Chapter 205 – Ranking Tournament: Profound Strength Assessment
“Now, let this old man declare the prize of this Ranking Tournament.”
Ling Wugou’s words, made everyone focus their gaze back onto him again and listened earnestly. The prize for every single ranking tournament was different. They only heard Ling Wugou read on: “Third place in the ranking tournament’s individual rankings, will receive one ‘Purple Striped Dragon Heart Pellet’. Second place in individual rankings, will receive three drops of ‘Purple Veined Marrow Quenching Fluid’….”
As Ling Wugou said till here, the audiences below was already filled with cries of shock. The names of “Purple Striped Dragon Heart Pellet” and “Purple Veined Marrow Quenching Fluid”, was like a thunder striking through the eardrums of everyone present on the seats. Because, these were all godlike medicine that were difficult to obtain even with immense wealth. The former was rumored to be made by refining the power of True Dragon Profound Cores, and could let all of the profound entrances of those who took it be opened for the next month, increasing their cultivation speed by several times! The latter, could refine one’s bone marrows and brain, enhancing their physical and mental prowess by a great extent, allowing one to obtain permanent benefits. These two medicines were both incomparably famous and precious, and it was almost impossible to purchase them no matter how great the amount of money one had. Especially to the younger generation, the “Purple Striped Dragon Heart Pellet” and “Purple Veined Marrow Quenching Fluid”” were completely and genuinely medicines of miracle.
All of the participating disciples present, including those disciples of the top-notch sects were already staring with their eyes stiff, as gulping sounds continually came from their throats.
However, the conditions to acquire one of these two kind of medicines were extremely harsh… Rising up to the top three places amongst one thousand and five hundred tip top talents, really was harder than trying to climb up to the heavens.
“… First place in individual rankings, will receive a Sky Profound Artifact, Dragonscale Armor, that originates from the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region.”
“WHOAA”
The moment the prize for the first place was announced, the entire audience immediately clamored as if hot oil in a pan, and couldn’t die down for a long while.
Sky Profound Artifact… Dragonscale Armor!!
“As expected from the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, it really is a show of hands that makes it hard to keep calm even if one wished to.” Xiao Sect’s Sect Master Xiao Juetian said with a face full of shock: “I had heard that this Dragonscale Armor was made by a dragon scale from a true dragon. While being incomparably tough, it also possesses a certain amount of reflective properties toward foreign profound energy. With the Dragonscale Armor on hand, it’s comparable to having one… no, several more lives! Lei’er, this time, you absolutely must expend one hundred and twenty percent of effort. For this Dragonscale Armor, you must try your best even if it’s Ling Yun you face, and mustn’t declare forfeit from the start.”
“Yes!” Xiao Kuanglei forcibly nodded his head in response.
“There are only three protective armors of the Sky Profound rank in the entire Blue Wind Empire. Moreover, none of them could match up to this Dragonscale Armor.” Burning Heaven Clan’s Great Elder Fen Moli also could no longer stay calm. However, he wasn’t as optimistic as Xiao Juetian, and his expression quickly became insipid again: “However regrettably, this Dragonscale Armor is merely used to dazzle our eyes. With Ling Yun here, who could win against him. From what I see here, this may be a great gift that Ling Kun brought from the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, as a mean to instigate our eyeballs while taking advantage of this situation. In the end, it’ll still be something of their possession.”
Ling Wugou’s declaration continued: “Top ten forces in the ranking tournament, after the tournament, will be qualified to explore ‘Heaven Basin Secret Realm’ in teams.”
“The top ten forces in the ranking tournament, after the exploration of ‘Heavenly Basin Secret Realm‘, will have the opportunity to see the ‘Demon’ Sealing Ritual carried out personally by Elder Ling Kun of the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region with their own eyes.”
“Demon Sealing Ritual? What’s that?” Yun Che puzzledly asked in Qin Wushang’s direction.
Qin Wushang thought for a bit, and said: “I am not very sure either. Counting this time, I’ve been here three times altogether, yet I have never heard of this sort of ‘reward’. But the word “Demon”, I have heard of. It was rumored that an hundred years ago, Mighty Heavenly Sword Region had sent a ‘Demon’ to Heavenly Sword Villa, and sealed it under the Sword Management Terrace. That gigantic sword at the center of the Sword Management Terrace, exists precisely to seal that ‘Demon’. Perhaps this seal needs to be reinforced once in awhile, or perhaps the reason why this Ling Kun came to Heavenly Sword Villa, was not to witness this session of Blue Wind Ranking Tournament, but to reinforce that seal instead… Of course, this is only a guess.”
