Ian Song had only just sat down when Liam Lee came over and took the seat beside him.
"You don't mind, do you, Ian?" Liam asked with a smile.
"You’re joking, Liam," Ian replied with a smile.
In less than fifteen minutes, every empty seat on the field had been filled by young martial artists here for the tournament, totaling three hundred and sixty.
"Ian, do you think Miss Irene Drew will show up?" Liam asked with anticipation.
"I suppose she will."
Just then, someone shouted, "Miss Irene is here!" Instantly, everyone turned to look at the entrance to the martial arena.
A woman in a simple white dress, her figure graceful and her face veiled with gauze, walked elegantly into the arena surrounded by four stunning handmaids.
Although Miss Irene’s face was hidden by gauze, her posture was exceptionally elegant, and an indescribable charm radiated from her, making almost everyone present stare in a daze, utterly captivated.
For a moment, words of praise like “So beautiful!” and “She’s like a fairy descended to earth!” kept spilling from the mouths of the martial artists.
But Ian sensed something odd—Miss Irene had clearly cultivated some advanced charm technique to bewilder all the men.
With his sharp eyes, Ian could see right through her veil. In his opinion, Irene Drew was just an average beauty—at best, on par with her four handmaids, and maybe even a bit less striking.
"Miss Irene’s beauty really does live up to her reputation," Liam sighed beside him, his eyes showing admiration but not obsession.
Ian was a little surprised—he hadn’t expected Liam to break free from Irene’s charm art so quickly.
"Irene Drew greets all you young heroes," she said.
Her soft but slightly hoarse voice sent the already entranced crowd into a frenzy—their eyes grew wild, as if they wanted to rush up and grab her then and there.
Seeing this, Ian’s lips curled into a playful smile.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was some hidden secret behind this tournament.
After that brief appearance, Irene Drew withdrew, but just that one glimpse had stirred the hearts of most contestants. Many swore to win the tournament and take the beauty home.
Then, Old Master Drew arrived.
Old Master Drew was just over fifty, but lacked the usual wealthy man’s plumpness; he was extremely thin, his complexion sallow, clearly suffering from an injury.
Ian saw through Old Master Drew’s condition at a glance—he possessed Innate Ninth Layer cultivation, but suffered from severe internal injuries, suppressing them with his own zhenyuan. He could barely exert a tenth of his true power.
Next, Old Master Drew explained the rules for this martial marriage contest—it would take place over two days.
On the first day, one-on-one elimination matches would select twelve candidates.
On the second day, the twelve winners would be personally tested by Irene Drew, who would choose the one she was most satisfied with to be her husband.
"Now, the first elimination round begins—anyone whose number is called, please come up to the stage."
As soon as Old Master Drew finished speaking, ten servants climbed up onto the ten arenas.
The servant at Arena One called out loudly, "Number One and Number Eleven, please come up!"
The servant at Arena Two called out, "Number Two and Number Thirty-Eight, please come up!"
...
Soon, twenty martial artists took to the stage—some walked up, some used flashy footwork, some jumped, and some even did somersaults. Watching this spectacle, Ian felt his trip was worthwhile.
The matches began quickly, and Ian noticed something interesting—all ten pairs were deliberately mismatched in cultivation, obviously meant to eliminate the weaker ones.
Because of the gap in cultivation, each fight ended in three to five moves. All ten arenas decided winners in under two minutes.
The ten winners returned to their seats, while the losers lost their qualification to compete. However, the Drew Family had servants give each defeated contestant fifty taels of silver, which helped ease their disappointment.
The second elimination round continued. This time, Ian wasn’t called, but Liam Lee took the stage.
His opponent was a Postnatal-late-stage martial artist.
Innate First Layer versus Postnatal-late-stage.
Was there any suspense? None at all. But Liam was considerate, using five moves to defeat his opponent, giving him some dignity.
In the third round, it was finally Ian’s turn.
His match was at Arena Three, and his opponent was also a Postnatal-late-stage martial artist.
He didn’t bother to give his opponent any dignity, ending the fight with a single palm strike.
The first elimination round ended in just half an hour, with almost all the Postnatal-late-stage contestants knocked out.
Then, the second elimination round began.
This round, Ian’s opponent was a Postnatal-perfected martial artist. He pretended to struggle, but ultimately won.
There were only 180 contestants in this round, but the matches lasted over an hour. The Drew Family compensated eliminated contestants with 100 taels of silver.
After a half-hour break, the third elimination round began.
This round lasted two and a half hours. Ian again struggled to victory, and the pool of contestants shrank from 360 to just 45.
So, one contestant would receive a bye in the next round.
The identity tokens representing forty-five contestants were thrown into a wooden box, and Old Master Drew personally drew one.
“Number 320 gets a bye!” Old Master Drew called out loudly, holding an identity token.