Chapter 269: 5 Years
Time continued to pass. The many geniuses from the Three Thousand Star Continent were still competing, each trying to surpass the others.
The buzz surrounding Mixed Void and Lan Yu gradually died down, while talk about Li Yang slowly began to spread.
"Didn’t Flame Wave Sect Master and four other powerful Deities all want to take Li Yang as a disciple? Why hasn’t he accepted a master yet?"
"I know why. Apparently, after comprehending the Space Law and Thunder Law, Li Yang started trying to comprehend the Fire Element Law. He completely ignored the advice from Flame Wave Sect Master and the others to stop."
"That Li Yang is... seriously something else."
"Rejecting the advice of powerful Deities... should we call Li Yang confident, or just arrogant?"
...
Gossip about Li Yang was making the rounds.
After all, among all the top-ranked geniuses, only Li Yang was currently without a teacher.
When some of the other geniuses learned about Li Yang’s situation, they were clearly stunned. ’What on earth is that Li Yang thinking?’
However, it wasn’t that people were particularly concerned about Li Yang; it was just a topic of conversation for their spare time.
The initial period after entering the Human Race Saint Hall was the most critical. One’s potential was judged at the very beginning, and the greater the potential, the more cultivation resources the Saint Hall would provide.
But Li Yang had made such an outrageous move right at the start, insisting on comprehending the Fire Element Law and ignoring the advice of five powerful Deities, who then gave up on him directly.
...
Time continued to flow, and the talk about Li Yang eventually died down as well.
Inside the Saint Hall, Li Yang’s batch of geniuses were all cultivating frantically.
Three months after Lan Yu passed the sixth step of the God’s Path and Mixed Void passed the ninth, Long Zhan passed the second step.
Just one day later, Dilunxi also passed the second step!
Long Zhan had previously been the strongest among the twelve geniuses with invincible Longevity Realm strength, including Li Yang, putting him a cut above the rest.
But now, Dilunxi had clearly caught up from behind, his strength nearly matching Long Zhan’s.
This was a clear testament to Dilunxi’s incredible Talent!
The third person to reach the second step was Mute, who was four months behind Long Zhan and Dilunxi.
It wasn’t until four years later that Yun Rou, the invincible Longevity Realm genius ranked 14th in the talent selection, also passed the second step.
At this point, behind Mixed Void and Lan Yu, a clear gap had appeared among the twelve geniuses who all possessed invincible Longevity Realm strength and were considered the second tier of similarly-skilled talents. The disparity in their power was gradually widening.
Then, in the fifth year, another piece of explosive news broke out!
Lan Yu had passed the seventh step of the God’s Path!
And Mixed Void had passed the tenth step of the God’s Path!
This news once again caused a massive stir.
The rate of progress of these two peerless geniuses was clearly not on the same level as the others.
And when the fifth year truly arrived, among those twelve second-tier geniuses, one finally emerged who had set foot on the third step of the God’s Path.
Dilunxi!
The youngest genius had leaped forward, surpassed Long Zhan, and become the true number three!
Although his Talent was not on par with Mixed Void’s and Lan Yu’s, he was second only to them. This was beyond question!
Among the twelve geniuses of comparable strength, one was on the third step of the God’s Path, and ten were on the second step.
As for the last one... his result was still the first step of the God’s Path. That was Li Yang.
Although he was ranked 14th on the list, behind Li Yang, there were another two thousand five hundred and seventy geniuses who had also passed the first step of the God’s Path!
Among the three thousand geniuses, aside from Mixed Void and Lan Yu, the gaps between them were not actually that large.
After all, they were all the top geniuses of their respective Star Continents. Even if they had fallen behind before, five years of cultivation in the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall was enough time to catch up.
Therefore, most of the geniuses had already passed the first step of the God’s Path.
Five years ago, when Li Yang first entered the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall, he was the second-youngest genius, and five powerful Deities were fighting to take him as their disciple.
But five years later, Li Yang seemed to have faded into obscurity. The thousand-plus geniuses behind him seemed ready to catch up at any moment, and his ranking would be pushed down even further.
It seemed Li Yang had completely fallen from grace.
...
Inside the Flame Wave Sect, several powerful Deities were chatting casually.
"Haha, Lie Yuan, this Dilunxi is quite good. He often comes to listen to your lessons. Your ability to teach disciples is truly extraordinary."
"Indeed, Dilunxi’s progress is remarkably fast. His strength wasn’t apparent when he first entered the Human Race Saint Hall, but now he’s passed the third step of the God’s Path directly."
"That Yun Rou only just passed the second step a year ago. Their strengths were similar during the talent selection, but now the gap has become so large."
"At this rate of progress, even if he’s far from Lan Yu and Mixed Void, Dilunxi is still doing very well."
The Deities smiled, discussing Dilunxi, while looking at a slender middle-aged man in a white robe.
The man was none other than Sect Master Lie Yuan, who was skilled at teaching. Dilunxi had his own teacher, but he often came to listen to Sect Master Lie Yuan’s lectures.
And Sect Master Lie Yuan had also given Dilunxi some special attention.
Lie Yuan smiled. "That’s because Dilunxi’s own Talent is excellent."
There was a smile on his face, a clear sign he was in a good mood.
"The other geniuses are performing well enough."
"Yes, the performance of other geniuses like Long Zhan and Mute might be average, but it’s within the normal range."
"At this rate of progress, it won’t be difficult for them to become Deities in the future."
As the Deities spoke, being figures who had established their own sects and taught disciples, they naturally hoped for as many geniuses as possible to emerge within the Human Race.
As they were evaluating Dilunxi, Long Zhan, Mute, and the others, one of the Deities said bluntly, "This batch of top geniuses is performing well. Except for Li Yang."
Hearing Li Yang’s name, the smiles on the faces of Flame Wave Sect Master and the others faded slightly.
They had previously advised Li Yang to give up on comprehending the Fire Element Law, but he hadn’t listened to them at all.
Now, among the twelve geniuses in Li Yang’s tier—a group that could have taken first place in the previous Saint Hall talent selection—basically all of them had passed the second step of the God’s Path, with Dilunxi even passing the third.
And Li Yang was still on the first step.
In the eyes of Flame Wave Sect Master and the others, this result was the clear consequence of Li Yang ignoring their advice.
If he had focused solely on comprehending the Space Law and Thunder Law, Li Yang would surely have passed the second step of the God’s Path by now.
But because the Fire Element Law was holding him back, his strength was still lagging, and he had even been pushed down into the third tier of geniuses.
Flame Wave Sect Master looked at a burly man with black mystical markings on his face and asked, "Blade Slaughter, are you still guiding Li Yang?"
They all knew that Blade Slaughter wanted to take Li Yang as his disciple and had been guiding him. However, several years had passed, and Li Yang still hadn’t formally accepted a master.
Since they had given up on Li Yang, it wasn’t their place to ask too many questions, so they weren’t clear on the specifics of the situation.
Hearing Flame Wave Sect Master’s question, Sect Master Blade Slaughter smiled and said, "Yes, I’m still guiding him."