The Six Immortals Chapter 149

Chapter 149 – The Contest Begins

The rules of the Jiu Yu Hidden Dragon list were very different from the Quinyang disciple’s tournament. Even though the tournament had a grouping system, the group would only contain four contestants, and a person would have to win all three fights to qualify for the next round.

If none of the four contestants were able to win all the three rounds, then all four would be eliminated. Even though this was a very cruel system, but it was a very quick, and effective, way of identifying the strongest participants from the lot.

The top-five of the Jiu Yu City were permitted to send ten disciples each. The other first-class Sects like the Ba Gua Sect were also allowed to enroll ten contenders, while the slightly smaller Sects were only permitted to send five. The Sects which were further down in the rating were mostly allowed to send only three fighters, while some were only permitted to enlist just one.

There are hundreds of Sects in the Jiu Yu City’s region, and this contest had over three hundred youngsters participating in it.

The tournaments didn’t have any restrictions on weapons, and even allowed the participants to use their pets, which most participants borrowed from their Sects. However, the participants weren’t allowed to use any kind of Dan pellets during the course of their fights.

Ling Xin Ya was busy giving advice and important tips to the Quinyang Sect’s disciples, and even Jing Feng was narrating his experiences from the previous tournament.

“We must not get nervous at any point in the tournament. Remember that you mustn’t take the results very seriously, if you can’t win, then admit your defeat; there’s no shame in doing that.” Ling Xin Ya said.

“No one will concede their fight; you must fight till the end for the sake of the Quinyang Sect’s glory.” Luo Xiao Tian narrated in a cold manner.

Ling Xin Ya was having a tough time in dealing with Luo Xiao Tian, since the latter would say the exact reverse of his words.

This wasn’t exactly a new thing for the Quinyang disciples, and no one seemed to be paying any attention to their constant disagreement.

In a flash, one hour passed by, and the arena was almost full, at this point.

A lot of people had travelled to the Jiu Yu City to watch the Jiu Yu Hidden Dragon List and the Jiu Yu imperial List, which was one of the primary reasons for such a large audience.

In order to ensure fairness, the contest referees had been invited from various Sects of the Jiu Yu City.

In addition to the court referee, there was an additional five-man jury, who would act as judges, and would pass judgements on any conflicts that might be raised by the contestants over the course of the tournament.

In addition to the stage referee, each stage was also chaired by another secondary referee to help avoid any serious injuries, or deaths, during the course of the fights.

However, the entire tournament was being headed by one man, Wang Yun.

“The Triennial Jiu Yu Hidden Dragon List will begin shortly; the contestants may please proceed to the ballots.” Wang Yun announced in a loud voice.

The ballot box was placed in the middle of the center stage, and a dedicated team from the staff of the organizers was responsible for maintain the order. They would record the number of a participant, post the draw, and would assign them their respective contest stage, and group.

“Let’s Go, and get our draws. I wish you all the best of luck, Brothers.” Jing Feng smiled.

The draw was purely dependent on luck; but luck is always a subset of strength.

Bad luck may result in a group full of strong fighters, which would reduce the chances of progressing further.

Many people were praying to heavens, since they wanted an easy group.

Bi Fan didn’t care; in fact, he was hoping for strong opponents, since he wanted to refine his skills further.

The ballot was drawing process was happening so quickly, that Bi Fan barely managed to get a look at his number.

As he stood on the center stage, his heart was brimming with the desire to take the stage once again, and contest for the title.

And maybe, if managed to win the tournament, then this stage would pave the way for his true rise.

As soon as he drew his number, it was recorded by the official, and Bi Fan returned to his Sect’s designated seating area.

While he was stepping down from the stage, Bi Fan finally saw Blue Dragon. Even though the two men didn’t talk to each other, they greeted each other warmly with their eyes and expressions.

Blue Dragon had already broken into the ‘transformation’ layer, and was inching closer to the layer’s peak. He was already being regarded as one of the leading figures of the younger generation in the Jiu Yu City.

“Brother Bi Fan, what number did you get?” Jing Feng asked.

Even though the probability of Jing Feng being assigned the same group as Bi Fan was quite low, Jing Feng was still worried about it.

If he was grouped with Bi Fan in the first round itself, then he knew that he would probably get knocked out in the round, which would be a huge disgrace to his name.

On top of that, since Jing Feng ranked number three in the tournament last time, his elimination in the first round was likely to make him the butt of all jokes. His rivaling peers like Jiang Wen, especially, would never stop making fun of him.

