The Purple Cloud Islands had five arenas.
The grand arena on Purple Cloud Island would not open for the preliminary matches; it would at least wait until the group matches.
Since Zhao Xing was on Twin Islands, which were to the west of the archipelago, he was assigned to the Western Division to participate in the West Division Winter Evaluation Preliminaries.
The Purple Cloud Arena of the Western Division was located on Tianjing Island.
When Zhao Xing arrived, Tianjing Island was already bustling. People and exotic beasts were everywhere in the sky, on the ground, and in the sea. There were even some transformed Water Clan people.
"Sir, there are 7,830 islands participating in the West Division Winter Evaluation Preliminaries."
"As of 11:15 AM today, the total number of participating exotic beasts has reached 357,954, while the number of tamers is only one-tenth of that. Ninety percent are Sixth Grade exotic beasts," Tao Anchun reported the latest data while docking the ship.
Zhao Xing glanced at the Earth Mirror and couldn’t help but smile, "What a grand event, there are so many battle beasts."
"The islands competing have a minimum of two slots, but in reality, it is far more than that. Some large islands control hundreds or even thousands of slots."
"Like Yalong Island, Ten Thousand Beast Island, and Purple Cloud Island. These three large islands each control over 50,000 slots," Dong Yuanqiu remarked.
"This year, these three large islands have only sent a dozen or so participants. Most of those coming now are from the medium or small islands. Even so, some medium islands control hundreds of slots."
Zhao Xing nodded. The difference in power between the islands was too great.
Islands like Ten Thousand Beast Island, Yalong Island, and Purple Cloud Island had loads of Fourth Grade battle beasts, and even high-grade battle beasts. They could pick and choose from Fourth Grade battle beasts!
Such large islands naturally received more slots, and they did not need to participate in the preliminary matches.
They even received guaranteed slots for the group matches, the question was merely how many, depending on whether they chose to participate.
This was because powerful aristocrats of Great Zhou backed Yalong Island, Ten Thousand Beast Island, and Purple Cloud Island.
Purple Cloud Island belonged entirely to Princess You Ruo; it was her mother’s ancestral home.
Yalong Island and Ten Thousand Beast Island had many nobles, including various marquises.
Like Marquis Mingwu of the Tiger Flood Dragon Army, who had equity in Yalong Island because his great-grandfather had contributed to expanding Pinghai State during the reign of the Grand Ancestor.
The 357,000 battle beasts in the West Division might sound like a lot, but in fact, each tamer controlled multiple beasts.
Of course, ninety percent were Sixth Grade, merely stepping stones.
The selection process within was brutal; during the preliminaries, the death rate for these Sixth Grade exotic beasts reached fifty percent.
However, many battle beasts also broke through, from Sixth Grade to Fifth Grade, and from Fifth Grade to Fourth Grade.
It was a matter of who would step over whom.
"Tiger Flood Dragon and Qingluan could die in the preliminaries, but the Mountain Cat must not die here. If it encountered a powerful enemy, it should withdraw," Zhao Xing thought to himself.
There were still many opportunities.
In the next five years, any season’s preliminary could lead to group matches in the following five years.
It was the first year of the preliminary matches; if this year did not work out, there would be four more years with a total of sixteen opportunities.
Aotian Cat was still in the early Fifth Grade with much potential for growth. It did not need to fight to the death now.
As for the Tiger Flood Dragon and Qingluan gifted by the Daoist Academy, their growth potential was limited. Mr. Zhao did not care much.
Let them fight for a sliver of survival in life-and-death battles. As battle beasts, dying on the battlefield was better than languishing in a cage.
While Zhao Xing was contemplating, the ship in front suddenly stopped, and the Pilot Flying Boat also halted.
Faintly, sounds of arguing could be heard.
"Is there a traffic jam?" Zhao Xing looked ahead.
"Sir, let me check it out," Tao Anchun volunteered.
But before he could go see clearly, a burst of flames suddenly erupted from the port side of a Bright Moon Tower Ship ahead, spraying toward a Seven-Sail Tower Ship in front of it.
The Seven-Sail Tower Ship was not willing to be outdone; it directly changed direction and accelerated, crashing towards the Bright Moon Tower Ship beside it.
The Seven-Sail Tower Ship had Xuan Tie armor and a piston ram on its port side.
With this impact, it immediately punched dozens of holes into the Bright Moon Tower Ship.
"Damn it, how dare you attack a military ship!"
"Scoundrel, I am of the Ji surname, how dare you slander me? Are you rebelling? Men, capture them!"
"Bullshit, as if no one else is of the Ji surname. Wolf God Guards, attack!"
The two tower ships quickly engaged in a boarding battle. Although there were only dozens of participants, there were thousands of exotic beasts!
The Pilot Flying Boat from Tianjing Island was affected and got smashed to pieces. The navigating officer quickly jumped ship to save his life.
This scene left the surrounding people stunned. Zhao Xing also felt speechless, road rage seemed to exist everywhere.
"Reverse the ship, increase altitude," Zhao Xing ordered.
This ship was a Cloud Rain Tower Ship dispatched by the Minister of Agriculture Supervision, not a warship, and certainly could not withstand collisions. It would be too unfortunate to get caught up.
However, as feared, the Twin Cloud Rain Tower Ship was only a hundred meters behind these two ships and at a slightly lower altitude.
When the Seven-Sail Warship capsized the Bright Moon Tower Ship, the massive vessel, over two thousand meters long, began falling toward Zhao Xing’s ship.
"Quick, reverse! Reverse the ship!"
"Activate the barrier!"
"The Pilot Flying Boat from Tianjing Island hasn’t detached yet!"
"Ignore it, the navigating officer will jump down by himself."
On the Twin Cloud Rain Tower Ship, a flurry of activity ensued. Tao Anchun, Dong Yuanqiu, and others immediately ordered the mechanical masters below to quickly maneuver the warship backward.