From the very beginning of the matches the next day, the participants felt a different atmosphere compared to the district stage, starting with a massive increase in the number of spectators in the stands.
Just the eliminated participants from the previous twelve districts numbered over a thousand who had turned into live spectators.
The first round of matches for the one hundred and twenty participants would take four days, with fifteen matches each day.
Once the matches began, the level of fighting was also noticeably higher than in the districts.
The seventeenth match, featuring the duel between Yu Qing and Xiao Changdao, was the second match of the second day.
As the two went on stage to hand in their tokens and verify their identities, Mu Aotie suddenly said to Nan Zhu beside him, “With Old Fifteen’s personality, he is probably going to settle the score for you. Xiao Changdao is in for bad luck.”
Nan Zhu stared at the stage, neither confirming nor denying this, tacitly agreeing with Old Nine’s words. He even suspected that Old Fifteen had deliberately drawn Xiao Changdao.
However, the result presented a scene that surprised everyone.
Xiao Changdao, who was just about to be called onto the stage, suddenly said to the host, “I concede.”
Yu Qing abruptly turned his head and stared at him.
The host was also somewhat surprised and confirmed with him, “You say you concede, are you sure?”
Xiao Changdao gave a slight smile to Yu Qing, who was staring at him, and then said to the host, “I admit I am no match for him. I concede.”
Yu Qing said, “You and I have not yet crossed hands. Is this really necessary?”
He did not think the other party was afraid because he knew his strength. He estimated that there should be hardly anyone here who knew his true strength.
“I am truly sorry for what happened before.” Xiao Changdao clarified the reason for his concession, then turned and declared to the host again, “I concede.”
The host had no choice but to quickly consult with the supervising staff. After confirming everything was normal and fine, he returned and loudly announced, “In the seventeenth match of the first round, Xiao Changdao concedes, and Zhang Zhichen wins!”
The people from other districts were fine with it, but those from the Dingyin District were quite surprised, even causing a slight uproar, as everyone was quite taken aback.
Shao Yun Chan, who had also come to watch, was displeased again. She angrily scolded from the stands, “What is wrong with this Xiao Changdao? Why is he so spineless? Someone who wins by despicable means is indeed no good. Birds of a feather flock together, they are all the same sort.”
As he walked down from the host’s platform, Xiao Changdao also glanced towards the people from the Returning Sword Villa. Having probably noticed Shao Yun Chan’s views, he could only feel helpless inwardly.
Of course, he did not regret his current choice, as it was the result of careful consideration.
Being able to stand out from the districts in the Morning Sun Assembly matches meant his future had already stepped onto another level. He was satisfied, and he did not believe his strength could still win in the regional matches. After watching the fifteen matches on the first day, he was even more convinced of his choice.
He did want to curry favour with Chan Shaoting and the others. But after getting along with them these days, he found that the people from the Returning Sword Villa looked at him somewhat differently. Perhaps it was because of the tactics he used when competing against that fat man that made them disdain him. Anyway, realising they looked down on him, he knew he could not get close to these people, and he was afraid he would not be able to flatter them in the future either.
So he could only walk his own path and make choices for his own future.
Although he had the methods Wu Ronggui used against the expelled disciple of the Dragon Light Sect to draw on, which meant he already had a way to win, he still chose to cleanly concede to that Zhang Zhichen.
For him, as a lone cultivator with no backing who had made it this far, personal honour and disgrace were not important. He did not have the family background of Chan Shaoting, nor did he have the qualification to maintain too much dignity. He only knew that in the martial world, one is often helpless to control one’s own fate.
Shi Dao, whose illness had not yet healed, was in the stands. Seeing this scene of concession, he stared at Xiao Changdao as he left the stage and gave a slight smile.
He was one of the few bystanders who knew that Xiao Changdao was no match for Yu Qing. He believed that Xiao Changdao conceding directly without fighting might actually be a better way to preserve his reputation.
“Drawing empty tokens three times in a row in the lottery, and then meeting opponents who voluntarily concede twice in a row in the matches. What kind of sheer luck does this Zhang Zhichen actually have?”
There were still people in the stands feeling envious and jealous.
Soon, everyone’s attention shifted back to the matches.
There were more strong fighters in the region, so the excitement of the fights naturally increased, and the number of deaths and injuries also seemed to rise accordingly.
After the four days of the first round, the dead and injured reached nearly thirty percent, among which eight had lost their lives, averaging two deaths a day.
In view of this, Yu Qing tampered a bit with the lottery for the sixty people in the second round, drawing the opponent with the most severe injuries.
It was not because he felt his skills were inferior, but because he did not want to expose his strength. He did not come to the Morning Sun Assembly to make a name for Zhang Zhichen. This was the reason he had forced Shi Dao to concede before, not wanting to reveal too much about his true capabilities.
It was also because he had gained experience from Shi Dao, knowing that fighting an injured opponent would be easier.
With his strength, secretly suppressing it further, the result of the match was not hard to imagine.
What cost him the most effort was watching from the stands to see who was most severely injured, where the injuries were, studying whose injuries would most hinder them in the match, and then figuring out how to strike in a way that would be hardest for the opponent to bear.
In the lottery for the thirty people in the third round, he adopted the same tactic and took advantage of a severely injured opponent.
