The first day of the elimination stage of the joust for a spouse had finally arrived.

Over half of the field had been culled by the examinations, but all of the participants had benefited to a certain extent from the Myriad Beast Plane. As such, even those who had been eliminated still had improved impressions of the Spirit Pagoda.

In the eyes of most Soul Masters, the Spirit Pagoda was an extremely revered organization, but was also a vampire that would suck you dry. Its soul spirits and Spirit Ascension Plane were simply inaccessible for most low-grade and mid-grade Soul Masters due to their prices, but all of the participants in this event were at or above rank 60 in soul power, and at that level, it was rare to find a poor Soul Master.

The society in the federation was a very realistic and stable one in that one's cultivation rank directly corresponded with their status and income. The more powerful someone was, the higher they'd be able to climb up the social ladder.

The Myriad Beast Plane had undoubtedly attracted a lot of attention, and its ability to enhance one's soul spirits with no upper limit gave many Soul Masters hope.

As such, very few of the Soul Masters who had been eliminated immediately left Bright City; all of them were very curious to see what type of prizes the Spirit Pagoda was going to offer.

Due to the revelation presented by the Myriad Beast Plane, the spotlight on Silver Dragon Princess Gu Yuena was lessened significantly. After all, only a single person would be able to win her heart as the ultimate prize, so there was virtually no chance for anyone below the Titled Douluo level, considering only the final 10 would receive the opportunity to be chosen by Gu Yuena.

There were four rounds of elimination matches, and in contrast with the round-robin matches, the elimination stage was actually definitely going to be more intense, as one would receive different prizes with each round that they progressed past. With the alluring prizes offered by the Spirit Pagoda, who wouldn't want to advance further in the event? The Myriad Beast Plane had given everyone a taste of what the Spirit Pagoda had to offer, and they were all eager for more.

The first round of elimination matches had the most participants, so it would take place over five days. Tang Wulin wasn't competing today, but he was in the spectator stands, and his ticket had naturally been organized by the Tang Sect.

As he sat in his seat, he thought back to the participant information he had read in the past.

Not only had this joust for a spouse event attracted the elite prodigies of the younger generation, there were also some unexpected participants.

According to the rules of the event, those above rank 60 in soul power and below 35 years of age were eligible, but the age limit was raised five years per additional 10 ranks of soul power.

This meant that the age limit actually ranged up to 50 for those who were at or above the Titled Douluo level.

For some prodigiously talented Soul Masters, 50 was already quite an advanced age. As such, on the list of participants prepared for him by the Tang Sect, there were not only Titled Douluos, but even Hyper Douluos who were in their forties.

For Soul Masters, 40 was still quite a young age, particularly for those who were at the Titled Douluo level or above. Titled Douluos in their forties were in the primes of their lives, and they could expect rapid progress in their cultivation at that age range.

All Soul Masters who could reach the Titled Douluo level before turning 50 were considered to be supremely talented, and Tang Wulin was going to have to face more competition than he originally anticipated.

Of course, he wasn't the only one that this applied to.

Over 1,600 participants had reached the elimination stage, which meant that over 800 matches had to take place. Even over the span of five days, that amounted to over 160 matches per day.

For the elimination stage, 10 competition platforms had been prepared in the Bright City Sports Stadium. This could only work in the Bright City Sports Stadium, which was the largest sports stadium in the entire federation; no other sports stadium would have such a massive space.

Each competition platform had side lengths of over 100 meters and were fitted with protective barriers of the highest caliber.

The rules had already been announced: there were no rules. The Spirit Pagoda believed that everything, including weapons, soul tools, and mechas, were a part of one's power and could be freely used without any restrictions.

The only objective was to defeat the opponent. The competition platforms were quite spacious for Soul Master battles, but they were actually too small for mechas to be able to maneuver themselves properly. However, this was inevitable due to the constraints of the venue, and the participants would just have to adapt and make do.

At this point, the Soul Masters participating in the first round of the elimination stage had already entered the venue.

Tang Wulin cast his gaze toward the sixth competition platform, atop which stood a pair of participants. One of them was an extremely imposing man with his arms bared to reveal his bronze skin, and they were so muscular that they were as thick as the legs of a normal person. His short red hair stood up like steel pins, and he was giving off a very intimidating aura.

His name was Chi Shanming, and his martial soul was Fire Elemental Control. Apparently, his house was set alight as soon as he was born, and he possessed innate full soul power. He was currently 37 years of age and a rank 91 Titled Douluo.

His style of battle was extremely explosive and aggressive, and his Douluo Title was Flame Tyrant.

He was renowned for his ferocious offensive prowess and would often crush his opponents with his overwhelming offensive capabilities.

Standing before him was an ordinary-looking young man who appeared to be around 27 to 28 years of age without any notable features.

Chi Shanming was the most powerful being in this first of over 10 groups of battles that were to take place on this day. Not only had this match attracted Tang Wulin's attention, many other spectators were also eagerly awaiting its commencement. It was always a pleasure to be able to witness a Titled Douluo in action.

Chi Shanming's opponent was named Yuan Hui, and aside from the fact that he possessed rank 83 soul power, not much more information about him was available.

Only Tang Wulin knew who this Yuan Hui was, and he couldn't help but lament Chi Shanming's ill-fortune.

That's right, this Yuan Hui was none other than the alias of Yuanen Yehui!

All of Shrek’s Seven Monsters were participating in this event, and Yuanen Yehui had a very ordinary appearance to begin with in her male attire, and this was even further exacerbated by her disguise.

Many of the spectators were guessing at how long this match would last.

In their eyes, the outcome was already set in stone. There was simply an insurmountable gap between Titled Douluos and Soul Douluos, and everyone knew that a Soul Master would undergo an evolution after reaching the Titled Douluo level that would take them to the true pinnacle of the Soul Master world.

However, a Soul Douluo was already very powerful, and they were only hoping that Yuan Hui would be able to last for some time in the face of Chi Shanming's attacks.

Due to the high number of matches that were to take place, there would be no commentary during the elimination stage. After a short electronic countdown, the matches officially commenced.

Over 80% of the spectators had their attention focused on the sixth competition platform, eagerly awaiting the performance of a Titled Douluo.

Despite the spectators' confidence in him, Chi Shanming wasn't allowing any complacency to take hold. In fact, he wasn't even confident in the notion that he would definitely secure victory.

Having become a Titled Douluo before turning 40, he had endured countless battles, and as soon as he saw Yuan Hui, he immediately knew that something was off about this Yuan Hui.

Why? It was because he was simply far too ordinary and devoid of noteworthy traits.

What was most unsettling to him was that he couldn't sense any energy fluctuations from his opponent.

He had done some research into his opponent, and he was very confident in his own powers, but he definitely wasn't going to get careless. On top of that, he was participating in this event not for Gu Yuena, nor for any of the prizes; he was simply here to test himself and further improve through battle.