Trials for sect members aged fifteen to eighteen were the simplest trials in the Five Poisons Sect.
Though participation was voluntary, both lineages and masters encouraged—or even forced—their disciples to take part.
Once a Li Family cultivator had left a "seed" with the family, they were already eligible to participate in the trials.
Yes, people could die in the trials.
But the "seed" had already been planted. No matter how many people died, the lineage would not die out.
That was the logic of the lineage, and of the sect.
The strong preyed on the weak. The law of the jungle was the most fundamental rule of this world.
Day one: Newcomers mostly watched and waited. Few threw down their cards, and anyone who volunteered to fight was matched with a "suitable" opponent.
Day two: After observing for a day and recalling their elders' earnest instructions, the newcomers knew they could not put it off any longer. They threw down their cards in droves. The Ceremony Hall immediately revised the rules, assigning the fifty-six who had thrown down their cards to twenty-eight bouts, without matching opponents any longer.
The twenty-eight battles were assigned at random, with none of the painstaking consideration of the five elements generating one another.
One bout even pitted two Toad Hard Qi Technique practitioners against each other. One of them had the edge thanks to the iron shorts he wore, and was the first to break through his opponent's weak point.
That bout left Li Shuidao gaping. The idea of iron shorts had come to him in a flash of inspiration, and he had never imagined someone would actually make it work, let alone use them in real combat. They seemed to work quite well, too.
It was the second day of registration for the trials.