The competition started at nine o'clock. The monks from the other courtyard had prepared hot water breakfast early in the morning. After washing up, Chu Xiang and the others set out for the competition area without eating the prepared breakfast. Food is in short supply today. Although thirty tons of grain have been transported back, it is better to consume less. It is easier for three people to obtain food than for others. They cannot make others work because of their own appetites. Such gain without work is harmful. Personality.
All the way to the competition area, no one from the Mountain Guest Alliance came to cause trouble. When they arrived at the competition area, Chu Xiang said to Leng Ruyue: "Do what you can, I don't know."
Leng Ruyue had been a little lackluster all the way, but when she heard Chu Xiang's instructions, her eyes lit up, she hummed, and went to her ring happily.
There is still more than an hour before the start of the competition, and the competition area is already crowded. Tens of thousands of people have gathered in the competition area, and it is a dense mass of people. The arena area was circled and surrounded by troops armed with live ammunition. Only contestants and referees could enter and exit. The audience could only watch from the hillside in the distance. Unexpectedly, the military opened up a position on the city wall for the first time, allowing The audience can watch the competition on the city wall, which will not overwhelm the audience.
The competition has not even begun yet, but the cheerleaders of each gang have already begun to cheer dutifully. The audience area on the hillside is filled with thunderous shouts, loud gongs and drums, and flags waving, working hard to cheer for the players of their own sect. Many of these cheerleaders had already entered the audience area last night to seize advantageous positions, and those who arrived in the morning were basically unable to enter within 500 meters of the ring area. Looking from the bottom up, it was a dense mass of human heads, maybe hundreds of thousands of people. The scene was crowded with people, shoulder to shoulder, and the scene was so hot that some people who couldn't get close to the ring could only watch from a distance with binoculars.
Under the maintenance of the armed forces, there was no chaos at the scene. Everyone entered according to the instructions, in an orderly manner, and there was no commotion. A few days ago, the military had issued detailed rules for the martial arts conference. Anyone who caused trouble in the competition area and disrupted the order of the conference would be killed without mercy.
Teams of soldiers armed with live ammunition are no joke. There are even more snipers waiting at the commanding heights in the distance. The entire stadium is under strict surveillance by the military. If there is any trouble, they will be discovered immediately. No one wants to take it. He sacrificed his life to test the majesty of the army.
In the past few days, all sects and organizations, large and small, have received notices from the military government to work together to maintain the stability of the conference. Those who perform well will be rewarded, and sects that deliberately cause trouble will be entered into the military's blacklist. Given the situation in Wucheng, no sect can compete with the military government. Compared with the powerful military government, each sect is just like an ant, and they can only obey orders and jointly maintain order.
There are cloth tapes in the ring area to separate the roads, and there are road signs at every interval. The ring where Chu Xiang is the referee is No. 17. At 8:30, the scorers enter the arena. One is wearing a military uniform and wearing a scorer. The soldiers with the emblem of the members came to the 17th ring to verify the identity of the referee Chu Xiang and the identity of the contestants in the first game. All the contestants in the first game came to the stage and waited for the start of the game.
In addition to referees and scorers, each ring also has ten porters and two doctors. There is also a drone above each ring to broadcast every game in real time. It can be said that it is a well-organized arrangement. One hundred arenas will complete all the matches in the first round today. In other words, each arena will have to complete more than 70 matches, and the schedule is very tight.
At nine o'clock sharp, the high-power loudspeaker on the city wall rang: "Wucheng's first Southern Martial Arts Conference begins now."
There was no long opening speech, no endless nonsense, just one sentence announcing the start of the martial arts conference, the loudspeaker fell silent, and the recorder signaled that Chu Xiang could start and retreated ten meters away from the ring.
"Start." Chu Xiang said, standing at the edge of the ring with his hands behind his back.
When the competition began, the ten people on the stage did not immediately start fighting. Instead, they each retreated to the edge and began to look for allies. However, after a stronger player made a decisive move, a melee began on the stage.
Swords flashed, blood splattered, and the result of the melee was quite tragic. Of the ten people in the ring, three were killed, two were seriously injured, and five were slightly injured. Seeing that the situation was not good and it was difficult to escape, a seriously injured person and a slightly injured person jumped off the ring. After a bloody fight, the remaining four slightly injured people engaged in another scuffle. In the end, only two people were left standing on the ring, the other one was seriously injured lying down, and the other two people died.
"It's over." There were only three living people left in the ring, Chu Xiang said in time, stopping the two from continuing to fight.
After the battle, the scorer came to record the results, and the three people who survived in the ring entered the next round.
Porters carried the injured and dead to the logistics area at the city gate. The military's logistics team performed treatment and then notified the contestant's emergency contact. If the contestant could not be reached or there was no emergency contact, he was left to fend for himself. They were all transported to the foot of the mountain and buried on the spot if no one claimed them.
