Xu Jingming and the others appeared in the stands.

“Sharpshooters are indeed at a disadvantage in the face of a large-scale charge and melee combat from heavy-armored warriors.” Wang Yi was still reminiscing about the battle. “It’s no wonder Zhou Yi hasn’t cleared the Cosmos Tower’s third floor.”

“The Cosmos Tower tigers’ encirclement is much more terrifying than the orc army,” Xu Jingming said.

“Although we fooled around towards the end, our ranking is still quite good,” Yang Qingshuo said with a smile.

Xu Jingming, Heng Fang, Liu Chongyuan, Yang Qingshuo, and Wang Yi looked at the rankings displayed in the livestream.

1st: Team Zhou Yi (Captain: Zhou Yi), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

2nd: Team Fairydance (Captain: Zhang Qing), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

3rd: Team Cloud Mountain (Captain: Huo Qingshan), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

4th: Team Golden Roc (Captain: Tie Lianyun), Number of enemies killed: 100

5th: Team Urim (Captain: Fang Yu), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

6th: Team Shield & Ax (Captain Xiong Tianshan), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

7th: Team Heavenly Note (Captain: Zhuang Ziyu), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

8th: Team Three Mice (Captain: Feng Baiyu), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

9th: Team Pearwood (Captain: Xu Jingming), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

11th: Team Pure Sword (Captain: Qin Ge), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

12th: Team Frost Song (Captain: Gu Chong), Number of enemies killed: 1,000

…

25th: Team White Dragon (Captain: Zheng Bailong), Number of enemies killed: 998

…

821st: Team Happy (Captain: Pang Yun), Number of enemies killed: 22

“It’s not bad to be ranked ninth,” Liu Chongyuan said. “During the last wave, we didn’t cooperate much. We were mostly honing ourselves.”

Xu Jingming and the others met up with their relatives and friends.

“As a substitute member, I’m very happy to enter the main competition.” Li Miaomiao took the initiative to welcome them and smiled happily. “You’ve worked hard, all five of you. We have already achieved our goal for the preliminaries. We will be preparing for the main competition next.”

Heng Fang nodded and said, “In the first round of the main competition, Master Liu Hai and Senior Lei Yunfang’s teams are Team 1 and Team 2. The top 30 selected for the preliminaries are Teams 3 to 32. The competition rule is: the first will fight the last—Team 1 versus Team 32, Team 2 versus Team 31, Team 3 versus Team 30… Everyone will proceed in sequence until Team 16 versus Team 17.”

“To have the first ones fight the last ones is to ensure that strong teams can enter the next round.” Xu Jingming nodded and said, “Otherwise, if Master Liu Hai and Senior Lei Yunfang were to fight right from the beginning, the attractiveness of the entire mid and late stages of the competition would decrease!”

“At the very least, they have to let more teams fight Liu Hai and Lei Yunfang’s teams,” Wang Yi said.

“Mom.” Xu Jingming walked close to where his mother was. “Where’s Dad?”

“Your father is being all mysterious; I don’t know where he is either.” Mrs. Xu shook her head and smiled. “Son, your match was really beautiful! I watched carefully from the beginning to the end. You used your shield really well; the orc army failed to injure you. Even your master—Liu Hai—and Senior Lei Yunfang praised you for your shield talent while onstage.”

Xu Jingming was surprised. “Praised my shield talent?”

His spearmanship talent was higher, having reached Lv. 3. He still needed to practice his shield.

“Grandson.” Grandpa Xu ran over and gave him a thumbs-up. “Nice job.”

Grandpa Xu approached and whispered, “Grandson, if I’m not wrong, did you make a breakthrough?”

Xu Jingming looked at his grandfather in surprise.

“Your shield blocked the attacks beautifully. No matter how the orc army attacked, it didn’t threaten you. I’ve seen several teams ranked ahead of you, but your shield feels like it can be ranked first,” Grandpa Xu said. “Trust my judgment; I can tell the slightest difference.”

Grandpa Xu was extremely confident.

Xu Jingming sighed inwardly. Grandpa is really impressive. I don’t have any advantage in shield techniques compared to others, but after I reached the Be Fire realm, my body’s reaction speed became much faster despite deliberately holding back my strength and speed.

