Behind the Antarctic Immortal Elder, a massive screen materialized.

And upon that screen were the names of a thousand sects. After the names of the thousand sects, labels marked them as Simple, Average, or Difficult, indicating the challenge level of the opponents these individuals would face. The names of the thousand sects pulsed continuously until, finally, the matchup list for the sects appeared.

One by one, they began searching for their respective pairings. If the first round of battles was relatively easy, it was because the initial matchups were mostly between the top thousand sects and the bottom thousand, the gap in strength determined by ranking being unimaginably vast—though sects like the Sword Gate, which had endured internal strife and external enemies, were exceptions.

The second round of contests, however, was largely a clash between supreme grand sects and supreme grand sects, naturally not going to be an easy affair. Thus, every sect regarded its opposing sect with utmost seriousness. By the second round, everyone naturally hoped that a sect ranked lower would be unfortunate enough to draw one of the top hundred sects. But no matter what, someone had to draw the short straw.

So, when the second round matchup list was unveiled, some cheered while others inwardly groaned at their misfortune. Regardless, each sect held its own thoughts. The people of the Sword Gate looked over and found their opponent this time was none other than their old rival, the Peerless Gate.

The Peerless Gate and the Sword Gate had always been rivals, and they were not located too far apart.

Lu Yuan saw the Peerless Gate and couldn't help but pause. The Peerless Gate's Fu Family had been famous for a long time. He had clashed with Fu Chong upon entering the Central Celestial Dynasty, and then with Fu Yi upon entering the Grand Celestial Heaven. He had conflicted with the Fu Family at least three or five times. Now, he was finally going to face the true might of the Fu Family—the Peerless Gate. It was truly a worthy opponent for a battle.

On the side of the Fu Family, upon hearing that their opponent was the Sword Gate, they laughed heartily. The Sword Gate?

The Peerless Gate’s ranking was three hundred and tenth. The Sword Gate's original ranking was higher, but their true strength was actually around the thousandth mark. Therefore, the Peerless Gate had picked up a soft persimmon to squeeze. Moreover, given the deep-seated hatred between the Peerless Gate and the Sword Gate, it would be a disservice to the massive animosity between the two sects not to thoroughly squeeze this soft persimmon.

“The Sword Gate? Very good.” The Master of the Peerless Gate, Old Ghost Fu—whose real name was Fu Laoshuang—appeared to be an utterly unremarkable figure, thin and lacking any semblance of spirit. But upon seeing the opponent was the Sword Gate, his eyes burst forth with a series of sharp glints.

The second round of contests finally commenced.

Sects losing in the second round would forfeit their chance to claim a spot among the top three hundred and sixty-five positions, while the winners could contend for those spots. Hence, even though it was just the beginning, the battles were incredibly fierce. In the second round of contests, the ten strongest sects still demonstrated extraordinary might. Although this time they couldn't simply dispatch two or three people to settle the contest for an entire sect like in the previous round, the top ten strongest sects only needed to send out seven or eight people to dispatch their opponents. Keep in mind that every single one of the top ten strongest sects had brought several hundred people with them this time.

The ten strongest sects were indeed the ten strongest, possessing deep foundations and formidable strength. Among these sects, the most conspicuous was undoubtedly the Gambling Gate. Under the leadership of Sikong Du, the Gambling Gate had set up betting odds for most of the sect battles. They opened these odds not necessarily because they were certain of victory—after all, upsets occasionally happened—but the people of the Gambling Gate actually didn't care too much about winning or losing. That’s just how the people of the Gambling Gate were: as long as the gambling was exhilarating, what did the outcome matter?

Excitement was paramount. For the sake of gambling, the Master of the Gambling Gate, Sikong Du, didn't even care if his wife had an affair; this was a type of extreme steadfastness in character.

Finally, it was time for the match between the Sword Gate and the Peerless Gate.

“What odds should we set for the Sword Gate versus the Peerless Gate?” Someone immediately inquired. This was a hot topic. Normally, it wouldn't attract so much attention, but who could forget how spectacularly Lu Yuan had shouted after the first round, declaring he would charge into the top ten? Naturally, everyone was paying attention.

Sikong Du pondered for a moment: “The odds for the Sword Gate will be one to five; for the Peerless Gate, three to one.”

“What? Didn't Lu Yuan just perform that magnificent sword strike, facing down an entire sect alone? Why are the odds for the Sword Gate so low?” Someone immediately expressed confusion.

“Nonsense. The reason Lu Yuan could face down an entire sect alone last time was because the opponent lacked an ultimate weapon. But the Peerless Gate is a sect ranked in the three hundreds; how could they not possess an ultimate weapon? And having an ultimate weapon is a decisive advantage,” Sikong Du explained. “I don't favor Lu Yuan in this match.”

As soon as the betting opened, people began wagering. Although the payout odds for the Sword Gate were higher, very few people bet on the Sword Gate's side.

And so, this match in the second round was finally about to officially begin.

