Chapter 77: Cruel Rules (Nearly Four Thousand Characters—Requesting Monthly Votes)

Wuzhengsuo!

This was Lin Chen’s second time stepping into this place.

Last time, Instructor Yu had brought him here to Wuzhengsuo, seeking justice from his mistress.

Unfortunately, Instructor Yu was not in the county; had he been here, knowing Lin Chen had perfected the Clear Wind Palm, he would have been pleased.

This time, under Instructor Shen’s guidance, Lin Chen went directly to the training ground inside Wuzhengsuo.

The training ground spanned an area equal to two football fields from his past life.

Students from various martial arts academies stood in distinct zones across the training ground.

The arrival of Lin Chen’s group drew attention from other academies.

In a training ground filled entirely with youths, Jingshui Martial Arts Academy’s female students naturally attracted notice, and as its sole male student, Lin Chen stood out even more.

“When did Jingshui Martial Arts Academy start accepting male disciples?”

“If I’d known Jingshui took male students, I’d have joined them instead.”

The other students’ gazes toward Lin Chen varied wildly.

Some were envious, some jealous, others dismissive.

“Only those with no ambition in the martial path join Jingshui Martial Arts Academy—soft comforts, a grave for warriors.”

“Master Zheng, not everyone shares your lofty martial aspirations. Many enter academies merely hoping to open ten orifices, then use academy connections to secure a post in the government office.”

“You fellows might not know—this male disciple from Jingshui Martial Arts Academy is named Lin Chen, from a rural town. He originally joined Qingfeng Martial Arts Academy, but after they filled their Kaiqiao Elixir quotas, he ended up here… No need for me to elaborate further.”

Hearing this, many nearby students suddenly understood—they came from decent backgrounds and grasped the implication immediately.

He’d been rejected by Qingfeng Martial Arts Academy, left with no choice but to join Jingshui.

Why had Jingshui Martial Arts Academy made an exception to accept him?

Only Jingshui’s upper echelons knew.

Ignoring the surrounding stares, Lin Chen stood in Jingshui’s designated area, his gaze fixed on another entrance.

A group of stout, muscular students, led by a similarly imposing instructor, entered the training ground.

Zhenyue Martial Arts Academy had arrived.

Lin Chen’s eyes settled on Fu Ang of Zhenyue Martial Arts Academy. Though days had passed, Fu Ang still wore his usual arrogant expression, standing at the front of the formation.

Fu Ang was Zhenyue’s second-strongest student, yet he stood first—so was Zhenyue’s strongest student, like Jiang’s sister, also taken elsewhere by Wuzhengsuo?

Yunyin Martial Arts Academy, Kuangfeng Martial Arts Academy…

Soon, all eight academies’ students had arrived—over a hundred in total. Lin Chen spotted his three fellow disciples: Lu Yongfeng, Zhao Jingchuan, and Cheng Ying.

The four exchanged glances across the distance and nodded slightly in greeting.

As Lin Chen turned his gaze away, preparing to close his eyes and rest, he sensed someone watching him. He turned his head—and met Chen Chunfeng’s gaze directly.

Chen Chunfeng stared at Lin Chen. He’d been scanning Jingshui’s side unconsciously—even now, he still regretted Lin Chen’s departure from Qingfeng.

Sensing Chen Chunfeng’s regret, Lin Chen pressed his lips slightly, gave a slight nod, then looked away.

He didn’t know what Chen Chunfeng truly felt toward him, but he knew that from the moment Qingfeng revoked his Class-A privileges, he had no further ties to that academy.

After a cup of tea passed, Lin Chen saw Kong Guanzhu—along with the other seven academy vice-directors. All eight approached from the front of the training ground, their expressions grim.

The appearance of the eight vice-directors instantly silenced the noisy crowd.

Every student present knew how to read the atmosphere.

“Sister Kong, how will the matches be arranged this time?” Shen Lin asked as Kong Yinglei approached.

“Each academy selects one seed student to advance directly to the next round. The rest are divided into eight groups, with only one winner per group.”

