Today, a huge vacancy has been cleared at the top of the east platform, and a high platform with carpets and curtains has been erected.

Tolerance saber sitting, tables and chairs on the high platform are complete, and the silk curtain is hung high behind, with a solemn atmosphere.

Starting today, the real bigwigs of Bowangzhou will be on the bright side, since the first sixteen will be the people who bestow the talismans, the martial arts competition has entered a critical stage, one is worth watching, and the other can also eliminate the secret hand, to ensure fairness.

The adults actually came quite early, Zhao Zhang and that Fan Changshi were already sitting at the table, and then the judges also arrived one after another, and they each sat down and talked. At this point, there was still a row of tables and chairs in front of them, and it was the county officials who were waiting.

The results of the martial arts competition largely determine the allocation of the next quota and the allocation of martial arts resources in the future.

And this is also a casual time to meet and catch up every year - all the smell of gunpowder comes from the audience, and the result is not something that the county commanders can decide, and everyone doesn't have to fight for anything.

Of course, it doesn't have to be, reality is reality, and when there was a fight in the ring in previous years, it was often not quiet and peaceful.

In order to take care of the itinerary of the local officials, although the loser was already in the early morning, today's proportional was moved in the afternoon. It's just over noon, the brightest time of the day, but the autumn weather is getting cooler after the rain last night, and the sun doesn't feel hot under the high sun.

The first to arrive was the county order. With a dark face and a short body, he looked capable in his forties, and said very little, and he bowed his hand to the adults on the stage and sat down by himself. Followed by Zheng Shou, who looked much richer, with a white face and a neat beard, a green wrench in his hand, and his clothes looked newer than others. When I came up, I brought a bulging bag, but it was a small wooden play, and I sent it over one by one, and each of them could say a few pleasantries.

Finally, he sat down next to the county magistrate of Shenxian County, talked with a smile, raised his eyebrows, and sneaked out of his sleeve with a big and beautiful carving and stuffed it. The county magistrate glanced down, withdrew his sleeve, and showed a faint smile on his stern black face.

"Good! You two are teaching each other privately! A tall official came in and smiled at the stage, "Lord Zhao, there are people here who offer bribes!" ”

Zhao Zhang glanced back and said with a smile: "Shen County Ling said last time that he would give me a good bead, but there was no movement after ten days. ”

Someone on the side of the judge smiled and said: "People are Zheng Bu Shen Shen, Shen Bu Zheng is not separated from Zheng, Gao County Ling, you are a lonely person in Shanbei County, I think you are jealous." ”

Shen Xianling hurriedly smiled and took out a small wooden toy from the small cloth bag and handed it to the tall man.

After that, the county orders of Shannan, Xugu, and Guhe counties also arrived, and as the judge just said, except for Zheng Shoushen County, the two close counties had close contacts, and the rest of them were only barely acquainted, and they sat down after greetings.

At this time, the thirty-two contestants had already stood under the ring, and the officials of the state and city often came to see it two days ago, and they only sat and watched, but several county magistrates were really on the stage for the first time, and it was the time of novelty, the contestants did not recognize it, and they did not know the situation, and they kept discussing and asking various questions.

"There are two rounds to play today, the first round is to enter the top 16, the second round will determine the top eight, and tomorrow will only play the final." Bai Sibing explained with a smile, "Now these thirty-two people have been eliminated after two rounds, and they are all talents." ”

"Hey, I've seen the election of our county."

"Well, you're tall, it's easy to tell."

Several county commanders looked at the faces of the warriors below one by one, looking for the players from their own county, and asked each other for identification with a smile.

Only one of the county magistrates was silent, as if he had little interest in it.

was quickly noticed: "Eh, Lord Xu, who is the Juncai in Lingmen County?" ”

Xu Xianling said lightly: "It's gone." ”

“.” The questioner endured it for a while, but still laughed unkindly. Bai Sibing smiled and said with relief: "There is still a chance for the loser." ”

On the other side, several county orders have finished counting, but there are at least two people standing on the field, and Gu He County is even very lucky to have three left. Among the two strong counties, there are only two left in Xu Gu, but Zheng Shou still has four, and everyone congratulated this Shen who was already very popular.

