Chapter 652: Human Love Is So Complex

When only a hundred people remained on Arena No. 1, the fight between Ye Feng and Qiu Duanhun was finally stopped.
The onlookers regarded the two with evident awe, including those top 100 strong fighters who had already passed the preliminary rounds.
Chatter filled the crowd.
“Who exactly is the one fighting Qiu Duanhun?”
“That strength is absolutely terrifying—completely beyond our league.”
“It seems these two will be competing for first place in the end.”
…
One million people, one hundred arenas—only the top 100 advanced to the second round of preliminaries, totaling 10,000 people.
Even before the preliminaries on Arena No. 1 ended, the chief referee ordered the other referees to gather all the qualifiers near Arena No. 1.
After the preliminaries on Arena No. 1 concluded, the chief referee announced their advancement and explained the rules for the next round. “A total of 10,000 people have advanced from these preliminaries. But 10,000 is still a large number. To facilitate the subsequent arena battles, we’ve decided to select 128 contestants from these 10,000 to compete in the final arena matches. So, a second round of preliminaries is needed.”
“Why 128?” Shi Tuo couldn’t help asking. “That’s a strange number.”
“Two against two, eliminating half each time—this way, there won’t be an odd number left over. After the first round, 64 people remain; after the second, 32; after the third, 16; after the fourth, 8; after the fifth, 4; and in the sixth round, only two will fight for the title,” Ye Feng explained. “If we select 100 people and hold two rounds, 25 people will remain, meaning one person will be left over.”
“I see,” Shi Tuo nodded in understanding.

The chief referee continued, “The rules for the second round of the qualifiers are different from the previous two rounds. There are still ten thousand people on the same arena, but it’s not the top 128 who advance. Instead, it’s determined by scores. Each time someone hits another person, it counts as +1 point; if someone is hit, it counts as -1 point. If you knock someone out of the arena, it counts as +10 points, and the person knocked out is eliminated. As for killing someone, it’s the same as a hit—only +1 point. In the end, the top 128 with the highest scores will qualify for the arena battles, and everyone else will be eliminated. There’s one more rule that’s slightly different from before: although teamwork in attacking is still not allowed, attacking someone simultaneously without prior agreement doesn’t count as teamwork. But if such a situation occurs, after the rankings are determined, we’ll have the eight guests in the audience decide whether it was teamwork. If it’s deemed teamwork, their qualification for the arena battles will be revoked immediately, and the people below them will move up in rank.”

“What counts as a hit? If it’s blocked by a defensive spirit treasure and no injury occurs, does that count as a hit?” someone in the crowd immediately asked.

“Any attack that touches the body counts as a hit, even if it’s just a touch. A strike from a distance on the body armor also counts as a hit,” the chief referee explained. “Only defenses that are far from the body are considered effective defenses.”

“What if you hit the opponent’s offensive spirit treasure? Or hit their shield?” someone else asked.

“That doesn’t count as a hit, because weapons and shields are considered extensions of the body, different from armor,” the chief referee explained.

“What about physical collisions? Like fist to fist?” The contestants kept asking questions.

“In a collision, the side that has the advantage gains +1 point, while the disadvantaged side loses -1 point. If the collision results in a tie, neither side gains nor loses points,” the chief referee patiently answered each question.

“Does the competition end when only 128 people are left on the arena, and those remaining directly advance to the arena battles?” It was Qiu Duanhun who asked this, though it was unclear what he was thinking.

His question also sparked quite a bit of secret discussion among the crowd.

“Yes, because we’ve installed relevant instruments at the bottom of the arena. Only within the arena do the scores from attacks between participants count; once outside the arena, all data resets to zero,” nodded the chief referee. “So, if there are fewer than 128 people left in the arena, everyone present will advance. As for the missing numbers, we’ll find other ways to select replacements from those who were eliminated.”

Many more questions were raised afterward, but most of them were unrelated to the outcome of the competition and didn’t matter much.

After answering all the participants’ questions, the organizers arranged accommodation for those who advanced and hosted a grand dinner. To the excitement of many participants, all eight guests would be attending this dinner.

Ye Feng wasn’t very interested in attending the dinner, as only the 10,000 advanced contestants had been invited—people like Long Yue couldn’t go. However, Pearl and Bai Yiyi were very eager and picked out one dress after another from Ye Feng. Ye Feng could only instruct Luo Yan to protect Long Yue and the others, while he himself attended the dinner with Long Tian and the rest.

Ye Feng and the others also changed into their formal attire and appeared at the dinner venue. Their appearance as a group of eight caused quite a stir. One reason was Ye Feng’s outstanding performance in the semifinals, another was that all eight members had advanced, and the third was the outfits of Bai Yiyi and Pearl.

At the dinner, there weren’t many female guests—less than twenty in total. So, the appearance of two exceptionally beautiful women at the same time made many men drool.

