"Someone’s scamming in the black market?"
"Even the generals of the Golden Scale Guards and the inspectors of the Military Suppression Department got tricked?"
"That’s incredibly daring!"
Yan Chuan was shocked.
He wasn’t pretending; he was genuinely surprised, not expecting that the four people he easily conned would turn out to include three big names. He wondered about the identity of the fourth person.
"This is interesting."
"But it’s a pity, you just arrived in Yingze City and encountered such an incident on your first day strolling through the black market."
Shao Yancong felt regretful for Yan Chuan.
Du Zhenzong curiously asked, "Professor Yan was also at the black market yesterday. Did you happen to see Helian Ba and the others being scammed?"
Yan Chuan shook his head.
They were all masked; how would he know who’s who?
This Old Du, could he be trying to trap him?
Yan Chuan glanced at Du Zhenzong but saw nothing unusual about him; he still had that gloating look, so it was likely unintentional just now.
Shao Yancong and Du Zhenzong joked around for a bit, and then turned to Yan Chuan to discuss serious matters: "I didn’t get a chance to tell you yesterday, so now’s a good time to explain the structure of the ’Jian Province Competition’ to you."
Yan Chuan listened attentively.
The ’Jian Province Competition,’ after all, connects to the ’Cang Mountain Sword Discussion,’ unlike the small-time ’Guangling City Martial Arts Competition’ in the past. This event is more rigorous and the structure meticulously planned—
"Nine major academies!"
"Each academy can send ten teams, totaling ninety teams, facing off pairwise, drawing lots at random, with teams from the same academy following an avoidance principle. Winners advance to the winners’ bracket, losers enter the losers’ bracket."
"Winners proceed directly to the second round."
"Losers compete in two resurrection matches, selecting one-fourth to enter the second round."
"That is, a total of 56 teams will enter the second round."
"The second round repeats the first round’s process, a total of 56 teams face off pairwise, drawing lots at random, with teams from the same academy following an avoidance principle. Winners advance to the winners’ bracket, losers enter the losers’ bracket."
"Winners proceed directly to the third round."
"Losers compete in two resurrection matches, selecting one-fourth to enter the third round."
"That is, a total of 35 teams will enter the third round."
"The third round repeats the first and second round processes, a total of 35 teams face off pairwise, drawing lots at random, with teams from the same academy following an avoidance principle. Winners advance to the winners’ bracket, losers enter the losers’ bracket."
"Winners proceed directly to the fourth round."
"Losers undergo a resurrection match, determining two teams to enter the fourth round."
"That is, a total of 20 teams will enter the fourth round."
"The fourth round is a group stage."
"20 teams are divided into four groups, five teams per group, and compete in a group cycle match. Based on the points, the top two from each group advance to the fifth round, this forms the ’Top Eight.’"
"The fifth round, Top Eight advance to Four Strongest."
"The sixth round, semifinals."
"The seventh round, finals."
"But actually, the latter three rounds don’t affect the qualifiers; the ’Jian Province Competition’ will ultimately select the top eight teams to represent Jian Province at Cang Mountain."
The structure of the ’Jian Province Competition’ is complicated if you say so, but simple if you don’t.
First round, 90 into 56.
Second round, 56 into 35.
Third round, 35 into 20.
Fourth round, group stage, 20 into 8.
Fifth round, quarter-finals, 8 into 4.
Sixth round, semifinals, 4 into 2.
Seventh round, finals, the last two teams compete for the final championship.
"The schedule is very long."
"In total, it will take a full month to complete."
"Even if you win all the way, you must fight ten matches."
"This is intentionally arranged; the ’Jian Province Competition’ is both a selection for the ’Cang Mountain Sword Discussion’ and a ’large-scale military training.’ Through high-intensity competitions, you participants will refine your skills and improve within this month."
Shao Yancong explained.
Although the ’Jian Province Competition’ is just a competition among the nine academies within Jian Province, the exchanges, competitions, and insights gained between each academy’s disciples can benefit in cultivation.
It’s also military training.
"The schedule consists of seven rounds in total," Yan Chuan understood, so he asked, "For a team, with five starting players and two substitutes, how exactly do we compete?"
All together in a mixed battle?
Or all out war like Tian Ji’s horse racing?
"I mentioned this to you last year; maybe you’ve forgotten." Shao Yancong explained to Yan Chuan again: "The fighting methods are divided into ’mixed battle’ and ’rotational battle’—"
"Rotational battle, that means the five from one team take turns coming on stage to compete against the other five. The winner stays, the loser steps down, ultimately leaving the winning academy on the platform."
"Mixed battle, means all five from one team come on stage together to fight the other five, five against five, and the team left standing on the platform wins."
Du Zhenzong added with a smile: "In other words, if you are strong enough, then even with four ordinary practitioners, it doesn’t matter."
"In mixed battle, you can win against five while being attacked."
"In rotational battle, one can consecutively defeat the five opponents."
Yan Chuan recalled, this conversation sounded like what Shao Yancong had said to him before.
He knew, of course, that it wouldn’t be that simple: "Not mentioning the ’Cang Mountain Sword Discussion,’ even in the ’Jian Province Competition,’ each academy has its own elites, supported by the County Magistrate’s Mansion and the military, and even recruited external allies. When I encounter the opposing team, I’m not afraid of one person being limit-breaking, but rather all members being limit-breaking. With everyone strong, it’s not just winning against five but also, in one-on-one rotation battles, with everyone being limit-breaking, I might not withstand."
Yan Chuan was modest.
He knew he wasn’t lacking in strength, and was full of inner confidence.
But Shao Yancong and Du Zhenzong didn’t know this, so when they heard Yan Chuan being so humble, they nodded to themselves, assured that Yan Chuan wasn’t becoming arrogant.