Wu Ronggui suffered a crushing defeat in this round because he met a very strong and arrogant opponent. The moment the opponent stepped onto the stage, he told Wu Ronggui to concede directly, showing his arrogant attitude. Wu Ronggui wore his trademark slight smile and kept a relatively polite attitude, but conceding without even fighting, how should one put it.
He also talked about stopping before going too far, telling the opponent it was just for fun, just to make a friend and so on.
The opponent, however, took it as him being ignorant of the situation and immediately turned hostile. He controlled the whole situation with his strength, playing with Wu Ronggui ruthlessly on the match field like a cat playing with a mouse. He did not give Wu Ronggui the chance to concede and beat him so badly that he was severely injured.
To save his life, Wu Ronggui had no choice but to cry out for help and loudly concede during the fight, which allowed Kunlun Mountain to intervene and save his life.
In short, his posture was so miserable that he could not smile anymore. He could be said to have lost all face, and it was unknown whether the glory of advancing would cover up this miserable reputation when seeking a future path.
In the lottery for the fifteen people in the fourth round, there were five empty tokens. Yu Qing was still lucky and drew one of the empty tokens, successfully advancing from the Ding District.
This time, no one questioned him for cheating. Those who knew about his previous lottery draws all thought it was perfectly normal for him to draw one empty token out of five for fifteen people.
Nan Zhu in the stands was practically beaming with joy. He probably knew what means Yu Qing had used.
Baili Xin could not help but sigh, “Compared to others, it feels like Old Fifteen advanced so easily.”
Having stayed with the group for a long time, she had also habitually started using the title Old Fifteen for Yu Qing.
And it was not just her. Whether they liked Yu Qing or not, anyone who paid attention to him had the same feeling. These ring matches were clearly very tough, but for this man, how did it feel like he was just going through the motions? There was not even a single slightly decent wave of fighting, and he just advanced like this?
After the five matches of the final round, the five winners plus the five who drew empty tokens became the final ten winners of the Ding District.
Only these ten people truly obtained the qualification to participate in the Morning Sun Assembly!
When these ten people stood in a row to reveal the final results, involuntary cheers rang out across the venue, and countless people were envious.
Everyone knew that these ten people would have countless wealthy and powerful families offering money to hire them, or even be absorbed by powerful factions. Their future was incomparable to that of ordinary people.
Of those who stood out from the Dingyin District, after the eliminations so far, only three remained, Chan Shaoting, Xiang Zhen, and Yu Qing.
As for the others, not a single one who lacked strength was left. All those who remained were truly strong, with absolutely no element of luck in the result.
Of course, to some outsiders, Yu Qing was absolutely the one who had sheer dumb luck.
Relatively speaking, out of the twelve districts, the Dingyin District accounted for three, which was already a very high proportion, and the highest at that. Some districts did not have a single person advance, and their persons in charge could not help but sigh, feeling that all their hard work had been in vain.
Wu Tian, on the other hand, was beaming with pride and sharing the glory, feeling that these days had not been spent in vain.
Inside the Elegant Guest House, Xiang Lanxuan sat by the fish pond, gathering her skirt. A pair of fair, bare feet were soaked in the water, playfully kissed by the fish.
An attendant brought over a list of those who advanced, kneeling on one knee to present it. “Great Envoy, the results of the Ding District matches are out. That third place scholar actually advanced.”
Xiang Lanxuan glanced at the list, seemingly having no interest in taking it, and smiled lightly. “What do you mean actually? If he could not advance, that would be strange instead.”
The attendant did not know what she meant. Anyway, he felt that she recently seemed to have lost interest in paying attention to that third place scholar’s matches, not even asking about them. But he still gave an objective evaluation. “Overall, it seems he has been taking advantage all the way, without meeting any strong enemies at all. This guy’s luck is really good.”
“Luck? The lottery can be called luck, but winning every match in a row, do you think this can be explained away with just the two words luck?”
“Great Envoy, it really is luck. He kept running into opponents who were quite heavily injured and won as if taking cheap advantages.”
Xiang Lanxuan smiled gently. “Have others not run into injured opponents? Winning easily might be due to strong control. Perhaps it can be put another way. Those who meet him all become the weak.”
The attendant did not dare to argue with her and said, “I will immediately compile the detailed process of his recent matches for the Great Envoy.”
“No need, there is nothing interesting to see.” Xiang Lanxuan waved her hand, looking completely uninterested, and asked in return. “Both of Earth Mother’s disciples have advanced, right?”
The attendant replied, “That is natural. Their foundation is right there, so there will be no accidents. They did not even meet anyone who forced them to use their true skills, and they advanced easily.”
“Hehe…” Xiang Lanxuan did not know what she thought of, but suddenly laughed continuously, shaking like a flower branch. After stopping her laughter, she teased, “The matches later on will be truly interesting. That is what I want to watch.”
The attendant did not understand.
She did not explain either, just waved her hand, and the attendant had to retreat.
With no one else around, she looked at the pair of fair jade feet swaying in the water, occasionally using her toes to feel the swimming fish around them. Slowly, a look of emotion appeared on her face, and she murmured to herself. “When fortune comes, the purple qi moves the mountains and rivers. Studying the classics until one’s hair turns white, the river is full of red. He is truly the number one scholar in the world. Even if he abandons literature for martial arts, he is still extraordinary.”