Without exception, the Earth Bear was sent flying again. This time, however, Jiang Feng held back even more and did not injure it.
Knight Number Forty-Five staggered to his feet. He hesitated for a few seconds, then finally sighed and said, "I concede."
That brief exchange had told him he was absolutely no match for Jiang Feng. If he continued, he would not merely lose the match; he might also be injured, and most of his equipment would probably be destroyed.
The match ended, and the referee announced the result. "Match five: Number One wins. Number Forty-Five is eliminated."
Knight Number Forty-Five looked at his badly damaged shield. After sending his mount back to its space, he left the Trial Arena dejectedly.
Ding! Battle concluded. The host has defeated a Fourth Order professional. Calculating rewards. Ding! Congratulations! The host has received 100 system coins. Current system coin balance: 900.
Jiang Feng returned to the competitors' area, cupping Dragon Baby in both hands and teasing it with effortless composure, as though the match had been nothing more than a brief appearance to go through the motions.
Among the dozen or so people seated on the dais, the old man in the center nodded and said, "This child is promising. He's wearing an Inheritance Ring. I wonder whose disciple he is."
Someone beside him asked, "Do we have any powerful spear-wielding knights in our temple?"
"I haven't paid attention to that. He looks less than twenty years old. Someone, fetch his registration details," the old man in the center said.
"Yes."
In the competitors' area, Yang Wenzhao smiled. "Brother Jiang, congratulations on advancing to the next round."
Jiang Feng nodded, wondering whether he should tell Yang Wenzhao about his seniority.
Jiang Feng's teacher belonged to the same generation as Yang Wenzhao's grandfather, which put Jiang Feng a generation above Yang Wenzhao.
What's this 'Brother Jiang' business? Call me Uncle Jiang from now on, please.
"Preliminary round three, match six: Number Five versus Number Ninety-Seven."
With his match over, Jiang Feng had been about to return to the hotel to cultivate. But when he heard Long Haochen's number called, he stayed to watch his match.
Fifth Order experts had appeared in two consecutive matches, leaving the Fourth Order knights anxious. They feared their number would be called next and they, too, would face a Fifth Order opponent.
"Go on. Fight steadily. You're my disciple," Ye Hua told Long Haochen.
"Yes. You taught me never to lose confidence, no matter how powerful my opponent is," Long Haochen said with a smile.
Long Haochen's opponent was tall, standing around 1.9 meters, with thick, short brown hair that curled naturally. He held a broadsword in his right hand and a heavy shield in his left.
To the competitors' surprise, Knight Number Four wore no armor and looked at Long Haochen with undisguised disdain.
From Knight Number Five's appearance, Jiang Feng could tell that this fellow was Han Yu, the grandson of Han Ci, deputy master of the Knight Temple and commander of the Temple Knights.
"Ah, this poor kid," Jiang Feng sighed.
Han Yu's Innate Spiritual Power was sixty-three, which made him reasonably talented even across the entire Temple Alliance. But he had no clear understanding of himself. Was only reaching the Fifth Order in his twenties really something to be so proud of? Did it justify such arrogance?
Of course, if he had not been unlucky enough to meet fortune's chosen son, Long Haochen, he would have had no trouble reaching the finals with his strength. But someone had to serve as a backdrop to the chosen one's brilliance.
Jiang Feng watched the situation unfold in the arena: the clichéd chosen one was first suppressed, endured it, and then seized an opportunity to finish his opponent in a single burst.
By the end of the match, Jiang Feng had a rough understanding of Long Haochen's strength. He turned and left the Trial Arena.
The remaining matches held little interest. Although battles between Fourth Order knights were fierce, their level of strength was what it was, and Jiang Feng found them uninteresting.
As for the Fifth Order Knights, all their opponents were Fourth Order. Apart from Han Ci's embarrassing grandson, they could crush their opponents and advance to the next round even while holding back.
Today's matches had determined the top nineteen. Together with the one competitor who received a bye this round, twenty remained. The fourth preliminary round would take place tomorrow, deciding the top ten who would enter the finals.
The next day, Jiang Feng once again arrived early at the Knight Trial Grounds and waited for the matches to begin.
Whether the draw had been manipulated behind the scenes or simply happened that way, the four Fifth Order Knights, including Jiang Feng, Yang Wenzhao, and Duan Yi, were not matched against one another. Their opponents were all Fourth Order again.
"Preliminary round four, match two: Number One versus Number Fifteen."
The fight ended in under two minutes. Even though Jiang Feng had held back, the gap between the Fifth Order and Fourth Order was simply too great to overcome.
Of course, Long Haochen and Han Yu's match yesterday had been an exception.
Besides, Jiang Feng was no ordinary fifth-order knight. Even among those of the fifth order, he had few rivals.
Ding! Battle concluded. The host has defeated a Fourth Order Knight. Calculating rewards. Ding! Congratulations! The host has received 100 system coins.
Even the smallest gain was still a gain, and Jiang Feng was not about to turn it down. After all, it had only taken two minutes in the arena. He could treat it as casually picking up a hundred coins.
Aside from the four of them, Long Haochen and Li Xin also advanced to the finals. Neither faced a particularly strong opponent, so the results were never in doubt.
The Preliminary Round was now all but finished, and the top ten competitors from the Knight Temple had been decided.
Unexpectedly, Long Haochen and Li Xin, both from remote Haoyue City, had advanced together. They could be called the biggest dark horses of this year's Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament.
The Temple Alliance had a total of 127 medium-sized or larger cities. By standing out among those 127 cities, Haoyue City had attracted the attention of many senior figures.
Even Ye Hua's normally lifeless Zombie Face looked a little brighter.
Of course, Starjoy City, which Jiang Feng represented, was also remote. In previous tournaments, it had barely registered at all, and no one from the city had reached the finals in decades.
As one of the handful of Fifth Order competitors, Jiang Feng had single-handedly brought Starjoy City plenty of prestige.
Next came the Knight Temple's internal ranking tournament. These matches were not especially important, since the finalists had already been decided. For the competitors, the rankings were more a matter of honor. Higher placements also earned rewards, but those were monetary.
What particularly tempted Jiang Feng was that the top three competitors would each receive a piece of Spirit Demon Level Equipment.
After all, Jiang Feng had yet to even handle Spirit Demon Level Equipment.
Previously, he had been unwilling to waste gold coins. He had considered the possibility that someone might bid on the Mysterious Stone Ball at the Aimei City auction, so he had saved all his gold to prepare for any unexpected developments.
In the end, the auction item had cost only ten thousand gold coins, but Jiang Feng had spent the remaining gold on magic crystals to feed Dragon Baby.
Although he still had some money now, it was nowhere near enough to buy a piece of Spirit Demon Level Equipment.
An ordinary piece of Spirit Demon Level Equipment cost several thousand gold coins, while exceptionally rare pieces could sell for tens of thousands.
So, since the matches would not take much time and could also earn him system coins, he could not afford to miss a single one.
Today was the fifth day of the Preliminary Round. With four knights withdrawing from the upcoming ranking tournament, there were only three matches left to hold.
The draw began. The first match was Number Two versus Number Ninety-Seven.
Number Ninety-Seven was Long Haochen, while Number Two was Yang Wenzhao.
Jiang Feng predicted that Yang Wenzhao might suffer a bloody calamity tonight.
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