[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-lord-of-the-immortal-food":3,"chapter-lord-of-the-immortal-food-lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-109":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Lord of the Immortal Food",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2313232,4524,"Chapter 109: Chapter Twelve: Martial Contest (Part One)","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-109",109,"\u003Cp>Unlike Yushan, which opened itself to the whole world, the Divine Capital Martial Examination was Tang’s most important and fairest channel for selecting martial talent, and only Tang subjects could participate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel carefully assessed and allocated different quotas to each state, requiring each state to finalize these quotas through actual combat trials.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every individual who ultimately participated in the Martial Examination must possess a formal document from their state, clearly stating the year, month, and day on which they competed in a specific martial contest within their state and their final ranking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition, both ministries established a “Preliminary Contest” in the Divine Capital, reserving exactly two hundred slots to welcome talent from across the land.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps your state’s talent pool surged this year while its quota remained unchanged; perhaps you encountered an unimaginable misfortune; perhaps you suffered an injustice too great to appeal… But no matter the reason, as long as you are a Tang subject and you come to the Divine Capital, you may step onto the arena.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here, no other factors matter—your fate is decided solely by your fists; if you are truly among the strongest two hundred, the quota rightfully belongs to you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The methods each state used to select talent also varied; Bowang State employed the most common approach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, a portion of the martial examination slots were allocated to subordinate counties, where county offices selected local talent; if those nominated achieved a ranking, the county magistrate gained merit, and the county received preferential martial resources.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, a portion of the slots were allocated to martial sects within the state, which either held internal competitions or joint contests among multiple sects to determine a fixed number of qualifiers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Third, three to five slots were granted to major merchants in the state, allowing each to nominate one martial practitioner who could wear the merchant’s name on their attire; the condition was that they bore part of the examination’s expenses and assisted the state office in promoting the contest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, following the Divine Capital’s example, a “Preliminary Contest” was held in the state capital: regardless of why you failed to qualify through the above three paths, or where your hometown lay, as long as you met the basic requirements of the Martial Examination, you could compete here for the final slots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This not only gave talent buried by injustice or misfortune a chance, but also offered outsiders an opportunity—if a young master of the Fubang rank happened to be stranded in Bowang State instead of returning home, wouldn’t his appearance at the contest become a point of pride for Bowang?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was Governor Zhao’s cheerful, optimistic vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, Bowang State selected a fixed number of martial practitioners through these four channels, then gathered them in the state capital to rank them first, second, and third.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was not a closed-door affair by the bureaucracy; it was a grand spectacle held on the largest square in the city center, under the eyes of countless spectators.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the nation’s intense martial spirit, martial contests were undoubtedly the most popular, widely admired events—consider how even small counties like Fenghuai held annual Mid-Autumn Martial Gatherings that drew large crowds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, Bowang State’s “Three Contests” were not merely to fulfill imperial mandates; Bowang itself wished to make them as brilliant and renowned as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, in addition to the highest reward—the qualification for the Divine Capital Martial Examination—Bowang State would also provide, or extract from merchants, substantial prizes for the top eight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was why many, knowing they had no chance at the title and no desire for fame on the stage, still came to compete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Jinqiu Martial Contest you’re entering is the first of these grand events,” Master Huang sipped his wine and continued. “Its traditional feature is this: the strength before the top four is clearly lower than in the next two contests, but from the semifinals onward, the intensity reaches the peak of the ‘Three Contests.’ If the runner-up here is uninjured, they often secure a slot in the Winter and Spring Contests.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Ye paused, then understood at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first contest had no top experts eliminated yet, so naturally it was the fiercest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But precisely because of this, many in the second tier had no hope of winning and refused to exert their full strength here, fearing exposure of weaknesses or injury; some planned to unleash their power in the second contest, others hoped to snatch a lucky slot in the third.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only when the final four stood before them, with victory within reach, did these four prodigies fight without restraint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Ye held no such thoughts—he would give his all, even if he could not win, to measure his own standing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he failed this time, he would go to the Divine Capital and fight for one of the two hundred slots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who competes in these martial contests?” Pei Ye asked, one hand pressing against the glass, the other shelling peanuts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jinqiu Martial Contest was a state-wide event, but it was not meant to crown the strongest martial artist in the entire state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The level of the opponents was the most critical question—and the one Pei Ye cared about most.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who do you think?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Strong people.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hahahaha—people who want to rise.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm… yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People who wanted to rise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To gauge the strength of the Jinqiu Martial Contest, one could infer much from the nature of the Divine Capital Martial Examination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, its lower limit was extremely low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though it was one of the most watched martial events in the land, it was still merely a selection trial for martial talent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since it was “selection,” most participants were not yet recognized as true martial talents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the prodigies of immortal sects truly wished to serve as officials, the Immortal Platform and the Ministry of War had already reserved positions for them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prominent clans had their own channels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only those without connections or dissatisfied with existing paths joined the martial contests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, the Divine Capital Martial Examination was in truth a grand event deeply rooted among the common folk and the martial underworld—it was an opportunity for commoners to secure status, not a battleground for top-tier prodigies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jing Ziwang, with no background and no knack for scheming, reached the sixth rank by age eight and rose to fifth rank immediately upon entering the Master realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Lin became county constable at age five.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The strength of those still seeking office through martial contests was easy to imagine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as you were a clean-blooded Tang subject who knew basic fistwork, you could join the fun—even if you couldn’t reach the state capital, you could at least compete in the county selection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if the county was truly weak, then among dwarfs, the tallest would rise—even a First Stage cultivator might qualify for the state capital contest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet on the other hand, its upper limit was extremely high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Tang truly lavished rewards on those selected in this national spectacle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyone entering the top hundred possessed potential far beyond that of a county constable in a remote hamlet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you reached the top three, you became the next year’s dazzling new star of the military.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if you won the championship, earning the title “Tang’s Martial Seed,” you would walk the Taiji Hall in brocade robes and sword in hand, receiving the Emperor’s gaze, the Princess tying your sash—you would become a future political favorite and the future commander of the Three Armies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, every generation of the Divine Capital Martial Examination saw no shortage of Fubang-level participants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1273,"2026-06-20T13:17:09.438Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","32a2713641cc4fbdf3e6291046d91f42e13a7ee8cb2ce66c4b17581c9597c03e","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-110","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-108",771,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Flord-of-the-immortal-food-cover.jpg"]