Dongjiang City Martial Arts Hall was also Dongjiang's largest multi-purpose sports venue.
For the Xuetao Cup, ten arenas had been temporarily erected inside the Martial Arts Hall.
The five-meter-by-five-meter arenas were not standard-sized, but they were more than sufficient for this amateur competition.
The smaller arenas reduced room for movement and quickened the pace of combat.
The Xuetao Cup offered substantial prize money and was a traditional Dongjiang event with enormous influence. Watching the Xuetao Cup matches during the New Year holiday had even become a Dongjiang tradition.
No Martial Artist from Dongjiang could resist the Xuetao Cup. Although registration was restricted to Intermediate Martial Artists and above, more than ten thousand people entered the preliminaries.
All matches followed a knockout format. If a match ended in a draw after three rounds, both contestants were eliminated.
There were too many participants, so the tournament committee borrowed venues such as the Martial Arts Arenas of various schools for the preliminaries. Only Advanced Martial Artists were assigned to compete at the main venue.
Yang Ru, Yu Rulong, and Han Yang gathered together and slowly made their way through the crowded throng. Though the three had been exceptionally dazzling in the Middle School League, no one paid them any attention here.
Everyone gathered here was a Martial Artist. Even the weakest were Intermediate Martial Artists, and Warriors of every rank were not uncommon.
Even Yang Ru, who had always been flamboyant, was remarkably well-behaved now. The three arrived at Arena Ten and completed their registration with the staff.
"Don't leave. Get on the arena when your number is called. If you miss it, it'll count as forfeiture." After giving that instruction, the staff member sent the three of them aside to wait.
Yang Ru noticed that the people waiting to compete around them