47: Powerful families joined forces to exert pressure and change the rules.

Three days later, Dragon Capital National Martial Arts Center.

The main hall, with a capacity of two hundred thousand, was packed to the brim, yet the air was so heavy it felt like it could be wrung out.

In the stands, there were none of the usual cheers and shouts.

Only suppressed whispers and countless gazes fixed upon the main arena.

There, Lin Fan stood all alone.

Wearing the faded school uniform of Yuncheng Third High School, he had his hands in his pockets and his head slightly tilted back, looking toward the VIP section.

His expression was calm.

It even carried a hint of... boredom?

The VIP section.

Usually, this area was occupied by big shots from the Ministry of Education, the Martial Arts Association, and the military.

But today, an extra row of special seats had been added to the front.

The Xuanyuan family, Wang family, and Ye family of Dragon Capital.

The Ye and Chu families of Magic City.

Tang Sect of Shu.

The Qin family of Beihe... the heads or representatives of the top twenty martial arts families in the country were all present.

Their expressions were surprisingly uniform—sneering.

It was as if they were looking at an insect about to be crushed to death.

Meanwhile, in the military delegation's seats, Colonel Zhao's face was ashen, and his fists were clenched so tight they creaked.

“Old Zhao, calm down.”

A general with two gold stars on his shoulders pressed down on his shoulder. “The rules were set by the organizing committee; we have no right to interfere.”

“You call these damn things rules?!”

Colonel Zhao growled, “A 299-person gauntlet against Lin Fan alone? He has to win every single match to take first place? And a single loss disqualifies his entire performance?! This is clearly designed to ruin him!”

The general remained silent.

He also felt it was excessive.

But the influence of the great families present today was too immense, so much so that even the military had to be wary.

During the Underground Cave Trial, Lin Fan had cleared out ninety teams, eliminating all the geniuses painstakingly nurtured by the various great families ahead of time.

This was equivalent to a slap in the face to all the great families.

How could they possibly tolerate it?

Thus, over the course of three days, the great families had joined forces to exert pressure, forcing the National Examination organizing committee to modify the rules for the second stage.

As for the head examiner, Long Xiaotian... “General Long's hands were tied as well.”

The general sighed. “Although he is at the Peak Martial King level, there are Martial Emperors above him, not to mention those old reclusive monsters... With the great families united, he couldn't hold out.”

Colonel Zhao stared intently at the youth on the main arena.

“Lin Fan... please don't be impulsive... just admit defeat... as long as the green mountains remain...”

But in the next second, he knew!

Lin Fan would not admit defeat.

Never... “Silence!”

The head examiner, Long Xiaotian, stepped through the air and landed on the main arena.

The pressure of a Peak Martial King spread out, and the entire venue instantly fell silent.

The elderly man in military uniform gave Lin Fan a complicated look before shifting his gaze away, his voice carrying across the venue via Internal Energy:

“The second stage of the National Examination, the Individual Challenge, has the following rules:”

He paused, as if every word was difficult to utter:

“Due to the unique circumstances of the Underground Cave Trial, with the exception of Lin Fan's team, the points for the other ninety teams are all zero.”

“After deliberation by the organizing committee, it has been decided that for the second stage... everyone will advance.”

Whoosh!

The stands erupted!

“Everyone advances?! Doesn't that mean 299 people?!”

“Didn't they say before that only the top fifty teams would advance?!”

“This is clearly targeted at Lin Fan!”

Long Xiaotian raised his hand to suppress the noise and continued:

“The second stage will use a challenge system.”

“All candidates will be sorted by the Pinyin of their surnames and will challenge in order...”

He looked toward Lin Fan:

“Lin Fan.”

Dead silence.

Then, a complete explosion of outcry!

“A 299-person gauntlet against one person?!”

“How can he even fight?! He'll be exhausted to death!”

“Rigged! It's a blatant fix!”

The comments in the livestream exploded instantly:

[Holy shit! Do they have no shame?!]

[The great families are teaming up to suppress a commoner Genius! Blatant class oppression!]

[Lin Fan, withdraw quickly! This National Examination isn't even worth taking!]

[God Fan, don't agree! They just want to ruin you!]

...Long Xiaotian ignored all protests and continued reading the most brutal part:

“Lin Fan must accept all 299 challenges.”

“If he wins every match, he will be ranked first in this National Examination.”

“If he loses even one match...”

He took a deep breath:

“...then his National Examination results will be nullified, all rankings canceled, and he will be barred from participating in any official martial arts assessments for three years.”

Boom!

Now, even the ordinary spectators in the VIP section couldn't sit still!

“This is too much!”

“This is intended to completely destroy Lin Fan's path of martial arts!”

“Can the great families just do whatever they want?!”

Meanwhile, in the seats of the great families, the representatives finally broke into smiles.

The head of the Xuanyuan family stroked his beard and chuckled. “Young people must always pay a price for their arrogance.”

Wang Lie (Wang Teng's father) gritted his teeth with satisfaction. “Lin Fan... today I want to see you crawl out of this arena on your knees!”

The head of the Ye family shook his head slightly. “A pity for such a good prospect, but who told him not to know the rules?”

Rules.

In their eyes, Lin Fan's greatest sin was not knowing the rules.

How could a child from a humble background dare to trample upon the heads of the great families?

How could he dare to harvest their geniuses like leeks?

