Chapter 135: The Sixteen Finalists (I)

Chapter 135: The Sixteen Finalists (I)

A sort of winding bracelet stood up on the ground near Long Haochen’s body. Suddenly, a light glow flickered and some equipment appeared.

Without a doubt, this bracelet was similar in its function to the forget-me-not ring. Although this type of storage bracelet was rare, for Han Qian who was the Saint Knight Head, possessing one was naturally in no way odd.

Equipment?

Only after losing something does one understand its value better. Long Haochen lost all his equipment previously, and as a result he had no choice but to live through this profound experience. As soon as he heard that he could use this equipment, his eyes immediately brightened, impatiently eyeing these pieces of equipment.

These pieces were a set of full-body armor, a sword, and a shield.

These three pieces of equipment were all silver in color, emitting a faint holy aura. It felt like this equipment was the same grade as his own armor and the Light Sword he used before. At most, it was only a bit stronger.

However, even if it was like this, Long Haochen was still pleasantly surprised. After losing his shield and Light Sword, he asked a lot around about the price of a piece of magical equipment. Each one would cost above a thousand gold coins, causing people to shrink back. Being able to get a complete set was already enough to satisfy him plentifully.

Ye Hua smiled: “This set of equipment is called the Holy Spirit Set, and is formed of the Holy Spirit Armor, the Holy Spirit Shield, and the Holy Spirit Sword. Separately, they are already at the magical tier, but when the set is gathered and combined together, they can produce a Holy Spirit Ring that can be controlled to be used on allies through your thoughts. In terms of range, this halo covers a diameter of twenty meters. It’s able to take the shape of a [Holy Spirit Supplementary Armor] that protects your body on its surface. To maintain this halo of light, five units of spiritual energy are consumed for every time of a breath. This set of Guardian Knight equipment is pretty good, its effects on the team are in no way small. So, when combined together, this set of equipment is equivalent to Spiritual Tiered equipment. Comparatively, it’s slightly better than the Divine Wristband your teacher gave you.”

“It’s so awesome!” Long Haochen excitedly squatted down. He immediately stored the Holy Spirit Sword and the Holy Spirit Shield in his forget me-not-ring, before donning the Holy Spirit Armor without hesitation.

Ye Hua’s face let out a faint trace of a smile, This child’s character is truly innocent, he didn’t even look displeased by the fact the equipment given to him by the Saint Knight Head was only at the magical tier. The excitement in his eyes was genuine.

“Teacher, if you meet grand-teacher, please tell him that I give him my thanks. Using this set of equipment, I will certainly bring honor to our knight’s temple.”

Long Haochen was originally already handsome, but after wearing this silver armor, he appeared even more handsome and heroic. This Holy Spirit Armor didn’t weigh much, and for sure, it was somewhat better than his original armor in terms of quality. In addition, this armor had a helmet, able to include the face in the protected range. This made the overall difference in terms of defensive power even greater.

Ye Hua patted his shoulder and said: “Good job, now head together with your big sister Xin’er to the Alliance’s Great Stadium. From today onwards, it’s a knockout competition that will begin. Every person only has a single opportunity; teacher wishes you luck in obtaining victory. Win swiftly, without complications, and aim for the top three.”

“I pledge to accomplish this task.” Long Haochen pumped his chest with his right fist, performing a proper knight’s salute aimed at Ye Hua.

When he completed his sentence, teacher and disciple couldn’t help but fall in laughter. On the other side of Long Haochen’s bed, Hao Yue, who was curled up, slowly lifted his three heads, and as his body shook for a bit, his heavy body suddenly made the bed nearby creak.

“Can’t forget you.” Long Haochen gently laughed at him.

Having obtained a new armor, Long Haochen was quite ecstatic. Even while having breakfast, he put on his armor. After being full, under Ye Hua’s supervision, he departed, by Li Xin’s side, for the Alliance’s Great Stadium together. Even his retainer did not have permission to watch the matches, so Long Haochen left Han Yu, who stayed in the hotel, cultivating.

“Sis, how’s Cai’er these days? She’s not angry at me right?” Long Haochen asked Li Xin.

Li Xin giggled and said: “Look at your prudent behavior, you don’t even have a confirmed relationship yet and you’re so nervous when it pertains to her. Surely, in the future, you’ll be a great playboy.”

Long Haochen blushed, quickly explaining: “Big sis, we’re no more than friends!”

Li Xin laughed and said: “Okay, okay, you’re only friends. Then you should ask her yourself how she’s been going.”

Long Haochen suddenly was a bit worried, pulling Li Xin’s hand and said: “Sis, sorry, it wasn’t true. Please quickly tell me, now.”

Li Xin glanced towards him and said: “You fell in my trap. Good, good, sister will guarantee you will be able to see her today.”

No matter how Long Haochen asked, Li Xin would not tell him precisely when he will be able to meet Cai’er. Not after long, sister and brother both arrived at the Alliance’s Great Stadium once again.

The top sixteen finals took place in the Knight’s Stadium. Everyone who entered the top sixteen could spectate the battles. Two people just arrived at the entrance; they were familiar faces.

At the same time, these two males happened to walk from a nearby place, and handed over their number plates for examination at the entrance. These two were Yang Wenzhao and Huang Yi. From the looks of it, these two were long-time acquaintances.

“Brother Yang, brother Huang, hello.” Although they were his opponents, they already knew each other. After Long Haochen and Li Xin went up to them, they took the initiative in greeting them.