Lord Shen sighed sadly: "Don't congratulate, why is Xiao Qiu gone." ”

A state official said: "In the first round, I was beaten into the loser by the stick-wielding Zhang Zongyuan - Lord Shen, you can't take all the good things." ”

"Zhang Zongyuan, where is this person?"

"Do the three factions have sticks?"

"The name of the merchant is said to be five lives."

"Hmm!" Shen Xianling sighed, "That's convincing." ”

He tilted his head and smiled: "But our Xiao Qiu will definitely be able to fight back to the top sixteen from the loser." ”

It is said that the allocation of each county is determined by the results of the martial arts competition, but in fact, the results of the first two rounds account for a very small proportion, and the number of seats in the state government of 64 people is not considered at all; The proportion of places among the thirty-two people is only a slight reference, and the real decisive results are still from the top 16 - on behalf of each county to cultivate the ability to teach talisman warriors.

Naturally, the top four and the leader are more golden, but the leader is generally a sect and has nothing to do with the county, and the top four are generally only Zheng Shou Xu Gu can rush, so everyone is concerned about the number of the top 16 in the county.

"I'll calculate, the three factions will take six or seven, right?"

"Less, I think even if there are not ten, then eight or nine."

"If there are two or three more merchants and scattered people, there will only be five or six places left for us."

Shen Xianling looked back and asked with a smile: "Adults in the city, can you leave six places for us in the countryside this year?" ”

"I have to ask Lord Si Gong about this, he did it."

"Xu Sigong?"

Xu Sigong, who was squinting and taking a nap, opened his eyes: "According to me, among the sixteen people, there are three Cuiyu, three Qijiao, and two Baizhu, and the sect accounts for eight." Then the business accounts for two, and this year, the scattered people who came up from the rivers and lakes did not see any outstanding ones, there should be none. In this way, there are just six seats left for you to divide. ”

"How can it be divided, it's obviously a robbery."

"Hahahaha."

"By the way, ladies and gentlemen, who will win the championship this year?"

"Qijiao, the true disciple is still Huaitong, and the news of Wei County's order is too ill-informed."

"What about the top four?"

"Final four. Lord Xu, what about the top four? ”

"Well, that's really hard to say." Xu Sigong shook his head.

So the county magistrates returned to the topic just now: "If there are six places, there is just one person in our six counties, haha." ”

"Not bad, not bad."

"Eh, wait, are we six counties?"

“.”

“.”

"We're seven counties!"

"Yes, yes, faux pas."

It was at this moment that there was a new light and slow step on the stage.

Everyone looked and saw an old man with a tall posture and a clear face stepping on the high platform.

Although he was also wearing the official uniform of the county order, although it was clean and tidy, it was difficult to hide his old white-washed color, his sideburns were half white, his eyebrows were lowered and his eyes were tired, and he looked like he was tired from the boat, and he also had some embarrassment that had not been washed away.

Everyone was really stunned for a moment, and it wasn't until they saw Bai Sibing greet him that their memories were activated.

"Chang County Order!"

"Hmm!"

Bowang's most remote and poorest weak county, buried deep in the mountains, is often forgotten. And this county magistrate who has been in office for 12 years rarely comes out to make friends, and even if there is such a thing as Wubi, he has never been seen to participate in the past five years.

One or two who have been in office for a short time, or even meet him for the first time.

"Chang County Order, it's been a long time."

"It's been a tiring journey."

Chang Zhiyuan smiled and saluted one by one seriously, and then moved his steps, picked a corner and sat down upright - this position is the same as Fenghuai, there is no sense of existence.

"Master Chang, why did you take the time to come this time?"

"Ah, come and cheer the kids." The old man laughed.

"Hey, how many people are running in your county this year?"

"Only one."

"Ah, is this still on the field?"

Chang Zhiyuan squinted at the faces below: "I haven't asked yet, it should be there. People are old and can't see clearly. ”

Bai Sibing said on the side: "It's still there." ”

"Oh, that's good." The old man smiled.

Everyone also said a few words of joy, and the greetings were over. If Shanbei County is a detached family and is estranged from other counties, then Fenghuai is simply a seclusion, and the sense of existence of this county commander is also very weak, sitting here at this time, it doesn't even look like a peer.

