Volume 4, Chapter 140 – Tongyun Competition Zone

Of Jingzhou’s four circuits, the foremost was naturally the capital, Yujing.

Beyond Yujing, three more circuits surrounded it: Tongyun Circuit to the south, Huanglong Circuit to the east, and Wangbei Circuit to the northwest.

Of the three, Wangbei Circuit lay closest to Yujing. Their railway lines and highways crisscrossed each other so densely that the two were almost completely interwoven. As a result, Wangbei Circuit often enjoyed the spillover benefits of Yujing and was the most prosperous of the three surrounding circuits.

But Tongyun Circuit and Huanglong Circuit were no slouches either.

Huanglong Circuit, for one, had access to the sea. A huge section of Great Yu’s eastern coastal mainland was made up of towering mountain ranges, which only made its already meager coastline even worse. It was easy to imagine how scarce a deepwater port opening to the sea would be.

On that basis, Huanglong Circuit had built a major city centered on seaport trade. Within the port district, three giant watchtower-like city walls could be raised, and its total population had surpassed ten million. It not only had fishing yields, but had also opened up a good deal of wasteland inland. Once placed under wartime conditions, it could operate independently and remain self-sufficient. It was Yujing’s major eastern gateway.

Tongyun Circuit might not compare with Huanglong Circuit economically, but its strategic importance was even greater. That was because of its location. Its position near the south placed it between Xizhou, Zezhou, Luezhou, and Xuzhou, making it a true “meeting point of the geomantic forces of four provinces, and a battleground contested by military strategists since ancient times.” The Great Yu Court needed to support a “behemoth”-level base city like this in order to control and balance the four neighboring provinces. Because of that, there were times when Tongyun Circuit received even more material support than Wangbei Circuit.

For example, when Southern King Yao Qingyuan openly rebelled, the Court’s armies had basically first stationed themselves in Tongyun Circuit before flowing from there into Zezhou.

The logistical mobilization at that time had been astronomical. And it was precisely because Tongyun Circuit bore such an important responsibility—in certain scenarios, if all four of those provinces from west to east were lost, then Tongyun Circuit would have to serve as a bridgehead to resist an invasion into Jingzhou—that its population was extraordinarily large, with more than fifteen million permanent residents. Heavy industry of every kind, especially military industry, was spread all over the outskirts and suburbs of the urban area, and the city proper was also highly prosperous.

A Tongyun Circuit like this naturally could not have only one airport. Bai Xiang had Guo Rongzhi pilot the flying vessel down at the southern airport. The group set foot on solid ground again and planned to find a place to stay and get some proper rest first.

“Did we register?”

Lian Feng turned his head to look around and asked in a low voice from the back of the line.

Shenming Sword Dao had brought more than a hundred people on this trip.

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Originally, the plan had been for Shenming, Benling, and Shangqing to each send twenty or thirty people. But after the merger of sword lineages, that plan had been scrapped and replaced with internal competition and unified selection. In total, twenty people were chosen from each peak—Shenming main peak, Qingwu Peak, Yuming Peak, Benling Peak, Shangqing Peak, and so on—making exactly one hundred. Then, with a number of servant disciples who had been lucky enough to be selected, the total came to one hundred and twenty-seven.

Because of that, their procession was fairly long. Even after using the airport’s special access passage, they were still highly conspicuous once they emerged into the main hall, and for the moment they had to line up there.

“Of course we did.”

Ma Yue patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. There’s no way the Dao Lord would overlook something like this.”

“Senior Brother.” Lian Feng turned to look at Ma Yue. “What form do you think the competition will take?”

“That’s an interesting question.” Xu Shu was standing in front of them, and when he heard that, he turned back as well and joined the discussion.

It really was an interesting question.

Because arena sword matches came in many different forms, including both individual and team events. And this Dao-Void martial meet had been staged on such a huge scale that nobody knew how many dojos had signed up. How were they going to make that many people compete…? To be honest, they were all very curious.

“It can’t really be more than two possibilities.” Hu Hu also poked his head over. “Split up… or grouped together?”

