I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 807: Chapter One Hundred and One: Ranking

Many young masters had been lodging complaints with the attendants since last night, for they felt they were at a significant disadvantage in this trial. After all, only a very few families truly had experience with the Minor Spiritual Realm, and the majority of challengers could only construct their understanding of it through word of mouth and books.

Thus, sect disciples could quickly identify the illusion, while scions of noble families needed some reasoning to see through it. The jade coins they had fought for with their lives were halved because of this, resulting in widespread grumbling among them.

Nevertheless, the will of Martial Saint Mountain remained unshakable. After the attendants had finished tallying, they gathered all challengers in the bamboo forest, ready to announce the results of the second stage.

The last few ranks were uniformly at zero jade coins. Apart from the insatiable believers like Cui Haoran, there were many who realized victory was out of reach and had traded jade coins with members of the Four Imperial Spirit Clans within the environment.

But an Illusionary Dream remains just that, a dream. The things they traded the jade coins for, whether they were heretical powers or ancient books, even ancient relics, ended up amounting to nothing. Without Chen Menglu’s permission, the Illusionary Dream Space was merely a setting after all. These participants, who had lost sight of the trial’s objectives, became the biggest losers of the second stage, while the rest managed to achieve some gains.

In fact, most of the martial artists who had made it to the second stage possessed the capability to fight against common creatures of the Fierce Realm. In the Four Imperial Spirit Realms, as long as one was cautious, there was always a harvest to be had after the void storms subsided, and keeping a low profile away from the attention of Spiritual Kings made earning a few hundred coins not so difficult.

There were also those who took a different path, seizing the opportunity to ambush village residencies while various forces vied for spiritual jade, earning a hefty profit.

Therefore, the rankings of the second stage experienced significant upheaval. Some sect disciples, confident in their cultivation, had stayed at the edge of the storm too early, attracting the attention of Spiritual King experts before the storm subsided. They had no choice but to use their jade coins in humiliation, ultimately obtaining a result of one hundred fifty.

There were also noblemen who had been very ordinary in the first stage but mysteriously gained the trust of certain powers. Utilizing their external identities and the jade coins in hand, they not only became part of the allied forces but also managed to secure over a thousand coins.

As attendants announced the rankings one by one, there were those elated with success and those despondent in defeat, feelings known only to themselves.

“Forty-fifth place, Longxi’s Li Xuanba, one thousand seven hundred sixty-three coins!”

While the Four Imperial Spirit Clans had high levels of Spiritual Power, their crude Spirit Arts could not break through the Li Family’s Xuanhuang Body. Who would have thought that the seemingly simple and foolish Li Xuanba would actually make it into the top fifty of the second stage, even surpassing some mighty sect disciples, causing a stir among the crowd.

Li Xuanba himself was dazed, not expecting his rank to be so high. In the group from Longxi, aside from Cui Haoran who garnered nothing, he had the lowest rank. Compared to the astonishing amount Tang Luo obtained, his own results didn’t quite offer reassurance. He had thought making it into the top hundred would be a stroke of great luck, but unexpectedly, he reached the heights of forty-fifth place.

After hearing Li Xuanba’s ranking, Xiao Ziyu felt assured about his own position as well.

After announcing the thirty-fifth rank, only the last ten remained.

Longxi’s Tang Luo, Xiao Ziyu, Mubai’s Mubai Chuanyuan, Chuanyuan’s Liu Chenxing, Chaochang’s Xiang Loulan, Beast Taming Sect’s Cao Changqing, Wuji Mansion’s Tong Senyu, Yulin Pavilion’s Lu Liangliang, Evil King Palace’s Duan Longshu, Qiyao Temple’s Lei Dong.

Unexpectedly, among the final ten in the second stage, there were fully five scions of noble families, on par with sect disciples, causing the frowning faces of several disciples in Taoist robes to darken further.

Although the rankings were crucial for the participants, they were just routine for the announcing attendant. Who ranked first or last made no difference to him; hence, before a sinister atmosphere could take root, the attendant couldn’t wait to announce the next rank.

“Tenth place, Chuanyuan’s Liu Chenxing, two thousand nine hundred eighty-six coins.”

“Ninth place, Mubai Mupingyuan, 3024 tokens.”

The consecutive announcements of the rankings improved the mood of the disciples from several sects; after all, of the remaining sect disciples, three were from Fierce Realm warriors. If they had their rankings snatched away by those who had shed the mortal coil, they would have no face to return to their sects with their reports. Fortunately, they were not completely overshadowed by the noble families. It seemed next would be Xiao Ziyu and Xiang Loulan, and that Tang Luo, who had won the first challenge against Bu Lin, should be within the top five.

Cao Changqing, Lu Liangliang, and Tong Senyu exchanged glances, reaching a tacit understanding that the final ranking would depend on the three of them along with Tang Luo.

“Eighth place, Qiyao Temple’s Lei Dong, 3095 tokens.”

“Seventh place, Evil King Palace’s Duan Longshu, 3118 tokens.”

“Sixth place, Longxi’s Xiao Ziyu, 3250 tokens.”

The long scroll was nearly at its end, with just the last five names remaining, yet there were still two names from challengers of the noble families. The attendant felt a sudden dryness in his mouth and couldn’t help pausing for a moment.

It wasn’t just the attendant who was startled; Cao Changqing and the others had faces as dark as ink, unable to believe that two disciples from noble families had managed to squeeze into the top five. If Tang Luo was considered an unbeatable monster, then how did someone like Xiang Loulan have the virtue or capability to stand alongside the others?

After a brief pause, the attendant continued, “Fifth place, Yulin Pavilion’s Lu Liangliang, 7175 tokens.”

“Fourth place, Wuji Mansion’s Tong Senyu, 7390 tokens.”

“Third place…”

The attendant swallowed hard, looking at the current head disciple of Beast Taming Sect’s Long Valley, and said with difficulty, “Beast Taming Sect’s Cao Changqing, 8154 tokens.”

With a clatter, the Spiritual Sword was unsheathed, and a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect pointed their sword at Xiang Loulan from a distance, questioning the attendant with a cold voice, “Are you telling me that fellow, who’s merely at the unity of spirit and intent, ranks above me?”

Cao Changqing had actually anticipated that he might not be able to surpass Tang Luo, not because he thought his cultivation was insufficient, but rather the gap in their foundations was too large.

Tang Luo went into the second challenge carrying an entire 990 tokens, whereas he had only 300 tokens. It was very likely that he would lose due to this initial difference of 600 tokens, so he had prepared himself for not claiming the first place.

But what was this Xiang Loulan that had emerged out of nowhere? He felt he must demand an explanation.

Looking up, he saw a crane-haired, white-browed master surnamed Wei on the cliffside, as well as a middle-aged scholar whom he had never met before. Cao Changqing called out boldly, “I request Master Wei to disclose the process of Xiang Loulan’s challenge; otherwise, I cannot accept this in good conscience!”

He had fought intensely with dozens of Spirit Manipulators and three Spirit Kings, almost monopolizing the tokens scattered by the spatial storm to achieve over 8000 tokens. To accept that a mere mortal-shedding martial artist could outpace him was too much to bear!