Chapter 8

The written test for the martial arts examination was not as long as the civil service examination and only required one day. After a day of relaxation, Pang Jun's brain was in very good condition. After reading the questions, he only needed to think about them for a cup of tea before he started writing down his answers. There was another detail in the scoring of the written test for the martial arts examination. When two candidates' answers were similar or the answers were of similar quality, the scores of the candidates would be used for reference. Because the battlefield changes rapidly, good adaptability is required, and the students who hand in their papers faster should have better adaptability. So it only took about two hours for Pang Jun to hand in his paper. He was the sixth candidate to hand in his paper among thousands of candidates in the examination room.

　　Three days after the written test, the horseback archery test began. The horseback archery test lasted for three days because there were not so many bows and horses available. Even if there were, not so many would be provided. After all, there were tens of thousands of bows and horses. Once something went wrong, the consequences would be disastrous. Pang Jun was arranged to take the test on the second day.

　　He chose a maroon horse and a second-class bow with a force of 15 for the test. When he chose the second-class bow, the examiners present all looked at him sideways. After all, it was a second-class bow, because most candidates used fourth-class bows for horseback archery, and very few used third-class bows. As for the second-class bows, even including yesterday's candidates, there were less than ten people in total. How could this young man who looked so "weak" actually chose to use a second-class bow? How could it not be surprising?

　　However, amidst all the questioning gazes, Pang Jun remained calm. He mounted his horse, started, bent his bow, put the arrow on, and shot in one go. With the sound of "swoosh, swoosh", the arrows hit the target one after another. In a moment, Pang Jun had completed thirty targets, and hit twenty-six out of thirty, including twenty-three that hit the vital points. This was an excellent result. The military generals who acted as examiners stroked their beards and exclaimed: This boy is worthy of being an outstanding talent.

　　After the horse riding and archery test, the candidates took a short rest. Three days later, it would be the last martial arts competition. In addition to daily practice and training the Linglong sisters, Pang Jun also went for a walk on the street to see if he could meet that cute little girl again. Unfortunately, Pang Jun had never seen Yue'er since that day.

　　Three days later, the martial arts competition will be held at the Dongdaying Martial Arts Field. The Dongdaying Martial Arts Field is an open space where people can go to watch the competition and decide the winner in front of everyone. Similarly, the martial arts competition takes many days, and everyone needs to fight many times and pass many levels before they can reach the top.

　　In the first three days, each person needs to play three games. To advance, they need to win every game. Although the opponent is very weak, Pang Jun still dare not relax because he doesn't know what means the opponent will use. Fortunately, after three days, he won easily and did not encounter any trouble. He steadily entered the top 64.

　　The following days were the most difficult, because those who were not strong were almost all eliminated, and those who remained were the elites of martial arts. After that, everyone only had to fight one match a day. For three consecutive days, the opponents Pang Jun encountered were still not very strong, so he became one of the top eight.

　　Among the top eight, nothing happened as Pang Jun expected, all the expected people were there, including "Panlong Sword" Yu Lingfeng, Shangguan Yi of the Shangguan family, Qin Wanjun's son Qin Yi, "Lingxiao Hook" Shang Tianhao of the Dian Cang sect, and "Fan Lu Ya" Liu Yulong, who was eliminated miserably when he was in the top 32 because Shang Tianhao used a silver hook to pierce his clothes and knocked his sword off.

　　For today's quarterfinals, everyone came to the martial arts arena early to prepare. Yu Lingfeng and his group, who had been missing for the past few days, finally appeared in front of Pang Jun. In addition to Yu Lingfeng, there was of course Yue Siwan, the little slut. When Pang Jun greeted Songshan and his group, Yue Siwan's face unconsciously turned a little red with embarrassment.

　　"Hello, Mr. Liu, congratulations on making it into the top eight." Yue Siwan congratulated Pang Jun.

　　"It's all luck, it's all luck." Pang Jun said modestly.

　　After a round of greetings, Yu Lingfeng said, "I'm sorry, Brother Liu, some elders from the sect are here and we need to go to their place. We'll take our leave first."

　　"Okay, see you later."

　　"See you later." The group from Songshan just left. When Yue Siwan left, she turned her head and glanced at Pang Jun. The affectionate look in her eyes was enough to melt the hearts of most men.

　　After the people from Songshan Sect left, a childish voice came from behind Pang Jun: "Liu, Brother Liu."

　　Pang Jun turned his head and saw a girl who was about the same age as the Linglong sisters. She had long and slender eyebrows and a mouthful of teeth that looked like broken jade, extremely crystal clear. She exuded a youthful and lively aura. It was the little girl Yue'er from that day. Today, she was wearing women's clothes and had regained her original appearance. She was even more lovely and charming, which made Pang Jun's appetite increase. Unfortunately, she was accompanied by several guards today. These guards were all experts in external martial arts. If they really started fighting, Pang Jun would be in a thankless position and there was no need to do it.