Split up meant breaking up every individual within a group.

For example, disciples like them, whose cultivation was relatively low, would surely be separated out and matched against people with similar cultivation, meaning disciples from other dojos.

There was no way everyone would just be thrown into one giant draw together. That would definitely produce plenty of trash matches, and the whole thing would be meaningless.

“Either they split people up, like many Sword Dao competitions, into adult and youth divisions, or they use the dojo as the unit and run team arena matches.” Hu Hu counted it off on his fingers, and by the end he looked excited. “It’d be great if it were the first kind! If there’s a ‘youth division,’ maybe we could go up and have some fun too!”

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Lian Feng curled his lip. He did not like the sound of “youth division” at all.

I’m destined to inherit the Dao Lord’s mantle in the future. I’m destined to become a great hero of the sword and take up the position of Sword Lord! At a grand event watched by all, how could I possibly be willing to go compete in some “youth division”?

If Lian Feng had to choose, then he would definitely prefer the second format: team arena matches.

The strengths and weaknesses of the two formats were both very clear. The former would let younger disciples gain experience, while the latter… although it would mean that both sides would surely send only their strongest experts to clash, leaving younger disciples with almost no chance to stand out, that chance still wouldn’t be zero, right?

Lian Feng felt that a sense of participation was more important.

What was the point of comparing yourself with other “youths”? How childish.

“You lot actually picked a pretty good time for this.”

As the words fell, Xia Ran suddenly came up from behind and slung an arm around both Ma Yue’s and Xu Shu’s necks.

“The Sword Dao Association has already released the detailed competition format. Both kinds are included, you know? Little Hu Hu, you don’t need to worry about having nothing to do anymore~”

There was an odd note of emotion in Xia Ran’s voice as he spoke.

Back in Benling, he had been the foremost disciple, the senior brother of an entire lineage, yet there had been few fellow disciples he had truly respected.

Only after the merger of sword lineages, when Xu Shu, Ma Yue, and other disciples of the same generation whom he deeply admired appeared, did he begin unconsciously gravitating toward this little group.

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“Both formats?” Hu Hu did not pick up on the difference in his tone. He widened his eyes and asked in shock, “What do you mean, both formats are included?”

“Obviously because…” Leng Qiu also poked his head out from behind Xia Ran. “They need to take ordinary audiences into account?”

After some discussion, things became broadly clear.

The reasoning was simple. Many clashes on the higher levels could not possibly be placed in the early preliminary stage. For the ordinary people of the Nine Provinces, who had no clear understanding of Dao-Void methods, there needed to be a gradual process of acceptance.

So the Sword Dao Association had carved out a separate format specifically for the younger generation of disciples from the major dojos to register for. These people were responsible for making the early rounds “livelier,” and with the addition of some professional commentary, the audience could be gradually eased into a new understanding.

“They’ve got some serious ambition.”

Lian Feng grinned.

“They’re acting like they’re definitely going to win.”

“Oh right, did they say what the prize for victory is?”

“It hasn’t been revealed yet.” Xia Ran shook his head. “No need to overthink that… I’d guess most of the competitors don’t care about the actual prize anyway.”

That was easy enough to understand.

Because defeating all enemies and taking the title of number one under heaven was already a super-prize with more than enough prestige all on its own.

They began discussing details again, and the conclusion they reached was that no matter what, they absolutely had to register for this “youth division.”

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“Those bastards actually dared look down on the Dao Lord, and look down on the new method!”

Lian Feng clenched his fists tightly. “I’ll make them understand what’s what!”

“Me too.” Xu Shu smiled gently.

“They’ll do one more round of roster confirmation later. If none of you object, I’ll sign all of you up.”

“And me too—”

Along with a muffled voice, an enormous shadow fell over them.

Xia Ran turned around, and his expression changed.

Th-this was actually Bolu?

“Surprised?”

Bolu slanted a glance at Xia Ran too.

“I’m a disciple of the Dao Lord as well.”

“For the Dao Lord, I, Bolu, am willing to give everything.”