After resolving the minor trouble in Keen Territory, the days that followed were calm and uneventful, with nothing worth paying attention to.
At least, not for Sui Xiong.
And so, steadily and peacefully, the Northwest Republic welcomed its twentieth-anniversary celebration, which also happened to be when the fourth World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament was held.
By the usual rules, the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament should have been held the previous year. But after discussing it, the Northwest Republic's higher-ups felt that holding the tournament one year and the national anniversary celebration the next was somewhat wasteful of manpower and resources, so they simply adjusted the schedule and put both events in the same year.
That made the timing more reasonable and personnel arrangements more appropriate.
The World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament was held in summer, while the national anniversary celebration was held in winter. Both major events required several months of planning and preparation, so the entire year was neatly accounted for.
"In the twentieth year of the Republican Calendar, the fourth World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament was held. Though the competitors were not as dazzling as those of the first tournament, neither were they as sparse as those of the second; overall, they maintained the standard of the third. It can be expected that, unless something occurs to drastically alter the ranks of experts below Legendary level on the main plane, future World's Number One Martial Arts Tournaments will roughly remain at this standard. Perhaps we may use this once-in-ten-years competition to sort through the changes among the main plane's experts..."
A young historian sat in his study, writing these words with specially made magic ink on equally specially made Magic Beast-hide paper.
Among his peers, this historian counted as something of an oddity.