Chapter 688: Starlight Divine Saint Knight (I)
Chapter 688: Starlight Divine Saint Knight (I)
Chen Ying’er didn’t have an easy match, after terminating her Domain of Extreme Ice, her body swayed slightly as she strolled out from the stage.
The summoners from the Spiritual Temple were all stupefied by that match. So, it was actually possible for a summoner to use such means. This was the very first domain to accomplish such a feat in the Spiritual Temple; even Chen Hongyu’s Beast Emperor Domain was far from comparing.
Chen Ying’er used her own strength to prove Sanshui’s previous statement. Indeed, at her level, Sanshui was really in no way her opponent.
Bright Glimmer of Hope gradually gained more and more approval from the Six Great Temples’ powerhouses.
The one with the deepest impression was Li Zhengzhi, who originally had believed Long Haochen to be the only really outstanding one in the crew, with at most only Cai’er being remarkable too. But, from the previous battle, he could see that their other members did not fall behind either! Chen Ying’er and Wang Yuanyuan both wielded domains, and greatly powerful ones, causing Zhengzhi to conclude that even he would undoubtedly need to expend massive ressources to beat them.
The tournament went on: after this round, only twenty-four more people were left. The battles were especially spectacular: Chen Ying’er and Lin Chen’s battles were not the only bright spots. The later matches were brilliant and varied because the contestants were becoming more and more powerful. Domains frequently appeared in the stadium, and the spectacle was the most satisfying to the spectators. How would they witness such great strengths without the Temples’ Great Gathering?
Amongst Bright Glimmer of Hope, Han Yu lost, Bright Glimmer of Hope having finally exhausted its good luck when he came upon Chen Ying’er’s grandfather, the head of the Spiritual Temple Chen Hongyu. In front of the powerful Beast Emperor Domain, he still managed to last for over ten minutes before getting defeated, and his comrade, a Demonic Eye Tyrant also left a very deep impression, being a powerhouse at the peak of the eighth step, blessed with powerful mental suppression and control, even greatly counteracting the effects of the Beast Emperor Domain. But, unfortunately, the Demonic Eye Tyrant would need to make an extraordinary encounter to possibly be able to evolve further. Zhang Fangfang, Han Yu, Yang Wenzhao and Duan Yi all faced the difficulty of having mounts that would hardly evolve to the ninth step.
By chance, Zhang Fangfang, Lin Xin, Sima Xian, and Wang Yuanyuan also achieved victory against their opponents, clearing the third round smoothly.
Amongst Bright Glimmer of Hope, only Long Haochen and Cai’er were left to participate, only four matches being left in this third round.
Right now, the calm look maintained so far on Long Haochen’s face had a slight change. It wasn’t an impossible thing to be drawn against a teammate in this individual competition, especially when only eight people remained, so Cai’er and him had fair odds of clashing against each other.
Thinking of this, Long Haochen unconsciously reminisced a scene from the Demon Hunt Selection of that time, when Cai’er chose to give up upon meeting him. Was history going to repeat itself? Thinking back to his past promise to Lin Xin, about how he had forgotten to warn Cai’er at that time, ultimately ending up hurting her, Long Haochen’s gaze became a lot warmer.
Lightly holding Cai’er’s hand, he declared, “If we run against each other, I will be the one to concede this time, understood?”
Cai’er had a slight start, “Haochen, you...”
Long Haochen smiled to her, “In those years, you clearly could beat me, yet chose to give up on the match. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to concede this one?”
Cai’er laughed in reaction, “Idiot, don’t think about it. Do you even take the circumstances to be the same now compared to the past? At that time, winning or losing did not matter, but this match relates to our future resistance against demonkind. You are Bright Glimmer of Hope’s captain, our leader! Oh, looks like our match won’t get to take place.”
During their discussion, the light of selection landed onto Cai’er as well as Sheng Yue, another contestant in the Assassin Temple’s area opposite.
Seeing Sheng Yue’s unreconciled look, Long Haochen couldn’t help but laugh, “Look, that great-grandfather-in-law wants to have a go against you.”
Cai’er let out a low laugh and replied, “It won’t happen.”
As expected, without need for Cai’er to step down, the opposite Sheng Yue had already declared, “I believe there to be no match and give up this match.” After saying that, he returned to his seat without even walking away.
Who could expect there to be three leading figures to already give up, the most simply eliminated being Sheng Yue, who actually directly conceded, immediately declaring himself to be no match. This was already the second time the Assassin Temple was confronted with Cai’er.
From Bright Glimmer of Hope’s six, only one person had yet to appear on stage.