After the aftermath of the first game was dealt with, the second game started immediately. The scorer verified the identity of the contestants and ten contestants took the stage. After witnessing the tragic situation of the first competition, everyone did not dare to act rashly, and took advantage of the corner positions to ensure their own advantage first, and then find someone to form an alliance. However, the ideas of several people on the stage seemed to be in vain. A fierce-looking man stood fearlessly in the middle of the ring, looking as if he wanted to beat nine to one.
Chu Xiang said something, and the fierce man standing in the middle stood up. After more than ten seconds, he was the only one left on the stage. It turned out to be one against nine, and he won a great victory.
At the end of the game, only one person advanced this time, and nine people were seriously injured and eliminated.
After the fierce man eliminated the other nine people, he stared at Chu Xiang with cold eyes, his challenge was very obvious. Chu Xiang ignored this person's provocation. He was a referee, not a player. If every player challenged him, wouldn't he be taking away the players' shine? This is not what a referee should do.
Seeing that Chu Xiang didn't respond, the fierce man slowly walked off the ring.
The event progressed much faster than Chu Xiang expected. There were rarely long fights, and the problem could be solved in two minutes at most. Competitions began and ended one after another. Each competition was very tragic. On average, three people were killed and three were seriously injured in each competition. Only one of the ten who was intact could survive. Those who could advance intact were the absolute strong ones, possessing the power to defeat the others. Man's overwhelming strength.
Although it is said that it is three out of ten, in fact, excluding those who are seriously injured and cannot continue to the next round, and the remaining games with less than three people, the average number of people who can enter the next round in each game is less than two, and the requirements of the elimination rate competition system are still high.
In the 19th game, a monster appeared on the field. A pale-faced young man suddenly had black mist around him. Then there were screams in the ring. Except for the two people who jumped off the ring immediately, the other seven people died tragically, leaving no bones. Existence, melted by the black mist. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Chu Xiang was also shrouded in thick black mist, but when he put away the black mist, Chu Xiang was still intact.
"You are very strong. I look forward to the battle we will eventually meet. Remember, my name is Xu Wen." The young man licked his scarlet lips and stared at Chu Xiang, looking very narcissistic.
Chu Xiang's expression didn't waver at all, and he announced that the game was over.
This young man awakened the demon body, and he awakened it very early. He could already control the dark power in his body at will. Unfortunately, his level of evolution was too low and he could not swallow Chu Xiang.
In the twenty-fourth game, another weird person appeared. A very beautiful, coquettishly dressed, and well-figured young woman appeared on the stage. She was the first woman to appear on stage 17. After Chu Xiang announced the start of the competition, the woman let out a sharp scream. All the remaining nine people were bleeding from their orifices, six died on the spot, and the remaining three were seriously injured. All ten porters in the audience were also seriously injured. There were also a dozen contestants who were waiting too close to compete and were affected and retired from the competition due to injuries.
This was the first time Chu Xiang had seen such a terrifying sonic attack. It was invisible and difficult to guard against. It was invincible among its peers, and it dealt horrific range damage.
Seeing that Chu Xiang's expression remained unchanged and was not affected at all, the young woman walked up to Chu Xiang, exhaled like a blue breath, stretched out her hand to hook Chu Xiang's chin: "Little brother, you are so powerful, my name is Xie Yan, How about we check out a room tonight?"
In public, he openly seduced Chu Xiang. Unfortunately, Chu Xiang had no interest in such a woman at all. His slightly narrowed eyes did not squint, and without any movement, he took two steps back and announced that the game was over.
Xie Yan twisted her waist and walked down the ring, and the scorer behind Chu Xiang dared to come over. If he hadn't been standing behind Chu Xiang just now, his life would not have been saved now. She asked with some fear: "Brother, what happened in this game?" How to remember?"
"Xie Yan advanced alone." Chu Xiang said.
There were still three people on the stage who were still alive, but Xie Yan had already stepped down. According to the rules, the three people on the stage should have advanced. However, before Xie Yan stepped down, Chu Xiang had already announced that the game was over. If Chu Xiang hadn't announced the end, Xie Yan would have probably killed the remaining three people. Letting three people die like that would certainly not be as good as the result now. Moreover, the three people on the stage couldn't even block a sonic attack. Their strength will have no effect on advancing them. It will only delay the schedule. It is better to eliminate them directly.
The reserve porters arrived quickly, carried away the injured players and porters, and added ten porters, and the game continued.
Due to time constraints, the competition did not stop at noon. The military government directly delivered the lunch box under the ring. Chu Xiang squatted beside him and ate the lunch box while watching the battle on the ring, without fear of affecting his own image.
After Xu Wen, in the forty-seventh game, another person with a demon body appeared. However, this person's demon body had not been awakened for long and he only had the strength of the bone forging level. He was eliminated by a master of Yijin in the same field.
The games went very quickly, with an average of less than two minutes. It took more time to verify the identity and record the results, but the average game only lasted about ten minutes. Even at such a fast speed, seventy-three games were played. It still took more than ten hours to complete, and it was already dark for the last dozen games. Fortunately, the organizers of the event were well prepared. Under the illumination of high-power lamps, the entire arena area was like daylight.