The matter of Heavenly Sword Villa having a demon that was sent here by the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, Yun Che had heard Cang Yue mentioning it arbitrarily before as she introduced the Heavenly Sword Villa to him. His gaze swept across the surroundings, and found that most people were all whispering to one another with confused expressions… Clearly they all didn’t know what the so-called “Demon Sealing Ritual” was.
“The time hath come. Now, this old man declares; this session of Blue Wind Ranking Tournament, officially begins!”
The enormous Sword Discourse Arena immediately became quiet. One could only see the figure of Ling Wugou waver; he had already flown up into the air. Leaving a line of hazy grey phantom, he landed on the dead center of the Sword Discourse Arena in the blink of an eye. There, a gigantic Profound Assessing Stone already stood in place.
“This session’s Ranking Tournament, has a total of five hundred and thirteen sectoral forces to be ranked, and involves one thousand five hundred and thirty-five participating disciples. The age of every single participating disciple must not be younger than sixteen, and must not be over twenty. Anyone not within this age range will be immediately kicked out. Now begins the lot drawing of the Ranking Tournament. Before the number is drawn, one must be tested for age and profound strength, and then let everyone know the names of younger generation’s outstanding individuals as well… Now, participating disciples called on by this old man, come up immediately for profound strength assessment and lot number drawing.”
In every single session of the ranking tournament, the profound strength assessment had always been an essential process. However, what this profound strength assessment truly tested for was not profound strength, but was instead age. After all, the ranking tournament had an extremely tight restriction toward the participating disciple’s age.
“Skyblade Clan’s Li Badao, Ji Hong, Ye Changqing!”
The three whose names were called by Ling Wugou immediately walked down from the seating, and put their palm on the profound assessing stone one by one. The resulting age was respectively 19, 20, and 20; the respective profound strength ranks were Spirit Profound Realm rank three, Spirit Profound Realm rank two, and Spirit Profound Realm rank two. Afterwards, they drew their own Ranking Tournament numbers on the side, and returned to their seats.
“Thunderbolt Mountain’s Wu Mu, Wu Feiran, Wu Qingyun!”
“Skyriver Cloud Pavilion….”
“Moon Worshipping Sect…”
“Divine Cloud Isle…”
…………
Waves after waves of participating disciples, with sects as units, came up and carried out profound strength assessment as well as the number drawing. Same as previous sessions, most of the participating disciple’s age all grouped at 19 and 20. 18 years olds were already very rare, and 17 extremely so. As for sixteen… Nearly half of the disciples had already gone up, but there still wasn’t even one.
Moreover, over ninety percent of these participating disciples, had a profound strength centralized between the first level of the Spirit Profound Realm and fifth level of the Spirit Profound Realm. Ones that surpassed fifth level of the Spirit Profound Realm didn’t even reach one tenth. To be able to step into the Spirit Profound Realm under the age of twenty, even if it was in the Imperial Capital of the Blue Wind Empire, one would be considered as the genius within geniuses. Even for the Blue Wind’s number one Profound Palace, there were merely three people, including the foreign Fen Juechen. For those small cities like Floating Cloud and New Moon, one wouldn’t even dare to imagine it. But in here, it could only be reduced to ordinary. And for young profound practitioners of fifth level of the Spirit Profound Realm and above, they would be the prodigies blessed by heavens within prodigies blessed by heavens, as well as the top level group of the ranking tournament.
As for True Profound Realm… At least until now, there hadn’t been even a single one.
“Xiao Sect’s Xiao Kuanglei, Xiao Zhen, Xiao Nan.”
The moment the name “Xiao Sect” was announced, the entire audience abruptly became quiet again. The Four Major Sects that inspired awe in the Blue Wind Empire, finally begun to enter the stage!
The three participating disciples of Xiao Sect walked out from the seating area, and walked toward the center of the Sword Discourse Arena shoulder by shoulder. Even the way they walked was different from the disciples of the other sects. In between their brows, there brimmed a prideful air that almost seemed to be natural.
Xiao Kuanglei, 20 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level nine.
Xiao Kuanglei was the first to take the profound strength assessment. As the result was shown, a burst of exclamation came from below the stage. Especially those disciples who was usually prideful and referred to as “number one prodigy” in their own regions; they immediately became wide-eyed and slack-jawed, and couldn’t believe their own eyes.
