239: Chapter 136 Fierce Battle_1 239: Chapter 136 Fierce Battle_1 The Hundred Peaks Tournament’s trials in the six arts wrapped up in just two days, yet the upcoming magical combat would stretch over seven days.
Although the Hundred Peaks Tournament included six arts, the climax was always the final magical combat; in the end, the six arts served as a prelude to this battle.
During the trials in the six arts, only the top three hundred were able to obtain Peak Bamboo, but in magical combat, the top two thousand would be eligible.
If the same rule applied as with the six arts, where only the top three hundred could obtain Peak Bamboo, then the last fifty peaks would stand no chance.
Those ranks at the very end would have no way of obtaining a rank if they failed to secure Peak Bamboo in the six arts.
Even with two thousand ranks available, some peaks would still fail to secure Peak Bamboo.
For example, why did Four Treasures Peak previously rank one hundredth?
It was because Four Treasures Peak hadn’t secured a single piece of Peak Bamboo in either the six arts or magical combat during the last tournament, thus ending up at the hundredth position.
Seven Star Peak, however, managed to secure one piece of Peak Bamboo in magical combat, so it ranked ninety-ninth.
On the side of Gathering Immortals Platform, upon the mountain, two thousand bamboo placards now hung, each corresponding to the top two thousand ranks.
On many of these placards, names had already been inscribed.
Within the span of seven days, if they could defend their platforms and defeat all challengers, those ranks would naturally belong to them.
As for their current ranks, they were chosen by the disciples of the Hundred Peaks Sect themselves.
Before the start of the magical combat, any disciple could choose a rank at will, then assume the position of that rank’s platform lord.
Even if you were a disciple from the Hundredth Peak, you could declare that you choose to be the platform lord of the first rank.
Temporarily, you would be number one, and if you could maintain that rank, you would be the final number one.
If you look at it this way, it seems that those who choose their ranks first are at a great disadvantage.
After selecting a rank, you don’t know how many will challenge you, nor how many bouts you’ll have to fight.
Although, after the battle, the sect will provide various healing pills to treat your injuries, if the injuries are too severe, it’s not guaranteed you’ll recover quickly.
Such cases are rare, but not unheard of.
The rules of the Hundred Peaks Tournament state that if you are severely injured, you can receive three days of recovery time.
Once the recovery time is up, regardless of the state of your injuries, you must accept challenges again, after all, everyone can’t wait for you indefinitely.
This creates a result where everyone feels that choosing to be a platform lord first is a serious disadvantage.
Therefore, the rules of the Hundred Peaks Tournament grant those who first choose their rank to defend a platform one additional opportunity to challenge.
If your defense fails, you are of course knocked down and must start from scratch with a new challenge.
If you’re challenged again after and lose the battle, then I’m sorry, no matter your previous rank, even if you were first but got knocked down to third, and then you challenge the second and lose, you can no longer challenge anyone else.
A single challenge, and a failure means you lose the opportunity for another attempt.
Of course, if you already had a rank before the challenge and you fail, you can still maintain your original rank.
But at this point, others can challenge you.
If the challenger already has a rank and defeats you, that’s manageable, as you’ll at least acquire the challenger’s rank.
However, if an unranked person challenges and defeats you, then you effectively have no rank at all.
And because you’ve already failed a previous challenge, you can no longer issue new ones, leaving no chance of redemption.
The Hundred Peaks Tournament rules within the Hundred Peaks Sect were established by the Ancestral Elder at the founding of the sect.
Some rules have changed over time, even the number of ranks eligible for Peak Bamboo has varied, initially being only the top thousand.
But no matter the changes, the rules of magical combat have remained the same.
There have been suggestions to the Ancestral Elder, saying that the rule that one failure disallows further challenges is unreasonable, as it may deter some highly skilled disciples from challenging.
A single defeat leading to a loss of rank doesn’t reflect the true abilities of the various peaks and disciples.
The Ancestral Elder countered, “Within the Sect, you can live after a defeat, but outside, if you miscalculate your opponent’s strength and are defeated, will you be lucky enough to survive?” As a cultivator, you must recognize your own strength.
So, the rules of the Hundred Peaks Tournament have remained unchanged; a failed challenge means losing the chance to challenge again.
If a challenge fails, you cannot challenge again.
If you succeed, of course, you may challenge once more.
But that one more opportunity to challenge is also your last.
Each person is limited to two challenges, and the ranks of those two challenges cannot be more than one hundred apart.
For instance, if you challenge the eight hundredth rank and succeed, you can then only challenge from the seven hundred ninety-ninth to the seven hundredth rank.
The reason for this rule is once again to test everyone’s self-assessment of their strength.
As for those defending the platforms, they are granted one more chance to challenge, bringing their total to three opportunities.
An extra opportunity to challenge allows for many more options, which is why many vie to hold the position of platform lord once the magical combat commences.
If the same rank, say the tenth platform, is targeted by three people at once, the decision will be based on the ranking of their respective peaks.