Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
Wei Yi explained in a neither slow nor fast tone: “For this martial arts competition, the first condition will depend on how many people from each nation enters the semi-final. You will have an advantage if you have a greater number.”
“You would get an advantage if you have more spots?” To Qin Wushuang, martial arts competition relied on your true skills. Even if you had higher numbers, if they had inferior skills, numbers would not help when they encountered a stronger existence.
“Yes, this is an obvious advantage!” Wei Yi’s tone was firm, “For example, if one country had eight people entered the semi-final, then, among these eight, half of them can be defenders and the other half, attackers. Any of the participants from the attackers would have four chances to challenge the other country. There are two enemy countries. In total, they would get eight chances to challenge.”
“Of course, this works only theoretically. Perhaps, some weak participants would lose on the first try. In that case, he would be disqualified directly and lose his chance to challenge others. Others could only challenge him. Per the rules, the challenge is to attack the offenders. Only those attackers can get points. Regardless of winning and losing, as long as you are the defenders, you are not eligible to accumulate points.”
“To mediocre participants, it is not much difference between having two or eight chances. To elite warriors, having two chances or eight chances meant more opportunities to accumulate points!”
When he said this, Wei Yi gave Qin Wushuang a somewhat meaningful look.
This way, if one of the country only had seven people enter the semi-final, not only would they have less defenders and attackers, it would create an unbalanced situation. By that time, the advantage and disadvantage would be apparent.
Qin Wushuang also knew the meaning of this look. Indeed, both him and Wei Yi were elite warriors of the Stargaze Palace. Thus, only these two had the skill to accumulate more points.
“Junior Brother Qin, this challenge opportunity will not just repeat itself. After each challenge, the following one will increase difficulty. In the first round, it will be one against one. In the second time, it would be one against two, and so on.”
Finally, Qin Wushuang understood why Wei Yi said that this martial arts competition was hugely different. It did sound entirely different and avoided any possibilities of randomness.
It would be one against one in the first round. In each of the following rounds, the enemy would increase by one. Of course, the difficulty level would gradually increase.
However, Qin Wushuang asked: “What if a country had nine or ten people enter the semi-final?”
Wei Yi twitched his mouth and said seriously: “For nine people, it would still be four chances to attack. If it were ten people, they would have five chances. At this time, the advantage would be obvious. If one country has three defenders and the attacking country wins three rounds, the defending country would lack numbers and submit to defeat automatically. It would mean allowing the enemy to accumulate points!”
Inwardly, Qin Wushuang was shocked. He finally understood why numbers were valued greatly after the first round. This way, if someone could win continuously during the challenging round, they would hold an obvious advantage regarding spots.
He smiled lightly, as Qin Wushuang did not seem to be overly fanatical. He said: “To fight one against three, or against four, the winning chance is low.”
However, Wei Yi shook his head: “It’s not little. For one against four, it does not mean to beat all four to gain a victory. You only need to beat any of the four and you would win. It is because under the circumstances where you are against more people and if you could still beat one person, you are taking the upper hand. Thus, to the defenders, it is very important to pin down the enemy. If you can pin down the enemy to ensure that he cannot beat anyone, you would win as a defender!”
Beating any one of them would be gaining victory. To defenders, it would be extremely difficult. Qin Wushuang could not help but ask: “If that’s the case, would it be extremely important for the defenders to have good collaboration? If there are elite formation, wouldn’t it be easy to deal with this situation?”
Wei Yi sighed: “All the major sects in the Three Eastern Empires have elite formation. However, the rules of the competition state that each defender cannot use formations. They can only use simple mutual understanding and collaboration, but not group formations. For this competition, it will all depend on the attackers, but not the defenders.”
Qin Wushuang smiled bitterly: “This rule will strongly emphasize individual power.”
“The rule is to emphasize individual power. However, in turn, wouldn’t it work to your advantage?”
Qin Wushuang sighed: “I only hope to bring honor for my teacher and give it everything I’ve got. By the way, Senior Brother Wei, how do they calculate the marks for this competition?”
“It’s simple. Each defender gets ten points. Accumulation of the points will be the total final mark for individuals. For example, if you win the first round, you get ten points. You get twenty points in the second round, thirty points on the third round and so on. Until the end, for the total mark.”
“The marks of each participants from that country will be added up to reach the total marks of the entire country.”
Since Wei Yi had explained everything clearly, Qin Wushuang had understood: “Senior Brother Wei, during the competition, wouldn’t people need to clearly identify their roles? There must be a balanced number of attacker and defenders. It would be useless if there are more people to one role. You may get all the points during the attacking stage, but lose all the way in the defending stage. With one going forward and the other going backwards, it would be meaningless.”