‘At a mere age of twenty, he was actually already at the ninth rank of Spirit Profound Realm, and was only two steps from entering the Earth Profound Realm, how was this possible’, was what they yelled within their trembling hearts.
The exclamation that sounded beside the ears made Xiao Zhen emit a cold snort, as he took a step forward and pressed his hand onto the Profound Assessing Stone.
Xiao Zhen, 20 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level nine.
This time, those young disciples who were already wide-eyed and slack-jawed stared their eyes even wider. They had only heard the awe-inspiring name of the Four Major Sects with their ears before; yet this time, they had used their eyes, and genuinely witnessed the dreadfulness of the Four Major Sects.
Xiao Nan was last.
Xiao Nan, 18 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level six.
Even though Xiao Nan’s profound strength was the bottom of the three, he was after all two years younger than Xiao Kuanglei and Xiao Zhen. This age coupled with this profound strength rank, the shock factor was not in the slightest weaker than the previous two.
Not long after, Burning Heaven Clan’s three participating disciples also went up on stage at the same time.
Fen Jin, 20 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level nine.
Fen Juebi, 20 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level eight.
Fen Yuange, 19 years old, Spirit Profound Realm level seven.
“Fen Jin is the eldest grandson of Burning Heaven Clan’s Great Elder Fen Moli, and is also the number one disciple for Burning Heaven Clan in this tournament. As for Feng Juebi, his aptitude is inferior to that of Feng Juecheng, and cannot become the number one main character for Burning Heaven Clan in this Ranking Tournament.” Qin Wushang explained on a whim.
“Frozen Cloud Asgard’s Shui Wushuang, Wu Xuexin, Xia Qingyue.”
Amongst the Four Major Sects, Frozen Cloud Asgard had the lowest number of disciples. Because when Frozen Cloud Asgard chooses their disciple, not only was it restricted to females, they also had extremely strict requirement for aptitude, talent, as well as appearance. And hence, if one were to talk about the average strength of disciples, even Heavenly Sword Villa couldn’t match that of Frozen Cloud Asgard. At the same time, every single one of the Frozen Cloud Asgard’s disciples were as beautiful as blossoming flowers; the number one beauty “Chu Yuechan” who had made countless young and talented men infatuated, had precisely came from Frozen Cloud Asgard.
As expected, when Frozen Cloud Asgard’s three females came out, the entire surrounding was immediately filled with the echoing of continuous gulping. The young disciples that had the ability to arrive to this place have already established themselves as the pinnacle of their territories, so it could be said that they had all kinds of beautiful women at their disposal. But how could ordinary women compare to the quality of Frozen Cloud Asgard’s female disciples. They had natural ice auroras floating around them that enhanced their dreamy atmosphere even more. The last young woman’s face was covered by a veil so there was no way to see her true face. The gazes of the young disciples all concentrated upon Shui Wushuang and Wu Xuexin’s beautiful faces and figures, staring for so long that their wide eyes had almost become vertical, as if their spirit had left their bodies.
“Brother-in-law, quick, look! It’s big sister!!”
Although Xia Qingyue wore a veil, Xia Yuanba still recognized her at a single glance. He promptly grabbed Yun Che’s arm as he shouted with excitement.
“Shh…” Yun Che quickly silenced him and said in a low voice: “I know that she’s Qingyue and I already knew that she would participate in this ranking tournament… You can call me brother-in-law, but you must not call her big sister again. Frozen Cloud Asgard’s female disciples are forbidden to marry. If someone else hears about something, it would be detrimental to her. We too, would receive unnecessary attention.”
Xia Yuanba promptly covered his mouth with both hands, nodded repeatedly, and did not dare to yell out loud.
Yun Che’s gaze fell upon Xia Qingyue’s back as his heart pounded… It had been a year and a half since he’d last seen her and she had clearly grown taller. The original incomparably slender and graceful delicate body had become even more perfectly beautiful. Just looking at her from the rear was enough to imagine what kind of peerless beauty she had become… Once she took down her veil, her face had perhaps become even more breath-taking since long ago.
“That girl wearing a veil is… is… Yuanba’s elder sister… Your wife?” Others did not hear what Yuanba had said, but the Cang Yue sitting next to them heard it clearly. She stared at Xia Qingyue with a somewhat blank look on her face… When seeing the wife of her lover, her voice and expression all revealed an indescribably complex emotion.
Regardless of whether or not they had real feelings for each other, regardless of whether or not they were truly husband and wife… She was still his wife… They were officially married, paid respects to heaven and earth, paid respects to their elders, with heaven and earth as witness…