Chapter 430: Xiang Chong, Martial Arts Competition Finals and Ancestral Festival Begin

Great Xia Year 9, August 5th, not long after nightfall.

Inner City, Xiang Mansion.

"Alright, alright, just prepare some offerings, it's not a big deal. I don't need your help. The kitchen is smoky, don't smoke Chong'er, go out, go out."

"Right, brother, you go quickly, don't affect me and sister-in-law's work."

"Alright, alright, I'll go out, I'll go out!"

Xiang Liang was holding his two-month-old son. He had only just entered the kitchen for a while before he was driven out by his wife Wang Yuxiu and his sister Xiang Rong.

He was not annoyed. Looking down at his son in his arms, who was opening his big eyes and seemed to be curiously looking at him, that cute appearance made him laugh uncontrollably. He lowered his head and rubbed his son's little nose with his face.

Actually, when he received the news of his wife's delivery in Hong Sect two months ago, Xiang Liang knew he was a father, but after all, it was a message sent from afar, so he didn't feel it strongly. It wasn't until he returned to his home in the inner city at dawn just now and saw his son Xiang Chong with his own eyes that he had a concrete and real feeling.

He really became a father!

Eight years ago, the Woodcutting Realm youth who almost died in the north of Wuyuan Mountain not only broke through to the Cold-Resisting level, had the strength of thirteen manes, and was conferred a ninth-rank title, but also had a temple established in the ancestral temple, allowing the Xiang clan to rank among the small clans of Great Xia. He is currently the Deputy Penal Officer of Hong Sect, holding the fifth rank, and his wife gave birth to such a big fat boy for him!

Such a change, to describe it as earth-shaking, is not an exaggeration at all.

Recalling that night eight years ago, when he carried a piece of Cold Marrow Iron and risked his life to find this way out for the He Feng camp for Great Xia, Xiang Liang now, besides luck and gratitude, has more deep satisfaction in his heart.

Xiang Liang held his son and walked slowly to the main hall. Seeing that there were still many unopened congratulatory gifts on the table in the hall, he looked down at his son in his arms and couldn't help but show emotion: "You kid are much luckier than me. From now on, it will all be good days."

Eight years ago, there were more than a thousand people who merged into Great Xia from the He Feng camp. Although eight years have passed, these thousand people have long been divided and diluted into various areas of Xia City. But after all, they came from the same family, and his father Xiang Ping was the former leader of He Feng, so there was some connection between them.

But to be honest, this kind of behavior of rushing to send gifts for his son's full-month celebration might have existed before, but there would never have been so many.

Xiang Liang knew very well that the key was that he was conferred a title last year, and then he became the Deputy Penal Officer of Hong Sect this year, officially ranking among the Great Xia officials and gentry, which led to so many people coming to curry favor with him again.

People are realistic after all. Xiang Liang himself climbed up step by step from the bottom, so he naturally couldn't talk about being disgusted with this kind of behavior.

Especially in the more than half a year since he took office in Hong Sect and entered the Great Xia officialdom, he also had a certain understanding of the situation of Great Xia's middle and high levels.

At the Cold Origin Banquet at the beginning of the year, the father-in-law of the Secretary, Lord Xiao Kangcheng, the Mountain Official of the Bashang Hunting Department, took the initiative to talk to him. He immediately realized that this was the Wuyuan faction throwing an olive branch to him.

Where there are people, there is a world. Thinking of the original He Feng camp, with more than 1,000 people, it was already divided into many interest groups, not to mention Great Xia with more than 2.6 million people today.

Even officialdom talks about huddling together for warmth, not to mention these ordinary people below.

So many people took the initiative to send gifts to his son, nothing more than wanting to climb a relationship with him, to see if he could help them or their descendants.

Xiang Liang looked at those gifts, and his heart was as clear as a mirror. He shook his head and whispered: "According to my observation in the past half year, the Wuyuan faction currently only has some influence in the middle level of Great Xia, and its power is not great. It does indeed need more fresh blood to come up. Among these old people in He Feng, if there is really talent, it is only right and proper to help. Whether they send gifts or not, the relationship is not big."

He put aside his thoughts, sat in the main seat, and continued to tease his son with a smile.

"Brother!"

But before he could tease for a while, his second brother Xiang Yan walked in from outside the door with a dim face. His mood was clearly very low, and his voice calling people was very small.

"Why, looking at the list, the hope of promotion is not big?"

Seeing the expression on his second brother's face, Xiang Liang immediately guessed the reason.

The second brother Xiang Yan is not yet eighteen this year, meeting the registration requirements for the youth group of this martial arts competition. Such a grand event, he naturally would not miss it. At the end of May, he also went to Hong Sect City to participate in the competition like other young people in Xia City.

So the brothers stayed together in Hong Sect for more than two months. Until the semi-finals ended five days ago, Xiang Yan, who succeeded in promotion, returned to Xia City first to participate in the finals, while Xiang Liang arrived home just now because the Ancestral Festival was advanced.

The martial arts competition finals started on the 1st, using the arena timing system. Each person fights five matches, and the top 200 who win five consecutive matches and use the shortest time are promoted. The youth group and the young adult group are held at the same time, and it takes five days to finish.

Xiang Yan finished five matches on the 3rd, and his luck was not bad, winning five consecutive matches.

