The Heavenly Martial Assembly Preliminaries

A month passed after midwinter. As spring was about to arrive, the preliminary rounds for the second Martial Arts Tournament finally commenced.

This year, the tournament had been rebranded as the Heavenly Martial Assembly, its scale several times larger than the previous one. Not only had the name changed, but the rules and requirements had also undergone significant alterations.

Firstly, the age requirement for participants was raised from under thirty to under fifty. All cultivators were eligible to participate, regardless of gender, sect, or aristocratic family; everything would be determined by bone age.

Next, regarding the competition format, the entire Heavenly Martial Assembly was divided into three distinct stages. The top 128 cultivators from the previous tournament, those who had earned a place on the Daqi Heavenly Pride Rankings, would directly advance to the second stage of the assembly.

The first stage was the preliminary round, where all registered cultivators not on the Daqi Heavenly Pride Rankings would compete. They would be divided into ten groups, each undergoing a round-robin tournament. Ultimately, the top hundred from each group, totaling one thousand cultivators, would advance to the second stage.

The second stage was a challenge-based elimination round. The 128 cultivators on the Daqi Heavenly Pride Rankings would defend their respective arenas, while the one thousand cultivators who advanced from the preliminaries would challenge them. Each arena required at least ten defenses per month, with no upper limit. After a year, the 128 cultivators who successfully remained on the arenas would secure a spot on the new Daqi Heavenly Pride Rankings, earning their entry into the final ranking battles.

Chi Qiu sat upright in the front courtyard, meticulously reading a golden scroll. From the corner of her eye, she occasionally glanced at Su Hanxing, who was practicing with his great spear nearby. Earlier that morning, Daqi soldiers had visited their residence. After delivering the scroll detailing the Heavenly Martial Assembly’s procedures to Chi Qiu and Su Hanxing, they had promptly departed.

Su Hanxing had merely glanced at the scroll before stowing it away in his storage artifact, clearly having familiarized himself with its contents long ago. Chi Qiu, however, painstakingly read every piece of information on it, just as she had done when participating in her first martial arts tournament.

“Hanxing, the preliminaries are starting in a few days. Should we go look for the Heart God Sect’s team?” Chi Qiu finally asked, a hint of probing in her voice, after reading the scroll multiple times.

Su Hanxing, still twirling his great spear, responded. “No problem. We can leave today.”

A month had passed since their visit to the Spirit Painting Pavilion. During this time, Chi Qiu had kept the painting carefully hidden, never allowing Su Hanxing to see it. Although Su Hanxing had repeatedly expressed his desire to see the painting, Chi Qiu had always deflected him with a myriad of strange excuses.

“Why depart today?” Chi Qiu asked, puzzled.

“There are ten arenas in this preliminary round. If we don’t investigate beforehand, how will we know where the Heart God Sect is located?” Su Hanxing replied with a slight smile.

“That’s true. Then let’s set off now.” Chi Qiu nodded, then stood up, ready to step out of the house.

“Don’t be in such a hurry. Look here.” Su Hanxing retracted his great spear, then pulled out a map and walked towards Chi Qiu. Su Hanxing squeezed next to Chi Qiu, presenting the map for her to examine, while simultaneously nudging her.

Chi Qiu gave Su Hanxing a slightly disdainful look as he, drenched in sweat, leaned against her. Yet, she didn’t push him away, instead focusing her gaze on the map before them.

“Little Chi, look. Wufeng Commandery is south of the Imperial City, so the Heart God Sect will surely enter through the South Gate. We can start our search from the arenas closest to the South Gate; it might save us a lot of time!” Su Hanxing said, pointing to the Imperial City’s South Gate.

“Whatever you say. We have plenty of time anyway.” Chi Qiu replied indifferently, taking a few steps back to distance herself from Su Hanxing.

“Then let’s head to this spot first.” Su Hanxing said, his finger tracing a circular area on the map.

“Let’s go.” Chi Qiu nodded.

With their destination decided, Chi Qiu immediately summoned her flying boat and departed the residence with Su Hanxing. The flying boat, a top-grade magical artifact, was naturally incredibly fast. After approximately a quarter of an hour of flight, Chi Qiu and Su Hanxing arrived at the first arena.

The azure arena stretched over a thousand zhang, surrounded on all sides by tiers of white steps, capable of accommodating hundreds of thousands of spectators. As Chi Qiu and Su Hanxing slowly descended, they saw a bustling crowd gathered before the arena’s main gate. As far as the eye could see, there wasn’t a single mortal, only cultivators from various sects and factions.

“Are they here to register for the Heavenly Martial Assembly?” Chi Qiu asked, stepping off the flying boat. With a subtle tremor, an invisible ripple emanated from her, gently pushing away the cultivators around her.

“Of course not. Registration for the preliminaries has long since closed. They’re here to buy entry tickets to watch the matches.” Su Hanxing shook his head. He couldn’t silently push away nearby cultivators with the ‘Dao’ like Chi Qiu could, only relying on the pressure of his own true qi to disperse them.

