Someone Had to Win

Among the Warrior Temple's contestants in this year's Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament, there were three fifth-order warriors. Besides Wang Yuanyuan and Wang Ming, there was another named Dian Yan.

As far as Jiang Feng remembered, although Dian Yan was at the fifth order, his strength was nothing outstanding. He was nowhere near Wang Yuanyuan's level.

But Wang Yuanyuan knew nothing about defense, and what Jiang Feng needed was a shield warrior who could help him protect the team's mages.

After his match, Jiang Feng left the Knight Trial Grounds without lingering. He went to a small weapons shop in Holy City and bought two knight greatswords for a total of twenty gold coins.

The swords he bought were made of refined iron and counted as ordinary equipment. They did not even qualify as alloy equipment.

He was broke now. Who could have known that today's fight would destroy three pieces of equipment, costing him nearly three thousand gold coins? It hurt like hell.

Still, refined iron swords would do. He could hardly enter the Trial Arena empty-handed. How embarrassing would that be?

Whatever else he might be, Jiang Feng was a proper knight, trained by Yang Haoyu, the Knight Temple's foremost retribution knight. He had to look the part. He ought to use swords, or a spear at most. He could hardly fight his opponents barehanded.

If people from the other temples saw that, wouldn't they call Yang Haoyu stingy, unwilling to give his own disciple so much as a weapon?

The tournament schedule was tight right now, and Jiang Feng had no time to approach the temple's higher-ups to collect his reward.

The top ten in the preliminary round were each rewarded with a piece of spirit demon level equipment!

He remembered that after the round-robin tournament, Long Haochen's equipment had been badly damaged. He had gone to the Temple Treasure Pavilion to retrieve the Blue Rain Hibiscus of Light, spending three days there in total.

Jiang Feng figured that, given his performance and his teacher Yang Haoyu's standing, the Knight Temple's higher-ups could hardly brush him off with some ordinary piece of spirit demon level equipment.

So, to avoid delaying his matches, he decided to wait until the round-robin tournament ended before collecting his reward.

Even without equipment, he would pound his way to victory with his fists.

Besides, Jiang Feng's fists might well be tougher than spirit demon level equipment.

Not long after the third match ended, Jiang Feng met up with Jiang Xinran to return to the hotel together.

On the way, Jiang Feng spotted a teenage boy and girl.

The boy wore a fitted outfit, his black hair tied behind his head. He was carefully supporting a delicate-looking girl.

The girl wore a long purple dress that complemented her slender figure, and her pale purple hair danced in the breeze.

They were Long Haochen and Sheng Cai'er.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Xinran asked when she saw Jiang Feng staring blankly ahead.

"Nothing." Jiang Feng smiled faintly and looked at Jiang Xinran beside him.

Honestly, setting aside what had happened a few days ago, Jiang Feng thought the scene before him was rather lovely. He even felt a little envious of Long Haochen.

The kid had landed such a gorgeous girl at his age.

Seriously, who could turn down a girlfriend who was beautiful and capable, had a powerful background, and, most importantly, loved you to pieces?

Jiang Feng, for one, certainly couldn't have turned her down.

"Pfft. So young, and already up to no good. Of all the things he could do, he had to start dating." Jiang Feng spat out the words enviously.

"What are you muttering about?" Jiang Xinran asked.

Jiang Feng glanced at Jiang Xinran. They weren't a couple, yet they stuck together every day. If he didn't hurry up, they really would end up as buddies.

"Look at that couple up ahead." Jiang Feng gestured for Jiang Xinran to look forward.

"What about them? That's Long Haochen and that girl, Cai'er. That's her name, right?" Jiang Xinran glanced over as she spoke.

"Don't they look a lot like us right now?" Jiang Feng asked with a chuckle.

"Like us how?" Jiang Xinran seemed not to catch on.

"They don't. Not a damn bit," Jiang Feng said irritably.

With that, Jiang Feng walked ahead, not wanting to talk to the romantically clueless Jiang Xinran.