Hearing this, Lin Chen understood: Jingshui’s seed student was Jiang’s sister, and the seed students of other academies were all their top-ranked—these selected few had already been summoned away by Wuzhengsuo.

“This rule is fair enough. The other students are split into nine groups, each pair fighting to determine rankings.”

Shen Lin thought for a moment. Master Su’s rule differed slightly from past tournaments, but why was Kong Yinglei’s face so grim?

“Within each group, it’s single elimination—lose once, and you’re out,” Kong Yinglei added.

“Single elimination? Then how are rankings determined?”

Shen Lin was puzzled. Each group contained students from different academies, so their strengths varied.

“Draw lots. The match order within each group will be decided by random draw.”

“Draw lots to determine opponents? That’s unfair!”

Shen Lin frowned. If the strongest and second-strongest in a group drew each other in the first round, the second-strongest would be eliminated immediately—unfair to that student.

“All losers may compete again later to determine their final rankings.”

Kong Yinglei explained. As her senior sister put it, Master Su cared only about the top ten students; the rankings of those below meant nothing to him.

In short, while academies fiercely cared about rankings from eleventh to fiftieth—because they affected resource allocation—Master Su didn’t care at all.

Was it unfair to the second-strongest in a group?

In Master Su’s eyes, if you couldn’t win every match in your group, you had no right to compete for the top ten. Whether you ended up twenty-first or thirty-first—did he even care?

“Sister Kong, how are the groups assigned?” Lin Chen asked after understanding the rules.

Whether group matches were fair was one thing—but how were the groups formed?

“Each academy takes turns placing their first student in each group. The others then choose students to fill that group. Our academy is assigned to Group Bing.”

Kong Yinglei looked deeply at Lin Chen and the others. For students, the truly cruel part was the group assignment.

Group assignment reflected how much the academy valued them.

If a group had a strong student, other academies would place their promising students elsewhere, avoiding direct clashes.

“During assignment, if any student wishes to join the current group, speak up. If no one does, I’ll assign them.”

As Kong Yinglei finished speaking, Wuzhengsuo personnel brought forward a wooden board over one zhang tall, marked with nine horizontal columns.

Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Xu, Geng, Xin, Ren!

Nine columns—nine groups.

The vice-director of Tiexue Martial Arts Academy stepped forward first and wrote a name in the first slot under column Jia: Zhang Qing.

The crowd stirred at the name.

“Tiexue is truly confident—just putting Zhang Qing’s name up right away.”

“Zhang Qing is Tiexue’s second-best this year, after Fei Hong. He masters Iron Collapse Fist and has opened six orifices. Is there anyone else who can beat him?”

“Watch. With Zhang Qing in Group Jia, the other academies will place their strongest students elsewhere.”

Jingshui’s side fell silent.

Six orifices plus mastery of Iron Collapse Fist was nearly equal to seven orifices. No one felt certain they could defeat Zhang Qing.

Seeing no senior sisters speak up, Lin Chen was about to volunteer when Li Xue suddenly stepped forward: “Sister Kong, I volunteer for Group Jia.”

Fu Jingya and the others stared at Li Xue, puzzled why she’d choose Group Jia.

Lin Chen saw the smile on Li Xue’s face and understood.

Her sister knew she couldn’t win her group. She was sacrificing herself to give Lin Chen and the other senior sisters a better chance to win in the remaining eight groups.

“Good.”

Kong Yinglei nodded, wrote Li Xue’s name, and handed it to a Wuzhengsuo attendant. Like Li Xue, though she’d opened six orifices, she had no chance of winning her group.

Soon, the other seven academies submitted their Group Jia selections. Wuzhengsuo staff recorded the names and filled them into the Jia column.

Group Jia’s eight participants confirmed, now came Group Yi.

The second group was led by Zhenyue Martial Arts Academy.

Group order was determined by last year’s academy tournament rankings.

Tiexue was last year’s first; Zhenyue was second.

To everyone’s surprise, Zhenyue’s vice-director didn’t write Fu Ang’s name first—he wrote another disciple’s, also one who’d opened six orifices.

“Sister Kong, I volunteer for the second match!”

