Chapter 956: Chapter 956: Group Drawing and Lottery
Li Feng welcomed everyone who came to seek him, and treated each one with acupuncture.
"Hmph, trying to buy people’s hearts."
Zi Wu watched Li Feng’s actions with a cold sneer but didn’t intervene; instead, a few people exchanged glances and left the dormitory.
Out of the dormitory.
The few people arrived at a spacious field, with no one around.
"Ha, I thought Li Feng would be absent, letting him pick up a dog’s life and live a few more days, but it turns out he dares to come back."
The eccentric Zi Wu sneered coldly.
"Fan, should we make a move?"
These people were all from the Xu Family, with Xu Fan being the silent manager among them.
"Fan, I think Li Feng returning is a rare opportunity. Lately, we’ve been fighting death row prisoners, and many people’s emotions are unstable; we can use this."
"Hmm, I think so too. Even if we accidentally kill Li Feng, he can only blame his bad luck."
Recently, the committee has intentionally been testing their willpower, using death row prisoners to force them to grow quickly.
This method isn’t useless; after all, no matter how well greenhouse flowers are raised, they can’t be as strong as wild ones.
These martial artists were all raised in greenhouses, lacking that edge and decisiveness.
If this National Martial Arts Tournament were just entertainment, a ring match where points end things, it would be no issue.
Clearly, it isn’t.
Every four years, the National Martial Arts Tournament is not just for honor but a chance for a fish to leap over the Dragon Gate, a chance to pursue transcendence.
The few people’s gaze fell on Xu Fan.
"Li Feng isn’t easy to deal with, even if he previously got inner injuries from fighting Hua Wushuang."
"Fan, I think that’s enough. Li Feng had a flare-up of inner injuries half a month ago and had to withdraw temporarily. Clearly, those injuries aren’t as light as they seem."
"In half a month, even if he suppressed those inner injuries, he can’t recover fully."
"According to old Hua, as long as he hasn’t entered the Innate stage, the difference between us isn’t that big, and it’s not just one of us."
"Besides, as far as I know, this time’s selection for the advancement list might not be just a simple ring match."
"Oh, what do you know?"
"Ahem, I don’t know too much, just overheard in the medical room a conversation between old Hua and old Huang; seems like it’ll be group confrontation."
"Group confrontation."
"After nearly a month of training, at least half the people have been eliminated. Including Li Feng, there are only fifteen people, according to the final ten-person list. How will they group? Half and half?"
"Old Hua mentioned before, it’s not necessarily that they must select ten people."
One person took a deep breath: "It wouldn’t be like the chaotic mess of the preliminary round again."
The ring match, at most, decides opponents by drawing lots, while group confrontation adds many unknowns, making things unclear.
"Alright, no use guessing so much now; everything will be revealed tomorrow anyway."
Xu Fan spoke and pondered for a moment.
"As for Li Feng."
"Let’s wait for tomorrow’s rule announcement before acting. Don’t forget our main task is advancing to the national finals."
"Li Feng, kill if possible; if not, find other opportunities."
"Understood."
Li Feng glanced up at Zi Wu and others returning from outside but didn’t pay them any mind; the night passed without a word.
Early the next morning.
Li Feng and other participants freshened up and arrived at the base’s field.
Bai Wange and three other Devil Instructors stood before the team.
"Congratulations to you rookies; you barely passed our training. To be honest, your standard is below par if you were to join the Military."
"Heh, I’d let you truly experience what hellish terror means."
Before Bai Wange finished, a car drove over, and Huang Jiuling and Hua Jiufeng stepped down, coming to the lineup’s front.
Hua Jiufeng surveyed the participants.
"This month of intensive training, hoping for some qualitative changes in you; many couldn’t withstand it and left."
"You, being able to stay till the end, show you’ve surpassed them."
"But this time’s national Martial Arts Tournament advancement list has only ten spots, so five more among you must be eliminated."
"Without further ado, I’ll now announce the advancement rules."
"The advancement battle will adopt a group mode."
Zi Wu heard the group mode and was indeed right. However, how will groups be formed, and how will advancement be decided?
"You will be split into A and B groups, with members determined by drawing lots."
"The battle mode, one person from one side, another from the other side, winner gets qualification to fight again, loser loses qualification."
"Until one side is completely defeated, the victorious group’s members advance, while the defeated group isn’t entirely without chance."
"If you defeat two from the winning side, while others only beat one, or none, you can advance too."
"If the number of defeats matches, then it’s up to drawing lots to decide; luck is also a form of strength."
"Any objections?"
After announcing the competition rules, Hua Jiufeng looked at the fifteen participants.
"Old Hua, originally we have fourteen people; now, with Li Feng, how will this be arranged?"
"Yeah, Li Feng left midway, shouldn’t this count as forfeiting?"
"Exactly, why should he get special treatment?"
Facing these doubts, Hua Jiufeng directly glanced over them: "It’s the committee’s prerogative; you can express your opinion but keep it to yourself. If you want to quit, step forward."
The few people questioning immediately shut their mouths but looked at Li Feng more unfavorably; this guy definitely got in through connections.
"Start drawing lots now."
A soldier directly brought a bamboo tube containing sixteen chopsticks: "One stick per person."
The bamboo tube was quite deep, making it impossible to see the grouping on the chopsticks’ ends.
When it was Li Feng’s turn, he casually picked one.
"Oh, Li Feng, we’re in the same group."
Xiao Xi picked a chopstick, glanced at the red on the end, and squinted at Li Feng.
"Shuyao, what color is yours?"
Huang Shuyao showed the color on the chopstick, blue.
"This is bad; we’re opponents now." Xiao Xi pouted; among the remaining contestants, they were the only two girls, ending up in different groups.
"Hua Wushuang and Li Feng are in the same group."
"I’m also red."
Tie Xuan laughed heartily; his luck wasn’t bad, ending up in the same group with two people who had defeated him before.
Zi Wu and several others looked at the blue sticks they held, their faces looking rather grim, as they realized besides Xu Fan, they were all holding blue sticks.
And looking at the red group, among the seven, not mentioning others, Li Feng, Hua Wushuang, Xu Fan, Tie Xuan, these four have quite the fighting strength.
"How will we even fight this?"