As soon as Yang Wenzhao saw him, his complexion changed immediately. With a bitter face, he said, “I’m not so well! I hope that when we draw lots, I don’t draw you.” After talking, he hurriedly entered.

Looking at him, who had the appearance of someone who just saw a ghost, Long Haochen couldn’t help but be in a daze, What’s up with you? Is that the same powerful opponent who defeated me that day without even summoning his mount? Could it be that he no longer has faith in confronting me anymore?

Yang Wenzhao was naturally not afraid of him. In a one on one, he wasn’t even afraid of fighting Cai’er, but the situation where an assassin was the strongest was naturally not in a front-to-front fight. He clearly didn’t want to remember an assassin of Cai’er’s caliber. Most of all, that day, his grandfather didn’t even pursue ‘this’ matter. One could only imagine how frightening that assassin girl’s background was.

Huang Yi’s meeting with Long Haochen was very much the opposite. Facing him with a smile, he greeted him.

“Brother Huang, that day I had something to do, so I didn’t see you fight. In the end, who between you and Wang Yuanyuan managed to get out of the group?” Long Haochen inquisitively asked.

Huang Yi proudly said: “Fluke, I won by fluke. Wang Yuanyuan indeed has a formidable strength. Facing her head on, I definitely had no way to be her opponent, so I came up with some tricks. Relying on joint cast, together with my fairy companion, when she embedded her gems and unleashed the Gigantic Divine Soul Shield’s power, I finished my [Earth Waves]. Talking about it really embarrasses me, but during the whole battle, I used [Earth Waves] to aid me in running away. In the end, I exhausted her spiritual energy and barely won. I have to thank you, if she had not used the enormously consuming Gigantic Divine Soul Shield from the start, under normal circumstances, there’s no way to predict who would have emerged victorious.”

With what he said, Long Haochen understood that during this match, Huang Yi read in Wang Yuanyuan’s thoughts. That girl was certainly formidable, and even from Long Haochen’s point of view, for her to have ended up unable to enter the top 16 was quite unfortunate.

“Humph! Truly shameless.” In the middle of their conversation a voice filled with rage sounded from behind them. The two turned around to look at the owner of this voice, but wasn’t that Wang Yuanyuan? And beside her was Chen Ying’er.

Chen Ying’er’s complexion didn’t look so good. The little loli hurriedly took a few steps forward and faced Long Haochen, comparing her little fists with Long Haochen. “You look down on me? You didn’t even come to the last match.”

Long Haochen helplessly said: “Of course not. Only, I had something to do on that day. I apologize to you.”

Chen Ying’er stuck her tongue out at him and without waiting before taking her turn to speak, the raging Wang Yuanyuan, who had a dangerous expression when looking at Huang Yi, dragged her by the hand into the stadium. Evidently, having gone through these preliminaries together, these two girls developed a good friendship.

Huang Yi had some lingering fears after seeing Wang Yuanyuan with the Gigantic Divine Soul Shield on her back. Helplessly shaking his head, he said, “I just hope that when we draw lots for the demon hunt squads, I don’t draw into the same group as her. A shield warrior who can’t defend, and one so impulsive at that, I’m seriously afraid of her.”

Li Xin patted Long Haochen’s shoulders and said: “Let’s get in. It’s getting late.”

“Heeey, wait for me—–” Someone called out to them in an urged voice. Brother and sister both turned around and saw another familiar face. That was the incredibly odd mage who wasn’t able to use any offensive spell, Lin Xin.

“Congratulations, congratulations. Congratulations to the noble brother and sister upon entering the top sixteen.” Lin Xin wore a face full of smile and ran towards them.

Li Xin didn’t look so rejoiced when seeing him, “What’s there to be congratulated for? We can’t receive your congratulations.”

Lin Xin lagged and said with a smile: “What’s happening, Sister Li Xin, I certainly didn’t do anything!”

Li Xin angrily said: “You didn’t do anything? You don’t know how to use a single offensive magic. You dare to trick my little brother into promising to pick you for his team if he ends up in the top three. Don’t tell me that you don’t know the importance of a strong mage in a squad?”

With her saying this, Huang Yi who was beside them opened up his eyes more in shock, “What? You don’t know any offensive magic?” With one hand, he grabbed Lin Xin, his complexion seemed much uglier than Li Xin’s.

Lin Xin swatted his hand away, “So what if I don’t know any offensive magic? Big bro has drugs.”

At that time, using his formidable control over magic, in addition to bribing Huang Yi with drugs, he was able to get the number one seat in the Mage Preliminaries.

Now that Huang Yi heard he couldn’t attack, it would be stranger if he acted normally.

Long Haochen pulled Li Xin who was still in the middle of her thoughts, when Lin Xin calmly said: “Sis, don’t be like that. If not for the matters between us, Lin Xin wouldn’t have given me his pills. They helped me a lot, so I should rather be thanking him. Brother Lin, don’t worry, if I enter the top three, I’ll fulfil my promise for sure.”

“Then what about Cai’er?” Li Xin blurted out practically immediately.

Long Haochen suddenly froze up, That’s right! Cai’er, Cai’er also entered the top 16. Instantly, his face immediately became pale. If I enter the top three, I’ll have to pick Lin Xin, so what about Cai’er?

Not long ago, I clearly gave her my promise; I agreed to protect her for a lifetime.

Lin Xin looked at the dispirited Long Haochen, his thoughts instantly deepened. His face displayed a slightly helpless smile, as he lightly shook his head, and didn’t say anything further. Patting Long Haochen’s shoulders, he entered. Recalling that young lady who was valiant, although blind, he couldn’t think of anything else to say.