Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 531 - 530 - Heaven Grade Elimination

Unlike the first 2 rounds where the crowd could follow the materials displayed to a point or had at least heard of them, the Heaven Grade round was proof of how far those experts had gone.

Not all of them were Sky Realms either!  There were a handful of World Realms in each of the 3 areas which made many guild masters and sect masters glint with greed as they knew where some of them came from.

Unlike the previous 2 rounds, the experts in front of them were not as equal as before.  Heaven grade covered all the way up to 5 so many wondered how many of the men and women down there were Heaven grade 5 or were they only Heaven grade 4?

Something else that distinguished the last round was the sharp drop in demons.  Heaven grade demons were very rare for various reasons but many noticed the majority of demons came from Moebius Sect.

It made many demonic powers look on with envy and silently swore to make better ties with Moebius Sect and its teachings.

Also, unlike the last 2 rounds, there was far less panicking from any of the little over 500 competitors.

The people below were at most tier 7 or 8 Sky Realms but their focus was on production.  They were the true experts but even so, the elimination round was clearly pushing them to their limits!

Some were able to quickly imprint the jade slip while others took their time.  Almost no one in the crowd could follow the part that made a Heaven Grade possible.

Essence needed the aspects and so forth to reach it but each essence could have multiple aspects that had to be grasped.

Missing even one part of the advanced step would lose them the score for that item.

Master Ye looked on in great interest as alchemists had a very different requirement.  They had to actually reach the essence stage themselves to become Heaven Grade pill makers.

Refiners were not much better in difficulty but at least they could purify the ores to the point that intent could be found to reach the Heaven Grade.

Formation masters were a lot harder as it was not strictly the material but the arrays that created the complexity needed to reach their threshold.

What fascinated the many masters and leaders watching on were the derivative experts that came from Moebius Sect for the most part.  A smattering of individuals were also there but compared to the speed of Moebius Sect, it was clear they would go to the main tournament.

Elixirs had some grasp of Heaven grade with aspects of each essence but the rest were complete mysteries to them.

It was actually exciting just to watch them identify their materials and then move on to the next step for the sharp eyed master.

The sand kept falling as the sun began to touch the edge of the arena.  Lind looked on and smiled as he understood far more than anyone else what was happening in the current round.

His Eyes were long trained to not only identify the materials but those that understood what to do!  He knew his disciples would do well but never truly how well under such pressure to perform well.

He also finally felt his bottleneck with weaving slightly loosen but only a little.

It was working!  He needed a wide range of information and experience but the final circle was much harder than the previous 2.  It needed far more than simply mastering the peak of grade 5, he had to get ideas about the Heaven grade from what he could tell.

He was stuck at Heaven grade 3 but none of the weavers was at his level.  Even the itinerant weavers were only at Heaven grade 2 from what he could see.

The quality was also far below his disciples.

Still, any progress he would take.  He felt like he was at the threshold of something but he did not know what was holding him back from it.

The round continued but while no panicking was evident, a different problem cropped up.  The mental strain began to show on several competitors.

Imprinting a jade slip was normally very easy even for a Soul Realm let alone a Sky Realm, but around the time the sun was finally dipping to the horizon, 50 competitors jade slips fell from their hands and shattered!

The people holding them were falling as well but healers swiftly moved to catch them.  Lind noticed most were alchemists or refiners with only a few elixir masters mixed in.

Formation masters, by their nature, had much higher mental tolerance so they were still going but Lind began to frown as he saw others showing the strain.

"I think we pushed them too far for this round."  Kexin nodded but the 2 aether children shook their heads.

"You negotiated how the rounds would work and this is the basics of each profession.  They may not have such intensive moments like that but it should be easy to swifty know what they need and how to break them down."  Huo spoke up but Lind was looking at more than she could see.

"The number is not the problem, it is the imprinting of all that information.  The jade slip is what is putting them over the top.  There is a large difference from having a compendium of materials in your head to putting it all into writing."  Lind knew his own elders and masters he had spoken to had slowly recorded their breakthroughs for future generations to follow.

To do it all at once was possible but the strain of a lifetime of work would strain even the most powerful cultivator.  Compared to the other 2 rounds, the information imprinted for each image was exponentially higher.

"While it seems rough, you also have to remember these are the best of the best.  They are not used to being challenged and this competition is showing them their weaknesses.  It also is possible they developed weaknesses as they are treated very well at this point in their professions."  Azylea gave a stunningly good take on the elimination round.

Lind had not thought about it but he then looked at his weaving and knew she was right.  Compared to his other 2 professions, he was struggling a great deal more.  He had teachers for the other 2 which contributed to his foundation being excellent in each but it also made him reliant on such a foundation to easily progress as he had been used to.

Weaving had exposed that he did not have the tools to try and solve bottlenecks where the path was not even hinted at nor mentioned by a master during his initial training.

From that perspective, the elimination round for Heaven grade was quite merciful.  Almost all of the Heaven grade experts were either taught by elders or had found an Inheritance that lit the fire inside them.

As they continued to watch, they noticed a change.

The elixir masters, weavers, and Forgers seemed to quickly pull ahead but the other professions suffered greatly as another 100 collapsed suddenly.  Lind looked at the timer glass and simply let it play out.

It was almost over.

A few more dropped out but there were still over 300 left when the time finally ran out.

Once the chime was sent out to stop, almost all the competitors were exhausted and clearly had pushed themselves to the limit.  Lind noticed more than half had enlightened glints in their eyes!

"Well done to all that made it through.  The top 100 will be posted shortly but the Heaven grade experts will be given a full day to rest before they start the main competition."  Lind's voice boomed as he flew back into the air.

He could see the sun setting behind some of the islands yet darkness was settling in below.

"Starting tomorrow at dawn, the grade 3 experts will return for the refining and Forging in the morning, the alchemists and elixir masters in the afternoon, and the formation masters and weavers to compete throughout both as will be demonstrated then."  Lind then waved his hands and the doorways to the exits lit up.

"Thank you all for coming and to all competitors that have been eliminated, please stay to watch and find your inspiration.  Like cultivation, mastering a profession is one step at a time but inspiration can unlock doors you never expected to find."  Lind spoke from experience and many bowed in gratitude to him.

Lind then floated down as he reviewed the Heaven grade results.

The top 100 was loaded with Moebius Sect experts but there were still a decent chunk of others in alchemy, refining, and formations.

His eyes narrowed at the ones that collapsed as he was curious at their status.

He saw they were just mentally exhausted and would recover in a day.

"Kexin, I want the ones that collapsed to be issued my theoretical treatise on the elements in relation to each of their fields."  She nodded and left while the 2 aether children looked confused.

Lind smiled and simply shrugged as he felt no need to explain that he simply wanted to give real hope and the elemental treatise were public knowledge for all by that point.

"I will make a future where we all work together to get stronger."  He spoke the words allowed but looked up when he said it.  The competition was not only to unify the mortal realm as best it can, but also to drive growth.

Their enemies were powerful and moving forward.  He needed to send up better quality since quantity was not easy to achieve to make a difference.  The key to quality was better support so the contest would drive the innovation to make all of the support fields better.

He then invited them to dinner and they left the arena after the first day of the competition concluded.