Chapter 18: Ranking Competition

Chapter 18: Ranking Competition

Han Lingyun woke up as usual. But on this early morning, instead of doing his traditional intense physical session, he simply took a quick jog and meditated a bit to calm his nerves. He wasn't cultivating though.

At 8, all the 1st years headed to the training grounds which hosted 10 large combat rings. A large sign laid out the rewards.

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-9th bracket. Rank 600-800: 10 Ps +1 qi crystals.

-8th bracket. Rank 400-599: 25 Ps +5 qi crystals.

-7th bracket. Rank 200-399: 50 Ps +10 qi crystals.

-6th bracket. Rank 100-199: 100 Ps +10 qi crystals + 1 blood pill.

-5th bracket. Rank 50-99: 150 Ps +10 qi crystals + 1 blood pill.

-4th bracket. Rank 25-49: 200 Ps +10 qi crystals + 1 blood pill.

-3rd bracket. Rank 12-24: 250 Ps +10 qi crystals + 1 blood pill.

-2nd bracket. Rank 5-11: 300 Ps +10 qi crystals + 1 blood pill.

-1st bracket: Rank 1-4.

Rank 3-4: 350 Ps +10 qi crystals + 1 blood pill.

Rank 2: 400 Ps +10 qi crystals + 1 blood pill.

Rank 1: 500 Ps +10 qi crystals + 1 blood pill + 1 special medal for the month.

Han Lingyun and the other disciples raised their heads as they tried to figure out what rank they could reasonably obtain. The main reward was still the sect points, the qi crystals and blood pill were issued to encourage the 1st years to use these more.

Captain Lacroix hovered next to the sign and looked down on the disciples.

"1st years these are the rules of the competition.

Starting from the bottom of the rankings, a disciple can issue a duel to someone above his rank.

The loser left the stage with his limp and a lowered head. At least he was still ranked 458 but the two short-lived opponents felt a bit awkward as they had to join the line side by side. Those behind glared at the limping disciple. They all lost 1 position because of his incompetence.

Most of the matches ended very quickly as a duel was often decided in an instant. A couple of duels lasted a lot longer as the disciples just circled around each other, seemingly too scared to fight. The elder watching one of these unending matches decided to put a timer in the form of an hourglass, after which the challenger would automatically lose. This sped things up as the challenger was forced to take an initiative at some point.

The duels were advancing rapidly and Han Lingyun was trying to keep an eye on everything. The first few duels were mostly won by the challengers as they focused on the weak looking ones. Then it became harder to predict. There wasn't too much difference in strength between most. Very few disciples used their martial art at this point and those that tried lost more often than not. Those that truly shot up the rankings were the disciples with poor talent but good fighting ability and often a proficiency in a weapon.

The first disciple that gained an excellent grasp of his martial art was ranked 516. He one punched the disciple that challenged him with his tiger paw.

The elders also had questionable interpretation of serious injury. As long as it wasn't life threatening or a limb cut off, they would not stop the match. It was up to the disciples to abandon or try to fight back with everything they had.

The rank of the last challenger continued to increase. After being pushed back to rank 514, Change Sile won another match to reach rank 373. He has already been challenged once in the meantime but still won. He hoped that he didn't need to fight a 4th time to stay in the 7th bracket. He wasn't tired after his 3rd match as those didn't last too long, but everyone ahead were tough opponents.

Change Sile wasn't the only one to win more than one match though. Sadly, for him, he was back to rank 417 by the time it was his turn to challenge again.

The ones in bracket 7 in not the best of shapes had already been challenged 3 times and pulled down the ranks at this point. He realized that his best shot was probably to challenge someone that took an easier pick and that hadn't been challenged 3 times yet.

"I chose rank 346." This was a bit of a gamble. His opponent was on the bulkier side, used an axe and didn't seem to be proficient in a martial art. Change Sile hoped to gain an advantage with his superior speed again.

"Begin." An elder announced.

Change Sile tried to approach his opponent but the wide axe swings kept Sile at a distance. His opponent was also way faster than he looked. He just couldn't find an opening.

His opponent smiled and Chang Sile had a bad feeling. He soon realized why. He was backed in a corner with his opponent in front. He couldn't try to circle around him as an axe swing would be enough to lose. There was only one option left. Going straight for the opponent!

"Rank 346 disciple Sun Junfeng wins." The elder declared.

Chang Sile realized to his horror than an axe was frozen right in front of his face. His opponent had thrown his weapon straight at him!

His final rank was 417.

Chang Sile left the stage looking downcast. 'It's not that bad considering I was last yesterday. Still, it's frustrating to be 17 places from doubling my rewards. 417 is as good as 599.'

The duels continued on and more and more disciples lost. As the 6th bracket was reached, only 2 duels were still held at the same time. One disciple had a very bad surprise as he faced a lower ranked grade 4 talent who had already advanced to the Viscera strengthening stage. The difference in speed and strength was hard to overcome.

The challengers of 5th bracket, ranks 50-99, found a wall with the disciples of the 4th bracket. In fact, most had a grade 4 talent and had reached Viscera strengthening stage during the week.

Soon it was time for the 4th bracket (ranked 25th to 49th) to challenge for 3rd bracket (ranked 12th to 24th). It was Han Ling's turn to stand up in a greatly diminished line.

All the disciples paid close attention to the last matches. From now on the duels would be held one at a time.