Youth Martial Tournament

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Youth Martial Tournament
Alias(es)	Youth Martial Artist Exchange Tournament; Southeast Region Youth Martial Tournament
Affiliation	Southeast Region; participating cities, institutions, and the Tournament Committee
Occupation/Role	Regional assessment of young martial artists' ability to confront Fierce Beasts
Status	Concluded; future tournaments are expected to tighten qualification rules 62
Frequency	Biennial 25 62
Maximum participant age	Thirty 1 50
Regional scope	Three provinces and sixty-two cities in the Southeast Region 24
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Purpose and Significance

The tournament evaluates young martial artists through practical combat against Fierce Beasts at the border rather than conventional human-versus-human matches. Its stated purpose is to identify people capable of protecting society in real dangerous environments. 25 30

City rankings affect subsequent development support, including possible economic inspections, policy support, employment conditions, education, and living standards. 24 61

The rankings influence support over the following two years. A high-ranking city is regarded as capable of attracting outstanding young people, making the competition a measure of both martial ability and urban vitality. A top-ten finish can bring an Economic Inspection Team from the Southeast Region Decision Department and consideration for development policies. 24

The documented tournament was especially competitive because cities were seeking benefits associated with a 12-billion-yuan regional development fund. Cities entered previously undisclosed talents, increasing the difficulty of securing a high individual ranking. 48 57

• Participants receive B-grade Nutrient Fluid during the tournament period, making qualification especially valuable to martial artists seeking advancement. 1
• The participation benefit is described as thirty days of daily B-grade Nutrient Fluid, or thirty bottles in total. This broader resource provision is distinct from the three-day, four-night wilderness competition phase. 1 25 48 53
• Strong results can serve as credentials for future training expeditions, important appointments, cultivation resources, and trials such as the Lanwu Trial. 48 67
• Participation also allows martial artists to earn merit and build networks, making the event valuable even to Grandmasters' disciples who already have access to cultivation opportunities. 67
• The event is held biennially. 62

Qualification and Delegations

Originally, competitors qualified by personally earning Grade Points through merit and performance. The system was intended to assess ordinary young martial artists rather than elites selected by their cities. 53

Qualification rule	Details
Earned qualification	Grade Points were required to secure a place. 24 53
Age limit	Participants could be no older than thirty. 1 50
Substitutions	Cities and organizations could coordinate or exchange slots, although the required Grade Points made voluntary transfers uncommon. 24
Delegation size	Cities generally sent twelve or thirteen contestants; only the top ten individual results counted toward the city total. 24 48 The post-competition ruling described delegations of twelve to fourteen contestants. 59
Roster finalization	Once registration closed and the roster was finalized, further changes could not be made. 30 48
Problem with the system	Many cities replaced original qualifiers with favored or specially selected elites, undermining the tournament's original purpose. 53
Planned reform	Following the tournament, Chief Referee Yan Ge indicated that qualification substitutions would likely be prohibited in the future. 62

Gifted martial artists commonly received recommendations around the ages of twenty-one or twenty-two. Repeat participation was possible: some thirty-year-old entrants were attending for a third or fourth time. Li Yuan's first participation at thirty was therefore considered unusually late. 30

The tournament was not necessarily an appropriate assignment for the region's most exceptional prodigies. Zeng Chang explained that someone such as Xia Zhao, who had reached Eighth Grade before thirty, could disproportionately raise a city's ranking and would not represent the ordinary standard of its young martial artists. Most competitors were Sixth Grade or below, with only a possible handful approaching Seventh Grade. 50

Competition Format

Competition Area

The competition location is not fixed. The Tournament Committee sets aside a border area roughly the size of a town, leaves it vacant for one or two months to allow Fierce Beasts to enter, and seals off the border before sending contestants into the zone. 48

• The documented competition zone was the mountainous and forested Wild Mountain Forest, with canyon terrain. 53 58
• The delegation's accommodation and staging town was under Fengyuan City, immediately outside the competition area. Its large border hotel also functioned as a lookout post. 50
• Contestants were deployed by helicopter to separate landing points; competitors from the same city were deliberately split up. 53
• Twenty-five helicopters were prepared, each corresponding to a landing point. 53
• The survival and hunting phase lasted three days and four nights. 53
• A signal transmitter allowed a contestant to withdraw in an emergency. 53
• The documented hunting phase ended at 8:30 a.m. Afterward, Smart Storage Boxes locked and signal transmitters activated as contestants were retrieved from the forest. 58

Solo-Combat Rules

Contestants had to enter separately and earn points through independent combat. Helping another competitor accumulate points was forbidden. 50 53