The last tournament’s top ranking fighters like Wu Ji Xuan, Jiang Wen, Jing Feng and the others were all at the peak of the ‘transformation’ layer, and were in line to make the breakthrough very soon, which is why they were all still being considered the favorites this time around. They, however, would still have to face some competition from a few new comers, especially the ones that had already broken into the ‘transformation’ layer.

Mo Nan, Jing Yin Lan, and Luo Sheng also pitched their ears in; since they too wanted to know if they were safely away from Bi Fan’s group.

“One hundred and forty seven.” Bi Fan flatly stated.

“Hoof, I got one hundred and forty one. That was close.” Mo Nan was relieved.

Mo Nan finally breathed a sigh of relief, since he naturally didn’t want to face Bi Fan in the first round.

“Oh, I got two hundred and thirty one, I’m nowhere near you.” Jing Feng smiled.

Luo Sheng heard everyone as they all reported their ballot numbers, and smiled since he wasn’t being paired with any of them early on.

Then, Luo Xiao Tian came over to enquire about the ballot numbers of the participants, and was glad to know that none of the Quinyang Sect disciples were in the same group, which meant that there wouldn’t be any internal competition in the early stages.

Only seventeen of the, total, eighteen stages would be used for the initial rounds. Bi Fan’s group was allotted the third set, which meant that he’d have to wait a while.

Two of the Quinyang disciples were allotted the first set, and they started preparing themselves for their fights.

The ones who weren’t fighting in this set, continued to wait in their seats, and prepared to watch their competition.

Groups of the ‘group of four’ were further divided into two groups, each having thirty-four members each. One group would take the stage, and would compete, while the other group would rest. Once their fights were over, the other group would fight, while the first group would rest, and so on, so forth, making one set. In the end, the fighters who manage to win all their three fights, would progress further.

Once the contest rules were formally announced, the contest began.

All seventeen contest stages were being used simultaneously, to allow the tournament to proceed as quickly as possible.

As the contest began, Bi Fan started to watch the fights attentively. But since there were seventeen fights taking place simultaneously, it was quite difficult for him to memorize everything, which is why he decided to pick the best fighters, and started concentrating on their fights.

In this lot of thirty-four members, most fighters were not very strong. There were only two ‘transformation’ layer fighters, and they too had broken into the ninth layer of the ‘Fetus’ realm quite recently.

Bi Fan decided to concentrate on the fights of these two contestants, but was still paying some attention to others as well.

If he was able to memorize their martial arts, then he’d be able to figure out a way to add their best characteristics to his style, and could even use it with his ‘Immortal finger’ attack, which would help him in increasing his power outputs.

Bi Fan had only recently decided to use ‘The Immortal Finger’ as the focal point of his practice, which is why it was difficult for him to integrate too many skills into it on a very short notice. But, if he was able to memorize a martial skill, then he’d at least be able to find its flaws, which would eventually pay dividends in the later rounds.

As he continued to research ‘The Immortal Finger’ attack, he had started to realize that the attack could easily be used with a wide range of sword attacks. On top of that, he was also capable of using the attack with a wide range of boxing styles.

Because of this reason, Bi Fan was taking this learning opportunity even more seriously, since he could carry out his research later, and would slowly be able to use some of the characteristics of these martial skills, after a thorough research in the future.

As long as he was able to learn sufficient different skills, he might even be able to build a new style of his own someday.

The two ‘transformation’ layer disciples finished their fights very quickly, owing to which Bi Fan wasn’t able to see much. But he knew that once a fighter was faced with a strong opponent, then they’d surely cast out their best skills, and he’d have his chance then.

This tournament was being contested by various Sects of the Jiu Yu City, and each Sect’s martial skills had their own characteristics, and even their own unique skill sets. Plus, the youngsters who were taking part in the tournament, were likely to have had their own adventures, and might even have learnt a few new skills, which would be an added advantage for Bi Fan.

Unfortunately, most people were unlikely to use high end skills unless their fight reached a critical juncture.

But Bi Fan didn’t care for now; anyway, there would be plenty of opportunities in the tournament, since the strongest fighters were sure to come up against each other at some point, wherein they would play their best skills.

“That guy is really strong ah!”

“The winner of stage sixteen is quite strong as well. If we run into him, we must be very careful.”

Everyone was busy commenting on the fights, but Bi Fan’s attention was completely focused on learning their skill sets, which is why he didn’t participate in these discussions.

Chapter end