Group assignments

By the time the scores for the first event had been tallied, night had fallen. The instructors began leading their examinees back to prepare for the second event, which would begin tomorrow.

Huo Shan led his disciples out of the drill grounds.

Although it was already dark, Zhao Feng spotted his little aunt and Qiao'er waiting in the cold wind outside the drill grounds at a glance.

He hurriedly said a word to his master and went over to meet them.

"Little Aunt, Qiao'er, what brings you here?"

"Feng'er, I brought you some eggs." Zhao Youfang took three warm boiled eggs from inside her robe. Zhao Feng did not know whether to laugh or cry, but he still tucked them into his own robe.

"Cousin, how did you do?" Qiao'er asked cautiously. Zhao Youfang also watched him nervously.

"Pretty well." Zhao Feng nodded with a smile.

Zhao Youfang and Qiao'er immediately let out long sighs of relief. They knew Zhao Feng had grown steady and composed; if he said he had done pretty well, then he really had.

"Little Aunt, Qiao'er, hurry home. It's cold out here. Don't come tomorrow. There are still two days to go, and I'll come home myself once the exams are over."

Only after watching his little aunt and Qiao'er leave, turning back every few steps, did he catch up with the group and board the carriage back to the martial arts school.

Once they reached the school, everyone rested briefly. Huo Shan gave a signal, and Huo Yao handed out a roster to the disciples.

"I'll give you a brief rundown of the fist styles of several key opponents you might face tomorrow, and how to deal with them," Huo Shan said gravely.

"First is Lu Ye from the Heaven Gathering Martial Arts School. He's at hidden force peak, and his Breaking Void Fist strikes fear throughout the martial world. Its guiding principle is to shatter the void with a fist, sending force in a straight line. Its movements are simple and fierce, coming and going directly. Its defining feature is concentrating power at a single point to break through a barrier in an instant. The style centers on stabbing, driving, and bursting punches, often cutting into the centerline. Its punches are as fast as lightning and target the vital points along the centerline. Swift and direct, it often defeats an enemy with a single punch rather than getting entangled in an exchange." Huo Shan drew a deep breath.

No one knew that, during the closed-door sparring when he had first come to pay his respects and establish his school, the only opponent who had gotten the better of him was Chen Tianfang, the head of the Heaven Gathering Martial Arts School. Lu Ye was its eldest senior brother, a man in his thirties and in his prime, at hidden force peak. His Breaking Void Fist had reached the later stages of great mastery, and few at his level could match him.

"Lu Ye has a very stable base. Right from the start, he uses Breaking Void Force to smash through the middle, and his reactions are extremely quick. He simply forces his way through with hard strikes, leaving no room for argument. In that respect, his style and my Eight Extremes Fist reach the same end by different paths. If you face Lu Ye or anyone else from the Heaven Gathering Martial Arts School, you can use Long-Range Pigua to counter them and look for an opening."

"Next is He Mingchuan from the Vast Sea Martial Arts School. He's at hidden force peak, with a Surging Waves Palm refined to perfection. Surging Waves Palm is sustained and unbroken, alternating hardness and softness, piling up like overlapping mountain ridges, each wave stronger than the last. Its inner force is tidal force. On the attack, it is like Raging Tide Striking the Shore; on defense, like Receding Tide Dissipating Force," Huo Shan explained.

The disciples around him listened attentively. Zhao Feng recalled how it had felt to spar with Xu Song. Once they reached the hidden force stage, martial masters of Surging Waves Palm gained tidal force as well, making them truly difficult to deal with.

"Against Surging Waves Palm, you need to bring our Void-Sinking Force into play. Withstand his layers of palm force, gather momentum to break through, then close in and use Entangling Force in short-range combat to wear him down," Huo Shan said.

Of course, neither Lu Ye nor He Mingchuan would foolishly let an opponent attack his weaknesses or stand there to be hit. There were too many variables in the arena, all closely tied to internal cultivation and mastery of fist techniques. In truth, Huo Shan held little hope that his disciples could defeat either of them. He only hoped their losses would not be too ugly.

