(Thanks to Grum for the gift.)
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Wang Wei flew to his seat in the middle of the square, and not long afterward, Lord Spirit appeared with a noticeable smile on her face.
“Let’s not waste time and get started. I will show the ranking for this trial from the lowest to the highest. In other words, from the person who lives the shortest time to the highest. I will only rank the top 12.”
Lord Spirit waved her hand to the number 12 with a few dots. She appeared to be building suspense. A few seconds later, Shi Qian’s name appeared, making her face pale in the fifth seeded-player seat.
An image appeared to display the things she did in the trial. Shi Qian did a basic breathing exercise to absorb Spirit Qi, but she focused on nourishing her soul and spiritual power. Afterward, she created a method of using karma for deduction or calculation. With it, she found a spirit turtle and raised that turtle with the few spiritual herbs and resources she had before turning it into a herbal soup.
The Spirit Turtle Soup raised her lifespan to 250 years, and after years of nourishing her body with Spirit Qi, she lived up to 300 years.
Lord Spirit did not stop and continued to the eleventh place, Jingwu Hua. Her method was radical from the beginning. As a demon, she has little to no affection for humans. So, her path of longevity involved absorbing life force from people.
Unfortunately, her actions were effective and counterproductive. Human lifespan–as energy or power–was murky and full of impurities. And even when she tried to purify them, her body and soul were severely damaged, and she only lived up to 312 years.
The tenth place was the brother of the Barbarian Siblings, Tolui. The first thing he did was use Spiritual Qi to temper his body. Then, he used his potent military prowess to conquer the world.
As he watched this part, Wang Wei thought the latter would use a method that used luck. But he was wrong. Tolui used his authority as a Sovereign to gather a harem of beautiful women, which he then used to practice a Yin-Yang Cultivation technique with them, nourishing his body and increasing his lifespan; he lived to 350 years old.
The ninth place was Feng Heng. The Taoist priest used a similar method to Wang Wei, absorbing Pure Yang energy from the sun and Pure Yin energy from the moon. He created a technique identical to Wang Wei but focused solely on Qi Refining. Feng Heng used Yin and Yang Qi to sublimate his Inner Qi and nourish his body. His result was the same time as Tolui, 350 years.
Wang Wei secretly shook his head as he could see the priest did not use his full ability. The concept of Essence, Qi, and Spirit is deeply rooted in Taoism, so he did not think of it. According to his speculation, the Taiyi Profound Gate might be one of the few sects that also created a method of condensing the Three Flowers on the Crown, and the other was the Five Element Balance Palace.
The eighth place was Mu Lei, whose approach was strange. He created a mass grave and buried himself. He made a method that turned him into a zombie by absorbing the Ghostly Yin Qi released by the graves. The technique was clever but also had a significant flaw: without enough Spirit Qi and specific rare resources, the Yin Qi eventually corroded his body and soul, leading to his death; he survived until he was 387 years.
‘Zombie? Why do I feel like I will encounter something annoying related to zombies?’ thought Wang Wei as he watched Mu Lei’s trial. However, he soon focused on the next participant.
The seventh place went to Khutulun. Her method involved conquering the world to help her gather resources. Then, she created a pool of blood energy and sealed herself inside with a special method. By absorbing the energy, and because she had to use little to no vitality in the sealed state, she survived for 400 years.
“I’m only seventh?” complained Khutulun. Being sealed was a very uncomfortable feeling; it was like she was both dead and aware simultaneously. Time seemed to slow down because of how she perceived it. Her mind was in a murky state where she could not think carefully, yet, she was completely aware of her mind and existence. In conclusion, it was a disgusting feeling to experience, and she could not understand how the people who sealed themselves for countless generations survived; she could foresee the experience was even worse for them.
The sixth place was the drunk swordsman, Ji Lanfanng. His plan’s first step was cultivating the sword while absorbing Spirit Qi. He focused on training his spirit and soul through the sword. After making some achievements, he began a journey through the world, spreading his legend as a swordsman; he even spread some basic body refining techniques to make martial art more prosperous.
Then, Ji Lanfang abandoned his body and fused his soul into his sword, becoming the sword’s spirit. The sword became a legend in the martial art world since anyone who got their hands on it became a peerless swordsman. The only downside was they would die early, but most people who pursued fame and glory did not care about death.
These swordsmen died young because Ji Langfang absorbed their spiritual power to nourish his soul in the sword; he also guided them in the process, creating the legend that the sword could create master swordsmen. Through this method, he lived for 430 years.
Lord Spirit announced Tong Ruobing in fifth place. Her plan involved creating Artificial Spirit Qi using mortals as the energy source for her worldwide Feng Shui Array. Unfortunately, she also succumbed to the issue of impurities and died after living 550 years.
The fourth place was Chu Luo. After seeing his method, Wang Wei’s mouth almost twitched. Chu Luo turned himself into a cyborg. The method he used was to replace the failing parts of his body with artificial components that he created. For example, Chu Luo would build artificial organs or muscles through weapon refining if they began to degenerate and showed signs of failure. And since the artificial parts had Spirit Qi and he nourished his soul, he did not have to hurry about his body affecting his lifespan. Unfortunately, his soul could not be replaced, so he only lived for 624 years.
The third place went to Liang Shixian. He used a basic method since it involved his race as a God. He conquered the world and had everyone worshipped him as a Divine Being. Then, he abandoned his body to live as a pure soul creature. After dealing with the impurities in the incense and low Spirit Qi, he lived for 687 years.
At this time, most knew that only two people were in the lead for the first position. And Lord Spirit made sure to play the dramatic as the second name took so long to show up that many people became annoyed and impatient. Eventually, he revealed Xu Shi as the second-place winner.
Her method involved fusing her mind with a Mountain, becoming a Mountain Spirit. And because mountains had longer lifespans than swords, she lived for 720 years; her spirit could not support her body without Spirit Qi or other resources, so she died from the backlash.
Finally, Lord Spirit revealed Wang Wei’s position as number one. The other participants watched as he methodically created a system ideally suited for himself and the environment. They saw his ingenuity and ability to assess the situation and respond accordingly; they saw how he could use anything to his advantage to achieve his goal, they saw how he could maximize profit while being highly efficient, they saw the demeanor of a Dao Overlord.
The participants saw what would happen to them if they were stranded in a low-level world, weakened beyond measure, and without outside help. They would struggle to survive, while this man would probably find a way to prosper and even get out of the situation.
After all, while they tried to live as long as possible, the Dao Overlord reached the limit of the world. And if it were not in the trial, he would have broken that limit and maybe lived as long as Heaven and Earth.
The vast difference made a few people sigh in desolateness, but many also increased their fighting intention; they would not acknowledge they were inferior so quickly. They would learn from this situation and strive to improve. And if they could never catch up to this man’s back, it was alright since he was an excellent motivation to keep moving forward, never faltering.
“Now that all the trial sections have been accomplished, it’s time to announce the final winner,” said Lord Spirit.
“And for many of you, the answer is already obvious. After totaling the results of all the previous sections, the final winner is… Wang Wei. Congratulations.”
The square became quiet only for a moment before Ji Lanfang said, “Congratulations, fellow Daoist. You deserve it.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t forget to have your father contact me.”
“I won’t.”
Tong Ruobing and a few others congratulated Wang Wei, and he replied respectfully. However, he could sense that Chu Luo next to him was not happy. However, the latter did not say anything, seeming to accept his loss.