AWB Chapter 197 Ranking Stone Tablet
Chapter 197 Ranking Stone Tablet
"A favorable wind lends its strength, sending me soaring to the clouds!" Looking at the towering green mountains in the distance, Shen Xu couldn't help but exclaim.
"For ordinary swordsmen like us who have no background, if our names can appear on this Qingyun Mountain, it can be said that we have truly ascended to the heavens." Ye Zhi looked at the distant mountain peaks and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
"Xiao Zhi, which sect do you come from?" Shen Xu suddenly asked.
"I am a local from Tianjian City."
"Hmm?" Shen Xu looked at Ye Zhi with some surprise.
"With such a large area as Heavenly Sword City, how could there be no one participating in the Sword Selection? It's just that there aren't many truly powerful individuals!"
"Why? Logically speaking, since Tianjian City is so close to Tianjian Mountain, there should be many geniuses here."
"There are indeed many geniuses, but most of them have been sent to the five major sects. After all, Tianjian Mountain does not recruit disciples from outside. Many of the high-ranking members of the five major alliances in the Sword Selection are actually from Tianjian City. They are all the descendants of many elders of the Four Directions Sword Alliance."
"So that's how it is. It turns out the relationship between the Four Directions Sword Alliance and the Five Great Sects is truly intricate!"
Centered on Qingyun Mountain, the five alliances all moved their headquarters to the foot of the mountain, completely surrounding Qingyun Mountain.
This has led to Qingyun Mountain becoming the true core of the entire Kunyuan Secret Realm. Most of the remaining swordsmen in the secret realm are located near Qingyun Mountain, since few swordsmen don't care about their rankings.
The direction Shen Xu was taking meant that to get closer to Qingyun Mountain, he had to pass through the Golden Rainbow Society's headquarters. However, judging from the young man who blocked his way, the five major alliances didn't seem to make things too difficult for ordinary swordsmen going to Qingyun Mountain to check their rankings.
"Xiao Zhi, you're a local from Tianjian City. Have there been ranking steles in previous sword selections?"
"I have never heard my elders say that the Four Directions Sword Alliance will announce the rankings during the Sword Selection process. Usually, the list of one thousand people who can enter the Sword Alliance will be announced after the Sword Selection is over."
"It seems the Four Directions Sword Alliance also wants to help Qingyun obtain this title," Shen Xu thought to himself.
"Excuse me, sir, what's the procedure for checking the rankings?" Shen Xu asked immediately upon seeing someone pass by.
"Then you've come to the wrong place. Walk around Qingyun Mountain and you'll see a lot of people queuing up. That's the entrance to the mountain, but you need Kun Yuan Qi to go up."
"Thank you for informing me, brother."
"This alliance of five families has a really good idea. They already control most of the Kun Yuan Qi in the secret realm, and now they want to harvest us ordinary swordsmen as well," Ye Zhi complained.
"The weak have no right to speak," Shen Xu said quietly.
Moreover, he knew without a doubt that this was Zuo Chen's doing. Little by little, as long as the Green Wood Society had enough Kun Yuan Qi, he could completely control the situation within the Sword Selection and easily complete his plan.
After some time, the two arrived at the entrance to see the ranking stone tablet. However, contrary to what the man had described, there were not many people in line, and they only had to wait a short while before it was their turn.
"A wisp of Kunyuan Qi at the Qi Condensation Realm," the guard Jian Xuan said calmly.
"What did you say?" Shen Xu asked incredulously.
He greatly underestimated Zuo Chen's ruthlessness. No wonder there weren't many people queuing up; the price was outrageous!
Regarding Shen Xu's reaction, the swordsman said unsurprisedly, "If you think it's too expensive, then go away and don't block other people's way."
"Are you still going?" Shen Xu asked Ye Zhi.
"I've come all this way, I want to go and see it," Ye Zhi said earnestly.
"Fine!" Shen Xu said helplessly. He knew this was an open scheme with no solution. No matter what the independent swordsmen chose, they would be the ones who suffered losses.
After exchanging their Kun Yuan Qi, the two entered the interior of Qingyun Mountain through a thin wooden door.
According to the gatekeeper, the ranking stone tablet is located at the top of Qingyun Mountain and is updated every three days.
