Rise from a Low-class Family to Martial Artist-Chapter 82 - 77: Cruel Rules

Is it unfair to the second strongest student in the group?

In Lord Su’s eyes, if they can’t achieve victory even within their group, they’re destined to be unqualified to contend for the top ten. Whether their final rank is twenty-first or thirty-first, Lord Su couldn’t care less about that.

"Hall Master Kong, how is the grouping done?" Lin Chen asked, focusing on the critical question after understanding the rules of the competition.

Regardless of whether the intra-group competition is fair, how is the grouping decided?

"Each martial arts hall arranges the first student in each group in rotation, then the other halls choose their students for the group subsequently. Our martial arts hall is placed in Group Bing."

Kong Yinglei cast a deep gaze at Lin Chen and the others, knowing that for the students, the truly brutal aspect is the grouping.

Grouping represents the martial hall’s degree of emphasis on them.

If a group has a particularly strong student, other halls will place hopeful students in alternative groups, avoiding a clash with the strong.

"During the grouping, any student willing to join the current group can volunteer. If none do, then I’ll make the allocation."

As Kong Yinglei finished speaking, personnel from the Martial Affairs Office brought up a one-zhang tall wooden board, painted with nine columns using horizontal lines.

Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Xu, Geng, Xin, Ren!

Nine columns, representing nine groups.

The vice hall master of Iron Blood Martial Arts Hall was the first to approach the board and wrote down a name under the first slot in column Jia: Zhang Qing.

Seeing this name, a considerable disturbance arose among those present.

"Iron Blood Martial Arts Hall is truly confident, directly placing Zhang Qing’s name there."

"Zhang Qing is the second strongest disciple of this generation at Iron Blood Martial Arts Hall, with mastery of Iron Collapse Fist, and has opened the Six Acupoints. Could any student from other halls possibly match Zhang Qing?"

"Watch closely, with Zhang Qing in the first group, other halls will only place their most promising students in other groups."

Over at Jingshui Martial Arts Hall, there was also a stretch of silence.

With six acupoints opened and mastery in Iron Collapse Fist, he is comparably strong to the Seven Acupoints. No one is confident of defeating Zhang Qing securely.

Seeing several senior sisters not speaking up, Lin Chen was about to when Li Xue suddenly volunteered: "Hall Master Kong, I am willing to join Group Jia."

Fu Jingya and the others immediately turned their gaze towards Li Xue, puzzled by why she would choose Group Jia?

Lin Chen guessed why upon seeing Li Xue’s smile.

Junior Sister Li knows it’s impossible for her to win from within the group and opts to sacrifice herself, creating an opportunity for him and several senior sisters to win in the subsequent eight groups.

"Alright."

Kong Yinglei nodded and handed Li Xue’s name to the Martial Affairs Office personnel. Although Li Xue has opened Six Acupoints, it’s evident she cannot emerge victorious within her group.

Soon, all seven martial arts halls reported their student names for Group Jia, and the Martial Affairs Office personnel wrote down the names of the other halls’ competing students under column Jia.

The identities of the eight students in Group Jia confirmed, next was Group Yi.

The leader for the second group was Mountain Shaking Martial Arts Hall.

The nine group rankings are based on last year’s martial halls’ competition results.

Iron Blood Martial Arts Hall was first last year, Mountain Shaking Martial Arts Hall second.

To everyone’s surprise, the vice hall master of Mountain Shaking Martial Arts Hall wrote down another disciple’s name instead of Fu Ang’s in the lead slot, though this disciple also has opened the Six Acupoints.

"Hall Master Kong, I am willing to compete in the second round!"

Gu Qingqing immediately spoke. Lin Chen glanced at Senior Sister Gu, understanding that Senior Sister Gu feels there’s a great chance without Fu Ang.

But the outcome might be less optimistic, as there are likely many students with this mindset.

Upon unveiling the list, upon seeing the names of students from the other seven halls, and hearing the exclamations from students of various major martial halls, Lin Chen helplessly shook his head.

Three students with Seven Acupoints were on the list.

This is truly a death group, and Senior Sister Gu is in danger.

