After the top five had been decided, the remaining matches did not begin immediately. Having just fought, the contestants needed some rest. The academy had scheduled the matches to determine their rankings for the afternoon, so everyone ate lunch before returning to the Martial Arts Arena.
The ranking matches for the five contestants were simple. Their opponents would be decided by drawing lots. Since there was an odd number of contestants, one slot would be blank. Whoever drew that slot would advance directly, while the remaining four would fight in pairs to determine the top three. Those three would compete in the same manner until the final champion was decided.
When it was nearly time, Hu Gan stood in the center of the Martial Arts Arena with a box in his hands and announced, "There are five slips of paper in here, each bearing one of your names. I will draw them at random. The first and second people drawn will fight, as will the third and fourth. The fifth contestant, whose name is not drawn, will advance directly through the first round."
Xiao Fan was rather surprised by the rules Hu Gan announced. He had assumed they would at least need to go up and draw their own opponents, but Hu Gan had simply dispensed with that step.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Hu Gan drew the first slip from the box, glanced at it casually, and called out, "Xiao Fan."
Hearing the crowd's cheers, Hu Gan smiled and drew another slip, reading out the name. "Wu Hao." The next names were Xiao Yan and Hu Jia. There was no need to check the fifth slip. Xun'er received a bye and advanced directly through the first round.
Then Xiao Fan and Wu Hao stepped onto the Competition Stage once more.