The Knockout Round Begins

Yue Hongchen breathed a sigh of relief and told them about his fight with Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo that day.

Afraid Meng Hongchen wouldn't believe him, he also called Xiao Ka out to back him up.

As soon as Xiao Ka appeared, she wore a mischievous grin. When Meng Hongchen asked if that was what had happened, Xiao Ka quickly put on an innocent face. "Xiao Ka doesn't know. Yiren sealed off his Sea of Consciousness today, so Xiao Ka couldn't see what was happening outside."

Yue Hongchen's expression darkened the more he heard. How was the story getting worse with every retelling?

Hearing Xiao Ka's words, Meng Hongchen was suddenly overwhelmed with hurt. Her eyes reddened in an instant, and tears welled up in them.

The next moment, a crystal-clear tear slid down her cheek.

Yue Hongchen panicked. He hurriedly hugged Meng Hongchen and reached out to wipe away the tear at the corner of her eye.

Meng Hongchen struggled in his arms and tried to push him away, but Yue Hongchen refused to let go.

"I'm sorry. I was wrong." Yue Hongchen was a blunt, clueless sort and had no idea what to do. All he knew was that she was crying, so whatever the reason, it had to be his fault.

Seeing that things seemed to be getting out of hand, Xiao Ka hurried over to them. "I'm sorry, Meng. I was only joking just now. The strands of hair on Yiren really did come from those twin sisters with hair-type Martial Souls. They were left behind when he broke their Martial Soul Fusion Skill."

Seeing how flustered they were, Meng Hongchen suddenly burst out laughing. She rubbed her eyes. "Really? Then I'll forgive you this time."

Actually, when Yue Hongchen hugged her, she could tell from his eyes that her brother hadn't lied. But for some reason, she still wanted to cry and see just how important she was to him.

Yue Hongchen paid no mind to the rest. He just held her tightly and murmured, "As long as you're all right. I won't upset you again."

"Okay!" Meng Hongchen laughed, her eyes still red.

Ning Tian and Wu Feng stared at the scene, wide-eyed. All sorts of thoughts ran through their minds until they settled on one: siblings.

"You... you two..." Ning Tian pointed at them with a trembling finger, then turned away as if she'd seen something she shouldn't have.

Wu Feng glared furiously at Yue Hongchen, as though he were a scumbag.

"Um, Ning Tian, Wu Feng, it's not what you think." Meng Hongchen left Yue Hongchen's arms and went over to explain. "My brother's an orphan. My grandfather brought him to the Hongchen Family when he was just born. We aren't related by blood. You can tell from our Martial Souls."

Ning Tian thought it over carefully. It was true. One of them had a sword Martial Soul, while the other had a Vermilion Clear Ice Toad. No matter how much they mutated, a Beast Martial Soul couldn't turn into an item-type Martial Soul.

"Then, when Student Yue said last time that he was the heir to Mingde Hall..." Ning Tian asked, voicing her doubt.

"About that." Yue Hongchen came over to explain what he'd said before. "Senior Sister Xiaoya kept pestering me to join the Tang Sect, so I borrowed Xiao's status as the heir for a while."

"Xiao?"

"Xiao Hongchen. My biological brother," Meng Hongchen explained.

"But what my brother said isn't wrong, either. Once he marries me, it'll be no trouble to have Grandpa pass Mingde Hall on to him. Then we can make Xiao work for us. Hehe, just thinking about it makes me happy!"

The two girls didn't really know what to make of that, so they simply smiled and nodded. Why did they get the feeling that Xiao Hongchen was a little pitiful?

But that was none of their business. The important thing was that Yue and Meng weren't blood relatives. They'd almost thought they'd really met someone who wouldn't even spare his own little sister...

"All right, as long as we've cleared things up." Yue Hongchen waved a hand. "Today's fight wasn't easy. Huo Yuhao probably won't have time to set up his stall, so we'll head back first. See you tomorrow."

Ning Tian nodded. After saying goodbye, she and Wu Feng headed toward their dormitory, while Yue took Meng and Xiao Ka back to his courtyard.