• The requirement to enter separately and fight alone was emphasized as a major change in that year's rules. Previously planned delegation tactics involving yielding points were canceled. 48 50
• Detailed printed rules were distributed before deployment to ensure that contestants understood the provisions and could not later dispute penalties on the basis of unclear instructions. 53
• Real-time rankings were concealed until more than seventy percent of contestants had scored, then made public online. 47 53
• Real-time online point rankings were an innovation for the documented tournament; spectators could follow scores without watching the actual fighting. 47
• Phones and other communication devices were prohibited to prevent contestants from communicating with one another, rather than specifically to stop them from viewing rankings. Li Yuan consequently remained unaware of his position while hunting. 55
• Evidence of each kill was placed in a Smart Storage Box for scoring verification. 53
• The standard proof was both ears of the slain beast. For a snake without obvious external ears, Li Yuan submitted half of its head instead. 53
• The Tournament Committee used traces of contestants' sweat on submitted evidence to expose mutual point-padding. 59

Contestant Equipment

Contestants received maps and scoring and emergency equipment, while also carrying supplies and personal protective gear. Li Yuan borrowed a standard-issue weapon rather than bringing his own. 48 53

Equipment	Function or documented use
Map	Navigation within the competition zone. 53
D-grade saber	Standard weapon issued to Li Yuan for hunting Fierce Beasts. 53
Smart Storage Box	Stored kill evidence and recorded the associated points. 53
Signal transmitter	Allowed emergency withdrawal from the competition. 53
Protective inner armor	Personal protection; Li Yuan wore a vest given to him by Gu Yu. 47 53
Nutrient Fluid and military rations	Sustained contestants through the wilderness phase; Li Yuan carried two bottles of B-grade Nutrient Fluid and a backpack of rations. 53

Fierce Beast Scoring

Target	Relative value	Recommended combat capability
D-level Fierce Beast	1 point baseline	Fourth- or Fifth-Grade martial artists 50
C-level Fierce Beast	Equal to 10 D-level beasts	Fifth- or Sixth-Grade martial artists 50
B-level Fierce Beast	Equal to 100 D-level beasts	Not recommended for ordinary participants; the zone contained no more than three Golden Scale Tigers 50

The competition zone was primarily populated by C- and D-level snake- and wolf-type Fierce Beasts. 50

Zeng Chang explicitly warned his delegation against targeting B-level beasts merely to improve their rankings, stressing that the reward did not justify disregarding their lives. 50

Notable Tournament Events

Li Yuan's Qualification Dispute

Li Yuan spent three years earning the Grade Points for Lingshan City’s qualification, but Lingshan No. 1 High School attempted to assign the place to Jin Fan instead. 1 17

After defeating Gu Yu in the school’s qualification match, Li Yuan forced the school to submit his registration. 21 22 Jin Fan subsequently obtained a place representing Chishan City, turning the event into a rivalry between the two cities. 33 51

The dispute expanded beyond the school because Lingshan City had failed to reach the top thirty in the previous two tournaments. Officials and organizations had regarded Jin Fan as the core of their strategy, expecting him to help the city reach the top fifteen or possibly the top ten. Li Yuan faced public criticism and the prospect of being blamed for a poor city result despite the rankings depending on the whole delegation. 24

Deputy Director Zeng Chang initially supported Jin Fan but accepted Li Yuan's finalized registration. He asked Li Yuan to aim for the top thirty, provided thirty-five bottles of B-grade Nutrient Fluid, and arranged practical training in Qijia Town. Li Yuan advanced to Fifth Grade before traveling there. 30 32

Before departure, Water Resources Bureau contestant Ma Qi criticized Li Yuan for disrupting the city's strategy. Li Yuan replied that Ma Qi could surrender his own qualification if he considered Jin Fan indispensable, and cited Jin Fan's cross-city registration to refute the claim that transferring a slot between organizations would be too difficult. 48

Li Yuan's Hunting Performance

Li Yuan's first documented kill was a C-level Great Coil Snake. His knowledge of beast behavior allowed him to recognize its decoy tracks, while [Flaw Insight] revealed its hiding place and weaknesses. He killed it and submitted half its head as proof, then prioritized C-level beasts and above for their higher scoring value. 53

An ambush against three C-level Rock-Skin Hyenas earned him thirty points and brought his total above fifty, propelling him into second place. Reporters publicized him as the tournament's biggest “dark horse,” although skeptics argued that his early pace would exhaust him before the final stages. 55

His continued scoring disproved predictions that his performance would quickly collapse. He had reached eighty-nine points while substantial competition time remained and continued earning at least thirty points per day. Suspicious score surges by other contestants eventually pushed him from second to fourth, but he retained fourth place until the hunting phase ended. 57 58

Li Yuan later credited [Flaw Insight] with the high killing efficiency that made his result possible. The tournament also provided practical combat experience and Experience Points as he confronted dangers independently. 57 69

Point-Padding Investigation

Near the end of the competition, several contestants’ scores rose at an implausible rate, prompting public accusations of manipulation. 57 58