The strikes that others found dangerous and terrifying appeared like slow motion to him! He was also honing his shield techniques and working hard to use all kinds of techniques, so he naturally appeared much more staid than the others.

“The competition is over,” Mrs. Xu said.

Xu Jingming looked up.

Yes, the competition was over—a total of 58 teams passed, and only one member remained for the last few teams. The other teams were wiped out by the orc army.

“The competition is already over. Why isn’t your father here yet?” As Mrs. Xu grumbled, Xu Jingming’s eyes lit up. He saw Xu Hong appear in the stands in the distance while walking over to his family and friends with a smile.

“Dad.” Xu Jingming stepped forward.

“Not bad.” Xu Hong nodded in approval.

“Didn’t you say that you formed a middle-aged and elderly team with Old Dai and the others?” Mrs. Xu asked. “Why didn’t I see your match despite scanning through the 821 teams? When I asked you about the team’s name previously, you refrained from giving me an answer and said that I would know after the competition. However, I didn’t see you compete today!”

“There.” Xu Hong looked up at the podium.

On the commentary platform in the livestream, Liu Xin said, “The preliminaries have come to an end. Congratulations to these 58 teams for killing the orc army. Although teams ranked lower than 30 are unable to participate in the main competition, being able to kill an entire orc army with five people proves your strength. Oh… The first 30 teams have been confirmed. The first round of the Firestarter Cup’s main competition has been confirmed.”

“Please take a look at this battle schedule. The first round of the Firestarter Cup’s main competition will begin at midnight on September 2. Our official livestream will continue broadcasting until 8 a.m.”

“September 2, 0:00: First match: Liu Hai’s Elderly Team vs. Team Changnan.”

“List of Liu Hai’s Elderly Team members: Liu Hai, Tian Yiqu, Xu Hong, Dai Tongda, Zhou Fan; substitute member: Qiu Yong.”

“List of Team Changnan members: Liu Bo, Lei Chong…”

“September 2, 0:30: Second match…”

…

The detailed battle schedule allowed for a match every 30 minutes. The 16 matches lasted 8 hours.

“Liu Hai’s Elderly Team?” Xu Jingming, Li Miaomiao, Mrs. Xu, Grandpa Xu, Wang Yi, Yang Qingshuo, Heng Fang, Liu Chongyuan, and the other relatives and friends around looked at the name list.

“Captain said that,” Xu Hong wore a helpless expression and sighed, “in order to avoid causing unnecessary discussion, he got us to keep it a secret before the official announcement. We had to keep a low profile.”

“Dad, how did you form a team with Master?” Xu Jingming couldn’t help but ask.

“After sending you to the national team, I naturally kept in touch with your master and got to know him better,” Xu Hong said. “Didn’t your master come to Mingyue City before? Old Dai and I had also entertained him for a few days. He requested me and Old Dai to team up with him, so we naturally joined him.”

Liu Xin looked at the name list and couldn’t help saying, “Teacher Liu Hai, why did you create an elderly team for your team?”

“Haha, our team isn’t young,” Liu Hai said with a smile. “The youngest is Tian Yiqu, who’s 55 this year. Oh right, I’ll introduce them in detail. Brother Zhou Fan is a little older than me; he’s Zhou Yi’s father, and he’s 88 this year! Xu Hong is Xu Jingming’s father, Dai Tongda is Dai Xiaoqing’s father, and Tian Yiqu is Tian Xiao’s father. The substitute, Qiu Yong, is my in-law.”

Liu Hai smiled brilliantly as he introduced his team members.

The corners of Lei Yunfang’s eyes twitched slightly. The team members I chose can’t compare to Liu Hai’s.

“Zhou Yi’s father, Xu Jingming’s father, Dai Xiaoqing’s father, and Tian Xiao’s father?” Liu Xin was surprised. “Zhou Yi, Xu Jingming, Dai Xiaoqing, and Tian Xiao have all entered the main competition.”

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Liu Hai said with a smile. “I’ll also say this to all the teams that have entered the main competition. If you want to fight me, you have to defeat these old guys first. These few guys of mine aren’t easy to deal with!”