The next day, the academy needed time to tally the students' results, so the knockout round was scheduled for the following day. Yue didn't drag Meng off to train again. Instead, he spent the day with her and Xiao Ka, touring all of Shrek City. It was all nice, but somehow even more exhausting than training. Fortunately, he had a Storage Soul Tool. Otherwise, there was no way he could have carried everything Meng and Xiao Ka bought with just his two hands.

At last, the day of the knockout round arrived. Yue helped the drowsy Meng wash up, then carried her all the way to the examination area.

The girl was having one of her usual mornings. He'd spent ages trying to wake her, but she wouldn't get up.

She didn't finally wake until they reached the examination area. After meeting up with Ning Tian and Wu Feng, Meng leaned against Yue and ate the breakfast he'd prepared for her.

A little over thirty teachers stood in a line outside the examination area. Mu Jin finally relaxed when Yue came into view. With him, Class Nine had all made it; unlike a certain someone, whose face was now terrifyingly dark.

Du Wilun, the Martial Soul Department's dean of studies, was calling roll. When he called Huo Yuhao of Freshman Class One, there was no answer. He called again, but still got nothing. The next student from Freshman Class One, Wang Dong, was also absent.

It was the first time anyone had skipped the knockout round without a valid reason. Many teachers and students began whispering among themselves. Even if they'd passed the freshman assessment, failing to show up for the knockout round was rather disrespectful to the academy.

It wasn't until roll call for Freshman Class Six was complete that two disheveled figures came hurrying over.

Du Wilun's anger surged at once. He snapped his roll book shut, clasped his hands behind his back, and strode toward them.

"That's Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. What were they doing? They're late, and their uniforms are all crooked." Ning Tian watched the two being scolded by Du Wilun, puzzled.

She didn't know Wang Dong very well, but she knew a little about Huo Yuhao. He trained harder than anyone.

Yue Hongchen glanced casually at Huo Yuhao, then turned his gaze back to Meng Hongchen, who was nibbling on a bun like a little hamster. Her cheeks were puffed out. How was that so cute?

He couldn't resist poking her cheek, then answered Ning Tian's question. "Something seems different about their auras. They must've made some progress in their cultivation and arrived late because of it. Maybe they'll surprise us."

At that, Ning Tian studied the two of them again, but still couldn't see anything unusual.

Still, since Yue Hongchen had said so, she would probably get to see what they'd been working on during the knockout round.

Meng Hongchen finished breakfast, and Yue Hongchen carefully wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth. Du Wilun resumed calling roll.

By the time roll call ended, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were the only freshmen who had been late. Their homeroom teacher, Zhou Yi, looked as black as coal.

After sending back the students who hadn't made it into the top sixty-four, the knockout round officially began.

All sixty-four teams would compete together, with one match in the morning and one in the afternoon over three days. The chances of teams from the same class facing one another also increased significantly.

Yue and Meng went to draw their numbers from Du Wilun. Yue got number one, while Meng got number thirty-three. Fortunately, they hadn't drawn each other. Yue didn't want Meng to be eliminated in the round of sixty-four; if that happened, he'd be the one to suffer afterward.

In the knockout round's first stage, sixty-four teams would be cut down to thirty-two. Since Yue Hongchen had drawn number one, he was assigned to the first arena. As luck would have it, Wang Yan was the examiner there.

His opponents were three Soul Grandmasters: one assault type, one control type, and one support type. Their teamwork had improved by more than a single level over the course of the previous matches.

They'd heard some rumors about Yue Hongchen, but they'd made it into the knockout round, and he was alone. They didn't think he could defeat them in one move.

What they didn't know was that Yue Hongchen had used his Soul Skills in the earlier matches to learn what they could do. Now he understood all three of his Soul Skills inside and out, and had no desire to waste time standing around. He still had to hurry over and watch his younger sister's match.

The second Wang Yan announced, "The assessment begins," Yue Hongchen swung his sword once and walked off the platform without looking back.

The three opponents hadn't even reacted before a sword slash erupted at their feet. The powerful gust of air sent all three flying off the stage.