Everyone continued to talk on their own, but avoided the topic just now - obviously, if it was really one of the six places in each county, then which county did not have a place, and at this time it was already about to come out.

About half an hour later, before the hour came, two more men came to the stage.

One was in his fifties, with a sword, a deep-set face, and a pair of eyes hidden behind his hair, as if there were no whites of the eyes; The other was an old man, fragile and tired, but his face was peaceful, and he carried a cyan sword on his back.

Luo Defeng and Li Weiru.

The two didn't look at each other, but they seemed to be held together by an invisible thread - whoever wants to do something will definitely bring the other party's action at the same time.

Zhao Zhang got up to greet the two martial arts seniors and sat down separately, and each stood and said a few words.

At this point, on the high platform, the seats are basically full, and the adults of different colors are sitting here, and the martial arts field is really solemn.

It was at this time that a loud sound crossed the field, and the idle warriors lined up one after another.

"This is the first draw to decide the match." Xu Sigong introduced.

"Uh-oh." The county magistrates on the stage stopped talking for a moment and looked with bated breath.

This is indeed an important link, after all, many times, the result of the draw has already determined the victory or defeat of this time.

As the last person took the note in the box, on the curtain hanging opposite the high platform, someone began to write the result from top to bottom with a pen, accompanied by the sound of Lang Lang's roll call that resounded throughout the audience.

"A fight, the first scene, Li Yiqing, Zeng Mengjing."

The county magistrates breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked left and right, and couldn't help but laugh at each other. Without him, although he was busy with government affairs and lacked a detailed understanding of this martial arts, everyone always knew that Li Yiqing's name was not a player from his own county who was facing this young master at this time, so he naturally "escaped".

"Who is this Zeng Mengjing?"

"I don't know, sectarian."

"In the second game, Shang Huaitong and Ye Shaoliang."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief again, but this time there was one less relieving voice, and everyone looked around, only to see that the black face of the county magistrate was even darker.

"It's okay, Lord Meng, isn't there another person in your county?"

"There's still a chance for the loser, Lord Meng."

The roll calls in the next few games were all decent, and the county warriors who were called were all disciples of the sect, and the county commanders involved were also half happy and half worried.

It wasn't until the roll call of "The Seventh Scene, Zhang Junxue and Fu Sanqing" came out that Shannan County Ling's eyes suddenly opened, straightened up, and looked around, but met Xu Gu County's smiling eyes: "Zhang Junxue is the façade of the Zhang family in our county." ”

The Shannan County Commander then leaned back again, sighed, and everyone was relieved.

"No hindrance, no hindrance." The county magistrate sighed with a smile, "It is inevitable that there will be good and bad luck, and this is also a helpless thing." ”

Then I heard the next roll call: "The eighth scene, Gu Guang, Tong Weiping." ”

“.” The smile on the county magistrate's face disappeared suddenly, and he leaned back in his chair expressionlessly, his chest and abdomen heaving.

There is no need to ask this time, in the casual conversation just now, Shen County Ling has already said that Zheng Shou's strongest is this five-life man named Gu Guang.

Everyone held back their laughter, and the roll call had come to B.

In this fight, the only shark that everyone recognizes is Zhang Mozhu, but unlike the first fight, in this round of roll call, this person's name has not appeared for a long time, and has been hanging in everyone's hearts. Especially those county orders where the first contestant has been drawn by the bad lot, they all feel confused when they hear the name of their county election, for fear that it will be followed by the words "Zhang Mozhu".

But fortunately, it is not, but some people are followed by "Shen Qi" and "Yang Yan", but the county magistrates have never heard of these two names. This apprehension lasted until the end, and there were only two registrations left.

The faces of the other county commanders were relaxed, and only Gu He's county commander's face became more and more stiff.

Among these four people, there is the last player from his county. Although Guhe County occupies three of the thirty-two people, the first two are all lucky, one is a second student, and the other is a third student who has just passed, and they have survived two rounds, and this round will definitely not pass.

The only hope he has placed on is this last person, and this person is indeed excellent - a solid four lives, there is always a chance to win the top sixteen, seven or eighty.

So he has been relatively relaxed throughout the whole process, even if the first two were unlucky, he also smiled.

But now things are wrong, because there are only four people left, and the names of Zhang Mozhu and Zhang Zongyuan have not yet come out.

