Evan Yang won the ninth match with ease. No one could tell whether Evan truly had ability, or if Ray Lei had let him win on purpose.
Ray Lei struggled to his feet and returned to the Fifth Palace. Nate Nalan asked curiously, "How much strength did you use just now?"
"All of it," Ray Lei replied awkwardly.
"All of it?" Nate Nalan pressed, still curious.
"Brother Nalan, don't worry. He's not your match. You have to help me get revenge," Ray Lei said gratefully.
"Let's see if he can even make it to the later rounds," Nate Nalan replied.
With that, Evan Yang's matter was settled for the moment. After all fifteen matches concluded, fifteen victors emerged.
Among these fifteen, Evan Yang was one, along with three champions and the other strong contenders.
"Now we have fifteen participants. We'll hold another round. Since three are previous champions, they don't need to compete in the second round and advance directly. The remaining twelve will be paired into six teams." the organizer announced once the first round ended.
"So three can skip ahead," Evan Yang muttered inwardly. Still, this was good—at least he wouldn't face those people right away in the second round.
The five answered in unison, "Yes."
Evan thought to himself, amused, "They really think I'm an easy target? Instead of challenging those three monsters, they all come after me."
"That's simple. Let him pick three," the organizer said with a smile.
Evan hadn't expected he'd have to choose three out of five. He'd watched all their previous matches, so he stayed low-key and picked the three who seemed weaker.
To the three top contenders, it looked like Evan was picking the weakest to bully, but they had no clue what he was really thinking.
Once Evan had chosen, all three matches were set. Right now, he was basically the main character—everyone wanted a piece of him.
The three challengers were from the Fourth Palace, Eighth Palace, and Tenth Palace. Their strength was about equal, but among the five, they were the weaker ones.
"Kid, I'll take the first match," said the Fourth Palace fighter.
"Bring it on," Evan replied with a grin.
"All you've got are flying needles and fire. If you use the same tricks, you're definitely going to lose," the Fourth Palace guy said with a laugh.