The Cloud Platform Competition, although it's called that now and has its own set of rituals and rules, with each bout having esteemed figures placing bets, and is significant enough to influence the seating of the Nine Major Sects. But actually, back when the sword tournaments were held within Mount Jiuyin's inner circle, there weren't so many frills.
According to Xuantian, it used to be that when two people met on the mountain path, neither would give way. One would say, "Fight?" The other would say, "Fight!" And then they would begin.
However, nowadays, everyone is more civilized. Even killing has to have a rationale. As fellow disciples of the Xuanmen, comparing skills publicly isn't exactly appropriate to end like before, where killing someone, stripping them of treasures, and tossing the body into a ravine would conclude it.
So now, the Cloud Platform Competition is generally divided into three stages, the first being mountain climbing.
Climbing Mount Jiuyin.
