C442 Just Hear the Opponent Admit Defeat!

Reaching this point wasn't easy for any of the villages except for Great Leaf Village. Even if Dahu tried to challenge further, his chances of success were slim. It was better to assess the situation first.

Interestingly, none of the three from Great Leaf Village made any challenges, and no one from the other villages dared to challenge them either. Even those from Blue Jewel Village, who had previously clashed with Great Leaf Village, decided to lay low this time.

If they didn't stir up trouble, Blue Jewel Village might survive a bit longer. But if they pushed their luck now, it would be a disaster. Despite this, Blue Jewel Village was quite unlucky, as they faced the most challenges. First, challenging them was seen as a way to curry favor with Great Leaf Village. Second, Blue Jewel Village had been the most arrogant among the top ten villages, leaving many others resentful but afraid to act.

Now, Blue Jewel Village was destined to fall out of the top ten and likely wouldn't recover. Many were eager to kick them while they were down.

Woo Zhengyang expected some of the top young martial artists from other villages to challenge him, but to his surprise, no one did until the end. Ultimately, Woo Zhengyang maintained his first-place position and advanced to the next stage, while Rice and Dahu finished in twenty-sixth and twenty-ninth places, respectively.

Great Leaf Village has slipped back to sixth place. After another night of constant visits, the ultimate showdown of the Thousand-village Martial Competition has arrived.

This battle is governed by the most meticulous rules: first, the top and bottom ranks face off, followed by the second and second-to-last, and so on. After one round, the cycle repeats, ensuring that the top fifty competitors all have a chance to face each other.

In each match, the winner earns a point, which determines the final ranking of the top twenty-five competitors.

Woo Zhengyang was the first to step onto the stage, challenging the last-ranked competitor, who conceded without a fight. Next, the second-ranked competitor challenged the twenty-fourth, who also conceded immediately.

The gap between the Peak of Skin Stage and the later stages is insurmountable for most, so the initial top-versus-bottom matches often end with immediate concessions. This strategy ensures that competitors face evenly matched opponents later on. If they were to go all out from the start, not only could they lose early, but any injuries might affect their performance in subsequent battles.

This pattern of perfunctory matches continued until the eleventh-ranked competitor challenged the fifteenth, where they finally engaged in a real fight. Ultimately, the eleventh-ranked competitor won.

Following that, the twelfth-ranked competitor challenged the fourteenth, and surprisingly, the fourteenth won, earning a point.

After the first round, the thirteenth-ranked competitor had no match, so Woo Zhengyang challenged them next. The thirteenth-ranked competitor hesitated but eventually conceded. Then, the second-ranked competitor challenged the last-ranked competitor, starting a new cycle.

Just like before, most people don't jump into action easily. It's only when the rankings get close that fights start breaking out.

For Woo Zhengyang, this was his first time experiencing a battle with such rules. The last time, during the Ultimate Battle of the Heavenly Martial Dao Discussing Great Association, the rules were different, and Moh Lunhui had already eliminated the others. Woo Zhengyang only participated in the final showdown.

Now, going through it firsthand, Woo Zhengyang felt incredibly bored. Round after round, he just stood on stage, waiting for his opponent to concede.

Even though the opponents changed and there were more of them, the martial skills from the various villages were disappointingly outdated. Woo Zhengyang had hoped to observe some interesting techniques, but after a few rounds, he found it all dull and could only continue to wait.

Woo Zhengyang wasn't exactly a battle enthusiast, but today he really wanted someone to step up and fight him. This cycle of stepping on stage and waiting for the opponent to concede was just too tedious.

After noon, the round-robin battles finally reached the last ten rounds, and Woo Zhengyang challenged the tenth-ranked fighter.

The tenth-ranked fighter was a young man at the peak of the Skin Stage from a prominent village. Eager and ready, Woo Zhengyang stepped up, only to hear the words he had heard countless times and was tired of hearing: "I concede!"

Woo Zhengyang really wanted to ask the guy across from him, "You're at the peak of martial mastery, how can you just give up like that?"

"Hi, I'm Niu Chencheng from Oxhorn Village. My goal is just to make it to the top ten, so I won't be competing with you. Let's save our energy!"

Without needing Woo Zhengyang to ask, the opponent spoke up directly, leaving Woo Zhengyang speechless, with no choice but to wait for the next round.

Finally, a new round began, and it was time to challenge the ninth place.

"I concede!"

The ninth place contestant said and stepped down from the stage immediately.

In the next round, the eighth place conceded as well.

The seventh place was a young girl who came up, gave Woo Zhengyang a big hug, and then conceded.

The sixth place, a boy from Rising Star Village, greeted with a smile and conceded too.

Woo Zhengyang was bored out of his mind. He had been standing there all day, waiting for the last few contestants, only to find they all conceded as well.

Little did he know, his performance in the previous days had been overwhelmingly strong.

Contestants from ordinary villages conceded because they knew they were no match for Woo Zhengyang. Even the top-tier youths from the elite villages, like the purple-robed youth from Blue Jewel Village, were wary of him.

Many elite villages knew they had no chance of securing the top spot or even the top three, so their goal was simply to stay in the top ten.

Standing at the pinnacle of the Thousand-village Martial Competition, these elite villages, like Blue Jewel Village, understood the power and mystery of the Azure Sun Martial Mansion.

Woo Zhengyang's recent performances had shattered everyone's expectations, and in the eyes of the elite villages, he was highly likely to become a true disciple of the Azure Sun Martial Mansion.

There wasn't much chance of winning to begin with, and offending Woo Zhengyang would only make things worse. They might end up like Blue Jewel Village. Ye Fengchun and his people from Blue Jewel Village left yesterday.

The purple-robed youth was defeated, and the others were challenged and beaten by various villages, turning them into easy targets. In the end, the super villages that were originally in the top ten didn't even make it to the top twenty-five.

Even if they didn't advance, many villages stayed to watch the matches and wait for the final rankings. However, Ye Fengchun and his group didn't have the heart or the face to stick around. They left two people behind to wait for the results, while the rest returned to Blue Jewel Village.

As the rounds of battles continued, the matchups became increasingly intense, and Woo Zhengyang's waiting time grew longer. Woo Zhengyang thought that someone from the top ranks would eventually challenge him, but even the second-place contestant conceded without a fight.

In other words, aside from the initial rounds where Woo Zhengyang had to exert some effort, in the remaining stages up to the end, he only heard his opponents concede...

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