Chapter – 193 Rules of the compet.i.tion
The prince of the Tang kingdom, Chu Chao Sheng, was a very powerful and influential man and was second only to a handful of members of the royal clan.
It was a pity that he couldn’t step into the realm unity of heaven and man, otherwise he would’ve left no stone unturned to trouble Long Yu.
As the crowd continued to whisper, a group of people entered through the gates of the Imperial Martial Arena .They had surrounded a middle-aged man who was clad a heavy, ornate robe.
The middle-aged man had a proud countenance. However, the mature charm of his face accompanied by a light, pleasant smile gave an impression of each and everything being under his control.
Chu Chao Sheng, originally a distant relative of the Imperial Chu Clan, couldn’t have risen to power had it not been for his expertise in martial arts and charming personality.
In spite of being a powerful martial artist, Chu Chao Sheng’s real power was his intelligence and ability to convince people.
Being a part of the royal clan, Chu Chao Sheng had always been full of wisdom. Throughout his life, he had successfully suppressed many rivals including Long Zaitian using his wits and power.
“So, that’s Chu Chao Sheng!”
Long Yu thought to himself as he watched the Prince entering the martial arena. What surprised him more was that the Prince had looked directly towards him, right after entering the martial arena!
That one glance revealed the Prince’s interest. He was certainly intrigued by Long Yu.
Earlier, Chu Chao Sheng had bestowed a Long Yue Jindan upon Long Yu. However, in spite of being laced with a poisonous heart gra.s.s, Long Yu wasn’t harmed at all. Instead, the Jindan helped him in enhancing his cultivation level!
This was the reason why the Prince was highly intrigued by Long Yu.
He was sure that Long Yu had some secret of his own, and he was protecting it through and through.
Although Chu Chao Sheng’s glance had alerted Long Yu, he didn’t fear the Prince at all.
Long Yu had already set his priorities. Chu Chao Sheng wanted to destroy every other sect except the Qiansi sect, and to fulfil his purpose, he was depending upon the results of the seven sects’ compet.i.tion. Long Yu had to sort this matter out first!
“Long Ce and the Imperial Princess!”
Long Yu saw the Princess, clad in a snow-white dress, entering the martial arena,.
No doubt, the entire Tang kingdom wished to watch the seven sects’ compet.i.tion.
The Princess followed Chu Chao Sheng, with the sole intent of limiting his actions, ensuring that he doesn’t act rashly.
Although the Princess didn’t have a high cultivation level, her status in the royal clan compelled Prince Chu Chao Sheng to dare not to take any irrational decision.
Chu Chao Sheng, accompanied by Long Ce and Chu Feng, finally arrived at the central stage and occupied his seat.
After a brief pause, Chu Chao Sheng finally spoke, “The seven sects’ compet.i.tion has a long history in our Tang kingdom. Over the years, this compet.i.tion has proved to be the best platform for the martial disciples of our kingdom to showcase their talents and improve their skills. The disciples, who won this compet.i.tion, grew up to be the pillars of this kingdom…”
After the initial few minutes of introduction to the legacy of the compet.i.tion, Chu Chao Sheng soon jumped to the rules of the seven sects’ compet.i.tion.
His powerful voice and charming way of speech had left the audience smitten.
“The seven sects’ compet.i.tion will last nearly the entire month. There will be two phases of the compet.i.tion. The first phase will be the knockout rounds.”
Chu Chao Sheng looked towards all the disciples present there, “In the knockout rounds, contestants of same cultivation level will be pitted against each other. Only the strongest one-seventh of the total partic.i.p.ants will earn a certain number of points based on their performance in the matches.”
Chu Chao Sheng’s instruction was immediately understood by everyone.
The best performers would earn points. The better they perform, the more points they would earn.
The final rankings would be declared based upon the number of points each sect had earned.
The first round of the knockout rounds would have Wudao eighth layer partic.i.p.ants fighting each other, till only one-seventh of them are left.
For example, there were seventy partic.i.p.ants with a cultivation level of Wudao eighth layer. In the first round, all the seventy partic.i.p.ants would simultaneously fight each other till only ten of them were left standing in the arena.
The second round would have Wudao ninth layer partic.i.p.ants trying to eliminate each other, the third round would have the fight of Zhenling first layer partic.i.p.ants and so on…
Since only the disciples less than twenty five years of age could partic.i.p.ate in the seven sects’ compet.i.tion and the strongest compet.i.tor was Yu Qianning with a cultivation level of Zhenling fifth layer, the first phase of the compet.i.tion would have six rounds, each of which would be organised after a gap of two days in between.
People who emerged victorious in the first round would gain one point each; the winners of the second round would earn two points each; winners of the third round would be awarded with three points each, and so on…
Being the only partic.i.p.ant with a cultivation of Zhenling fifth layer, Yu Qianning was not supposed to fight in the knockout rounds; she would automatically be awarded with seven points.
Because of Yu Qianning, the Qiansi sect would gain the lead over the other sects right from the beginning of the compet.i.tion.
