The high-altitude gale swept across the peak, carrying away the lingering heat of the initial rounds. As the afternoon light softened into a deep, honeyed gold, the thirty floating blue jade platforms began to shift. Guided by the subterranean qi currents, twenty-6 of the slabs drifted slowly toward the outer edges of the courtyard, while four massive, three-hundred-foot arenas locked into a wide, central grid directly beneath the elevated northern platforms.
On the highest floating platform, the golden light-screens flared sharply, wiping away the scattered bracket trees to display four distinct, high-stakes matchups:
[QUARTERFINALS — THE SUPER EIGHT]
Lin Xiaobao vs. Chen Guo
Su Qing vs. Ran Ji
Meng Huo vs. Ba Tu
Ye Chen vs. Shen Hang
The ten thousand spectators packed into the tiered stone stands leaned forward as one, the deafening roar of the crowd gradually settling into a tight, expectant silence.
A single, crisp reverberation of the gong shattered the stillness.
