From a doorway deeper into the hall, behind the Kang Clan members, a small group walked out. At the lead of the group was a young girl, with a fresh face and a slim physique. She wore an elaborate red dress, the traditional wedding dress in this world. Her hair and makeup weren’t at all lacking in comparison to her dress. Her cheeks were flushed slightly with a blush. She had a shy and demure look on her face, though the thin veil she wore made it harder to see.

It wasn’t just the woman in the front, there were also a half dozen other ladies following along behind her, each also wearing a red wedding dress and veil. They walked up to where the Kang Clan had gathered and then into the center of the hall. Then the group moved into a single file line and slowly walked around the edge of the ‘arena’ walking past each of the tables in the hall. After doing a single lap they returned to the Kang Clan area where a pair of tables were waiting for them to take a seat. After sitting down the Elder walked out and made another announcement.

“Now that you’ve seen the beauty and grace of the eligible ladies of our Kang Clan, it’s time for the Husband Selection Tournament! All of you willing and suitable young men, come forth to compete for their hand.”

Sage was of course surprised by the turn of events. He vaguely remembered seeing mention of such an event in his intelligence reports, but he barely glossed over it. The information network was built around collecting rumors and current events. The information they had on traditions, or past history were very sparse in comparison. Their agents would have no idea how much or how little they knew, so they might expect things to be common knowledge and not bother to send it along. Only if they made the request to gather information about a specific subject and spread it to all the Little Birds would they acquire so called common knowledge.

The even more surprising thing was that the girl in the lead was one that he recognized. Kang Min. The petite lady that had wielded a huge Nine Ring Saber back at the Thunder Mountain Bridge Tournament. He’d known she was in the Kang Clan, and likely one of the best in their younger generation, but he had no idea she’d be involved in such an event like this.

After the Elder made his announcement, a couple dozen Kang Clan members walked out towards the central stage. Just as many came straight out of the larger crowd and joined in. The three Strongfist Brothers looked at Sage and he could only smile and nod. Black Saber looked eager to participate, but he wasn’t as young as he looked. He’d run the Blood Saber Gang for centuries and the crowd in the arena were all young men. The other older cultivators like him had chosen not to step forward so Black Saber had to blend in. It wasn’t a taboo among cultivators to have partners with drastically different ages, many powerful cultivators would take dozens of mortal wives. On the other hand, it also wasn’t something to be proud of.

The Elder made another call to invite the young bachelors into the selection tournament and getting a few more stragglers to join in. Then he spread his aura over the field of participants and pointed his finger at the ground. At a spot across from where the Kang Clan was sitting and directly in the center path that led into the hall, a large stone pillar rose up out of the ground. The Elder waved his finger and many characters began to emerge upon the stone pillar. After a few moments the Elder lowered his hand. The stone pillar was covered with names down the sides with small lines connecting them. With just a short look, it was easy to recognize: a tournament bracket.

“The top twenty will have a chance to vie for our Kang Clan ladies!”

The Elder went on to explain the rules, there was to be no killing or maiming, it was only a tournament after all. Afterwards, the matches began and Sage drank and ate some more, watching the battles and making notes. There were many of the most powerful and influential groups in the Bronze Tiger province present here, and this gave him a good look at the strength of their younger generation. It may not be a completely accurate gauge of the powers as a whole, but it was at least a glimpse of the methods they used.

The tournament progressed rapidly, the initial 80 or so participants each only needed to battle two times to get into the top twenty. For the first round they split the arena into quarters with a protective array and conducted four fights at a time. In the second round, they let the fighters use the whole arena and the twenty battles had everyone’s full attention. The final twenty had thus been seen in battle by everyone present and earned a little respect and name recognition.

Now, there were twenty men and seven ladies. The Elder came back to the stage and this time the seven ladies, in their red dresses, were following him. The girls stood in a line and the Elder looked over the twenty men, “Time for the true Husband Selection. The Kang Clan will not give over its daughters to a weakling. In the tradition of our Kang Clan, if you wish to marry one of our women, you must first be strong enough to defeat her.”

Haha, marital survival of the fittest.

Sage was looking forward to seeing some guys get their butts kicked by women and he wasn’t disappointed. The Elder used a lottery to pick out men from the top 20. When he did, the man could pick one of the ladies and have a duel with her. If he won, they would be betrothed. If he lost, he had to step back. If there were any women left after the 20 had a chance, and if he had the guts, he could try again.

The first man that went up pursued Kang Min, and he was dreadfully outclassed. As soon as the petite lady drew out her six foot long Nine Ringed Saber, she changed completely in demeanor. She looked like a fierce warrior who laughed at death and welcomed injury. She nearly chopped the guy into bits before the Elder called off the fight. She used the battle as a warning, staring daggers at the other men and daring them all to challenge her again. Most chose wisely and pursued the other women. Some of the women would utterly smash apart one guy, and then another who was much weaker would defeat them.

Sage laughed as he could tell that the women would hold back a bit to show their favor. None of them ever gave in entirely, but it seemed if they liked you they were allowed to restrain themselves. Another three fellows tried for Kang Min, but she smashed all of them quite ruthlessly. When the other women defeated the men, at least they were left in a shape where they could keep competing. Kang Min, on the other hand, made sure that if they came after her they left the arena on a stretcher.

Three of the six women, other than Kang Min, were betrothed during the first round of challenges, and only one of them looked displeased. With four incapacitated by Kang Min, and three paired up, the remaining thirteen men were free to try again. Five of them were embarrassed to be beat by the women and had already left the stage. The other eight were shameless enough to make another attempt, but the women were far less kind this time. The men were challenging different women, and the women did not take kindly to being a second choice. Only one of the eight was successful, and it was a bitter struggle. In the second round the women didn’t just use a single weapon or defensive treasure, they pulled out at least three or four each. The only successful male in the second round had to pull out a dozen of his own treasures, winning through his wealth.

Wealth was also a form of strength and so the Kang Clan didn’t stop this. At the end of the Husband Selection Tournament, the stone pillar sunk back into the ground and four of the Kang Clan women were betrothed. Two of the winning men were also Kang Clan members, so only two of the outsider groups had been successful in winning a deeper relationship with the Kang Clan in the future. Sage found the whole proceeding quite interesting. It was quite common for people to be in arranged marriages in this world, and the Kang Clan’s method was at least interesting. He asked Gao Yahui and found out that this event was an annual one. Kang Min had been in the event for five years in a row, but no one had been strong enough to defeat her. As long as she could keep winning the Kang Clan wouldn’t force her into a marriage.

What an unusual method to encourage clan members to grow stronger.