"Next is Shen Yan from the Mountain-Splitting Martial Arts School. Shen Yan is at hidden force peak, and his Mountain-Splitting Fist is equally renowned. Its style is fierce and domineering, breaking finesse with strength. It emphasizes punches that shake the earth and force that penetrates mountains. Its moves are plain and unadorned, but carry tremendous weight and power. Its force is Mountain-Splitting Force. When power is unleashed, every tendon and bone in the body vibrates together. It emphasizes uniting the waist and stance to drive inner force, with the shoulders sunk, elbows lowered, and the lower body rooted like nails. It is a bold, ferocious style. Against Mountain-Splitting Fist, strive to suppress the opponent through your fist style. When it comes to close-range knees, elbows, twists, and body checks, they aren't necessarily as skilled as we are, especially with Entangling Force."

As Huo Shan spoke, Zhao Feng listened with rapt attention. He also came to understand that, although Breaking Void Fist, Mountain-Splitting Fist, and Eight Extremes Fist were all hard and fierce, their techniques and stances differed greatly. Their underlying principles were different, especially where inner force was concerned. It seemed that even styles following the same hard, fierce path diverged more and more as they progressed.

"Next is Wu Peng from the Wind-Shaking Martial Arts School. He's at hidden force peak, with a Flowing Cloud Fist refined to perfection.

"Flowing Cloud Fist emphasizes changing form with the momentum and using qi to guide flowing clouds. Its movements are expansive and graceful, yet conceal coiling force. In actual combat, it excels at using softness to dissolve hardness. Pay attention to that word, 'dissolve.' Its punches are like drifting clouds brushing your face, yet conceal inch force..." Huo Shan continued explaining what he knew about the experts from several schools.

"Besides these men, there's Zhu Gui of the Zhu Family and Han Dong of the Han Family. Both study martial arts in the prefecture city and are said to be very strong, making them even harder to handle. If you face either of them, guard your openings as best you can. Don't carelessly expose a weakness."

He only discussed a few of the favored experts. There was no time to cover the others. Whatever happened, analyzing their characteristics and possible counters would help. Sharpening a spear on the eve of battle might not give it a keen edge, but at least it would make it shine.

He then coached several core disciples on practical combat experience, feeding them moves and working through counters one by one to correct their shortcomings. As for the bright strength disciples taking part, he could only offer some brief pointers; he had no time for more.

The next day, at the Big Stone County Militia Corps' drill grounds, the second event of the Martial Examination's County Trial-the arena bouts-officially began.

All the facilities for yesterday's mounted archery and Foot Archery had been cleared away, replaced by eight arenas erected overnight.

The more than two hundred and fifty examinees were divided into eight groups for the preliminary rounds. Each group would produce its top four, yielding thirty-two finalists in total. They would then proceed to the ranking matches. Those rankings would apply only to the second event; the final standings would be determined by combining them with each examinee's results from the first event. This ensured the greatest possible fairness. It could be said that the Martial Examination Trials established by Great Yan's founding emperor still guaranteed as much fairness and transparency as possible five hundred years later.

Only ten people in the entire county will be selected as Martial Scholars this time. Since I was the only one to earn a top grade in the first event, Archery and Horsemanship, reaching the top sixteen in the Arena Trial could put me on the list. Reaching the top eight would guarantee it, Zhao Feng thought.

To achieve that goal, he first had to place in the top four of his preliminary group. On the platform, the chief examiner, Xu Commandant, was drawing lots to assign groups, and Zhao Feng was assigned to the Eighth Arena. Although it was a lottery, he still noticed a few clues: the leading experts his master had analyzed yesterday had all been separated into different arenas.

"Junior Brother Zhao, there's a trick to these arena assignments," Wei Yuan said, coming over and leaning close. He had been assigned to the fourth arena.

"You noticed it too, Senior Brother?"

"Of course." Wei Yuan came closer and lowered his voice.

"Each arena has exactly one fighter at hidden force peak. That's to keep them from meeting too early."

It was actually the same principle as seeded competitors in ball games back on Earth.

"That hidden force peak fighter is sure to take first place in the arena. The remaining three qualifying spots will be fought over by the ordinary hidden force experts. The bright strength fighters are just there to fill out the field. All they need to do is show their faces."

"And when they draw lots for the bouts in each arena, the hidden force fighters probably won't meet too early either. Also, did you notice? Our Huo Family Martial Arts School's hidden force disciples have all been assigned to different arenas. The same goes for the other schools and escort agencies."

The chief examiner and the others had probably arranged this deliberately.