Today, they would use the crudest method possible to tell him!

There are some lines that must not be crossed... On the arena.

Long Xiaotian finished reading and looked at Lin Fan:

“Lin Fan, do you have any objections?”

“If you have objections, you may voice them; the rules... can be negotiated.”

His words were already quite blunt.

As long as Lin Fan showed some weakness and admitted he was wrong, there might still be room for maneuver.

After all, the military did not want to see such a Genius destroyed either.

But.

Lin Fan smiled.

He lifted his head, his gaze sweeping across the smug faces in the VIP section, the angry spectators in the stands, and the dense barrage of comments in the livestream.

Then, he looked at Long Xiaotian.

“The rules are fine.”

“I accept.”

Those four nonchalant words plunged the entire venue into dead silence once again.

Even the representatives of the great families were stunned.

He... accepted?

No resistance? No protest? Not even any bargaining?

“Lin Fan!” Colonel Zhao suddenly stood up. “Don't be impulsive! We can...”

“Colonel Zhao,” Lin Fan interrupted him, his smile remaining. “Thank you.”

He turned his head to look at the seats of the great families again. “I heard a saying once.”

“'If the world slanders me, bullies me, insults me, laughs at me, belittles me, despises me, or deceives me, how should I handle it?'”

“I don't remember the answer.”

“But I have my own answer.”

“And that is to beat them—beat them until they don't dare to talk shit anymore.”

“I know you can't stand me, and I don't care.”

As his words fell.

He took a step forward and said to the group of students below the stage who were to challenge him, “But you all are going to suffer today!”

“Today, I only want to beat you all to death, or be beaten to death by you!”

“For the sake of your safety, don't come at me one by one. Just come at me all at once.”

“Share the damage among yourselves, and maybe you'll even manage to keep your pathetic lives!”

Dead silence.

Dead silence.

Still dead silence.

Then, a mountain-shaking, tsunami-like outcry erupted!

“He's crazy! He's truly gone mad!”

“299 people all at once?! Those are the geniuses of the whole country!”

“Even with the strength of a Martial Ancestor, one wouldn't dare to be so arrogant!”

The representatives of the great families were first enraged, then burst into collective laughter.

The head of the Xuanyuan family shook his head. “Ignorance is bliss.”

Wang Lie even slammed the table. “Good! Since you're looking for death, we'll grant your wish!”

Long Xiaotian gave Lin Fan a long look. “Are you sure?”

“I'm sure.”

“Fine.” Long Xiaotian stopped trying to persuade him. “Additional rule: All challengers may take the stage simultaneously, with no limit on the number of people or the methods used.”

“Lin Fan, if you can defeat everyone at once...”

“...then your first-place rank in this National Examination will be truly deserved.”

“Now!”

He raised his hand and pointed toward the contestant tunnel:

“All candidates, take the stage!”

...The two hundred and ninety-nine people had complex expressions on their faces.

Some felt anger—the humiliation of being cleared out by Lin Fan in the caves.

Some felt excitement—the chance to personally eliminate this madman.

Some felt hesitation—such a siege would be an ungentlemanly victory.

And some felt worry.

For instance, Su Muyu and Qin Yue.

But in the end, everyone still stepped onto the main arena.

The arena was large, a hundred meters in both length and width.

But with three hundred people packed in, it still felt crowded.

Lin Fan stood in the center of the arena.

Opposite him, two hundred and ninety-seven people formed a loose formation, their Vital Energy surging and Killing Intent permeating the air.

At the very front were top geniuses like Xuanyuan Potian, Ye Wuchen, and Tang Ying, the Young Lord of the Tang Sect of Shu.

Having suffered at Lin Fan's hands before, their gazes were exceptionally solemn now.

Su Muyu and Qin Yue stood at the back of the group, their expressions conflicted as if they were considering something.

“Everyone.”

Xuanyuan Potian suddenly spoke, his voice carrying across the arena:

“No matter how strong Lin Fan is, he's still just one person.”

“With the 299 of us joined together, we can wear him down to death even if we just stall!”

“But for the sake of fairness!”

He looked at Lin Fan and said coldly:

“We won't all attack at once.”

“The first ten will go up first.”

“If they lose, another twenty will go.”

“If they lose again, fifty will go.”

“And so on.”

“Lin Fan, don't say we're bullying you.”

These words sounded high-minded and dignified.

In reality... it was still a gauntlet.

Except it had changed from a sequence of duels to a sequence of group beatdowns.

A chorus of curses immediately erupted from the stands:

“Despicable!”

“Do you have no shame?!”

“Is this the character of 'geniuses' from the great families?!”

But Lin Fan just laughed.

“Xuanyuan Potian.” He called the other's name seriously for the first time.

“You're better than your father.”

“At least you still know what shame is.”

Xuanyuan Potian's face darkened. “You!”

“Enough.” Lin Fan waved his hand. “Stop acting.”

“If you all came at me at once, I might actually have a bit of respect for you.”

“But like this...”

He sighed.

“It's quite boring.”

As his words fell.

Lin Fan moved.

He didn't charge toward the two hundred and ninety-nine people opposite him.

Instead.

He lifted his foot and stomped down lightly.

Thud.

A dull sound rang out.

Starting from the sole of his foot, pale golden patterns spread across the arena floor like a spiderweb!

Ancient Desolate Sacred Body, Vital Energy—Full Release!