463 Competition of the Geniuses
Xu Qing immediately recognized the woman in red.
The woman in red also saw Xu Qing. Her eyes under the mask were calm without the slightest fluctuation.
She didn’t recognize Xu Qing and didn’t care about his appearance at all.
She had seen too many human ugliness since she was young and knew very well that appearance was just skin. No matter how good-looking the other was, if she was provoked, she would kill him and his rotting body would be the same as those ugly people.
There was no difference.
At the next instant, as her evil ghost scythe transmitted its divine sense, a cold glint appeared in her calm eyes.
“Ghost Hand and Mad Dog are here. Ghost Hand is on the pillar in front. Mad Dog is among the crowd.”
The red woman revealed a cold smile and cast a deep glance at Xu Qing before retracting her gaze.
The rules here didn’t allow killing, so she planned to secretly find an opportunity to plot against the other party.
Xu Qing’s gaze was equally cold. He released his grip and his body fell from the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar.
The instant his body left the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar, streams of bright light erupted from it.
The number of lights caused the hearts of everyone here to tremble. Their expressions were filled with horror and many of them even cried out involuntarily.
“Those lights!”
“Oh my god!”
“This is too ridiculous!!”
“As expected of Chen Erniu’s junior brother. Amazing, why don’t we call him Xu Sanniu in the future!”
Even when Xu Qing had climbed all the way to 10,000 feet and became the first among the participants. The crowd watching below only discussed among themselves and didn’t exclaim.
But now, they couldn’t help but be shocked.
This was because the lights emitted by the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar were truly ridiculous.
When others climbed the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar, they would only be able to obtain two to three rewards. If they were unlucky, they wouldn’t be able to obtain any. After all, the rewards from the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar had a probability.
Although the higher one climbed and the more resentful souls they dispersed, the higher the possibility of a reward appearing, there were a total of 16 lights emitted at this moment.
Each of the 16 balls of light emitted a resplendent light, attracting everyone’s attention and shaking their minds.
Xu Qing wasn’t surprised.
He had discovered earlier that as long as the resentful soul in his sea of consciousness was destroyed, the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar would transmit the divine sense fluctuations of the reward.
And the number of resentful souls he destroyed was exactly 16.
Hence, he was mentally prepared and thought of a way to deal with this.
After all, it was already very difficult to explain this matter purely by luck. No one here was a fool. There would definitely be people who would suspect something. Rather than letting others guess, Xu Qing felt that it was better for him to give a direction.
Hence, he raised his right hand and more than 70 battle spirit marks instantly appeared in his hand. They surrounded the surroundings, forming a shocking battle intent that shook the world.
As soon as these battle spirit marks appeared, it caused an uproar again.
There was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with a pockmarked face in the crowd. When he saw this scene, his eyes widened. He compared it with the more than 40 marks that had formed in his body and was a little dazed.
Amidst everyone’s exclamations, as those battle marks lingered, the 16 lights emitted by the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar headed straight for Xu Qing. After they surrounded him, they transformed into balls of fog of various colors that landed in his hand.
Among these fog, Xu Qing could sense three strands of imperial metal Qi. The others were other types of Qi, such as the fog Qi and heavy light.
Unfortunately, there were no cultivation art inheritances inside.
This was understandable. After all, the rarest thing on the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar was cultivation art inheritances.
In the countless years after the appearance of this ferocious weapon, cultivation art inheritance rewards had only appeared slightly more than 300 times.
Moreover, these inheritance opportunities only appeared at a height above 10,000 feet.
However, to Xu Qing, these 16 Qi were also extremely good items, especially imperial metal Qi.
As for the other Qi, he could trade them with others.
Amidst everyone’s shock and envy, Xu Qing landed on the ground and left.
He knew that he could hide his spirit marks from the ordinary cultivators but it couldn’t be hidden from the Sword Holding Court. However, even if they investigated this matter deeply, he wasn’t afraid.
His Ghost Emperor Mountain’s shadow was obtained with proper means. Moreover, when he was climbing earlier, he had sensed that many of the runes and totems on the pillar were also in a withered state.
They were in the same state as the runes and totems after he destroyed the resentful souls.
Clearly, a similar scene had happened before.
Hence, Xu Qing’s heart was calm. Under the reverence of the disciples of the various forces, he headed straight for the encampment.
After he returned, he immediately called the little mute over and asked him to go out to find a cultivator who would want to trade these mystical Qi. The requirement was that they would need to exchange for these Qi with imperial metal Qi.
Although the little mute didn’t know how to speak, he naturally had a way to communicate. After nodding, he immediately went out to search.
Xu Qing sat down cross-legged and refined the Ghost Emperor Mountain in his sea of consciousness, allowing it to gradually recover from its filled state. At the same time, he refined the black iron stick again.
Just like that, ten days passed quickly.
In these ten days, discussions about Xu Qing continued to spread out in Absolute Beginning Separation City, especially because of the 70-odd battle spirit marks he released at the end. This caused many cultivators to think that this might be the reason why the rewards had increased.