　　So he smiled and said to Yue'er, "Yue'er, why are you here?"

　　Seeing Pang Jun's happy expression, Yue'er narrowed her eyes happily. She said, "I came to watch the quarterfinals of the martial arts competition today. Brother Liu, why are you here? Are you here to watch the competition as well?"

　　Pang Jun shook his head: "I'm not here to watch the game, I'm here to compete."

　　At this time, Yue Er was even more surprised, with a flash of excitement in her beautiful eyes: "Really?! Brother Liu, you are awesome, keep it up."

　　At this time, the people from the Ministry of War began to call the roll. Pang Jun said to Yue'er, "I'm going to call the roll now. We'll talk about it when we have a chance."

　　"Yeah!" Yue'er nodded heavily and watched Pang Jun leave.

　　A man standing next to Yue'er watched Pang Jun raise his hand to call a guard, and whispered a few words into the guard's ear. The guard nodded and left.

　　In the quarterfinals, Pang Jun's opponent today is Shang Tianhao, known as "Ling Xiao Gou" from the Dian Cang school. Shang Tianhao is nearly thirty this year, which should be a mature period for a man, but his fighting style is that of a young and vigorous man, with ruthless and merciless attacks. Pang Jun intended to test him at first and did not attack but only passively defended. Shang Tianhao's moves were sharp and he almost hit him several times. The scene was full of danger. Yue Siwan and Yue'er, who were concerned about Pang Jun, looked at Pang Jun worriedly, fearing that he would be defeated if he was not careful.

　　After about fifty moves, Pang Jun discovered that Shang Tianhao's attacks had begun to weaken, and his speed was not as fast as before. He judged that the time had come, and his eyes became sharp. He turned from defense to offense, and when Shang Tianhao's horizontal hook missed and he was at the end of his strength, he kicked him away with a whip kick, and immediately followed up with another sword, finally putting the tip of the sword against Shang Tianhao's neck.

　　The referee saw this and shouted, "Qinzhou Liu Jun wins!"

　　Seeing Pang Jun's victory, Yue Siwan finally put her worries at ease, while Yue'er shouted happily: "Great, Brother Liu won!"

　　Pang Jun bowed to the audience and Shang Tianhao, said "thank you", and then left the venue with the referee.

　　When Pang Jun left, Yue'er was already waiting for him at the exit. She said excitedly, "Brother Liu, your martial arts are so amazing. I know you will definitely win, right?"

　　Pang Jun smiled and reached out his hand to touch Yue'er's head, but he suddenly remembered the guards beside Yue'er and knew that Yue'er was not an ordinary child, so he stopped and said, "You think too much, it's not that easy. Those who entered the top eight are all elite masters. Let's wait and see how they fight."

　　"Okay, let's go see it together." Yue'er nodded and took Pang Jun to her place.

　　Yue Siwan had been secretly following Pang Jun's movements. When she saw him with a pretty girl, the girl knew he was not an ordinary person just by looking at his appearance. She felt sad. It was true. He was so elegant, handsome, and talented in both literature and martial arts. He would definitely be an outstanding person in the future. How many noble girls had thrown themselves at him? How could he fall for a girl from the Jianghu like me? Thinking of this, she looked at Pang Jun unconsciously.

　　At this moment, Pang Jun also found Yue Siwan in the crowd. He looked at Yue Siwan, and his gentle smile appeared on his face again. Then he took out the sachet Yue Siwan gave him from his arms. This action made Yue Siwan's uneasy heart calm down immediately: He still cares about me! He was inexplicably excited, smiled at Pang Jun, and then watched the game peacefully.

　　In the other matchups in the quarterfinals, Qin Yi's opponent was Hou Wendu of the Shenquan Sect, Yu Lingfeng's opponent was Guo Sheng, the son of General Guo Huai, and Shangguan Yi faced Lin Rui of the Changsheng Sect. The results were: Qin Yi and Yu Lingfeng both defeated their opponents, while Shangguan Yi unexpectedly lost to the unknown Lin Rui. In this way, the top four seats in the martial arts competition were born, namely Qin Yi from the military, who will face Yu Lingfeng from the Songshan Sect, and Lin Rui from the Changsheng Sect will face Liu Jun from Qinzhou.

　　Before the competition, Pang Jun and Lin Rui were both unknown figures, so in the gambling game that started in the top 64 in Beijing, the odds of Lin Rui and Pang Jun were not high. But when the top four were born, their odds rose sharply, but they were still not as good as Qin Yi and Yu Lingfeng on the other side. Their battle was called an early decisive battle.

　　After saying goodbye to Yue'er, Pang Jun returned to the inn and took the time to rest and prepare for tomorrow's semi-finals. He watched Lin Rui's game today and realized that Lin Rui was not an easy opponent, so he didn't even enjoy the Linglong sisters in the evening. After taking a shower and having a meal, he began to rest and prepare for new challenges.