“Yes! A balance of attacking and defending is extremely important in such competition! Thus, having two Middle Stage warriors would be a desirable situation. One of them would lead the defending team and the other one would lead the attacking team. In that case, it would become a fortress.”
Qin Wushuang moved his brows and revealed an understanding smile. Apparently, for the Stargaze Palace, the defending and attacking would need them to lead.
Of course, in fact, being the main attacker and defender was not much different. One would not need to defend if you have strong defense skills. In the circumstance where you are against a higher number of opponents, having strong defending abilities would not work. You must also have strong attacking skills. Or else, it would be meaningless to have strong defensive skill when your teammates got beaten off by the stage. You must ensure that your teammates would not get beaten off. On that point, you would succeed in defending.
When he thought here, Qin Wushuang could not help but feel somewhat confused: “Senior Brother Wei Yi, what happens if the defending team has someone injured, what should we do about the empty spot?”
“Basically, for such competition, there will only be wins and losses and they would not care about your life and death. Although it might do some damages, it will not influence the general situation. However, when one cannot participate because of serious injuries, you must accept the consequences. If there are only four people in the defending team, and one cannot go on, then you will only be left with three people. Thus, when the opponents challenge you, they would win automatically after finished challenging the first three rounds. Thus, to the defending team, they would not see the hard work, but they are bearing a heavy task.”
Qin Wushuang sighed: “This rule is truly devilish.”
Both of them laughed. For the Stargaze Palace, with these two overseeing the situation, regardless of defending or attacking, they had the confidence.
“Junior Brother Qin, this is not the first time we’ll be working together. I hope this time, the result will be much more resplendent that last time!”
Last time, they had worked together to kill that Elder Chun Jun.
This time, they would face the big stage of the Friendly Competition. Their performance would determine the final grade for the Great Luo Empire.
These two high fived to make a promise. Although they did not speak any words, everything was known. Both read the determination and courage from the other’s eyes.
“Ok, Junior Brother Qin, it’s getting late, go rest. Although this martial arts competition is in the third round, it is the climax. Don’t think too much. Let’s take little steps and everything will be fine.”
“Ok!” These two waved goodbyes. Qin Wushuang returned to the room and contemplated the rules slowly. He knew that the third round would be the most important and a round to determine wins and losses.
For this night, Qin Wushuang rested well.
In the next morning, according to arrangements, all sects of the Great Luo gathered in one place to listen to the instruction from the Stargaze Palace.
Since the rules stated that the strongest sect from each country could only send ten people, the remaining six spots would be selected from other sects. Thus, they could only follow the rules.
This selection took two or three days. Finally, they selected six relatively exceptional participants. However, compared to the Core disciples of the Stargaze Palace, these people seemed somewhat lesser despite being strong warriors from their own sect.
Without a question, these six people would just come for the show. It would still depend on the ten Core disciples to make it to the semi-final.
Regarding the semi-final spots, Zhuo Buqun and the other Palace Masters did not have strict requirements.
Zhuo Buqun said: “From past experiences, usually, each country would take eight spots. It is rare that the spots were imbalanced. However, you cannot let go of your guard. We should not force ourselves to go for nine spots, but we must keep the eight spots. Or else, when it gets to later stage, the defending and attacking team would be imbalanced. In that case, it would greatly influence the general situation!”
All participants nodded. These were things they knew by heart. Naturally, the ten people from the Stargaze Palace were the top ten warriors that went on the mission to the Green Jade Mountain.
Twenty years of waiting, twenty years of reincarnation, the Friendly Competition between the three Empires had finally opened its curtain dramatically. Outside the main gate of the Archaic Mysteries Sect, a grand opening ceremony was in progress.
All participants from each countries were among the lines.
Each of the faces looked forward for this boring opening ceremony to end and to enter the main topic!
After the ceremony, the three strongest warriors from the Stargaze, the Archaic and the Dragon and Tiger sect stood at one place. They had announced the official start of the competition.
Of course, the first task was to hand in the list of participants. There would be three each. They would keep one copy and hand in the other two copies to the other two sects.
After they interchanged the lists, they had to verify the names with each person to prevent any cheating.
When the Archaic Mysteries Sect read the name of “Qin Wushuang”, all the higher-up’s expression changed dramatically.
Qin Wushuang? Didn’t this person already die at the Green Jade Mountain? Because of him, the Stargaze and the Archaic Mysteries sect had argued for a long time. How had he reappeared at this time?