Of course, there were also other guesses, but most of them were just empty guesses. Hence, the rumor that the battle spirit marks could increase the rewards slowly spread.
Coincidentally, someone searched through the books and discovered that a similar thing had happened here 700 years ago. At that time, that person was also a Golden Core cultivator. He climbed even higher and directly reached 15,000 feet, obtaining 20 rewards.
At that time, the other party had released more than 60 battle spirit marks.
After that, this person successfully became a Sword Holder in the assessment. As his cultivation level continued to increase, he climbed higher many times in the future. Although there were still rewards, they weren’t that exaggerated. It was just that there were more rewards than others.
As for his specific identity, there were no records in the books.
As such, a portion of people became increasingly convinced that the comprehension of the battle spirit marks could increase the probability of rewards. This also caused many people to start comprehending them.
On the tenth day after Xu Qing finished climbing, a woman in red walked over and began to climb the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar. Her appearance also attracted the attention of many people because her identity was extraordinary.
The holy maiden of the Litu Sect, Qing Qiu.
Her speed was even more astonishing. As she continued forward, she eventually reached the height of 10,000 feet. She didn’t stop and continued to climb.
In the end, she reached a height of 15,000 feet and became the first among the participants. Only then did she let go and descend, obtaining two rays of light.
Xu Qing and Qing Qiu’s successive first place seemed to have stimulated those disciples from the various forces who hadn’t participated in the climb. In the following days, some disciples who had hidden their combat strength appeared one after another like bamboo shoots after rain.
There were many who surpassed 6,000 feet, some who surpassed 8,000 feet, and there were even seven to eight people who climbed beyond 10,000 feet.
Among these seven to eight people, three came from small sects and the others were from large sects, such as the Litu Sect, the Eight Sects Alliance, and the Grand Affairs Immortal Sect.
The person from the Litu Sect was a youth. The person from the Eight Sects Alliance surprised Xu Qing a little. It was actually Sima Ru from the Bizarre Hunting Sect. This woman seemed to have been in seclusion in the campsite previously and hadn’t revealed herself. Now that she appeared, she had reached a height of 10,000 feet.
As for the cultivators from the small sects, there was a youth who looked to be 16 or 17 years old. He had climbed to a height of 14,000 feet, second only to the woman in red, Qing Qiu.
However, Qing Qiu was no longer first.
The first place was occupied by a middle-aged cultivator from a small sect. This middle-aged cultivator had rather common features and usually liked to discuss with others in the crowd. He especially liked to talk about the friendship between Xu Qing and his senior brother, Chen Erniu.
Hence, his climb caused a lot of laughter at the start.
However, very soon, the laughter gradually disappeared.
When he reached ten thousand feet, the laughter turned into shock.
When he reached 15,000 feet, the shock turned into horror.
In the end, he actually reached 19,000 feet.
This height shocked everyone. Some even began to question this person’s age and cultivation base. After all, he looked like a middle-aged man.
The rule stated that the people participating in the Sword Holder’s assessment couldn’t be older than 25 years old, but there was no such rule for climbing the pillar.
After her ranking was surpassed, Qing Qiu chose to climb again. Although she couldn’t get first place, she still reached a height of 18,000 feet.
The others also climbed many times in succession.
In an instant, heaven’s chosens from everywhere attempted the climb and the entire Absolute Beginning Separation City was extremely lively.
It was also at this moment that the energy in the Ghost Emperor Mountain in Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness was completely refined. The cracks on it disappeared and its entire body became even more real. Its facial appearance was also 70% similar to Xu Qing.
The Dao charms on its body spread out and permeated Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness, causing Xu Qing’s soul to be nourished by them. His soul grew increasingly strong and his gaze seemed to contain a mystical light.
The refinement of the black iron stick was also very smooth. Although the little mute couldn’t completely trade all the Qi, he still got seven strands of imperial metal Qi.
This caused the cracks on the black iron stick to completely disappear and it was in the process of advancing to a magic artifact.
Seeing this, Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed. He was prepared to climb the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar again.
“I must strive to obtain enough imperial metal Qi this time!”
With this thought, Xu Qing moved.
His movements quickly attracted attention. After all, everyone had been waiting for Xu Qing to climb up again these few days, wanting to see if he could return to first place.
It wasn’t just ordinary disciples who had such thoughts. The heaven’s chosens who had ranked on the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar during this period of time were the same. All of them fixed their gazes on Xu Qing.
Hence, when Xu Qing arrived at the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar and leaped up to climb, these heaven’s chosens also moved.
The woman in red was the first to rush out and head straight for the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar, competing with Xu Qing.
The other heaven’s chosens were the same. All those who had reached more than 10,000 feet came to participate.
Among them was the ordinary-looking middle-aged cultivator. He also leaped up and began to climb.
This scene immediately attracted the attention of all the cultivators in the city and the gazes of the ancestors of the various forces. Even the Sword Holding Court in the sky was watching this.
This was a battle between geniuses!