After the conclusion of the Open Category battles, everyone began to consolidate their numbers and enter the preparatory phase for the group battles component. The organizers had instituted a five-days buffer period for the participants who had just fought in the Open Category battles to have time to rest, freshen up and revitalize their spirits. This also acted as a lull period when the individual sects could let loose slightly from the tension of the competition so far.

At the same time, the rules for this iteration of the group battles were also distributed to each and every sect’s sect leader, sect elders and peakmasters.

The rules of the group battles were the same as previous years. Teams competed through the accumulation of points, and the sect that was able to accumulate the most points throughout the course of the group battles would be able take the title of champions.

Every past iteration of these group battles lasted for three full days, and this iteration was no exception either. This year, the organizing committee had picked the marshlands on the Heavenly Crane Mountain as the location where the group battles would take place. These marshlands were often enshrouded in a poisonous fog and miasma, while spiritual beasts and poisonous creatures were often sighted and reported in these areas. It was an incredibly dangerous place.

There were three main ways for teams to earn points during these group battles. The first way was to snatch and obtain the identity tokens of other participants. Each identity token obtained earned the team five points, while the participant who has had their identity token removed or snatched would immediately be disqualified from the competition. The second way was to kill the spiritual beasts or monsters within the marshlands. The teams would be accorded a wide range of points commensurate with the type and the strength of the spirit beast or monster defeated. The third and final way to obtain points was to locate and obtain the treasures in the marshlands previously hidden by the organizing committee....