Kong Yinglei, Qi He, and the vice hall master of Mantis Martial Arts Hall had a brief exchange of glances, then withdrew them.

Their three halls’ students with Seven Acupoints had ended up together.

Gu Qingqing’s gaze also became serious upon seeing the list.

With Group Yi’s members confirmed, next was Group Bing.

Kong Yinglei’s gaze fell on Lin Chen and Fu Jingya: "Group Bing leads with our Jingshui Martial Arts Hall, is there anyone who wishes to volunteer?"

"Senior Sister Fu, allow me, let your junior brother lead this time."

Lin Chen volunteered. For him, whichever group he is assigned to is irrelevant; instead, if Senior Sister Fu chooses wisely, she has a chance to take first place within the group.

"Alright!"

Kong Yinglei’s gaze towards Lin Chen was filled with satisfaction. Fu Jingya and Gu Qingqing were still overly concerned about gains and losses. It’s fine for students to care about rankings, but ultimately, this competition’s rankings only matter for the top ten, any lower rank is essentially meaningless.

To get into the top ten, one must possess the confidence to take first, regardless of the group, otherwise, even with a lucky first in a weak group, can one realistically hope for such luck in subsequent competitions?

As Lin Chen’s name fell on the board, students from the other seven halls were deep in thought.

Six Acupoints!

The realm is not high.

Their contemplation is because of what happened in Group Yi, since Fu Ang didn’t enter, other halls tried to seize the opportunity, but it became the hardest group instead. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Afraid of a repeat of Group Yi’s occurrence in Group Bing now.

"Hall Master Qi, may I request to join?"

At Clear Wind Martial Arts Hall, Lv Shuyu spoke up, catching nearby disciples by surprise.

For Lv Shuyu, he chose to volunteer because of Lin Chen.

He’s heard of Lin Chen’s name.

After obtaining Ding class treatment, he encountered Instructor Zhao, who told him that initially, his Ding class spot was snatched from Lin Chen.

Instructor Chen was always unsure about the spot’s rightful owner. It was Instructor Zhao who supported him, eventually giving Lv Shuyu the spot. He wants to defeat Lin Chen on the field, proving to Instructor Chen that giving him Ding class treatment was correct.

The final list for Group Bing is set, with only one student with Seven Acupoints from Cloud Conceal Martial Arts Hall.

The occurrence of a death group didn’t repeat, and the major martial halls, especially the vice hall master of Cloud Conceal Martial Arts Hall, breathed a sigh of relief.

Group Ding...

Group Wu...

Group Xu.

"Hall Master, let me go."

Arriving at Group Xu, Fu Ang spoke up.

The surrounding students were curious, puzzled why Senior Brother Fu didn’t choose to go first in Group Yi?

Fu Ang knew what the junior brothers were thinking, but he wouldn’t explain that waiting was to avoid the trio of Six Acupoints students from Clear Wind Martial Arts Hall.

He wasn’t certain which of the three students from Clear Wind Martial Arts Hall defeated him, so he opted to avoid them all.

The three Six-Acupoints students from Clear Wind Martial Arts Hall have all been assigned, so now he has nothing to fear.

PS: This Chapter... During its writing, Jiu Deng created a chart with various martial halls’ Eight Acupoints, Seven Acupoints, and Six Acupoints students’ statistics, then discovered a bug. Initially, Jiu Deng’s outline was for ten martial halls, later revised to eight great martial halls, but this change wasn’t made in the outline, leading to the appearance of Flying Eagle Martial Arts Hall and Qingsong Martial Arts Hall (none of the readers pointed this out, is everyone as careless as me?).

If anyone notices these issues here, rest assured, Jiu Deng has corrected them, and the data for all martial halls will be accurate.

Additionally, I’d like to notify everyone about something. In a few days, this will probably go up for sale, potentially due to the high word count, the first twenty-some Chapters might transition into VIP Chapters after being made available for sale. Jiu Deng and the editors are striving to avoid this, but can’t guarantee it yet, so it’s best to follow along now to avoid the surprise of seeing a Chapter suddenly charged.