Although the tickets were ridiculously expensive, once the two reached the top of the mountain, they found that quite a few people were sitting around a huge and well-organized stone tablet.
Shen Xu and Ye Zhi also found a place to sit down outside the stone tablet. For cultivators at the Qi Condensation Realm, they can see characters the size of flies even from more than ten meters away, let alone such a large stone tablet.
"As expected, Qingyun is number one." Looking at the shimmering words on the first line of the stone tablet, Shen Xu couldn't help but smile.
The stone tablet contains a lot of information, not just names and scores, but also records the sect a person comes from and whether they are a candidate for the Sword Selection.
What surprised Shen Xu the most was that the score consisted of two parts. Qingyun's first part was particularly high, which should be the score brought to her by the Kunyuan Breath. However, the second part was not as good as the others below her. It should be the performance score brought by the Shadow Stone Wall mentioned by the voice on the Heavenly Sword Tower.
Below Qingyun were the leaders of the other four major alliances, but he quickly noticed his name.
"Damn! What's going on?" Shen Xu was immediately surprised. He clearly didn't have much Kun Yuan Qi in his hand, so how could he still be ranked tenth?
"Shen Xu, who exactly are you?" Ye Zhi asked, puzzled, after seeing Shen Xu's outstanding performance.
Shen Xu looked closely and found that the points he gained from the Kunyuan Breath were less than a fraction of the points he had earned on the Shadow Stone Wall.
"Would you believe me if I said this person just shares the same name as me?" Shen Xu said with a wry smile. He really didn't want to stand out. He didn't know what Su Jing would do to him with this ranking!
"Same name, same surname, and neither has much Kun Yuan Qi, what a coincidence!" Ye Zhi said coldly.
Shen Xu sensed that Ye Zhi was a little angry, so he immediately changed the subject, saying, "This isn't important. Let's see if your name is on the list first!"
He continued looking down and found that the rankings of the people in Wentian varied, but most of them were within the top fifty, except for Zuo Chen, who was ranked outside the top one hundred.
He scanned the list quickly, and found Lu Qingshan around the 300th position and Jialin around the 500th position.
As Shen Xu's gaze swept to the bottom of the stone tablet, he saw Ye Zhi's name around the 900th position. This made him frown. The 900th position was dangerous because many of the top candidates for the Sword Selection had been eliminated long ago.
Seeing Ye Zhi still searching carefully, Shen Xu said softly, "Xiao Zhi, give me your jade pendant."
"What do you want my jade pendant for?" Ye Zhi asked, somewhat puzzled.
"I've already seen your name, and I'm going to raise it a bit." Although Shen Xu's Kun Yuan Qi is nothing compared to the previous rankings, reaching the 900th position is still a considerable number of points.
"Where is it?" Ye Zhi asked with great surprise.
“Give me the jade token and I’ll point it out to you,” Shen Xu said with a smile.
"Here you go, anyway, the Kun Yuan Breath won't do you any good." Ye Zhi took out the jade token and handed it to Shen Xu.
The Kun Yuan Breath is indeed of no use to him now. After entering the Qi Condensation Realm, the Kun Yuan Breath can no longer improve his cultivation.
Shen Xu stacked the two jade tablets together. As the Kun Yuan Qi shifted, Ye Zhi's name began to rise rapidly, eventually reaching a position close to 800th. Meanwhile, Shen Xu's first part of his score was instantly reset to zero, causing him to drop a place.
Seeing this, Shen Xu couldn't help but chuckle, "A happy ending for everyone!"
"There! Around number eight hundred." After returning the jade token to Ye Zhi, Shen Xu pointed out the location of her name.
"Really!" Ye Bei exclaimed in surprise.
But Shen Xu's change in ranking instantly caused a stir among the crowd.
"Shen Xu is too arrogant!"
"It wasn't just arrogance, it was also full of sarcasm, mocking almost everyone on the ranking stone indiscriminately."
"So what? It just shows that he has the ability. Even if he is eliminated, his points will not be reduced by a single point."
"How did he manage to accumulate so many Shadow Wall Points? I've never heard of this person before; he should have accomplished quite a few great things."
"Anyone we've never heard of but who's done something big is automatically linked to the Aoki Society! But we don't know which member of the Aoki Society he is?"