, the elder from yesterday once again flew to the arena and began explaining the rules of the ranking competition.
After about five minutes, he finished the explanation and landed on the stage.
The rules of the ranking competition were simple.
First, a preliminary ranking was made based on each person’s cultivation level. If levels were the same, they were ranked by age, with older participants temporarily ranked higher.
After the preliminary ranking was set, contestants could choose their opponents to challenge.
If a challenger succeeded, their rank would move up to just above the defeated opponent’s. This continued until no one issued a challenge.
Additionally, if a challenged contestant refused to accept the challenge, it was considered a forfeit, and the challenger’s name would automatically move up above the forfeited contestant’s.
There was also a strict rule that only those with lower cultivation levels could challenge those with higher levels. The reverse was not allowed.
Soon, a preliminary ranking list of fifteen people was released. The highest cultivation level was second-rank Entering Dao Realm, and the lowest was sixth-rank Otherworldly Realm.
The person ranked first was naturally Gerardo Wooler from the Akabuchi Chamber of Commerce!
The second place was held by a woman at half-step Entering Dao Realm, capable of challenging two levels higher.
The third place went to Walter Thornton at ninth-rank Otherworldly Realm, also capable of challenging two levels higher.
Ivy and Harleen were temporarily ranked eighth and ninth, Casey was twelfth, and Catherine Foreman was last.
At ten in the morning, the ranking competition officially began.
According to the rules, the last-ranked contestant started by choosing an opponent and then moved forward in order.
Catherine Foreman knew her own strength well and only hoped to make it onto the list this time, so she gave up on further challenges.
The fourteenth-ranked contestant, also a man at late sixth-rank Otherworldly Realm with the ability to challenge one level higher, chose a seventh-rank Otherworldly Realm opponent.
After less than ten rounds of attacks between them, the sixth-rank Otherworldly Realm man was blown off the stage by a wave of energy.
Challenge failed!
“I challenge you!”
Next, the thirteenth-ranked man pointed at Casey and spoke.
He was also at seventh-rank Otherworldly Realm and younger than Casey by half a year, with outstanding talent.
“Alright!” Casey nodded and stepped onto the stage.
Soon, after both sides greeted each other with cupped hands, the battle began.
However, after just one round, the opponent was sent flying backward.
After landing on the ground, he spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at Casey with a hint of fear in his eyes.
He knew very well that Casey had used only seventy to eighty percent of his strength to send him flying. Otherwise, his situation would have been worse.
“Interested in a fight?” Casey then looked at the fourth-ranked man and spoke calmly.
The opponent had half-step ninth-rank Otherworldly Realm strength and could challenge two levels higher at least.
“Is he crazy? Challenging the fourth rank directly?”
“He should be at seventh-rank Otherworldly Realm, right? Even if he can challenge higher levels, doesn’t he know that everyone in this ranking competition can do that?”
“I think he’s desperate for fame!”
Hearing Casey’s words, murmurs arose around them.
“Haha, sure!”
The fourth-ranked man laughed and jumped onto the stage.
Immediately after, as soon as the referee gave the signal, both of them launched their attacks simultaneously.
The man seemed intent on teaching Casey a lesson and went all out from the start. The pressure in the air above the stage rapidly increased.
As his figure flashed forward, he raised his hand to form a six-horned beast that roared like a living creature as it charged at Casey.
From this move alone, it was clear that he possessed half-step Entering Dao Realm combat power.
Facing the man’s full-force attack, Casey didn’t stay idle either. He gripped his bronze saber and formed the Demon Blade Technique.
In the next moment, an indistinct skeleton image imbued with overwhelming momentum crashed into the beast.
A deafening sound echoed in mid-air as a mushroom cloud of energy waves rose, causing the void to tremble.
Both the skeleton image and the six-horned beast exploded simultaneously. Casey and his opponent were blasted six to seven hundred meters apart, each spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Just as his opponent stabilized himself, a sharp blade light slashed toward him.
The man’s pupils contracted sharply. Without thinking much, he quickly dodged to one side. The blade light shot past him, pushing him back another hundred meters with its energy wave.
However, before he could catch his breath, a spiritual power-formed saber was already hovering in front of him.
If Casey wished, he could take his life at any moment with that saber.
“I concede!”
Looking at the saber before him, a trace of fear flashed across the man’s face.
Seeing this scene, gasps of shock arose around them. Most people wore expressions of disbelief.
Those who had mocked Casey earlier fell silent; this turnaround was too swift.
“Admit it!”
Casey waved his hand, causing the phantom saber to dissipate into nothingness.
“Mr. Kimmons is really something!” Judge couldn’t help but comment from the audience. “A half-step Entering Dao Realm combatant couldn’t even withstand one strike from him!”
“Mr. Kimmons probably hasn’t used his full strength yet!” Azure Fang replied.
“Otherwise, except for Gerardo Wooler from Akabuchi Chamber of Commerce and Ivy’s sister-in-law, no one would be his match!”
“Do you think if Mr. Kimmons used his Demon Blade technique, even Gerardo Wooler wouldn’t be able to withstand one strike?” Bob asked.
“Don’t underestimate that young master!” Night Orchid responded.
“I heard from Catherine that although he’s only second-rank Entering Dao Realm, he could probably kill mid-to-late Entering Dao Realm opponents.”
“Alright!” Bob shrugged his shoulders.
As they talked, challenges continued on stage.
After Casey’s turn, three more people challenged those ranked higher than them.
Harleen and Ivy were both challenged once but neither opponent lasted more than one round against them.
When it was Harleen’s turn to choose an opponent, she directly picked Walter Thornton’s name.
In fact, she could have challenged the second-ranked woman but chose not to in order to give Ivy a chance instead.
Walter Thornton had already seen Harleen’s strength before and didn’t want to fight her again; he conceded directly.
“Please guide me!” When it was Ivy’s turn next, she cupped her hands toward the half-step Entering Dao Realm woman.