Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition

"You're here. Have a seat, everyone."

The Vice Principal's office had sofas and a coffee table, clearly meant for receiving guests.

Zhou Wu and the other two sat on the sofa, quietly waiting for what came next.

"There's a document here. Take a look."

The Vice Principal took a document from a drawer and handed it to Zhou Wu.

"Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition."

Zhou Wu opened the first page of the document and saw those seven words.

"Teacher Zhou, you've taught at this school for more than a decade, so you should know about the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition." The Vice Principal said, "After each new class finishes its academic and martial arts class division, the various high schools in Yang City hold the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition. There are five slots. Qin Fen and Shi Jian will definitely compete, leaving three slots. Teacher Zhou, do you have any good candidates?"

Zhou Wu casually flipped through the document before handing it to Qin Fen. "Among the classes I teach, aside from Qin Fen, there are several decent candidates. But there are also quite a few students in Teacher Liu's and Teacher Ma's classes who developed jing force after their second force transmission. We should gather them all together tomorrow and have them spar briefly before deciding on the final candidates."

The Vice Principal nodded. "That was my thought as well, but there's no need to rush. There's still a week before the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition begins. As long as we finalize the candidates before next Friday, it'll be fine."

Zhou Wu said, "Understood. We'll definitely select the best students to participate in the exchange competition and strive for a ranking."

The Vice Principal and Zhou Wu discussed the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition in earnest, while Qin Fen carefully read through the document in his hands.

The Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition was essentially an alternative sports meet, with each school sending several representatives to compete.

A sports meet had all sorts of events—basketball, soccer, running, long jump, and dozens more—but the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition naturally focused on martial arts.

The schools participating in the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition included Yang City Fourth High School, Yang City Fifth High School, Yang City Sixth High School... all the way to Yang City Thirteenth High School. There were ten schools in total, with five slots for each school.

As for why Yang City No. 1 High School, Yang City No. 2 High School, and Yang City No. 3 High School did not participate, anyone could figure it out with their toes.

Those three high schools were elite martial arts schools. Every student came from either wealth or status, and they hired private instructors for basic training back in middle school. By the time they entered high school, they had already developed jing force.

Those with exceptional talent and aptitude had even reached the Second Realm of Jing Li, or perhaps even the Third Realm of Jing Li.

If Yang City No. 1 High School, Yang City No. 2 High School, and Yang City No. 3 High School participated in the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition, it would not be an exchange competition at all, but a crushing competition. Besides, those three schools disdained competing with ordinary martial arts schools like theirs.

They were simply not on the same level.

Yang City's three elite martial arts schools also held a Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition, but their opponents were elite martial arts schools from several nearby counties. They belonged to different circles.

Elite martial arts schools were one circle, while ordinary martial arts schools were another.

Activities crossing between those circles were generally rare.

The rules of the exchange competition were simple: participants took turns fighting Martial Arts Students from the other schools.

There were ten schools, with five slots per school, making fifty participants in total.

Other than those from their own school, each person had to fight forty-five others, for a total of forty-five battles.

First place received a fifty-thousand-yuan prize.

Second place received thirty thousand yuan.

Third place received ten thousand yuan.

Fourth through tenth place received three thousand yuan.

The competition followed simple Arena Match rules. Within the allotted time, one had to knock down the opponent and render them unable to fight, or knock them out of the arena. If the match had not ended when time ran out, it was counted as a draw.

Defeating an opponent gave one point, a draw gave zero points, and a loss deducted one point.

The final rankings were determined by total points.

Registration ran from October 5 to October 11.

Qin Fen quickly finished reading the document and handed it to Shi Jian.

"Fifty thousand yuan for first place."

The prize money for the Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition surfaced in Qin Fen's mind.

Fifty thousand yuan was no small sum for someone from an ordinary family like his.

His parents might not even be able to save fifty thousand yuan after working hard for an entire year.

If he could take first place in the exchange competition and win that prize money, he could ease his family's burden.

He was only in Senior One, yet his monthly expenses already exceeded three thousand yuan. The farther he progressed, the more money he would need. He could not keep relying on his family forever. He needed to find a way to earn money.

The Freshman Martial Arts Exchange Competition was an opportunity. First place came with a fifty-thousand-yuan prize.

But taking first place would not be easy.

Although all the schools below Yang City No. 1 High School, Yang City No. 2 High School, and Yang City No. 3 High School were ordinary martial arts schools, there were still differences in strength.

Schools ranked near the top, especially Yang City Fourth High School and Yang City Fifth High School, produced one or two students who got into Martial Arts University every year. Yang City Thirteenth High School, meanwhile, had produced only one student admitted to Martial Arts University in the past decade.

To take first place, I'll have to learn a powerful martial arts technique.

Among the freshmen at Yang City Thirteenth High School, he was the only one who had reached the Second Realm of Jing Li.

But the higher-ranked schools might also have freshmen who had reached the Second Realm of Jing Li. Eighteen Falls Upon Touching alone was not enough. It was more than sufficient for defense, but lacking in offense.

However, before reaching the Third Realm of Jing Li, Jing Shun, the school would only teach martial arts techniques such as Eighteen Falls Upon Touching, Silken Entanglement Grappling Hand, and Eight Trigrams Continuous Palm—falling and grappling techniques that were not particularly fierce or domineering in attack.

To learn martial arts techniques with fierce and domineering offensive power, he could only go to an outside martial arts school.

Those martial arts schools taught for money. To learn martial arts there, one had to pay tuition, and the fees were extraordinarily expensive—more than ten thousand yuan a month.

In such a short time, he could at most train a technique to the First Glimpse of the Path. It would be difficult to use it in actual combat. Only after reaching Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber could it be applied in real combat.

But to reach Entering the Hall and Reaching the Inner Chamber, it would take at least three months, meaning thirty thousand yuan in tuition alone.

With the daily Nutritional Meals, the special medicinal wine applied during training, and various other miscellaneous expenses, three months would cost at least fifty thousand yuan. Ordinary people truly could not afford martial arts schools.

Perhaps I can study at a martial arts school for one week. I don't need to train the technique to any profound level. I only need to get started.

He had the Panel. As long as a martial arts technique appeared on the Panel after he got started, he could use Righteous Qi Value to modify and improve its proficiency. He would not need to practice slowly at the martial arts school, and could still reach a profound level without an instructor's guidance.

That was his advantage.