But his total time exceeded half an hour. When the results came out on the 3rd, he was already ranked 180th in the youth group. If he wants to continue to be promoted, he can only hope that the people behind him don't have better results than him.

So for two consecutive days, he ran to the competition venue in the North 5th District as soon as night fell to check the list results. He ran back so quickly after going out for a while, clearly he had been squeezed out of the list.

Xiang Yan showed a dim look on his face and nodded: "I should have been squeezed out of the list last night. The person currently ranked 200th only spent more than 600 breaths to win five consecutive matches."

Hearing this, Xiang Liang's face did not show any surprise. He himself was one of the referees for the Hong Sect preliminaries and semi-finals, and he had a certain understanding of the strength of all contestants in this Three Towns Martial Arts Competition.

This martial arts competition, after all, gathered the most outstanding young people from Great Xia, Muyin, and Jiangxia, and there were also many geniuses from the other six towns. The difficulty of standing out and breaking into the top 100 is definitely much higher than in previous years.

"I told you in Hong Sect that if you want to break into the top 100 in the youth group, you either have Cold-Resisting level cultivation; or your basic strength in the skin-membrane molding stage exceeds 80,000 jin, and you are confirmed to have medium combat body aptitude or above. Besides these two situations, there is another one, which is extremely high martial arts talent. You don't occupy any of these three situations, so you certainly don't have much hope!"

Xiang Yan broke through the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm last year and began to mold the skin-membrane. His current basic strength is over 60,000 jin. This aptitude is certainly not bad compared to his peers in the outer city, but it is not enough to look at in the inner city. Not to mention a lot of people stronger than him, three or five hundred can still be found.

It's not bad to be in the top 1000. It's impossible to be in the top 200.

As for the top 100 in the youth group, that's not even worth thinking about.

"Alright, don't be dejected. I told you in Hong Sect that you should be mentally prepared. The martial arts competition is not just this one. Isn't it fine to work hard next year? You are only 18, not like me. Brother is already over 25, and I won't have a chance to participate in the martial arts competition in the future."

Seeing Xiang Yan full of dejection, Xiang Liang still comforted him.

Xiang Yan nodded first, but still couldn't help shaking his head: "I know there is a gap between me and the top geniuses in the inner city, but I didn't expect the gap to be so big!

Just as brother said, in the youth group, Luo An, Lu Dong, Zou Ping, Liu Peng, Hong Ye, Zhao Yuanwu, Zhao Yuankong, Zhao Yuanshan, Zhao Yuankang, Qin Feng, Liu Ming, Chen Ping, Qin Zhan...

These people, either broke through to the Cold-Resisting level during the semi-finals; or their basic strength is now over 100,000 jin; and there are many with extremely high martial arts talent like Luo Cheng, Chen Ping, and Qin Zhan, who often defeat opponents across strength levels.

Compared with these people, I am indeed... too ordinary!"

As Xiang Yan spoke, he couldn't help but clench his fists, and the frustration on his face became more intense. Clearly, the psychological impact of this martial arts competition on him was not small.

Xiang Liang looked at his brother at this moment, and a look of approval rose on his face. At his age, being able to admit that he is ordinary is by no means an easy thing.

"It's good to recognize that you are ordinary. Brother won't tell you empty words. The gap between you and these people is not just in terms of talent. Compared to background, family, and financial resources, you can't compare to anything. So if you want to surpass others, you can only pay ten times or even a hundred times the effort, understand?"

Hearing this, Xiang Yan immediately looked up at Xiang Liang, and the fighting spirit quickly reignited in his eyes. He bowed and said in a deep voice: "I understand, brother!"

He remembered very clearly that in the first Great Xia martial arts competition, his brother relied on luck to pass the preliminaries of the Woodcutting Realm group, and his results were much worse than his today.

But his brother was not discouraged at all at that time, worked hard for a whole year, and in the second Great Xia martial arts competition, he achieved the sixth place in the Woodcutting Realm group; later, in the fifth session, he broke into the top ten of the Earth-Digging Realm limit group and was favored by Xu Ning, the then Wuyuan Shou Zheng, becoming a member of the Black Arrow Team.

It was precisely because of joining the Black Arrow Team that his brother got the opportunity to lurk in Hexia Village with Lord Xu. It can be said that the subsequent title conferment, entering the Prison Department, and then to the current fifth rank, holding the position of Deputy Penal Officer of Hong Sect.

His brother's heaven-defying change of fate was never achieved overnight, but was fought out step by step. With such a ready-made example, what is his little setback now?

Seeing Xiang Yan cheer up again, knowing that his brother really listened to his words, Xiang Liang was naturally full of approval, but he soon thought of something and asked with a smile: "The Luo An people you just mentioned should be the favorites to win the youth group. Besides them, Muyin and Jiangxia, including the other six towns, didn't produce any powerful characters?"

Hearing this, Xiang Yan immediately showed a strange look and shook his head: "Yes, but very, very few. The situation in the young adult group is slightly better. I heard that 40% of the top 200 are people from outside towns; in the youth group, people from outside towns currently only account for less than 20% in the top 200, and their rankings are very low. I estimate that after tonight, when the final list comes out, their proportion will be even less."

Hearing this situation, Xiang Liang was slightly stunned. Only then did he realize that what Li Longkai said to him along the way when he returned from Hong Sect last night was really not false. ===== CHAPTER 431 =====