A few minutes later, Luo Yutong appeared in the center of the coliseum. He was the sixth participant who had passed the first stage. When he saw the five other participants who had passed earlier than him, he grew frustrated. He thought he was the first one but he was actually the sixth. How could he make Yun Ling look at him in serious light if he couldn’t even grab the first place in an easy stage like this?

He looked over at Yun Ling who was seated below the emperor with the other two supreme geniuses and grew even more frustrated.

“Damn it!” Luo Yutong stomped his foot in anger.

Yun Ling just snorted at Luo Yutong as he thought, ‘This guy’s the same as ever.’

Luo Yutong’s gaze then fell onto Yun Yi. If he recalled it right, this guy had been serving as Yun Ling’s aide for several years already. He was actually among the first ones that passed, even much faster than him. It seems that even though he was merely Yun Ling’s aide, he was someone not to be trifled with. He should keep an eye on him just to be safe.

Yun Yi noticed Luo Yutong’s gaze on him so he looked at him and gave him a smile.

…

Seven hours had passed, the final participant with a card had finally been teleported into the coliseum, thus, ending the first stage of the Golden Dragon Election.

By now, there were one thousand participants standing at the center of the coliseum. Some were in bad shape and needed immediate medical care while some were just lightly injured. There were also people like Yun Yi who didn’t have a single scratch on them. These kinds of people were certainly a cut above the rest and worth keeping an eye on.

“How unexpected! Truth be told, I had actually thought that it would take at least a day before we could reach a conclusion in the first stage! I didn’t expect it to end in less than half a day! It seems that we have a lot of strong participants this year! The later battles will surely be exciting!” Da Peng exclaimed voicing out the audience’s thoughts.

The first stage had indeed ended too fast. In the previous Golden Dragon Elections, it was normal for each stage to take several days before reaching a conclusion. In contrast, today’s Golden Dragon Election merely took around ten hours. It was a big difference between then and now. Perhaps it was because there were two more stages in this competition compared to the previous ones? Or maybe it was just because the participants this year were just stronger?

The emperor looked at Da Peng and spoke to him telepathically.

Da Peng stopped speaking as his face turned serious. He nodded his head several times before saying to everyone in the coliseum, “Now that the first stage had ended, the second stage will be starting now!”

Most of the participants' faces turned ugly upon hearing that especially those who had finished around the last place. They were still too exhausted from the first stage so they were hoping they could take a few minutes of rest first. Some of them didn’t even get the opportunity to tend to their wounds yet they were already starting the second stage. This was truly making it difficult for them.

Yun Ling could only sigh at them. These participants should’ve expected this to happen since it was just like this in the previous Golden Dragon Election too. His elder brother was just like them. Even after facing hundreds of participants, he hadn’t even gotten proper rest. It wasn’t strange that he lost.

He then looked at the emperor. Maybe the reason why the emperor had given the three of them a task and made them skip two stages ahead if they managed to complete said tasks was so they could avoid suffering the same fate as Yun Hui? As supreme geniuses, if they were starting in the first round, there was no doubt that the other participants would team up to deal with them as they were the biggest threats in this competition.

“I see, so it was like that,” Yun Ling muttered to himself.

Yu Shan and the crown prince looked at him questioningly.

“I think I finally know the true reason why the emperor gave us a task and made us skip two stages ahead compared to everyone else,” Yun Ling told them. The task was needed so the emperor would have a legitimate reason to make them start in the third stage instead of the first stage. If it were not for that task, people would surely be unresigned.

“What do you mean?” Yu Shan asked.

“Yun Hui,” was Yun Ling’s only response. However short his response was, it was enough for Yu Shan and the crown prince to understand what Yun Ling meant. Now, both of them had also realized the true purpose of the task given to them by the emperor.

The emperor who was sitting behind just above them looked at Yun Ling with a smile. As expected of a genius born only once in ten thousand years. He was sharper than everyone else. Though Yun Ling had his flaws, one couldn’t deny his talent.

“Before the second stage starts, is there anyone who wants to withdraw from the competition?” Da Peng asked as he directed his gaze towards the injured participants.

Those who were gravely injured raised their hands. In their current state, they couldn’t continue in the second stage anymore. They would only be putting their lives at risk if they forced themselves to continue.

Da Peng nodded at them. Even if they wanted to proceed to the second stage, he would have taken them off himself. These people would surely become the future pillars of the empire. They couldn’t be allowed to die in this competition unnecessarily.

Because of that 36 participants didn’t proceed to the second stage of the Golden Dragon Election, leaving only 964 participants excluding Yun Ling, Yu Shan, and the crown prince. The 36 participants had been led away to the coliseum’s backstage with the rest of the 2000 participants who hadn’t passed the first stage.

With that out of the way, the emperor had once again teleported them to another Divine Phantasm. This Divine Phantasm also belonged to one of the Jin Empire’s emperors who had long since passed away. However, instead of a forest, this Divine Phantasm was a city.

“Whoa, this is?” the participants were flabbergasted. They were teleported in the skies of the Divine Phantasm so they were able to see the city below stretching out towards the horizon. The city was much bigger than the Jin Empire’s capital.

They slowly descended to the ground. Then they heard a voice coming from the sky. However, instead of the emperor’s voice, it was Da Peng’s voice that they heard.

“Participants, look at the card that you got from the first stage.”

They all did as they were told. They then noticed that there was a number at the center of their card.

Yun Yi saw that his card had the 108th number. That number wasn’t there before.

Suddenly, a big white box appeared right in front of them.

“There are 964 papers inside that box. Before we start the second stage, all of you must draw one paper slip from that box.”

Without further ado, the nearest one to the box drew a slip of paper. He let out a frown and then moved away so that the next person after him could draw one. The next person followed his steps right after he left and also drew from the box.

Although there were a lot of participants, the entire process was fast. It only took half an hour before everyone was able to draw a slip of paper from the box.

Yun Yi looked at the paper slip that he just drew. There was number 654 in it. Yun Yi had a feeling that he knew what the second stage was going to be about.

“To pass this stage, all of you must get 10 points within ten hours. The card that you got in the first stage is worth 5 points. Stealing the card written in the paper is worth yet another 5 points. That is 10 points in total. If you steal a card that is not written in your paper, that is only 1 point. You will need four more cards in that case.”

Yun Yi let out a smile. He knew it. He had a feeling that it was like that. To hunt the one that owned the number in the paper that he drew.

After Da Peng’s explanation, everyone quickly hid their cards and the paper that they just drew. They didn’t want the others to figure it out.

“All of you will be teleported to random locations in the city. Once that happens, that is when the second stage starts.”

Not a second later, all of them were teleported once again.

“Begin!”