Chapter 131: Knockout Matches

Gong!

Gong!

Gong!

An ear-piercing sound of a bell resonated throughout the arena, thus indicating the beginning of the knockout matches.

With that, the previously empty arena began filling up with all the participants, and a few moments later, eight separate batches of participants were neatly standing in the arena.

Each batch consisted of forty to fifty participants, and they all were wearing headbands of different designs to identify themselves.

"Look! There’s Feng Min. In the first group," Feng Ning immediately pointed out towards her sister when she found her in the crowd of candidates.

"Ah," Yi Chen traced his gaze in the direction of her finger and nodded when he saw Feng Min’s figure. She was standing in the middle of her batch, and a few male participants were also standing beside her.

Generally, a young girl would feel a little overwhelmed when standing between so many men, but there seemed to be no trace of that on her face.

Instead, it seemed that the men around her were more wary of her.

"Hey, isn’t that the Fourth Elder’s youngest daughter?"

"Yes...curse our luck. Our batch’s result is already decided, it seems."

These were the conversations that were discreetly being exchanged by a few participants in her batch.

Meanwhile, Yi Chen’s gaze scanned through all the members of Feng Min’s batch before falling upon other batches.

When his gaze fell on the fifth batch, his eyebrows rose subtly as he finally found Qin Yao.

With Qin Yao’s small height, which was just a little over 1.5 metres, he didn’t stand out, and thus his batch members didn’t perceive him as a threat at all.

"Brother Qin Yao doesn’t seem to be in my sister’s batch. Did you find him yet?" Feng Ning asked all of a sudden.

"Yes," Yi Chen nodded and pointed in his direction, "He’s there in the fifth batch."

Tracing his hand, she finally caught a glimpse of him and said with a smile, "Ah, yes. I see him,"

The next moment, she sighed in relief, "I’m glad that the two of them are in different batches. If not, then they would have to compete against each other for the spot."

"Oh? Are the batches randomly divided? I thought it would either be based on how long the participants have been in the Third Level or their current progress in the said level," Yi Chen said the next moment.

"Well...if this were an internal tournament, then such considerations would have been done to promote fairness, but the motive of holding these knockout matches is to select the best for the Inter Clan Tournament. So, dividing everyone randomly is the most efficient manner of selecting the best candidates."

Feng Ning explained.

"Ah, I see," Yi Chen nodded in understanding as his focus went back on the arena where the participants were having the initiation ceremony.

After repeating the clan’s oath, all of them bowed to the crowd and towards each other before dispersing to their waiting stands.

An aged man in the Third Level of Qi Absorption Stage was the supervisor of today’s matches.

Taking out the match fixture for the first batch from inside his robes, he began reading it out loud. Once that was done, he finally gave a green light to the matches.

Sounds of firecrackers erupted the very next moment as two participants stepped onto the arena without wasting much time.

"Shen Wei!" the Supervising Elder read out his name.

"Yes, Elder!" Shen Wei confirmed his identity with a bow.

He was a muscular-looking man in his early twenties. On his back, a spiked mace larger than one’s head was firmly placed.

"Feng Su!"

"Yes, Elder!" Feng Su responded similarly.

Unlike Shen Wei, who emitted a barbaric energy, Feng Su was more on the refined side. Maybe it was because he was still young and was sixteen years old.

His frail and thin physical features, complemented by his above-average looks, evoked a sense of goodwill and worry in the hearts of the female audience when they saw how terrifying his opponent looked.

A sharp sword with a white hilt was firmly affixed in his scabbard, clearly showcasing that he was a sword practitioner.

After doing the final confirmation, the Supervising Elder nodded towards a person, and the next moment, a loud noise resonated in the entire arena.

Gong!

With that, the first match officially began, and an air of anticipation pervaded the atmosphere, slowly building up in the audience’s expression as well.

However, unlike them, Yi Chen wasn’t as excited.

’They are only at the Third Level and can barely lace their weapons with Qi...’ Yi Chen thought to himself.

Since the cultivators fighting were only at the Third Level, it was obvious that there would be no showcase of any martial techniques as well, so Yi Chen’s interest was naturally very low.