What he didn't know was that, behind him, Jiang Xinran's pretty face had already flushed red. Her beautiful eyes stayed fixed on Jiang Feng's figure, as though she wanted to fill her entire field of vision with him.

Jiang Xinran caught up in a few steps, then hooked her arm through Jiang Feng's. "Come with me."

"Where?" Jiang Feng asked.

"I'm treating you to dinner to celebrate our two straight wins in the round-robin tournament," Jiang Xinran said happily.

"Two straight wins are worth celebrating? Anyone with hands could manage that," Jiang Feng said.

"I worked hard for those wins, okay? You think everyone's like you?" Jiang Xinran rolled her eyes at him.

"Then do we celebrate again when I get my third straight win tomorrow?" Jiang Feng asked with a grin.

"That depends on whether I win my match," Jiang Xinran said.

"All right. I'll take a meal while I can. Just so you know, though, I'm out of money," Jiang Feng stressed in advance.

"Oh, look at you. I've got money." Jiang Xinran patted her ample chest.

They found a restaurant to eat at. Since Jiang Xinran was paying, the place was noticeably more upscale.

After all, her father was the head of Starjoy City's Magic Sub-Temple, and the Magic Temple was the wealthiest of the Six Great Temples.

Jiang Xinran had never lacked money growing up.

After a hearty meal, Jiang Feng and Jiang Xinran strolled through Holy City. Even after night fell, the city was as bright as day and bustling with activity.

Only after accompanying Jiang Xinran as she bought a dozen outfits, filling bag after bag, did Jiang Feng finally get to return to the hotel.

After giving Jiang Xinran the Spirit Gathering Pills he had received from Lin Xin, Jiang Feng returned to his own room.

The moment he entered his hotel room, Dragon Baby came over and nuzzled against his chest. After a day apart, the little fellow was feeling rather clingy.

"Be good. Once the tournament ends, you'll have plenty of magic crystals to eat soon enough," Jiang Feng soothed.

"Woo, woo." Dragon Baby nuzzled him again, then crawled back to lie down and sleep.

With nothing else to do, Jiang Feng began cultivating.

On the third day of the round-robin tournament, Jiang Feng arrived at the Knight Trial Grounds early as usual.

He was fighting in the fifth match that day, against a fourth-order assassin.

Originally, as soon as they entered the Trial Arena, the assassin had intended to concede. After the first two rounds, almost everyone in their group had come to understand Jiang Feng's terrifying strength.

Many of them therefore figured that, since they couldn't win anyway, they might as well surrender early and gain an extra day of rest to prepare for their next match.

But when Jiang Feng stepped onto the Trial Arena in a fitted outfit, holding two refined iron swords, a spark of hope suddenly stirred in the assassin's heart.

So Jiang Feng's equipment had all been destroyed in his previous fight. His current gear was far too low-grade, and that gave the assassin an unrealistic idea: perhaps he could win?

How strong could ordinary refined iron swords possibly be?

They'd surely snap at the first clash. Once he lost his weapons, there was no way Jiang Feng could still win.

Someone had to win. Why couldn't it be me?

At that thought, the assassin pushed aside the idea of surrendering and prepared to give the fight against Jiang Feng everything he had.

But things did not go as the assassin expected. Jiang Feng never even gave him a chance to clash blades.

Throughout the match, Jiang Feng used only two skills.

One was the sixth-order knight skill Lock-On, a skill that was practically an assassin's nemesis.

Once his opponent was locked on to, any skill Jiang Feng unleashed would automatically pursue them.

Thus, even though stone pillars rose across the Trial Arena to give the assassin places to hide, Jiang Feng still found him and unleashed his second skill, Holy Radiance Cross Slash.

Not everyone was Wang Ming, capable of taking Jiang Feng's Holy Radiance Cross Slash head-on. Even among all the contestants, the power of Jiang Feng's Holy Radiance Cross Slash ranked among the very best.

Never mind being at the fourth order-even if the assassin had been at the fifth order, once locked on to, he could only face this attack head-on. And he simply couldn't withstand it.

Faced with that strike, the assassin finally abandoned all hope. The last flicker of his desire for victory was crushed in an instant.