Outside the imperial city, Yin Jiao'e and her daughter looked dejectedly at the gradually closing palace gates.
After Kong Lian was brought to her breaking point by Shen Zhao's rebuke, she and her daughter were kicked out by Wu Yousheng at Shen Zhao's behest.
As a result, not only did they fail to move into the palace, they also lost face in front of the Confucian sage's public trial panel, which was a net loss.
"Mother, what should we do? Those judges will definitely have a bad impression of us when they see us like this. Will I still be able to study at the Confucian Sage Sect?"
Su Xuejiao paced anxiously, more concerned with whether she could become a disciple of the Confucian Sage Sect than with living in the imperial palace.
Yin Jiao'e kept comforting her, "Daughter, don't panic. Things won't be as embarrassing as you think. The people of the Confucian Sage Sect are quite fair and won't hold a grudge against you because of this."
Actually, she was also annoyed.
He thought that by paying such a high price, he could climb up Kong Lian's tree and successfully get Su Xuejiao into the Confucian Sage Sect for further studies through back channels.
But to her utter surprise, Shen Zhao ruined her plans once again, and Yin Jiao'e truly hated him.
And Liang Hao, she never expected that Su Yunying's sworn brother would actually be a Nirvana Realm expert.
If I had known this would happen, I would never have treated Su Yunying like this. Otherwise, I could have used this relationship to get Su Yunying to help me out.
She really regretted her attitude towards Su Yunying back then; she should have at least pretended.
"Mother, what do we do now?"
Su Xuejiao was still worried about her future.
Yin Jiao'e forced herself to remain calm and reassured Xuejiao again, "Don't worry, Mother will definitely find a way to get you into the Confucian Sage Sect."
"But Shen Zhao is also a public judge now."
"Hmph, how can Shen Zhao, an outsider, compare to the Confucian Sage Sect? What you need to do is to fully demonstrate your strength during the competition and convince everyone."
Su Xuejiao remained silent; she knew her own limitations best.
Although the general level of cultivators in the Southern Region is not high, there are many who are stronger than her.
To stand out, it's simply impossible without some connections or backdoors.
Seeing that Su Xuejiao remained silent, Yin Jiao'e could only sigh.
"Don't worry, I've taken care of everything. I'll make sure you get into the top twenty, so you can rightfully join the Confucian Sage Sect."
"Really, Mother?"
"When has your mother ever lied to you? Let's go back and find your brother first."
After saying that, the mother and daughter helped each other and walked together toward the shady hotel.
Meanwhile, inside the palace, Shen Zhao and Liang Hao were discussing the rules of the grand competition with the public trial panel.
After a long silence, Kong Dang, the chief judge of the Confucian Academy, said, "This competition must be conducted in a fair and just manner, and there must be absolutely no favoritism or perversion of justice."
As he spoke, he glanced at Shen Zhao.
Shen Zhao, however, looked lazy and didn't care at all about what they were saying, which made him look displeased.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, is there anything you would like to add?" Kong Dang asked.
Shen Zhao stretched and then said, "I have no objection. After all, anyone can say nice things. As for whether it's fair or not, that will only be known on the day of the competition."
Upon hearing this, Kong Lian immediately questioned, "What do you mean by that? Are you implying that my Confucian Sage Sect is guilty of cheating?"
Upon hearing this, Liang Hao immediately retorted: "This female boxer, please don't take it personally. Nobody here is talking about you. If you keep this up, I'll sue you for defamation, believe me."
Kong Lian was speechless.
After realizing Liang Hao's strength, he lost all his former aura as a female boxer.
The so-called feminist nature is just about targeting the weak; once they encounter a tough opponent, they'll cower like idiots.
"Alright, stop arguing. Since Fellow Daoist Shen has no objections, let's proceed according to the old rules."
Kong Bai stood up and said, "Let's set up the venue in the next few days. The competition is expected to last about a month."
"So long?" Shen Zhao retorted. "Couldn't it be shortened a bit?"
"How can we shorten it?" Kong Bai asked. "The Immortal Martial Arts Competition has always been held at this time, after all, there are thousands of cultivators from all walks of life participating."
"Then set up more competition venues and adopt a preliminary elimination system."
"What kind of elimination system?"
"The preliminary round determines the winner, who advances to the next round, while the loser is eliminated. Finally, 64 people are selected to enter the second round of the official elimination tournament. In this way, the time is not so long and the economic pressure on the organizers can be alleviated."
After hearing this, everyone thought about it for a moment and felt that there was some truth to it.
Wu Yousheng looked at Shen Zhao with even more gratitude.
As the host of this Immortal Martial Arts Competition, I have to bear tremendous pressure. If I follow Shen Zhao's advice, the time will be shortened to half a month, and the pressure will be greatly reduced.
"Isn't deciding the outcome in one match too hasty?" Kong Bai suddenly asked. "Doesn't the loser have a chance?"
Shen Zhao smiled and said, "There is a chance, but it's limited to the losers' bracket of the top four. The top four will be divided into two groups, with the winners advancing to the finals and the losers competing for third place."
This way it's less trouble and more convenient, and everyone can enjoy some peace and quiet. What do you think?
Kong Bai nodded: "That saves a lot of trouble. I'll go back and revise the rules immediately so that they can be distributed to all the cultivators as soon as possible."
Shen Zhao stood up: "In that case, I'll be leaving now. You can continue with your work. Just send it over once the rules are set."
After saying that, he walked directly out of the Huibin Hall.
Wu Yousheng thought for a moment and quickly followed.
...
"Father, please wait."
"My son, what's wrong?"
After catching up with Shen Zhao, Wu Yousheng immediately explained his purpose.
"Father, I have a request, and I hope you will grant it."
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