“That girl’s outfit is quite decent,” Gu Tianan said, ignoring Ji Xiaoru beside him and staring at Pearl from head to toe.

Ji Xiaoru snorted coldly and walked away from him.

“Did I do something wrong again?” Gu Tianan asked Jin Pangzi, lowering his head after seeing Ji Xiaoru leave.

“Hey, can’t you tell your sister-in-law is jealous?” Jin Pangzi slapped his head, unable to understand why Gu Tianan was so slow to pick up on such things.

“I haven’t proposed yet, so I can’t call her sister-in-law. Besides, she might not even agree. Don’t let others hear and tarnish her reputation,” Gu Tianan said seriously, but soon frowned. “Why would she be jealous? I haven’t done anything.”

“How can she not get jealous when you praise another woman in front of her?” Fat Jin felt like hitting himself with a block of tofu. “Hurry up and go after her!”
“Oh.” Gu Tianan, who was rather dull-witted, nodded and took a couple of steps forward before turning back. “What should I say once I catch up with her?”
“Say something she likes to hear. Ugh, why are you so slow?” If it weren’t for all the people around, Fat Jin would have kicked him long ago.
Ji Xiaoru walked over to Ye Feng. Among these contestants, he was the only one she found appealing at the moment. Ye Feng’s performance had indeed been impressive; although that match didn’t have much excitement later on, she was confident in his strength and potential. Besides, Gu Tianan also admired him, and out of the principle of liking those one likes, she felt a good impression of Ye Feng as well.
“Your name is Ye Feng?” Ji Xiaoru walked up to Ye Feng holding a glass of wine. “I watched your match; you did very well!”
“Thank you for your praise, senior,” Ye Feng said politely with a smile. He naturally knew that this woman was the only female among the eight guests, and her cultivation level was at the peak of the Pseudo-Empty stage—her strength couldn’t be underestimated.
“I’m Ji Xiaoru.” Ji Xiaoru raised her glass and clinked it against Ye Feng’s. “I look forward to seeing even better performances from you in the future.”
“Thank you!” Ye Feng nodded and drank the wine in his glass.
At that moment, Gu Tianan also came over. “Xiaoru.”
As soon as he called out Xiaoru, he saw Ye Feng. “Are you Ye Feng?”
“Hello, senior!” Ye Feng naturally recognized this guy as the number one swordmaster in the star realm—Gu Tianan, one of the guests watching the match.
“I’m very optimistic about you. Keep up the good work!” Gu Tianan seemed very pleased.
“I will!” Ye Feng nodded.
Just then, Zhenzhu sent a message to Ye Feng, “Hurry over here. Stop standing there being a stalker.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Feng immediately looked up at the two of them and saw Gu Tianan looking embarrassed, while Ji Xiaoru turned her face red and looked away. He immediately realized that the two had heard Zhenzhu’s message. But he also realized that their relationship was unusual, so he tactfully said, “My friends over there are calling me. I have to leave for a while.”
“Hmm, go ahead!” Gu Tianan nodded with a smile before looking down at Ji Xiaoru. Noticing her red face, he couldn’t help but say softly, “Xiaoru, you’re really beautiful…”
“Brother Gu…” Hearing this compliment, Ji Xiaoru’s face turned even redder.

“Come with me!” Gu Tiannan didn’t care about anything else; he grabbed Ji Xiaoru’s wrist, and the two of them vanished from the dinner scene in an instant.
“Those two have finally come to their senses,” said Fat Jin, shaking his head as he watched where they disappeared, then poured himself another drink.
“See? I was right, wasn’t I?” Zhenzhu nudged Ye Feng, who had also seen Gu Tiannan pull Ji Xiaoru away.
“You should be more careful when sending messages. They’re both strong at the Pseudo-Empty level—how could your messages possibly hide from their ears?” Ye Feng said helplessly, shaking his head.
“Oh, they could actually hear it?” Zhenzhu wasn’t expecting her message to be heard by them, but she seemed unbothered. “It doesn’t matter. Look, they seem even closer now. They definitely won’t come after me. Maybe they’ll even thank me. I think they make a good pair.”
“Who makes a good pair with whom?” Long Tian suddenly appeared beside them.
“Surely not me and you!” Zhenzhu glared at him.
“I already knew about this brother. You have someone in your heart—how could you possibly fit me in?” Long Tian said, his gaze falling on Ye Feng.
“Are you looking for trouble?” Zhenzhu chased after Long Tian, starting to fight with him.
“Human love is so complicated…” Bai Yiyi couldn’t help but sigh.
“Yes, indeed!” Shi Tuo quickly nodded in agreement.
Ye Feng had no idea what Shi Tuo’s agreement meant, but he saw Bernard behind Shi Tuo winking at him.