Red silk billowed, and bright banners snapped in the wind.
The broad square in Yiling City was now packed so tightly by the surging crowd that not a drop of water could pass through.
The uproar rose like boiling water, rushing into the sky as though it might overturn the clouds.
At the center of the square, a hastily built wooden Arena rose nearly two meters high.
No posts or ropes bordered it. Only four red banners bearing bold black characters fluttered in the autumn wind.
"Martial contest for marriage."
Li Xiang, Guo Kai, and Chu Tian stood on the bluestone steps at the edge of the square. From their vantage point, they could take in the Arena and everything around it.
A wooden sign twice a man's height stood before the Arena, its rules written in heavy, eye-catching strokes:
"Anyone under thirty whose cultivation is at or below the Third Realm may take the stage."
"School and background do not matter. Show your true skill on the stage, and the victor enters the bridal chamber tonight."
The rules were blunt and simple, steeped in the rough-and-ready spirit of a land of Knight-Errants. There was none of the elaborate ceremony that accompanied marriages between great clans.
"That's refreshingly direct." Guo Kai folded his arms and clicked his tongue.
But when his gaze settled on the person standing steadily at the center of the Arena, his eyes widened.
"What a beautiful woman..." Guo Kai murmured.
Even Chu Tian, who rarely cared about anything around him, narrowed his Double Pupils.
The woman at the center of the Arena wore neither the flowing skirts nor the close-fitting fighting clothes common among women of the martial world. Instead, she wore a Moon-White robe cut to fit her closely.
Her long black hair was drawn