Gu Qingqing spoke up immediately. Lin Chen glanced at his senior sister—she believed that without Fu Ang, this group offered a real chance.

But the outcome would likely be grim. Many students probably thought the same.

When the final list was revealed and the crowd erupted in shock at the names of the other seven academies’ students, Lin Chen sighed helplessly.

Three students with seven orifices were on the list.

This was a true death group. Gu Qingqing was in serious danger.

Kong Yinglei, Qi He, and the vice-director of Tanglang Martial Arts Academy exchanged a fleeting glance, then looked away.

Their three seven-orifice students had ended up in the same group.

Gu Qingqing, seeing the list, grew grim-faced.

Group Yi confirmed. Now came Group Bing.

Kong Yinglei’s gaze settled on Lin Chen and Fu Jingya: “Group Bing is ours first. Who volunteers to lead?”

“Senior Sister, please yield this round to me—I’ll go first.”

Lin Chen volunteered. For him, which group he was in didn’t matter—but Fu Jingya, if placed well, still had a chance to win her group.

“Good!”

Kong Yinglei looked at Lin Chen with clear approval. Fu Jingya and Gu Qingqing were too cautious about gains and losses. Students cared about rankings, yes—but only the top ten mattered. Fail to make the top ten, and all effort was wasted.

To enter the top ten, you must believe you can win no matter which group you’re in. Otherwise, even if you lucked into first place in a weak group, could you expect such fortune again in the next round?

When Lin Chen’s name was written on the board, the other seven academies fell into thought.

Six orifices!

That level wasn’t high.

They hesitated because of what had just happened in Group Yi—without Fu Ang, other academies had tried to exploit the opportunity, only to end up with the toughest group.

Afraid that the scene from Group Yi would replay in Group Bing.

“Master Qi, I request to fight!”

At Qingfeng Martial Hall, Lu Shuyu spoke up voluntarily; several nearby disciples glanced at him in surprise.

For Lu Shuyu, his decision to volunteer stemmed entirely from Lin Chen.

He had heard the name Lin Chen.

After receiving Class Jia status, he encountered Instructor Zhao, who told him that his Class Jia slot had been taken from Lin Chen.

Instructor Chen had been indecisive about who deserved the slot—it was Instructor Zhao’s support that ultimately secured it for him. He must step onto the arena and defeat Lin Chen to prove to Instructor Chen that assigning the Class Jia status to him was correct.

In Group Bing, the final roster was confirmed: only one student from Yunyin Martial Hall, with seven open acupoints.

No more death groups appeared; the major martial halls present, especially Yunyin Martial Hall’s vice-master, breathed a sigh of relief.

Group Ding…

Group Wu…

Group Xu.

“Master, let me fight.”

At Group Xu, Fu Ang spoke up voluntarily.

The other students nearby looked curious—they didn’t understand why Fu Shixiong hadn’t chosen to fight first in Group Yi.

Fu Ang knew what his junior disciples were thinking, but he wouldn’t reveal that he waited until now specifically to avoid facing any one of Qingfeng Martial Hall’s three six-acupoint students.

He didn’t know which of Qingfeng’s three six-acupoint students had defeated him, so he avoided them all.

Qingfeng’s three six-acupoint students had all been assigned already; now he had nothing to fear.

PS: While writing this chapter, Jiudeng made a table listing the number of eight-, seven-, and six-acupoint students from each martial hall, and discovered a bug: his original outline had ten martial halls, later revised to eight, but he forgot to update the outline, resulting in the accidental inclusion of Yingying Martial Hall and Qingsong Martial Hall (and no readers pointed this out—everyone’s just as scatterbrained as I am ┗(▔，▔)┛).

If you noticed this issue while reading, rest assured: Jiudeng has already fixed it; the data for all martial halls is now correct.

Also, I’d like to inform everyone: the novel is likely to be licensed in a few days. Due to the high word count, the first twenty-plus chapters may become VIP-only after licensing. Jiudeng has negotiated with the editor to avoid reverting previous chapters to VIP, but we can’t guarantee it yet—so please follow along now, or you might end up reading later and exclaim, “Wait, this chapter is paid?!”

(End of chapter)