The other six sects couldn’t argue about it since Yu Qianning indeed had entered Zhenling fifth layer and was the only partic.i.p.ant with such a high cultivation level.
Once the knockout rounds were over, the core rounds would start.
The rules of the core round were a little complex and Chu Chao Sheng had mentioned nothing about them. However, Long Yu knew that to enter the core rounds, one had to emerge victorious in the knockout rounds.
The knockout rounds pitted martial artists with same cultivation level against each other. The fight was fierce but fair.
However, the core rounds had no such rule. Only the genuinely strong partic.i.p.ants could emerge victorious in the core rounds.
Long Yu was sure that he would have to face Yu Qianning in the core rounds.
“There’s no way these Wudao eighth layer and ninth layer compet.i.tors would last long in this compet.i.tion…”
Long Yu thought to himself.
“These disciples will compete with honor and all the fairness, but would Chu Chao Sheng be fair to them?”
No doubt, Chu Chao Sheng had made some arrangements to ensure his daughter’s victory. One of these arrangements was providing her with all the resources to quickly enhance her cultivation level.
No one knew what else Chu Chao Sheng had planned. Only time could unravel this mystery.
“We will get started with the first knockout round. All the contestants with cultivation level of Wudao eighth layer may gather in the martial arena.”
Chu Chao Sheng smiled and continued, “This Imperial Martial Arena is the place where the strongest of the royal guards practise martial arts. I know you all must be feeling honored to have come here.”
Indeed, they must’ve been feeling honored.
The partic.i.p.ants of the seven sects’ compet.i.tion were praised and respected in the entire Tang kingdom. The winners’ names remained etched forever in the history as they shot to fame instantly.
However, this year’s seven sects’ compet.i.tion had lost its spirit; it had become a mere device of Chu Chao Sheng’s plan. That was why, most of the people were not feeling honored about being a part of this compet.i.tion. They were all partic.i.p.ating with the sheer spirit of defending their sects.
“Be careful during the fight! If at any point, you feel that you won’t be able to fight any longer, just concede. The match is not more valuable than your life!”
Ling Han, who wasn’t sitting too far from Long Yu, was instructing his younger sister, Ling Yiyue.
Lin Yiyue had a cultivation level of Wudao eighth layer, so she was going to fight in the very first knockout round.
The first round was going to witness the largest number of contestants. Zhentian sect had eleven Wudao eighth layer disciples, who were going to partic.i.p.ate in the first round.
Ling Yiyue was one of them.
The present situation of Zhentian sect wasn’t advantageous at all. In the knockout rounds, they could only trust Hanbing sect to co-operate with them. The other sects might turn their backs and severely injure the Zhentian disciples.
Although Allure sect might not target the disciples of Zhentian sect, Tibetan Fire sect and Knife Cut sect couldn’t spare any of the Zhentian disciples!
One’s life was more important than any match. If one wasn’t able to defeat others, then one could at least save their life by conceding at right time.
“Brother Ling, rest a.s.sured. We will keep Sister Ling safe.”
The other Wudao eighth layer disciples immediately stood up and said to Ling Han.
In such a knockout match, unity was the only key to protect oneself as well as one’s fellow disciples.
“Brother, don’t worry about me. Although I’m not too strong, I won’t be subdued easily.”
Ling Yiyue’s spirit was indomitable. There was no way she was giving up without a good fight. She wanted to contribute some points to her sect’s success.
In spite of being just a Wudao eighth layer martial artist, Ling Yiyue’s perseverance was no less than that of the strongest of warriors.
“All of you, please be careful.”
Ling Han nodded. He was still worried about their well-being.
Ling Yiyue was too young as compared to the other experts of Wudao eighth layer; several of them were about twenty years old.
In spite of having the same cultivation level, Ling Yiyue might lack the required battle experience.
The matches of Wudao eighth layer disciples were much simpler than those of Zhenling realm disciples. They only used simple martial skills, neither of which could endanger the opponent’s life.
Certainly, the seven sects’ compet.i.tion provided the compet.i.tors an environment to learn from each other and make progress.
Therefore, killing another contestant would cause a huge uproar among the partic.i.p.ating sects.
Sparing the opponent’s life was the n.o.blest gesture one could display during the matches. However, the knockout rounds got under the skin of the contestants to such an extent that they strived to survive till the end, even if it involved causing great harm to the opponent.
Only their strength could help them survive!
The first knockout round was going to commence soon.
During warm-up, all the partic.i.p.ants were carefully observing their opponents.
There were eleven partic.i.p.ants from Zhentian sect, while the other sects had about ten or eleven partic.i.p.ants each.
All in all, there were a total of seventy seven partic.i.p.ants ready to fight in the first round, out of which only eleven would earn some points in the end.
If all the eleven disciples of Zhentian sect managed to stay in the fight till the end, the sect would gain eleven points at once!
Which sects would be able to be among the top eleven?
The people could only wait and watch.