’At most the fight would look similar to those martial arts fights which I used to watch on those video streaming platfo-’

BOOM!

Before Yi Chen could fully finish his string of thoughts, a loud, ear-piercing sound resonated in the entire arena and not long after it was accompanied by another one.

KLANG!

And another.

TING!

The source of these ear-ringing noises was obviously the two participants who were battling their hearts out in the arena at this moment.

Each of their clashes resonated throughout the arena and made the audience’s hearts palpitate in both fear and excitement.

It was only now that Yi Chen had realised that he had looked past one important factor.

Unlike the martial artists on earth, the ones who were fighting in front of him right now had already surpassed a normal human’s strength.

BANG!

As the sword and the spiked mace collided once again, a long string of sparks formed in the air.

"A-Amazing..." Yi Chen couldn’t help but mutter as he watched this scene unfold right in front of his eyes.

All these thoughts soon quietened down, and his focus became concentrated only on the match that was happening in front of him right now.

After a blood-pumping match, Shen Wei won the round and was soon sent to his stand to wait.

However, a feeling of dissatisfaction was still present in the audience’s hearts even after this.

’Not enough...that’s not enough...I need more,’ Yi Chen thought to himself, and this feeling was mutually shared by almost everyone in the audience.

Being fully aware of the sentiments of the crowd, the management didn’t keep them waiting for long and soon the next match was started.

The thrill that had gone down returned once again in full strength as everyone savoured the following match with great delight.

Like this, one match after another kept happening, and, in this period, while having a lot of fun, Yi Chen also realised something.

Whenever he saw any sword practitioner fighting in the arena, in just the first couple of moves, he was able to discover the problems they had in their stances, in the way they were holding, swinging or striking their swords, which were holding them back.

At the same time, he was also able to discover plenty of loopholes in their attacks to exploit if faced with them.

’So, my increased proficiency also helps me in this manner...’ Yi Chen thought with a grin while becoming engrossed more deeply in the matches.

"Look! It’s my sister’s turn!" Feng Ning, who had been silently enjoying the matches alongside Yi Chen during this period, suddenly exclaimed.

"Oh?" Yi Chen’s curiosity was also evoked when he saw her on the stage.

Particularly because, unlike the other participants, the weapon Feng Min carried alongside her was completely different.

It was a folding fan. One that looked both elegant and menacing at the same time.

Instead of paper or silk, the fan was fully made up of black metal.

Thin overlapping black metal plates formed the leaf of the fan, and its outer edges were cleanly lined with sharp, pointy blades.

Firmly holding the fan’s head, which had a small black dagger protruding from it, Feng Min menacingly glared at her opponent, who was much older than her in age.

"Would she be fine..." Yi Chen couldn’t help but mutter when he saw the huge age disparity between the two of them.

When Feng Ning heard his words, a playful scoff escaped her mouth as she said with a confident smile laced on her face, "Just watch. It won’t be a problem for Min’er."

Gong!

With the ringing of the bell, the man rushed towards Feng Min’s figure as his sword menacingly closed in on her neck.

CHING!

However, this lethal strike was immediately parried by Feng Min using the metallic leaf of her fan.

Utilising the momentum from this attack, she spun a complete three hundred and sixty degrees and, with twice the force of the previous strike, swung upward while aiming for the man’s chest.

Taken aback by her quick reflexes, the man tried to dodge but panicked at the last moment when he realised that he couldn’t dodge it.

"Argh!"

An agonising scream echoed in the arena as what was supposed to be a strike aimed towards his chest ended up slashing a part of his face and taking away one of his eyes in the process.

"Winner Feng Min!" the Supervising Elder declared the next moment, and the match reached its conclusion.

The injured man was quickly carried away for treatment without raising much concern from the crowd. They were more focused on sending the winner out of the arena with applause at the moment.

In a battle between martial artists, even death was not uncommon, so the crowd’s reaction was understandable.

Feng Min, too, wasn’t greatly affected, as in reality it wasn’t her but the other party’s panicked state that cost him his eye.

Exhaling a short breath to clear her mind, she made her way towards her stand under the cheers of the crowd.