Chi Qiu understood. The two then quickly walked to the arena’s main gate, their somewhat forceful actions drawing dissatisfaction from many cultivators. However, this dissatisfaction vanished instantly upon feeling the immense true qi pressure emanating from Su Hanxing.

Seeing Su Hanxing’s forceful display, Chi Qiu’s voice took on a teasing, almost mocking tone. “Little Chi…” Su Hanxing was momentarily stunned by Chi Qiu’s sudden jest. Then, recovering, he chuckled slightly and ruffed Chi Qiu’s hair.

“Anyway, we’re not buying entry tokens, so it’s not really cutting in line.”

Chi Qiu tilted her head, attempting to evade Su Hanxing’s hand. Yet, his hand seemed to have eyes, sticking firmly to her head, refusing to budge an inch. Su Hanxing continued to rub Chi Qiu’s head as they both looked at the posted announcements.

First Match: Mu Xi of the Heart God Sect versus Yu Hui of the Tianyan Sect…

“There’s a Heart God Sect cultivator in the very first match. Should we buy entry tokens?” Chi Qiu’s lips parted slightly, her soft words, enveloped by a wisp of true qi, carried directly into Su Hanxing’s ear.

“Let’s buy them for now. We can check the other arenas later.”

Su Hanxing nodded. He and Chi Qiu then found the place where entry tokens were sold.

“Elder, two tokens.” Su Hanxing took out a Spirit Pill and extended his hand, offering it to the old man selling the entry tokens.

“You two are cultivators on the Daqi Heavenly Pride Rankings. There’s no need to purchase entry tokens; you only need to show your golden token to the stationed guards.” The old man smiled faintly after a careful look.

“Thank you for the information, Elder. Little Chi, let’s go.” Su Hanxing, a look of surprise on his face, thanked the old man, then pulled Chi Qiu along. With a flash, they vanished from the spot.

“So this golden token has such a use after all.” Chi Qiu took out a golden token, which had been delivered along with the scroll by the Daqi soldiers.

“This saves us a lot of trouble. Come on, let’s head to the next arena.” Su Hanxing pulled out the map, pointing to the closest arena, and showed it to Chi Qiu.

“Alright.”

The two of them spent several hours, finally noting down the combat schedules for all ten preliminary arenas.

“There are Heart God Sect cultivators competing in seven of the arenas. We’ll need to manage our time carefully.” Chi Qiu mused, reviewing their day’s itinerary and calculating the timings in her mind.

“I didn’t expect the participating cultivators from the various sects and aristocratic families to be so spread out in this Heavenly Martial Assembly.” Su Hanxing nodded. The arrangements for the previous tournament hadn’t been this dispersed, which was now causing them quite a bit of trouble.

“There’s no need to rush, however. Chai Niang hasn’t imposed any time limits, and this martial assembly will continue for four years, so we can plan carefully.”

Chi Qiu, who was beside him, suddenly smiled faintly and spoke. “Indeed, this matter cannot be rushed.”

Chi Qiu nodded in strong agreement.

As they returned to the residence entrance, Su Hanxing suddenly remembered something and asked, “Oh right, Little Chi, when can you let me see that painting of yours?”

“You can’t even master the Dao of Flowing Water and Flying Snow that I personally taught you, and yet you want to comprehend the Dao of Ink Wash Painting?” Chi Qiu said, her face revealing a dismissive expression as she dodged the question.

“It’s not that I want to comprehend the Great Dao. I mainly want to see the contents of the scroll, after all, I spent so much gold to buy it back.” Su Hanxing naturally sensed that the painting’s contents must be peculiar; otherwise, Chi Qiu would certainly not be hiding it away. She was not a stingy person.

“What’s so good about a painting? It’s just you and me.” Chi Qiu pushed open the residence gate, saying without looking back.

“There’s still a difference between a painting and a person. I really want to see what you look like in the painting, Little Chi.” Su Hanxing followed Chi Qiu into the residence, persistently insisting on seeing the scroll.

“Chai Niang’s painting skills are excellent; her portraits are indistinguishable from reality. If you want to see, then just look at me more, don’t bother with the painting.” Chi Qiu suddenly turned, rising onto her tiptoes to get closer to Su Hanxing.

“I…” Su Hanxing had never encountered such a situation. His ears immediately flushed crimson, and he struggled to utter a complete word for a long time.

“Do I look good?”

“G-good… good-looking.”

“Had enough?”

“N-no…”

“If you haven’t had enough, you can look tomorrow. I’m going back to my room.” Chi Qiu lightly tapped her foot, instantly transforming into a falling leaf and returning to the back courtyard. Su Hanxing was left standing alone, staring blankly at her retreating figure.

Meanwhile, Chi Qiu quickly closed her bedroom door, leaning against it and gently caressing her chest. Her heart was pounding, a strange, unprecedented emotion spreading through her, leaving her utterly bewildered.

“W-what’s wrong with me?”