...Fang Yazi stood proudly before the Sword-Splitting Platform. This was his third victory this year and his sixty-first in five years. With this victory, he had firmly secured a place among the frontrunners in Shanmen Quanzhen's internal tournament.
In other words, he was already one of Shanmen's Nine True Disciples. All that remained was the announcement at the Annual Assembly and the ranking of the nine True Disciples.
In three months, the final Annual Assembly of this cycle would take place. The tournament would end then, and no further True Disciple challenges would be held during the final ten years, allowing the True Disciples to prepare without distraction for the contest over Extraterrestrial Spirit Green ten years later.
Shanmen had begun preparations after the previous Annual Assembly. Members of every prefecture, province, and external posting could register. Much was involved-positions, assignments, and so forth. Time had to be freed up and eligibility confirmed. They could neither let mud and sand wash in together, mixing fish eyes with pearls, nor overlook a single promising disciple. It was an enormous challenge to a tradition's organizational capabilities.
After several years of preparation, Quanzhen Sword Cultivators with the basic qualifications began challenging their way upward. The process was complicated. To ensure fairness as far as possible, each cultivator was allowed three defeats, and so the matches continued...
To make the fights as realistic as possible while minimizing deaths and injuries, every battle was supervised by a Golden Core Upper Cultivator, and some were even held inside a Small World. This was not a tournament that could end quickly. For a tradition as vast as Shanmen Quanzhen, covering every aspect was no easy task.
Five years after the tournament began, ten years after the previous Annual Assembly, the basic results were in.
Anyone who remained