Everyone also knew this, and they all cast relieved glances at him.

Obviously, four lives against five lives, no one encounters, there is no chance of winning, and if you are injured again, you won't even have to fight in the loser's group. In front of the county magistrate's high heart, the roll call finally fell: "The seventh scene, Zhang Mozhu and Zhang Zongyuan!" ”

Gu He County ordered to hammer the table hard, and the joy suddenly broke through the taut face and bloomed, in the midst of everyone's hehe and Daoxi, it was the last curtain of the thirty-two into sixteen, and it was really an unfamiliar name: "The eighth scene, Fu Xueshu, Pei Li!" ”

This county magistrate still knew that he was lonely and unheard, and he did not forget to ask Xu Sigong behind him steadily: "Lord Xu, what is the origin of this person named Pei Li?" ”

"Fenghuai County Election."

"Oh!"

Gu Hexian Ling pursed the corners of his mouth and turned his head to arch his hand, and the old man in the corner was also returning a humble salute.

——

Ding Ming rises again, and the time has come.

The red silk flew down, and the competition from 32 to 16 officially began.

In the first game, Li Yiqing easily picked up the long sword in front of him in the seventh move and put it on the opponent's neck.

Shang Huaitong is still an unsheathed sword.

However, although the impression left by the two is amazing enough, what really affects the hearts of the county commanders is the more anxious and fierce competition behind, although they are still calmly smiling, but they have already clenched the teacup in their hands.

However, with the end of the competition, Zhang Junxue and Guguang both won, and Shannan County Ling's face was completely frozen. But there were no other county orders that showed a happy smile.

In the eight battles of the first fight, only Zheng Shou and Xu Gu counties entered the top 16 of the winners, and Shen County obviously accounted for two of the battles, but the whole army was wiped out, and Meng County's face could no longer be a little white.

And when they came to the second ring, the faces of the other county commanders also became darker one after another.

Obviously, the so-called six places are pure wishful thinking.

I thought that the first beat was too strong because the strength over there was too strong, and it would be weak compared to the second fight, and the county commanders who drew the second beat were secretly happy.

However, the unforgiving reality destroys this illusion.

Yang Yan, a kid who didn't know where he came from, didn't belong to a sect or a county election, dressed like a singer, and smashed the smile on the face of the Shanbei County Commander with a knife.

Shen Qi, who turned out to be Cuiyu's five-life boss, completely pressed Zheng Shou's young man to death.

finally had a game that could be played, but three lives against three lives, but the difference was lost by a sword.

In the end, only one county in Shanbei entered, plus the two counties of A, and the seven counties were selected, and only three people entered!

Fortunately, there is also one in Guhe County.

Gu He County Ling was also half happy and half sad at this time - on the one hand, the fewer counties entered, the more valuable this place became, and the allocation in the martial arts would naturally be more generous; But on the other hand, after all, his fourth life is not a hard hand like Zhang Junxue Guguang, even if he passes this round, most of the next round will be defeated, and he still has to turn back to defeat him.

And in the midst of thinking, the stage was already ringing.

In the last game of the thirty-two into sixteen, everyone stared at it.

Fu Xueshu is not very old, and the player named Pei Li is even younger.

But it is not at all like the straw sandal brown shirt they imagined, but a fairly well-fitting green suit, and Langhe's appearance is even better than Fu Xueshu's.

I saw that the two of them saluted each other on the field, and then straightened up, Pei Ye stepped on it, and a straight green shadow swept out of the sword.

The county magistrates' eyes suddenly opened. Even if you don't know martial arts, after watching the fifteen competitions, everyone has formed a scale in their hearts - this kind of posture definitely only belongs to strong opponents.

It was far from the crude warrior they expected in the second and third lives.

Then the next moment, the eyes don't have to be closed at all, but they are opened even wider.

A round brightness popped out under the green shadow, as if the wet light flashed on the green plum in the rain, Fu Xueshu raised his sword and retreated. Lost sword.

That's the end of it.

There were cheers on the field, Qingying picked up the sword that fell under his feet and handed it back to Fu Xueshu, then took two steps back with the sword and saluted.

The last person to win the sixteenth place was to worship Pei Li.

(End of chapter)