Chief Referee Yan Ge confirmed that contestants had engaged in mutual point-padding. The Tournament Committee deducted all points from the offenders after Smart Storage Box evidence showed that kill proofs carried sweat from multiple competitors. 59

The accusations also spread to Li Yuan before the investigation was concluded. Chishan City officials and some Lingshan officials suggested that he had benefited from coordinated tactics, while school leaders questioned his integrity. Zeng Chang rejected the implication that he had organized such assistance, pointing out that the other delegation members would not have cooperated with it. 57 58

When announcing the ruling, Yan Ge permitted reporters to broadcast it publicly but required that they release it in full rather than maliciously edit his statement. 59

Final Results

Result	Outcome
Individual champion	Li Yuan of Lingshan City, promoted from fourth to first after fraudulent scores were removed 59
Lingshan City	Tenth overall 60 61
Chishan City	Sixteenth overall 60
Jin Fan	Finished below Li Yuan after entering as Chishan City’s leading recruit 61
Champion’s documented prize	An A-level longsword 62
Advertised champion's rewards	Earlier prize information listed ten bottles of A-grade Nutrient Fluid and High-grade protective inner armor. 15
Leading cities' awards	The top three cities received honorary trophies at the awards ceremony. 62
Further trial eligibility	Li Yuan's first-place result in his sector qualified him for the Lanwu Trial. 67

Li Yuan’s result was decisive for Lingshan City: without his qualification and performance, the city was estimated to have placed around twenty-first rather than tenth. 61

Post-Tournament Challenge

After the awards ceremony, Jin Fan blocked the departing Lingshan delegation and challenged Li Yuan to a ten-move match. He demanded that a defeated Li Yuan publicly acknowledge the gap between them and surrender his Lanwu Team trial opportunity, without offering an equivalent benefit for winning. 62

Yan Ge intervened, stating that Li Yuan had no obligation to accept a challenge merely because Jin Fan wanted one. Li Yuan declined to engage and left with his delegation after thanking the referee. Jin Fan responded with a threat to seriously injure him if they met elsewhere. 62

Career and Educational Aftermath

The victory increased Li Yuan's standing in Lingshan City and strengthened Zeng Chang's prospects of becoming Education Bureau director. Zeng's willingness to take responsibility for the tournament controversy, followed by the successful result, distinguished him from the other deputy directors. With Zeng's assistance, Li Yuan completed his intermediate professional title evaluation and obtained the associated salary advancement. 62 69

Li Yuan subsequently incorporated his tournament experiences into lessons for Class Nine, treating firsthand knowledge of fighting Fierce Beasts as useful preparation for students who might eventually serve at the Border Front. The students responded enthusiastically. 70

The tournament also intensified public comparisons between Li Yuan, Gu Yu, and Jin Fan. School leaders attempted to counter claims that Li Yuan was stronger by arranging another match against Gu Yu as an officially approved martial-combat teaching assignment. Li Yuan's later victory provided further vindication against the belief that his tournament championship had depended mainly on luck and turned a potential obstacle to promotion into evidence of his talent and potential. 70 71 73 77

Administration

• Tournament Committee — Organized the competition, issued equipment and rules, monitored scoring evidence, and investigated violations. 53 59
• Yan Ge / Old Yan — Chief referee; publicly announced the punishment for point-padding and later advocated stricter qualification rules. 58 59 62
• City team leaders — Managed their delegations, provided local intelligence, and represented their cities outside the competition zone. 48 50
• Zeng Chang — Chief team leader for Lingshan City's documented delegation; arranged Li Yuan's preparatory training, briefed contestants on the revised rules and beast population, and defended against accusations of coordinated cheating. 30 47 50 58
• Secretary Hong and Young Master Liu — After mistakenly identifying Jin Fan as the martial artist behind Xia Zhao's investigation, Liu asked Hong to use his tournament contacts to pressure Jin Fan within the rules. Hong stated that his connection to the chief referee could ensure strict punishment for genuine violations, but not falsified results or arbitrary rulings. 49 50

Trivia

• The tournament’s scale involved more than sixty Southeast Region cities and over six hundred competitors. 51 58
• Lingshan City’s delegation contained twelve competitors, with two serving as score buffers because only the best ten results counted. 48
• The tournament drew unusually intense media attention due to live rankings, suspected cheating, and the development benefits tied to city performance. 51 57 61
• More than four hundred contestants remained in the competition as it entered its final night. 58
• The Youth Martial Tournament and the later Promotion Assessment both operate across the Southeast Region, but they are distinct events: the former evaluates young martial artists through beast hunting, while the latter provides annual ratings and opportunities through competition among established martial artists. 25 217
• The tournament was later used as a benchmark for publicity and scale; the Promotion Assessment was described as ordinarily much smaller and less closely followed. 221