The light of selection only shifted slightly from Cai’er to Long Haochen, lighting up him and his opponent from the Knight Temple.
The two sides were from the same Temple.
That was a knight of high seniority, looking quite a bit older than Long Tianying, who stood up slowly and nodded to Long Haochen seated in the last row, his aged voice sounding very firm, “Let this be a showdown between two knights.” After saying this, he advanced in large strides toward the field.
Long Haochen unconsciously looked at his grandfather, Long Tianying, who showed him a helpless smile. Haochen was slightly shocked, as his grandfather’s expression was telling him that he had no way to influence this old knight. In fact, a Divine Knight had an almost supreme authority, meaning that this knight going beyond Long Tianying’s control surely held a very high position as well.
Long Haochen followed this golden knight into the stadium before taking the initiative to accelerate while going across the arena from the old knight. This was an etiquette as a junior to a senior: he couldn’t just stand here and let the elder do the job of increasing the distance.
“I am Yang Haoyu, an elder who doesn’t care about all these matters. Since Haohan couldn’t come this time, I am thanking you on his behalf for saving and bringing back the only child of our Yang family.” Saying that, he performed a knight salute to Long Haochen.
Long Haochen finally recognized this elder: that was actually Yang Haohan’s brother, and very possibly an elder brother from his looks. No wonder even his grandpa was very polite to him. Hurriedly, he returned the politeness formally.
Yang Haoyu’s stagnant look remained on Long Haochen, “I have heard Haohan mention you long before. You are really outstanding, surpassing your grandfather and father. But you are, after all, still too young. There are no conceding knights in the Knight Temple. If you want me to approve you completely, then it’s simple, defeat me. Please”
Saying that, this old knight shouted loudly and a trail of golden light lit up on his back, dividing into two straight lines and very rapidly moving to either side as a golden cloud of light forced its way between them and engulfed Yang Haoyu, wrapping around his body. That bright golden light spread over his body, instantly forming a golden armor covering his whole body as a pair of heavy swords formed in his hands. An imposing demeanor rose from him, glinting into the surroundings, causing Long Haochen to feel as if he’d been placed in the midst of outer space, with a ferocious beast there among the stars opening its mouth to swallow him.
Seeing this scene, Li Zhengzhi abruptly became greatly alarmed, the look on his face changing greatly, “That’s him! So he actually came. No wonder the Knight Temple didn’t even send Long Xingyu. Hasn’t he been secluded for already close to fifty years?”
Tan Wan had lost her previous battle, but, because the round was not over, she was still inside the area for candidates from the Mage Temple, and couldn’t help but ask curiously in reaction, “Who is this person, Teacher? Could he be even stronger than a Divine Knight?”
Li Zhengzhi ordinarily had a beaming look, which had remained, as usual, even when running against Long Tianying earlier. But for this knight to cause his look to change so greatly, he clearly had some unordinary aspects.
Li Zhengzhi’s look gradually came back to normal, explaning, “In some ways, he’s the true number one powerhouse in the Knight Temple. If he had obtained the approval of a Divine Throne back then, maybe he could have risen as the true commander of the Six Great Temples and the Temple Alliance wouldn’t be so dispersed either.”
“What?” Tan Wan was shocked, having never heard her teacher give such a high evaluation of another person, moreover someone from the Knight Temple. Li Zhengzhi had some reservations regarding even Long Haochen, believing him to still be way too young.
Li Zhengzhi continued, “He is called Yang Haoyu, and is really a legendary character. The head of the Temple Alliance Yang Haoyu is actually his younger brother, but in some sense, Yang Haohan can also be considered his disciple, and you can well imagine from this how strong he is.”
“He’s close to thirty years older than Yang Haoyu: back then, when Yang Haohan first made his name, Yang Haoyu had just joined the Knight Temple, possessing an extremely high talent and powerful character, causing Yang Haoyu to be acclaimed as a knight with the bearing of a king. And, he’s a Retribution Knight; reportedly, the Knight Temple’s only Divine Retribution Knight, Long Xingyu, is training using the Retribution Knight records he left.”
“Yang Haoyu never makes use of any offensive equipment, because he has a really extraordinary magical beast called Starry Sky. This kind of magical beast already goes beyond the realm of magical beast, being an existence intrinsically belonging to the ninth step. It is able transform into any shape, aid Yang Haoyu in his cultivation, and help him absorb heavenly energy from the sun and the moon. In terms of seniority, he is above me, and I don’t even know when it was that he had broken through the ninth step, but he accomplished an unprecedented feat. He refused to become a Divine Knight.”