The first round of competition did not end until nine o'clock in the evening. After seventy-three games, masters of Yijin emerged one after another, and masters of marrow refining also appeared in large numbers. In the 17th arena alone, Chu Xiang saw thirteen masters of marrow refining. Thirteen people all advanced to the next round intact. There was a match between two marrow masters on the same stage, but there was no fight to the death. Instead, they stopped after cleaning up the others.
During the competition, nine people intended to challenge Chu Xiang. Among them was a swordsman. His sword path looked like the path of Emei, but Chu Xiang did not respond. In addition to the marrow refining masters, there were seven people who had awakened their demon bodies, twelve awakened monsters, one suspected witch, and six women.
The first round of the competition was over, and all the participants returned to the city. Most of the spectators also went back to eat and rest. A small number of people took the opportunity to grab a favorable viewing position to prepare for tomorrow's competition.
Being a referee is more tiring than Chu Xiang imagined. After a whole day of hard work, the reward is only 500 merit points, plus a box lunch and dinner.
The organizer specially arranged a restaurant for the referees to eat. One hundred referees were eating in the same restaurant. Shi Wuzheng could easily find Chu Xiang.
"How is it? Where are you?" Chu Xiang asked.
"It was very tragic. Almost half of the people died, but there were quite a few masters. There were more than a dozen at the marrow refining level, and countless people at the Yijin level." Shi Wuzheng said.
"It's normal for people to die in martial arts competitions at this level. Those who are only at the Yi Jin level may be better off not advancing." Chu Xiang said.
"Indeed, it was impossible to hold back during the fight. In the next round, the masters were more concentrated, and it was another melee. If you were not careful, you would be dead." Shi Wuzheng nodded.
"Are there many people who want to hit you?" Chu Xiang suddenly asked.
Gongsun Qi smiled bitterly and said: "There are too many masters. A referee was beaten to death in the next ring. I have several challenges in this ring, and I am not sure about winning two of them."
"Who told you to be so handsome?" Chu Xiang showed a rare bright smile.
"This is a hard job." Shi Wuzheng could only shake his head and smile bitterly.
The meal was very sumptuous. While the two were eating, they received the results of the first round of competition from the organizer. After looking at the summary, the total number of people who advanced was 13,567.
"This number is a bit scary. More than 10,000 people have advanced, at least one-tenth of them are marrow refining masters, and the rest are basically all tendon-changing masters." Chu Xiang said.
Shi Wuzheng nodded and said: "Eat quickly, I have to go back and summon them to discuss the follow-up situation."
The two finished eating quickly, and Shi Wuzheng called to summon all the participating disciples. Chu Xiang also called Gongsun Qi and Leng Ruyue and asked them to meet at the Nanhua Courtyard.
When they returned to Nanhua Villa, there were two sneaky guys following them. Shi Wuzheng also noticed the stalkers behind them and asked, "How to deal with them?"
"Don't worry about him, he must be from the Mountain Guest Alliance." Chu Xiang said.
Gongsun Qi glanced at Chu Xiang worriedly and said, "If they start trouble again, are you going to make things worse?"
Chu Xiang smiled and did not answer.
The two returned to Nanhua Villa. What surprised Chu Xiang was that both Leng Ruyue and Gongsun Qi were promoted. Gongsun Qi's promotion was natural, but Leng Ruyue's promotion was a bit unexpected. Only two of the Wudang disciples brought by Shi Wuzheng were promoted. They were outstanding in Wudang Qinggong. They all passed the screening easily. However, in the first round of the knockout round, six of them were injured and were eliminated. From what they said, four of them were attacked by other contestants and were eliminated. , probably because their outfits were too conspicuous, and they became the target of public criticism. Fortunately, they were not seriously injured. This was probably due to Wudang's exquisite footwork.
After Shi Wuzheng consulted the opinions of the two promotion disciples in detail, he saw that they insisted on continuing to compete, so he said no more. Similarly, Leng Ruyue, who was only at the Yi Jin level, also firmly stated that she must continue to compete, and Chu Xiang let her go. During this period of time, Leng Ruyue's strength improved rapidly, and she crossed two thresholds in just two months. It was the time when her confidence was greatly increased, and she would not know that the sky was high unless she suffered a little.
The Wudang disciples were too recognizable and injured. Shi Wuzheng was worried that they were out. That night, eleven people crowded into the same room. Eight Wudang disciples meditated against the wall. It was not too crowded. Chu Xiang and Gongsun Qi He and Shi Wuzheng continued to talk about martial arts.
Leng Ruyue listened to the three people chatting until midnight before going back to her room to rest. If there weren't so many people in the wing and there were Wudang disciples there, Leng Ruyue would have stayed and listened to the three people talking about martial arts until dawn. You should know that there are not many opportunities to listen to lectures like this. Leng Ruyue is very envious of those Wudang disciples. They are lucky this time, and they can listen to the three people talking about their experiences and specific moves all night long.
