Chapter 355: The Selection Tournament Begins

"A Commander position in the Great Xia Country's government?"

The entire crowd was stunned by this statement.

"That's right. An official Commander position in the Great Xia Country. You would be able to mobilize over a thousand official troops at any time, in any of the Four Major Regions," one of the Celestial Kings said.

This was an immense amount of power to offer everyone. The winner would directly become an official of the Great Xia Country, with the authority to mobilize troops.

One had to understand that no matter how powerful the various Major Sects were, they were ultimately still common people, governed by the official forces of the Four Kings.

"Southern Celestial King, you all have really gone all out this time," someone exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

"Isn't this all to ignite some fighting spirit in the younger generation? The youth nowadays lack ambition, and their strength is lacking. Oh, by the way, I should also inform you all that ten of my Southern Region's Soldier Kings will be participating. You'd best be careful," the Celestial King of the Southern Region said with a smile.

"The Southern Celestial King is right. And it's not just him. We other three Celestial Kings have also arranged for many of our subordinate Cultivators to participate in this Martial Arts Grand Ceremony. So, everyone should be on their guard," the Northern Celestial King said.

"HAHAHA, the soldiers of my Western Region are seasoned from constant warfare and rich in combat experience. You all are in for some trouble," the Western Celestial King said with a laugh.

Although the Four Celestial Kings were all official forces of Huaxia, it was inevitable that there would be some rivalry among them behind the scenes.

"Tch, you think the soldiers of my Northern Region are just freeloaders? You think we haven't been fighting year-round as well?" the Northern Celestial King retorted, clearly displeased.

In an instant, the four of them actually started bickering.

In reality, even though they each governed a region, they were still human. It was natural for them to clash and compete. Such things were unavoidable.

The total pool of rewards contributed from all sides was immense. Moreover, these prizes were only for the top ten. If someone managed to take first place, the reward would be unbelievably generous.

It would be enough to sustain some small families, or even some smaller Sects, for decades.

Even the Major Sects were extremely envious.

This was because the rewards covered many different aspects: Cultivation Resources, Cultivation Techniques, weapons, money, status, and more.

To obtain all this, the prerequisite was that one's own strength had to be great enough, tough enough.

In the time that followed, the organizers tallied the resources contributed by the various major powers, Sects, and families.

The Martial Arts Grand Ceremony had another rule: all participating Sects had to offer up some resources, Cultivation Techniques, or weapons. It was the equivalent of an entry fee.

The contribution wasn't huge, but the potential return was hundreds or even thousands of times greater, so many Sects were willing to do it.

Therefore, the next two days were spent tallying the items provided by the various Sects and Martial Arts Families.

This included tasks like registration, allocation, and so on.

On the morning of the third day, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, the Seven Kills Sword Master closed the booklet in his hands.

"For this Martial Arts Grand Ceremony, the number of participating Martial Arts Sects has reached one hundred and seventy, and we have five hundred and seventeen Martial Arts Families!" the Seven Kills Sword Master announced to the crowd.

Everyone looked over the numbers and had no objections.

"Someone, go and verify the count one more time. If there are no mistakes, the main competition of the Martial Arts Grand Ceremony will begin tomorrow," the Seven Kills Sword Master shouted.

"Yes, sir!" Someone quickly went to carry out the order.

The ones handling these matters were Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators selected from the Major Sects of the Great Snow Mountain. Generally, they were the ones to handle preliminary affairs, while the Martial Arts Venerables served as the final trump card.

Only when matters arose that they couldn't handle would it be the Martial Arts Venerables' turn to step in.

In fact, during some past Martial Arts Grand Ceremonies, the Martial Arts Venerables had never even made a move. They merely observed the entire time, as nothing major ever happened.

After all, the primary role of these Martial Arts Venerables was to deter the crowd.

"That is the state of affairs. I hope everyone will abide by the rules. That is all I have to say," the Seven Kills Sword Master said as he stood up.

"Oh, right. Registration for the four divisions will begin shortly, assuming there are no further issues. It will close at midnight tonight, and we can start first thing tomorrow morning," the Seven Kills Sword Master continued.

Although the Seven Kills Sword Master gave off an impression of being quite hurried, and the schedule was a bit tight, it was still within a normal range.

If they allowed a long time for just the registration, all the subsequent work would be delayed.

Besides, the entire Martial Arts Grand Ceremony was divided into four regions. With the participants split among each region, the number of people per area wouldn't be that high.

As for which region these participants chose to enter, it was entirely up to their personal preference; there were no mandatory requirements.

Of course, a region with more people would have fiercer competition, while one with fewer people would naturally have less.

This meant that luck was also a factor.

If someone happened to choose a region that was packed with experts, their chances would be completely shot.

Chu Feng and Bai Han also returned to their own post, standing guard over the Southern Region.

In the Southern Region, Chu Feng and his people had a total of twenty Foundation Establishment Realm subordinates, tasked with maintaining the area's stability.