Fifty people from the Sword Gate leaped onto the stage. Most of these fifty people bore injuries sustained during the previous confrontation with the Raging Eagle Gate. There was a certain nature to sect battles where the interval between fights was short; the injured couldn't be completely healed and had to fight while wounded. Wait, you say fighting while seriously injured is unfair? Simple: this wasn't a one-on-one battle, but a battle between sects. Under these circumstances, if you were injured, you could retreat to the rear and let the uninjured take over while the injured healed during the combat. This tested the depth of a sect’s foundation; stronger sects gained more advantage here, while weaker sects suffered more disadvantages. The weaker sects had no ground for complaint; this was the nature of sect warfare.

The Sword Gate fielded ten World Realm experts and forty individuals at or above the fifth layer of the Cave Realm.

The Peerless Gate, on the other hand, fielded fifty World Realm experts and one hundred and twenty figures at or above the fifth layer of the Cave Realm. Yes, the disparity was that huge. In fact, the Sword Gate at its peak possessed roughly this level of strength, but the current Sword Gate was too weak, which led to such a terrifying gap in strength compared to the Peerless Gate.

Precisely because the gap in strength was terrifyingly large, most people placed their bets on the Peerless Gate to win.

The Master of the Peerless Gate, Fu Laoshuang, looked toward the Sword Extinction Ancestor: “Jian Mie, you truly haven't progressed these years; you’re sinking lower and lower.” Undeniably, the current Sword Extinction Ancestor was far from being Fu Laoshuang's match, as Fu Laoshuang had reached the sixth layer of the World Realm. Fu Laoshuang then turned his gaze to Lu Yuan: “Lu Yuan, the feud between our Peerless Gate's Fu Family and you runs incredibly deep. Few who have crossed our Peerless Gate's Fu Family are still alive, but you are an exception. Several disciples of our Fu Family died by your hands. Moreover, Fu Chong, who had a brilliant future ahead of him, was ruined because of you.”

Fu Chong was an illegitimate son of the Fu Family who had been left outside and returned to the civilization using the Central Assessment as a stepping stone. He could have done much better in the Central Assessment, but he ran into Lu Yuan. That would have been one thing, as he had entered the Ancient Civilization's vicinity. But as Lu Yuan’s relationship with the Fagu Civilization grew closer, Fu Chong found it increasingly difficult to survive there. Fu Chong was supposed to be a powerful chess piece for the Fu Family, yet he was nearly crippled because of Lu Yuan—one could imagine the agony. The major plans of the Fu Family were almost ruined by Lu Yuan. One must remember that even for the Peerless Gate's Fu Family, arrangements like this involving illegitimate sons were only made incidentally.

Therefore, the hatred between the Peerless Gate's Fu Family and Lu Yuan was incredibly deep, no less than the enmity between the Peerless Gate and the Sword Gate. Behind Fu Laoshuang stood a group of people whose hatred for Lu Yuan burned like fire—this group included Fu Chong's biological father, Fu Yi’s father, and others. The vengeance for fallen sons was irreconcilable. This was a mass of extremely potent fighting intent, a conflagration of hostility.

“People of the Sword Gate, this time, we will eradicate you! Lu Yuan, you shall die as well!” Fu Laoshuang roared. In a sect battle, if one side's leader requested surrender, the fighting could cease immediately. If no surrender was given, the fighting would continue until the end. Sect ranking battles were inherently cruel contests. Especially between sects with hatred as deep as the Sword Gate and the Peerless Gate, if one side grasped an opportunity, they would naturally inflict a heavy blow upon the other.

Fu Laoshuang shouted again: “Lu Yuan, I know you can defeat enemies one minor realm above you, but so what? This time, I have no intention of engaging in a one-on-one duel with you. You cannot possibly defeat the Peerless Gate’s ultimate weapon—the Peerless Arrow!”

The seventy members of the Peerless Gate all formed the shape of an arrow, and waves of Joyful Qi began to spread among their one hundred and seventy members. This was the manifestation of Joy, one of the Seven Emotions, linking all the experts of the Peerless Gate to unleash their ultimate weapon, the Peerless Arrow technique.

Instantly, in the void, with Fu Laoshuang as the arrow tip, a divine arrow thousands of feet long materialized. The magical power of this divine arrow no longer rested at the sixth layer of the World Realm but had ascended to the seventh layer of the World Realm. Furthermore, that wasn't all. At this moment, a wave of joy spread out. Joy, naturally, is a good thing, but excessive joy leads to sorrow (Joy Extreme, Sorrow Comes). The boundless intent of Joy from the Peerless Gate converged, and the arrow tip was aimed at the fifty members of the Sword Gate. Many among the Sword Gate's fifty people felt a piercing pain in their hearts.

The pain was in the heart! This was an agonizing spasm! The people of the Sword Gate were already weaker than their opponents, and now, with their hearts aching, their situation was even more unbearable.

The Sword Extinction Ancestor roared: “Activate the Endless Sword!” In that instant, the Sword Extinction Ancestor had no choice but to pit their ultimate weapon against the opponent's ultimate weapon. The entire Sword Gate had practiced this formation many times over the past year and immediately formed the Endless Sword. However, there was no doubt that because the members forming the Sword Gate’s Endless Sword had lower individual strengths, its attacking power was not very high. It also appeared thousands of feet long but lacked density, its attack power only reaching the level of the sixth layer of the World Realm.