At the sound of that voice, Yang Wenzhao shuddered and abruptly looked up. Sure enough, it was her.
Sheng Cai'er wore a purple dress and held her Green Bamboo Staff as she slowly walked in.
Long Haochen perked up and turned around almost reflexively. The moment he saw Sheng Cai'er, he hurried over to greet her.
"Cai'er, you really came." Long Haochen approached and reached for Sheng Cai'er's wrist.
Watching this, Yang Wenzhao's expression darkened as he recalled the undeserved disaster he had suffered five days earlier.
Li Xin, meanwhile, stared in astonishment, wondering when her little brother had managed to get close to such a pretty young girl.
"Heh." Jiang Feng chuckled. When he was little, he had envied the pure affection between those two.
"Martial Uncle, aren't you angry?" Hearing Jiang Feng laugh, Yang Wenzhao couldn't help asking in confusion.
"Angry about what? They're just a couple of kids. If I'm going to be angry at anyone, it's that old bastard Saint Moon," Jiang Feng said casually.
As long as he set aside Sheng Cai'er's earlier baffling behavior, Jiang Feng actually felt there was nothing wrong with the two of them.
Yang Wenzhao thought it over. Sheng Cai'er had indeed already stopped that day, only for Saint Moon to arrive and injure Jiang Feng without bothering to find out what had happened.
"That's true."
Jiang Feng quietly watched the scene before him, a restless feeling stirring in his heart. He glanced at Jiang Xinran beside him.
Jiang Xinran had no idea why and asked, "What are you looking at me for?"
"Because you're pretty." Jiang Feng smiled.
"Oh." Jiang Xinran immediately flushed at his words. She answered softly and hurriedly averted her eyes.
A little while later, an old man in a pale gold fitted outfit stepped onto the platform in the center of the assembly hall.
The old man was powerfully built, his graying hair standing on end and his fierce eyes radiating authority.
"All contestants are present. The group allocation ceremony will now begin. All contestants will retain their preliminary round numbers. I believe you already understand the format of the finals, so I won't repeat it. We will now draw lots. Once the groups are assigned, you will head to the Trial Arena to begin the first round."
As the old man spoke, a huge crystal sphere slowly rose from beneath the platform. Its top bore labels numbered one through six.
The sixty numbered orange balls inside the crystal sphere began bouncing violently before flying out through its six openings and dropping into the six crystal pillars surrounding it.
The groups were soon assigned. The old man announced in a ringing voice, "I am Ren Wokuang, deputy master of the Warrior Temple. I will now read out the results of the draw."
Ren Wokuang merely beckoned, and the ten orange balls in the crystal pillar marked one flew out, hovering in a row before him.
"Finals, group one: Knight Number One, Warrior Number One, Mage Number One, Summoner Number One, Priest Number Eighteen, Assassin Number Eleven, Warrior Number Two..."
Jiang Feng wasn't the only one stunned by the list. All the contestants, along with the senior figures on the hall's second floor, froze as well.
A single group had brought together the number-one contestants from four great temples, and it contained five Fifth Order experts in total.
This was nothing short of a group of death.
Lin Xin's expression was particularly grim. He had originally hoped to scrape his way into the Top Sixteen, but now it seemed there was no point even trying.
"That concludes the list for group one. Please stand. The staff will lead you to the competition venue to begin the first round of the Round-Robin Tournament."
Jiang Feng looked at Jiang Xinran and said, "I'll head over first."
"All right. See you in the Top Sixteen." Jiang Xinran smiled.
Jiang Feng nodded, then patted Lin Xin on the shoulder. They stood together and followed the staff to the Trial Arena.
Lin Xin smacked his forehead and said with a bitter smile, "What kind of rotten luck is this?"
"Haha, don't lose heart, Brother Lin. Show them the confidence of the number-one mage," Jiang Feng said with a laugh.
Group one's matches would take place at the Knight Trial Grounds, making it home turf for Jiang Feng, since he was the only knight in the entire group.
Jiang Feng noticed that many of the contestants in this group were quite distinctive.
Among them, a man and a woman each carried an enormous shield on their backs, taller than they were.
The man in particular stood over two meters tall. His muscles looked as hard as granite, and his resolute face seemed chiseled from stone. He appeared to be around twenty.
His build was even more imposing than that of another bald, muscular hulk wearing a mage's robe.
There was also a petite girl with delicate features who looked frail and gentle.
Before long, Jiang Feng and the others arrived at the Knight Trial Grounds, where they drew lots again to determine the order of their matches.
The group Round-Robin Tournament would last nine days. Each of the ten contestants would fight the other nine once, and their final rankings would be determined by their number of wins. The top two would advance.
Those who placed third could only compare their results with the third-place contestants from the other groups. The four with the best results out of the six groups would also advance, joining the others to make up the Top Sixteen.
"First match: Jiang Feng versus Wang Yuanyuan. Enter the arena."
The referee was a Seventh Order Temple Knight with formidable strength, though Jiang Feng didn't know whether he was a Mythril Foundation Knight.
Jiang Feng stood and entered the Trial Arena. Across from him, a spirited woman over 1.7 meters tall walked onto the Trial Arena with an enormous shield on her back.
Wang Yuanyuan. The moment Jiang Feng saw her shield, he recognized her as the future warrior of Long Haochen's Crown Prince Group.
But as far as Jiang Feng remembered, this girl should have been in Long Haochen's group.
Still, that didn't matter. He just had to fight.
"Begin." After announcing the start, the referee retreated to the edge of the arena.
Jiang Feng took his twin swords and armor out of his Storage Ring. All three pieces of equipment were magic level.
Previously, Jiang Feng's spear had been destroyed in his fight against Duan Yi, while Saint Moon had shattered his armor with a single slap.
The equipment Jiang Feng wore now was the last of what he owned. If it was damaged, he would have nothing left to replace it with.
Yet looking at the Giant Spirit God's Shield in Wang Yuanyuan's hands, Jiang Feng realized with dismay that his weapons would probably end up destroyed anyway.
That thought reminded Jiang Feng that the top ten contestants in the preliminary round would each receive a piece of equipment from their respective temples. It seemed he needed to find time to collect his reward.
Wang Yuanyuan took the shield off her back and held it across her body, shouting at Jiang Feng, "Summon your mount!"
Jiang Feng shook his head. "No need."
Wang Yuanyuan mistook Jiang Feng's answer for disdain and snapped, "How arrogant!"
Even if he was Knight Number One, wasn't she Warrior Two, one of the top three in the Warrior Temple's preliminary round?
Wang Yuanyuan glared, then charged at Jiang Feng with a shout. Silver Spiritual Power surged around her, revealing her status as a Fifth Order professional.
Jiang Feng remained calm and unsurprised. With both swords in hand, he lunged forward, moving far faster than Wang Yuanyuan and closing the distance despite starting later.
When they were ten meters apart, Wang Yuanyuan suddenly leaped into the air. Holding her shield in one hand, she descended and slashed it toward Jiang Feng.
This was a fucking shield warrior?
Before you continue